DIEU ET MON DROIT AETERNITATI SACRUM ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΑ THE WORKS of CHARLES I. with his LIFE and MARTYRDOME Aly diutius Imperium tenucrunt nemo tam Fortiter reliquit Tacit. Hist. Lib. i. ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΑ THE WORKS OF King Charles THE MARTYR With a COLLECTION of DECLARATIONS TREATIES and other PAPERS concerning the Differences BETWIXT His said Majesty AND HIS TWO HOUSES of PARLIAMENT With the History of His LIFE as also of His TRYAL and MARTYRDOME The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII In the first PART from p. 1. to p. 212. inclusively are contained THE LIFE of CHARLES I. p. 1 PAPERS concerning CHURCH-GOVERNMENT V. p. 75 PRAYERS used by His MAJESTY VII p. 93 MESSAGES for Peace XXXVIII p. 97 DECLARATIONS III. p. 130 LETTERS XLII p. 138 SPEECHES LIX p. 159 With the History of His TRYAL and DEATH p. 189 c. In the Second PART from p. 213. to the end inclusively are contained I. HIS MAJESTY's Declarations concerning His proceedings in His Four first PARLIAMENTS p. 217 II. Declarations and Papers concerning the Differences betwixt His MAJESTY and His Fifth PARLIAMENT p. 241 III. Declarations and Papers concerning the Treaty of Peace at Oxford MDCXLII III. p. 325. IV. A Declaration concerning the Cessation in Ireland Also Declarations and Passages of the Parliament at Oxford p. 401 V. Papers and Passages concerning the Treaty of Peace at Uxbridge p. 437 VI. Messages Propositions and Treaties for Peace With divers Resolutions and Declarations thereupon MDCXLV VI. VII VIII p. 547 VII An Appendix containing the Papers which passed betwixt His MAJESTY and the DIVINES which attended the Commissioners of the Two Houses at the Treaty at Newport concerning Church-Government p. 611 VIII ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ p. 647 THE MORE PARTICULAR CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART Omitting the LIFE THE Papers which passed betwixt His Majesty and Mr Alexander Henderson concerning the change of Church-Government Page 75 His Majesty 's Quaere concerning Easter 91 His Majesty's first Paper concerning Episcopacy ibid. Prayers used by King CHARLES in the time of His Troubles and Restraint I. A Prayer used at His Entrance into Excester after the Defeat of Essex in Cornwall 93 II. A Prayer for a Blessing on the Treaty at Vxbridge ibid. III. A Prayer for a Blessing on the Treaty at Newport ibid. IV. A Prayer for Pardon of Sin 94 V. A Prayer in times of Affliction ibid. VI. A Prayer in time of Captivity ibid. VII A Prayer in time of imminent danger 95 King CHARLES His Messages for Peace XXXVIII 1. His Message from Canterbury January 20. 1641 2. For the Composing of all Differences 97 2. His Message from Huntingdon March 15. 1641 2. In pursuance of the former ibid. 3. His Message from Nottingham August 25. 1642. When he set up His Standard 98 4. His Message from Sept. 5. 1642. In pursuance of the former 99 5. His Message from Sept. 11. 1642. In Reply to the Answer of both Houses to the former ibid. 6. His Message from Brainford Nov. 12. 1642. After the Defeat of the Rebels there 100 7. His Message from Oxford April 12. 1643. For the Disbanding of all Forces and His Return to the Houses ibid. 8. His Message from Oxford May 19. 1642. In pursuance of the former 101 9. His Message from Oxford March 3. 1643 4. For a Treaty 102 10. His Message from Evesholme July 4. 1644. After the Defeat of Waller at Cropredy Bridge ibid. 11. His Message from Tavestock Septemb. 8. 1644. After the Defeat of Essex in Cornwall 103 12. His Message from Oxford Decem. 13. 1644. For a Treaty by Commissioners ibid. 13. His Message from Oxford Decem. 5. 1645. For a safe Conduct for Persons to be sent with Propositions 104 14. His Message from Oxford Decem. 15. 1645. In pursuance of the former ibid. 15. His Message from Oxford Decem. 26. 1645. For a Personal Treaty 105 16. His Message from Oxford Decem. 29. 1645. In pursuance of the former 106 17. His Message from Oxford Jan. 15. 1645 6. In pursuance of the former ibid. 18. His Message from Oxford Jan. 17 1645 6. For an Answer to His former Messages 107 19. His Message from Oxford Jan. 24. 1645 6. In further Reply to their Answer 108 20. His Message from Oxford Jan. 29. 1645 6. Concerning Ireland 109 21. His Message from Oxford Febr. 26. 1645 6. For an Answer to the former 111 22. His Message from Oxford March 23. 1645 6. Concerning his Return to the Houses ibid. 23. His Message from Southwell May 18. 1646. After His departure to the Scots 112 24. His Message from Newcastle June 10. 1646. For Propositions for Peace and a Personal Treaty 113 25. His Message from Newcastle Aug. 1. 1646. For a Personal Treaty upon their Propositions 114 26. His Message from Newcastle Dec. 20. 1646. For a personal Treaty at or near London ibid. 27. His Message from Holdenby Feb. 17. 1646 7. For the Attendance of some of His Chaplains 115 28. His Message from Holdenby March 6. 1646 7. In pursuance of the former 116 29. His Message from Holdenby May 12. 1647. In answer to their Propositions ibid. 30. His Message from Hampton-Court Sept. 9. 1647. In Answer to the Propositions presented to Him there 118 31. His Message left at Hampton-Court Nov. 11. 1647. At His departure from thence 119 32. His Message from the Isle of Wight Nov 17. 1647. For a Treaty With His Propositions 120 33. His Message from Carisbrook Decem. 6. 1647. For an Answer to the former 122 34. His Message from Carisbrook Decem. 28. 1647. In Answer to the four Bills and Propositions 123 35. His Message from Carisbroâ—k Aug. 10. 1648. In Answer to the Votes for a Treaty 124 36. His Letter to the Speakers from Carisbrook Aug. 28. 1648. With the Names of those He desired to attend him at the Treaty 125 37. His Letter to the Speakers From Carisbrook Sept. 7. Concerning the Treaty 126 38. His Message from Newport Sept. 29. 1648. With His Propositions ibid. His MAJESTY's Declarations 1. His Majesty's Declaration after the Votes for No further Address Jan. 18. 1647 8. 130 2. His Majesty's Answer to their Reasons for the Votes for No further Address 132 3. His Majesty's Declaration concerning the Treaty at Newport and the Armies Proceedings 136 4. Quaeries propounded by His Majesty concerning the intended Tryal of His Majesty 137 His MAJESTY's Letters XL. To the Queen XXI p. 138 139 140 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154. The Queen to the King VII 140 141 142 145 146. To the Prince II. 156 158. The Prince to the King 158 To the House of Peers 138 To the Duke of York 156 To the Prince Elector 142 To Prince Rupert 155 To the Duke of Richmond 144 To the Marquess of Ormond IV. 142 144 148 149. To the Earl of Essex 141 To the Lord Mountague 156 To the Lord Jermin 153 To Secretary Nicholas 155 To
to single Him out of all the Kings of the Earth as the fittest Champion to wrestle with Adversity and to make Him glorious by Sufferings which being well born truly prove men Great yet would He furnish Him almost by a Miracle likewise with such Advantages in the conduct of which His Prudence and Magnanimity might evidence that He did deserve Propserity and by clearing up even this way His eminent Vertues warn the following Ages from a Credulity to unquiet Persons since the best of Princes was thus infamously slandered From all these concurring Causes each one in their Way and Order did the King's Strength so far increase as that He won many Battles and was not far from Conquest in the Whole War had not God seen fit to afflict this sinful Nation with Numerous and most Impious Tyrants and make us feel that no Oppressions are so unsupportable as those which are imposed by such as have made the highest Pretensions to Liberty of which we had bitter experience after the War was finished that was now begun For there had been some slight Conflicts ere this in the several Countries betwixt the Commissioners of Array and the Militia with various Successes which require just Volumes and compleat Histories to relate and cannot be comprehended in the short View of the King's Life where it is only intended to speak of those Battles in which the King in Person gave sufficient evidence of His Wisdom and Valour The first of which was at Edge-Hill on Oct. 23. For the King had no sooner gotten a considerable Force though not equal to those of His Enemies but He matched towards London and in His way thither met with Essex's Army that were come from thence to take Him The King having viewed their Army by a Prospective-glass from the top of that Hill and being asked afterwards by His Officers what He meant to do To give them battle said He with a present Courage it is the first time I ever saw the Rebels in a Body God and good Mens Prayers to Him assist the Justice of My Cause and immediately prepared for the Fight which was acted with such a Fury that near 6000 were slain according to the common account but some say a far less number were slain upon the place Night concluded this Battle which had comprehended the whole War had not the King 's prevailing Horse preferr'd the Spoils to Victory and left the Enemy some advantage to dispute for her But the King had all the fairest marks of her Favour For though He had lost His General yet he kept the Field possessed the dead Bodies opened His way toward London and in the sight of some part of the Army of Essex who accounted it a Victory that He was not totally routed and killed took Banbury and entred Triumphantly into Oxford which He had designed for His Winter-quarters with 150 Colours taken in fight And having assured that place He advances towards London whither Essex had gotten before Him and disposed his baffled Regiments within 10 Miles of the City yet the King fell upon two Regiments of them at Brainford took 500 Prisoners and sunk their Ordnance From thence intending to draw nearer London He had intelligence that the City had powred forth all their Auxiliaries to re-inforce Essex's Troops to which being unwilling to oppose His Souldiers wearied with their March nor thinking it safe to force an Enemy to fight upon Necessity which inspires a more than Ordinary Fury He retreats to Oxford having taught His Enemies that He was not easily to be overcome For in the management of this Battle He did not only undeceive the abused World of those Slanders which His Enemies had polluted Him with but He exceeded that Opinion His own Party had of His Abilities and though He parted from London altogether unexperienced in Martial Affairs yet at Edge-Hill He appeared a most Excellent Commander His Valour was also equal to His Prudence and He could as well endure Labours as despise Dangers And by a communication of toils encouraged His Souldiers to keep the Field all the Night when they saw He refused the refreshments of a Bed for He sought no other Shelter from the injuries of the Air than His own Coach These Vertues and this Success made such an impression on the Parliament that though they took all courses to hide the Infamy of their worsted Army yet in more humble Expressions than formerly they Petitioned the King for a Treaty of Peace which His Majesty very earnestly embraced But the Faction who were frighted with these Tendencies to an Accommodation cause some of the City to Petition against it and to make proffer of their Lives and Fortunes for the prosecution of the War Encouraged by this they form their Propositions like the Commands of Conquerours and so streighten the Power and time of their Commissioners that the Treaty at Oxford became fruitless which there had taken up all the King's Employment this Winter though abroad His Forces were busie in several Parts of the Nation not without Honour At the Opening of the Spring the Queen comes back to England An. 1643 bringing with Her some considerable Supplies of Men Money and Ammunition and Her coming was entertained with such a Series of Successes that the King that Summer was Master of the North and West except some few Garrisons Which so dismaied the Parliament that very many of them were preparing to quit the Kingdom and had the King followed His own Counsels to march immediately towards London and not been fatally over-born at a Council of War which it is said His Enemies at London did assure their Party would so be first to attempt Gloucester He had in the judgment of all discerning men then finished the War with Glory But here He lay so long till Essex had gotten a Recruit from London and came time enough to Relieve the Town though in his Return the King necessitated him to fight worsted him near Newbery and so bravely followed him the next day that He forced the Parliaments Horse which were left in the Reer to seek their safety by making their way over a great part of their Foot yet lost on His side much Noble Blood as the Earls of Carnarvan and Sunderland and Viscount Falkland This last was lamented by all being equally dexterous at the Pen and Sword had won some Wreaths in those Controversies that were to be managed by Reason and was eminent in all the Generous parts of Learning above any of his Fortune and Dignity After this Encounter the King returns to Oxford to consult with those Members of both Houses that had left the Impostures and Tumults at London to joyn with Him for the Common Benefit who being as to the Peers the far greater and as to the Commons an equal Number with those at Westminster they assumed the Name and Authority of Parliament and deliberated of the ways of Peace and means to prevent the Desolations which the Faction so
Fight which being varied with different successes in the several divisions each party drew off by degrees and neither found cause to boast of a Victory The King being returned to Oxford the Parliament wearied with the Complaints of the oppressed Nation who now grew impatient under the Distractions take into Consideration His Majesty's two Messages for Peace and sent Propositions for it in the name of the two Parliaments of England and Scotland united by Solemn League and Covenant Which though they seemed the desires of minds that intended nothing less than the common Tranquillity yet the King neglects them not but hoping that in a Treaty Commissioners might argue them into Reason offers it which with much difficulty the Houses are drawn to accept but yet would have it at Vxbridge a place but about fifteen miles distant from London and above twice that distance from Oxford And accordingly Commissioners from both Parties met on Jan. 30. While the King was providing for the Treaty and forming Instructions for His Ministers the Faction found the Parliament other work by new designs and to habituate the People to an abhorrency of Peace fed them with blood The two Hothams first were to be the Sport of the Multitude and that the Father might have more than a single death he was drawn back in his journey to the Scaffold Decemb. 31. that his Son might be executed before him as he was Jan. 10. when after he had expressed his fury to those Masters whom they had served to their ruines his Head was chopt off And on Jan. 20. the Father is brought to the place that was defiled with his Son's blood and had his own added to it These were not much lamented by any for the memory that they first kindled the Flame of the Nation kept every eye dry The People thus fed with courser blood a cleaner Sacrifice was afterwards presented William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England He had indured Imprisonment four years and passed through a Trial of many months in which he had acquitted himself with such a confidence as became the Innocency and Constancy of a Christian Bishop and Confessor but yet must fall to please the Scots and those merciless men who imputed God's anger in the difficulties of Success against their Prince to the continuance of this Prelate's life therefore he was voted guilty of High Treason by the House of Commons and was condemned in the House of Peers though they have no power over the life of the meanest Subject without the concurrence of the King when there were but seven Lords present and all those not consenting to the Murder to be drawn hanged and quartered And this was the first Example of murdering men by Votes of killing by an Order of Parliament when there is no Law It was moved they say by some that he might be shipp'd over to New-England to die by the Contempt and Malice of those People But this seemed too great an Honour because it would make his end as his life was much like that of the Primitive Bishops who for their Piety were banished to Barbarous Coasts or condemned to the Mines Or else it would be like an Athenian Ostracism and confess him too great and good to live among us Therefore this motion was rejected yet the Lords upon his Petition to the distaste of some Commons changed the manner of that vile Execution to that more generous of being beheaded To the Scaffold he was brought Jan. 10. after he had endured some affronts in his Antichamber in the Tower by some sons of Schism and Sedition who unseasonably that morning he was preparing himself to appear before the great Bishop of our Souls would have him give some satisfaction to the Godly for so they called themselves for his Persecutions which he called Discipline To whom he answered That he was now shortly to give account of all his Actions at an higher and more equal Tribunal and desired he might not be disturbed in his Preparations for it When he came to the Scene of his death he appeared with that chearfulness and serenity in his face as a good Conscience doth beautifie the owners with and it was so conspicuous that his Enemies who were ashamed to see his Innocency pourtraited in his Countenance did report he had drunk some Spirits to force his nature from a paleness He preached his own Funeral Sermon on that Text Heb. 12. 2. and concluding his life with Prayer submitted himself to the stroke of the Ax. He was a Person of so great Abilities which are the Designations of Nature to Dignity and Command that they raised him from low beginnings to the highest Office the Protestant Profession acknowledges in the Church And he was equal to it His Learning appear'd eminent in his Book against Fisher and his Piety illustrious in his Diary although published by One that was thirsty of his blood and polluted with many malicious comments and false Surmises to make him odious He was of so Publick a Spirit that both the Church and State have lasting Monuments of the Vertuous use of his Prince's favour at his Admittance into which he dedicated all the future Emoluments of it to the Glory of God and the Good of Men by a Projection of many noble Works most of which he accomplished and had finished the rest had not the Fate of the Nation checked the current of his Designs and cut off the Course of his Life He was not contented by himself only to serve his Generation for so he might have appeared more greedy of Fame than desirous of the Universal Benefit but he endeavoured to render all others as Heroick if they aimed at a Capacity for his Friendship for I have heard it from his Enemies no great man was admitted to a confidence and respect with him unless he made his Address by some Act that was for the Common Good or for the Ornament and Glory of the Protestant Faith Learned men had not a better Friend nor Learning it self a greater Advancer he searched all the Libraries of Asia and from several parts of the World purchased all the Ornaments and Helps of Literature he could that the English Church might have if possible by his Care as many Advantages for Knowledge as almost all Europe did contribute to the Grandeur of that of Rome The Outward Splendour of the Clergy was not more his Care than their Honour by a grave and pious Conversation he would put them into a power of doing more good but was severe against their Vices and Vanities He scorned a private Treasure and his Kindred were rather relieved than raised to any greatness by him In his Election of Friends he was determinated to the Good and Wise and such as had both Parts and Desires to profit the Church had his closest Embraces if otherwise it happened their frauds not his choice deserved the blame Both Papists and Sectaries were equally his Enemies one Party feared
to be gained but by the Publick Ruine they fly from Prayers to Arms and intitle their just War For the Liberty of King and People And in several places as in Kent Essex Suffolk Norfolk Cornwall Yorkshire Wales and at last in Surrey multitudes take Arms for this Righteous Cause The Navy also fall off and setting Rainsbrough their levelling Admiral on Shore seventeen Ships deliver themselves up to the Prince of Wales The Scots likewise by an Order of their own Parliament send into England to recover the Liberty and Majesty of the King an Army under Hamilton But all was in vain God had decreed other Triumphs for His Majesty and to translate Him to another Kingdom For the English being but tumultuarily raised having no train of Artillery nor Ammunition considerable were soon supprest by a veterane Army provided with all necessaries The Scots either through weakness or wickedness of their Commanders who made so disorderly a March that their Van and Reer were forty miles asunder were easily worsted by Cromwell who surprised their main Body and Hamilton was taken Prisoner Cromwell follows the scattered Parties into Scotland where they were likewise assaulted by Argyle a domestick Enemy and forced to submit those Arms the Parliament had put into their hands to the Faction of that false Earl who calls another Parliament from which all were excluded that in the former Voted for the King's Delivery and all the Orders of that Convention made void Cromwell had the Publick Thanks and the private Faith of Argyle to endeavour as opportunity permitted the extirpation of Monarchy out of Scotland The Navy also deserts the Prince being corrupted by the Earl of Warwick who was appointed for this Service and when he had ingloriously bought off their Faith to their lawful Prince himself was ignominiously cashiered by the Conspirators These great disappointments and overthrows of just Enterprises men variously attributed to different Causes Some to the Perfidiousness others to the Weakness of those that managed them as also to the Treachery of some Presbyterians who in hatred to the Army first incouraged and then in Jealousie of the Royalists basely deserted them For the Rabbies of the Kirk cursed Hamilton in the beginning of his Enterprise Another sort thought them unhappy because the greatest part of the Undertakers were such that formerly had either fought against the King or else had betrayed Him and God would not now bless their unexpiated Arms. And some to the Fate of the Kingdom which God had decreed to give over to numerous and impious Tyrants because of their unthankfulness and impatience under so Incomparable a Prince But while these things were managed by the Army that were now at a distance and Cromwell's Terrors were greater in Scotland than here the less guilty Parliament-men seriously considering how impatient the People who in London and other places had gotten innumerable Subscriptions to a Petition for a Personal Treaty now were of those Injuries that were done to their Sovereign how hateful themselves grew because they had betrayed and inslaved their own Privileges together with the Liberties of the Subject to an insatiable and Phanatick Army and how an evident Ruine attended even their Conquests of Him whom it was unlawful to assault did at last though too late contrary to the clamours of their factious and Democratick Members Repeal those Votes which they had formerly made of No more Addresses to the King This being passed in both Houses they afterwards with a strong Consent vote a Treaty with the King in Honour Freedom and Safety The factious Party in the Parliament found themselves too few and weak to oppose this impetuous tendency of the Two Houses and the whole Kingdom to Peace But yet they endeavoured to frustrate the labours of their more sincere Members and to baffle the People's just desires of it by imposing many unequal Conditions and obstructive restrictions For they procured that the Treaty should be in the Isle of Wight and not at London that it should be by Commissioners and not immediately with the two Houses as was petitioned The Propositions that were sent to be treated were the same which had before been offered to the King at Hampton-Court and were then rejected by Him and also condemned by the Army it self as too unjust The Commissioners were so streightned in Power that it was not lawful for them to soften any one of the Conditions of Peace not to alter the Preface or change the Order of the Propositions nor to debate a Subsequent till the Precedent were agreed on They could conclude nothing they were only to propose the Demands urge Reasons for the Royal Assent receive the King's Answer and refer all in writing to the Parliament whose slow Resolves and the delays of sending were supposed would consume that narrow measure of time which was appointed to debate so many and so different things for they were limited to forty days The Commissioners they sent were five of the Lord's House and twelve of the Commoners and with them some of their Presbyterian Ministers who were to press importunately for their Church-government to elude the King's Arguments for Episcopacy and only to impose not to dispute their own With all these upon so many several and different Propositions some relating to the Law of the Land others to Reason of State and some to the practice of the Apostolical Primitive Churches the King was to deal without publick assistance For though He was permitted the ministry of some Officers of State Counsellours and Divines yet were they but of private advice and to stand behind the Curtain He only Himself was to speak in the debate and singly to manage matters of Policy with their most exercised Statists and the points of Divinity with their best-studied Divines The Vulgar to whom the arts of these men were not so obvious were much pleased with the Name of a Treaty and now hoped to exchange their Servitude under so many importunate Tyrants for the moderate and easie Government of one Lawful King Others that had a clearer insight and observed with what difficulties it was burthened hoped for no benefit from it Because that if His Majesty should not consent as they believed he would not then He would be the object of the popular impatience And if He should consent He that now was thought to be most injuriously dealt with would then be conceived not to deserve the Pity even of his Friends nor could He gain any other thing by His Concessions than to be ruined with more Dishonour So that considering both the inviolable Integrity of His Majesty and the implacable Malice of His Enemies they despaired of any happy Issue But beyond the Faith of these men and the Hopes of the other the King 's incredible Prudence had found Temperaments for their most harsh Propositions And by a present Judgment and commanding Eloquence did so urge His own and refel their Arguments that He forced an Admiration of Himself
of Horse Foot and Artillery His plenty of Ammunition which some men lately might conceive He wanted is so well known and understood that it must be confessed that nothing but the Tenderness and Love to His people and those Christian Impressions which always have and He hopes always shall dwell in His heart could move Him once more to hazard a refusal And he requires them as they will answer to God to Himself and all the World that they will no longer suffer their fellow-Subjects to welter in each others bloud that they will remember by whose Authority and to what end they met in that Council and send such an Answer to His Majesty as may open a door to let in a firm Peace and Security to the whole Kingdom If His Majesty shall again be disappointed of His intentions herein the Bloud Rapine and Distraction which must follow in England and Ireland will be cast upon the account of those who are deaf to the motion of Peace and Accommodation IX From OXFORD Mar. 3. MDCXLIII IV. For a Treaty To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster C. R. OUT of Our most tender and pious sense of the sad and bleeding condition of this Our Kingdom and Our unwearied desires to apply all remedies which by the blessing of Almighry God may recover it from an utter Ruine by the Advice of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford We do propound and desire That a convenient number of fit Persons may be appointed and authorized by you to meet with all convenient speed at such Place as you shall nominate with an equal number of fit Persons whom We shall appoint and authorize to Treat of the ways and means to settle the present Distractions of this Our Kingdom and to procure a happy Peace And particularly how all the Members of both Houses may securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament there to Treat Consult and Agree upon such things as may conduce to the maintenance and defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion with due consideration to all just and reasonable ease of tender Consciences to the settling and maintaining of Our just Rights and Priviledges of the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament the Laws of the Land the Liberty and Property of the Subject and all other Expedients that may conduce to that blessed end of a firm and lasting Peace both in Church and State and a perfect understanding betwixt Us and Our People wherein no endeavour or concurrency of Ours shall be wanting And God direct your hearts in the ways of Peace Given at Our Court at Oxford the third day of March 1643. X. From EVESHOLME July 4. MDCXLIV After the Defeat of Waller at Cropredy Bridge To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster C. R. WE being deeply sensible of the Miseries and Calamities of this Our Kingdom and of the grievous Sufferings of Our poor Subjects do most earnestly desire that some Expedient may be found out which by the blessing of God may prevent the further effusion of blood and restore the Nation to Peace from the earnest and constant endeavouring of which as no discouragement given Us on the Contrary part shall make Us cease so no success on Ours shall ever divert Us. For the effecting whereof We are most ready and willing to condescend to all that shall be for the good of Us and Our People whether by way of confirmation of what We have already granted or of such further concession as shall be requisite to the giving a full assurance of the performance of all Our most real professions concerning the maintenance of the true Reformed Protestant Religion established in this Kingdom with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences the just Priviledges of Parliament and the Liberty and Propriety of the Subject according to the Laws of the Land as also by granting a general Pardon without or with exceptions as shall be thought fit In order to which blessed Peace We do desire and propound to the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster That they appoint such and so many persons as they shall think fit sufficiently authorized by them to attend Us at Our Army upon safe conduct to come and return which We do hereby grant and conclude with Us how the Premisses and all other things in question betwixt Us and them may be fully settled whereby all unhappy mistakings betwixt Us and Our People being removed there may be a present Cessation of Arms and as soon as may be a total disbanding of all Armies the Subject have his due and We be restored to Our Rights Wherein if this Our offer shall be accepted there shall be nothing wanting on Our part which may make Our People secure and happy Given at our Court at Evesholm the fourth of July 1644. XI From TAVESTOCK Sept. 8. MDCXLIV After the Defeat of the Earl of ESSEX in Cornwal To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster CHARLES R. IT having pleased God in so eminent a manner lately to bless Our Armies in these parts with success We do not so much joy in that blessing for any other consideration as for the hopes We have that it may be a means to make others lay to heart as We do the miseries brought and continued upon Our Kingdom by this unnatural War and that it may open your ears and dispose your minds to embrace those offers of Peace and Reconciliation which have been so often and so earnestly made unto you by Us and from the constant and fervent endeavours of which We are resolved never to desist In pursuance whereof We do upon this occasion conjure you to take into consideration Our too-long-neglected Message of the fourth of July from Evesholm which We again renew unto you and that you will speedily send Us such an Answer thereunto as may shew unto Our poor Subjects some light of a deliverance from their present Calamities by a happy Accommodation toward which We do here engage the word of a King to make good all those things which We have therein promised and really to endeavour a happy conclusion of this Treaty And so God direct you in the ways of Peace Given at our Court at Tavestock the eighth of September 1644. From OXFORD Dec. 13. MDCXLIV For a Treaty by Commissioners By the Duke of Richmond and Earl of Southampton HIS Majesty hath seriously considered your Propositions and finds it very difficult in respect they import so great an alteration in Government both in Church and State to return a particular and positive Answer before a full debate wherein those Propositions and all necessary Explanations and Reasons for assenting dissenting or qualifying and all inconveniences and mischiefs which may ensue and cannot otherwise be so well foreseen may be discussed and weighed His Majesty therefore proposeth and desireth as the best expedient for Peace That you will appoint such a number of Persons
happy and flourishing condition His Majesty having perused the Propositions now brought to Him finds them the same in effect which were offered to Him at Newcastle To some of which as He could not then consent without violation of His Conscience and Honour so neither can He agree to others now conceiving them in many respects more disagreeable to the present condition of affairs than when they were formerly presented unto Him as being destructive to the main principal Interests of the Army and of all those whose affections concur with them And His Majesty having seen the Proposals of the Army to the Commissioners from His two Houses residing with them and with them to be treated on in order to the clearing and securing of the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and the setling of a Just and lasting Peace to which Proposals as He conceives His two Houses not to be strangers so He believes they will think with Him that they much more conduce to the satisfaction of all Interests and may be a fitter foundation for a lasting Peace than the Propositions which at this time are tendered unto Him He therefore propounds as the best way in His judgment in order to a Peace that His two Houses would instantly take into consideration those Proposals upon which there may be a Personal Treaty with His Majesty and upon such other Propositions as His Majesty shall make hoping that the said Proposals may be so moderated in the said Treaty as to render them the more capable of His Majesty's full Concession Wherein He resolves to give full satisfaction to His People for whatsoever shall concern the setling of the Protestant Profession with liberty to tender Consciences and the securing of the Laws Liberties and Properties of His Subjects and all the just Privileges of Parliaments for the future And likewise by His present deportment in this Treaty He will make the World clearly judge of His intentions in matters of future Government In which Treaty His Majesty will be well pleased if it be thought fit that Commissioners from the Army whose the Proposals are may likewise be admitted His Majesty therefore conjures His two Houses of Parliament by the duty they owe to God and His Majesty their King and by the bowels of compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects both for the relief of their present Sufferings and to prevent future Miseries that they will forthwith accept of this His Majesty's offer whereby the joyful news of Peace may be restored to this distressed Kingdom And for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland mentioned in the Propositions His Majesty will very willingly Treat upon those particulars with the Scotch Commissioners and doubts not but to give reasonable satisfaction to that His Kingdom At Hampton-Court the ninth of September 1647. XXXI From HAMPTON-COURT Nov. 11. MDCXLVII Left on the Table at His departure For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. LIberty being that which in all times hath been but especially now is the common theme and desire of all men common reason shews that Kings less than any should endure Captivity And yet I call God and the world to witness with what Patience I have endured a tedious Restraint which so long as I had any hopes that this sort of My Suffering might conduce to the Peace of My Kingdoms or the hindring of more effusion of bloud I did willingly undergo but now finding by too certain proofs that this my continued Patience would not only turn to my Personal Ruine but likewise be of much more prejudice than furtherance to the publick good I thought I was bound as well by natural as political obligations to seek My Safety by retiring My self for some time from the publick view both of my Friends and Enemies And I appeal to all indifferent men to judge if I have not just cause to free My self from the hands of those who change their Principles with their condition and who are not ashamed openly to intend the destruction of the Nobility taking away their negative voice and with whom the Levellers doctrine is rather countenanced than punished And as for their intentions to my Person their changing and putting more strict Guards upon Me with the discharging most of all those servants of Mine whom formerly they willingly admitted to wait upon Me does sufficiently declare Nor would I have this Retirement mis-interpreted for I shall earnestly and uncessantly endeavour the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace where-ever I am or shall be and that as much as may be without the effusion of more Christian blood for which how many times have I desired prest to be heard and yet no ear given to Me. And can any reasonable man think that according to the ordinary course of affairs there can be a setled Peace without it or that God will bless those who refuse to hear their own King Surely no. Nay I must further add that besides what concerns My self unless all other chief Interests have not only a hearing but likewise just satisfaction given unto them to wit the Presbyterians Independents Army those who have adhered to Me and even the Scots I say there cannot I speak not of Miracles it being in My opinion a sinful presumption in such cases to expect or trust to them be a safe or lasting Peace Now as I cannot deny but that My Personal security is the urgent cause of this My Retirement so I take God to witness that the publick Peace is no less before Mine eyes and I can find no better way to express this My profession I know not what a wiser may do than by desiring and urging that all chief Interests may be heard to the end each may have just satisfaction As for Example the Army for the rest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to content ought in My Judgment to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences have an Act of Oblivion or Indemnity which should extend to all the rest of My Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindred from using such lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let Me be heard with Freedom Honour and Safety and I shall instantly break through this Cloud of Retirement and shew My self really to be Pater Patriae Hampton Court Novemb. 11. 1647. XXXII From the Isle of WIGHT November 17. MDCXLVII For a Personal Treaty with His particular Concessions For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majest is confident that before this time His two Houses of Parliament have received the Message which He left behind Him at Hampton-Court
of War And Justice stands a Prisoner at the Bar. This Scene was like the Passion-Tragedy His Saviour's Person none could Act but He. Behold what Scribes were here what Pharisees What Bands of Souldiers what false Witnesses Here was a Priest and that a Chief one who Durst strike at God and His Vicegerent too Here Bradshaw Pilate there This makes them twain Pilate for Fear Bradshaw condemn'd for Gain Wretch couldst not thou be rich till Charles was dead Thou might'st have took the Crown yet spar'd the Head Th' hast justifi'd that Roman Judge He stood And washt in Water thou hast dipt in Blood And where 's the Slaughter-House White-hall must be Lately His Palace now His Calvary Great CHARLES is this Thy dying-place And where Thou wer 't our KING art Thou our MARTYR there Thence thence Thy Soul took flight and there will we Not cease to Mourn where Thou didst cease to Be. And thus blest Soul He 's gone a Star whose fall As no Eclipse proves Oecumenical That Wretch had skill to sin whose Hand did know How to behead three Kingdoms at one blow England hath lost the Influence of her KING No wonder that so backward was her Spring O dismal Day but yet how quickly gone It must be short Our SUN went down at Noon And now ye Senators is this the Thing So oft declar'd is this your Glorious King Did you by Oaths your God and Country mock Pretend a Crown and yet prepare a Block Did you that swore you 'd Mount CHARLES higher yet Intend the Scaffold for His Olivet Was this Hail Master Did you bow the knee That you might murther Him with Loyalty Alas two Deaths what Cruelty was this The Axe design'd you might have spar'd the Kiss London didst thou Thy Prince's Life betray What could Thy Sables vent no other way Or else didst thou bemoan His Cross then ah Why would'st thou be the cursed Golgotha Thou once hadst Men Plate Arms a Treasury To bind thy KING and hast thou none to free Dull beast thou should'st before thy Head did fall Have had at least thy Spirits Animal Did You Ye Nobles envy CHARLES His Crown Jove being fal'n the Puny-gods must down Your Raies of Honour are eclip'st in Night The Sun is set from whence You drew your Light Religion Veils her self and Mourns that she Is forc'd to own such horrid Villany The Church and State do shake that Building must Expect to fall whose Prop is turn'd to Dust But cease from Tears-CHARLES is most blest of men A God on Earth more than a Saint in Heav'n THE END A COLLECTION OF DECLARATIONS TREATIES AND OTHER Principal Passages concerning the DIFFERENCES BETWIXT King Charles I. AND HIS TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT Clearly Manifesting The Justice of His Cause His Sincerity in Religion His Constant Endeavours for Peace Bona agere mala pati Regium est LONDON Printed MDCLXXXVII THE PREFACE TO THE NOBILITY and GENTRY OF ENGLAND I Might call this Collection A Complete Body of English Politicks as comprehending both the Duty and the Interest of all true English-men and those largely set forth in some of the most excellent Discourses that were ever written in this kind Which for their own sakes might claim some better respect from the present Age than to be cast aside as out-dated Pamphlets or at the best confusedly scattered like the Leaves of Sibylla without any care of conserving and transmitting them to Posterity The sad Experience of so many years hath taught this Nation to their cost how miserable even the greatest Subjects make themselves by incroaching upon that Soveraignty which alone can protect them from the Injuries and the Scorn of their Inferiours Here you will discover the Arts the Means and the Degrees by which those Mischiefs were attempted and atchieved Which whensoever you see repeated you will know the Plot is as well against your Privilege and the Liberty of your Countrey as the Prerogative of your Prince Indeed If it were as easie to root out the remembrance of the ill Examples as it is to remit the punishment of the Crimes by Acts of Grace and Pardon and Oblivion it were perhaps no Imprudence to let those Mischiefs sleep with their Authors and leave their Memories buried in the Ruines they have made But since many that are content to take the utmost advantage of a Pardon are yet too good to acknowledge they ever stood in need of any since most will remember only What hath been done and few trouble themselves to inquire How or Why it cannot be thought impertinent together with the Actions to represent also the true Causes that have produced such Effects and the Circumstances that attended them which may remain as Marks to warn Posterity of those Errors which have cost the present Age so dear This is here done not from the private phancies or observations of any one Person or Party but from the Publick and Authentick Writings of Both digested in such order that the Reader may compare what both sides had to say for themselves and thereby discern whose Designs and what Counsels tended most to the Peace and Welfare of the Nation A study most proper for those Ranks of men whom the Favour of Princes hath raised above the Common Multitude to this one End that they may assist Them in the administration of Their Government and in keeping Peace and good order in their Countries To have Collected all that passed in these great Contests would have been the Work of many Volumes But the most material and most necessary to carry on the Series of Times and Things which in a manner comprehend the Sum or at least shew the Result of all the rest are here disposed according to their most natural order of time under these few heads I. His Majesties Declarations concerning His Proceedings in His Four first Parliaments p. 217. II. Declarations and Papers concerning the Differences betwixt His Majesty and His Fifth Parliament p. 241. III. Declarations and Paper concerning the Treaty of Peace at Oxford MDCXLII III. p. 325. IV. A Declaration concerning the Cessation in Ireland Also Declarations and Passages of the Parliament at Oxford p. 401. V. Papers and Passages concerning the Treaty of Peace at Vxbridge p. 437. VI. Messages Propositions and Treaties for Peace With divers Resolutions and Declarations thereupon MDCXLV VI. VII VIII p. 547. HIS MAJESTIES DECLARATIONS CONCERNING HIS PROCEEDINGS IN HIS FOUR FIRST PARLIAMENTS A Declaration of the true Causes which moved His MAJESTY to Assemble and after inforced Him to Dissolve the First and Second Meetings in Parliament THE King 's most Excellent Majesty since His happy access to the Imperial Crown of this Realm having by His Royal Authority summoned and assembled two several Parliaments the first whereof was in August last by adjournment held at Oxford and there dissolved and the other begun in February last and continued until the fifteenth day of this present month of June and then to the unspeakable grief
of the State of the Kingdom THE Commons in this present Parliament assembled having with much earnestness and faithfulness of affection and zeal to the publick good of this Kingdom and His Majesties Honour and Service for the space of twelve months wrastled with the great Dangers and Fears the pressing Miseries and Calamities the various Distempers and Disorders which had not only assaulted but even overwhelmed and extinguisht the Liberty Peace and Prosperity of this Kingdom the comfort and hopes of all His Majesties good Subjects and exceedingly weakned and undermined the foundation and strength of His own Royal Throne do yet find an abounding malignity and opposition in those Parties and Factions who have been the cause of those evils and do still labour to cast aspersions upon that which hath been done and to raise many difficulties for the hinderance of that which remains yet undone and to foment Jealousies betwixt the King and the Parliament that so they may deprive Him and His People of the fruit of his own gracious intentions and their humble desires of procuring the publick Peace Safety and Happiness of this Realm For the preventing of those miserable effects which such malicious endeavours may produce We have thought good to declare First The Root and the growth of these mischievous Designs Secondly The Maturity and ripeness to which they have attained before the beginning of the Parliament Thirdly The effectual Means which have been used for the extirpation of those dangerous evils and the Progress which hath therein been made by His Majesties Goodness and the wisdom of the Parliament Fourthly The ways of Obstruction and Opposition by which that progress hath been interrupted Fifthly The courses to be taken for the removing those Obstacles and for the accomplishing of our most dutiful and faithful intentions and endeavours of restoring and establishing the ancient Honour Greatness and Security of this Crown and Nation The Root of all this mischief we find to be a malignant and pernicious design of subverting the Fundamental Laws and Principles of Government upon which the Religion and Justice of this Kingdom are firmly establish'd The Actors and Promoters hereof have been First The Jesuited Papists who hate the Laws as the obstacles of that Change and subversion of Religion which they so much long for Secondly The Bishops and the corrupt part of the Clergy who cherish Formality and Superstition as the natural effects and more probable supports of their own Ecclesiastical Tyranny and Vsurpation Thirdly Such Counsellors and Courtiers as for private ends have engaged themselves to further the interests of some foreign Princes or States to the prejudice of His Majesty and the State at home The Common Principles by which they moulded and governed all their particular Counsels and Actions were these First To maintain continual Differences and Discontents betwixt the King and the People upon questions of Prerogative and Liberty that so they might have the advantage of siding with Him and under the notions of men addicted to His Service gain to themselves and their parties the places of greatest trust and power in the Kingdom A Second To suppress the purity and power of Religion and such persons as were best affected to it as being contrary to their own ends and the greatest impediment to that Change which they thought to introduce A Third to conjoyn those parties of the Kingdom which were most propitious to their own ends and to divide those who were most opposite which consisted in many particular observations to cherish the Arminian part in those Points wherein they agreè with the Papists to multiply and enlarge the Differences betwixt the common Protestants and those whom they call Puritans to introduce and countenance such Opinions and Ceremonies as are fittest for accommodation with Popery to encrease and maintain ignorance looseness and prophaneness in the People that of those three parties Papists Arminians and Libertines they might compose a body fit to act such Counsels and resolutions as were most conducible to their own ends A Fourth To disaffect the King to Parliaments by Slanders and false Imputations and by putting Him upon other waies of supply which in shew and appearance were fuller of advantage then the ordinary course of Subsidies though in truth they brought more loss than gain both to the King and People and have caused the great Distractions under which we both suffer As in all compounded bodies the Operations are qualified according to the predominant Element so in this mixt party the Jesuited Counsels being most active and prevailing may easily be discovered to have had the greatest sway in all their determinations and if they be not prevented are likely to devour the rest or to turn them into their own nature In the beginning of His Majesties Reign the party begun to revive and flourish again having been somewhat dampt by the breach with Spain in the last year of King James and by His Majesties Marriage with France the Interests and Counsels of that State being not so contrary to the good of Religion and the prosperity of this Kingdom as those of Spain and the Papists of England having been evermore addicted to Spain then France yet they still retained a purpose and resolution to weaken the Protestant parties in all parts and even in France whereby to make way for the Change of Religion which they intended at home The first effect and evidence of their recovery and strength was the dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford after there had been given two Subsidies to His Majesty and before they received relief in any one Grievance many other more miserable effects followed The loss of the Rochel Fleet by the help of our Shipping set forth and delivered over to the French in opposition to the advice of Parliament which left that Town without defence by Sea and made way not only to the loss of that important place but likewise to the loss of all the strength and security of the Protestant Religion in France The diverting of His Majesties course of Wars from the West Indies which was the most facile and hopeful way for this Kingdom to prevail against the Spaniard to an expenceful and succesless attempt upon Cales which was so ordered as if it had rather been intended to make us weary of War then to prosper in it The precipitate breach with France by taking their Ships to a great value without making recompence to the English whose goods were thereupon imbarg'd and confiscate in that Kingdom The Peace with Spain without consent of Parliament contrary to the promise of King James to both Houses whereby the Palatine Cause was deserted and left to chargeable and hopeless Treaties which for the most part were managed by those who might justly be suspected to be no friends to that Cause The charging of the Kingdom with billetted Souldiers in all parts of it and that concomitant design of Germane horse that the Land might either submit with fear or
judge as well by former Passages as by Our two last Messages which have been so fruitless that though We have descended to desire and press it not so much as a Treaty can be obtained unless We would denude Our Self of all force to defend Vs from a visible strength marching against Vs and admit those Persons as Traitors to Vs who according to their Duty their Oaths of Allegiance and the Law have appeared in defence of Vs their King and Liege Lord whom We are bound in Conscience and Honour to preserve though We disclaimed all our Proclamations and Declarations and the erecting of Our Standard as against Our Parliament All We have now left in Our Power is to express the deep sense We have of the publick Misery of this Kingdom in which is involved that of Our distressed Protestants of Ireland and to apply Our Self to Our necessary Defence wherein We wholly rely upon the Providence of God the Justice of Our Cause and the Affection of Our good People so far We are from putting them out of Our Protection When you shall desire a Treaty of Vs We shall piously remember whose blood is to be spilt in this Quarrel and chearfully embrace it And as no other Reason induced Vs to leave Our City of London but that with Honour and Safety We could not stay there nor raise any Force but for the necessary defence of Our Person and the Law against Levies in opposition to both so We shall suddenly and most willingly return to the one and disband the other as soon as those causes shall be removed The God of Heaven direct you and in mercy divert those Judgments which hang over this Nation and so deal with Vs and Our Posterity as We desire the Preservation and Advancement of the true Protestant Religion the Laws and the Liberty of the Subject the just Rights of Parliament and the Peace of the Kingdom But as if all these gracious Messages had been the effects only of Our Weakness and instances of Our want of Power to resist that torrent they deal at last more plainly with Us and after many sharp causeless and unjust Reproaches they tell Us in plain English that without putting Our Self absolutely into their hands and deserting all Our own Force and the Protection of all those who have faithfully appeared for Us according to their Duty there would be no means of a Treaty although Our extraordinary desire of Peace had prevailed with Us to offer to recall Our most just Declarations and to take down Our Standard set up for Our necessary defence so their unjustifiable Declarations might be likewise recalled Their Answer follows in these words WE the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled do present this our humble Answer to Your Majesty's Message of the 11th of this instant Month of September When we consider the Oppressions Rapines Firing of Houses Murthers even at this time whilst Your Majesty propounds a Treaty committed upon Your good Subjects by Your Soldiers in the presence and by the Authority of their Commanders being of the number of those whom Your Majesty holds Your self bound in Honour and Conscience to protect as Persons doing their Duties We cannot think Your Majesty hath done all that in You lies to prevent or remove the present Distractions nor so long as Your Majesty will admit no Peace without securing the Authors and Instruments of these Mischiefs from the Justice of the Parliament which yet shall be ever dispens'd with all requisite Moderation and distinction of Offences although some of those Persons be such in whose Preservation Your Kingdom cannot be safe nor the unquestionable Rights and Priviledges of Parliament be maintain'd without which the Power and Dignity thereof will fall into contempt We beseech Your Majesty therefore to consider Your Expressions That God should deal with You and Your Posterity as Your Majesty desires the Preservation of the just Rights of Parliament which being undeniable in the Trying of such as we have declared to be Delinquents we shall believe Your Majesty both towards Your self and Parliament will not in this Priviledge we are most sensible of deny us that which belongs unto the meanest Court of Justice in this Kingdom Neither hath Your Majesty cause to complain that You are denied a Treaty when we offer all that a Treaty can produce or Your Majesty expect Security Honour Service Obedience Support and all other effects of an Humble Loyal and Faithful Subjection and seek nothing but that our Religion Liberty Peace of the Kingdom Safety of the Parliament may be secured from the open Violence and cunning Practices of a wicked party who have long plotted our ruin and destruction And if there were any Cause of Treaty we know no competent Persons to Treat betwixt the King and Parliament and if both Cause and Persons were such as to invite Treaty the Season is altogether unfit whilst Your Majesty's Standard is up and Your Proclamations and Declarations unrecalled whereby Your Parliament is charged with Treason If Your Majesty shall persist to make Your self a shield and defence to those Instruments and shall continue to reject our faithful and necessary Advice for securing and maintaining Religion and Liberty with the Peace of the Kingdom and Safety of the Parliament we doubt not but to indifferent judgments it will easily appear who is most tender of that Innocent Blood which is like to be spilt in this Cause Your Majesty who by such persisting doth endanger Your self and Your Kingdoms or we who are willing to hazard our selves to preserve both We humbly beseech Your Majesty to consider how impossible it is that any Protestation though published in Your Majesty's name of Your tenderness of the Miseries of Your Protestant Subjects in Ireland of Your Resolution to maintain the Protestant Religion and Laws of this Kingdom can give satisfaction to reasonable and indifferent men when at the same time divers of the Irish Traitors and Rebels the known Favourers of them and Agents for them are admitted to Your Majesty's presence with Grace and Favour and some of them imployed in Your service when the Cloaths Munition Horses and other Necessaries bought by your Parliament and sent for the supply of the Army against the Rebels there are violently taken away some by Your Majesty's Command others by Your Ministers and applied to the maintenance of an unnatural War against Your People here All this notwithstanding as we never gave Your Majesty any just cause of withdrawing Your self from Your great Council so it hath ever been and shall ever be far from us to give any impediment to Your Return or to neglect any proper means of curing the Distempers of the Kingdom and closing the dangerous Breaches betwixt Your Majesty and Your Parliament according to the great Trust which lies upon us and if Your Majesty shall now be pleased to come back to Your Parliament without Your Forces we shall be ready to secure Your Royal Person
Members of either of them That some Officers of both Armies may speedily meet to agree of the manner of the disbanding and that fit Persons may be appointed by His Majesty and the Parliament who may repair to the several Armies and see the disbanding put in speedy execution accordingly That his Majesty do likewise remove the Garrisons out of Newcastle and all other Towns Castles and Forts where any Garrisons have been placed by Him since these Troubles and that the Fortifications be likewise slighted and the Towns and forts left in such state and condition as they were in the year 1636. That all other Towns Forts and Castles where there have been formerly Garrisons before these Troubles be committed to the charge of such Persons to be nominated by His Majesty as the Parliament shall confide in and under such Instructions as are formerly mentioned That if His Majesty shall be pleased to assent to these Propositions concerning the Towns Forts Castles Magazines and Ships that then His Majesty be humbly intreated to name Persons of Quality to receive the charge of the several Offices and Forts Castles and Towns to be forthwith certified to the two Houses of Parliament that thereupon they may express their confidence in those persons or humbly beseech His Majesty to name others none of which Persons shall be removed during three years next ensuing without just cause to be approved by Parliament and if any be so removed or shall dye within the said space the Person to be put into the same Office shall be such as both Houses shall confide in That all Generals and Commanders in any of the Armies on either side as likewise the Lord Admiral of England the Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports all Commanders of any Ships and Commanders of any Town Castle or Fort shall take an Oath to observe these Articles afore-mentioned and to use their uttermost power to preserve the true Reformed Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom against all Forein Force and all other Forces raised without His Majesties Authority and Consent of the two Houses of Parliament You shall move His Majesty that for the better dispatch of the Treaty and the free intercourse of Instructions and Advertisements betwixt the two Houses of Parliament and the Committee there may be a free pass of Messengers to and from the Parliament and the Committee without search or interruption and His Majesty's safe Conduct to be obtained to that effect to such Persons as are or shall be appointed for that service viz. for Master John Rushworth Master Mithael Welden Master John Corbet of Graies Inn and Master James Standish H. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. The KING's Message concerning the Cessation 23 Martii 1642. CHARLES R. HIS Majesty hath immediately upon their arrival admitted the Committee sent to Him from both Houses of Parliament as the Messengers of Peace to His Royal Presence and received the Articles of Cessation brought by them which are in effect the same His Majesty formerly excepted to though their expression in the Preface to these Articles of their readiness to agree to those Alterations and Additions offered by His Majesty in such manner as is expressed made Him expect to have found at least some of the real Alterations and Additions made by Him admitted which He doth not discover I. His Majesty desired that Provision might be made and Licence given to His good Subjects for their freedom of Trade Traffick and Commerce though in matters which concerned Himself more immediately as in Arms Ammunition Mony Bullion and Victual for the use of His Army and the Passage of all Officers and Souldiers of His Army He was contented the restraint should be in such manner as was proposed of which His Majesty is so tender that as he hath provided for the same by His gracious Proclamations so He doth daily release and discharge such Merchandize and Commodities as are contrary to those Proclamations stayed by any of His Majesties Forces To this Freedom and Liberty of His good Subjects there is not the least admission given by these Articles so that they have not any ease or benefit by this Cessation which His Majesty desires both Houses to consider of and whether if His Majesty should take the same course to stop and interrupt the Trade of the Kingdom as the other Army doth a general Loss and Calamity would not seize upon His good Subjects II. His Majesty to the end that a full Cessation might be as well at Sea as at Land and He might be secured that the Ships proposed to be set forth for the Defence of His Majesties Dominions should be employed only to that end and purpose desired that they might be put under the Command of Persons to be approved of by His Majesty which is not consented to by these Articles but their former to which His Majesty excepted strictly and entirely insisted on by which besides that part of Hostility remains the conveying of any number of Forces from any part to any other by that means remains free to them III. For the prevention of any Inconveniences which might arise upon real Differences or Mistakes upon the latitude of Expressions as if His Majesty should now consent to these Articles proposed in the Terms proposed He must confess the Army of which He complains to be raised by the Parliament and either Himself to be no part of the Parliament or Himself to have raised that Army and for prevention of that Delay which He foresaw could not otherwise be avoided if upon every Difference the Questions must be remitted to London His Majesty desired that the Committee for whom He then sent a safe Conduct might have liberty to debate any such Differences and Expressions and reconcile the same that all possible Expedition might be used to the main Treaty In this point of so high Concernment no power is given in these Articles and the Committee confessed to His Majesty they have no Power given but are strictly and precisely bound to the very words of the Articles now sent and that before these are consented to by Us they cannot enter into any Treaty concerning the other Propositions IV. His Majesty desired that during the Cessation none of His good Subjects might be imprisoned otherwise than according to the known Laws of the Land This is in no degree consented to but the priviledge and liberty to which they were born reserved from them till the disbanding of both Armies though they are no part of either Army and so have no benefit by this Cessation V. His Majesty desired that during this Cessation there should be no Plundering or Violence offered to any of His Subjects In the Answer to which His desire against Violence is not at all taken notice of nor is His desire against Plundering any ways satisfied His Majesty not only intending by it the robbing of the Subject by the unruliness of the uncommanded Souldier which their Clause of requiring the Generals and
most affectionate humble Servants Ed. Littleton C. S. L. Cottington D. Richmond M. Hartford M. Newcastle E. Huntington E. Bathon E. Southampton E. Dorset E. Northampton E. Devonshire E. Bristol E. Berkshire E. Cleveland E. Marlburgh E. Rivers E. Lindsey E. Dover E. Peterburgh E. Kingston E. Newport E. Portland E. Carbury V. Conway V. Falconbridge V. Wilmot V. Savile L. Mowbray and Maltravers L. Darcy and Coniers L. Wentworth L. Cromwell L. Rich. L. Paget L. Digby L. Howard of Charleton L. Deincourt L. Lovelace L. Pawlet L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Herbert L. Cobham L. Capell L. Percy L. Leigh L. Hatton L. Hopton L. Jermyn L. Loughborough L. Byron L. Widderington MDCXLIII IV. Votes of the Commons at Oxford Die Veneris Januar. 26. 1643. Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente THat all such Subjects of Scotland as have consented to the Declaration intituled the Declaration of the Kingdom of Scotland and concerning the present Expedition into England according to the Commission and Order of the Convention of Estates from their meeting at Edinburgh August 1643. have thereby denounced War against the Kingdom of England and broke the Act of Pacification Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That all such of the Subjects of Scotland as have in a Hostile manner entred into the Town of Berwick upon Twede have thereby broke the Act of Pacification Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That all His Majesty's Subjects of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales are both by their Allegiance and the Act of Pacification bound to resist and repress all such of the Subjects of Scotland as have in a Hostile manner already entred or shall hereafter enter into the Town of Barwick upon Twede or any other part of His Majesty's Realm of England or Dominion of Wales as Traytors and Enemies to the State Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That shall such of His Majesty's Subjects of the Realm of England or Dominion of Wales that shall be abetting aiding and assisting to the Subjects of Scotland in their Hostile Invasion of any part of His Majesty's Realm of England or Dominion of Wales shall be deemed and taken as Traitors and Enemies to the State Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That all His Majesty's Subjects of Scotland are bound by the Act of Pacification to resist and repress all of that Kindom that already haveraised Arms or shall rise in Arms to invade this Kingdom of England or Dominion of Wales Votes of the Commons at Oxford March 12. 1643. Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente THat the Lords and Commons now remaining at Westminster that have given their Votes or consent to the raising of Forces under the Command of the Earl of Essex or have been abetting aiding or assisting thereunto have levied and made War against the King and are therein guilty of High Treason Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That the Lords and Commons now remaining at Westminster that have given their Votes and consents for the making and using of a new Great Seal have thereby counterfeited the Kings Great Seal and therein committed High Treason Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That the said Lords and Commons now remaining at Westminster that have given their consents or have been abetting aiding or assisting to the present coming in of the Scots into England in a Warlike manner have therein committed High Treason Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That the Lords and Commons now remaining at Westminster who have committed the Crimes mentioned in the three former Votes have therein broken the Trust in them reposed by their Country and ought to be proceeded against as Traitors to the King and Kingdom Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That all the Endeavours and Offers of Peace and Treaty made by His Majesty by the advice of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford have been refused and rejected by the Lords and Commons remaining at Westminster MDCXLIII IV. A Declaration of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford of their Proceedings touching a Treaty for Peace and the Refusal thereof with the several Letters and Answers that passed therein IF our most earnest Desires and Endeavours could have prevailed for a Treaty our Proceedings therein without this Declaration would have manifested to all the World the clearness of our Intentions for the restoring the Peace of this Kingdom But seeing all the means used by Us for that purpose have been rendred fruitless we hold our selves bound to let our Countries know what in discharge of our Duty to God and to them we on our parts have done since our coming to Oxford to prevent the further effusion of Christian blood and the Desolation of this Kingdom His Majesty having by His Proclamation upon occasion of the Invasion from Scotland and other weighty reasons commanded our attendance at Oxford upon the 22. of January last there to advise Him for the preservation of the Religion Laws and Safety of the Kingdom and to restore it to its former Peace and Security these Motives with the true sense of our Countries Miseries quickned our duty to give ready obedience to those His Royal Commands hoping by God's blessing to have become happy Instruments for such good Ends. And upon our coming hither we applyed our selves with all diligence to advise of such means as might most probably settle the Peace of this Kingdom the thing most desired by His Majesty and our selves And because we found many gracious offers of Treaty for Peace by His Majesty had been rejected by the Lords and Commons remaining at Westminster we deemed it fit to write in our own names and thereby make tryal whether that might produce any better effect for accomplishing our desires and our Countries Happiness And they having under pain of Death prohibited the address of any Letters or Message to Westminster but by their General and we conceiving him a Person who by reason of their trust reposed in him had a great influence into and Power over their Proceedings resolved to recommend it to his Care and to engage him in that Pious Work with our earnest desire to him to represent it to those that trusted him to prevent all exceptions and delay And thereupon the 27. of the same January dispatched a Letter away under the hands of the Prince His Highness the Duke of York and of 43. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons of the House of Peers and 118. Members of the House of Commons there present many others of us by reason of distance of place sickness and imployments in His Majesty's Service and for want of timely notice of the Proclamation of Summons not being then come hither which Letter we caused to be inclosed in a Letter from the Earl of Forth the Kings General A true Copy of which Letter from us to the Earl of Essex hereafter followeth viz. My Lord HIS
a yielding and submission we know not what is left to Treat upon These things are too apparent to every ordinary understanding And yet we are not forward to apprehend the Scorn of that Letter or take it for a Denial of a Treaty but being still sollicitous for that happy Peace which alone could redeem this Kingdom from Ruine we resolved to try another way and for avoiding Delay or Cavil about Names or Titles or descants upon words to forbear writing and humbly besought His Majesty to send Messengers with Instructions to desire a Treaty for Peace Who was pleased to name Mr. Richard Fanshaw and Mr. Thomas Offly Gentlemen of clear Repute and Integrity and to avoid their danger in repairing to Westminster at our desire commanded the Earl of Forth His General to write to theirs for a safe Conduct for those two Messengers for such is our Condition at present that a free-born Subject sent upon the Kings Message cannot but with such leave repair to London or Westminster without danger of his Life The Letter for the safe Conduct was as followeth My Lord I Cannot so willingly write to you in any business as in that of Peace the Endeavour thereof being the principal Duty of those who are trusted in places of our Commands especially when the Blood that is spilt is of persons under the same Allegiance of the same Country and Religion His Majesty continuing constant in His pious and fervent desires of a happy end to these bloody Distractions I do hereby desire your Lordship to send me a safe Conduct to and from Westminster for Mr. Richard Fanshaw and Mr. Tho Offly to be sent by His Majesty concerning a Treaty for Peace I rest Your Lordships humble Servant Forth To this was returned a Letter directed to the Earl of Forth in these words viz. My Lord YOV shew your Nobleness in declaring your willingness to write to me in any business as of that of Peace and I joyn with you in the same opinion that it ought to be a principal Duty of those who are trusted in places of our Command and therefore whensoever I shall receive any directions to those who have intrusted me I shall use my best endeavours and when you shall send for a safe Conduct for those Gentlemen mentioned in your Letter from His Majesty to the Houses of Parliament I shall with all cheerfulness shew my willingness to further any way that may produce that Happiness that all honest Men pray for which is a true understanding between His Majesty and His faithful and only Council the Parliament Your Lordships humble Servant Essex Essex-House 19. Feb. 1643. That this doth neither grant a safe Conduct nor give any direct Answer to the Earl of Forth 's Request every ordinary Eye may see and yet such Requests amongst Generals are rarely denied and we may easily thereby discern how fearful they at Westminster are lest the poor distressed People of this Kingdom should by the advantage of a Treaty and free debate of the present Difference see how grossly they had been deceived and misled and so obtain an end of their Miseries for otherwise who could have believed that when these Differences arose and were continued for want of a free Convention in Parliament and that a main end of the Treaty was to resolve how we according to Our Duty and the Trust reposed in us by our Countries might with them freely debate and advise His Majesty in those things that concerned the maintenance of our Religion Parliament-Privileges the Kings Rights and the Subjects Liberty and Property that this Letter should tell us that the Party we are to Treat withal is the Kings only Council excluding all others not only our selves called by the same Authority to Council as they were but His Privy-Council also and Council at Law so that we could have no hopes of a Treaty unless we should first agree that they are the Parliament and the Kings only Council whereby they that are parties would bccome the only Judges of all things in question which would be a Submission and not a Treaty Having received these frivolous delays which we might have interpreted absolute denials of any Treaty of Peace we yet resolved not to give over our endeavours for that which so much concerned the good of our Country and the welfare of all Professors of the true Protestant Religion but by our humble and earnest desires to his Majesty prevailed with Him to write His Royal Letters and once more desire a Treaty for Peace though it had been so often formerly rejected and to avoid all colour of Exception to direct it To the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster which was done and enclosed in a Letter from the Earl of Forth to their General A Copy of both which Letters hereafter follows My Lord I Have received your Letter of the 19 th of this Month which according to my Duty I shewed to His Majesty Who observing in it your expressions concerning Peace that whensoever you shall receive any directions to those that have entrusted you you shall use your best endeavours is graciously pleased to send this enclosed which is desired may be delivered according to the directions Directed to the Earl of Essex Subscribed by the Earl of Forth C. R. OVT of Our most tender and pious sense of the sad and bleeding condition of this Our Kingdom and Our unwearied desires to apply all Remedies which by the blessing of Almighty God may recover it from an utter Ruine by the Advice of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford We do propound and desire That a convenient number of fit Person may be appointed and authorized by you to meet with all convenient speed at such Place as you shall nominate with an equal number of fit Persons whom We shall appoint and authorize to Treat of the ways and means to settle the present Distractions of this Our Kingdom and to procure a happy Peace and particularly how all the Members of both Houses may securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament there to Treat consult and agree upon such things as may conduce to the maintenance and defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion with due consideration to all just and reasonable ease of tender Consciences to the settling and maintaining of Our just Rights and Privileges of the Rights and Privileges of Parliament the Laws of the Land the Liberty and Property of the Subject and all other Expedients that may conduce to that blessed end of a firm and lasting Peace both in Church and State and a perfect understanding betwixt Vs and Our People wherein no Endeavours or Concurrence of Ours shall be wanting And God direct your hearts in the ways of Peace Given at Our Court at Oxford the third day of March 1643. Superscribed To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster We now appeal to all the World what could more have been done
Coronation that all Our Ecclesiasticks in their several degrees and incumbences shall preach and practise the same Wherefore We enjoyn and command all Our Ministers of State beyond the Seas as well Ambassadors as Residents Agents and Messengers and We desire all the rest of Our loving Subjects that sojourn either for curiosity or commerce in any Foreign parts to communicate uphold and assert this Our solemn and sincere Protestation when opportunity of time and place shall be offered Given in Our Vniversity and City of Oxford the 14th day of May 1644. The goodly CEDAR of Apostolick EPISCOPACY compâ—â—â—d with the moderne Shoots Slips of divided NOVELTIES in the Church before the Introduction of the Apostles Lives PAPERS AND PASSAGES CONCERNING THE TREATY OF PEACE AT UXBRIDGE MDCXLIV XLV By the King A Proclamation declaring His Majesty's Resolution for settling a speedy Peace by a good Accommodation and an Invitation to all His Loyal Subjects to joyn together for His Assistance therein AMongst the many Troubles wherewith for more than two years last past We have been involved nothing hath more afflicted Us than the real sense of Our Subjects Sufferings occasioned by this most unnatural War and the chief of Our Care hath been and by God's assistance shall still be to settle them in a happy Peace with that freedom of enjoyning the exercise of their Religion Rights and Liberties according to the Laws of this Kingdom as they or any of their Ancestors enjoyed the same in the best times of the late Queen Elizabeth or Our Royal Father And as we have always profest in the sincerity of Our Heart That no Success should ever make Us averse unto Peace so have We always when God hath blessed Us with any eminent Victory sollicited the Members of both Houses of Parliament remaining at Westminster by frequent Messages for a Treaty conducing thereunto and in particular upon Our late Victory over the Earl of Essex his Army in Cornwal which We wholly attribute to the immediate hand of God We presently dispatch'd a Message to them to desire a Treaty for Peace and Accommodation of which as likewise of that former Message for Peace which We sent them from Evesholm the fourth of July last We have yet received no Answer and therefore have resolved with Our Army to draw presently towards London and Our Southern and Eastern Counties not looking upon those parts as Enemies to Us and so to suffer by the approach of Our Army or the disorders thereof which We will use all possible means to prevent but as Our poor Subjects oppressed by Power of which We rest assured the greater part remain Loyal to Us and so deserving Our Protection And We hope that at a nearer distance of place there may be begot so right an understanding between Us and Our People that at length We may obtain a Treaty for Peace and a full free and peaceable Convention in Parliament and therein make an end of these unhappy Differences by a good Accommodation In which We hereby assure all Our People upon Our Royal Word and the Faith of a Christian which is the greatest Security We can give them that We will insist only upon the setling and continuance of the true Reformed Protestant Religion Our own undoubted known Rights the Privileges of Parliament and Our Subjects Liberty and Property according to the Laws of the Land and to have all these settled in a full and free Parliament whereby the Armies on both sides may be presently disbanded this Kingdom may be secured from the danger of a Conquest by Foreign Forces all Strangers now in Arms may return to their own Countries and Our poor Subjects be freed of those grievous burthens which by reason of the late Distractions have much against Our Will too much pressed them And to the end Our Subjects may no longer be misled be false pretences We do desire all of them as well in Our own Quarters as where the Rebels have usurped a Power to take into serious consideration the Duty and Loyalty which by the Law of God and their Oath of Allegiance they owe unto Us and more particularly that part thereof which concerns the Defence of Our Person and Assistance of Us against Rebels and such as rise in Arms against Us which they may find plainly set down in the Statute of the II. year of King Henry the Seventh Cap. 1. And We do hereby require Our Subjects within Our own Quarters through or near which We shall pass by that Duty they owe to Us and their Country that they forthwith prepare themselves with the best Arms they can get to be ready and joyn and go along with Us in this present Expedition We resolving to take special care to place them under the Command of Gentlemen of Quality of their own Countries to their good content and satisfaction And we likewise require and authorize all Our good Subjects as well the Trained Bands as others of Our City of London and Our Southern and Eastern Counties to chuse their own Commanders and Leaders amongst those Gentlemen and Citizens that are of approved Loyalty to Us and Lovers of the Peace of their Country and upon Our approach towards those parts to put themselves into Arms and march in warlike manner to assist Us in this good Work and free themselves from the Tyranny of their fellow-Subjects under which they groan commanding and authorizing them to seize such places of Strength in those Southern and Eastern Counties as the Rebels have possessed themselves of to oppose with force of Arms such Persons as shall resist them in obeying these Our Commands and to apprehend and secure the Persons of all such as shall endeavour to continue this Rebellion and to hinder the settling of the Peace of this Kingdom in a full and free Convention of Parliament the only visible means lest by blessing of God to redeem this Nation from utter Ruine wherein We will afford Our utmost Protection and Safety unto all Our Subjects that shall give Obedience to these Our Commands And as We doubt not but that all Our good Subjects will come chearfully to Our assistance for so good an end beyond which We do not require it so We trust that God who hath hitherto wonderfully preserved Us will crown this Action with happy Success for his Glory and the welfare of this poor Nation Given at Our Court at Chard the thirtieth day of September 1644. God Save the KING By the King A Proclamation for a Solemn Fast on Wednesday the Fifth of February next upon occasion of the present Treaty for Peace VVHereas Almighty God in his Justice to punish the Common and Crying Sins of the Land hath sent a Civil Sword throughout all Our Dominions which hath miserably wasted and threatens a speedy and utter Desolation to the same and now in the height of these Calamities a Treaty is assented to to begin at Vxbridge on Thursday the Thirtieth day of this instant January touching
Members of either House of Parliament who have not only deserted the Parliament but have also Voted both Kingdoms Traitors may be removed from His Majesty's Councils and be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Kingdoms bear any Office or have any employment concerning the State or Commonwealth And also that the Members of either House of Parliament who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and not rendred themselves before the last of October 1644. may be removed from His Majesty's Councils and be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament bear any Office or have any employment concerning the State or Common-wealth And in case any of them shall offend therein to be guilty of high Treason and incapable of any Pardon by His Majesty and their Estates to be disposed as both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland respectively shall think fit 5. That by Act of Parliament all Judges and Officers towards the Law Common or Civil who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof be made incapable of any place of Judicature or Office towards the Law Common or Civil and that all Serjeants Councellors and Attourneys Doctors Advocates and Proctors of the Law Common or Civil who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof be made incapable of any practice in the Law Common or Civil either in publick or in private And that they and likewise all Bishops Clergy-men and other Ecclesiastical persons who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof shall not be capable of any preferment or imployment either in Church or Commonwealth without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament 6. The persons of all others to be free of all personal censure notwithstanding any Act or thing done in or concerning this War they taking the Covenant 7. The Estates of those persons excepted in the first three preceding qualifications to pay publick Debts and Damages 8. A third part in full value of the Estates of the persons made incapable of any imployment as aforesaid to be imployed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages according to the Declaration 9. And likewise a tenth part of the Estates of all other Delinquents within the joynt Declarations And in case the Estates and proportions aforementioned shall not suffice for the payment of the publick engagements whereunto they are only to be employed that then a new proportion may be appointed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms providing it exceed not the one moity of the Estates of the persons made incapable as aforesaid and that it exceed not a sixth part of the Estate of the other Delinquents 10. That the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of England who in Lands or Goods be not worth 200 l. sterling and the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of Scotland who in Lands or Goods be not worth 100 l. sterling be at liberty and discharged 11. That an Act be passed whereby the Debts of the Kingdom and the Persons of Delinquents and the value of their Estates may be known and which Act shall appoint in what manner the Confiscations and proportions before mentioned may be levied and applyed to the discharge of the said engagements XV. That by Act of Parliament the Subjects of the Kingdom of England may be appointed to be Armed Trained and Disciplined in such manner as both Houses shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit XVI That an Act of Parliament be passed for the setling of the Admiralty and Forces at Sea and for the raising of such Moneys for maintenance of the said Forces and of the Navy as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit XVII An Act for the settling of all Forces both by Sea and Land in Commissioners to be nominated by both Houses of Parliament of persons of known Integrity and such as both Kingdoms may confide in for their faithfulness to Religion and the Peace of the Kingdoms of the House of Peers and of the House of Commons who shall be removed or altered from time to time as both Houses shall think fit and when any shall die others to be nominated in their places by the said Houses Which Commissioners shall have power 1. To suppress any Forces raised without Authority of both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliaments without consent of the said Commissioners to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms and to suppress any Foreign Forces that shall invade this Kingdom And that it shall be high Treason in any who shall levy any Force without such Authority or consent to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms any Commission under the great Seal or Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding and they to be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty and their Estates to be disposed of as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit 2. To preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbance of the publick Peace that may rise by occasion of the late Troubles so for the Kingdom of Scotland 3. To have power to send part of themselves so as they exceed not a third part or be not under the number of to reside in the Kingdom of Scotland to assist and Vote as single persons with the Commissioners of Scotland in those matters wherein the Kingdom of Scotland is only concerned so for the Kingdom of Scotland 4. That the Commissioners of both Kingdoms may meet as a joynt Committee as they shall see cause or send part of themselves as aforesaid to do as followeth 1. To preserve the Peace betwixt the Kingdoms and the King and every one of them 2. To prevent the violation of the Articles of Peace as aforesaid or any troubles arising in the Kingdoms by breach of the said Articles and to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the same according to the Treaty and to do further accordingly as they shall respectively receive Instructions from both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland and in the Intervals of Parliaments from the Commissioners for the preservation of the publick Peace 3. To raise and joyn the Forces of both Kingdoms to resist all Foreign Invasion and to suppress any Forces raised within any of the Kingdoms to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms by any authority under the great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without consent of both Houses of Parliament in England and the
offered any such particular Form of Government to us that may inable us to judge thereof and we cannot but observe that the Arguments produced to that purpose were only to prove the same not unlawful without offering to prove it absolutely necessary And therefore we conceive our Answer formerly given to your Lordships concerning that Bill and your Propositions concerning Religion is a just and reasonable Answer After the first three days of the Treaty spent upon the business of Religion according to the Order formerly prescribed the Propositions concerning the Militia were next Treated upon the three days following beginning the fourth of February and the same was after resumed the 14 th of February for other three days Their Propositions touching the Militia 4. February WE desire that by Act of Parliament the Subjects of the Kingdom of England may be appointed to be Armed Trained and Disciplined in such manner as both Houses shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit We desire that an Act of Parliament be passed for the settling of the Admiralty and Forces at Sea and for the raising of such moneys for maintenance of the said Forces and of the Navy as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit An Act for the settling of all Forces by Sea and Land in Commissioners to be nominated by both Houses of Parliament of Persons of known Integrity and such as both Kingdoms may confide in for their faithfulness to the Religion and Peace of the Kingdom of the House of Peers and of the House of Commons who shall be removed or altered from time to time as both Houses shall think fit and when any shall dye others to be nominated in their places by the said Houses Which Commissioners shall have power 1. To suppress any Forces raised without Authority of both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliaments without consent of the said Commissioners to the disturbance of the publick Peace of these Kingdoms and to suppress any Foreign Forces that shall invade this Kingdom And that it shall be high Treason in any who shall levy any Forces without such Authority or consent to the disturbance of the Publick peace of the Kingdom any Commission under the great Seal or other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding and they to be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty and their Estates to be disposed of as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit 2. To preserve the Peace now to be setled and to prevent all disturbances of the publick Peace that may arise by occasion of the late Troubles So for the Kingdom of Scotland 3. To have power to send part of themselves so as they exceed not a third part or be not under the number of to reside in the Kingdom of Scotland to assist and vote as single persons with the Commissioners of Scotland in those matters wherein the Kingdom of Scotland is only concerned So for the Kingdom of Scotland 4. That the Commissioners of both Kingdoms may meet as a joynt Committee as they shall see cause or send part of themselves as aforesaid to do as followeth 1. To preserve the Peace betwixt the Kingdoms and the King and every one of them 2. To prevent the violation of the Articles of Peace as aforesaid or any Troubles arising in the Kingdoms by breach of the said Articles and to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the same according to the Treaty and to do further according as they shall respectively receive Instructions from both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of Parliament in Scotland and in the Intervals of Parliaments from the Commissioners for the preservation of the publick Peace 3. To raise and joyn the Forces of both Kingdoms to resist all Foreign Invasion and to suppress any Forces raised within any of the Kingdoms to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms by any Authority under the great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without consent of both Houses of Parliament in England and the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland or the said Commissioners of that Kingdom whereof they are Subjects And that in those Cases of joynt Concernment to both Kingdoms the Commissioners to be directed to be there all or such part as aforesaid to act and direct as joynt Commissioners of both Kingdoms We desire that the Militia of the City of London may be in the ordering and government of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Common-Councel assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the time being to be three And that the Militia of the Parishes without London and the Liberties within the Weekly Bills of Mortality may be under the command of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Common-Councel of the said City to be ordered in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament We desire that the Tower of London may be in the government of the City of London and the chief Officer and Governour thereof from time to time be nominated and removeable by the Common-Councel And that the Citizens or Forces of London shall not be drawn out of the City into any other parts of the Kingdom without their own consent and that the drawing of their Forces into other parts of the Kingdom in these distracted times may not be drawn into example for the future After these Propositions made the King's Commissioners for their Information concerning these Propositions gave in several Papers The King's Commissioners Paper 4. February VVE conceive the Propositions delivered by your Lordships concerning the Militia import very great Alterations in the main foundation of the Frame of Government of this Kingdom taking by express words or by necessary consequence the whole Military and Civil power out of the Crown without any limitation in Time or reparation proposed Therefore we desire to know for what term you intend the Militia shall be settled in such manner as may be a reasonable and full Security which we are ready and desirous to give to preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbances of the publick Peace that may arise by occasion of the late Troubles For the better doing whereof we are ready by Conference to satisfie your Lordships in any particulars Their Answer 4. February OUR Paper given in to your Lordships concerning the Militia doth not contain the Alterations mentioned in your Lordships Answer but desires that which by the Wisdom of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms is judged necessary at this time for the security of His Majesty's Kingdoms and preservation of the Peace now to be settled and until your Lordships shall declare an Assent unto the matter therein expressed we conceive it will not
have therein received from His Majesty we conceive it not proper for us to communicate to your Lordships nor have we any warrant so to do Their Reply 17. Feb. VVE again desire of your Lordships to know whether you be limited by any Instructions or Directions what to grant or deny unto us concerning the Militia and that we may have a sight of such Instructions or Directions and which we conceive your Lordships in Justice and Reason cannot deny seeing by your Papers and Debates your insisted that it was just and reasonable for us to let you know whether we had any power by our Instructions to consent to a limitation of Time which we did accordingly And your Lordships seventh Paper this day delivered gives no Answer or satisfaction to our former Demand herein The King's Commissioners Answer 17. Feb. VVE conceive it was just and reasonable for us to demand of your Lordships whether you had power by your Instructions to consent to a limitation of Time concerning the Militia because the Time is left indefinite and not expressed in the Propositions And your Lordships Commission which gives you power to Treat relating to Instructions they are thereby part of your Power and yet your Lordships to that our Demand have given no other Answer than That by your Instructions you were to insist to have the Time unlimited but have not answered whether you had power to consent to a limitation of Time And we desire your Lordships to remember that formerly upon our desire to see your Instructions that thereby we might see what Power was granted to you by your Paper of the last of January your Lordships did answer it was that for which you had no warrant and it appearing to your Lordships that our Commission hath no reference to Instructions we conceive that your Lordships cannot expect any other Answer than we have already given to your Lordships Demand touching any Instructions or Directions to us what to deny or consent to grant in the Militia assuring your Lordships that we shall not deny but willingly consent to grant whatsoever shall be therein requisite for a full security for observing the Articles of the Treaty or otherwise agreeable to Justice or Reason Touching the Power which should be given to the Commissioners for the Militia The King's Commissioners Paper 14. Feb. VVE desire to know what Authority the Commissioners nominated by the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland are to have in the Militia of this Kingdom and what influence the Orders and Advice from the Estates of the Parliament there shall have upon this Kingdom and how far the same is to be consented or submitted to here Their Answer 14. Feb. YOur Lordships Desire expressed in your second Paper this day may be fully satisfied by the Propositions concerning the Militia where the Authority of the Commissioners to be nominated is clearly expressed both in cases of several and of joynt concernment of the Kingdoms and if upon perusal thereof any Doubts shall occur to your Lordships we are ready by Conference to clear the same The King's Commissioners Paper 15. Feb. VVE do not conceive that the Authority of the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and in both Kingdoms is clearly expressed in your Lordships Propositions and therefore we desire to be informed whether your Lordships intend that the Commissioners of Scotland shall have any Power in the setling of all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom and what Authority they shall have Their Paper 15. Feb. WE do conceive that the Authority of the Commissions of both Kingdoms and in both Kingdoms is clearly expressed in our Propositions by which it doth appear how they are to act as several or as joynt Commissioners And if your Lordships shall propound any Objections against our Propositions concerning the Militia of both Kingdoms we are ready upon Conference to give your Lordships satisfaction The King's Commissioners Paper 15. Feb. WE desire to know whether in that part of the Proposition wherein the Commissioners of both Kingdoms are appointed to meet as a joynt Committee and to receive Instructions in the Intervals of Parliament from the Commissioners for the preservation of the publick Peace your Lordships mean the Commissioners to be nominated according to these Propositions or the Commissioners intended by the Act of Pacification or what other Commissioners and what Jurisdiction you intend the said Commissioners of both Kingdoms shall have by the power given them to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the breach of the Articles of the Peace according to the Treaty and by what Law they shall proceed to hear and determine the same Their Answer 15. Feb. WE intend that the Commissioners are to be nominated according to the Propositions and are to proceed in such manner as is therein expressed and if your Lordships shall make any Objections hereupon we are ready by Conference to give you satisfaction Their further Answer 15. Feb. FOR further answer to your Lorships second Paper we conceive that the matter of the Jurisdiction to be exercised by the Commissioners is expressed in the Proposition and for the manner of exercising that Jurisdiction and by what Law they shall proceed to hear and determine the same are to be settled by the two Houses of the Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively The King's Commissioners Paper 15. Feb. VVE desire to receive a perfect and full Answer from your Lordships to our first and * second Papers delivered by us this morning to your Lordships and whether your Lordships intend that the Commissioners of Scotland shall have any Power and Authority in the settling of all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom and what Authority they shall have and whether the Advice or Orders of the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland shall have any influence upon the affairs of this Kingdom or the Commissioners to be named according to these Propositions otherwise than as the said Advice or Orders shall be approved and confirmed by the two Houses of Parliament of England and what Jurisdiction you intend the Commissioners shall have who are to determine all differences that may occasion the breach of the Articles of Peace and by what Law or Rule they shall proceed try and judge in the hearing and determining the same And it is most necessary for us to desire satisfaction from your Lordships to these particulars in writing since the Answer we shall give to your Lordships upon so much of your Propositions will very much depend upon our clear understanding your Lordships in these particulars it being agreed between us that nothing shall be binding or taken as agreed upon but what shall be in writing on either part Their Answer 17. Feb. VVE conceive there is a full Answer already given by us in several Papers of the 14. of this instant to the former parts of your Paper delivered in on the 15. day and to
His Majesty and the two Houses of the Parliament of England and by His Majesty and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively and not otherwise At the same time the Scotch Commissioners from themselves apart delivered in this Paper signed by their own Secretary only all the other Papers being signed by two Secretaries for the English and Scotch Commissioners 21. Feb. VVE the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland do declare that our Consent to the Paper given in this day concerning the limitation of the Power of the Militia in Commissioners according to the 17 th Proposition to continue for seven years from the time of the passing of the Act for the Militia and after the expiration of that term to be settled in such manner as shall be agreed upon by His Majesty and the two Houses of the Parliament of England and by His Majesty and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively and not otherwise is to be understood as followeth That we will represent the same to the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland or their Committees to which we are confident they will assent as that which is conceived to conduce to a happy Agreement and settling of a firm and blessed Peace The King's Commissioners Answer 22. Feb. VVE have hitherto conceived that this Treaty hath been betwixt us that are appointed Commissioners by His Majesty and your Lordships the Commissioners from the two Houses of the Parliament of England and your Lordships the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland joyntly and not severally But finding that your Lordships the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland have delivered to us a distinct Paper signed only by your Secretary of the twentieth of Feb. concerning the Militia and that not concurring with the other joynt Paper delivered and subscribed by both your Secretaries upon that Subject that day we desire to know whether the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland have a negative voice or have not power to conclude without farther power to be granted from the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland and expect in this Treaty to be severally Treated with And after your Lordships Answer to this Paper we shall be able to give your Lordships a farther Answer to your joynt Paper of the 20 th of February Their paper 122. Feb. THE Treaty is betwixt us that are the Commissioners of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms joyntly and not severally and your Lordships the Commissioners from His Majesty and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland did joyn with the Committees of the two Houses of the Parliament of England in giving in the other joynt Paper concerning the Militia delivered yesterday subscribed by both Secretaries But seeing it contains an alteration limiting the time to seven years which in the former Propositions agreed to by both Parliaments is indefinite they did declare that they are confident the Parliament of Scotland will assent thereto and they have shewed your Lordships sufficient Power to conclude any thing by them agreed unto The King's Commissioners Paper 22. Feb. WE cannot rest satisfied with your Lordships Answer to our Paper delivered to you this day concerning your Lordships the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland it being indeed but a repetition of your Lordships Paper and no Answer to ours thereupon and it being very necessary for us to know whether the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland have a negative voice and whether they have not power to conclude without farther powers to be granted from the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland Upon the Answer to which we must the rather insist because your Lordships last Paper gives the reason of the distinct Paper delivered to us from the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland to be because the limitation of Time now offered differs from the Propositions agreed on by both Parliaments in which the Time is indefinite which seems to us to intimate that your Lordships who are the Commissioners from the Parliament of Scotland have not power to consent to any alteration from the said Proposition without first acquainting the Parliament of Scotland although the other joynt Paper delivered upon that Subject be signed by both your Secretaries and thereby it is evident that it much concerns us to know whether the said Commissioners have a negative voice in this Treaty For the matter of your Lordships Paper concerning the limitation of time for the Militia to seven years it is not possible by reason of this shortness of time for the Treaty it being ten of the clock this night when your Paper was delivered to give your Lordships a full Answer it being necessary for us to receive satisfaction from your Lordships in writing or by Conference whether by the words and not otherwise your Lordships intend that after the expiration of the time limited His Majesty shall not exercise the Legal Power which He now hath over the Militia before the same be agreed upon by His Majesty and the two Houses of the Parliament of England and by His Majesty and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively For which resolution and debate we heartily wish the time were sufficient being very willing to give your Lordships all reasonable satisfaction And therefore we do propose to your Lordships that if the Treaty may not now continue it may be adjourned for such time as you shall think fit and not totally dissolved but again resumed which we propose as the best Expedient now left us for the procuring of a blessed Peace and by it the preservation of this now miserable Kingdom from utter Ruine and Desolation After this about two of the clock the next morning they gave this Paper following which is here mentioned to be delivered upon their breaking up the Treaty and intended for an Answer to the Paper of the 17. of February n o 129. Their Paper 22. Feb. VVE conceive if your Lordships would weigh our Demands concerning the Power of the Commissioners of both Kingdoms you will be satisfied with our Answers to your several Questions Where any Doubts were of the expressions we did explain them and where the Propositions were so clear as they could bear no doubtful sense we did refer your Lordships to the Propositions themselves And we conceive our Demands concerning the Militia to be most reasonable and all Objections made against them to be by us removed And why your Lordships should insist that the Commissioners should not be nominated by the two Houses only and His Majesty who is to be equally secured should name none we much marvel at when you may well consider this Power was not to be exercised by the Commissioners until a Peace had been concluded upon this Treaty and then His Majesty had been fully secured by the Laws of the Kingdom and by the Duties and Affections of His Subjects neither could the Commissioners do any thing in violation of the Peace to the prejudice of His Majesty contrary to
Commissioners should have the Power but for seven years yet We should not have it after those seven years nor at any time unless they and We could agree in it so much would they have gained by this seeming compliance in point of limitation of this Power to a time though not to that time of three years which We proposed But they justifie the Reasonableness of it for whereas Our Commissioners in their Paper to which this of theirs is applied as an Answer tell them that if the time for this Power be unlimited We and Our Posterity shall for ever part with Our peculiar Regall Power of being able to resist Our Enemies or protect Our good Subjects and with that undoubted and never-denied Right of the Crown to make War and Peace or ever more to have Jurisdiction over Our own Navy and Fleet at Sea the Command thereof being also a part of this great Power to be given to these Commissioners they answer plainly They cannot admit of this peculiar Regall Power which Our Commissioners mention to reside in Vs concerning the Militia and to make Peace and War or that it is otherwise to be exercised then by Authority from Vs and both Houses of the Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively We approve of their ingenuity that now at the breaking off of the Treaty they tell Us in plain terms what they mean Though the Common-Law-books and Records of Parliament have mentioned that the sole Power of protecting the Subjects belongs to the King and that He alone hath Power to make Peace and War though it hath been the language of former Parliaments even of the last Parliament and at the beginning of this Parliament That the Power of Peace and War is in the King but if He will have Money from His Subjects to maintain the Wars He must have their Consents and though the universal consent and common Opinion heretofore hath gone accordingly yet they cannot admit thereof as to have been Our Right for the Answer is made to the assertion concerning Our Right And not admitting it it seems their Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy to defend Our Crown and Dignity and to assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges and Authorities belonging to Us oblige them not And as they do not admit this Power in Right to have been in Us alone for the time past so neither will they admit it for the time to come in Us or Our Successors to be able to resist Our Enemies or protect Our Subjects or to make Peace or War but it must be by Authority from Vs and the two Houses and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively They are to be associated in these Regal Powers and the Scepter and the Sword may in Pictures or Statues but are not in deed to be in the Kings hand alone Upon these grounds We wonder not that they would have the Navy and Fleet at Sea to be put into the hands of their Commissioners for seven years as the Militia for the Land and after the seven years to be commanded in such manner as they and We should agree and not otherwise for the say the Reasons are the same for them as for the Militia by Land It is a principal means they say of their security and We cannot find they think themselves to have any security if We and Our Successors have any Power But if We will part with Our Power wholly unto them We and Our Posterity shall be fully secured by the Affections of Our Subjects that is by the Lords and Commons now at VVestminster who in their sense represent all the People who by themselves during the Parliament or when they shall please to make any Recesses by their Commissioners during the Intervals will free Us from the burthen of the Militia and of Our Navy and so of protecting Our Subjects and will save Us the Charge of Our Navy because it is to be principally maintained by the free gift of the Subject out of Tonnage and Poundage and other Impositions upon Merchandise And having taken this care for Our Security suitable to all their Actions these three years last past they say that for security of those who have been with Vs in the War an Act of Oblivion is desired to be passed whereby all Our Subjects would have been put in one and the same condition and under the same protection with some Exceptions mentioned in the Propositions We are not willing to mention those Exceptions by which not only most of Our best Subjects who have been with Us in the War according to their Duties by express or general terms are excepted but all the Estates of some of them and a great part of the Estates of the rest of them for that very cause because they were with Us in the War are to be forfeited As for securing them by an Act of Oblivion they have less cause to desire it than they who propose it as being more secured by the Conscience of doing their Duties and the protection of the known Common Law of the Land if it might take place than any protection under the two Houses or their Commissioners for the Militia yet we were not unwilling for the security of all Our Subjects to have assented to an Act of Oblivion being willing as much as in Us lies to have made up these Breaches and buried the memory of these unhappy Divisions It was urged by Our Commissioners that according to the literal sense of the Propositions in the Powers given to the Commissioners for the Militia That Sheriffs and Justices of Peace and other legal Ministers could not raise the Posse Comitatus or Forces to suppress Riots without being liable to the interpretation of the Commissioners To this they answer That this is no part of the Militia to be exercised by the Commissioners but in executing of Justice and legal Process nor can be intended to be any disturbance but for the preservation of the Peace We shall admit that to be their meaning but it being by the Propositions made Treason in any who shall levy any Forces without Authority or consent of the Commissioners to the disturbance of the publick Peace it is apparent that the Sheriffs or Justices of Peace if they raise any Forces to suppress any tumultuous Assembly which it is possible some of the Commissioners may countenance or for executing of other legal Acts may not only be liable to the interpretation of being disturbers of the Publick Peace but feel the punishment of it And whereas they say That the Power given by the Propositions to the Commissioners for the Militia of both Kingdoms as a joynt Committee for the hearing and determining Civil Actions and Differences cannot be extended further than preservation of the Articles of the Peace to be made We conceive that a Court being thereby allowed to them for the hearing and determining of Civil matters for the preservation of
will bear IV. That according to the seventh Head in the said Declaration an effectual course may be taken that the Kingdom may be righted and satisfied in point of Accounts for the vast sums that have been levied V. That provision may be made for payment of Arrears to the Army and the rest of the Soldiers of the Kingdom who have concurred with the Army in the late Desires and Proceedings thereof and in the next place for payment of the Publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom and that to be performed first to such persons whose Debts or Damages upon the Publick Account are great and their Estates small so as they are thereby reduced to a difficulty of subsistence In order to all which and to the fourth particular last preceding we shall speedily offer some farther particulars in the nature of Rules which we hope will be of good use towards publick satisfaction August 1. 1647. Signed by the appointment of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax and the Council of War Jo. Rushworth Secret Propositions presented to His MAJESTY at Hampton-Court upon Tuesday the seventh of September 1647. by the Earls of Pembroke and Lauderdale Sir Charles Erskin Sir John Holland Sir John Cooke Sir James Harrington Mr. Richard Browne Mr. Hugh Kenedy and Mr. Robert Berkley in the names of the Parliament of England and in behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland May it please your Majesty WE the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland do humbly present unto Your Majesty the humble Desires and Propositions for a safe and well grounded Peace agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively unto which We do pray Your Majesties Assent and that they and all such Bills as shall be tendred to Your Majesty in pursuance of them or any of them may be established and Enacted for Statutes and Acts of Parliament by Your Majesties Royal Assent in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively Heads of the Propositions presented to the King's Majesty for a safe and well-grounded Peace 1. His Majesty to call in his Declarations and Proclamations against the Parliaments of both Kingdoms 2. His Majesty to sign the Covenant 3. To pass a Bill for abolishing Bishops 4. To pass a Bill for Sale of Bishops Lands 5. To confirm the sitting of the Assembly 6. Religion to be reformed as the Houses agree 7. Such Vniformity of Religion to be passed in an Act. 8. An Act passed against Popish Recusants 9. For Education of the Children of Papists 10. For laying Penalties upon Papists 11. An Act for prevention of Popish practices And the like for the Kingdom of Scotland 12. For the Royal Assent to Acts for the Lords day for preaching against Innovations regulating Colledges and for publick Debts and Damages The like for Scotland 13. to pass the settling of the Militia and Navy 14. To null the old Great Seal 15. For settling of Conservators for the Peace of the Kingdoms 16. The joynt Declarations and the Qualifications against Malignants 17. An Act to be passed to declare and make void the Cessation of Ireland and all Treaties and Conclusions of Peace with the Irish Rebels 18. The settling of the Militia of the City of London 19. The Great Seal with the Commissioners of Parliament and all Acts by it to be made good His MAJESTIES Answer to the Propositions of both Houses Hampton-Court Sept. 9. 1647. For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be communicated to both Houses of the Parliament of England and the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty cannot chuse but be passionately sensible as he believes all his good Subjects are of the late great Distractions and still languishing and unsetled State of this Kingdom and he calls God to Witness and is willing to give testimony to all the World of his readiness to contribute his utmost Endeavours for restoring it to a happy and flourishing Condition His Majesty having perused the Propositions now brought to him finds them the same in effect which were offered to him at Newcastle To some of which as he could not then consent without violation of his Conscience and Honour so neither can he agree to others now conceiving them in many respects more disagreeable to the present condition of Affairs then when they were formerly presented unto him as being destructive to the main principal Interests of the Army and of all those whose Affections concur with them And his Majesty having seen the Proposals of the Army to the Commissioners from his two Houses residing with them and with them to be Treated on in order to the clearing and securing the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and the setling of a just and lasting Peace to which Proposals as he conceives his two Houses not to be strangers so he believes they will think with him that they much more conduce to the satisfaction of all Interests and may be a fitter foundation for a lasting Peace than the Propositions which at this time are tendered unto him He therefore propounds as the best way in his Judgment in order to a Peace that his two Houses would instantly take into consideration those Proposals upon which there may be a Personal Treaty with his Majesty and upon such other Propositions as his Majesty shall make hoping that the said Proposals may be so moderated in the said Treaty as to render them the more capable of his Majesties full Concession wherein he resolves to give full satisfaction unto his People for whatsoever shall concern the setling of the Protestant Profession with Liberty to tender Consciences and the securing of the Laws Liberties and Properties of all his Subjects and the just Priviledges of Parliament for the future And likewise by his present deportment in this Treaty he will make the World clearly judge of his Intentions in matter of future Government In which Treaty his Majesty will be well pleased if it be thought fit that Commissioners from the Army whose the Proposals are may likewise be admitted His Majesty therefore conjures his two Houses of Parliament by the Duty they owe to God and his Majesty their King and by the bowels of Compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects both for the relief of their present Sufferings and to prevent future Miseries that they will forthwith accept of this his Majesties Offer whereby the joyful news of Peace may be restored to this distressed Kingdom And for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland mentioned in the Propositions His Majesty will very willingly Treat upon those particulars with the Scotch Commissioners and doubts not but to give reasonable satisfaction to that his Kingdom Given at Hampton-Court the ninth of September 1647. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses left by Him on His
Days then the Duke had done in so many Months before But in the mean while Rochel was barricadoed to an impossibility of Relief Therefore the Earl of Lindsey who commanded the Forces after some gallant yet fruitless attempts returned to England and the Rochellers to the Obedience of the French King As Providence had removed the great Object of the Popular hate and as was pretended the chief Obstruction of the Subjects Love to their King the Duke of Buckingham so the King Himself labours to remove all other occasions of quarrel before the next Session He restores Archbishop Abbot who for his remissness in the Discipline of the Church had been suspended from his Office and was therefore the Darling of the Commons because in disgrace with the King so contrary are the affections of a corrupted State to those of their Governours to the administration of it again Dr Potter the great Calvinist was made Bishop of Carlisle Mr Mountague's Book of Appello Caesarem was called in Proclamations were issued out against Papists Sir Thomas Wentworth an active Leader of the Commons was toward the beginning of this Session as Sir John Savil had been at the end of the last called up into the Lord's House being made Viscount Wentworth and Lord President of the North. But the Honours of these Persons whose Parts the King who well understood Men thought worthy of His Favour and Employment seeming the rewards of Sedition and the spoils of destructive Counsels the Demagogues were more eager in the pursuit of that which these had attained unto by the like arts And therefore despising all the King 's obliging Practices in the next Session they assumed a Power of reforming Church and State called the Customers into question for Levying Tonnage and Poundage made now their Invectives as they formerly did against the Duke against the Lord Treasurer Weston so that it appeared that not the Persons of Men but the King's trust of them was the object of their Envy and His Favour though never so Vertuous marked them out for Ruine And upon these Points they raised the Heat to such a degree that fearing they should be dissolved e're they had time to vent their Passions they began a Violence upon their own Body an Example which lasted longer then their Cause and at last produced the overthrow of all their Priviledges They lock'd the Doors of the House kept the Key thereof in one of their own Pockets held the Speaker by strong Hand in the Chair till they had thundred out their Votes like dreadful Anathemaes against those that should levy and which was more ranting against such as should willingly pay the Tonnage and Poundage This Force the King went with His Guard of Pensioners to remove which they hearing adjourned the House and the King in the House of Lords declaring the Injustice of those Vipers who destroyed their own Liberties dissolved the Parliament While the Winds of Sedition raged thus furiously at home more gentle gales came from abroad The French King's Designs upon other Places required Peace from us and therefore the Signiory of Venice by her Ambassadors was moved to procure an Accord betwixt Charles and Lewis An. 1629 which the King accepted And not long after the Spaniard pressed with equal necessities desired Amity which was also granted The King being thus freed from His Domestick Embroilments and Foreign Enmities soon made the World see His Skill in the Arts of Empire and rendred Himself abroad more considerable then any of His Predecessors And He was more glorious in the Eyes of the good and more satisfied in His own Breast by confirming Peace with Prudence then if He had finished Wars with destroying Arms. So that His Scepter was the Caduceus to arbitrate the differences of the Potentates of Europe His Subjects likewise tasted the sweetness of a Reign which Heaven did indulge with all its favours but only that of valuing their Happiness While other Nations weltred in Blood His People enjoyed a Profound Peace and that Plenty which the freedom of Commerce brings along with it The Dutch and Easterlings used London as the surest Bank to preserve and increase their Trading The Spanish Bullion was here Coined which advantaged the King's Mint and encreased the Wealth of the Merchants who returned most of that Money in our Native Commodities While He dispensed these Blessings to the People An. 1630 Heaven was liberal to Him in giving Him a Son to inherit His Dominions May 29. An. 1630. which was so great matter of rejoycing to the People of uncorrupted minds that Heaven seemed also concerned in the Exultation kindling another Fire more than Ordinary making a Star to be seen the same day at noon From which most men presaged that that Prince should be of high Undertakings and of no common glory among Kings which hath since been confirmed by the miraculous preservation of Him and Heaven seemed to conduct Him to the Throne For this great Blessing the King gave publick Thanks to the Author of it Almighty God at St Paul's Church and God was pleased in a return to those thanks with a numerous Issue afterwards to increase this Happiness For neither Armies nor Navies are such sure props of Empire as Children are Time Fortune private Lusts or Errors may take off or change Friends but those that Nature hath united must have the same Interest especially in Royal Families in whose Prosperities strangers may have a part but their Adversities will be sure to crush their nearest Allies Prospering thus in Peace at home a small time assisted His frugality to get such a Treasure and gave Him leasure to form such Counsels as might curb the Insolence of His Enemies abroad He confederated with other Princes to give a check to the Austrian Greatness assisting by his Treasure Arms and Counsel the King of Sweden to deliver the oppressed German States from the Imperial Oppressions And when Gustavus's Fortune made him Insolent and he would impose unequal Conditions upon the Paltsgrave the King's Brother-in-law He necessitated him notwithstanding his Victories to more easie Articles The next year was notorious for two Tryals An. 1631 one of the Lord Audley Earl of Castlehaven who being accused by all the abused parts of his Family of a prodigious wickedness and unnatural uncleanness was by the King submitted to a Tryal by his Peers and by them being found guilty was condemned and his Nobility could be no patronage for his Crimes but in the King's eyes they appeared more horrid because they polluted that Order and was afterwards executed The other was of a Tryal of Combate at a Marshal's Court betwixt Donnold Lord Rey a Scottish High-lander and David Ramsey a Scottish Courtier The first accused the last to have sollicited him to a Confederacy with the Marquess Hamilton who was then Commander of some Forces in assistance of the King of Sweden in which Ramsey said all Scotland was ingaged but three and that their friends had gotten
Patience was not overcome nor his nature changed by the Reproaches of his Accusers answers with so brave a Presence of Spirit such firm Reasons and so clear an Eloquence that he whom the mercenary Tongues of their Lawyers had rendred as a Monster of men could not be found guilty of Treason either in the particulars or the whole So that his Enemies were filled with madness that their Charge of Crimes appeared no other then a Libel of Slanders and the dis-interessed Hearers were besides the pleasure they received to find so great Endowments polluted with no hainous Crimes sensible of the unhappiness of those who are Ministers of State among a Factious people where their prosperous Counsels are not rewarded and unsuccessfull though prudent are severely accused when they erre every one condemns them and their wise Advices few praise for those that are benefitted envy and such as are disappointed hate those that gave them And such seemed the Fate of this Excellent Counsellour whom nothing else but his great Parts his Master's Love and Trust had exposed to this Danger The Faction being obstructed this way by the Earl's Innocency and Abilities from taking away his Life move the House to proceed by a Bill of Attainder to the making a Law after the Fact whereby they Vote him guilty of High Treason yet adde a Caution that it should not be drawn into a Precedent seeking to secure themselves from a return of that Injustice upon themselves which they acted on him intending to prosecute what they falsly charged him with the Alteration of Government Which yet passed not without a long debate and contention for many that had none but honest hopes disdained to administer to the Interest of the Faction in the blood of so much Innocent Gallantry and those that were prudent saw how such an Example opened the avenues to ruine of the best Persons when once exposed to publick hatred Therefore they earnestly disswaded such a proceed And fifty nine of the most eminent openly dissented when it came to the Vote whose Names were afterwards posted and marked for the fury of the Rabble that for the future they might not oppose the designs of the Factious unless they desired to be torn in pieces In two dayes the Lower House past the Bill so swift were the Demagogues to shed blood but the Lords House was a little more deliberative the King having amongst them declared His sense of the Earl's Innocency of whose slow Resolves the Faction being impatient there came a seditious rabble of about 5 or 6000 of the dreggs of the people armed with Staves and Cudgels and other Instruments of Outrage instigated by the more unquiet Members both of the House of Commons and the City to the Parliament doors clamouring Justice Justice and the next day to raise their Fury there was a report spred among them of some endeavours to prepare an Escape for the Lieutenant of Ireland therefore with more fierceness they raised their clamours some objecting Treason to him others their Decay of Trade and each one either as he was instructed for some of the House of Commons would be among them to direct their Fury and to give some order to their Tumult that it might appear more terrible or the sense of his own necessities and lusts led him urged his different motives for Justice and at last heated by their own motion and noise they guard the doors of the House of Peers offer insolencies to the Lords especially the Bishops as they went in and threaten them if their Votes disagree from their clamours And when they had thus made an assault on the Liberty of the Parliament which yet was pretended to be so Sacred they afterward set upon the neighbouring Abbey-Church where forcing open the doors they brake down the Organs spoiled all the Vestments and Ornaments of the Worship from thence they fly to Court and disturb the Peace of it with their undecent and barbarous clamours and at last were raised to that impudency as to upbraid the King who from a Scaffold perswaded them as they passed by to a modest care of their own private affairs with an unfitness to reign When some Justices of the Peace according to the Law endeavoured to suppress those Tumults by imprisoning the most forward and bold Leaders they themselves were imprisoned by the Command of the Commons upon pretext of an injury offered to the Liberties of the Subject of which one was as they then dictated That every one might safely petition the Parliament yet when the Kentish men came to petition for something contrary to the Gust of the Faction they caused the City Gates to be shut upon them and when other Counties were meditating Addresses for Peace by threatnings they deterred them from such honest undertakings And when some prudent Persons minded the Demagogues how dishonourable it was for the Parliament not to suppress such Mutinies they replied that their friends ought rather to be thanked and caressed By these and other Arts having wholly overthrown the freedom of that Council and many withdrawing themselves from such Outrages when scarce the third part of the Peers were present the Faction of that House likewise passed the Bill the Dissenters being out-voted only by seven Voices Yet all this could not prevail upon the King though the Tumults were still high without and within He was daily sollicited by the Lords of his Palace who now looked upon the Earl as the Herd doth on an hurt Deer and they hoped his Blood would be the Lustration of the Court to leave the Earl as a Sacrifice to the Vulgar rage Nor did the King any ways yield till the Judges who were now obsequious to the pleasures of the Parliament declared he might do it by Law and the Earl by his own Letters devoted himself as a Victime for the publick Peace and His Majesty's safety and then overcome with Importunities on all hands and being abused by bad dealing of the Judges as Himself complained to the Bishop of London who answered That if the King in Conscience found him not guilty He ought not to pass the Bill but for matter of Law what was Treason he referred Him to the Judges who according to their Oath ought to carry themselves indifferently betwixt Him and His Subjects but the other four Bishops that were then consulted Durham Lincoln Carlisle and the Archbishop of Armagh were not so free as the Bishop of London was and therefore the King observed a special blessing of God upon him He at last with much reluctancy signed a Commission to some Lords to pass that Bill of Attainder and another for Continuation of the Parliament during the pleasure of the Two Houses The passing of these two Bills as some thought wounded the King's Greatness more than any thing He ever did The first because it cut off a most exquisite Instrument of Empire and a most faithful Servant and none did more make use of this to pollute His
command strict Watches to be kept in all suspected places Beacons to be new set up the Sea-marks to be watched and the Navy to be new rigged and fitted for the Sea New Plots were also discovered and strange and unheard-of Counsels to murder the most Eminent Patriots are brought to light A Taylor in a ditch hears some desperate Cavaliers contriving the Death of Mr. Pym. A Plaister also taken from a Plague-sore was sent into the House to the same person that the Infection first seising on a Member of the quickest senses might thence more impetuously diffuse it self upon all the most Grave Senators Such like plots as these and whatsoever could be devised were published to make the Vulgar think those demands of the Faction seem modest their dangers being so great which were very unjust And lest the King should at His coming into the North make use of that Magazine at Hull which at His own Charges He had provided for the Scotch Expedition for His own defence the Faction to secure that and the Town for their future purposes send down Sir John Hotham without any Order or Commission from either House of Parliament to seise on them This man of a fury and impudence equal to their commands when the King petitioned by the Gentlemen of Yorkshire to employ those Arms and that Ammunition for the Safety and Peace of that County where some of the Factious Members of Parliament had begun to form the like Seditions with those of London An. 1642 would have entred Hull April 23. insolently shut the Gates upon Him and would not permit Him though with but twenty Attendants for He offered to leave the Guard of Noblemen and Gentlemen which followed Him without The King thereupon proclaims him Traitor and by Letters complains of the Indignity and requires Satisfaction But the Faction rendred the Act so glorious that the House of Commons by their Votes approved what he had done without their Command and clamoured that the King had done them an injury in proclaiming so innocent a Member Traitor Ordered the Earl of Warwick to whom they had committed the Command of the Navy to land some men out of the Ships at Hull and to transport the Magazine there from thence to London An Order of Assistance was also given to several of their Confidents as a Committee of both Houses to reside at Hull and the Counties of York and Lincoln were commanded to execute their commands Besides they sent a Commission to Hotham to prosecute the Insolencies he had begun and kindle that War which took fire on the whole Nation and in a short space consumed him and his Son who were executed by the Instructors of his Villany For he fell under the same Fate which attends all the Instruments of Great Crimes to be Odious and suspected by those that made use of them Therefore they gave such a power to the Lord Fairfax in Yorkshire as did conclude the diminution and submission of Hotham to his Commands This caused him to reflect with grief and madness upon his first ministery to the Faction which appeared every day more monstrous to his Conscience being now spoiled of that Grandeur that he hoped would have been its reward and awakened by those Desolations in the whole Kingdom which followed it and were but as the Copies of his Original Treason Therefore he thought to expiate his former guilt by surrendring the Town to Him from whom he had detained it But his practices were discovered to the Faction by One whom they had sent thither in pretence to preach the Gospel but in truth secretly to search into the intrigues of his Counsels so that he perished in his design being neither stout nor wise enough in just enterprises nor of a pertinancy sufficient for a prosperous Perfidiousness And although in his Ruine the King observed how great a draught was offered to the highest thirst of Revenge yet He did truly bewail him and indeed he was so much the more to be pitied because his cruel Masters deluded him to a silence of their black Secrets with a false hope of Life till the Ax was upon his Neck So betraying his Soul to a surprise by his Spiritual enemies as his pretended Spiritual Guides had done his Body to them The Insolency of Hotham who acted according to his Instructions and late Commission beginning acts not usual in Peace nor justifiable by Law for he issued out Warrants for the Trained Bands to march into Hull with their Arms where he forced them to leave them and nakedly return to their homes that so they might be obnoxious to his Violence and the practices of the Committee which were sent down into the North to debauch the People in their Loyalty made the King intend His own Security by a Guard which the Gentry and Commonalty of Yorkshire that were witnesses of the Injury offered to their Prince did willingly and readily make up No sooner had the King expressed His intention of such a Guard but the Faction who were watchful of all opportunities of beginning a War and ingaging those that either through Fear or Weakness had hitherto submitted to their Impostures in a more obliging guilt for now the greatest part of the Peers who were of the most ancient Families and noblest Fortunes and a very great number of the House of Commons Persons of just hopes and fair Estates who perceiving the designs of the Disturbers scorned any longer to be their Slaves yet not thinking it safe to provoke the fury of the Vulgar Tumults by a present opposition had withdrawn from the Parliament to follow the King and His Fortune and every day some more were still falling off took this occasion to commence our Miseries and open those Sluces of Blood which polluted the whole Kingdom For upon the first Intelligence of it they filled the House of Commons and the City with Clamours that His Majesty had now taken Arms to the overthrow of them and the Protestant Religion and that they were not any longer to think the Happiness of the Kingdom did depend upon the King or any of the Regal Branches of that Stock that it would argue no want either of Duty or Modesty if they should depose Him By these Harangues they so heated the Parliament that was now more penurious than before in persons of Honour and Conscience to such a degree of Fury that unmindful how they themselves for eight months before upon impossible Fears and improbable Jealousies had taken a Guard they Resolved upon the Question that the King by taking to himself such a Guard did intend to levy War against the Parliament With an equal fury they issue out Commissions into all parts of the Kingdom and appoint certain days for all the Trained Bands to be put into a posture of War sending down some of their Members to see to the execution of these Commands and to seise on the Magazines in the several Counties To all these their violent and unjust
furiously designed who were now resolving to encrease our Miseries by Calling in the Scots to their assistance For though they pretended so highly to God's Cause as if they had the certainty of some Divine Revelation yet they would not trust Him for their Preservation notwithstanding their Pretences to his Cause had furnished them with so vast a Treasure and so mighty a Strength but would invite others to the Violation of most Sacred Oaths to sin against all Laws and every Rule of Justice that themselves might be secure in their Usurpations And that perfidious Party that then ruled in Scotland hoping for as great Advantages as their former Wickedness had yielded contrary to all Obligations which the King's Goodness had laid on them and their free and voluntary Execrations as was that of Alexander Lesley who lifting up His arms and hands to Heaven wished they might rot to his body before he died if ever he should heave them up hereafter or draw his Sword against so gude a King drew that people once more into Rebellion against their Prince and to make them more eager and think the Enterprize easie they first raised a Report that the King was deserted by most of His Nobility The Parliament at Oxford having by a Letter moved the Earl of Essex to endeavour Peace did also declare against this Invasion of the Scots by another Letter sent to them in which also they acquaint them with the falseness of their officious Lye and shew how inconsiderable a Number of Lords were with those that invited them in The King Himself writes also to put them in mind of their several Ingagements to be Quiet But with an Insolency fit for most perjured Souls they commanded the Letters to be burned by the hand of the Hangman A more secret falshood He also found in the Marquess Hamilton whose Treasons now came to be more suspected For His Majesty having written to him to use all his Power and Interest to keep his Country-men at home which had not been difficult for one of his Grandeur in that unquiet Nation he by some secret arts doth more inflame them and to cover his Perfidiousness flies from Scotland to Oxford as seeking a shelter for his Loyalty but indeed to be a Spy in the King's Counsels But his Treasons had out-stripp'd him and his Brother the Earl of Lanerick who came with him therefore they were both forbidden the Court. Lanerick not willing to tarry till a further Discovery gets out of Oxford flies to those at London and by them was employed in the Scotch Army which made Hamilton's Treachery more evident and he was sent Prisoner to Pendennis Castle But the dishonour of that Nation was in a great measure repaired by the Gallantry and Faithfulness of the Marquess Montrosse who being Commission'd by the King with an incredible Industry by small numbers of men won many Battels and overthrew well-formed Armies and had not the Fate of his Master which was to be betrayed by those He trusted been likewise common to him he had forced that Nation to Justice and Quiet But ere Montrosse could get his Commission the Scots were entred into England whose coming that it might be less odious to the People who now grew cold in their Zeal to the Cause and saw themselves deluded into so continued Dangers the Faction make use of such Frauds as should make the People either think them necessary Assistances or might divert their Thoughts from apprehending the Miseries they brought with them to this Nation therefore they invent new Slanders of the King and His Party That His Majesty did intend to translate Monarchy into a Tyranny that He would seize upon all their Estates who had any way opposed Him and make their Persons Slaves and that there was no hope of Pardon from Him who was so merciless that He would take away all their Liberties and Privileges as forfeited destroy the Protestant Religion and introduce Popery which at Oxford He did practise Himself and that all men must be forced to go to Mass As for His Party they set them out to be such Monsters that the lower sort of People doubted whether the Cavaliers had the shapes of men For sad Relations were Printed and Published of their Inhumanity and barbarous Murders That they did feast upon the Flesh of Men and that they fed their Dogs and their Horses with the same Diet to make them more fierce for the blood of the Godly Party that no man's house was so poor and mean that a Cavalier would think beneath his Rapine Thus they wrought upon the Melancholy Spirits of some by Fear For those of a Morose and Cholerick temper they had proper Divertisements they permitted to them a tumultuary Reformation to pull down the Pictures and Images of Christ the Virgin Mary and the Saints which with great Solemnity they committed to the Flames that they might suffer as it were another Martyrdom All Crosses though set up for Ornament and Use in the Streets of London and other places they pulled down they invade the Churches and there deface what their Humour or Rapine would call Superstition pull down the Organs tear the Surplices and all this was suffered to please the Rabble who delight in Violences and such Ostentations of their Fury and to make them in something or other guilty that they might despair of Pardon For others who were to be wrought upon by Religion they entertain them with Fasts publick Thanksgivings for slight Victories and solemn Spiritual Meetings as they called them where whatsoever the Faction dictated was commended by the Speakers to their unwary Hearers as the Oracles of Heaven and being thus wrapp'd up in those true Delights which accompany the Worship of God they were securely swallowed by them as Poyson when it is offered in a Sacramental Chalice To please their Ministers whom hitherto they had used as their Properties and Instruments of their Arts Presbytery is set up that they also might have an Imaginary Empire but it was not intended they should exercise it For the Pretensions of that to a Divine Right did so terrifie them who were resolved against all Government that was not subject unto or dependent on theirs that they presently raised all the other Sects Independents Erastians who for the most part were Lawyers that could not endure to hear of any Thunderbolts of Excommunication but what was heated in their own Forges Anabaptists Seekers and Atheists of which there were many sprung up who seeing how Religion was abused to carnal and unjust Ends began first to despise that and afterwards to deny God to write and declame against this new Polity as the most severe and absolute Tyranny under the Sun and the Tenth Persecution But this seeming Modesty of admitting a Church Government served their Ends for the present till they could acquire a greater strength in confidence of which they might slight the Terrors of the Law and the Anathema's of the Church The Liturgy
and the other hated his Vertues Some censured him of too much Heat and a Zeal for Discipline above the Patience of the Times But his greatest unhappiness was that he lived in a Factious Age and Corrupt State and under such a Prince whose Vertues not admitting an immediate approach for Accusations was to be wounded in those whom He did Caress But when Faction and Malice are worn out by time Posterity shall ingrave him in the Albe of the most Excellent Prelates the most indulgent Fathers of the Church and the most injured Martyrs His blood was accompanied with some tears that fell from those Eyes which expected a pleasure at his Death and it had been followed with a more general mourning had not the Publick Miseries and present fears of Ruine exacted all the Stock of Grief for other objects About this time the Faction clove into two Sects the Presbyterian and Independent which hitherto had been united under one name of Patriots or Godly had joyntly conspired War and disturbed the Peace and by various arts had acted all their lusts under the name and Authority of Parliament For they would either early in the morning before the House was full or late at night when those whose cares were most for the Publick were absent being assured of the Speaker propose and vote what served for their Design IF any thing contrary to it was about to be resolved in a full Assembly they by multitude of Scruples would so disturb the Debates that the determination was deferr'd to a desired Opportunity But if these failed then would they surprise the House with another Vote that should weaken and hinder the Execution of the former When the most consciencious were too numerous for them then would they make necessities to send the less pliant to their wills into the Country Thus the Lesser but more industrious Party did circumvent the Greater that were not so wary nor diligent While they thus joyntly contrive the Publick Ruine they had gotten themselves into the most considerable and profitable Offices of the Kingdom But the Presbyterians having the advantage in Number and Power and the dissension in their Opinions growing still higher by the Animosities of the inferiour and obscurer parts of their Sects there was neither Faith nor Love among them but what Fear and Necessity did force them unto The Independents who comprehended all the several herds of Hereticks Anabaptists Seekers Millenaries c. though they were the Disciples of the other yet excelled their Masters in Art and Industry had their private Junto's and Meetings apart to mould their Projects and assign to each of their Confidents their several Scenes and Methods and by proper Applications to mens several humours had exceedingly encreased their strength in the multitude only they wanted the Power of the Sword and the most useful Offices to perfect their Empire This they effected by those very practices they had learned from the Presbyterians and by procuring the Ordinance of Self-denial as they called it they turned out Essex whom they had before secretly caused to be suspected and who had neither glory in his War nor security or quiet in his Peace from his Generalship and with him also the other Leaders that were favourers of the Presbytery under pretence that it was not fit that any Members of Parliament should be encouraged to a continuance of the War by enjoying the profitable and powerful Offices in the Army to which they would now give a new Module Having by this artifice displaced those whose power they feared they brought in as many Candidates of their own Sect as they could to be Colonels and Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed General This man both Parties did the more easily consent in because he was known to be of sufficient Personal Valour and of no private Designs obstinate by a natural Melancholy rather than pertinacious in any Interest and rather free from Baseness than ambitious of Vain-glory by all these Qualities they supposed he would be obedient to the Resolves of his Masters But the Independents that were better informed of his ductile Spirit and how easily he might be imposed upon by a Species of Religion got the great Patron of all the wildest and most unreasonable Sectaries Oliver Cromwell at first to be admitted into his Counsels and afterwards to be the Director of all his actions under the Title of Lieutenant General For although he likewise by the Self-denying Ordinance was made incapable of any Office in the Army being a Member of the Parliament yet those Troops of Fanaticks whom he had amassed and formerly lead under the Command of the Lord Grey of Wark and the Earl of Manchester both which he had cast off were instructed to refuse the Conduct of any one but him He was therefore permitted by the Parliament as the General desired for a time to continue in the Army but he never left it till he had changed that ruined the Parliament and turned out the General that thus was the Author of his unlawful Power For this Man having a long time been poor and necessitous the Patrimony that was left him being profusely spent and nothing remaining but the Instruments of his Crimes a bloody and fierce Nature a greedy Soul full of bold and unjust hopes yet able to conceal them with a profession of Modesty a contempt of Religion and Friendship yet highly pretending to both till he had smote under the fifth rib those credulous hearts that trusted him he was fitted for the most impious Enterprises for vexed by a pressing and tedious Poverty he resolved to indeavour the utmost distance from such a Condition though by the greatest wickedness therefore used the Power he had now gotten to overthrow the whole State and establish himself in an absolute and unsupportable Tyranny which is the common issue of assaulting a Just and Lawful Prince with Arms. With these Tragedies and Changes was the Winter spent at London while the King at Oxford waits for the Issue of the Treaty at Vxbridge which as all other Consultations for Peace was vain and fruitless For the Faction would alwaies obstruct those endeavours by their proper Methods If the Condition of their Affairs were prosperous then would they make their Demands like Impositions on conquered Slaves detesting to supplicate that the acquisitions of their Swords and Blood should be confirmed by a worsted Enemy In a more humble fortune they would deprecate their drooping Party not then to think of a Reconciliation which their unprosperous Arms must necessarily render harder than their hopes and that it was not for the Honour of a Parliament to seem to yield to any thing by fear or compulsion Besides these devices many fictitious Letters were composed false Rumours divulged and witnesses suborned to make Men suspect that many dangerous Plots and portentous Designs were disguised in these Overtures of Accord Therefore the Commissioners of Parliament were instructed to offer no Expedient for an Accommodation nor hearken
in His own Palaces wondering they had no more Reverence for Majesty and to beget a belief of this they profess which they would have to be conceived with them was more sacred than any Oaths that they will never part with their Arms till they have made His way to His Throne and rendred the Condition of His Party more tolerable Besides these Promises and Compassions they permit Him the Ministery of His Chaplains in the Worship of God which it is said He took with so great a Joy that He almost believed Himself free and safe it being His most heavy burden while He was the Parliaments Captive the Commerce of Letters with the Queen the Visits of His own Party and the Service of His Courtiers some of whom they also admitted to their Council of War mould Propositions which they will urge in His behalf and alter them to the King's Gust and at His Advice In their publick Remonstrances against the Covetousness Ambition Injustice Cruelty and Self-mindedness of the Parliament they do sometimes obliquely sometimes plainly profess that the King Queen and the Royal Family must be restored to all their Rights or else no hope of a solid Peace but then they would intermix such Conditions as argued they sought Reserves for a perfidious escape For Cromwell did among his Confidents boast of his fine arts and that by these Indulgences was intended nothing but His Destruction By all these Impostures they prevailed nothing upon the Hopes or Fears of the King nor did He commit any thing unworthy His former Fortune and the Greatness of His Integrity and Wisdom or which any of the Disagreeing Factions could use to His reproach But they found another kind of Success upon the Parliament for they sacrificed to the commands of their Stipendiaries eleven Members of the House of Commons and seven of the Peers causing them to forbear sitting among them because they had been accused by the Army in a very frivolous Charge All men wondering at the inequality of those mens Spirits who had so furiously rejected the Articles of their lawful Sovereign against five or six of their Body and yet did now so tamely yield to the slight Cavils and dislike of their Mercenaries above thrice that Number They therefore concluded that neither Religion Justice or the Love of Liberty which are always uniform but unworthy Interests and corrupt Souls which vary with fears and hopes had been the Principles and first Movers of their attempts Besides this they were so prone to Slavery that they had gone on to Vote all the lusts of the Army had not a Tumult their arts being now turned upon their own heads from London stopp'd them in their violent speed and kept the Speaker in his Chair till they had voted more generously that it was neither for their Honour nor Interest to satisfie the demands of the Souldiers and that the King should come to London to treat These contrary desires of the divided Faction which had joyntly oppressed their Sovereign shewed that Ill men will more easily conspire together in War than consent in Peace and that Combinations in Crimes will conclude in Jealousies each Party thinking the advantages of the other too great and that Power is never thought faithful which is accounted excessive Therefore both prepare for War With the 140 Members that sate in Parliament were joyned the City and the cashiered Souldiers and Officers that had served in their pay With the Army were the Speakers of both Houses who had fled to them with about 50 of their Members that projected the Change of Government being either for an Oligarchy or Democracie yet left some of the same judgment behind to betray and disturb the Councils at London To these did adhere the Neighbouring Counties who were cajoled by the splendid Promises of the Army of Restoring the King which they much boasted Dissolving the Parliament and Establishing Peace and Government and they more willingly credited these because they had conceived an hatred of the Parliament and City both for beginning the War and now obstructing Peace The Army intitle their attempts for King and People Their Adversaries for bringing the King to His Parliament The Commanders were greedy of that War which promised an easie Victory and made the poor Souldiers hope for the Plunder of the City For the advantage was clear on the Army's side which consisted of veterane Souldiers united among themselves by a long Converse and known Commanders but the force of the other was made up of a tumultuary Multitude gathered under new Leaders and so had no mutual confidence their meetings were full of doubts and fears none could determine in private nor in publick consult because they dared not trust one another and it was observed that those who were most treacherous talk'd most boldly against the Enemy Therefore in the very beginnings the Parliament and City desert their Enterprise treat with and open their Gates to the Army who march in Triumph through London bringing the Speakers and their Fellow-Travellers to their Chairs seize upon the Tower dismantle the Fortifications pull down all the Chains and Posts of the City send the Lord Mayor and the chief Citizens to the Tower and reduce all the power of the Nation in Obedience to the Commanders For Fairfax is made General of all the Forces both in England and Ireland and Rainsbrough a Leveller and a violent Head of the Democraticks High Admiral The impeached Presbyterians fled beyond Sea others of that Sect drooping complyed with the Fortune of the Conquerours and that which grieved good Men most was a Publick Thanksgiving which is not to be observed but for the happy endeavours of a Nation in their vertuous and glorious undertakings for Liberty and Safety but now was prophaned for our Slavery and Misery to God was appointed for the Army and they were entertained now at a Feast whom before the City would have forced from their Walls While these things were in Motion the King consults Heaven for Direction and His Party modestly abstain from either side thought both to be abhorred and knew that Party would be the worst which should overcome The Army having now the greatest strengths of the Nation the Parliament and City at their Obedience make no mention of their former promises to the King only the Adjutators were fierce for breaking that Parliament and calling another as they call'd it more equal Representative But both their Synagogue and the Council of War being now delivered from fear of the Presbyterians began to contrive the destruction both of the King and Monarchy As for the King whom they had now brought to Hampton-Court some that had before contrived His Death and to murder Him while he was in the Scotch Camp so at once to satisfie their own Revenge and load their Enemies with the Infamy of the Murder yet could not then perform it were now fierce for a speedy and secret Assassination by Pistol or Poison Others would have
and which was a Testimony of the Divine Assistance drew many of the unwilling Commissioners to His own Opinion though their Commission and the danger of their Lives necessitated them contrary to the dictates of their own Consciences to prolong the Debates with a wonderful Lenity proved their Demands unjust yet granted what was not directly against his Honour and Conscience thus devesting Himself of His own Rights He demonstrated that He had those Affections which might justly style Him the Father of His Country For He endeavoured by His own Losses to repair the damages of His People Yet the King saw by the Obstinacy of the most powerful of those He treated with that they intended nothing less than Peace nor any thing more than His Destruction which that it might be adequate to their Malice they would have it accompanied with the damnation of His Soul as He Himself in bitterness complained to One of His Servants pressing Him to do those things which they themselves acknowledged sinful as the Alienation of Church-Lands Although His Majesty was thus sensible of their insatiable thirst for His blood yet because He had passed His Royal Word not to stir out of that Island He did not hearken to the same Servant who perswaded Him to provide for His Safety by flight which He assured Him was not difficult and in administring to which He offered to hazard his own blood But the King always thought His Life beneath the Honour of Faithfulness and would not give His Enemies that advantage over His Fame which their unjust Arms and Frauds had gotten upon His Person chusing rather to endure whatsoever Providence had allotted for Him than by any approach to Infamy seek to protract those days which He now began to be weary of For that life is no longer desirable to Just Princes which their People either cannot or will not preserve And He thought it more Eligible to die by the Wickedness of Others than to live by His own While the Treaty thus preceeded the Army under the Command of the Lord Fairfax and Ireton this last was bold subtle perfidious and active in all designs so that his Soul being congenial with that of Cromwell had been the cause of an Alliance betwixt them for he had married one of Cromwell's Daughters and therefore was left to hover about the General as an evil Genius that he might do nothing contrary to their Impious Design drew towards London and quartered within half a days march from the City that if their Interest did require they might the more suddenly oppress those who were less favourable to their Enterprises The Officers did at first publickly profess a great Modesty as that they would quietly submit to the Orders of the Parliament that they did prefer the Common Peace to their own private Advantages and should be glad to be dismissed from the toyls of War yet in private practised an universal Confusion for mingling counsels with their Factious party in the two Houses they set up again the meetings of their Adjutators framed among themselves Petitions against the Treaty and to require that all Delinquents without difference wherein they included the Person of the King might be brought to Tryal and by their Emissaries abroad drew some inconsiderable and ignominious persons by representing large spoils in the subversion of Monarchy and imaginary advantages by the change of Government to subscribe to them When they thought these practices had produced their desired effect and they had infected most of the Souldiers in the several Garrisons and that more parties of their Army were gathered to their Quarters about London Ireton under pretext of a Contrast betwixt him and Fairfax withdraws himself privately to Windsor-Castle where being met by some of his Complices in the Parliament they joyntly frame a Declaration in an imperious and affected Style Wherein in the name of the Army he maliciously declaims against all Peace with the King and His Restitution to the Government afterwards he impiously demands that he may be dealt with as the Grand and Capital Delinquent with these he mingles some things to terrifie the Parliament some to please the Souldiers and others to raise hopes of Novelty in the Rabble This being prepared and the Treaty now drawing towards an End which those of the Faction had prolonged and disturbed that the Army might have more time to gather together and the Commanders having a perfect Intelligence how all things in the Isle of Wight and in the Parliament did strongly tend to an Accommodation they thought it now seasonable to begin their intended Crime Therefore they speedily call a Council of War at which met the Colonels and other inferiour Officers all men of Mercenary souls seditious covetous and so accustomed to Dissimulation that they seemed to be composed by nature to frame and colour impostures They began their Meeting with Prayers and Fasting pretending to inquire and seek the Will of God concerning the Wickedness they had predetermined to act This is the constant practice of such who would most securely abuse the Patience of the People while they commit the most horrid Crimes For not being able to honest their Iniquities by any colour of Reason or any Command of the known Will of God they pretend to a guidance by Revelation and Returns of Prayer This Imposture they had hitherto successfully used and the credulous Rabble of the common Souldiers were drawn to a perswasion that God did counsel all the Designs of these armed Saints Thus having prefaced their Villany Ireton produces his Remonstrance which being read among them was received by the Souldiers who through a pleasure in blood and hopes of Spoil are used to praise every thing of their Chiefs whether good or bad that tends to disturbance and continuance of War with as great an Applause as if it had been an Oracle from Heaven and to make it the more terrible they styled it the Remonstrance of the Army and order it to be presented to the Parliament in the name of the Army and People of England When this Remonstrance was published the minds of men were variously affected Some wondred that persons of so abject a Condition should dare to endeavour the alteration of an ancient Government an attempt so far above their fortune and to design against the Person of their Sovereign who by the Splendour of His former Majesty and by a continued Descent from so many Royal Progenitors had derived all that challenges the Reverence of the People And they thought the act so full of a manifest Wickedness that the Contrivers could not really intend the Execution but only used it as a Mormo to frighten the King and Parliament to hearken to their Pretensions of a lesser guilt Others considering their former Crimes and Injuries both to King and People and their damnable blasphemies of the Almighty God did truly judge that their preceding Iniquities had now habituated and temper'd them for the extremest mischiefs and that having
proceeded thus far they would think their Safety consisted in an accumulation of their Sins Only they admired that these men would discredit their ancient Arts of pretending to God's Direction in which they could not so easily by every Vulgar judgment be deprehended by boasting of the Concurrence of the People which was too evident a Cheat for not one in a thousand through the whole Nation but did abominate their practices But others more Speculative knew it was the accustomed Method of the Subverters of a lawful Magistracy and Invaders of a Tyranny first to seek the favour of the Rabble by high pretences of Liberty and Justice and then to boast of it as though they had it and were entrusted by the People to recover what they presented to their hopes and desires and that these men following the same practices would be the greatest Oppressors of those whom they pretended to vindicate The Parliament though hitherto they had been very obsequious to the Army yet the Members now meeting in greater Numbers than usually and preferring the utmost hazards to a Compliance with this Remonstrance laid it aside and fell to debate the King's Concessions which then lay before them This free and stout Carriage of theirs was much resented by the Souldiers who stormed at the contempt of those whose grandeur depended upon their Arms. And lest they should miscarry in their chief design and lose the Sacrifice to their Ambition they immediately sent a party of their Army into the Isle of Wight to secure the King these laying hold upon Him with a most Insolent Rudeness not permitting the delay of a Breakfast forced Him from the Island into Hurst Castle an unwholesome and sordid place The other part of their Army they cause to march towards London with all the imaginable signs of terror as if they went to sack and plunder an Enemies Town When they had entred they were quartered in those Houses of the King and Nobility which were nearest the Parliament-House hoping by the greatness and nearness of the danger so to affright those Members who were not so wicked as to comply with them that they should voluntarily withdraw and hiding themselves leave the possession to their own scanty party For then the violence would seem less and give more Authority to their unjust Decrees But the honest Members were more in love with Justice and therefore not terrified with the Menaces and Clamours of the Souldiers but as inspired with some unaccustomed Courage at this time and thinking themselves guarded by the Priviledges of Parliament with a greater boldness than usually they did upon just designs they appear in the House Where the Commoners re-assuming the consideration of the King's Concessions continued that Debate till past Midnight the Factious party and the Creatures of the Army still raising new Doubts and Scruples multiplying Cavils and by tedious Harangues wasting the time that the most just party which consisted most of Gentlemen of Fortunes not accustomed to such Watchings and Fastings might be wearied out and leave them to their own Resolves and also that they might give time to the whole Army to march into the City that Night Among the rest Sir Henry Vane who was born to disquiet the World and to be a firebrand of Communities yet still carrying the designs of Confusion under a feigned meekness and simplicity of the Gospel This man in the Isle of Wight had perswaded the King not to be prodigal in His Concessions that He had already yielded more than was fit for them to ask or Him to grant and undertook to make it evident to the whole World yet now did most fiercely and perfidiously inveigh against the Concessions as designed by the King under the species of Peace to ruine the Parliament and Commonwealth Yet at last notwithstanding those terrours without and troubles within the House came to this Resolve that The King's Concessions were a sufficient ground for Peace Which was carried by 200 Voices and there were scarce 60 dissenters The next day the same Resolve was passed by the Lords in the very same terms not one dissenting Who immediately adjourned for a week to wait whether this fury of the Army would spend it self after so generous an opposition And the House of Commons sent some of their own Members to acquaint the Lord Fairfax and his Officers of this their Vote This free and publick detestation of the Crime that was designed did extremely enrage the Projectors of it and the Democratick party in the House mingled Threatnings with their Advices For one of the Chiefs of the Faction could not forbear to assure them that If they continued in this their Resolve they should never after have Liberty of meeting there again Which accordingly was executed for the next day they were to meet there the Colonels had placed a guard of two Regiments of Foot and one of Horse upon the House of Commons who strictly keeping all the Avenues thereto that none might enter without their Licence laid hold upon forty Members that were Persons of the most known Integrity and highest Resolution they denied admission to 150 more and suffered none to enter of whose servile compliance they were not well assured Some that had escaped their observation and got into the House by tickets as from Friends or Servants they invite forth whom being once without doors they violently force away while they in vain pleaded the Priviledges of Parliament The imprisoned Members they vex and torture with great Indignities exposing them to the mockeries and insolencies of the Common Souldiers although there were among them many that had before Commanded Armies Brigades and Regiments in the Parliament's cause against the King and others that had been most importunate assertors of their first injustice to their Prince Those that beheld these vicissitudes wondred and acknowledged the just Judgement of God that had thus visibly and properly punished the Injustice of these men against their Lawful Sovereign by the ministry of their own more vile and mercenary Souldiers and did thus upbraid them with the falseness of their Principles by which they acted against the King the very same now serving to honest this violence that was committed on them for both equally pretended to a Necessity of Reformation and Self-preservation Others were inquisitive for the faith of these men who taking up Arms for the Sacred Priviledges of Parliament had now left nothing but the Walls of that House For the Number that would serve them was not equal to the Name of a Parliament being scarce the eighth part of that Convention and not much above forty in all and others that did abhor the Conditions of sitting there withdrew themselves to their own homes And many of those who formerly deluded by their pretensions to Religion Justice and Liberty had hitherto been of the Faction yet now awakened by these clamorous Crimes forsook their bloody Confederacy Yet did not this contemptible Number of which in most Votes
prevent the Miseries which are ready to overwhelm this whole Nation by a Civil War and tho' all Our endeavours tending to the composing of those unhappy Differences betwixt Us and our two Houses of Parliament though pursued by us with all zeal and sincerity have been hitherto without that success We hoped for yet such is Our constant and earnest care to preserve the publick Peace that we shall not be discouraged from using any expedient which by the blessing of the God of Mercy may lay a firm foundation of Peace and Happiness to all Our good Subjects To this end observing that many mistakes have arisen by the Messages Petitions and Answers betwixt Us and Our two Houses of Parliament which happily may be prevented by some other way of Treaty wherein the matters in difference may be more clearly understood and more freely transacted We have thought fit to propound to you that some fit persons may be by you enabled to treat with the like Number to be authorized by Us in such a manner and with such freedom of debate as may best tend to that happy conclusion which all good men desire The peace of the Kingdom wherein as We promise in the word of a King all safety and encouragement to such as shall be sent unto Us if you shall chuse the place where We are for the Treaty which we wholly leave to you presuming on the like care of the safety of those We shall imploy if you shall name another place so We assure you and all Our good Subjects that to the best of Our Understanding nothing shall be therein wanting on Our part which may advance the true Protestant Religion oppose Popery and Superstition secure the Law of the land upon which is built as well Our just Prerogative as the Propriety and Liberty of the Subject confirm all just Power and Priviledges of Parliament and render Us and Our People truly happy by a good understanding betwixt Us and Our two Houses of Parliament Bring with you as firm resolutions to do your Duty and let all Our People joyn with Us in Our Prayers to Almighty God for his blessing upon this Work If this Proposition shall be rejected by you We have done Our duty so amply that God will absolve Us from the guilt of any of that Blood which must be spilt And what opinion soever other men may have of Our Power We assure you nothing but Our Christian and pious care to prevent the effusion of Blood hath begot this motion Our provision of Men Arms and Money being such as may secure Us from further Violence till it please God to open the Eyes of Our People IV. From ...... Sept. 5. MDCXLII In pursuance of the former WE will not repeat what means We have used to prevent the dangerous and distracted Estate of the Kingdom nor how these means have been interpreted because being desirous to avoid effusion of Blood We are willing to decline all memory of former bitterness that might make Our offer of a Treaty less readily accepted We never did declare nor ever intended to declare both Our Houses of Parliament Traytors or set up Our Standard against them and much less to put them and this Kingdom out of Our protection We utterly profess against it before God and the World And further to remove all possible scruples which may hinder the Treaty so much desired by Us We hereby promise so that a day be appointed by you for the revoking of your Declarations against all Persons as Traytors or otherwise for assisting Us We shall with all chearfulness upon the same day recal Our Proclamations and Declarations and take down Our Standard in which Treaty We shall be ready to grant any thing that shall be really for the good of Our Subjects Conjuring you to consider the bleeding condition of Ireland and the dangerous condition of England in as high a degree as by these Our offers We have declared Our Self to do And assuring you that Our chief desire in this World is to beget a good Understanding and mutual Confidence betwixt Us and Our two Houses of Parliament V. From ...... Sept. 11. MDCXLII In Replie to the Answer of both Houses to the former WHO have taken most ways used most endeavours and made most real expressions to prevent the present Distractions and Dangers let all the World judge as well by former passages as Our two last Messages which have been so fruitless that though We have descended to desire and press it not so much as a Treaty can be obtained unless We would denude Our self of all force to defend Us from a visible strength marching against Us and admit those persons accounted as Traytors to Us who according to their Duty their Oaths of Allegiance and the Law have appeared in defence of Us their King and Liege Lord whom We are bound in Conscience and Honour to preserve though We disclaimed all Our Proclamations and Declarations and the erecting of Our Standard as against Our Parliament All We have now left in Our power is to express the deep sense We have of the publick Misery of this Kingdom in which is involved that of Our distressed Protestants of Ireland and to apply Our self to Our necessary defence wherein We wholly relie upon the Providence of God the Justice of Our Cause and the Affection of Our good People so far We are from putting them out of Our Protection When you shall desire a Treaty of Us We shall piously remember whose blood is to be spilt in this quarrel and chearfully embrace it And as no other reason induced Us to leave Our City of London but that with Honour and Safety We could not stay there nor to raise any force but for the necessary defence of Our Person and the Law against Levies in opposition to both so We shall suddenly and most willingly return to the one and disband the other as soon as those causes shall be removed The God of Heaven direct you and in Mercy divert those Judgments which hang over this Nation and so deal with Us and Our Posterity as We desire the preservation and advancement of the true Protestant Religion and the Law and Liberty of the Subject the just Rights of Parliament and the Peace of the Kingdom VI. From BRAINFORD Nov. 12. MDCXLII After the Defeat of the Parliament Forces at EDGE-HILL and at BRAINFORD WHereas the last Night being the eleventh of November after the departure of the Committee of both Our Houses with Our gracious Answer to their Petition We received certain information having till then heard nothing of it either from the Houses Committee or otherwise that the L. of Essex had drawn his Forces out of London towards Us which hath necessitated Our sudden resolution to march with Our Forces to Brainford We have thought hereby fit to signifie to both Our Houses of Parliament that we are no less desirous of the Peace of the Kingdom than We express in Our
as you shall think fit to Treat with the like number of Persons to be appointed by His Majesty upon the said Propositions and such other things as shall be proposed by His Majesty for the preservation and defence of the Protestant Religion with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences as His Majesty hath often offered the Rights of the Crown the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the Priviledges of Parliament and upon the whole matter to conclude a happy and blessed Peace XIII From OXFORD Dec. 5. MDC XLV For a safe Conduct for certain Persons of Honour to be sent with Propositions of Peace For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore CHARLES R. HIS Majesty being still deeply sensible of the continuation of this bloody and unnatural War cannot think Himself discharg'd of the duty He ows to God or the affection and regard He hath to the preservation of His People without the constant application of His earnest endeavours to find some Expedient for the speedy ending of these unhappy Distractions if that may be doth therefore desire That a safe Conduct may be forthwith sent for the Duke of Richmond the Earl of Southampton John Ashburnham and Jeffry Palmer Esquires and their attendants with Coaches Horses and other accommodations for their journey to Westminster during their stay there and return when they shall think fit whom His Majesty intends to send to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland furnished with such Propositions as His Majesty is confident will be the foundation of a happy and well-grounded Peace Given at our Court at Oxford 5. December 1645. XIV From OXFORD Dec. 15. MDCXLV In pursuance of the former For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore CHARLES R. HIS Majesty cannot but extremely wonder that after so many expressions on your part of a deep and seeming sense of the Miseries of this afflicted Kingdom and of the dangers incident to His Person during the continuance of this unnatural War your many great and so often repeated Protestations that the raising of these Arms hath been only for the necessary defence of God's true Religion His Majesty's Honour Safety and Prosperity the Peace Comfort and Security of His People you should delay a safe Conduct to the persons mentioned in His Majesty's Message of the fifth of this instant December which are to be sent unto you with Propositions for a well-grounded Peace A thing so far from having been denied at any time by His Majesty whensoever you have desired the same that He believes it hath been seldom if ever practised among the most avowed and professed Enemies much less from Subjects to their King But His Majesty is resolved that no discouragements whatsoever shall make Him fail on His part in doing His uttermost endeavours to put an end to these Calamities which if not in time prevented must prove the ruine of this unhappy Nation and therefore doth once again desire that a safe Conduct may be forthwith sent for those Persons expressed in His former Message and doth therefore conjure you as you will answer to Almighty God in that day when He shall make inquisition for all the blood that hath and may yet be spilt in this unnatural War as you tender the preservation and establishment of the true Religion by all the bonds of Duty and Allegiance to your King or compassion to your bleeding and unhappy Countrey and of charity to your selves that you dispose your hearts to a true sense and imploy all your faculties in a more serious endeavour together with His Majesty to set a speedy end to these wasting Divisions and then He shall not doubt but that God will yet again give the blessing of Peace to this distracted Kingdom Given at our Court at Oxford the 15. of Decemb. 1645. XV. From OXFORD Dec. 26. MDCXLV For a Personal Treaty For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. NOtwithstanding the strange and unexpected delays which can be precedented by no former times to His Majesties two former Messages His Majesty will lay aside all expostulations as rather serving to lose time than to contribute any remedy to the evils which for the present do afflict this distracted Kingdom Therefore without further preamble His Majesty thinks it most necessary to send these Propositions this way which He intended to do by the Persons mentioned in His former Messages though He well knows the great disadvantage which overtures of this kind have by the want of being accompanied by well-instructed Messengers His Majesty conceiving that the former Treaties have hitherto proved ineffectual chiefly for want of Power in those Persons that Treated as likewise because those from whom their Power was derived not possibly having the particular informations of every several debate could not give so clear a Judgment as was requisite in so important a business If therefore His Majesty may have the engagement of the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland the Mayor Aldermen Common-Council and Militia of London of the chief Commanders in Sir Thomas Fairfax his Army as also those in the Scots Army for His Majesties free and safe coming to and abode in London or Westminster with such of His Servants now attending Him and their followers not exceeding in all the number of three hundred for the space of forty days and after the said time for His free and safe repair to any of His Garrisons of Oxford Worcester or Newark which His Majesty shall nominate at any time before His going from London or Westminster His Majesty propounds to have a Personal Treaty with the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland upon all matters which may conduce to the restoring of Peace and happiness to these miserable distracted Kingdoms and to begin with the three Heads which were Treated on at Vxbridge And for the better clearing of His Majesties earnest and sincere intentions of putting an end to these unnatural Distractions knowing that point of security may prove the greatest obstacle to this most blessed work His Majesty therefore declares That He is willing to commit the great trust of the Militia of this Kingdom for such time and with such powers as are exprest in the Paper delivered by His Majesties Commissioners at Vxbridge the sixth of February last to these persons following viz. the Lord Privy Seal the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hertford the Marquess of Dorchester the Earl of Dorset Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Essex Earl of Southampton Earl of Pembroke Earl of Salisbury Earl of Manchester Earl of Warwick Earl of Denbigh Earl of Chichester Lord Say Lord Seymour Lord Lucas Lord
intention to continue this War any longer or to make any Division between His two Kingdoms but to give such contentment to both as by the blessing of God He might see a happy and well-grounded Peace thereby to bring Prosperity to these Kingdoms answerable to the best times of His Progenitors And since the setling of Religion ought to be the chiefest care of all Counsels His Majesty most earnestly and heartily recommends to His two Houses of Parliament all the ways and means possible for speedy finishing this pious and necessary work and particularly that they take the advice of the Divines of both Kingdoms assembled at Westminster Likewise concerning the Militia of England for securing His People against all pretensions of Danger His Majesty is pleased to have it setled as was offered at the Treaty at Vxbridge all the persons being to be named for the trust by the two Houses of the Parliament of England for the space of seven years and after the expiring of that term that it be regulated as shall be agreed upon by His Majesty and His two Houses of Parliament And the like for the Kingdom of Scotland Concerning the Wars in Ireland His Majesty will do whatsoever is possible for Him to give full satisfaction therein And if these be not satisfactory His Majesty then desires that all such of the Propositions as are already agreed upon by both Kingdoms may be speedily sent unto Him His Majesty being resolved to comply with His Parliament in every thing that shall be for the Happiness of His Subjects and for the removing of all unhappy Differences which have produced so many sad effects His Majesty having made these offers he will neither question the thankful acceptation of them nor doth He doubt but that His two Kingdoms will be careful to maintain Him in His Honour and in His just and lawful Rights which is the only way to make a happy composure of these unnatural Divisions and likewise will think upon a solid way of conserving the Peace between the two Kingdoms for the time to come and will take a speedy course for easing and quieting His afflicted People by satisfying the publick Debts by disbanding of all Armies and whatsoever else shall be judged conducible to that end that so all hindrances being removed He may return to His Parliament with mutual comfort Southwell May 18. 1646. POSTSCRIPT HIS Majesty being desirous to shun the further effusion of Blood and to evidence His real intentions to Peace is willing that His Forces in and about Oxford be disbanded and the Fortifications of the City dismantled they receiving honorable Conditions Which being granted to the Town and Forces there His Majesty will give the like Order to the rest of the Garrisons XXIV From NEW CASTLE Jun. 10. MDCXLVI For Propositions for Peace and a Personal Treaty For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty looking with grief of heart upon the sad sufferings of His People in His three Kingdoms for some years past and being afflicted with their distresses and unquiet conditions through the distractions about Religion the keeping of Forces on foot in the Fields and Garrisons the not satisfying of publick Debts and the fears of the further effusion of blood by the continuance of an unnatural War in any of these Kingdoms or by rending and dividing these Kingdoms so happily united and having sent a gracious Message unto both Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland expressing the necessary causes of His coming from Oxford unto the Scotish Army without any intention to make a Division where He is in freedom and right capacity to settle a true Peace and containing such offers as He conceived would have been accepted with a general clause of complying with their desires and being impatient of delays and not acquainted with the particulars which may give contentment to them His Majesty doth earnestly desire That the Propositions of Peace so often promised and so much expected may be speedily sent unto Him that upon consideration of them He may apply Himself to give such satisfaction as may be the foundation of a firm Peace And for the better and more speedy attaining thereunto His Majesty doth further propound That He may come to London with Safety Freedom and Honour where He resolves to comply with His Houses of Parliament in every thing which may be most for the good of His Subjects and perfect what remains for setling both Kingdoms and People in a happy condition being likewise most confident that they according to their reiterated Declarations and solemn Protestations will be zealous in the maintenance of His Honour and just and lawful Rights And as His Majesty desires the Houses of Parliament to disburthen the Kingdom of all Forces and Garrisons in their power except such as before these unhappy times have been maintained for the necessary defence and safety of this Kingdom so He is willing forthwith to disband all His Forces and Garrisons within the same as the inclosed Order herewith sent will evidence And if upon these offers His Majesty shall have such satisfaction as He may be confident a firm Peace shall ensue thereon His Majesty will then give order for His Son the Prince his present return Newcastle the tenth of June 1646. To Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir Thomas Glenham Sir Thomas Tildesley Col. H. Washington Col. Thomas Blagge Governours of Our Cities and Towns of Oxford Lichfield Worcester and Wallingford and all other Commanders of any Towns Castles and Forts in Our Kingdom of England CHARLES R. HAving resolved to comply with the desires of Our Parliament in every thing which may be for the good of Our Subjects and leave no means unassayed for removing all Differences amongst us therefore We have thought fit the more to evidence the reality of Our intentions of setling a happy and firm Peace to require you upon honourable terms to quit those Towns Castles and Forts intrusted to you by Vs and to disband all the Forces under your several Commands Newcastle the tenth of June 1646. XXV From NEWCASTLE Aug. 1. MDCXLVI For a Personal Treaty upon the Propositions sent Him To the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. THE Propositions tendered to His Majesty by the Commissioners from the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England assembled at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland to which the Houses of Parliament have taken twice so many months for deliberation as they have assigned days for His Majesties Answer do import so great alterations in Government both in Church and Kingdom as it is very difficult to return a particular and positive Answer before a full
governed after the said three years or sooner if differences may be agreed Touching the Covenant His Majesty is not yet therein satisfied and desires to respite His particular Answer thereunto until His coming to London because it being a matter of Conscience He cannot give a resolution therein till He may be assisted with the Advice of some of His own Chaplains which hath hitherto been denied Him and such other Divines as shall be most proper to inform Him therein and then He will make clearly appear both His zeal to the Protestant Profession and the Union of these two Kingdoms which He conceives to be the main drift of this Covenant To the seventh and eighth Propositions His Majesty will consent To the ninth His Majesty doubts not but to give good satisfaction when he shall be particularly informed how the said penalties shall be levied and disposed of To the tenth His Majesty's Answer is That He hath been always ready to prevent the practices of Papists and therefore is content to pass an Act of Parliament for that purpose and also that the Laws against them be duly executed His Majesty will give his consent to the Act for the due observation of the Lord's day for the suppressing of Innovations and those concerning the Preaching of God's Word and touching Non-residence and Pluralities and His Majesty will yield to such Act or Acts as shall be requisite to raise moneys for the payment and satisfying all publick Debts expecting also that His will be therein included As to the Proposition touching the Militia though His Majesty cannot consent unto it in terminis as it is proposed because thereby He conceives He wholly parts with the power of the Sword entrusted to Him by God and the Laws of the Land for the protection and government of His People thereby at once devesting Himself and disinheriting His Posterity of that right and Prerogative of the Crown which is absolutely necessary to the Kingly Office and so weakning Monarchy in this Kingdom that little more than the name and shadow of it will remain yet if it be only security for the preservation of the Peace of this Kingdom after the unhappy Troubles and the due performance of all the agreements which are now to be concluded which is desired which His Majesty always understood to be the case and hopes that herein He is not mistaken His Majesty will give abundant satisfaction to which end He is willing by Act of Parliament That the whole power of the Militia both by Sea and Land for the space of ten years be in the hands of such persons as the two Houses shall nominate giving them power during the said term to change the said persons and substitute others in their places at pleasure and afterwards to return to the proper Chanel again as it was in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James of blessed memory And now His Majesty conjures His two Houses of Parliament as they are Englishmen and Lovers of Peace by the duty they owe to His Majesty their King and by the bowels of compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects that they will accept of this His Majesty's offer whereby the joyful news of Peace may be restored to this languishing Kingdom His Majesty will grant the like to the Kingdom of Scotlund if it be desired and agree to all things that are propounded touching the conserving of Peace betwixt the two Kingdoms Touching Ireland other things being agreed His Majesty will give satisfaction therein As to the mutual Declaration proposed to be established in both Kingdoms by Act of Parliament and the Modifications Qualifications and branches which follow in the Propositions His Majesty only professes that He doth not sufficiently understand nor is able to reconcile many things contained in them but this He well knoweth that a general Act of Oblivion is the best Bond of Peace and that after intestine Troubles the wisdom of this and other Kingdoms hath usually and happily in all ages granted general Pardons whereby the numerous discontentments of many persons and families othewise exposed to ruine might not become fuel to new disorders or seeds to future troubles His Majesty therefore desires that His two Houses of Parliament would seriously descend into these considerations and likewise tenderly look upon His condition herein and the perpetual dishonour that must cleave to Him if He shall thus abandon so many persons of condition and fortune that have engaged themselves with and for Him out of a sense of Duty and propounds as a very acceptable testimony of their affection to Him that a general Act of Oblivion and free Pardon be forthwith passed by Act of Parliament Touching the new great Seal His Majesty is very willing to confirm both it and all the Acts done by virtue thereof until this present time so that it be not thereby pressed to make void those Acts of His done by virtue of His great Seal which in Honour and Justice He is obliged to maintain and that the future government thereof may be in His Majesty according to the due course of Law Concerning the Officers mentioned in the 19th Article His Majesty when He shall come to Westminster will gratifie His Parliament all that possibly He may without destroying the alterations which are necessary for the Crown His Majesty will willingly consent to the Act for the confirmation of the priviledges and customs of the City of London and all that is mentioned in the Propositions for their particular advantage And now that His Majesty hath thus far endeavoured to comply with the desires of His two Houses of Parliament to the end that this agreement may be firm and lasting without the least face or question of restraint to blemish the same His Majesty earnestly desires presently to be admitted to His Parliament at Westminster with that Honour which is due to their Sovereign there solemnly to confirm the same and legally to pass the Acts before mentioned and to give and receive as well satisfaction in all the remaining particulars as likewise such other pledges of mutual love trust and confidence as shall most concern the good of Him and His People upon which happy Agreement His Majesty will dispatch His Directions to the Prince His Son to return immediately to Him and will undertake for His ready obedience thereunto Holdenby May 12. 1647. XXX From HAMPTON-COURT Sept. 9. MDCXLVII In Answer to the Propositions presented to Him there For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty cannot chuse but be passionately sensible as He believes all His good Subjects are of the late great Distractions and still languishing and unsetled state of this Kingdom and He calls God to witness and is willing to give testimony to all the World of His readiness to contribute His uttermost endeavours for restoring it to a
give way to the sale of Forest-Lands for that purpose this being the publick Debt which in His Majesties Judgment is first to be satisfied And for other publick Debts already contracted upon Church-Lands or any other Ingagements His Majesty will give His Consent to such Act or Acts for raising of monies for payment thereof as both Houses shall hereafter agree upon so as they be equally laid whereby His People already too heavily burthened by these late Distempers may have no more pressures upon them than this absolute necessity requires And for the further securing of all fears His Majesty will consent that an Act of Parliament be passed for the disposing of the great Offices of State and naming of Privy Councellors for the whole term of His Reign by the two Houses of Parliament their Patents and Commissions being taken from His Majesty and after to return to the Crown as is expressed in the Article of the Militia For the Court of Wards and Liveries His Majesty very well knows the consequence of taking that away by turning of all Tenures into common Soccage as well in point of Revenue to the Crown as in the protection of many of His Subjects being Infants Nevertheless if the continuance thereof seem grievous to His Subjects rather than He will fail on His part in giving satisfaction He will consent to an Act for taking of it away so as a full recompence be setled upon His Majesty and His Successors in perpetuity and that the Arrears now due be reserved unto Him towards the payment of the Arrears of the Army And that the memory of these late Distractions may be wholly wiped away His Majesty will consent to an Act of Parliament for the suppressing and making null of all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations against both or either House of Parliament and of all Indictments and other proceedings against any persons for adhering to them And His Majesty proposeth as the best expedient to take away all seeds of future Differences that there be an Act of Oblivion to extend to all His Subjects As for Ireland the Cessation there is long since determined but for the future all other things being fully agreed His Majesty will give full satisfaction to His two Houses concerning that Kingdom And although His Majesty cannot consent in Honour and Justice to avoid all His own Grants and Acts past under His great Seal since the two and twentieth of May 1642 or to the confirming of all the Acts and Grants passed under that made by the two Houses yet His Majesty is confident that upon perusal of particulars He shall give full satisfaction to His two Houses as to what may reasonably be desired in that particular And now His Majesty conceives that by these His offers which He is ready to make good upon the settlement of a Peace He hath clearly manifested His intentions to give full security and satisfaction to all Interests for what can justly be desired in order to the future Happiness of His People and for the perfecting of these Concessions as also for such other things as may be proposed by the two Houses and for such just and reasonable demands as His Majesty shall find necessary to propose on His part He earnestly desires a Personal Treaty at London with His two Houses in Honour Freedom and Safety it being in His Judgement the most proper and indeed only means to a firm and settled Peace and impossible without it to reconcile former or avoid future Misunderstandings All these things being by Treaty perfected His Majesty believes His Houses will think it reasonable that the Proposals of the Army concerning the Succession of Parliaments and their due elections should be taken into consideration As for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland His Majesty will very readily apply Himself to give all reasonable satisfaction when the desires of the two Houses of Parliament on their behalf or of the Commissioners of that Kingdom or of both joyned together shall be made known unto Him CHARLES R. From the Isle of Wight November 17. 1647. XXXIII From CARISBROOK Dec. 6. MDCXLVII For an Answer to His last To the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HAD His Majesty thought it possible that His two Houses could be imployed in things of greater concernment than the Peace of this miserable distracted Kingdom He would have expected with more patience their leisure in acknowledging the receipt of His Message of the 17. of November last But since there is not in nature any consideration preceding to that of Peace His Majesty's constant tenderness of the welfare of His Subjects hath such a prevalence with Him that He cannot forbear the vehement prosecution of a Personal Treaty which is only so much the more desired by His Majesty as it is superior to all other means of Peace And truly when His Majesty considers the several complaints He daily hears from all parts of this Kingdom That Trade is so decayed all commodites so dear and Taxes so insupportable that even natural subsistence will suddenly fail His Majesty to perform the Trust reposed in Him must use His uttermost endeavours for Peace though He were to have no share in the benefit of it And hath not His Majesty done His part for it by devesting Himself of so much Power and Authority as by His last Message He hath promised to do upon the concluding of the whole Peace And hath He met with that acknowledgement from His two Houses which this great Grace and Favour justly deserves Surely the blame of this great retarding of Peace must fall somewhere else than on His Majesty To conclude if ye will but consider in how little time this necessary good work will be done if you the two Houses will wait on His Majesty with the same resolutions for Peace as He will meet you He no way doubts but that ye will willingly agree to this His Majesty's earnest desire of a Personal Treaty and speedily desire His presence amongst you where all things agreed on being digested into Acts till when it is most unreasonable for His Majesty or His two Houses to desire each of other the least concession this Kingdom may at last enjoy the blessing of a long-wisht-for Peace Carisbrook-Castle Decemb. 6. 1647. XXXIV From CARISBROOK Dec. 28. MDCXLVII In Answer to the Four Bills and Propositions before the Votes of No address For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. THE necessity of complying with all engaged Interests in these great Distempers for a perfect settlement of Peace His Majesty finds to be none of the least difficulties He hath met with since the time of His Afflictions Which is too visible when
not been seen read and delivered it open unto them whereupon what hath since passed either by the Governour in discharging most of My Servants redoubling the Guards and restraining Me of My former Liberty and all this as himself confess'd merely out of his own dislike of My Answer notwithstanding his beforesaid Engagement or afterwards by the two Houses as the Governour affirms in confining Me within the Circuit of this Castle I appeal to God and the World whether My said Answer deserved the reply of such proceedings besides the unlawfulness for Subjects to imprison their King That by the permission of Almighty God I am reduced to this sad condition as I no way repine so I am not without hope but that the same God will in due time convert these Afflictions into My advantage In the mean time I am confident to bear these crosses with Patience and a great Equality of Mind But by what means or occasion I am come to this Relapse in My Affairs I am utterly to seek especially when I consider that I have sacrificed to My two Houses of Parliament for the Peace of the Kingdome all but what is much more dear to Me than My life My Conscience and Honour desiring nothing more than to perform it in the most proper and natural way a Personal Treaty But that which makes Me most at a loss is the remembring My signal compliance with the Army and their Interests and of what importance My compliance was to them and their often-repeated Professions and Engagements for My just Rights in general at Newmarket and S. Albans and their particular explanation of those Generals by their voted and re-voted Proposals which I had reason to understand should be the utmost extremity would be expected from Me and that in some things therein I should be eased herein appealing to the Consciences of some of the chiefest Officers in the Army if what I have said be not punctually true and how I have failed of their expectations or My professions to them I challenge them and the whole World to produce the least colour of Reason And now I would know what it is that is desired Is it Peace I have shewed the way being both willing and desirous to perform My part in it which is a just compliance with all chief Interests Is it Plenty and Happiness They are the inseparable effects of Peace Is it Security I who wish that all Men would forgive and forget like Me have offered the Militia for My time Is it Liberty of Conscience He who wants it is most ready to give it Is it the right administration of Justice Officers of trust are committed to the choice of My two Houses of Parliament Is it frequent Parliaments I have legally fully concurr'd therewith Is it the Arrears of the Army Upon a settlement they will certainly be payed with much ease but before there will be found much difficulty if not impossibility in it Thus all the World cannot but see my reall and unwearied endeavours for Peace the which by the grace of God I shall neither repent Me of nor ever be slackned in notwithstanding My past present or future sufferings but if I may not be heard let every one judge who it is that obstructs the good I would or might do What is it that Men are afraid to hear from Me It cannot be Reason at least none will declare themselves so unreasonable as to confess it and it can less be impertinent or unreasonable Discourses for thereby peradventure I might more justifie this My Restraint than the causers themselves can do so that of all wonders yet this is the greatest to Me. But it may be easily gathered how those men intend to govern who have used Me thus And if it be My hard Fate to fall together with the Liberty of this Kingdom I shall not blush for My self but much lament the future Miseries of My People the which I shall still pray to God to avert whatever becomes of Me. CHARLES R. II. An Answer to a Pamphlet entitled A Declaration of the Commons of England in Parliament assembled expressing their Reasons and Grounds of passing the late Resolutions touching no farther Address or Application to be made to the KING Published by His Majestie 's appointment I Believe that it was never heard of until now that heavy Imputations were laid on any man I speak not now of Kings which I confess makes the case yet more strange and unjust and He not permitted to see much less to answer them but so it is now with the King which does though silently yet subject Him to as great an Imputation as there is any in the said Declaration for those who know no better may think that He cannot because He does not answer it Wherefore I hold it my Duty knowing these things better than every ordinary man to do my best that the King should not be injured by the Ignorance of His People and albeit I lying under Persecution for My Conscience and love to Regal Authority have not the means in every thing to make full Probations yet I am confident in all the most material Points so to make the truth of the King's Innocency appear that I shall satisfie any impartial judicious Reader What the Issue of former Addresses to the King hath been is most certainly known to all the World but where the fault rests whereby Peace hath not ensued bare Asseverations without Proofs cannot I am sure satisfie any judicious Reader And indeed it seems to me that the Penner of these seeks more to take the ears of the ignorant Multitude with big words and bold Assertions than to satisfie Rational men with real proofs or true Arguments For at the very first he begs the Question taking it for granted that the King could ease the Sighs and Groans dry the Tears and stanch the Blood of His distressed Subjects Alas Is it He that keeps Armies on foot when there is none to oppose Is it He that will not lay down Excise Taxations and Free-quarterings But it is He indeed who was so far from Power even at that time being far worse since that in most things He wanted the Liberty of any free-born man It is He who never refused to ease His People of their Grievances witness more Acts of Grace passed in His Reign than to speak within my compass in any five Kings or Queens Times that ever were before Him Moreover it is He who to settle the present unhappy Distractions and as the best means to it to obtain a Personal Treaty hath offered so much that to say truth during His own time He hath left Himself little more than the Title of a King as it plainly appears by His Message from the Isle of Wight concerning the Militia and chusing the Officers of State and Privy-Counsellours besides other points of Compliance which it is needless here to mention Good God! are these Offers unfit for them to receive Have they
for making War and shall I now be condemned for making Peace Have I not formerly ruled like a King and shall I now be ruled like a Slave Have I not formerly enjoyed the society of My dear Wife and Children in peace and quietness and shall I now neither enjoy them nor Peace Have not My Subjects formerly obeyed Me and shall I now be obedient to My Subjects Have I not been condemned for Evil Counsellors and shall I now be condemned for having no Counsel but God These are unutterable miseries that the more I endeavour for Peace the less My endeavours are respected And how shall I know hereafter what to grant when your selves know not what to ask I refer it to your Consciences whether I have not satisfied your desires in every particular since this Treaty if you find I have not then let Me bear the burthen of the fault but if I have given you ample satisfaction as I am sure I have then you are bound to vindicate Me from the fury of those whose thoughts are filled with blood though they pretend zeal yet they are but Wolves in Sheeps cloathing I must further declare that there is nothing can more obstruct the long-hoped-for Peace of this Nation than the illegal proceedings of them that presume from Servants to become Masters and labour to bring in Democracy and to abolish Monarchy Needs must the total alteration of Fundamentals be not only destructive to others but in conclusion to themselves for they that endeavour to rule by the Sword shall at last fall by it for Faction is the Mother of Ruine and it is the humour of those who are of this Weather-cock-like disposition to love nothing but mutabilities neither will that please them but only pro tempore for the too much variety doth but confound the senses and makes them still hate one folly and fall in love with another Time is the best cure for Faction for it will at length like a spreading Leprosie infect the whole body of the Kingdom and make it so odious that at last they will hate themselves for love of that and like the Fish for love of the bait be catch'd with the hook I once more declare to all My loving Subjects and God knows whether or no this may be My last that I have earnestly laboured for Peace and that My thoughts were sincere and absolute without any sinister ends and there was nothing left undone by Me that My Conscience would permit Me to do And I call God to witness that I do firmly conceive that the interposition of the Army that cloud of Malice hath altogether eclipsed the glory of that Peace which began again to shine in this Land And let the World judg whether it be expedient for an Army to contradict the Votes of a Kingdom endeavouring by pretending Laws and Liberties to subvert both Such Actions as these must produce strange consequences and set open the floud-gates of ruine to overflow this Kingdom in a moment Had this Treaty been only Mine own seeking then they might have had fairer pretences to have stopt the course of it but I being importun'd by My two Houses and they by most part of the Kingdom could not but with a great deal of alacrity concur with them in their desires for the performance of so commodious a work and I hope by this time that the hearts and eyes of My People are opened so much that they plainly discover who are the underminers of this Treaty For Mine own part I here protest before the face of Heaven that Mine own Afflictions though they need no addition afflict Me not so much as My Peoples sufferings for I know what to trust to already and they know not God comfort both them and Me and proportion our Patience to our Sufferings And when the Malice of Mine Enemies is spun out to the smallest thread let them know that I will by the grace of God be as contented to suffer as they are active to advance My sufferings and Mine own Soul tells Me that the time will come when the very clouds shall drop down vengeance upon the heads of those that barricado themselves against the Proceedings of Peace for if God hath proclaimed a blessing to the Peace-makers needs must the Peace-breakers draw down curses upon their heads I thank My God I have armed My self against their fury and now let the arrows of their Envy fly at Me I have a breast to receive them and a heart possest with patience to sustain them for God is My Rock and My Shield therefore I will not fear what man can do unto Me. I will expect the worst and if any thing happen beyond My expectation I will give God the glory for vain is the help of man Queries propounded by His MAJESTY when the Armies Remonstrance was read unto Him at NEWPORT concerning the intended Tryal of His MAJESTY I. WHether this Remonstrance be agreeable to the former Declarations of the Army and if not whether the Parliament would make good their Votes that after He had consented to what they desired He should be in a capacity of Honour Freedom and Safety II. Whether His acknowledgment of the bloud that hath been spilt in the late Wars nothing being as yet absolutely concluded or binding could be urged so far as to be made use of by way of Evidence against Him or any of His Party III. Whether the Arguments that He hath used in a free and Personal Treaty to lessen or extenuate and avoid the exactness of any of the Conditions though in manner and form only might be charged against Him as an act of Obstinacy or wilful persistance in what is alledged against Him in that He goes on in a destructive course of enmity against the People and the Laws of the Land when He hath declared that His Conscience was satisfied concerning divers particulars in the Propositions IV. Whereas by the letter of the Law all persons charged to offend against the Law ought to be tryed by their Peers or Equals what the Law is if the Person questioned is without a Peer And if the Law which of it self is but a dead letter seems to condemn Him by what power shall Judgement be given and who shall give it or from whence shall the administrators of such Judgement derive their power which may by the same Law be deemed the supreme power or authority of Magistracy in the Kingdom HIS MAJESTY'S LETTERS I. To the House of Peers about the Reprieve of the Earl of STRAFFORD Sent by the PRINCE From White-Hall May 11. MDCXLI My Lords I Did yesterday satisfie the Justice of the Kingdom by passing the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford But Mercy being as inherent and inseparable to a King as Justice I desire at this time in some measure to shew that likewise by suffering that unfortunate man to fulfil the natural course of his life in a close Imprisonment yet so that if ever he
fervently encrease My desires by how much I may have better grounded hopes to attain what I so earnestly desire When I mention Peace I would be understood to intend that Peace which is built upon such foundations as are most likely to render it firm and stable wherein God's true Religion may be best secured from the danger of Popery Sectaries and Innovations the Crown may possess those just Prerogatives which may inable Me to protect and govern My People according to Law and the Subject be confirmed in those Rights which they have derived from their Forefathers and which I have granted to them in Parliament to which I shall always be ready to add such new Graces as I shall find most to conduce to their Happiness This is the Peace which I labour for wherein I may justly expect your best assistance with your hearts and hands and purses Neither shall I be more burthensome to you with My Army than of necessity I must for its support so far I must desire your help being violently robb'd of all My Revenues I have and shall use all possible means to suppress the disorders of the Souldiers The best way to do it is by taking order that they be not provoked with want of necessary Provisions That being done by you Master Sheriff and the Commissioners of this County which I most earnestly commend to your care you shall find Me very strict in such discipline as may best secure you This night I hope to have joyned to Me other considerable Forces which are upon their march towards Me and tomorrow morning we shall humbly ask God's blessing on us and begin the Work This care I shall further take for you that as soon as possibly I can other men to be levied by Impress shall supply the place of such of you as I shall then give liberty to return to your Harvest I shall conclude with this promise to you that I shall look upon your chearfulness in this Service as the greatest expression of your Loyalty and Affections that you can make or I receive which I shall require if it be in My power If I live not to do it I hope this young man My Son your fellow-Souldier in this Expedition will to Whom I shall particularly give it in charge LIV. To the Committee of both Houses at the delivery of the Votes for a Personal Treaty at CARISBROOK Castle Aug. 7. MDCXLVIII ON Monday the seventh of August the Commissioners being admitted into the King's presence the Votes were first read and then presented to His Majesty by the Earl of Middlesex who desired His Majestie 's speedy Answer for that their return was limited to ten days The King then asked Whether the ten days were not to be counted from that of the delivery of the Message The Earl answering No Sir they are to be counted from the day of our setting forth The King replied I have not then five days allowed Me to consider of My Answer which I presume you expect in writing and I have none to help Me no not so much as a Clerk to transcribe However I will really contribute My best endeavours to an happy Peace After a short pause He added I would have sent to the Parliament but I desire them to take notice that My long Silence proceeds not from a dull stupid Laziness or My being insensible of My Own or the Kingdoms condition but from the incapacity that lay on Me by reason of former Votes But now a way is opened to a Treaty which I ever apprehended as the only means to a durable Peace I shall chearfully embrace it and none shall more speedily run to it than My Self And for My part as being more concerned than any one in this Kingdom nay should I say more than all I speak it without vanity I hope it will be thought no Hyperbolical expression for I am assured whosoever gains I shall be a loser His Majesty then read the Votes to Himself after which He said I like them well My desires being included in these Votes for what can I desire more than to treat with Honor Freedom and Safety upon the Propositions and such other things as either I or the two Houses shall offer Then asking Whether the Commissioners to treat were yet nominated The Earl of Middlesex answered No Sir And the King added In a Treaty two sorts of things are considerable some Necessary others convenient Then breaking off He said I will go and apply my Self to my Answer that I may not delay a minute to promote so good a Work And so withdrew dismissing the Commissioners Thursday Aug. 10. THe Commissioners coming to receive His Majestie 's Answer upon their entrance he told them He was sorry He was limited to so short a time and had so little helps for dispatch yet notwithstanding He had prepared His Answer Before the reading of it He added That the last Message He sent to the Houses was delivered to the Commissioners sealed and had it been so presented it would have been better for Him But now he thought it fit to send this open because He could not be in a worse condition being under so close a Restraint none being suffered to speak a word to Him without suspicion Then producing His Answer He read it aloud in the Presence-Chamber being full of company Which done he said That He hoped He had therein endeavoured to give satisfaction to His Parliament there being nothing in it but but what He conceived was implied in their Votes And further added That there might be some that would oppose this Treaty as being gainers by these Wars and therefore desired the continuance of it Others might think Him revengeful but He said He was so far from seeking Revenge that if a Straw lay in their way to hurt them He would stoop and take it up to prevent it God forgive them for I do Then the Commissioners coming to take their leaves His Majesty asked them How they liked His Answer They answered They thought and hoped it would produce a sudden and happy well-grounded Peace LV. To the Commissioners of both Houses at the first Close of the Treaty at NEWPORT Nov. 4. MDCXLVIII HIS Majesty said That He hoped they were now sensible that none was more desirous of a good and lasting Peace than Himself That He had gone very far to give His two Houses satisfaction That He thought though the time for the Treaty was ended yet the Treaty it self was not That He expected to hear from His two Houses about His own Propositions and would be ready to make His Concessions binding by giving them the force of Laws He desired That they would put a good interpretation upon His vehement expressions in some of His Debates there being nothing in His intentions but Kindness and that as they had taken abundance of freedom and shewed great Abilities in their Debates which have taken His Majesty off from some of His Own Opinions so He
The Authors of the many Innovations in Doctrine and Ceremonies the Ministers that have been scandalous in their lives have been so terrified in just Complaints and Accusations that we may well hope they will be more modest for the time to come either inwardly convicted by the sight of their own folly or outwardly restrained by the fear of punishment The Forests are by a good Law reduced to their right bounds the encroachments and oppressions of the Stannary Courts the Extortions of the Clark of the Market and the Compulsion of the Subject to receive the Order of Knight-hood against his will paying of Fines for not receiving it and the vexatious proceedings thereupon for levying of those Fines are by other beneficial Laws reformed and prevented Many excellent Laws and provisions are in preparation for removing the inordinate power vexation and usurpation of Bishops for reforming the pride and idleness of many of the Clergy for easing the people of unnecessary Ceremonies in Religion for censuring and removing unworthy and unprofitable Ministers and for maintaining godly and diligent Preachers through the Kingdom Other things of main importance for the good of this Kingdom are in proposition though little could hitherto be done in regard of the many other more pressing businesses which yet before the end of this Session we hope may receive some progress and perfection The establishing and ordering the Kings Revenue that so the abuse of Officers and superfluity of expences may be cut off and the necessary disbursements for His Majesties Honour the defence and government of the Kingdom may be more certainly provided for The regulating of Courts of Justice and abridging both the delaies and charges of Law-suits The setling of some good courses for preventing the exportation of Gold and Silver and the inequality of exchanges betwixt us and other Nations for the advancing of native Commodities increase of our Manufactures and well-balancing of Trade whereby the stock of the Kingdom may be increased or at least kept from impairing as through neglect hereof it hath done for many years last past for improving the Herring-fishing upon our own Coasts which will be of mighty use in the imployment of the poor and a plentiful Nursery of Mariners for inabling the Kingdom in any great action The Oppositions Obstructions and other Difficulties wherewith we have been encountred and which still lye in our way with some strength and much obstinacy are these The malignant party whom we have formerly described to be the Actors and Promoters of all our Misery they have taken heart again They have been able to prefer some of their own Factors and Agents to degrees of Honour to places of Trust and imployment even during the Parliament They have indeavoured to work in His Majesty ill impressions and opinions of our proceedings as if we had altogether done our own work and not his and had obtained from Him many things very prejudicial to the Crown both in respect of Prerogative and Profit To wipe out this Slander We think good ouly to say thus much That all that we have done is for His Majesty His Greatness Honour and Support When we yielded to give twenty five thousand pounds a month for the relief of the Northern Countries this was given to the King for he was bound to protect His Subjects they were His Majesties evil Counsellors and their ill instruments that were actors in these Grievances which brought in the Scots and if His Majesty please to force those who were the Authors of this War to make satisfaction as He might justly and easily do it seems very reasonable that the people might well be excused from taking upon them this burthen being altogether innocent and free from being any causes of it When we undertook the charge of the Army which cost above 50000 pound a month was not this given to the King was it not His Majesties Army were not all the Commanders under contract with His Majesty at higher rates and greater wages then ordinary And have not we taken upon us to discharge all the brotherly assistance of three hundred thousand pounds which we gave the Scots was it not toward repair of those damages and losses which they received from the Kings Ships and from His Ministers These three particulars amount to above eleven hundred thousand pounds besides His Majesty hath received by Impositions upon Merchandise at least four hundred thousand pounds so that his Majesty hath had out of the Subjects purse since the Parliament began one million and an half and yet these men can be so impudent as to tell His Majesty that we have done nothing for Him As to the second branch of this Slander we acknowledge with much thankfulness that his Majesty hath passed more good Bills to the advantage of the Subjects then have been in many Ages but withall we cannot forget that these venomous counsels did manifest themselves in some endeavours to hinder these good Acts. And for both Houses of Parliament we may with truth and modesty say thus much That we have ever been careful not to desire any thing that should weaken the Crown either in just Profit or useful Power The Triennial Parliament for the matter of it doth not extend to so much as by Law we ought to have required there being two Statutes still in force for a Parliament to be once a year and for the manner of it it is in the Kings power that it shall never take effect if he by a timely summons shall prevent any other way of assembling In the Bill for continuance of this present Parliament there seems to be some restraint of the Royal power in dissolving of Parliaments not to take it out of the Crown but to suspend the execution of it for this time and occasion onely which was so necessary for the Kings own security and the publick Peace that without it we could not have undertaken any of these great charges but must have left both the Armies to disorder and confusion and the whole Kingdom to blood and rapine The Star-chamber was much more fruitful in oppression then in profit the great Fines being for the most part given away and the rest stalled at long times The Fines of the High-Commission were in themselves unjust and seldom or never came into the Kings purse These four Bills are particularly and more specially instanced in the rest there will not be found so much as a shadow of prejudice to the Crown They have sought to diminish our reputation with the people and to bring them out of love with Parliaments the aspersions which they have attempted this way have been such as these That we have spent much time and done little especially in those Grievances which concern Religion That the Parliament is a burthen to the Kingdom by the abundance of Protections which hinder Justice and Trade and by many Subsidies granted much more heavy then any they formerly endured To which there is a ready answer
the advice of private men or by any unknown or unsworn Counsellors but that such matters as concern the publick and are proper for the High Court of Parliament which is Your Majesties great and supreme Council may be debated resolved and transacted only in Parliament and not elsewhere and such as shall presume to do any thing to the contrary shall be reserved to the censure and judgment of Parliament And such other matters of State as are proper for Your Majesties Privy Council shall be debated and concluded by such of the Nobility and others as shall from time to time be chosen for that place by approbation of both Houses of Parliament And that no publick Act concerning the Affairs of the Kingdom which are proper for Your Privy Council may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be done by the advice and consent of the major part of Your Council attested under their hands And that Your Council my be limited to a certain number not exceeding twenty five nor under fifteen And if any Counsellors place happen to be void in the Intervals of Parliament it shall not be supplied without the assent of the major part of the Council which choice shall be confirmed at the next sitting of the Parliament or else to be void III. That the Lord High Steward of England Lord High Constable Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Lord Treasure Lord Privy Seal Earl Marshal Lord Admiral Warden of the Cinque-Ports chief Governor of Ireland Chancellor of the Exchequer Master of the Wards Secretaries of State two Chief Justices and Chief Baron may always be chosen with the approbation of both Houses of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament by assent of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before exprest in the choice of Counsellors IV. That he or they unto whom the government and education of the King's Children shall be committed shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliaments by the assent of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before exprest in the choice of Counsellours And that all such Servants as are now about Them against whom both Houses shall have any just exception shall be removed V. That no Marriage shall be concluded or treated for any of the King's Children with any foreign Prince or other person whatsoever abroad or at home without the consent of Parliament under the penalty of a Praemunire unto such as shall so conclude or treat any Marriage as aforesaid and that the said Penalty shall not be pardoned or dispensed with but by the consent of both Houses of Parliament VI. That the Laws in force against Jesuites Priests and Popish Recusants be strictly put in execution without any toleration or dispensation to the contrary and some more effectual course may be enacted by authority of Parliament to disable them from making any disturbance in the State or eluding the Law by trusts or otherwise VII That the Votes of Popish Lords in the House of Peers may be taken away so long as they continue Papists And that His Majesty would consent to such a Bill as shall be drawn for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion VIII That Your Majesty will be pleased to consent that such a Reformation be made in the Church-Government and Liturgy as both Houses of Parliament shall advise wherein they intend to have consultations with Divines as is expressed in their Declaration to that purpose And that your Majesty will contribute Your best assistance to them for the raising of a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers through the Kingdom And that Your Majesty will be pleased to give Your consent to Laws for the taking away of Innovations and Superstition and of Pluralities and against Scandalous Ministers IX That Your Majesty will be pleased to rest satisfied with that course that the Lords and Commons have appointed for ordering the Militia until the same shall be further setled by a Bill And that Your Majesty will recall Your Declarations and Proclamations against the Ordinance made by the Lords and Commons concerning it X. That such Members of either House of Parliament as have during this present Parliament been put out of any Place and Office may either be restored to that Place and Office or otherwise have satisfaction for the same upon the Petition of that House whereof he or they are Members XI That all Privy-Counsellours and Judges may take an Oath the form whereof to be agreed on and setled by Act of Parliament for the maintaining of the Petition of Right and of certain Statutes made by this Parliament which shall be mentioned by both Houses of Parliament And that an inquiry of all the breaches and violations of these Laws may be given in charge by the Justices of the King's Bench every Term and by the Judges of Assize in their Circuits and Justices of Peace at the Sessions to be presented and punished according to Law XII That all the Judges and all Officers placed by approbation of both Houses of Parliament may hold their places Quam diu bene se gesserint XIII That the Justice of Parliament may pass upon all Delinquents whether they be within the Kingdom or fled out of it And that all persons cited by either House of Parliament may appear and abide the censure of Parliament XIV That the General Pardon offered by Your Majesty may be granted with such Exceptions as shall be advised by both Houses of Parliament XV. That the Forts and Castles of this Kingdom may be put under the Command and Custody of such persons as Your Majesty shall appoint with the approbation of Your Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament with the approbation of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before expressed in the choice of Counsellours XVI That the extraordinary Guards and Military Forces now attending Your Majesty may be removed and discharged And that for the future You will raise no such Guards or extraordinary Forces but according to Law in case of actual Rebellion or Invasion XVII That Your Majesty will be pleased to enter into a more strict Alliance with the States of the United Provinces and other neighbour-Princes and States of the Protestant Religion for the defence and maintenance thereof against all designs and attempts of the Pope and his adherents to subvert and suppress it whereby Your Majesty will obtain a great access of strength and reputation and Your Subjects be much encouraged and enabled in a Parliamentary way for Your aid and assistance in restoring Your Royal Sister and the Princely Issue to those Dignities and Dominions which belong unto them and relieving the other distressed Protestant Princes who have suffered in the same Cause XVIII That Your Majesty will be pleased by Act of Parliament to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the
the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Profession many about Us can witness with Us that we have often delivered Our Opinion that such a course with God's blessing upon it would be the most effectual for the rooting out of Popery out of this Kingdom We shall therefore thank you for it and encourage you in it and when it comes unto Us do Our Duty And We heartily wish for the publick good that the time you have spent in making Ordinances without Us had been imployed in preparing this and other good Bills for Us. For the Eighth touching the Reformation to be made of the Church-Government and Liturgy We had hoped that what We had formerly declared concerning the same had been so sufficiently understood by you and all good Subjects that We should not need to have expressed Our Self further in it We told you in Our Answers to your Petition presented to Us at Hampton-Court the first of December That for any illegal Innovations which may have crept in We should willingly concurre in the removal of them that if Our Parliament should advise Vs to call a National Synod which may duely examine such Ceremonies as give just cause of Offence to any We should take it into Consideration and apply Our Self to give due satisfaction therein that We were perswaded in Our Conscience that no Church could be found upon the Earth that professeth the true Religion with more Purity of Doctrine then the Church of England doth nor where the Government and Discipline are jointly more beautified and free from Superstition then as they are here established by Law which by the Grace of God We will with Constancy maintain while We live in their Purity and Glory not only against all Invasions of Popery but also from the Irreverence of those many Schismaticks and Separatists wherewith of late this Kingdom and Our City of London abounds to the great dishonour and hazard both of Church and State for the suppression of whom We required your timely and active assistance We told you in Our first Declaration printed by the Advice of Our Privy Council That for differences amongst our selves for matters indifferent in their own nature concerning Religion We should in tenderness to any number of Our loving Subjects very willingly comply with the Advice of Our Parliament that some Law might be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such Cases which by the judgment of most men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful Provided that this ease should be attempted and pursued with that modesty temper and submission that in the mean time the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom be not disturbed the Decency and Comeliness of God's Service discountenanced nor the Pious Sober Devout actions of those Reverend Persons who were the first Labourers in the blessed Reformation or of that time be scandaled and defamed And we heartily wish that others whom it concerned had been as ready as their Duty bound them though they had not received it from Us to have pursued this Caution as We were and still are willing and ready to make good every particular of that Promise Nor did we onely appear willing to joyn in so good a Work when it should be brought Us but prest and urged you to it by Our Message of the fourteenth of February in these words And because His Majesty observes great and different troubles to arise in the hearts of His People concerning the Government and Liturgy of the Church His Majesty is willing to declare That He will refer the whole consideration to the wisdom of His Parliament which he desires them to enter into speedily that the present Distractions about the same may be composed but desires not to be pressed to any single Act on His part till the whole be so digested and settled by both Houses that His Majesty may clearly see what is fit to be left as well as what is fit to be taken away Of which We the more hoped of a good success to the general satisfaction of Our People because you seem in this Proposition to desire but a Reformation and not as is daily preached for as necessary in those many Conventicles which have within these nineteen months begun to swarm and which though their Leaders differ from you in this opinion yet appear to many as countenanced by you by not being punished by you few else by reason of the Order of the House of Commons of the 9th of September daring to do it a destruction of the present Discipline and Liturgy And We shall most chearfully give Our best assistance for raising a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers in such course as shall be most for the encouragement and advancement of Piety and Learning For the Bills you mention and the Consultation you intimate knowing nothing of the particular matters of the one though We like the Titles well nor of the manner of the other but from an Informer to whom We give little credit and We wish no man did more common Fame We can say nothing till We see them For the Eleventh We would not have the Oath of all Privy Counsellors and Judges streightned to particular Statutes of one or two particular Parliaments but extend to all Statutes of all Parliaments and the whole Law of the Land and shall willingly consent that an enquiry of all the breaches and violations of the Law may be given in charge by the Justices of the Kings Bench every Term and by the Judges of Assize in their Circuits and Justices of Peace at the Sessions to be presented and punished according to Law For the Seventeenth We shall ever be most ready and We are sorry it should be thought needful to move Us to it not only to join with any particularly with the States of the United Provinces of which We have given a late proof in the Match of Our Daughter for the defence and maintenance of the Protestant Religion against all designs and attempts of the Pope and his Adherents but singly if need were to oppose with Our Life and Fortune all such Designs in all other Nations were they joyned And that for Considerations of Conscience far more then any temporal end of obtaining access of Strength and Reputation or any natural end of restoring Our Royal Sister and her Princely Issue to their Dignities and Dominions though these be likewise much considered by Us. For the Eighteenth It was not Our fault that an Act was not passed to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members of the House of Commons but yours who inserted such Clauses into both the Preamble and Act perhaps perswaded to it by some who wish not that you should in any thing receive satisfaction from Us as by passing the Preamble We must have wounded Our Honour against Our Conscience and by another Clause have admitted a Consequence
Our Court at York this 15. of June 1642. The Declaration and Profession of the Lords now at York and others of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council disavowing that they see any apparence of Preparations or Intentions in His Majesty to levy War against the Parliament WE whose names are under-written in Obedience to His Majesty's Desire and out of the Duty which we owe to His Majesty's Honour and to Truth being here upon the place and witnesses of His Majesty's frequent and earnest Declarations and Professions of His abhorring all Designs of making War upon His Parliament and not seeing any colour of Preparations or Counsels that might reasonably beget the belief of any such Design do profess before God and testifie to all the World that we are fully perswaded that His Majesty hath no such Intentions but that all His Endeavours tend to the firm and constant settlement of the true Protestant Religion the just Privileges of Parliament the Liberty of the Subject the Law Peace and Prosperity of this Kingdom York June 15. 1642. Subscribed by Lord Keeper L. D. of Richmond L. Marquess Hartford L. Great Chamberlain E. of Cumberland E. of Bath E. of Southampton E. of Dorset E. of Salisbury E. of Northampton E. of Devon E. of Cambridge E. of Bristol E. of Clare E. of Westmorland E. of Berkshire E. of Monmouth E. of Rivers E. of Dover E. of Carnarven E. of Newport L. Mowbray Maltravers L. Willoughby L. Grey of Ruthen L. C. Howard Andover L. Lovelace L. Paget L. Falconberge L. Rich. L. Paulet L. Newark L. Coventry L. Savile L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Capel L. Falkland Mr. Comptroller Mr. Secretary Nicholas Mr. Chancel of the Exchequer L. Chief Justice Banks MDCXLII June 8. By the King A Proclamation forbidding all Levies of Forces without his MAJESTY's express Pleasure signified under His Great Seal and all Contributions or Assistance to any such Levies WHereas under pretence that We intend to make War against the Parliament the contrary whereof is notoriously known to all that are here and as We hope by this time apparent to all other Our Subjects as well by Our Declaration of the sixteenth of June as by the Testimony of all Our Nobility and Council who are here upon the place and by colour of the Authority of both Houses of Parliament a major part whereof are now absent from London by the contrivance of some few evil persons disguising and colouring their pernicious Designs and hostile Preparations under the plausible names of the preservation of publick Peace and defence of Vs and both Houses of Parliament from Force and violence it hath been endeavoured to raise Troops of Horse and other Forces And for that purpose they have prevailed not only to prohibit Our own Moneys to be paid to Us or to Our use but by the Name and Authority of Parliament to excite Our Subjects to contribute their Assistance to them by bringing in Moneys Plate or under-writing to furnish and maintain Horses Horsemen and Arms and to that purpose certain Propositions or Orders as they are styled by them have been printed whereby they have endeavoured to engage the Power and Authority of Parliament as if the two Houses without Us had that Power and Authority to save harmless all those that shall so contribute from all Prejudice and Inconvenience that may befall them by occasion thereof And although We well hope that these Malignant persons whose Actions do now sufficiently declare their former Intentions will be able to prevail with few of Our good People to contribute their Power or Assistance unto them Yet lest any of Our Subjects taking upon trust what those men affirm without weighing the grounds of it or the danger to Us themselves and the Commonwealth which would ensue thereupon should indeed believe what these persons would insinuate and have them to believe that such their Contribution and Assistance would tend to the preservation of the publick Peace and the Defence of Us and both Houses of Parliament and that thereby they should not incur any danger We that We might not be wanting as much as in Us lyeth to foreshew and to prevent the danger which may fall thereupon have hereby thought good to declare and publish unto all Our loving Subjects That by the Laws of the Land the power of raising of Forces or Arms or levying of War for the defence of the Kingdom or otherwise hath always belonged to Us and to Us only and that by no Power of either or both Houses of Parliament or otherwise contrary to Our personal Commands any Forces can be raised or any War levied And therefore by the Statute of the seventh year of Our famous Progenitor King Edward the First whereas there had been then some variances betwixt Him and some great Lords of the Realm and upon Treaty thereupon it was agreed that in the next Parliament after provision should be made that in all Parliaments and all other Assemblies which should be in the Kingdom for ever every man should come without Force and Armour well and peaceably yet at the next Parliament when they met together to take advice of this Business though it concerned the Parliament it self the Lords and Commons would not take it upon them but answered That it belonged to the King to defend force of Armour and all other force against the Peace at all times when it pleased Him and to punish them which should do contrary according to the Laws and Usages of the Realm and that they were bound to aid Him as their Sovereign Lord at all seasons when need should be And accordingly in Parliament in after-times the King alone did issue His Proclamations prohibiting bearing of Arms by any person in or near the City where the Parliament was excepting such of the Kings Servants as He should depute or should be deputed by His Commandment and also excepting the Kings Ministers And by the Statute of Northampton made in the second year of King Edward the Third it is enacted That no man of what condition soever he be except the Kings Servants in His presence and His Ministers in executing the Kings Precepts or of their Office and such as be in their company assisting them go nor ride armed by night or day in Fairs Markets nor in the presence of the Justices or other Ministers nor in no part elsewhere And this power of raising Forces to be solely in the King is so known and inseparable a Right to the Crown that when in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth there being a sudden Rebellion the Earl of Shrewsbury without Warrant from the King did raise Arms for the suppression thereof and happily suppressed it yet was he forced to obtain his Pardon And whereas the Duke of Gloucester and other great Lords in the eleventh year of King Richard the Second upon pretence of the good of the King and Kingdom the King being then not of age and led away as
the eighteenth day of June in the eighteenth year of Our Reign 1642. Votes of the Lower House for raising an Army against the KING Die Martis 12 Julii 1642. Resolved upon the Question THAT an Army shall be forthwith raised for the Safety of the King's Person defence of both Houses of Parliament and of those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands and preserving of the true Religion the Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom Resolved upon the Question That the Earl of Essex shall be the General Resolved upon the Question That this House doth declare that in this Cause for the Safety of the King's Person defence of both Houses of Parliament and of those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands and preserving of the true Religion the Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom they will live and die with the Earl of Essex whom they have nominated General in this Cause MDCXLII Aug. 8. A Declaration of the Lords and Commons for raising of Forces against the KING Together with His MAJESTY'S Declaration in Answer to the same A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands as others in several Counties of this Kingdom to lead against all Traitors and their Adherents and them to Arrest and Imprison and to Fight with Kill and Slay all such as shall oppose any of His Majesty's loving Subjects that shall be imployed in this Service by either or both Houses of Parliament WHereas certain Information is given from several parts of the Kingdom That divers Troops of Horse are imployed in sundry Counties of the Kingdom and that others have Commission to raise both Horse and Foot to compel His Majesty's Subjects to submit to the Illegal commission of Array out of a Traiterous intent to subvert the Liberty of the Subject and the Law of the Kingdom and for the better strengthening themselves in this wicked attempt do joyn with the Popish and Jesuitical Faction to put the Kingdom into a Combustion and Civil War by levying Forces against the Parliament and by these Forces to alter the Religion and the Antient Government and lawful Liberty of the Kingdom and to introduce Popery and Idolatry together with an Arbitrary Form of Government and in pursuance thereof have Traitorously and Rebelliously levied War against the King and by force robb'd spoil'd and slain divers of His Majesty's good Subjects travelling about their lawful and necessary occasions in the King's Protection according to Law and namely that for the end and purpose aforesaid the Earl of Northampton the Lord Dunsmore Lord Willoughby of Eresby Son to the Earl of Lindsey Henry Hastings Esquire and divers other unknown persons in the Counties of Lincoln Nottingham Leicester Warwick Oxford and other places the Marquess of Hartford the Lord Paulet Lord Seymour Sir John Stawel Sir Ralph Hopton John Digby Esquire and other their Accomplices have gotten together great Forces in the County of Somerset The Lords and Commons in Parliament duly considering the great Dangers which may ensue upon such their wicked and traitorous Designs and if by this means the Power of the Sword should come into the hands of Papists and their Adherents nothing can be expected but the miserable ruine and desolation of the Kingdom and the bloody massacre of the Protestants they do Declare and Ordain That it is and shall be lawful for all His Majesty's loving Subjects by force of Arms to resist the said several Parties and their Accomplices and all other that shall raise or conduct any other Forces for the ends aforesaid and that the Earl of Essex Lord General with all his Forces raised by the Authority of Parliament as likewise the Lord Say Lieutenant of Oxfordshire Earl of Peterborough Lieutenant of Northamptonshire Lord Wharton Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire Earl of Stamford Lieutenant of Leicestershire Earl of Pembroke Lieutenant of Wiltshire and Hampshire Earl of Bedford Lieutenant of Somersetshire and Devon Lord Brook Lieutenant of Warwickshire the Lord Cranborne Lieutenant of Dorsetshire the Lord Willoughby of Parham Lieutenant of Lincolnshire and all those who are or shall be appointed by Ordinance of both Houses to perform the place of Deputy-Lieutenants and their Deputy-Lieutenants respectively Denzil Hollis Esquire Lieutenant of the City and County of Bristol and the Mayors and Sheriffs of the City and Deputy-Lieutenants there and all other Lieutenants of Counties Sheriffs Mayors Deputy-Lieutenants shall raise all their Power and Forces of their several Counties as well Trained Bands as others and shall have power to conduct and lead the said Forces of the said Counties against the said Traitors and their Adherents and with them to fight kill and slay all such as by force shall oppose them and the Persons of the said Traitors and their Adherents and Accomplices to Arrest and Imprison and them to bring up to the Parliament to answer these their Traiterous and Rebellious Attempts according to Law and the same or any other Forces to transport and conduct from one County to another in aid and assistance one of another and of all others that shall joyn with the Lords and Commons in Parliament for the defence of the Religion of Almighty God and of the Liberties and Peace of the Kingdom and in pursuit of those wicked and Rebellious Traitors the Conspirators Aiders and Abettors and Adherents requiring all Lieutenants of Counties Sheriffs Mayors Justices of Peace and other His Majesty's Officers and loving Subjects to be aiding and assisting to one another in the Execution hereof And for so doing all the parties above-mentioned and all others that shall joyn with them shall be justified defended and secured by the Power and Authority of Parliament Die Lunae Aug. 8. 1642. Ordered that this Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published Hen. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. His MAJESTY's Declaration in Answer to a Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands c. AS much experience as We have had of the inveterate Rancour and high Insolence of the Malignant Party against Us We never yet saw any expression come from them so evidently declaring it as the Declaration entituled A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands as others in several Counties of this Kingdom to lead against all Traitors and their Adherents c. In which that Faction hath as it were distilled and contracted all their Falshood Insolence and Malice there being in it not one period which is not either Slanderous or Treasonable And nothing can more grieve Us than that by their infinite Arts and Subtilty employed by their perpetual and indefatigable Industry and by that Rabble of Brownists and other Schismaticks declaredly ready to appear at their Call they should have been able so to draw away some and drive away others of Our good Subjects from Our
wisdoms You would be pleased to remove such Dangers by punishing the Ring-leaders of these Tumults and that Your Majesty and the Parliament may be secured from such Insolencies hereafter For the suppressing of which in all humility we offer our selves to wait upon You if You please hoping we shall appear as considerable in way of Defence to our Gracious Sovereign the Parliament our Religion and the established Laws of the Kingdom as what number soever shall audaciously presume to violate them so shall we by the wisdom of Your Majesty and the Parliament not only be vindicated from precedent Innovations but be secured from the future that are threatned and likely to produce more dangerous effects than the former And we shall pray c. MDCXLII His MAJESTY's Declaration to all his loving Subjects upon occasion of His late Messages to both Houses of Parliament and their refusal to Treat with Him for the Peace of the Kingdom IF it had not evidently appeared to all Men who have carefully examined and considered Our Actions Messages and Declarations how far We are and have been from begetting or promoting the present Distractions and that the Arms We have now taken are for the necessary safety and defence of Our Life being not taken up by Us till Our Town and Fort of Hull were kept from Us by force of Arms Our Navy imployed against Us to keep back all forein supply of Arms and Mony when Our own here was seized and detained from Us and an Army raised in pay and marching against Us yet the late reception of Our Message of the 25th of August sent by persons of Honour and Trust will sure satisfy the World that We have omitted nothing on our part that a gracious and Christian Prince could or can doe to prevent the effusion of Christian Blood but that the malignant party which have with great subtilty and industry begot this Misunderstanding between Us and Our good Subjects resolve to satisfy and secure their Malice and Ambition with the Ruine of the Kingdom and in the blood of Us and all Our good Subjects When they had forced Us after the neglect of Our Message from Beverly by raising a great Army and incensing Our Subjects against Us to erect Our Royal Standard that Our Subjects might be informed of Our Danger and repair to our Succour though We had no great reason to believe any Message of Ours would receive a very good entertainment if those Men might prevail who had brought all these Miseries upon the Kingdom to satisfy their own private ends yet observing the miserable Accidents which already befell Our good Subjects by the Souldiers under their command and well knowing that greater would ensue if timely prevention were not applyed and finding that the Malice and Cunning of these Men had infused into Our People a Rumor that We had rejected all Propositions and offers of Treaty and desired to ingage Our Subjects in a Civil War which Our Soul abhors We prevailed with Our Self for a full expression of Our desire to prevent the effusion of Blood to send a gracious Message to both Our Houses of Parliament on the 25 of August in these words WE have with unspeakable grief of heart long beheld the Distractions of this Our Kingdom Our very Soul is full of anguish until We may find some remedy to prevent the Miseries which are ready to overwhelm this whole Nation by a Civil War And though all Our endeavours tending to the Composing of those unhappy Differences betwixt Vs and Our two Houses of Parliament though pursued by Vs with all zeal and sincerity have been hitherto without that Success We hoped for yet such is Our constant and earnest care to preserve the publick Peace that We shall not be discouraged from using any Expedient which by the blessing of the God of Mercy may lay a firm foundation of Peace and Happiness to all Our good Subjects To this end observing that many mistakes have arisen by the Messages Petitions and Answers betwixt Vs and Our two Houses of Parliament which haply may be prevented by some other way of Treaty wherein the matters in difference may be more clearly understood and more freely transacted We have thought fit to propound to you That some fit persons may be by you inabled to treat with the like number to be authorized by Vs in such a manner and with such freedom of debate as may best tend to that happy Conclusion which all good Men desire The peace of the Kingdom Wherein as We promise in the Word of a King all safety and encouragement to such as shall be sent to Vs if you shall chuse the place where We are for the Treaty which We wholly leave to you presuming of your like care of the safety of those We shall imploy if you shall name another place so We assure you and all Our good Subjects that to the best of Our understanding nothing shall be therein wanting on Our parts which may advance the True Protestant Religion oppose Popery and Superstition secure the Law of the Land upon which is built as well Our just Prerogative as the Propriety and Liberty of the Subject confirm all just Power and Priviledges of Parliament and render Vs and Our People truly happy by a good understanding betwixt Vs and Our two Houses of Parliament Bring with you as firm Resolutions to do your Duty and let all Our good People joyn with Vs in Our Prayers to Almighty God for his Blessing upon this Work If this Proposition shall be rejected by you We have done Our Duty so amply that God will absolve Vs from the Guilt of any of that Blood which must be spilt and what opinion soever other Men may have of Our Power we assure you nothing but Our Christian and Pious care to prevent the effusion of blood hath begot this Motion Our Provision of Men Arms and Mony being such as may secure Vs from farther Violence till it shall please God to open the eyes of Our People Our Messengers were not suffered to sit in the Houses and one of them the Earl of Southampton against whom there was not the least colour of Exception or so much as a Vote not suffered to deliver Our Message but compelled to send it by the Gentleman Usher and then commanded to depart the Town before they would prepare any Answer which they shortly sent Us in these words May it please Your Majesty THe Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled having received Your Majesty's Message of the 25. of August do with much grief resent the dangerous and distracted state of this Kingdom which we have by all means endeavoured to prevent both by our several Advices and Petitions to Your Majesty which have been not only without success but there hath followed that which no ill Counsel in former times hath produced or any Age hath seen namely those several Proclamations and Declarations against both the Houses of Parliament whereby
Your Crown and Dignity with our Lives and Fortunes Your Presence in this Your great Council being the only means of any Treaty betwixt Your Majesty and them with hope of Success And in none of our Desires to Your Majesty shall we be swaied by any particular man's advantage but shall give a clear Testimony to Your Majesty and the whole World that in all things done by us we faithfully intend the good of Your Majesty and of Your Kingdoms and that we will not be diverted from this End by any private or self-respects whatsoever Jo. Brown Cler. Parliament They will not believe We have done all that in Us lies to prevent and remove the present Distractions because of the Oppressions Rapines and the like committed upon Our good Subjects by Our Soldiers Let them remember who have compelled Us and against Our Souls desire forced Us to raise those Soldiers and then if the Oppressions and Rapines were indeed such as are falsly pretended Our poor Subjects who suffer under them will look on them and only on them as the Authors of all the Miseries they do or can undergo We confess with grief of heart some Disorders have and many more may befal Our good People by Our Soldiers but We appeal to all those Counties through which We have passed what care We have taken to prevent and what Justice We daily inflict upon such Offendors neither hath the least complaint been ever made to Us of Violences and Outrages which We have not to Our utmost Power repaired or punished however those false and treasonable Pamphlets are suffered which accuse Us of giving Warrant for plundring of Houses Our Mercy and Lenity is so well known to the contrary that it is usually made an excuse by those who against their Consciences assist this Rebellion against Us that they chuse rather to offend Us upon the confidence of Pardon than provoke those Malignant Persons who without Charity or Compassion destroy all who concur not with them in Faction and Opinion How far We are from Rapine and Oppression may appear by Our Lenity to the Persons and Estates of those who have not only exercised the Militia the seed from whence this Rebellion against Us hath grown but contributed Mony and Plate to the maintenance of that Army which now endeavours to destroy Us as of Nottingham Leicester and many other places through which We have passed many of whom then were and now are in that Army to let pass Our passing by Chartly the House of the Earl of Essex without other pressures than as if he were the General of Our own Army and Our express Orders to restrain the liberty Our Soldiers would otherwise have used upon that Place and his Estate about it How contrary the proceedings are of these great Assertors of the publick Liberties appears fully by the sad instances they every day give in the plundring by publick Warrant the Houses of all such whose Duty Conscience and Loyalty hath engaged them in Our Quarrel which every good Man ought to make his own by their declaring all Persons to be out of the Protection of Parliament and so exposing them to the Fury of their Soldiers who will not assist this Rebellion against Us their anointed King by the daily Outrages committed in Yorkshire when contrary to the desire and agreement of that County signed under the hands of both Parties they will not suffer the Peace to be kept but that the Distractions and Confusion may be universal over the whole Kingdom direct their Governour of Hull to make War upon Our good Subjects in that County and so continue the robbing and plundring the Houses of all such who concur not with them in this Rebellion lastly by the barbarous Sacrilegious Inhumanity exercised by their Soldiers in Churches as in Canterbury Worcester Oxford and other Places where they committed such unheard-of Outrages as Jews and Atheists never practised before God in his good time will make them examples of his Vengeance We never did nor ever shall desire to secure the Authors and Instruments of any mischiefs to the Kingdom from the Justice of Parliament We desire all such Persons may be speedily brought to condign Punishment by that Rule which is on ought to be the Rule of all punishment the known Law of the Land If there have seemed to be any interruption in proceedings of this nature it must be remembred how long Persons have been kept under general Accusations without Trial though earnestly desired that the Members who were properly to judge such Accusations have by Violence been driven thence or could not with Honour and Safety be present at such Debates that notorious Delinquents by the known Laws were protected against Us from the Justice of the Kingdom and such called Delinquents who committing no Offence against any known Law were so voted only for doing their Duties to Us and then there will be no cause of complaint found against Us. And for the Priviledges of Parliament We have said so much and upon such reasons which have never been answered but by bare positive Assertions in Our several Declarations that We may well and do still use the same expression That We desire God may so deal with Us and Our Posterity as We desire the preservation of the just Rights of Parliament the violation whereof in truth by these desperate Persons is so clearly known to all Men who understand the Priviledges of Parliament that their Rage and Malice hath not been greater to Our Person and Government than to the Liberty Priviledge and very Being of Parliaments witness their putting in putting out and suspending what Persons they please as they like or dislike their Opinions their bringing down the Tumults to assault the Members and awe the Parliament their posting and prosecuting such Members of either House as concurred not with them in their Designs and so driving them from thence for the safety of their Lives their denying Us against the known established Law and the Constitution of the Kingdom to have a Negative Voice without which no Parliament can consist their making close Committees from whence the Members of the Houses are exempted against the Liberty of Parliament and lastly resolving both Houses into a close Committee of Seventeen persons who undertake and direct all the present Outrages and the managery of this Rebellion against Us in the absence of four parts of five of both Houses and without the privity of those who stay there which is not only contrary but destructive to Parliaments themselves By these gross unheard-of Invasions and Breaches of the Priviledges of Parliament and without them they could not have done the other they made way for their attempts upon the Law of the Land and the introduction of that unlimited Arbitrary Power which they have since exercised to the intolerable Damage and Confusion of the whole Kingdom And We assure Our good Subjects the vindication of these just Liberties and Priviledges of Parliament thus violated
must He must neither be able to discharge His Duty to Himself by His own Defence nor make good His Oath by the protecting of his Subjects against any sudden dangerous Rebellion or Invasion or the Commanders of all His Ships Towns Forts and Magazines and all the Commanders of both Armies that is the most considerable Militia of England must according to this new Oath oppose any opposition He shall make and must be equally obliged by it to fight against His Forces as against those of the Rebels or Invaders Fifthly because if He should give them so a great a Prerogative for so long a time as this share in the choice of men to places of so high Power and Trust the Dependance of Subjects upon the Crown would be much diverted and He could never expect to be faithfully served when no other Crime of theirs appearing to Him He should so farr devest the present Proprietaries of their legal Right as to submit it a new to the Arbitrariness of their Confiding who have given His Majesty no greater Cause to confide in their Choice Sixthly and lastly because if He should allow them that power for that time upon that Reason He cannot doubt but against that time were ended the Sweetness of Power being once tasted they would be so unwilling to quit it that the same powerful violent party would not want the like Fears to beget the like Demands of the same or greater interest in the choice of the same or greater Places and the same Consequences would not likewise fail to follow if these Demands were not consented to and even His good Subjects seeing it the most prosperous might be induced to think Faction and Sedition the wisest Course and when they saw His Majesty give such an Encouragement to Rebellion might think it pity He should ever be without one And His Majesty conceives Fear and Jealousie may be a good reason to make Him cautious how He parts with His Right though a very insufficient justification of their forcing that from Him to which they could pretend none But still His Majesty hoped that they only insisted upon such Limitations of his Proposition till they saw what Limitations he would offer to theirs and therefore to reduce them to Moderation by His Example He proposes to the Houses for the Committee had no Power or Instruction to treat of the principal point of it no other Limitations than were both due by Law and necessary in themselves and offers as soon as he was satisfied in His first Proposition to which if they would have put Him in mind of any such Objection in the Treaty He would never have required that the exact Computation of his Revenue taken from Him should be agreed on before Disbanding which is now objected to Him not as an Injustice but as a purposed Delay as soon as the Houses were restored to that Condition in which they were before the Tumults and these Distractions forced the Members from thence and as soon as He and those Houses were secured from Tumults only adding His own opinion That adjourning twenty miles from London could only effect it and offering them the choice of any place at that distance in His whole Kingdom He would immediately disband and return to His Parliament and expected much more that this Message when it was received at London should have met with Bells and Bone-fires than have received neither Approbation nor Answer But that violent Party which looks upon Peace like a Monster fearing lest if the Treaty should any longer continue so fair an approach to Peace might by degrees steal it on upon them before they were aware prevail to return no other Answer than immediately to send for their Committee from Oxford and to send the Lord of Essex to Reading His Majesty waits awhile and again in a Message He had occasion to send to the Houses concerning Ireland He takes occasion to put them in mind of that former Message and to renew the expressions of His Desire of Peace But this Message had no better luck than the other for no Answer hath been sent to it only in stead of an Answer the same violent Party makes a shift to go a step or two higher and to prevail in the House of Commons to vote Excises upon Commodities and the making of a new Great Seal though the making of it will be Treason by the Statute of the five and twentieth of Edward the Third and an Order of the House of Commons will be but an insufficient Plea against that Statute and though they might have remembred that it is by the old one that both most of them hold their Lands and all of them are called to that House But since His Majesty would not allow them a share in making of Peers as they ask'd him in their Nineteen Propositions nor allow of their choice of Justices of the Peace as they ask'd Him in their Fourteen and did still pretend to making of Sheriffs which they have denied Him by their Votes it seems they thought it necessary to make that which if it could be made legal by Voting would make all those and to end the Dispute about His Majesty's Negative Voice by passing by Commission what new Bills they pleased and so to obtain as absolutely an unlimited Power over their fellow-Subjects as over their Sovereign Himself Yet His Majesty would take no notice of all this but sends once more a third Message to desire an Answer to His first which had then lain in their hands above a Month. This pressing for Peace appears so intolerable to them that the House of Commons as the best way to make a final end of all such Messages and indeed to cut off all Entercourse is prevailed with by these men to commit the Messenger and the next day to impeach His Majesties Royal Consort of High Treason as if they would give Him a fair warning how He trouble them about Peace again lest His turn be next and they impeach him too But though they vouchsafe His Majesty no Answer yet the People is still thought worthy of some satisfaction and that produces this Declaration which pretends fully and sufficiently to shew that in the Treaty their Demands were such and so moderate as was fit and necessary for them to make and just and reasonable for His Majesty to assent unto and His Majesty's were such as had neither Reason nor Justice either in the matter or manner of them and such as left the People no hope or expectation to see an end of their present Calamities and charge the King through His Councellors in many Circumstances before it and during it to have laboured to interrupt the Treaty and to have appeared averse to Peace and in this Question His Majesty is content to accept of the Arbitrator they themselves have chosen and to refer it to the People to judge Their First Argument is That this Treaty is for the disbanding of the Armies
and Forces in opposition to each other that these Towns Forts and Ships are a great part of their Forces so that for them to restore them absolutely to the King would be for them to disband totally and for His Majesty's Forces to continue To this His Majesty answers That this Treaty was intended by Him to be in order to a firm and settled that is a just Peace and never to be such wherein a pretended Equality should exclude evident Justice Let Equality determine the manner of the disbanding of the Armies raised upon these Distractions but let Justice restore what Violence hath taken and determine of known undoubted Rights since by this Argument if any Prince seize upon any Strength that belongs to His stronger Neighbour and Arms be taken up upon it the stronger must never in a Treaty when the Armies are to be disbanded expect to have His Strength restored to him lest the other return to be what He was and what He ought to be that is the weaker of the two Secondly His Majesty answers That by the same reason of Security other Power and Prerogatives being Strength as well as Forces and neither more vested in Him nor less possible to be used for the Peoples hurt they may as well require a share and interest in those too and that things may be made sufficiently equal between the sides may expect to be as much Kings as He. Thirdly in their own opinion and by their own confession as it appears by their Argument used in the Cessation in the point of Ships if they be but allowed the Approbation of Commanders His Majesty gives up this strength to them and not they to Him and it will be their Forces and not His which are to continue undisbanded and that that they say to be contrary to Equality and as they came by these Forces it is evident to be contrary to Justice Fourthly His Majesty answers that these Forces are not so great or so great a Strength of the side that shall possess them but that the Arts Union Industry and Violence of that Party was so much too strong for His Majesty when He had that Strength as to take that Strength from Him and therefore His Majesty wonders they should make any difficulty to restore what it may appear by so fresh experience that they are so able to resume and therefore His Majesty hopes His People will attribute it to His great Desire of Peace that He did not demand some farther security to enjoy that which is not denied to be His Majesty's And His Majesty observes that both this and the second Answer were given by His Majesty to the same Arguments made upon the same occasion by their Committee in the Treaty and yet this Declaration repeats the same Arguments without replying to those Answers Fifthly His Majesty desires that the Difficulty with which His Majesty raised His Army and the Ease with which they raised theirs may be considered how impossible it would have been for Him to have raised Forces if they had not raised first and how much slowlier this Army being disbanded He could raise a new one and how quick and ready their Body of fierce eager Sectaries and Schismaticks would be to return into an Army upon the least Call and how conveniently they inhabit for so speedy a meeting being to continue most of them in or so near London that their Quarters in War were usually much more distant than their Dwellings in Peace and then His Majesty doubts not but it will appear that in this respect too the real and total Disbanding is of His Majesty's part only and that in effect the Continuance of Forces is still of theirs Their Second Argument why His Majesty should admit of their Limitations is a bundle of Precedents To which His Majesty replies First that the Records which are here quoted for these are now in the same hands as his Majesty's Magazines Towns Forts and Ships and therefore knows not how He can either have their Truth sufficiently considered and examined or without it conside in their Quotations Secondly all the particular Circumstances both of matter and time what induced it and what followed it do not herein appear though very necessary to be known that they may be possible to be answered But this His Majesty can find upon view That some of them concern not any part of what is now demanded but one of them concerns a Chancellor Treasurer and Privy-Seal and another concerns Privy-Councillors and another the Protectorship another the choice of some without whose Advice or of four of them nothing should be done by the King which it seems they have an eye upon demanding too which made them run so much in their heads who collected these as to put them in here That some concern not the Persons now demanding but conclude only for the Merchants to chuse an Admiral and not for the Houses to confide in him which Precedent may be of some use to the Common-Council but of none to the Parliament That some are of no concern at all as only about appointing of Clarks for payment of Wages yet put in to encrease the bulk That hardly any of the Precedents that concern any of the things in Question concern any more than part of those which are altogether demanded in the Limitations desired some concerning only the Command of Ships and those too not granted by Act but by Commission and that for ought appears only during pleasure some extending but to one Town or Place as Berwick or Jersey That most of these Precedents appear to have been when the Kings were in Minority and under Protectors some when they were in extreme Age and Impotency some in the Reign of a King who was shortly after deposed in Parliament too an unlikely Circumstance to invite His Majesty at this time to follow that Example others in His Reign who succeeded Him and having no Right to the Crown but the Criminal Consent of both Houses had Reason to deny them nothing who had given Him All. And of some of the Precedents now quoted the Inconveniences are known to have been so great and so suddenly found that they were so speedily revoked in Parliament with no less a Brand than as being contrary to the Customs of the Realm and to the blemishing of the Crown that if they had ingenuously added those Circumstances these Precedents would more have justified His Majesty for not yielding than them for either asking any thing towards those or but for quoting them at all But doth any of these Precedents tell us that these Parliaments claim'd any Right in any of these or that any King yield any degree of Power in any one of these Points to both Houses when they had first taken them from Him by Force and rais'd an Army by Ordinance against Him and He was in a condition to resist what they had raised And if either any of these Kings were so much in their Power
by His Majesty or us in order to Peace here being so great a Condescending from a King to Subjects all indifferent Advantages left to them both for time and place of Treaty and choice of Persons to Treat But what their Intentions to Peace are will appear by their Letter enclosed in one from their General to the Earl of Forth both which are as followeth My Lord I Am commanded by both Houses of Parliament to send a Trumpeter with the inclosed Letter to His Majesty which I desire your Lordship may be most humbly presented to His Majesty I rest Essex-House March 9. 1643. Your Lordships humble Servant Essex May it please Your MAJESTY WE the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England taking into our Consideration a Letter sent from Your Majesty dated the third of March instant and directed to the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster which by the Contents of a Letter from the Earl of Forth unto the Lord General the Earl of Essex we conceive was intended to our selves have resolved with the concurrent advice and consent of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland to represent to Your Majesty in all humility and plainness as followeth That as we have used all means for a just and safe Peace so will we never be wanting to do our utmost for the procuring thereof But when we consider the Expressions in that Letter of Your Majesty's we have more sad and dispairing thoughts of attaining the same than ever because thereby those Persons now assembled at Oxford who contrary to their Duty have deserted Your Parliament are put into an equal Condition with it and this present Parliament convened according to the known and Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom the continuance whereof is established by a Law consented unto by Your Majesty is in effect denied to be a Parliament The Scope and Intention of that Letter being to make provision how all the Members as is pretended of both Houses may securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament Whereof no other conclusion can be made but that this present Parliament is not a full nor free Convention and that to make it a full and free Convention of Parliament the presence of those is necessary who notwithstanding that they have deserted that great Trust and do levy War against the Parliament are pretended to be Members of the two Houses of Parliament And hereupon we think our selves bound to let Your Majesty know That seeing the Continuance of this Parliament is settled by a Law which as all other Laws of Your Kingdoms Your Majesty hath sworn to maintain as we are sworn to our Allegiance to Your Majesty these obligations being reciprocal we must in duty and accordingly are resolved with our Lives and Fortunes to defend and preserve the Just Rights and full Power of this Parliament And do beseech Your Majesty to be assured that Your Majesty's Royal and hearty Concurrence with us herein will be the most effectual and ready means of procuring a firm and lasting Peace in all Your Majesty's Dominions and of begetting a perfect understanding between Your Majesty and Your People without which Your Majesty's most earnest Professions and our most real Intentions concerning the same must necessarily be frustrated And in case Your Majesty's three Kingdoms should by reason thereof remain in this sad and bleeding Condition tending by the continuance of this unnatural War to their Ruine Your Majesty cannot be the least nor the last Sufferer God in his goodness incline Your Royal Breast out of pity and compassion to those deep Sufferings of Your Innocent People to put a speedy and happy issue to these desperate Evils by the joynt Advice of both Your Kingdoms now happily united in this Cause by their late solemn League and Covenant Which as it will prove the surest Remedy so is it the earnest prayer of Your Majesty's Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England Westminster the 9 of March 1643. Gray of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers in Parliament pro tempore William Lenthall Speaker of the Commons House in Parliament Whosoever considers that this should be a Letter from Subjects might well think it very unbeseeming Language in them to call His Majesty's earnest endeavours for Peace but Professions and their own feigned pretence most real Intentions but much more menacing Language that is Majesty cannot be the least or last Sufferer which expressions from Subjects in Arms to their Soveraign what dangerous Construction they may admit we are unwilling to mention But we need not wonder at the manner of their expressions when we see in this Letter the Parliament it self as far as in them lies destroyed and those who here style themselves the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England not to resolve upon their Answer to their King without the concurrent advice and consent of the Commissioners as they call them of the Kingdom of Scotland If they had only taken the Advice of the Scotish Commissioners they had broken the Fundamental Constitution of Parliament the very Writs of Summons the Foundation of all Power in Parliament being in express terms for the Lords to treat and advise with the King and the Peers of the Kingdom of England and for the Commons to do and consent to those things which by that Common-Council of England should be ordained thereby excluding all others But their League it seems is gone further the Scots must consent as well as advise so that they have gotten a negative voice and they who in the former Letter would be the Kings only Council are now become no Council without the Scotish Commissioners The truth is they have besides the solemn League and Covenant with the Scots which their Letter mentions a strange and traitourous presumption for Subjects to make a Covenant and League with Subjects of another Kingdom without their Prince made private bargains with the Scots touching our Estates and a private agreement not to treat without their consent as some of themselves being afraid of a Treaty openly declared to the Common-Council of London And therefore 't is no wonder that being touched to the quick with the apprehension that they are not nor can be in this condition a full and free Convention of Parliament they charge us with deserting our Trust and would have us to be no Members of the Parliament They may remember it was our want of freedom within and the seditious Tumults without their many multiplied Treasons there and imposing traitourous Oaths which inforced our absence But concerning that and the want of freedom in Parliament we shall say no more here that being the Subject of another Declaration only we wish them to consider by what Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom which they have lately wrested to serve all turns they can exclude us from our Votes in Parliament who were duely summoned chosen and returned Members of Parliament and
the present Rebellion raised in this Kingdom against His Majesty and that all His Majesty's Subjects are bound by their natural Allegiance and the Oaths lawfully taken by them to the utmost of their power to resist and repress the same and particularly the Army now under the Command of the Earl of Essex and all other Armies raised or to be raised without His Majesty's Consent under pretence of the two Houses of Parliament And we do disclaim all Votes Orders and Declarations in countenance or maintenance of the said Armies and Declare That no Oath or Covenant voluntarily taken or inforced doth or can bind or dispense with the breach of those other Oaths formerly and lawfully taken to His Majesty and that all those who aid assist or abett this horrid and odious Rebellion are and ought to be accounted and pursued as Traitors by the known Laws of the Land That we utterly detest and disclaim the Invitation which hath been made to His Majesty's Subjects of Scotland to enter this Kingdom with an Army the same being as much against the Desires as against the Duty of the Lords and Commons of England and all true-hearted English-Men And we do Declare and publish to the World That as any such Invasion or Hostile entry into the Kingdom by the Rebellious Subjects of Scotland is a direct and peremptory breach of the late Act of Pacification between the two Kingdoms so that we and all the Subjects of this Kingdom are bound by our Allegiance and by that very Act to resist and repress such Invasion And whosoever is or shall be abetting aiding or assisting to those of Scotland in their Hostile Invasion of this Kingdom ought to be looked upon as betrayers of their Country and are guilty of High Treason by the known Laws of the Kingdom And that our weak misled and seduced Country-men may no longer pay an implicite regard and reverence to the abused name of Parliament which these guilty Persons usurp to themselves and so submit to those Actions and Commands which two Houses of Parliament never so legally and regularly constituted have not Authority to require or enjoyn and since these Men will not suffer their poor Country to be restored by a Treaty to the benefit of a Parliament which would with Gods blessing easily remove these Miseries and prevent the like for the time to come we must and do declare to the Whole Kingdom That as at no time either or both Houses of Parliament can by any Orders or Ordinances impose upon the People without the Kings Consent so by reason of the want of Freedom and Security for all the Members of Parliament to meet at Westminster and there to Sit Speak and Vote with Freedom and Safety all the Actions Votes Orders Declarations and pretended Ordinances made by those Members who remain still at Westminster are void and of none effect and that as many of the Lords and Commons assembled at Westminster as have at any time consented to the raising of Forces under the Command of the Earl of Essex or to the making and using of the new Great Seal or to the present coming of the Scots into England in a warlike manner have therein broken the Trust reposed in them by their Country and are to be proceeded against as Traitors And yet we are far from dissolving or attempting the dissolution of this Parliament or the violation of any Act made and confirmed by His Majesty's Royal Assent this Parliament which we shall always maintain and defend Acts of Parliament are only in danger to be destroyed by those who undervalue and despise the Authority and Power of Acts of Parliament who therefore deny the Kings Negative Voice and neglect His Concurrence that their own Resolutions may be reputed as Acts of Parliament to the Ruine and Confusion of all Laws and Interest It is our grief in the behalf of the whole Kingdom that since the Parliament is not dissolved the Power thereof should by the Treason and Violence of these Men be so far suspended that the Kingdom should be without the fruit and benefit of a Parliament which cannot be reduced to any Action or Authority till the Freedom and Liberty due to the Members be restored and admitted and they who oppose this must be only looked upon as the Enemies to Parliament In the mean time we neither have nor shall attempt any thing for the Adjourning Dissolving or Proroguing thereof otherwise than as it may stand with the Act in that case provided Lastly we Declare That our endeavours actions and resolutions tend and are directed and shall always be directed to the maintenance of God's true Religion established by Law within this Kingdom to the defence of His Majesty's Sacred Person His Honour and just Rights to the preservation of the Liberty and Property of the Subject settled and evident by the Laws Statutes and Customs of the Realm and the just Freedom Liberty and Privilege of Parliament and that what we shall do for the defence and maintenance of all these proceeds from the Conscience of our Duty to God our King and Country without any private and sinister ends of our own and out of our sincere love to Truth and Peace the which as we have so we shall always labour to procure as the only blessed End of all our Labours And we do therefore conjure all our Country-Men and fellow-Subjects by all those precious obligations of Religion to God Almighty of Loyalty towards their Soveraign of Affection towards one another and of Charity and Compassion towards their bleeding Country to assist and joyn with us in the suppressing those Enemies to Peace who are so much delighted with the Ruine and Confusion they have made that they will not so much as vouchsafe to Treat with us that all specious Pretences might be taken away and the grounds of this bloody Contention clearly stated to the World If these Men with a true sence and remorse of the ill they have done shall yet return to their Duty and Loyalty they shall God willing find us of another temper towards them than they have been towards us And if the Conscience of their Duty shall not draw all our fellow-Subjects and Country-Men to joyn with us in assisting His Majesty we hope that the prudent consideration That 't is impossible to Reason for our miserable Country ever to be restored to Peace and Happiness but by restoring all just and legally-due Power and Authority into His Majesty's hands again will direct them what is fit to be done by them And if any yet shall be so unskilful and to say no worse vulgar-spirited to hope by a Neutrality and odious Indifferency to rest secure in this Storm though we shall not follow the examples of other Men in telling them that their Estates shall be forfeited and taken from them as pernicious and publick Enemies God be thanked the Law is not so supprest but that it proceeds in Attainders and Forfeitures and all Men
MAJESTY The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford according to Your MAJESTY'S Proclamation WE most humbly acknowledge Your Princely Goodness in calling us to receive our Advices for preservation of the Religion Laws and Safety of the Kingdom and to restore it to its former Peace and Security How earnestly we have sought a Peace with Your Majesty's most gracious Concurrence doth appear by the printed Declaration of our Proceedings touching a Treaty for Peace wherein we aimed at a free and full Convention of Parliament as the most hopeful way to unite these unhappy Divisions And since that hath been refused we have applyed our Advices for supporting Your Armies the visible means now left for maintaining our Religion restoring the Laws and procuring the Safety of the Kingdom being assured from Your Majesty You do and will employ Your Armies to no other end And although our selves are most fully satisfied of Your Majesty's pious and just Resolutions herein yet because Fears and Jealousies have been and are maliciously scattered amongst Your Subjects to poison their Affections and corrupt their Loyalty to Your Majesty therefore to the end we may be enabled by Your gracious Answer to satisfie all the World or to leave them unexcusable who will not be satisfied we do in all humility present to Your Majesty these Petitions That Your Majesty will give direction for the re-printing Your Protestation made in the head of Your Army and Your other Declarations wherein Your constant Resolution is declared to maintain and defend the true reformed Protestant Religion and that the same may be with more diligence published amongst the People that so Your Princely Christian Zeal and Affection to that Religion and to maintain the same against all Popery Schism and Profaneness may be manifested and which we beseech Your Majesty upon this our Petition to declare again to all the World to the discountenance and suppression of those Scandals laid upon Your Majesty by those who disturb our Peace That when there may be a full and free Convention of Parliament a National Synod may be lawfully called to advise of some fit means for the establishing the Government and Peace of our Church to whom may be recommended a care for the ease of the tender Consciences of Your Protestant Subjects Touching our Laws we cannot ask more of Your Majesty than to declare and continue Your former Resolutions to hold and keep them inviolable and unalterable but by Act of Parliament And for avoiding the Scandal maliciously infused into many of Your Subjects that if Your Majesty prevail against this Rebellion You intend not to use the frequent Council of Parliaments we humbly pray and advise Your Majesty to declare the sincerity of Your Royal Heart therein to satisfie Your seduced Subjects against such false and malicious Aspersions And in respect the present Contributions Loans Taxes and other Impositions for maintenance of Your Armies have been submitted unto as Exigences of War and Necessity because of this unexampled Rebellion and Invasion we humbly beseech Your Majesty to Declare That they shall not be drawn into example nor continue longer than the present Exigence and Necessity nor be at any time mentioned as Precedents And that for the farther security of Your People Your Majesty will vouchsafe to promise Your Royal Assent to a Law to be made and declared to that purpose in a full and free Convention of Parliament And that for the present ease and encouragement of those under Contributions by Contract with Your Majesty You will be pleased that those Contracts may be so observed that Your Subjects may not have just cause of complaint against the Commanders Governors Officers or Souldiers of Your Army or of or in any Your Garrisons Castles or Forts for taking any Money Horses or other Cattel Provisions or other Goods or any Timber or Woods of any Your Subjects or Free-Billet or Free-Quarter in any place where the Contributions and Taxes agreed on are paid humbly beseeching Your Majesty's gracious Care herein and that the Offenders may receive exemplary punishment Lastly That Your Majesty will retain Your pious endeavours to procure the Peace of this languishing Kingdom not to be removed or altered by any advantages or prosperous success His MAJESTY'S Gracious Answer to the aforesaid Petition AS We shall always acknowledge the great Comfort and Assistance We have received by your Councils since your Meeting here according to Our Proclamation so We must give you very particular Thanks for the Expressions you have made in this Petition of your Confidence in Us and for the Care you have therein taken that all Our good Subjects may receive ample satisfaction in those things upon which the Good and Welfare of their Condition so much depends We have long observed though not without wonder the sly subtile and groundless Insinuation infused and dispersed amongst our People by the disturbers of the Publick Peace of Our favouring and countenancing of Popery And therefore as in Our constant visible practice We have to the utmost of Our Power and We hope sufficiently manifested the gross falshood of those Imputations and Scandals so We have omitted no opportunity of publishing to all the World the clear Intentions and Resolutions of the Soul in that point We wish from Our heart that the true Reformed Protestant Religion may not receive greater Blemish by the Actions and Practices of these Men than it doth or shall by any Connivence of Ours We will take the best care We can and We desire your assistance in it to publish to all Our good Subjects that Our Protestation and those Declarations you mention And We do assure you there is not an Expression in either of them for the maintenance and advancement of Our Religion with which Our Heart doth not fully concur and in which We shall be so constant that if it shall not please God to enable Us by Force to defend it We shall shew Our Affection and Love to it by dying for it We may without vanity say It hath pleased God to enlighten Our Understanding to discern the clear Truth of the Protestant Religion in which We have been born and bred from the Mists and Clouds of Popery the which if it hath made any growth or progress of late within the Kingdom as We hope it hath not is more beholding to the unchristian Rage and Fury of these Men than to any Connivence or Favour of Ours For a National Synod We have often promised it and when God shall give so much Peace and Quiet to this Kingdom that regular and lawful Conventions may be esteemed shall gladly perform that Promise as the best means to re-establish Our Religion and make up those Breaches which are made And We shall then willingly recommend unto them a special care of the ease of tender Consciences of Our Protestant Subjects as We have often expressed For the Laws of the Land We can say no more than We
the composing and ending of those unhappy Differences and Distractions about which so much blood hath been already spilt which Treaty may by the blessing of God who is the disposer of all mens hearts and of all events be a means to produce a Peace and whereas it is the Duty and hath been the practice of Christians under Affliction to set apart some time for publick and solemn Humiliation and Prayer for removing of God's Judgments and particularly for a Blessing and good Success to the means conducing to their Deliverance We do therefore by this Our Praclamation appoint and streightly charge and command that on Wednesday being the 5. of February next ensuing a solemn Fast be kept in all places within Our Dominions whither the notice of this Our Proclamation shall or may come before that time that both Prince and People may then joyn together in a true Humiliation and Devout and earnest Prayers to God that He would be pleased so to bless and prosper this intended Treaty that it may produce a happy Peace in all Our Dominions such as may be for his Honour and the good of His Church and of Us and all Our Subjects And We do hereby charge and require all Our Subjects of what degree or condition soever they be which shall have notice of this Our Proclamation That they do religiously prepare and apply themselves to a due observation of the same by Fasting Humiliation and Prayer on that day and in hearing of God's Word as they will answer to God their neglect of this Christian Duty and as will Answer to Us their neglect of this Our just and necessary Command And for the better and more orderly observation of this Fast We do hereby appoint that the Form of Prayer and Service of God set forth in the Book heretofore published for the Monthly Fast with such Alterations and Additions as shall be prepared and fitted for this present purpose and published in Print before the said day shall be used in all Churches and Chapels where this Fast shall be kept Given at Our Court at Oxford this 27. day of January in the Twentieth year of Our Reign 1644. God Save the KING HIS Majesty having received an Account from His Commissioners of their proceedings in the late Treaty at Vxbridge to the end that all His People may be fully satisfied of His earnest and constant endeavours to procure the publick Peace whereby to put an end to these present Miseries hath commanded this full and plain Narrative of all the Passages concerning that Treaty to be made and published AFter His Majesty's Message from Evesham of the 4. of July last desiring and propounding a Treaty for Peace and His second Message from Tavestock of the 8. of September last renewing that desire at length on the 23. day of November last past the Earl of Denbigh and others repaired to His Majesty at Oxford with Propositions in these words following VVE Your Majesty's Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both Your Kingdoms from the sense of that Duty we owe unto Your Majesty and of the deep Sufferings and many Miseries under which Your People of all Your Kingdoms lie bleeding in this unnatural War after long and serious consultation about the best ways and means of their Preservation and for settling Your Majesty's Throne and Your Subjects in Peace and Security have with common consent resolved upon these Propositions which we do humbly tender unto Your Majesty The humble Desires and Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace agreed upon by the mutual Advice and Consent of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms united by solemn League and Covenant to be presented to His Majesty I. That by Act of Parliament in each Kingdom respectively all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations against both or either of the Houses of the Parliament of England and the late Convention of Estates in Scotland or Committees flowing from the Parliament or Convention in Scotland or their Ordinances and Proceedings or against any for adhering unto them and all Indictments Outlawries and Attainders against any for the said Causes be declared Null suppressed and forbidden and that this be publickly intimated in all Parish-Churches within His Majesty's Dominions and all other places needful II. That His Majesty according to the laudable Example of His Royal Father of happy memory may be pleased to swear and sign the late solemn League and Covenant and that an Act of Parliament be passed in both Kingdoms respectively for enjoyning the taking thereof by all the Subjects of the three Kingdoms and the Ordinances concerning the manner of taking the same in both Kingdoms be confirmed by Acts of Parliaments respectively with such Penalties as by mutual Advice of both Kingdoms shall be agreed upon III. That the Bill be passed for the utter abolishing and taking away of all Archbishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans and Sub-deans Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chaunters Chancellours Treasurers Sub-treasurers Succentors and Sacrists and all Vicars Choral and Choristers old Vicars and new Vicars of any Cathedral or Collegiate Church and all other their under-Officers out of the Church of England and Dominion of Wales and out of the Church of Ireland with such Alterations concerning the Estates of Prelates as shall agree with the Articles of the late Treaty of the Date at Edenborough 29 of Novemb. 1643. and joint Declaration of both Kingdoms IV. That the Ordinance concerning the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines be confirmed by Act of Parliament V. That Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant be settled by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses shall agree upon after Consultation had with the Assembly of Divines And for as much as both Kingdoms are mutually obliged by the same Covenant to endeavour the nearest Conjunction and Uniforminy in matters of Religion that such Unity and Uniformity in Religion according to the Covenant as after Consultation had with the Divines of both Kingdoms now assembled shall be joyntly agreed upon by both Houses of the Parliament of England and by the Church and Kingdom of Scotland be confirmed by Acts of Parliament of both Kingdoms respectively VI. That for the more effectual disabling Jesuits Priests Papists and Popish Recusants from disturbing the State and deluding the Laws and for the better discovering and speedy conviction of Recusants an Oath be established by Act of Parliament to be administred to them wherein they shall abjure and renounce the Popes Supremacy the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Purgatory worshipping of the consecrated Host Crucifixes and Images and all other Popish Superstitions and Errors and refusing the said Oath being tendred in such manner as shall be appointed by the said Act to be sufficient conviction in Law of Recusancy VII An Act of Parliament for Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion VIII An Act for the true levying of the Penalties against them
Estates of the Parliament in Scotland or the said Commissioners of that Kingdom whereof they are Subjects and that in those cases of joynt concernment to both Kingdoms the Commissioners to be directed to be there all or such part as aforesaid to act and direct as joynt Commissioners of both Kingdoms 4. To order the War of Ireland according to the Ordinance of the 11 th of April and to order the Militia and conserve the peace of the Kingdom of Ireland XVIII That His Majesty give His assent to what the two Kingdoms shall agree upon in prosecution of the Articles of the large Treaty which are not yet finished XIX That by Act of Parliament all Peers made since the day that Edward Lord Littleton then Lord Keeper of the great Seal deserted the Parliament and that the said great Seal was surreptitiously conveyed away from the Parliament being the 21. day of May 1642. and who shall be hereafter made shall not sit or Vote in the Parliament of England without consent of both Houses of Parliament and that all Honour and Title conferred on any without consent of both Houses of Parliament since the 20. day of May 1642. being the day that both Houses declared That the King seduced by evil Counsel intended to raise War against the Parliament be declared null and void The like for the Kingdom of Scotland those being excepted whose Patents were passed the great Seal before the 4. of June 1644. XX. That by Act of Parliament the Deputy or chief Governour or other Governours of Ireland be nominated by both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliament by the Commissioners to continue during the pleasure of the said Houses or in the Intervals of Parliament during the pleasure of the said Houses or in the Intervals of Parliament during the pleasure of the aforementioned Commissioners to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting And that the Chancellor or Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer Commissioners of the great Seal or Treasury Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports Chancellors of the Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Judges of both Benches and of the Exchequer of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland be nominated by both Houses of Parliament to continue quamdiu se bene gesserint and in the Intervals of Parliament by the aforementioned Commissioners to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting The like for the Kingdom of Scotland adding the Justice General and in such manner as the Estates in Parliament there shall think fit XXI That by Act of Parliament the Education of Your Majesty's Children and the Children of Your Heirs and Successors be in the true Protestant Religion and that their Tutors and Governours be of known Integrity and be chosen by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms or in the Intervals of Parliaments by the aforenamed Commissioners to be approved or disallowed by both Parliaments at their next sitting and that if they be Male they be married to such only as are of the true Protestant Religion if they be Female they may not be marryed but with the advice and consent of both Parliaments or in the Intervals of Parliament by their Commissioners XXII That Your Majesty will give Your Royal Assent to such ways and means as the Parliaments of both Kingdoms shall think fitting for the uniting of the Protestant Princes and for the entire Restitution and Re-establishment of Charles Lodwick Prince Elector Palatine His Heirs and Successors to His Electoral Dignity Rights and Dominions Provided that this extend not to Prince Rupert or Prince Maurice or the Children of either of them who have been the Instruments of so much blood-shed and mischief against both Kingdoms XXIII That by Act of Parliament the concluding of Peace or War with Foreign Princes and States be with advice and consent of both Parliaments or in the Intervals of Parliaments by their Commissioners XXIV That an Act of Oblivion be passed in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively relative to the Qualifications in the Propositions aforesaid concerning the joint Declaration of both Kingdoms with the exception of all Murderers Thieves and other Offenders not having relation to the War XXV That the Members of both Houses of Parliaments or others who have during this Parliament been put out of any Place or Office Pension or Benefit for adhering to the Parliament may either be restored thereunto or otherwise have Recompence for the same upon the humble desire of both Houses of Parliament The like for the Kingdom of Scotland XXVI That the Armies may be Disbanded at such time and in such manner as shall be agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms or such as shall be Authorized by them to that effect XXVII That an Act be passed for the granting and confirming of the Charters Customs Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Non-user Mis-user or Abuser That the Militia of the City of London may be in the ordering and Government of the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Major and Sheriffs for the time being to be three And that the Militia of the Parishes without London and the Liberties within the weekly Bills of Mortality may be under Command of the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council of the said City to be ordered in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament That the Tower of London may be in the Government of the City of London and the chief Officer and Governour thereof from time to time be nominated and removable by the Common-Council That the Citizens or Forces of London shall not be drawn out of the City into any other parts of the Kingdom without their own consent and that the drawing of their Forces into other parts of the Kingdom in these distracted times may not be drawn into example for the future And for prevention of Inconveniences which may happen by the long intermission of Common-Councils it is desired that there be an Act that all By-Laws and Ordinances already made or hereafter to be made by the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council assembled touching the calling continuing directing and regulating of the same shall be as effectual in Law to all intents and purposes as if the same were particularly enacted by the Authority of Parliament and that the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council may add to or repeal the said Ordinances from time to time as they shall see cause That such other Propositions as shall be made for the City for their farther Safety Welfare and Government and shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament may be granted and confirmed by Act of Parliament Upon consideration of which Propositions His Majesty sent the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Southampton with this Message of the 13. of December HIS Majesty hath seriously
considered your Propositions and finds it very difficult in respect they import so great an Alteration in Government both in Church and State to return a particular and positive Answer before a full debate wherein those Propositions and all the necessary Explanations and Reasons for assenting dissenting or qualifying and all inconveniences and mischiefs which may ensue and cannot otherwise be so well foreseen may be discussed and weighed His Majesty therefore proposeth and desireth as the best Expedient for Peace That you will appoint such a number of Persons as you shall think fit to Treat with the like number of Persons to be appointed by His Majesty upon the said Propositions and such other things as shall be proposed by His Majesty for the preservation and defence of the Protestant Religion with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences as His Majesty hath often offered the Rights of the Crown the Liberty and Property of the Subjects and the Privileges of Parliament and upon the whole matter to conclude a happy and blessed Peace Unto which Message this Answer of the 27. of December was returned to His Majesty May it please Your most Excellent Majesty VVE Your Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects of both Kingdoms have considered of Your Majesty's Message of the 13. of December 1644. sent by the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Southampton directed to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland now at London and do in all humbleness return this Answer That we do consent there be a Treaty for a safe and well-grounded Peace but find that it will require some time to resolve concerning the Instructions and manner of that Treaty and therefore that Your Majesty might not be held in suspence touching our readiness to make use of any opportunity for attaining such a blessed and happy Peace in all Your Majesty's Dominions we would not stay Your Majesty's Messengers till we did resolve upon all those particulars which we will take into our serious consideration and present our humble desires to Your Majesty with all convenient speed Westminster the 20. of December 1644. Signed in the name and by warrant of the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland Lowdon Gray of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthal Speaker of the Commons House assembled in Parliament And afterwards upon the 18th of January following Sir Peter Killegrew brought this farther Answer to His Majesty May it please Your most Excellent Majesty VVE Your Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland do make our further Answer to Your Majesty's Message of the 13 th of December last 1644. concerning a Treaty for Peace as followeth We do consent that there be a Treaty for a safe and well-grounded Peace between Your Majesty and Your humble and Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliament of both Kingdoms and for the present have appointed Algernon Earl of Northumberland Philip Earl of Pembrook and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Basil Earl of Denbigh Thomas Lord Viscount Wenman Denzill Hollis William Pierrepont Sir Henry Vane junior Oliver St. John Bulstrode Whitelock John Crew Edmund Prideaux for the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and John Earl of Lowdon Lord Chancellor of Scotland Archibald Marquefs of Argyle John Lord Maitland John Lord Balmerino Sir Archibald Johnston Sir Charles Erskin George Dundas Sir John Smith Master Hugh Kennedy and Master Robert Barclay for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland together with Master Alexander Henderson upon the Propositions concerning Religion Who or any Ten of them there being always some of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms are appointed and authorized to meet at Vxbridge on what day Your Majesty shall be pleased to set down before the last day of this present January with such persons as Your Majesty shall appoint under Your Sign Manual for that purpose and the number of the persons to Treat not to exceed Seventeen on either part unless the persons named for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland now not here or any of them shall come and then Your Majesty may have the like number if You please there to Treat upon the Matters contained in the Propositions we lately sent unto Your Majesty according to such Instructions as shall be given unto them and the Propositions for Religion the Militia and for Ireland to be first Treated on and agreed and the time for the Treaty upon the said Propositions for Religion the Militia and for Ireland not to exceed Twenty days And for the things mentioned in Your Message to be propounded by Your Majesty when the Persons sent by Your Majesty shall communicate the same to the Committees appointed by us as aforesaid we have directed them to send the same to us that they may receive our Instructions what to do therein And to the end that the Persons that are to be sent from Your Majesty and from us with their Retinue not exceeding the number of one hundred and eight on either part may repair to Vxbridge stay there and return at their pleasure without interruption that mutual safe Conducts be granted to the said Persons according to the several Lists of their Names Signed by Order of the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster Signed in the name and by warrant of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland Lowdon Grey of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthall Speaker of the Commons House in the Parliament of England Whereunto His MAJESTY returned an Answer inclosed in a Letter from Prince Rupert to the Earl of Essex dated the 21 of January which Letter and Answer were as followeth The Letter My Lord I Am commanded by His Majesty to return this His Answer to the Message lately sent Him from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland by Sir Peter Killegrew I have likewise sent your Lordship His Majesty's safe Conduct for the persons desired and also a List of the names of those His Majesty hath appointed to Treat for whom together with their Retinue His Majesty hath desired a safe Conduct The Answer inclosed HIS Majesty having received a Message by Sir Peter Killegrew from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland concerning a Treaty returns this Answer That His Majesty doth very willing consent that there be a Treaty upon the Matters contained in the Propositions lately sent unto Him in such manner as is proposed and at the place appointed in the said Message and to that purpose His Majesty will send the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Earl of
John Earl of Lowdon Lord Chancellour of Scotland Archibald Marquess of Argyle John Lord Maitland John Lord Balmerino Sir Archibald Johnston Sir Charles Erskin George Dundas Sir John Smith Mr. Hugh Kennedy and Mr. Robert Barclay for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland together with Master Alexander Henderson upon the Propositions concerning Religion or with any Ten or more of them upon and touching the matters contained in the said Propositions Answers and Messages or any other according to the manner and agreement therein specified or otherwise as they or any Ten or more of them shall think fit and to take all the premises into their serious considerations and to compose conclude and end all differences arising thereupon or otherwise as they or any Ten or more of them in their wisdoms shall think fit and upon the whole matter to conclude a safe and well-grounded Peace if they can And whatsoever they or any Ten or more of them shall do in the premises We do by these presents ratifie and confirm the same Given at Our Court at Oxford the eight and twentieth day of January in the Twentieth year of Our Reign 1644. Their Commission to the English Commissioners Die Martis 28. January 1644. BE it Ordained by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament that Algernon Earl of Northumberland Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Basil Earl of Denbigh Thomas Lord Viscount Wenman Denzil Hollis William Pierrepont Sir Henry Vane junior Oliver St. John Bulstrode Whitelock John Crew and Edmund Prideaux shall have power and authority and are hereby authorized to joyn with the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland together with Alexander Henderson upon the Propositions concerning Religion only to Treat with the Lord Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Earl of Southampton the Earl of Kingston the Lord Dunsmore Lord Capel Lord Seymour Sir Christopher Hatton Sir John Culpeper Sir Edward Nicholas Sir Edward Hyde Sir Richard Lane Sir Orlando Bridgeman Sir Thomas Gardiner Master John Ashburnham and Master Jeffrey Palmer or any Ten of them upon the Propositions formerly sent to His Majesty for a safe and well-grounded Peace from His Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms together with Doctor Steward upon the Propositions concerning Religion only and upon His Majesty's Propositions according to such Instructions as have been given to them or as they from time to time shall receive from both Houses of Parliament Jo. Browne Cler. Parliam Their Commission to the Scots Commissioners AT Edenburgh the saxteÃnt day of Julii the Èeir of God M. Vj c fourty four Èeires The Estaites of Parliament presentlie conveined be vertew of the last act of the last Parliament haldin by His Majesty and thrie Estaites in Anno 1641. considdering that this Kingdome efter all uther meanes of supplicationnes Remonstrances and sending of Commissionaris to His Majesty have bein used without successe did enter into a solemne League and Covenant with the Kingdom and Parliament of England for Reformationne and defence of Religionne the Honor and Happines of the King the Peace and Safety of the thrie Kingdoms of Scotland England and Ireland and ane Treattie aggried upon and ane Armie and Forces raised and sent out of yis Kingdom for these endis Quhairupone the Conventionne of Estaites of this Kingdome the nynt of Jannuary last being desirous to use all good and lawful meanes that Treuth and Peace might be established in all His Majesty's Dominions with such a blessed Pacificationne betwixt His Majesty and His Subjectis as might serve most for His Majesty's trew Honor and the Safety and Happines of His People granted Commissione to Johne Erle of Lowdonne Heigh Chancellor of Scotland Johne Lord Maitland than and Èit in England Sir Archibald Johnestounne of Wariestounne ane of the Lordis of Sessionne and Maister Robert Barclay now in England to repaire to England with powar to thame or any twa of yame to endeavoure the effectuating of ye foirsaides endis conforme to the Commissione and Instructiones than givin to thame as the Commissione of the dait foirsaid proportis Lyke as the saides Johne Lord of Maitland Sir Archibald Johnestounne and Maister Robert Barclay have evir sinceattendit in England in the discharge of the foirsaid Commissione qunhil lately that Sir Archibald Johnestounne returned with some Propositiones prepaired by the Committie of both Kingdomes to be presented to the Estaites of Scotland and to both Howss of the Parliament of England and by thame to be revised and considderit and than by mutual advyse of both Kingdomes to be presented for ane safe and weill-grounded Peace Qwhilkies Propositiones ar revised and considderit and advysed be the Estaites of Parliament now conveined and their sense and resultis drawin up yrupone Whiche Commissione is to endure while the comming of the Commissionaris underwrittin And heirewith also considderin that the endis for the whilk the samen was granted ar not Èit effectuate and that the Propositiones with ye Estaites thair resultis yrupone ar to be returned toye Parliament of England thairfore the Estaites of Parliament be thir presentis gives full powar and Commissione to the said Johne Erle of Lowdonne Lord heigh Chancellor of yis Kingdome Archibald Marqueis of Arg yle and Johne Lord Balmerino for the Nobility Sir Archibald Johnestounne of Wariestounne Sir Charles Erskyne of Cambuskenneth and Maister George Dundas of Maner for the Barrones Sir Johne Smyth of Grottel Proveist of Edenburgh Hew Kennedy Burges of Air and Master Robert Barclay for the Burrowes the thrie Estaites of yis Kingdom and to Johne Lord Maitland supernumerarie in this Commissione or to any thrie or mae of the haill number thair being ane of ilk Estaite as Commissionaris from the Estaites of Parliament of this Kingdome to repaire to the Kingdome of England sick of them as ar not thair already and with powar to thameor any thrie or mae of the whole number thair being ane of ilk Estaite to endeavour the effectuating of ye foirsaides endis the concluding of the Propositions with the Estaites th aire results thairupon and all such uyr materis concerning the good of bothe Kingdomes as ar or sall be from time to time committed unto thame be the Estaites of yis Kingdome or Committies thairof according to the Instructiones givin or to be givin to the Commissionaris abovenameit or thair quorums And for this effect the Estaites Ordeanes Johne Erle of Lowdonne Chancellor Johne Lord Balmerino Sir Archibald Johnestounne of Wariestounne Sir Charles Erskyne of Cambuskenneth and Hew Kennedy repaire with all diligence to the Kingdome of England to the essect before rehearsit conforme to this Commissione and Instructiones As also the Estaites Ordeanes ye saides Archibald Marqueis of Argyle Maister George Dundas of Maner and Sir Johne Smyth Proveist of Edenburgh to repaire to ye Kingdome of England with all sick conveniencie as the occasione of
we have offered so weighty Doubts and Considerations to your Lordships in this days Debate concerning several parts in the Bill for abolishing of Episcopacy your Lordships having confined and limited our Debate to that individual Bill as it is now penn'd not the consideration of abolishing Episcopacy in general that your Lordships cannot expect a positive Answer from us now being after eleven a clock at night touching that Bill But we shall be ready by the next day assigned for the Treaty upon this Argument to deliver our Opinions to your Lordships the which we shall be then the better able to do when we have found by the progress in our other Debates how far a blessed and a happy Peace is like to be advanced by our endeavouring to give your Lordships satisfaction in this particular This being the last of the three first days assigned for the Treaty upon Religion that Subject was again taken up the 11 th of February being the first of the second three days appointed for Religion And their Commissioners delivered this Paper 11. Feb. HAving received no satisfaction in the first three days appointed to Treat upon the Propositions for Religion we do now desire your Lordships clear and full Answer to our former Demand on this Subject that no farther time may be lost in a matter which doth so much concern the Glory of God the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms The King's Commissioners Answer 11. Feb. VVE gave your Lordships as much satisfaction in the first three days appointed to Treat upon the Propositions for Religion as in so short a time and upon so little information from your Lordships could reasonably be expected in a matter of so great and high importance And as we have given your Lordships already many Reasons concerning the Injustice and Inconveniency which would follow upon passing the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy according to your first Proposition so we are now ready by Conference to satisfie your Lordships why we conceive that the said Bill is not for the Glory of God or the Honour of the King and consequently cannot be for the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms And if your Lordships Reasons shall convince us in those particulars we shall willingly consent to what you desire if otherwise we shall offer to your Lordships our Consent to such other Alterations as we conceive may better contribute to the Reformation intended and such as may stand with the Glory of God and in truth be for the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms Their Reply 11. Feb. VVE have received no satisfaction from your Lordships concerning the Propositions delivered in by us for Religion in the name of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms not have you made appear unto us any Injustice or Inconveniency in the passing of the Bill for abolishing of Episcopacy And as it cannot be denied but the settling of Religion is a matter which doth highly concern the Glory of God the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of his Kingdoms so do we desire your Lordships will grant those Demands which have been made unto you by us to that end and we are ready by present Conference to receive what your Lordships will offer upon any of those Propositions and to return that which may give your Lordships just satisfaction The King's Commissioners Answer 11. Feb. YOUR Lordships having expressed in your Paper of the first of February that there are other things touching Religion to be propounded by your Lordships to us we presume that by this time you may be enabled by your Instructions to propose the same and therefore we desire to receive them from your Lordships Which we hope your Lordships will think very reasonable when you consider how incongruous a thing it will appear to most Men to consent to real and substantial Alterations in the matter of Religion without having a view of the whole Alterations intended when at the same time there is mention of other Alterations Their Answer thereunto 11. Feb. WE shall deliver in very speedily that which remains with us touching Religion to be propounded unto your Lordships But we do desire as before your Lordships Answers unto our Demands in the same order that we have proposed them not conceiving it reasonable there should be any time spent in Debates or Answers upon what we shall hereafter offer till we have received satisfaction in our former Propositions which we desire may be speedily done lest otherwise the Treaty be retarded and the Expectation of both Kingdoms altogether frustrated Notwithstanding this they delivered in this further Answer 11. Feb. IN Answer to your Lordships Paper this day delivered to us we desire that His Majesty do give His Royal Assent to an Act of Parliament for the due Observation of the Lords Day and to the Bill for suppressing of Innovations in Churches and Chapels in and about the Worship of God c. and for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's Holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom and to the Bill against enjoying of Pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual persons and non-Residency And we shall in due time give in to your Lordships our Demands concerning Papists contained in the sixth seventh eighth ninth and tenth Propositions and for His Majesty's Assenting to an Act to be framed and agreed upon in both Houses of Parliament for the regulating and reforming of both Universities of the Colleges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton and for the Education and Marriage of His Majesty's Children and the Children of His Heirs and Successors in the true Protestant Religion as in the 21 Proposition Some part of the 11th and most part of the 12th of February was spent in Argument by Divines touching Episcopacy and the Presbyterial Government Afterwards their Commissioners gave in this Paper 12. Feb. THere having now been several days spent in debate upon the Propositions for Religion and all Objections alledged to the contrary either from Conscience Law or Reason being fully answered and the time allotted for that so important a part of the Treaty almost elapsed we should be wanting to the Trust reposed in us if we should not press and Expect as we now do a clear and positive Answer to those Demands concerning Religion which we have offered unto your Lordships from the Parliaments of both Kingdoms as most necessary for the settling of a safe and well-grounded Peace in all His Majesty's Dominions The King's Commissioners Answer 12. Feb. WE deny that the Objections alledged by us against the passing the for abolishing Episcopacy from Conscience Law or Reason have been fully answered by your Lordships or that indeed we have received any satisfaction from your Lordships in these particulars We have received no Information from your Lordships to satisfie us that Episcopacy is or hath been an impediment to a perfect Reformation to the growth of Religion or that it
time such a mutual Confidence may be begot betwixt His Majesty and all His People that the Peace will be firm and lasting That the Commissioners before their entrance upon the said Trust shall take an Oath for the due execution of the said Commission and that after the expiration of the said term of three years from the time of the issuing the said Commission they shall not presume to continue any execution of the said Authority and it shall be high Treason in any of them to execute the said Authority after the expiration of the said three years And all the Commanders in chief of the Garrisons Forts and His Majesty's Ships shall likewise take an Oath for the due execution of their Trust That the Commissioners shall have Power to prevent the violation of the Articles of Peace or any Troubles arising in the Kingdom by breach of the said Articles and to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the same We shall be willing that any just Privileges and Immunities be granted by His Majesty to the City of London as being the chief City of this Kingdom and the place His Majesty desires to honour with His most usual and most constant Residence But we conceive it too envious a thing and may prove very prejudicial to the Happiness of that great City to distinguish it in a matter of so high importance as the business of the Militia from the Authority that the whole Kingdom is to submit to If your Lordships shall not consent to the election of persons in that manner as we have proposed half by His Majesty and the other half by the two Houses we do then propose to your Lordships that the said persons who shall have the said Powers in manner and form above mentioned may be named by mutual consent upon Debate between us in which consideration may be taken of the fitness or unfitness of those who shall be named And in case that any of them who shall be thus agreed upon shall die within the said term of three years the survivers or the major part of them shall nominate and chuse another in his place who shall be deceased This way we should most have desired but in regard the consideration of persons may take up a long time in debate which neither the time allotted for the Treaty nor the present Distractions will permit we do propose the former as the most expedite and certain way but leave the election to your Lordships And whatsoever shall be found deficient in the settling this according to the present Agreement or shall be thought fit to be added to it upon any inconveniencies or defects that shall be hereafter discovered the same shall be mended or supplyed in such manner as shall be thought reasonable by the joynt Consent of His Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament After which the King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper 6. Feb. WE shall be ready against the time that the Militia is again in order to be Treated upon to give your Lordships an Answer to your Demands concerning the Militia of the Kingdom of Scotland the which for the present we have not had time to do having wholly spent these three days in the perfecting the Paper delivered to your Lordships this day and the Debates in preparation thereof And at the same time their Commissioners delivered in this Paper 6. Feb. YOUR Lordships Paper which we have received so late at the end of the third day appointed to Treat upon the Militia on which we expected a satisfactory Answer to our Demands concerning it is very far differing from what we have proposed and unsatisfactory to our just and necessary desires for securing the Peace of the Kingdoms and wherein we cannot but observe that the Kingdom of Scotland is wholly omitted We do therefore insist upon our Paper formerly delivered concerning the Militia and desire your Lordships full and clear Answer being ready by Conference to remove all Objections which may be made to the contrary The King's Commissioners Answer thereupon 6. Feb. VVE conceive the Paper delivered by us to your Lordships may justly satisfie your Lordships for the securing the Peace of this Kingdom against all Forces that may any ways endanger it at home or from abroad and for securing the performance of all things that shall be agreed in this Treaty and we are ready by Conference to make the Reasonableness thereof appear and to receive any Reasons from your Lordships to the contrary And as touching Scotland we hope your Lordships will be satisfied by the last Paper we delivered to you Their Paper 6. Feb. IN our last Paper we insisted upon our former demands for the Militia and offered by Conference to satisfie your Lordships of the Reasonableness of them if any Doubts remained with you to the contrary which we are still ready to do they being the proper Subject of this part of the Treaty And whereas your Lordships have in your Paper referred what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland unto another time and seem to intend it a several Answer both Kingdoms being united in the same Cause and under the same Danger and mutually providing for the joynt Safety and Security of both and each other our Propositions are joyntly made by both and are inconsistent with a divided Answer The King's Commissioners Answer 6. Feb. WHereas your Lordships have offered in your last Paper to satisfie us by Conference of the Reasonableness of your Demands if any Doubts remain with us to the contrary We desire to receive satisfaction by Conference that it is reasonable for us to grant the nomination of the Persons by the two Houses only and that the Time ought not to be limited Their Paper 6. Feb. AS we have given to your Lordships our Propositions for the Militia of both Kingdoms in writing so do we again desire your Lordships full and clear Answer to them both in writing and we are ready to answer any Doubts you shall make upon them in order as we delivered them and as they do relate to both Kingdoms but we cannot Treat upon your Lordships Answer which divides them The three first day allotted for the Treaty upon the Militia being spent and that Subject resumed upon Friday the 14 th Saturday the 15 th and Monday the 17 th of February in those days divers Papers were delivered and some Debates had touching the nomination of the Persons who were to be intrusted with the Militia whether they should all be nominated by the two Houses only and touching the Time how long they should have it and whether the same should be unlimited as it was in the Propositions or be limited to a certain time as likewise concerning the Powers of the English and Scotish Commissioners for the Militia which are so intermingled in the Propositions that it was not well understood upon the Propositions how far the Commissioners of one Kingdom and their Power might extend unto and have influence
the latter part what Jurisdiction the Commissioners shall have who may determine all differences that shall be by breach of the Articles of Peace and by what Law and Rule they shall proceed to hear and determine the same is clearly set down in our further Answer of the 15. of this instant to your second Paper delivered in to us the day before The King's Commissioners Answer thereunto 17. Feb. VVE had great reason to desire a perfect and full Answer from your Lordships to our first and second Papers delivered by us to your Lordships on the 15. of Feb. and we desire your Lordships to consider how difficult a thing it is for us to give your Lordships a satisfactory Answer to your Propositions as they relate to either or both Kingdoms or to the Power of the Commissioners of both Kingdoms as they are to be a joynt Committee to hear and determine all differences according to Instructions from both Houses of Parliament of England or the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland before your Lordships are pleased to inform us whether you intend the Commissioners of Scotland shall have any Power or Authority in the settling all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom and what Authority they shall have and whether the Advice Instructions or Orders of the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland shall have any influence upon the affairs of this Kingdom or the Commissioners to be named according to those Propositions otherwise than as the said Advice Instructions or Orders shall be approved and confirmed by the two Houses of Parliament of England and what Jurisdiction you intend the Commissioners shall have who are to determine all differences that may occasion the breach of the Articles of the Peace and by what Law or Rule they shall proceed try and judge in the hearing and determining the same In all which particulars we are very sorry that we can receive no Answers from your Lordships for want whereof we may fail in giving your Lordships so satisfactory Answers to your Propositions as otherwise we might be enabled to do Their Reply 17. Feb. IT is clearly expressed in our Propositions delivered to your Lordships that all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom are to be settled by the two Houses of the Parliament of England and in the Kingdom of Scotland by the Estates of the Parliament there and we conceive that the Advice Instructions or Orders of either Kingdom are to have no influence upon the affairs of the other but such as is and shall be mutually agreed upon by the two Houses of the Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland and for the Jurisdiction of the Commissioners and by what Law or Rule they shall proceed we have given your Lordships a full and clear Answer thereunto in our 5. Paper of the 15. of February The King's Commissioners Paper 17. Feb. IN the twelfth Proposition your Lordships desire an Act to be passed for confirmation of the late Treaty for the settling of the Garrison of Berwick of the 29 of Novem. 1643. which relating to the business of the Militia we hold it necessary to see before we can make our full Answer upon the whole and desire it accordingly of your Lordships Their Answer 17. Feb. AS for what concerns the Act for Confirmation of the late Treaty and for setling the Garrison of Berwick it is not now to be Treated upon but is reserved to its proper time The King's Commissioners Paper 17. Feb. VVE desire to know whether by the joynt Power mentioned in your Lordships Propositions to be given to the Commissioners for both Kingdoms to preserve the Peace between the Kingdoms and the King and every one of them your Lordships do intend any other than Military power for suppressing Forces only which is expressed after in a distinct Clause by it self and if your Lordships do intend any further Power that your Lordships would declare the same in certainty and particular Their Answer 17. Feb. VVE conceive the Power of the Commissioners mentioned in the 17. Proposition is there fully expressed to preserve the Peace betwixt the Kingdoms to prevent the violation of it or any Troubles arising in the Kingdoms by breach of the Articles and to hear and determine all differences which may occasion the same according to the Treaty and to raise Forces to resist Foreign Invasion and suppress intestine Insurrections as is more at large set down in the Proposition to which we refer your Lordships The King's Commissioners Paper 17. Feb. VVE desire to know whether the Commissioners of both Kingdoms meeting as a joynt Committee the Commissioners of each Kingdom shall have a Negative Voice so as nothing can be done without their joynt consent in matters of joynt concernment and how and by whom it shall be decided what are cases of joynt concernment to both Kingdoms Their Answer 17. Feb. IN all matters of joynt concernment the Commissioners of both Kingdoms are to act joyntly and when they shall meet as a joynt Committee upon such matters of joynt concernment the Commissioners of each Kingdom are to have a Negative Voice and in doubtful cases not expressed in the 17. Proposition to be of joynt concernment where the Commissioners cannot agree whether or no they be of joynt concernment they are to represent them to the two Houses of Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively to be by them determined if they be sitting and in the Intervals of Parliament if the cases be such as cannot without prejudice to both or either Kingdom admit of delay we conceive the Commissioners of each Kingdom are to act severally and to be accomptable for it to the two Houses of Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively at their next sitting The King's Commissioners Paper 17. Feb. VVE desire to know whether by the Propositions for settling the Forces in Commissioners to be nominated by both Houses of Parliament such as both Kingdoms may confide in your Lordships do intend that the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland shall approve or except against the Commissioners to be nominated for the Kingdom of England both at present and from time to time as the Commissioners shall dye or be removed or altered Their Answer 17. Feb. VVE conceive it to be plain by the Proposition it self that the Commissioners of both Kingdoms are respectively to be nominated by the Parliaments of either Kingdom and neither Parliament hath power to except against or approve the persons chosen by the other and we are confident there will be no cause of exception but who are chosen by either will be such as both may confide in The King's Commissioners Paper 14. Feb. VVE desire to know whether your Lordships intend by your Proposition concerning the settling of the Admiralty of Scotland by Act of Parliament to alter the inheritance of any person which is
not given full and satisfactory Answers concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland you cannot for the Reasons above mentioned expect an addition of time neither have we received any Instructions to continue this Treaty longer than the twenty days of which this is the last And as for your Lordships Safe-Conduct we conceive the Three Sundays last past being not accounted any days of the Treaty so this next Sunday is not to be esteemed one of the two days allowed after the Treaty in your Lordships Safe-Conduct but your Lordships are to have two days besides this next Lords day The King's Commissioners Reply 22. February WE cannot express the great sadness of our hearts that all our earnest endeavours to give your Lordships satisfaction in all particulars of this Treaty have produced no better effects towards a blessed Peace which his Majesty and we who are trusted by him do so heartily pray for and that so many and great Offers made by us to your Lordships in the particulars we have Treated upon should not be thought a good progress on our part in the said Treaty as we find by your Lordships last Paper to our great grief they are not and therefore that this must be the last day of the Treaty We desire your Lordships to consider that we being intrusted by his Majesty to Treat with your Lordships for a safe and well grounded Peace have upon the matter of your Lordships Propositions consented to so many particulars and alterations of very great importance and that your Lordships who were to Treat with us have not abated one tittle of the most severe and rigorous of your Propositions saving what you were pleased the last Night to propose in the point of Time concerning the Militia which though it seems to be limited to seven years in truth leaves it as unlimited as it was before in your-Propositions for at the end of seven years it must not be exercised otherwise than shall be settled by his Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament so that all the Legal Power now in his Majesty is taken away and not restored after the seven years expired Neither is there a full consent to that limitation offered by your Lordships the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland Nor have your Lordships offered to us any prospect towards Peace other than by submitting totally to those Propositions the which if we should do we should consent to such Alterations as by Constructions and Consequences may dissolve the whole frame of the present Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil in this Kingdom And though the particulars proposed by your Lordships have by Debate appeared not only evidently unreasonable but literally considered to comprehend things to be extended to Powers not intended by your selves yet your Lordships have not been pleased either to restrain or interpret any particular in any other manner than as is set forth in the said Propositions In the matter of Religion we have offered all such Alterations as we conceive may give satisfaction to any Objections that have been or can be made against that Government and have given your Lordships Reasons not onely why we cannot consent to your Lordships Propositions but that even those Propositions if consented to could not be in order to a Reformation or to the procuring the publick Peace And we must desire your Lordships to remember that though you do not onely in your Covenant which you require may be taken by his Majesty and enjoyned to be taken by all his Subjects undertake the Reformation in point of Government but even in point of Doctrine too thereby laying an imputation upon the Religion it self so long professed in this Kingdom with the general approbation of all Reformed Churches yet your Lordship have not given us the least Argument nor so much as intimated in your Debate the least Prejudice to the Doctrine of the Church of England against which we presume you cannot make any colourable Objection nor have you given us the view in particular of the Government you desire should be submitted to in the place of that you propose to be abolished and therefore we propose to your Lordships if the Alterations proposed by us do not give your Lordships satisfaction that so great an Alteration as the total Abolition of a Government established by Law may for the Importance of it and any Reformation in Doctrine for the Scandal of it be suspended till after the Disbanding of all Armies his Majesty may be present with the Two Houses of Parliament and calling a National Synod may receive such Advice both from the one and the other as in a matter of so high concernment is necessary and we are most confident that his Majesty will then follow the Advice which shall be given him And as any Reformation thus regularly and calmly made must needs prove for the singular Benefit and Honour of the Kingdom so we must appeal to your Lordships whether the contrary that is an Alteration even to things though in themselves good can by the Principles of Christian Religion be enforced upon the King or Kingdom In the business of the Militia though your Lordships do not deny that the Jealousies and apprehensions of Danger are mutual and that the chief end of depositing the Militia in the hands of certain Persons is for security against those Jealousies and possible Dangers yet your Lordships insist That all those Persons to be entrusted shall be nominated by the Two Houses of Parliament in England and the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland and that the time for that great general and unheard-of Trust shall be in such manner that though it seem to be limited to seven years yet in truth by declaring that after those seven years it shall not be otherwise exercised than His Majesty and the Two Houses of Parliament shall agree His Majesty may thereby be totally and for ever devested of the power of the Sword without which He can neither defend Himself against Foreign Invasions nor Domestick Insurrections nor execute His Kingly Office in the behalf of His Subjects to whom He is sworn to give protection And to both these your Lordships add the introducing a Neighbour-Nation governed by distinct and different Laws though united under one Sovereign to a great share in the Government of this Kingdom In stead of consenting to these Changes we have offered and proposed to your Lordships That the Persons to be trusted with the Militia of the Kingdom may be nominated between us or if that were refused that an equal number shall be named by you and the other number by his Majesty and that half the Forts and places of Strength within the Kingdom shall be in the Custody of those whom you think fit to be trusted therewith and the other half in such hands as his Majesty pleases to commit the same to and all persons as well those nominated by your Lordships as by his Majesty to take an Oath for the due discharge
any part thereof and we could not imagine would be offered but we cannot forbear upon the reading thereof to mention thus much That it seems by many particulars in that Declaration it was resolved the Treaty should end with the Twenty days the means to continue it being well known to be a good progress in the Propositions for Religion the Militia and Ireland and by what we have received we cannot find any satisfaction in these was intended to be agreed unto To that whereby your Lordships ascribe so much to your own Concessions we shall only say That for Religion you have granted very little or nothing but what we are already in possession of by the Laws of this Kingdom For the business of the Militia your Lordships have not thought fit to consent to any one of our Demands but in that as in Religion have made some new Propositions of your own which are not in any degree sufficient for setling and securing the Peace of the Kingdoms As for the Propositions for Ireland your Lordships have been so far from affording a Consent thereto that you have justified the destructive Cessation there and strongly implied an intention to renew the same and have not yielded to any part of our Propositions cencerning that Kingdom We shall represent your Lordships Papers to the Parliaments of both Kingdoms who upon due consideration thereof will do what is farther necessary for the good and Peace of His Majesties Dominions Besides these several Desires above mentioned from time to time for addition and enlargement of time for continuing and prolonging the Treaty or if discontinued that it might be revived and after a representation to the Houses their Answer might be sent to his Majesty in another Paper before Num. 135. upon the Head of the Militia his Majesties Commissioners did propose That if the Treaty might not then continue it might be Adjourned for such time as they should think fit and not totally dissolve but be again resumed which Paper is not here inserted to avoid repetition being before upon the Head of the Militia and to which as to that point of Adjournment no Answer was given No Papers were given in to their Commissioners in Answer to the last-mentioned Paper dated the 22. of Feb. Numb 197. which came in about two of the Clock in the morning after nor to that of the same date Num. 135. concerning the Militia which came in with it nor to their two last concerning Ireland of the 22. of Febr. Num. 177 and 178. which came in about 12. of the Clock that Night all which were of such length and delivered upon the close of the Treaty and those which came in about two of the Clock upon the departure of the Commissioners that it was impossible to give present Answers nor could any be given after as part of the Treaty without consent which was required by his Majesties Commissioners but not granted Neither is any thing here inserted in Answer to those Papers because by the Agreements between the Commissioners in the beginning of the Treaty nothing was to be taken as part of the Treaty but what should be put in writing And this Relation is intended only for a Narrative of the Treaty conformable to the Agreements without any Observations upon it or Additions unto it other than necessary Introductions and Transitions for coherence and more clear under standing the Passages of the Treaty THE APPENDIX His MAJESTIES Message from Evesham of the 4th of July 1644. To the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster CHARLES R. WE being deeply sensible of the Miseries and Calamities of this Our Kingdom and of the grievous Sufferings of Our poor Subjects do most earnestly desire that some Expedient may be found out which by the blessing of God may prevent the further effusion of Blood and restore the Nation to Peace from the earnest and constant endeavouring of which as no Discouragement given Us on the contrary part shall make Us cease so no Success on Ours shall ever divert Us. For the effecting whereof We are most ready and willing to condescend to all that shall be for the good of Us and Our People whether by way of Confirmation of what we have already granted or of such further Concession as shall be requisite to the giving a full Assurance of the Performance of all our most real Professions concerning the maintenance of the true Reformed Protestant Religion established in this Kingdom with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences the just Priviledges of Parliament and the Liberty and Property of the Subject according to the Laws of the Land as also by granting a general Pardon without or with Exceptions as shall be thought fit In order to which blessed Peace We do desire and propound to the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster That they appoint such and so many Persons as they shall think fit sufficiently authorized by them to attend Us at Our Army upon Safe-Conduct to come and return which We do hereby grant and conclude with Us how the Premisses and all other things in question betwixt Us and them may be fully settled whereby all unhappy mistakings betwixt Us and Our People being removed there may be a present Cessation of Arms and as soon as may be a total Disbanding of all Armies the Subject have his due and We be restored to Our Rights Wherein if this Our Offer shall be accepted there shall be nothing wanting on Our part which may make Our People secure and happy Given at Our Court at Evesham the 4 th of July 1644. His MAJESTIES Message from Tavestock of the 8th of September 1644. To the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster CHARLES R. IT having pleased God in so eminent a manner lately to bless Our Armies in these parts with success We do not so much joy in that Blessing for any other consideration as for the hopes we have that it may be a means to make others lay to heart as we do the Miserie 's brought and continued upon our Kingdom by this unnatural War and that it may open your Ears and dispose your Minds to embrace those Offers of Peace and Reconciliation which have been so often and so earnestly made unto you by Us and from the constant and fervent Endeavours of which We are resolved never to desist In pursuance whereof We do upon this Occasion conjure you to take into consideration Our too-long-neglected Message of the Fourth of July from Evesham which We again renew unto you and that you will speedily send Us such an Answer thereunto as may shew unto Our poor Subjects some light of a Deliverance from their present Calamities by a happy Accommodation toward which We do here engage the Word of a King to make good all those things which We have therein promised and really to endeavour a happy conclusion of this Treaty And so God direct you in the ways of Peace Given
will answer to Almighty God in that Day when He shall make inquisition for all the Blood that hath and may yet be spilt in this unnatural War as you tender the preservation and establishment of the true Religion by all the Bonds of Duty and Allegiance to your King or Compassion to your bleeding and unhappy Country and of Charity to your selves that you dispose your hearts to a true sense and imploy all your faculties in a more serious Endeavour together with His Majesty to set a speedy end to these wasting Divisions and then He shall not doubt but that God will yet again give the Blessing of Peace to this distracted Kingdom Given at the Court at Oxford the fifteenth of December 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses with Propositions From Oxford Dec. 26. 1645. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. NOtwithstanding the strange and unexpected Delays which can be precedented by no former times to His Majesties two former Messages His Majesty will lay aside all Expostulations as rather serving to lose time than to contribute any remedy to the evils which for the present do afflict this distracted Kingdom Therefore without further Preamble His Majesty thinks it most necessary to send these Propositions this way which He intended to do by the Persons mentioned in His former Messages though He well knows the great disadvantage which Overtures of this kind have by the want of being accompanied by well instructed Messengers His Majesty conceiving that the former Treaties have hitherto proved ineffectual chiefly for want of Power in those Persons that Treated as likewise because those from whom their Power was derived not possibly having the particular informations of every several Debate could not give so clear a Judgment as was requisite to so important a business if therefore His Majesty may have the engagement of the two Houses at Westminster the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland the Mayor Aldermen Common-Council and Militia of London of the chief Commanders in Sir Fairfax's Army as also of those in the Scots Army for His Majesties free and safe coming to and abode in London or Westminster with such of His Servants now attending Him and their Followers not exceeding in all the number of 300. for the space of forty days and after the said time for His free and safe repair to any of His Garrisons of Oxford Worcester or Newark which His Majesty shall nominate at any time before His going from London or Westminster His Majesty propounds to have a Personal Treaty with the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland upon all matters which may conduce to the restoring of Peace and Happiness to these miserably-distracted Kingdoms and to begin with the three Heads which were Treated on at Vxbridge And for the better clearing of His Majesties earnest and sincere intentions of putting an end to these unnatural Distractions knowing that point of security may prove the greatest obstacle to this most blessed Work His Majesty therefore declares That he is willing to commit the great Trust of the Militia of this Kingdom for such Time and with such Powers as are exprest in the Paper delivered by His Majesties Commissioners at Vxbridge the sixth of February last to these Persons following viz. the Lord Privy-Seal the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Marquess of Dorchester the Earl of Dorset Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Essex Earl of Southampton Earl of Pembroke Earl of Salisbury Earl of Manchester Earl of Warwick Earl of Denbigh Earl of Chichester Lord Say Lord Seymour Lord Lucas Lord Lexington Mr. Denzill Hollis Mr. Pierrepont Mr. Henry Bellassis Mr. Richard Spencer Sir Thomas Fairfax Mr. John Ashburnham Sir Gervase Clifton Sir Henry Vane junior Mr. Robert Wallop Mr. Thomas Chichely Mr. Oliver Cromwell Mr. Philip Skippon supposing that these are Persons against whom there can be no just exception But if this doth not satisfie then His Majesty offers to name the one half and leave the other to the election of the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster with the Powers and Limitations before mentioned Thus His Majesty calls God and the World to witness of His sincere Intentions and real Endeavours for the composing and settling of these miserable Distractions which He doubts not but by the Blessing of God will soon be put to a happy Conclusion if this His Majesties offer be accepted otherwise He leaves all the World to judge who are the continuers of this unnatural War And therefore He once more conjures you by all the bonds of Duty you owe to God and your King to have so great a Compassion on the bleeding and miserable estate of your Country that you joyn your most serious and hearty endeavours with His Majesty to put a happy and speedy end to these present Miseries Given at the Court at Oxford the 26. of December 1645. The Answer of both Houses to His MAJESTIES two former Messages of the 5. and 15. of Decemb. brought by Sir Peter Killegrew Decemb. 27. May it please your Majesty THE Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster have received Your Letters of the fifth and fifteenth of this instant December and having together with the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland taken the same into their serious consideration do humbly return this Answer They have in all their Actions manifested to Your Majesty and the World their sincere and earnest desires that a safe and well-grounded Peace might be settled in Your three Kingdoms and for the obtaining so great a Blessing shall ever pray to God and use their utmost endeavours and beseech Your Majesty to believe that their not sending a more speedy Answer hath not proceeded from any intention to retard the means of putting an end to these present Calamities by a happy Peace but hath been occasioned by the Considerations and Debates necessary in a business of so great importance wherein both Kingdoms are so much concerned As to Your Majesties desire of a safe Conduct for the coming hither of the Duke of Richmond the Earl of Southampton John Ashburnham and Jeffrey Palmer Esquires with Propositions to be the foundation of a happy and well-grounded Peace they finding that former Treaties have been made use of for other Ends under the pretence of Peace and have proved dilatory and unsuccessful cannot give way to a safe Conduct according to Your Majesties desire But both Houses of the Parliament of England having now under their Consideration Propositions and Bills for the settling of a safe and well grounded Peace which are speedily to be communicated to the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland do resolve after mutual agreement of both Kingdoms to present them with all speed to Your Majesty Westminster the 25.
but even passing by that which he might well insist upon a Point of Honour in respect of his present Condition thus answers the first Proposition That upon his Majesties coming to London He will heartily joyn in all that shall concern the Honour of his two Kingdoms or the Assembly of the States of Scotland or of the Commissioners or Deputies of either Kingdom particularly in those things which are desired in that Proposition upon confidence that all of them respectively with the same Tenderness will look upon those things which concern his Majesties Honour In answer to all the Propositions concerning Religion his Majesty proposeth that he will confirm the Presbyterial Government the Assembly of Divines at VVestminster and the Directory for Three years being the time set down by the Two Houses so that his Majesty and his Houshold be not hindred from that Form of God's Service which they formerly have And also that a free Consultation and Debate be had with the Divines at VVestminster Twenty of his Majesties Nomination being added unto them whereby it may be determined by his Majesty and the Two Houses how the Church shall be governed after the said Three years or sooner if Differences may be agreed Touching the Covenant his Majesty is not yet therein satisfied and desires to respite his particular Answer thereunto until his coming to London because it being a matter of Conscience he cannot give a Resolution there in till he may be assisted with the Advice of some of his own Chaplains which hath hitherto been denied him and such other Divines as shall be most proper to inform him therein and then he will make clearly appear both his Zeal to the Protestant Profession and the Union of these two Kingdoms which he conceives to be the main drift of this Covenant To the Seventh and Eighth Propositions his Majesty will consent To the Ninth his Majesty doubts not but to give good satisfaction when he shall be particularly informed how the said Penalties shall be levied and disposed of To the Tenth his Majesties Answer is That he hath been always ready to prevent the practices of Papists and therefore is content to pass an Act of Parliament for that purpose and also that the Laws against them be duly executed His Majesty will give his Consent to the Act for the due Observation of the Lord's day for the suppressing of Innovations and those concerning the preaching of God's Word and touching Non-residence and Pluralities and his Majesty will yield to such Act or Acts as shall be requisite to raise moneys for the payment and satisfying all publick Debts expecting also that his will be therein included As to the Proposition touching the Militia though his Majesty cannot consent unto it in terminis as it is proposed because thereby he conceives he wholly parts with the power of the Sword entrusted to him by God and the Laws of the Land for the Protection and Government of his People thereby at once devesting himself and dis inheriting his Posterity of that Right and Prerogative of the Crown which is absolutely necessary to the Kingly Office and so weaken Monarchy in this Kingdom that little more than the Name and Shadow of it will remain yet if it be onely security for the preservation of the Peace of this Kingdom after the unhappy Troubles and the due performance of all the Agreements which are now to be concluded which is desired which his Majesty always understood to be the case and hopes that herein he is not mistaken his Majesty will give abundant satisfaction To which end he is willing by Act of Parliament That the whole power of the Militia both by Sea and Land for the space of Ten years be in the hands of such Persons as the Two Houses shall nominate giving them power during the said Term to change the said Persons and substitute others in their places at pleasure and afterwards to return to the proper Chanel again as it it was in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James of blessed memory And now his Majesty conjures his two Houses of Parliament as they are English-men and lovers of Peace by the Duty they owe to his Majesty their King and by the bowels of Compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects that they will accept of this his Majesties Offer whereby the joyful News of Peace may be restored to this languishing Kingdom His Majesty will grant the like to the Kingdom of Scotland if it be desired and agree to all things that are propounded touching the conserving of Peace betwixt the two Kingdoms Touching Ireland other things being agreed His Majesty will give Satisfaction therein As to the mutual Declarations proposed to be established in both Kingdoms by Act of Parliament and the Modifications Qualifications and Branches which follow in the Propositions his Majesty onely professes that He doth not sufficiently understand nor is able to reconcile many things contained in them but this He well knoweth that a general Act of Oblivion is the best bond of Peace and that after Intestine Troubles the Wisdom of this and other Kingdoms hath usually and happily in all Ages granted general Pardons whereby the numerous discontentments of many Persons and Families otherwise exposed to ruine might not become fewel to new Disorders or seeds to future Troubles His Majesty therefore desires that His two Houses of Parliament would seriously descend into these Considerations and likewise tenderly look upon His condition herein and the perpetual dishonour that must cleave to Him if He shall thus abandon so many Persons of Condition and Fortune that have engaged themselves with and for him out of a sense of Duty and propounds as a very acceptable testimony of their Affection to him That a general Act of Oblivion and free Pardon be forthwith passed by Act of Parliament Touching the new Great Seal His Majesty is very willing to confirm both it and all the Acts done by virtue thereof until this present time so that it be not thereby pressed to make void those Acts of His done by virtue of his Great Seal which in Honour and Justice He is obliged to maintain and that the future Government thereof may be in His Majesty according to the due course of Law Concerning the Officers mentioned in the 19. Article His Majesty when He shall come to Westminster will gratifie His Parliament all that possibly He may without destroying the alterations which are necessary for the Crown His Majesty will willingly consent to the Act for the confirmation of the Priviledges and Customs of the City of London and all that is mentioned in the Propositions for their particular advantage And now that His Majesty hath thus far endeavoured to comply with the desires of His two Houses of Parliament to the end that this Agreement may be firm and lasting without the least face or question of restraint to blemish the same His Majesty earnestly desires presently to be admitted to His Parliament at
Westminster with that Honour which is due to their Sovereign there solemnly to confirm the same and legally to pass the Acts before mentioned and to give and receive as well satisfaction in all the remaining particulars as likewise such other pledges of mutual Love Trust and Confidence as shall most concern the good of Him and His People Upon which happy Agreement His Majesty will dispatch His Directions to the Prince His Son to return immediately to Him and will undertake for his ready Obedience thereunto Holdenby May 12. 1647. MDCXLVII Jul. The Londoners Petition and Engagement To the Right Honourable the Lord Maior the Right Worshipful the Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in the Common or Guild-Hall of the City of London assembled The Humble Petition of the Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands and Auxiliaries the Young men and Apprentices of the Cities of London and VVestminster Sea-Commanders Sea-men and Water-men together with divers other Commanders Officers and Soldiers within the Line of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bills of Mortality Sheweth THat your Petitioners taking into serious consideration how Religion His Majesties Honour and Safety the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject are at present greatly endangered and like to be destroyed and also sadly weighing with our selves what means might likely prove the most effectual to procure a firm and lasting Peace without a further effusion of Christian English Blood have therefore entred into a solemn Engagement which is hereunto annexed and do humbly and earnestly desire that this whole City may joyn together by all lawful and possible means as one man in hearty endeavours for His Majesties present coming up to His two Houses of Parliament with Honour Safety and Freedom and that without the nearer approach of the Army there to confirm such things as He hath granted in His Message of the 12. of May last in answer to the Propositions of both Kingdoms and that by a Personal Treaty with his two Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland such things as are yet in difference may be speedily settled and a firm and lasting Peace established All which we desire may be presented to both Houses of Parliament from this Honourable Assembly And we shall pray c. A solemn Engagement of the Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands and Auxiliaries the Young men and Apprentices of the Cities of London and VVestminster Sea-Commanders Sea-men and Water-men together with divers other Commanders Officers and Soldiers within the Line of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bill of Mortality WHereas we have entred into a solemn League and Covenant for Reformation and Defence of Religion the Honour and Happiness of the King and the Peace and Safety of the Three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland all which we do evidently perceive not only to be endangered but ready to be destroyed we do therefore in pursuance of our said Covenant Oath of Allegiance Oath of every Free-man of the Cities of London and Westminster and Protestations solemnly engage our selves and vow unto Almighty God That we will to the utmost of our power cordially endeavour that His Majesty may speedily come to His two Houses of Parliament with Honour Safety and Freedom and that without the nearer approach of the Army there to confirm such things as He hath granted in His Message of the 12. of May last in Answer to the Propositions of both Kingdoms and that by a Personal Treaty with His two Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland such things as are yet in difference may be speedily settled and a firm and lasting Peace established For effecting whereof we do protest and re-oblige our selves as in the presence of God the searcher of all hearts with our Lives and Fortunes to endeavour what in us lies to preserve and defend His Majesties Royal Person and Authority the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject in their full and constant Freedom the Cities of London and Westminster Lines of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bills of Mortality and all others that shall adhere with us to the said Covenant Oath of Allegiance Oath of every Freeman of London and VVestminster and Protestation Nor shall we by any means admit suffer or endure any kind of Neutrality in this Common Cause of God the King and Kingdom as we do expect the Blessing of Almighty God whose help we crave and wholly devolve our selves upon in this our Undertaking A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament Die Sabbathi 24. Julii 1647. THE Lords and Commons having seen a printed Paper intituled A Petition to the Right Honourable the Lord Maior the Right VVorshipful the Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in the Common or Guild-Hall of the City of London assembled under the Name of divers Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands Auxiliaries and others Young men and Apprentices Sea-Commanders Sea-men and VVater-men together with a dangerous Engagement of the same persons by Oath and Vow concerning the King 's present coming to the Parliament upon Terms far different from those which both Houses after mature deliberation have declared to be necessary for the good and safety of this Kingdom casting Reflections upon the Proceedings both of the Parliament and Army and tending to the imbroiling the Kingdom in a new War and the said Lords and Commons taking notice of great endeavours used by divers ill-affected persons to procure Subscriptions thereunto whereby well-meaning people may be misled do therefore declare That whosoever after Publication or notice hereof shall proceed in or promote or set his Name to or give Consent that his Name be set unto or any way joyn in the said Engagement shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall forfeit Life and Estate as in cases of High Treason accustomed H. Elsynge Cler. Par. Dom. Com. Die Lunae 26. Julii 1647. BE it ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That the Declaration of the twenty fourth of this instant July which declares all those Traitors and so to forfeit Life and Estate who shall after Publication thereof act thereupon to get Subscriptions be Null and Void any thing in the said Declaration to the contrary notwithstanding Joh. Browne Cler. Par. Hen. Elsynge Cler. Par. Dom. Com. Die Lunae 26. Julii 1647. REsolved upon the Question That His Majesty shall come to Londo Die Saturni 31. Julii 1647. Resolved upon the Question That the King's Majesty come to one of His Houses nearer London that Propositions may be sent and Address made to His Majesty from both Houses of the Parliament of England and the Kingdom of Scotland for Peace MDCXLVII His MAJESTIES Declaration and Profession disavowing any Preparations in Him to levy War against His two Houses of Parliament CHARLES R. THere having been many
perfecting of these Concessions as also for such other things as may be proposed by the two Houses and for such just and reasonable demands as his Majesty shall find necessary to propose on his part he earnestly desires a Personal Treaty at London with his two Houses in Honour Freedom and Safety it being in his Judgment the most proper and indeed only means to a firm and settled Peace and impossible without it to reconcile former or to avoid future misunderstandings All these things being by Treaty perfected his Majesty believes his two Houses will think it reasonable that the Proposals of the Army concerning the Succession of Parliaments and their due Elections should be taken into consideration As for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland his Majesty will very readily apply himself to give all reasonable satisfaction when the Desires of the two Houses of Parliament on their behalf or of the Commissioners of that Kingdom or of both joyned together shall be made known unto him From the Isle of Wight Novemb. 17. 1647. His MAJESTIES Declaration at the Isle of VVight Novemb. 19. 1647. CHARLES R. HIS Majesty doth declare That he came from Hampton-Court for no other cause but for the preservation of His Person which was as He apprehended in such danger that He could not with Safety continue longer there That if He could have been there with Safety He would not have departed thence nor from the Army And that He chose this place rather than any other when He was at liberty to have gone whither He pleased that He might still continue under the protection of the Army Colonel Hammond being a Member thereof and that He might have conveniency of free intercourse between Himself and the Parliament for the settlement of a general Peace to which He professes a very great inclination and desire and that there shall be nothing wanting on His part that may be reasonably expected from Him And His Majesty doth further Declare That in case these Gentlemen be taken from Him and punished as evil doers for counselling Him not to go out of the Kingdom but rather to come to the place where He now is for the ends aforesaid and for their endeavouring accordingly in attending Him hither He cannot but Himself expect to be dealt with accordingly His case being the same Carisbrooke Castle Novemb. 19. 1647. His MAJESTIES Letter to Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX from Carisbrooke Novemb. 26. 1647. For Sir Thomas Fairfax General CHARLES R. HAving left Order at Our remove from Hampton-Court that a Copy should be given you of what We had then written to both Houses of Parliament touching the causes of Our withdrawing and the continuance of Our Resolutions to improve every occasion of the satisfaction of all chief Interests that so a happy Peace may be settled in Our Dominions in pursuance whereof We have lately sent a Message to both Houses from this place and a Copy of it to you and being desirous in order to that blessed Work to give you Our present sense upon the condition of Affairs as they now stand We have thought fit to appoint Sir John Barkley to repair unto you and to communicate the same to you and We shall be glad by him to receive a mutual communication of your sense also upon this Subject not doubting but you easily perceive by the late Disorders into what a depth of Confusion the Army and the Nation will fall if timely and effectual preventions be not used And therefore We have now again proposed as the only Expedient a Personal Treaty for the composing of all differences and fulfilling the desires of all Interests to which if you will imploy your Credit as you cannot but expect the Blessings of God upon your endeavours therein so you may justly look for the best return that ever Our Condition shall be able to make you Given at Carisbrooke Castle the 26. day of Novemb. 1647. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Carisbrook Castle Dec. 6. 1647. To the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to both Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HAD His Majesty thought it possible that His two Houses could be imployed in things of greater concernment than the Peace of this miserable distracted Kingdom He would have expected with more patience their leisure in acknowledging the receit of His Message of the 16. of November last But since there is not in nature any consideration preceding to that of Peace His Majesties constant tenderness of the welfare of His Subjects hath such a prevalence with Him that He cannot forbear the vehement prosecution of a Personal Treaty which is only so much the more desired by His Majesty as it is superior to all other means of Peace And truly when His Majesty considers the several complaints He daily hears from all parts of this Kingdom that Trade is so decayed all Commodities so dear and Taxes so insupportable that even natural subsistence will suddenly fail His Majesty to perform the Trust reposed in Him must use His uttermost endeavours for Peace though He were to have no share in the benefit of it And hath not His Majesty done His part for it by devesting Himself of so much Power and Authority as by His last Message He hath promised to do upon the concluding of the whole Peace And hath He met with that Acknowledgment from his two Houses which this great grace and favour justly deserves Surely the blame of this great retarding of Peace must fall somewhere else than on His Majesty To conclude If ye will but consider in how little time this necessary good Work will be done if you the two Houses will wait on His Majesty with the same Resolutions for Peace as He will meet you He no way doubts but that ye will willingly agree to this His Majesties earnest desire of a Personal Treaty and speedily desire His presence amongst you where all things agreed on being digested into Acts till when it is most unreasonable for His Majesty or His two Houses to desire each of other the least Concession this Kingdom may at last enjoy the blessing of a long-wisht-for Peace From Carisbrook Castle Decemb. 6. 1647. MDâ—XLVII Dec. 24. The Four Bills sent to the King to the Isle of VVight to be passed Together with the Propositions sent unto Him at the same time which upon the passing of those Bills were to be Treated upon THE Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament have commanded us to present to Your Majesty these Four Bills which have passed the two Houses of Parliament thus severally Entituled viz. An Act concerning the raising settling and maintaining Forces by Sea and Land within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed An Act for justifying the Proceedings of Parliament in the late War and for declaring all Oaths Declarations
Debate like to prove wherein the most potent party had nothing of moment left to ask and the other nothing more to give so consequently how hopeless of mutual compliance without which a Settlement is impossible Besides if after my Concessions the two Houses should insist on those things from which I cannot depart how desperate would the Condition of these Kingdoms be when the most proper and approved Remedy should become ineffectual Being therefore fully resolved that I could neither in Conscience Honour or Prudence pass those Four Bills I only endeavoured to make the Reasons and Justice of my Denial appear to all the World as they do to me intending to give as little dissatisfaction to the two Houses of Parliament without betraying my own Cause as the matter would bear I was desirous to give my Answer of the 28. of December last to the Commissioners sealed as I had done others heretofore and sometimes at the desire of the Commissioners chiefly because when my Messages or Answers were publickly known before they were read in the Houses prejudicial interpretations were forced on them much differing and sometimes contrary to my meaning For example my Answer from Hampton-Court was accused of dividing the two Nations because I promised to give satisfaction to the Scots in all things concerning that Kingdom and this last suffers in a contrary sense by making me intend to interest Scotland in the Laws of this Kingdom then which nothing was nor is further from my thoughts because I took notice of the Scots Commissioners protesting against the Bills and Propositions as contrary to the Interests and Engagements of the two Kingdoms Indeed if I had not mentioned their dissent an Objection not without some probability might have been made against me both in respect the Scots are much concerned in the Bill for the Militia and in several other Propositions and my silence might with some justice seem to approve of it But the Commissioners refusing to receive my Answer sealed I upon the engagement of their and the Governour 's Honour that no other use should be made or notice taken of it than as if it had not been seen read and delivered it open unto them whereupon what hath since passed either by the Governour in discharging most of my Servants redoubling the Guards and restraining me of my former Liberty and all this as himself confest meerly out of his own dislike of my Answer notwithstanding his beforesaid Engagement or afterwards by the two Houses as the Governor affirms in confining me within the circuit of this Castle I appeal to God and the World whether my said Answer deserved the Reply of such proceedings besides the unlawfulness for Subjects to imprison their King That by the permission of Almighty God I am reduced to this sad condition as I no way repine so I am not without hope but that the same God will in due time convert the Afflictions into my Advantage In the mean time I am confident to bear these crosses with Patience and a great equality of Mind but by what means or occasion I am come to this Relapse in my Affairs I am utterly to seek especially when I consider that I have sacrificed to my two Houses of Parliament for the Peace of the Kingdom all but what is much more dear to me than my Life my Conscience and Honour desiring nothing more than to perform it in the most proper and natural way A Personal Treaty But that which makes me most at a loss is the remembring my signal Compliance with the Army and their Interests and of what importance my Compliance was to them and their often-repeated Professions and Engagements for my just Rights in general at Newmarket and Saint-Albans and their particular explanations of those generals by their Voted and revoted Proposals which I had reason to understand should be the utmost extremity would be expected from me and that in some things therein I should be eased herein appealing to the Consciences of some of the chiefest Officers in the Army if what I have said be not punctually true and how I have failed of their expectations or my professions to them I challenge them and the whole World to produce the least colour of Reason And now I would know what it is that is desired Is it Peace I have shewed the way being both willing and desirous to perform my part in it which is a just Compliance with all chief Interests Is it Plenty and Happiness they are the inseparable effects of Peace Is it Security I who wish that all men would forgive and forget like me have offered the Militia for my time Is it Liberty of Conscience He who wants it is most ready to give it Is it the right administration of Justice Officers of trust are committed to the choice of my two Houses of Parliament Is it frequent Parliaments I have legally fully concurr'd therewith Is it the Arrears of the Army Upon a Settlement they will certainly be payed with much ease but before there will be found much difficulty if not impossibility in it Thus all the World cannot but see my real and unwearied endeavours for Peace the which by the Grace of God I shall neither repent me of nor ever be slackned in notwithstanding My past present or future Sufferings But if I may not be heard let every one judge who it is that obstructs the good I would or might do What is it that men are afraid to hear from me It cannot be Reason at least none will declare themselves so unreasonable as to confess it and it can less be impertinent or unreasonable Discourses for thereby peradventure I might more justifie this my Restraint than the causers themselves can do so that of all wonders yet this is the greatest to me But it may be easily gathered how those men intend to govern who have used me thus And if it be my hard Fate to fall together with the Liberty of this Kingdom I shall not blush for my self but much lament the future Miseries of my People the which I shall still pray God to avert whatever becomes of me CHARLES R. Votes for a Treaty Die Veneris 28. Jul. 1648. Resolved THat a Treaty be had with the King in Person in the Isle of Wight by a Committee appointed by both Houses upon the Propositions presented to him at Hampton-Court and for the taking away of Wards and Liveries for settling of a safe and well-grounded Peace Die Mercurii 2. Aug. 1648. Resolved THat a Committee of both Houses be sent to his Majesty to acquaint him with their Resolutions to treat personally with his Majesty by a Committee of both Houses in such place as his Majesty shall make choice of in the Isle of Wight upon the Propositions presented at Hampton-Court and the taking away of Wards and Liveries for the settling of a safe and well-grounded Peace Which Treaty is resolved by the two Houses to be transacted with Honor Freedom and Safety
to his Majesty in the Isle of Wight Die Jovis 3. Aug. 1648. Instruction from both Houses of the Parliament of England for James Earl of Middlesex Sir John Hippesley Knight and John Bulkeley Esquire Committees of Parliament I. YOu or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord shall with all speed repair unto his Majesty at the Castle of Carisbook in the Isle of Wight II. You or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord shall present unto his Majesty the Resolutions of both Houses of Parliament concerning a Personal Treaty to be had with his Majesty in the Isle of Wight III. You or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord shall desire his Majesties speedy Answer to the said Resolutions IV. You or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord are to acquaint his Majesty that you are only allotted ten days from Friday next for your Going Stay and Return V. You or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord shall have power in case his Majesty desires to see the Propositions which were presented to him at Hampton-Court to present him a Copy of them His MAJESTIES Message in Answer to the Votes Carisbrooke 10. Aug. 1648. For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be communicated to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at Westminster CHARLES R. IF the Peace of my Dominions were not much dearer to me than any particular Interest whatsoever I had too much reason to take notice of the several Votes which passed against me and the sad Condition I have been in now above these seven Months But since you my two Houses of Parliament have opened as it seems to me a fair beginning to a happy Peace I shall heartily apply my self thereunto and to that end I will as clearly and shortly as I may set you down those things which I conceive necessary to this blessed Work so that we together may remove all impediments that may hinder a happy conclusion of this Treaty which with all chearfulness I do embrace And to this wished End your selves have laid most excellent grounds For what can I reasonably expect more then to Treat with Honour Freedom and Safety upon such Propositions as you have or shall present unto me and such as I shall make to you But withal remember that it is the definition not names of things which make them rightly known and that without means to perform no Propositions can take effect And truly my present Condition is such that I can no more Treat then a blind man judge of colours or one run a race who hath both his feet fast tied together Wherefore my first necessary Demand is That you will recal all such Votes and Orders by which people are frighted from coming writing or speaking freely to me Next that such men of all Professions whom I shall send for as of necessary use to me in this Treaty may be admitted to wait upon me In a word that I may be in the same state of Freedom I was in when I was last at Hampton-Court And indeed less cannot in any reasonable measure make good those Offers which you have made me by your Votes For how can I Treat with Honour so long as people are terrified with Votes and Orders against coming to speak or write to me and am I honourably treated so long as there is none about me except a Barber who came now with the Commissioners that ever I named to wait upon me or with Freedom until I may call such unto me of whose services I shall have use in so great and difficult a Work And for Safety I speak not of my Person having no apprehension that way how can I judge to make a safe and well grounded Peace until I may know without disguise the true present state of all my Dominions and particularly of all those whose Interests are necessarily concerned in the Peace of these Kingdoms Which leads me naturally to the last necessary Demand I shall make for the bringing this Treaty to an happy end which is That you alone or you and I joyntly do invite the Scots to send some persons authorized by them to Treat upon such Propositions as they shall make For certainly the publick and necessary Interests they have in this great Settlement is so clearly plain to all the World that I believe no body will deny the necessity of their concurrence in this Treaty in order to a durable Peace Wherefore I will only say that as I am King of both Nations so I will yield to none in either Kingdom for being truly and zealously affected for the good and honour of both my Resolution being never to be partial for either to the prejudice of the other Now as to the Place because I conceive it to be rather a circumstantial than real part of this Treaty I shall not much insist upon it I name Newport in this Isle yet the fervent zeal I have that a speedy end be put to these unhappy Distractions doth force me earnestly to desire you to consider what a great loss of time it will be to Treat so far from the body of my two Houses when every small debate of which doubtless there will be many must be transmitted to Westminster before it be concluded And really I think though to some it may seem a Paradox that peoples minds will be much more apt to settle seeing me Treat in or near London than in this Isle because so long as I am here it will never be believed by many that I am really so free as before this Treaty begin I expect to be And so I leave and recommend this point to your serious consideration And thus I have not only fully accepted of the Treaty which you have proposed to me by your Votes of the third of this Month but also given it all the furtherance that lies in me by demanding the necessary means for the effectual performance thereof All which are so necessarily implied by though not particularly mentioned in your Votes as I can no ways doubt of your ready compliance with me herein I have now no more to say but to conjure you by all that is dear to Christians honest men or good Patriots that ye will make all the Expedition possible to begin this happy Work by hastning down your Commissioners fully authorized and well instructed and by enabling me as I have shewed you to Treat praying the God of Peace so to bless our endeavours that all my Dominions may speedily enjoy a safe and well-grounded Peace CHARLES R. Carisbrook Aug. 10. 1648. A Letter from the Speaker of both Houses to His Majesty Aug. 25. 1648. With Votes in order to a Treaty May it please Your Majesty WE are commanded by Your Majesties loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled to present unto Your Majesty these Resolutions inclosed which are the results of the said Lords and Commons upon
Peers pro tempore and William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons My Lord and Mr. Speaker I Have received your Letter of the second of this Month containing the Names of those who are to Treat with Me and though they do not come at the time appointed I shall not wonder at first judging it too short in respect of My two Houses not of My self so that I did not imagine it could be kept as I then commanded Sir Peter Killegrew to tell you by word of Mouth and therefore it shall be far from Me to take Exceptions for their having elapsed the appointed time for God forbid that either my two Houses or I should carp at circumstances to give the least impediment to this Treaty much less to hinder the happy finishing of it I say this the rather because I know not how it is possible in this I shall wish to be deceived that in Forty days Treaty the many Distractions of these Kingdoms can be setled and if so it were more than strange that time enough should not be given for the perfecting of this most great and good Work which as I will not believe can be stuck on by the two Houses so I am sure it shall never be by Carisbrook 7. Sept. 1648. Your good Friend CHARLES R. I think fit to tell you because I believe in this Treaty there will be need of Civil Lawyers I have sent for My Advocate Rives and D. Duck. And afterward his Majesty desired the Persons named in this Note inclosed in a Letter of one of their Commissioners Novemb. 2. to be sent to Him C. R. The Bishop of Armagh the Bishop of Excester the Bishop of Rochester the Bishop of Worcester Dr. Fern Dr. Morley The Propositions of both Houses being the same which had been presented to his Majesty at Hampton-Court and little differing from those which had been largely discussed in the former Treaties at Oxford and Uxbridg for this reason as also because neither Party did publish the particulars of this Treaty we have thought fit to represent only what is Authentick and therefore shall add only His Majesties fair Offers in order to a Peace His MAJESTIES Propositions 29. Sept. 1648. HIS Majesty did use many earnest endeavours for a Personal Treaty which he hoped might have been obtained at Westminster between Him and His two Houses of Parliament immediately yet they having made choice of this way by you their Commissioners His Majesty did gladly and chearfully accept thereof in this place as a fit means to begin a Treaty for a Peace which might put an end to His own sad Condition and the Miseries of His Kingdom For an entrance whereunto His Majesty hath already expressed His Consent to the First Proposition But finding you are limited by Instructions which you have no Warrant to communicate unto Him and having cause by your Paper of the 20. of this present to believe that you have no power to omit or alter any thing though He shall give you such Reasons as may satisfie you so to do without transmitting the Papers to the two Houses at a far distance where His Majesties Reasons Expressions and Offers upon Debate cannot be fully represented and from whence their Answers cannot be returned without much wast of the time allotted for the Treaty here and having lately received another Paper concerning the Church containing in it self many particulars of great importance and referring to divers Ordinances Articles of Religion and other things eleven or twelve in number of great length and some of them very new and never before presented to His Majesty the due consideration whereof will take up much time and require His Majesties Presence with His two Houses before a full resolution can well be had in matters of so high consequence To the end therefore that the good work now in hand may by God's blessing proceed more speedily and effectually to an happy Conclusion and that His two Houses of Parliament may at present have further security and an earnest of future satisfaction His Majesty upon consideration had of yours makes these Propositions following Concerning the Church His Majesty will consent That the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster be confirmed for three years by Act of Parliament And will by Act of Parliament confirm for Three years the Directory for the Publick worship of God in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales And will likewise confirm for Three years by Act of Parliament the form of Church-Government which ye have presented to Him to be used for the Churches of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales Provided that His Majesty and those of His Judgement or any others who cannot in Conscience submit thereunto be not in the mean time obliged to comply with the same Government or form of Worship but have free practice of their own profession And that a free Consultation and debate be had with the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in the mean time Twenty of His Majesties Nomination being added unto them whereby it may be determined by His Majesty and His two Houses of Parliament how the said Church-Government and form of Publick Worship after the said time may be setled or sooner if Differences may be agreed and how also Reformation of Religion may be setled within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales And the Articles of Christian Religion now delivered to Him may in like manner be then considered of and determined and care taken for the ease of tender Consciences And concerning the Bishops Lands and Revenues His Majesty considering that during these troublesome times divers of His Subjects have made Contracts and Purchases and divers have disbursed great Sums of Money upon security and engagement of those Lands His Majesty for their satisfaction will consent to an Act or Acts of Parliament whereby legal Estates for Lives or for Years at their choice not exceeding ninety nine years shall be made of those Lands towards the satisfaction of the said Purchasers Contractors and others to whom they are engaged at the old Rents or some other moderate Rent whereby they may receive satisfaction And in case such Lease shall not satisfie His Majesty will propound and consent to some other way for their further satisfaction Provided that the Propriety and Inheritance of those Lands may still remain and continue to the Church and Church-men respectively according to the pious intentions of the Donors and Founders thereof And the rest that shall be reserved to be for their maintenance His Majesty will give His Royal Assent for the better observation of the Lords day for suppressing of Innovations in Churches and Chappels in and about the Worship of God and for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's Holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom and to an Act against enjoying Pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual Persons and Non-residency and to an Act for Regulating and
Martyrdom Jan. 30. 1648 9. p. 206 APPENDIX Concerning Church-Government Of the Differences between His Majesty and the two Houses in point of Church-Government See Icon Basil XVII p. 687 The Papers which passed betwixt His Majesty and Henderson concerning the Change of Church-Government 1646. p. 75 The Papers which passed betwixt His Majesty and the Divines attending the Commissioners of both Houses at Newport 1648. Append. p. 612 seqq THE END The Duke of Lenox the Earl of Arran in Scotland Some Writers who since have been convinced of their misinformation have named amongst those seven Lords the Lord Bruce Earl of Elgin but his Lordship upon the first notice of this report did to several Persons of Quality and Honour he conversed with and since hath affirmed to me that he was not then present and that his heart could never consent to the shedding of the blood of that excellent Prelate * A full Answer †The Regal Apology His Majestie 's Religion His Justice His Clemency His Fortitude His Patience His Humility His Choice of Ministers of State His Affection to His People His Obliging Converse His Fidelity His Chastity His Temperance His Frugality His Intellectual Abilities His Skill in all Arts. His Eloquence His Political Prudence The Censure of His Fortune A Presage of His Fall and the future State of the Royal Family His Recreations The Features of His Body His Children Acts 14. 23. Acts 6. 6. 1 Cor. 16. 1. 1 Cor. 14. 1 Cor. 5. 5. 3 Joh. 9 10. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Tit. 1. 5. Revel 2. 3. 1 Tim. 5. 19. Tit. 3. 10. * 5 15 26 29. of Decemb. 84 15. of Jan. 1645. * Jan. 23. 2 Feb. Passed by the Fag-end of the House of Commons Jan. 4. having been cast out by the Lords Jan. 2. Hereabout I was stopt and not suffered to speak any more concerning Reasons * defiance * Answer * four for it seems some came in after Here a Lady interposed saying Not half the People but was silenced with threats Upon the Earl of Strafford Pointing to the Bishop Turning to some Gentlemen that wrote Pointing to the Bishop These words were spoken upon occasion of private Discourse between His Majesty and the Bishop concerning the several Stages of man's life and his course through them in allusion to Posts and Stages in a Race * Cook 7. Report Calvin's Case Mr. Stroud Mr. Pym. Sir John Biron Lord Say His Majesty's gracious Message to both Houses of Parliament sent from Nottingham Aug. 25. 1642. by the Earls of Southampton and Dorset Sr. John Culpeper Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sr. William Vdal The Answer of the Lords and Commons to His Majesty's Message the 25. of Aug. 1642. His Majesty's Reply to an Answer sent by the two Houses of Parliament to His Majesty's Message of the 25 of August concerning a Treaty of Accommodation The humble Answer and Petition of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament unto the Kings last Message The humble Answer of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament unto His Majesty's last Message Message of Feb. 20. * to the Votes of both Houses and to their desire of a safe Conâ—uct His Majesty's Message of Apr. 12. at the end of the Treaty Inserted before pag. 353. * were presently His Majesty's Message replying to this Paper is inserted before p. 250. In His Message of April 12. pag. 353. Pag. 353. April 5. * The fourth of Edward the Third Artic. 1. against Roger Mortimer The King had put to him four Bishops four Earls and four Barons without whose consent or of four of them no great business was to be transacted Rot. Parliam 13 E. 3. N. 15 16. The whole Navy disposed of by Parliament N. 13 14. Admirals appointed and Instructions given to them N. 32. Instructions for the defence of Jersey and a Deputy-Governour appointed in Parliament N. 35. Souldiers of York Nottingham c. to go at the cost of the Countrey and what they are to do N. 36. A Clark appointed for payment of their wages by the oversight of the Lord Percy and Nevil N. 38. Sir Walter Creak appointed Keeper of Berwick N. 39. Sir Tho. de Wake appointed to set forth the Array of Soldiers for the County of York and N. 40 41 42 43. others for other Counties 14 E. 3. N. 36. The Parliament agreeth that in the Kings absence the Duke of Cornwal shall be Keeper of England N. 35. They appoint the Archbishop of Canterbury the Earls of Lancaster Warren and Huntington Councellors to the Duke with power to call such others as they shall think fit N. 19. Certain appointed to keep the Islands and Sea-coasts N. 42. The Lord of Mowbray appointed Keeper of Berwick N. 48. Commission to the Lord Mowbray of the Justices of Lentham N. 53 54 c. Commissions of Array to the Earl of Angois and others 15 E. 3. N. 15. That the Chancellors chief Justices Treasurers Chancellors and Barons of the Exchequer c. may be chosen in open Parliament and there openly sworn to observe the Laws Answer thus That as they sall by death or otherwise it shall be so done in the choice of a new with your assents c. 50 E. 3. N. 10 11. Ordered in Parliament That the King should have at the least ten or twelve Counsellors without whom no weighty matters should pass c. N. 15. A Commission to the L. Percy and others to appoint able persons for the defence of the Marches of the East-Riding 1. R. 2. N. 18 19. The Parliament wholly disposeth of the Education of the King and of the Officers c. N. 51. Officers for Gascoign Ireland and Artois Keepers of the Ports Castles c. 2. R. 2. Rot. Parl. par 2. artic 39. The Admiralty N. 37. In a Schedule is contained the order of the E. of Northumb. and others for the defence of the North Sea-coasts and confirmed in Parliament 6 R. 2. N. 11. The Proffer of the Bishop of Norwich to keep the Sca-coasts and accepted in Parliament 8 R. 2. 11 16. The names of the chief Officers of the Kingdom to be known to the Parliament and not to be removed without just cause 11 R. 2. N. 23. No persons to be about the King or intermeddle with the Affairs of the Realm other than such as be appointed by Parliament 15 R. 2. N. 15. The Commons name the person to treat of a Peace with the Kings enemies Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. N. 106. That the King will appoint able Captains in England and Wales Stat. 4. H. 4. cap. 31 32 33. printed The Welch-men shall bear Office 5 H. 4. N. 16. The King at the request of the Commons removed his Confessor and three other Men from about him N. 37. At the request of the Commons nameth divers Privy-Councellors 7 and 8 H. 4 26. Power given to the Merchants to name two persons to be Admirals 7 and 8 H. 4. N. 31. Councellors appointed by
Sr Thomas Fairfax II. 157 To Colonel Whaley 156 To the Scots 157 His MAJESTY's Speeches LIX 1. To both Houses at the Opening of His first Parliament at Westminster June 18. 1625. p. 159 2. To both Houses in Christ-Church Hall at Oxford Aug. 4. 1625. ibid. Another Copy of the two former Speeches 160 3. To the Speaker of the Lower House of His Second Parliament 1625 6. ibid. 4. To both Houses at White-Hall Mar. 29. 1626. 161 5. To the House of Lords at Westminster May 11. 1626. ibid. 6. To the French Servants of the Queen at Somerset House July 1. 1626. 162 7. To both Houses at the Opening of His Third Parliament Mar. 17. 1627 8. ibid. 8. To both Houses at White-Hall Ap. 4. 1628. ibid. 9. To the Speaker and House of Commons Apr. 14. 1628. 163 10. To both Houses in Answer to their Petition June 2. 1628. ibid. 11. To both Houses in further Answer June 7. 1628. ibid. 12. To the Lower House at the Reading their Remonstrance at White-Hall Jun. 11. 1628. ibid. 13. To both Houses at the Prorogation June 26. 1628. 164 14. To both Houses at White-Hall Jan. 24. 1628 9. ibid. 15. To both Houses in Answer to their Petition for a Fast Jan. 31. 1628 9. 165 16. To the Lower House concerning Tonnage and Poundage Feb. 3. 1628 9. ibid. 17. To the House of Lords at their Dissolution Mar. 10. 1628 9. 166 18. To the Speaker of the Lower House 1640. ibid. 19. To the House of Lords at Westminster Apr. 24. 1640. ibid. 20. To both Houses at the Dissolution May 5. 1640. 167 21. To the Great Council of Lords at York Sept. 24. 1640. ibid. 22. To both Houses at the Opening His Fifth Parliament Nov. 3. 1640. 168. 23. To the House of Lords at Westminster Nov. 5. 1640. ibid. 24. To both Houses at White-Hall Jan. 25. 1640 41. 169 25. To both Houses in Answer to their Remonstrance concerning Papists February 3. 1640 41. 170 26. To the House of Lords at Westminster Feb. 10. 1640 41. ibid. 27. To both Houses at His passing the Bill for Triennial Parliaments Feb. 15. 1640 41. 171 28. To both Houses about Disbanding the Armies Apr. 28. 1641. ibid. 29. To the House of Lords concerning the Earl of Strafford May 1. 1641. 172 30. To both Houses at His passing the Bill for Tonnage and Poundage June 22. 1641. ib. 31. To both Houses at His passing the Bills for taking away the High Commission and Star-Chamber and Regulating the Council-Table July 5. 1641. 173 32. To the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh Aug. 18. 1641. ibid. 33. To both Houses after His Return from Scotland Dec. 2. 1641. 174 34. To both Houses concerning Ireland Dec. 14. 1641. ibid. 35. To the Lower House about the Five Members Jan. 4. 1641 2. 175 36. To the Citizens of London at Guild-Hall Jan. 5. 1641 2. ibid. 37. To the Committee of both Houses at Theobald's March 1. 1641 2. ibid. 38. To the Committee of both Houses at New-Market Mar. 9. 1641 2. ibid. 39. To the Gentry of Yorkshire Apr. 5. 1642. 177 40. To the Gentry of Yorkshire May 12. 1642. ibid. 41. To the Inhabitants of Notting hamshire at Newark July 4. 1642. 178 42. To the Inhabitants of Lincolnshire at Lincoln July 15. 1642. ibid. 43. To the Inhabitants of Leicester July 20. 1642. 179 44. To the Gentry of Yorkshire Aug. 4. 1642. 180 45. To His Army at the Reading His Orders Sept. 19. 1642. 181 46. To the Inhabitants of Denbigh and Flint at Wrexham Sept. 27. 1642. ibid. 47. To the Inhabitants of Shropshire at Shrewsbury Sept. 28. 1642. 183 48. To the Inhabitants of Oxfordshire at Oxford Novem. 2. 1642. ibid. 49. To the Lords and Commons at Oxford Jan. 22. 1643 4. 184 50. To the Primate of Ireland at Christ-Church 1643 4. 185 51. To the Lords and Commons at Oxford Feb. 7. 1643 4. ibid. 52. To the Lords and Commons at Oxford at their Recess Apr. 16. 1644. ibid. 53. To the Inhabitants of Somerset at Kingsmore July 23. 1644. 186 54. To the Committee of both Houses at Carisbrook Aug. 7. 1648. 187 55. To the Commissioners of both Houses at Newport Novem. 4. 1648. 188 56. To the Lords Commissioners at their taking leave at Newport Nov. 1648. ibid. 57. His Majesty's Speeches to the Pretended High Court of Justice with the History of His Tryal Jan. 1648 9. 189 58. His Majesty's Speeches to His Children Jan. 29. 1648 9. 205 59. His Majesty's Speech upon the Scaffold with the Manner of His Martyrdome Jan. 30. 1648 9. 206 THE MORE PARTICULAR CONTENTS OF THE SECOND PART I. His Majesty's Declarations concerning His Proceedings in His four first Parliaments 1. A Declaration concerning His two first Parliaments 1625 1626. 217 2. A Declaration concerning His Third Parliament 1628 9. 222 3. A Proclamation for suppressing false Rumours touching Parliaments March 27. 1629. 230 4. His Majesty's Letter to the Judges concerning Ship-money Feb. 2. 1636 7. With their Answer 231 232. 5. A Declaration concerning His Fourth Parliament 1640. 233 II. Declarations and Papers concerning the Differences betwixt His Majesty and His Fifth Parliament 1. A Petition of the House of Commons 241. With a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom Dec. 1. 1641. 243 2. His Majesty's Answer to the Petition 254 3. His Declaration in Answer to the Remonstrance 255 4. The Petition and Protestation of the Bishops Dec. 28. 1641. 258 5. Articles of High Treason against the Five Members Jan. 3. 1641 2. 259 6. The Nineteen Propositions June 2. 1642. 260 7. His Majesty's Answer 262 8. His Majesty's Declaration to the Lords at York June 13. 1642. 271 With their Promise thereupon 272 9. His Majesty's Declaration concerning the scandalous Imputation of His raising War June 16. 1642. 273. With the Declaration and Profession of the Lords 276 10. A Proclamation forbidding Levies of Forces June 18. 1642. 277 11. Votes for raising an Army against the King July 12. 1642. 279 12. A Declaration of both Houses for raising Forces Aug. 8. 1642. 280 13. His Majesty's Declaration in Answer 281 14. A Proclamation against the Earl of Essex Aug. 9. 1642. 283 15. His Majesty's Proclamation for the setting up His Standard Aug. 12. 1642. 285 16. His Majesty's Declaration of Aug. 12. 1642. 286 17. His Majesty's Declaration concerning His Messages for Peace 315 18. His Declaration after the Battel at Edge-Hill 323 III. Declarations and Papers concerning the Treaty of Peace at Oxford MDCXLII III. 1. His Majesty's Declaration concerning His Advance to Brainceford 325 2. The Answer of both Houses to His Message of Nov 12. 1642. 327 3. His Majesty's Reply 328 4. The Petition of both Houses Nov. 24. 1642. 329 5. His Majesty's Answer ibid. 6. The Proceedings in the Treaty at Oxford 330. With a Declaration of both Houses thereupon 372 7. His Majesty's Declaration in Answer Jun. 3. 1643. 380 8. His Proclamation against the Votes Orders and pretended Ordinances of
the Houses at Westminster June 20. 1643. 397 IV. A Declaration concerning the Cessation in Ireland Also Declarations and Passages of the Parliament at Oxford 1. The Grounds and Motives of the Cessation in Ireland Octob. 19. 1643. 401 2. A Proclamation for Assembling of the Members of Parliament at Oxford December 22. 1643. 409 3. A Letter of the Lords at Oxford to the Scots 410 4. Votes of the Commons at Oxford Jan. 26. March 12. 1643. 411 5. A Declaration of the Lords and Commons at Oxford of their Proceedings for a Treaty March 19. 1643 4. 412 6. A Declaration of the Lords and Commons at Oxford concerning their Endeavours for Peace March 19. 1643 4. 422 7. The Petition of the Lords and Commons at Oxford April 25. 1644. 433 8. His Majesty's Answer 434 9. A Declaration to Forein Churches May 13. 1644. 436 V. Papers and Passages concerning the Treaty of Peace at Uxbridge MDCXLIV V. 1. A Proclamation declaring His Majesty's Resolution for Peace Sept. 30. 1644. 437 2. A Proclamation for a Fast upon occasion on the Treaty Jan. 27. 1644 5. 439 3. A full Relation of the Treaty at Vxbridge 440 Wherein are set down 1. The Messages and Propositions sent by His Majesty and brought to Him which preceded the Treaty and were Inducements to it from p. 440 to p. 449 2. The Passages in the beginning of the Treaty preparatory thereunto wherein 1. Of the several Commissions and Passages thereupon from p. 449 to p. 454 2. The Papers concerning the Manner and Order of the Treaty 454 3. The Papers concerning a Scandalous Sermon Preached at Vxbridge against the Treaty the first day of the Treaty and before it began ibid. 455 3. The Papers concerning Religion during the whole Treaty collected together from page 455 to p. 469 4. The Papers concerning the Militia during the whole Treaty collected together from p. 469 to p. 487 5. The Papers concerning Ireland during the whole Treaty collected together from p. 487 to p. 507 6. The Papers concerning His Majesty's Propositions and particularly for a Cessation of Arms and touching His Majesty's Return to Westminster after disbanding of Armies and further time for continuing or renewing the Treaty collected together from p. 507 to p. 514 7. And lastly an Appendix wherein are concontained the following particulars 1. His Majesty's Message from Evesham of the 4th of July 1644. p. 514 2. His Majesty's Message from Tavestock of the 8th of Septemb. 1644. ibid. 3. The Bill for abolishing of Episcopacy c. 515 4. The Articles of the late Treaty of the date Edenburgh the 29th of Novemb. 1643. 519 5. The Ordinance for calling the Assembly of Divines 521 6. The Votes and Orders delivered with it 523 7. The Articles of the 6th of August 1642. concerning Ireland 524 8. The Ordinances of the 9th of March and the 11th of April touching the Forces in Ireland 527 9 10. The Letters and Advices from the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland ibid. Hereunto are added His Majesty's Answers to certain Papers delivered upon the close of the Treaty one concerning the Militia and two concerning Ireland from p. 531 to p. 545 VI. Messages Propositions and Treaties for Peace With divers Resolutions and Declarations thereupon MDCXLV VI VII VIII 1. His Majesty's Message from Oxford Decem. 5. 1645. p. 547 2. A Letter of the two Speakers to Sir Thomas Glemham 548 3. His Majesty's Message from Oxford Decem. 15. 1645. ibid. 4. His Majesty's Message from Oxford with Propositions Dec. 26. 1645. 549 5. The Answer of both Houses to His Messages of Decem. 5. and 15. 550 6. His Majesty's Reply Dec. 29. 1645. ibid. 7. His Majesty's Message from Oxford Jan. 15. 1645 6. 551 8. The Answer of both Houses to His Messages of Dec. 26 and 29. 552 9. His Majesty's Reply Jan. 17. 1645 6. 553 10. His Majesty's further Reply Jan. 24. ibid. 11. His Majesty's Message from Oxford Jan. 29. 1645 6. 555 12. His Majesty's Message from Oxford Febr. 26. 1645 6. 556 13. His Majesty's Message from Oxford Mar. 23. 1645 6. 557 14. His Majesty's Letter to the Lieutenant of Ireland April 13. 1646. ibid. 15. His Majesty's Message from Southwell May 18. 1646. 558 16. His Majesty's Letter to the City of London May 19. 1646. 559 17. His Majesty's Message from Newcastle June 10. 1646. 560 18. His Majesty's Letter to the Governors of His Garrisons June 10. 1646. 561 19. His Majesty's Letter to the Lieutenant of Ireland June 11. 1646. ibid. 20. The Propositions of both Houses to His Majesty at Newcastle July 24. 1646. 562 21. His Majesty's Answer Aug. 1. 1646. 570. 22. His Majesty's Message from Newcastle Decem 20. 1646. 571 23. His Majesty's Quaeries to the Scots Commissioners Jan. 14. 1646 7. p. 572. With their Answer and His Reply 573 24. His Majesty's further Answer to their Propositions May 12. 1647. ibid. 25. The Petition and engagement of the City of London 576 26. The Declaration of both Houses thereupon July 24. 1647. 577 27. An Ordinance concerning the Declaration July 26. 1647. ibid. 28. Votes for His Majesty's coming to London July 26. 31. 1647. ibid. and 578 29. His Majesty's Profession disavowing any Intentions of War 1647. 578 30. The Proposals of the Army Aug. 1. ibid. 31. Propositions of both Houses to His Majesty at Hampton-Court Sept. 7. 1647. 584 32. His Majesty's Answer 585 33. His Majesty's Message left at Hampton-Court Nov. 11. 1647. 586 34. His Majesty's Message from the Isle of Wight With Propositions November 17. 1647. ibid. 35. His Majesty's Declaration at the Isle of Wight Nov. 19. 1647. 589 36. His Majesty's Letter to Sir Thomas Fairfax from Carisbrook Nov. 26. 1647. ibid. 37. His Majesty's Letter to both Houses from Carisbrook-Castle Dec. 6. 1647. 590 38. The four Bills and Propositions sent to His Majesty in the Isle of Wight December 24. 1647. ibid. 39. The Scots Commissioners Paper to His Majesty at the same time 594 40. His Majesty's Answer to the Four Bills and Propositions Dec. 28. 1647. ibid. 41. Both Houses Declaration thereupon with Votes for no further Address 595 42. His Majesty's Declaration in Answer to the Votes for no further Address Jan. 18. 1647 8. 596 43. Votes for a Treaty 598 44. His Majesty's Message in Answer to the Votes Carisbrook 10. Aug. 1648. ibid. 45. Votes in order to the Treaty 600 46. His Majesty's Answer to the Votes 601 47. A Letter of both Speakers to His Majesty Sept. 2. 1648. ibid. 48. His Majesty's Answer to both Speakers 602 49. His Majesty's Propositions 29. September 1648. ibid. 50. Votes concerning His Majesty's Propositions and Concessions 606 51. The Heads of the Remonstrance of the Army presented to the House of Commons Nov. 20. 1648. 607 52. His Majesty's Quaeries concerning the Remonstrance 608 53. His Majesty's Declaration concerning the Treaty and His dislike of the Armies Proceedings ibid. An APPENDIX containing I. His Majesty's Reason why He cannot in Conscience
The Love of whom the Prince had received by the Eye and She of Him by the Ear. For having formerly received impressions from the relations of His Gallantry when she was told of His passing through Paris She answered as it is reported that if He went to Spain for a Wife He might have had one nearer hand and saved Himself a great part of the labour In the midst of these Preparations for War and Love An. 1625 King James died at Theobalds Sunday March 27. An. 1625. and Prince CHARLES was immediately proclaimed at the Court-Gate King of Great Britain France and Ireland and so throughout all the three Kingdoms with infinite Rejoycings The people expecting all the benefits of the happiest Government under Him whose private and youthful part of Life had been so spent that it had nothing in it to be excused and where the eager Inquisitors for matter of Reproach met with no satisfaction An argument of a solid Vertue that could hold out against all the Vices of Youth that are rendred more impetuous by Flatteries and Plenty which are continually resident in great Courts For had any Debauchery polluted His earlier Days it had been published by those who in scarcity of just Accusations did invent unimaginable Calumnies Nor could it have been hid for in a great Fortune nothing is concealed but Curiosity opens the Closets and Bed-chambers especially of Princes and discovers their closest Retirements exposing all their Actions to Fame and Censure Nor did the King deceive their hopes they being the happiest People under the Sun while he was undisturbed in the administration of Justice His first publick Act was the Celebrating His Father's Funeral whereat He Himself was Chief Mourner contrary to the Practice of His Royal Predecessors and not conformable to the Ceremonies of State Either preferring Piety to an unnatural Grandeur or urged by some secret Decree of Providence that in all the Ruines of His Family He should drink the greatest Draught of Tears or His Spirit presaging the Troubles of the Throne He would hallow the Ascent to it by a Pious Act of Grief When He had pay'd that Debt to His Deceased Father He next provided for Posterity and therefore hastened the coming over of His Dearest Consort whom the Duke of Chevereux had in His Name Espoused at the Church of Nostre-Dame in Paris and He receiving Her at Dover the next Day after Trinity-Sunday at Canterbury began his Conjugal Embraces A Lady of most excellent Endowments who assumed to Her self nothing in His Good Fortune but the Joy and in His Evil bore an equal share for She reverenced Him not His Greatness Thus having dispatched the Affairs of His Family He applies Himself to those of His Kingdoms which too much Felicity had made unmanageable by a moderate Government And He seemed not so much to ascend a Throne as enter upon a Theatre to wrestle with all the difficulties of a corrupted State whose long Peace had softned almost all the Nobless into Court-pleasures and made the Commons insolent by a great Plenty The Rites and Discipline of Religion had been blotted out by a long and uninterrupted Prosperity and Factions crept from the Church into the Senate which were made use of by those that endeavoured the alteration of Government and the Resolves of that Council were the Dictates of some heady Demagogues who fed the Vulgar with hopes of Novelty under the name of Liberty so that the King could not endure their Vices nor they His Vertues whence came all the Obstructions to His Designs for Glory and the Publick Good The Treasury had been exhausted to satiate the unquiet and greedy Scots and the People were taught not to supply it unless they were bribed with the blood of some Minister of State or some more advantages for Licentiousness Each of these single would have ennobled the Care of an Ordinary Prudence to have weathered out but when all these conspired with the Traiterous Projects of Men of unbounded and unlawful hopes they took from Him His Peace and that which the World calls Happiness but yet they made Him Great and affording Exercises for His most excellent Abilities rendred Him Glorious The different states of these Difficulties when like Clouds they were gathering together and when they descended in showres of Blood divide the King's Reign into two parts The first could not be esteemed days of Peace but an Immunity from Civil War The other was when He was concluded by that Fatal Necessity either to part with His Dignity and expose His Subjects to the Injuries of numerous Tyrants or else to exceed the calmer temper of His peaceful Soul and make use of those necessary Arms whereby he might hope to divert if possible the Ruine of Church and State which He saw in projection In the first part He had no Wars at home but what was in the Houses of Parliament which though their first Institution designed for the production of just Counsels and assistances of Government yet through the just Indignation of Heaven and the practices of some unquiet and seditious Persons became the Wombs wherein were first conceived and formed those monstrous Confusions which destroyed their own Liberty caused our Miseries and the King's Afflictions His first Parliament began June 18. At the opening of which the King acquainted them with the necessity of Supplies for the War with Spain which they importunately had through His Mediation engaged His Father in and made it as Hereditary to Him as the Crown His Eloquence gave powerful Reasons for speedy and large summs of Money did also audit to them the several disbursements relating both to the Army and Navy that He might remove all Jealousies of misimployment and give them notice how well He understood the Office He had newly entred upon and how to be a faithful Steward of the Publick Treasure But the Projectors of the alteration of Government brought into Debate two Petitions one for Religion the other for Grievances formed in King James's time which delayed the Succours and increased the Necessities which at last they answered but with two Subsidies too poor a stock to furnish an Army with yet was kindly accepted in expectation of more at the next Session For the Infection seising upon London the Parliament was adjourned till August when they were to meet at Oxford and at that time He passed such Acts as were presented to Him At the next Session he gave a complying and satisfactory answer to all their Petitions and expected a Retribution in larger Subsidies towards the Spanish War But in stead of these there were high and furious Debates of Grievances consultations to form and publish Remonstrances Accusations of the Duke of Buckingham Which the King esteeming as reproaches of His Government and assaults upon Monarchy dissolves that Assembly hoping to find one of a less cholerick complexion after His Coronation This inauspicious Meeting drew after it another Mischief the miscarriage of the Designs upon Spain For
provision of Arms and Powder out of England that the Court was extreamly corrupted and that the matters of Church and State were so out of frame as must tend to a Change There were no Witnesses and the Defendant denying what the Appellant affirmed the Tryal was thought must be by Duel In order to which the King grants a Commission for a Court-Marshal where though the presumptions of Ramsey's guilt were more heightned yet the King hinders any further process by Combat which is doubted whether it be lawful either thinking none so foolish as to strive for Empire which He found so full of Trouble or knowing that Magistracy being the sole Gift of Heaven it was vain to commit a Crime in hope of enjoying it or in fear of losing it which was the Principle upon which Excellent Princes have neglected the diligent Inquisition of Conspiracies and fatally continues Hamilton in that favour as did enable him afterwards more falsly to act that Treason of which he was then accused Some Tumults in Ireland shewed a defect in that Government which made the King send over as Deputy thither the Lord Wentworth An. 1632 a most accomplished Person in affairs of Rule of great Abilities equal to a Minister of State The King 's choice of him he soon justified by reducing that tumultuary people to such a condition of Peace and security as it had never been since its first annexion to this Crown and made it pay for the Charges of its own Government which before was deducted out of the English Treasury their Peace and Laws now opening accesses for Plenty This enjoyment of Peace and Plenty through all the King's Dominions made Him mindful of employing some fruits of it to the Honour of that God that caused it and not to let so great a Prosperity wholly corrupt the minds of men to a neglect of Religion which is usual He shewed his own Zeal for the Ornaments of it and spent part of His Treasure towards the repair of St Paul's Church and by His Example Admonitions and Commands drew many of His Subjects to a Contribution for it and had restored it to its primitive lustre and firmness adorned it to a magnificence equal with the Structure which is supposed the goodliest in the Christian World had not the Malice of His Enemies forced him to Arms mingled His Mortar with the blood of innocent people and sacrilegiously diverted all the Treasure and Materials gathered for this pious design to maintain an impious and unjust War and afterwards to dishonour His cares for Religion they barbarously made it a Stable for their Horse and Quarters for their unhallowed Foot Some reasons of State drew the King from London An. 1633 May 13. to receive the Imperial Crown of Scotland Himself professed that He had no great stomach to the Journey nor delight in the Nation being a race of men that under the Scheme of an honest animosity and specious plain-dealing were most perfidious A full Character of their great Movers Yet as He had been nobly treated all along His Journey by the English Nobility so was He there magnificently received and crowned at Edinburgh June 10th But the King soon found all those Caresses false For the Nobility and Laick Patrons could not concoct His Revocation though legal and innocent of such things as had been stoln from the Crown during His Father's Minority with a Commission for Surrendry of Superiorities and Tithes to be retaken from the King by the present Occupants who could as then pretend no other Title than the unjust usurpation of their Ancestors on such conditions as might bring some Profit to the Crown to which they justly belonged some Augmentation of the Clergy and far more ease and benefit to the common People whom by advantage of those illegal Tenures they oppressed with a most bitter Vassalage This Act of His Majesty being so full of equity and publick good those whose greatness was builded upon Injustice did not bare-facedly oppose it but endeavoured to hinder that and all the other designs of Peace and Order by opposing in the Parliament next after the Coronation the Act of Ratification of all those Laws which King James had made in that Nation for the better regulating the affairs of that Church both as to the Government and Worship of it This was highly opposed by such as were sensible of their diminution by a legal restitution of their unrighteous Possessions And although the King carried it by the major part of Voices yet to prevent their own fires with the publick Ruine they did most assiduously slander it among the People as the abetting of Popery and the betraying their Spiritual Liberty to the Romish yoke These Calumnies received more credit by the King's Order for a more decent and reverend Worship of God at His Royal Chappel at Edinburgh conformably to the English Usage Their noise grew lowder by the Concent of their party of Malecontents in England who also took advantage to diffuse their poison from the King's Book of Sports which King JAMES had in his time published in Lancashire and was now ratified by King CHARLES for a more universal Observance The Occasision of which was the Apostasie of many to Popery whose Doctrines and Practices are more indulgent to the licentious through the rigid Opinion of some Preachers who equall'd all Recreations on the Sabbath as they call'd it to the most prodigious transgressions On the contrary some of the ignorant Teachers had perverted many to down-right Judaisme by the consequence of so strict an Observance of the Sabbath And some over-busie Justices of Peace had suppressed all the ancient Feasts of the Dedications of Churches The King therefore intended by this Edict to obstruct the success of the Enemies on both sides and to free His People from the yoke of this Superstition But such is the weakness of Humane Prudence that the Remedies it applies to one Inconvenience are pregnant of another and whereas the Generality of men seldom do good but as necessitated by Law when Liberty is indulged all things are soon filled with Disorder and Confusion And so it happened in this that the Vulgar abusing the King's Liberty which was no more than is granted in other Protestant Churches and committing many undecencies made many well-temper'd Spirits too capable and credulous of those importunate Calumnies of the Faction that His Majesty was not well-affected to Religion The boldness of the Pickeroons An. 1634 Turks and Dunkirk-Pirates infesting our Coasts damaging our Traffique the Usurpation of the Holland Fishers on the King's Dominion in the Narrow Seas and His Right disputed in a Tract by the Learned Grotius call the King 's next Cares for His own Honour and the People's Safety But the Remedy appeared exceeding difficult the furnishing of a Navy for so honourable an undertaking being too heavy a burden for His Exchequer which although not emptied by any luxuriant Feasts nor profusely wasted on some prodigal and unthirsty Favourite
the Dean of Edinburgh while he was performing his Office and after that was done re-inforced their assault upon the Bishops whom the Earls of Roxbrough and Traquaire pretended to protect who indured some affronts that their Patience might provoke a greater rage in the Multitude which a vigorous punishment had easily extinguish'd For they that are fierce in a croud being singled through their particular fears become obedient And that Rabble that talks high against the determinations of their Prince when danger from the Laws is within their ken distrust their Companions and return to subjection But it soon appeared that this was not the bare effort of a mutinous Multitude but a long-formed Conspiracy and to this Multitude whose present terrour was great yet would have been contemptible in a short space there appeared Parties to head them of several Orders Who presently digested their Partisans into several Tables and concocted this Mutiny into a formal Rebellion To prosecute which they mutually obliged themselves and the whole Nation in a Covenant to extirpate Episcopacy and whatsoever they pleased to brand with the odious names of Heresie and Superstition and to defend each other against all Persons not excepting the King To reduce this people to more peaceful Practices the King sends Marquess Hamilton one who being caressed by His Majestie 's Favour had risen to such a degree of Wealth and Greatness that now he dreamed of nothing less than Empire to bring his Power to perfection at least to be Monarch of Scotland to which he had some pretensions by his birth as His Commissioner Who with a species of Loyalty dissembled that pleasure which he took in the opposition of the Covenanters whose first motions were secretly directed by his Counsels and those of his Dependents Traquair and Roxbrough for all his Allies were of that Party contrary to the custom of that Country where all the Members of a Family espouse the part of their Head though in the utmost danger and his Mother rid armed with Pistols at her Saddle-bow for defence of the Covenant By his actings there new seeds of Discontents and War were dayly sown and his Oppositions so faint that he rather encreased than allayed their fury By several returns to His Majesty for new Instructions he gave time to the Rebels to consolidate their Conspiracy to call home their Exiles of Poverty that were in Foreign Armies and provide Arms for open Force By his false representations of the state of things he induced the King to temporize with the too-potent Corruption of that Nation an Artifice King JAMES had sometimes practised and by granting their desires to make them sensible of the Evils which would flow from their own Counsels Therefore the King gave Order for revoking the Liturgy the High-Commission the Book of Canons and the Five Articles of Perth But the Covenanters were more insolent by these Concessions because they had gotten that by unlawful courses and unjust force which Modesty and Submission had never obtained and imputing these Grants to the King's Weakness not His Goodness they proceeded to bolder Attempts Indicted an Assembly without Him in which they abolished Episcopacy excommunicated the Bishops and all that adhered to them Afterwards they seised upon the King's Revenue surprised His Forts and Castles and at last put themselves into Arms. Provoked with these Injuries the King amasses a gallant Army in which was a very great appearance of Lords and Gentlemen and with these marches and incamps within two miles of Berwick within sight of the Enemy But their present Condition being such as could endure neither War nor Peace they endeavoured to dissipate that Army which they could not overthrow by a pretence to a Pacification For which they petitioned the King who yielded unto it out of His innate tenderness of His Subjects Blood So an Accord was made June 17. An. 1639 and the King disbands His Army expecting the Scots should do the like according to the Articles of Agreement But they being delivered from Fear would not be restrained by Shame from breaking their Faith For no sooner had the King disbanded but they protested against the Pacification printed many false Copies of it that might represent it dishonourable to the King retained their Officers in pay changed the old Form of holding Parliaments invaded the Prerogatives of the Crown and sollicited the French King for an aid of Men and Money This perfidious abuse of His Majestie 's Clemency made those that judge of Counsels by the issue to censure the King's Facility Some wondred how He could imagine there would be any Moderation in so corrupt a Generation of Men and that they who had broken the Peace out of a desire of War should now lay aside their Arms out of a love to Quiet That there would be alwaies the same causes to the Scots of disturbing England and opposing Government their unquiet Nature and Covetousness therefore unless some strong impression made them either unable or unwilling to distract our quiet the King was to look for a speedy return of their Injuries Others attributed the Accord to the King's sense that some eminent Officers in his own Camp were polluted with Counsels not different from the Covenanters and that Hamilton His Admiral had betrayed the seasons of fighting by riding quietly in the Forth of Edinburgh and had secret Conference with his Mother the great Nurse of the Covenant on Shipboard But most referred it to the King 's innate tenderness of His Subjects Blood and to His Prudence not to defile His Glory with the overthrow which seemed probable of a contemptible Enemy where the gains of the Victory could not balance the hazards of attempting it While Men thus discourse of the Scots Perfidiousness An. 1640 the King prepares for another Army and in order thereto calls a Parliament in Ireland and another in England for assistances against the Rebels in Scotland The Irish granted Money to raise and pay Eight Thousand Men in Arms and furnish them with Ammunition Yet this Example with the King's account of the Injuries done to Him and this Nation by the Scots and his promise of for ever acquitting them of Ship-money if now they would freely assist Him prevailed nothing upon the English Parliament whom the Faction drew aside to other Counsels And when the King sent Sr Henry Vane to remind them of His desires and to demand Twelve Subsidies yet to accept of Six but he industriously as was collected from his own and his Sons following practices insisted upon the Twelve without insinuation of the lesser quantity His Majesty would be contented with which gave such an opportunity and matter for seditious Harangues that the House was so exasperated as that they were about to Remonstrate against the War with Scotland To prevent this ominous effect of the falseness of His Servant the King was forced to dissolve the Parliament May 5. yet continued the Convocation which granted Him Four Shillings in the Pound for
Popish Lords and Bishops had the greatest Power and there it stuck whose Names they desired to know And in this they were so earnest that they would not willingly withdraw whilest it was debated and then they had leave to depart with this Answer That the House of Commons had already endeavoured Relief from the Lords in their Requests and shall so continue till Redress be obtained Such Petitions as these were likewise from the several Classes of the inferiour Tradesmen about London as Porters Water-men and the like and that nothing of testifying an universal Importunity might be left unattempted Women were perswaded to present Petitions to the same effect While the Faction thus boasted in the success of their Arts Good men grieved to see these daily Infamies of the Supreme Council of the Nation all whose Secrets were published to the lowest and weakest part of the People and they who clamoured it as a breach of their Privilege that the King took notice of their Debates now made them the subjects of discourse in every Shop and all the corners of the Street where the good and bad were equally censured and the Honour and Life of every Senator exposed to the Verdict of the Rabble No Magistrate did dare to do his Office and all things tended to a manifest Confusion So that many sober Persons did leave the Kingdom as unsafe where Factions were more powerful than the Laws And Just Persons chose rather to hear than to see the Miseries and Reproaches of their Country On the other side to make the King more plyable they tempt him by danger in His most beloved Part the Queen concerning whom they caused a Rumour that they did intend to impeach Her of High Treason This Rumour made the deeper Impression because they had raised most prodigious Slanders which are the first Marks for destruction of Princes on Her and when they had removed all other Counsellors from the King She was famed to be the Rock upon which all hopes of Peace and Safety were split That She commanded no less His Counsels than Affections and that His Weakness was so great as not to consent to or enterprise any thing which She did not first approve That She had perverted Him to Her Religion and formed Designs of overthrowing the Protestant Profession These and many other of a portentuous falshood were scattered among the Vulgar who are always most prone to believe the Worst of Great Persons and the uncontrolled Licence of reporting such Calumnies is conceived the first Dawning of Liberty But the Parliament taking notice of the Report sent some of their House to purge themselves from it as an unjust Scandal cast upon them To which the Queen mildly answers That there was a general Report thereof but She never saw any Articles in writing and having no certain Author for either She gave little Credit thereto nor will She believe they would lay any Aspersion upon Her who hath been very unapt to misconstrue the Actions of any One Person and much more the Proceedings of Parliament and shall at all times wish an Happy Vnderstanding between the King and His People But the King knowing how usual it was for the Faction by Tumults and other Practices to transport the Parliament from their just Intentions in other things and that they might do so in this resolved to send Her into Holland under colour of accompanying their eldest Daughter newly married to the Prince of Orange but in truth to secure Her so that by the fears of Her danger who was so dear unto Him He might not be forced to any thing contrary to His Honour and Conscience and that Her Affections and Relations to Him might not betray Her Life to the Malice of His Enemies With Her He also sent all the Jewels of the Crown that they might not be the Spoils of the Faction but the means of the support of Her Dignity in Forein Parts if His Necessities afterwards should not permit Him to provide for Her otherwise Which yet She did not so employ but reserved them for a supply of Ammunition and Arms when His Adversaries had forced Him to a necessary Defence It was said that the Faction knew of this Conveyance and might have prevented it but that they thought it for their greater advantage that this Treasure should be so managed that the King in confidence of that Assistance might take up Arms to which they were resolved at last to drive Him For they thought their Cause would be better in War than Peace because their present Deliberations were in the sense of the Law actual Rebellions and a longer time would discover those Impostures by which they had deluded the People who would soon leave them as many now did begin to repent of their Madness to the Vengeance which was due to their Practices unless they were more firmly united by a communion of Guilt in an open assaulting their Lawful Prince The King hastens the Security of the Queen and accompanies Her as far as Dover there to take His Farewel of Her a Business almost as irksom as Death to be separated from a Wife of so great Affections and eminent Endowments and that which made it the more bitter was that the same Cause which forced Her Separation from Him set Her at a greater distance from His Religion the onely thing wherein their Souls were not united even the Barbarity of His Enemies who professed it yet were so irreconcileable to Vertue that they hated Her for Her Example of Love and Loyalty to Him While He was committing Her to the mercy of the Winds and Waves that She might escape the Cruelty of more unquiet and faithless men they prosecute Him with their distasteful Addresses and the Canterbury present Him with a Bill for taking away Bishops Votes in Parliament Which having been cast out of the House of Peers several times before ought not by the Course and Order of Parliament to have been admitted again the same Session But the Faction had now used their accustomed Engine the Tumult and it was then passed by the Lords and brought hither together with some obscure Threats that if it were not signed the Queen should not be suffered to depart By such impious Violences did they make way for that which they call'd Reformation This His Majesty signs though after it made a part of His penitential Confessions to God in hopes that the Bill being once consented to the Fury of the Faction which with so great Violence pursued an absolute Destruction of the Ecclesiastical Government would be abated as having advanced so far in their Design to weaken the King's Power in that House by the loss of so many Voices which would have been always on that side where Equity and Conscience did most appear But He soon found the Demagogues had not so much Ingenuity as to be compounded with and they made this but a step to the Overthrow of that which He designed to preserve When His
attempts the King first opposes the Law in several Declarations manifests the Power of Arms to be the ancient and undoubted Right of the Crown by many Proclamations charges all men under the Crime and Penalties of Treason to forbear the Execution of those Ordinances which were published to license their Rebellion and answers with a wonderful Diligence and Eloquence all the fictious Pretensions of the Parliament to that Power in their several Remonstrances But though the King had in the judgment of all understanding and uninteressed persons the Juster Cause and the more powerful Pen yet the Faction's Hast which is most essicacious in civil Discords the Slanders they had raised of Him and impressed in the minds of the People the terrors of that Arbitrary Power which the House of Commons had a long while exercised in the vexatious prosecution of all such as did oppose their imperious Resolves for they would by their Messengers send for the Great Earls and Prime Barons of the Kingdom as Rogues and Felons and weary them and others with a tedious and chargeable Attendance oppress them with heavy and unproportionable Censures and restrain them by Illegal Imprisonments and the hopes of licence and spoil in the ruine of Church and State had so preoccupied the Minds of the inferiour Multitude that neither Law nor Religion could have the least consideration in their practices and those Persons whom His Majesty appointed as Commissioners of Array in few places found that Obedience which was due to the just Commands of a Gracious Prince who vainly expected that Reverence to Justice in others which Himself gave After the experience of their Power in these their Successes at Land and having gotten the whole Navy at Sea being made Masters of the most and greatest Strengths of the Kingdom they then thought it might be safe for them to publish the aims and ends of their most destructive designs which if sooner manifested when the King by his Message of the 20th of Jan. from Windsor-Castle advised them to prescribe the limits of their Privileges give full Boundaries to His own Power and propose what was in their judgments proper to make the People happy and most religiously promised an equal tenderness of theirs and the Peoples Rights as of His own and what was for the Publick good should not be obstructed for His Particular Emolument they had justly drawn upon themselves all that popular hatred which they endeavoured to fling upon the King and had been buried under those ruines which they projected for the Grave of Majesty But then the Faction confided not so much in their own force nor were the Vulgar then so blinded with fury as to chuse their own destruction and therefore to that Message of Peace nothing was returned but Complaints that by such Advisoes their Counsels were disturbed that it was contrary to their unbounded Privileges to be minded of what was necessary But now they were furnished with a Power equal to their Ambition they thought it expedient to confirm their newly-gotten Empire with some pretensions to Peace but with a great deal of Caution that the affectation of it might not disappoint them of their hopes which were all built upon War and Confusion Therefore they formed the Conditions such as the King could not in Honour or Conscience grant them nor expect Peace by them Or if He did they should be instated in such a Grandeur that they might reap for themselves all the reproachful Honours and unlawful gains of an Arbitrary Power the thing they aimed at and leave the King overwhelmed with shame and contempt for their miscarriages in Government These Conditions were digested into Nineteen Propositions which when presented to the King He saw by an assent to them He should be concluded to have deposed Himself and be but as an helpless and idle Spectator of the Miserie 's such Tyrants would bring upon the People whom God had committed to His Trust Therefore He gave them that denial which they really desired and expected and adjusts His refusal in a Declaration wherein He sets forth the Injustice of each Proposition His Answer He sent by the Marquess of Hertford and Earl of Southampton Persons of great Integrity and Prudence with Instructions to treat in the House of Peers upon more equal Conditions But it behoved the Faction not to let the Kingdom see any way to Peace therefore denying any admittance to those Lords before ever the King's Answer could publickly discover who were the obstructours of the Peoples quiet they Ordered a Collection to be made of Money and Plate to maintain Horse Horse-men and Arms for the ensuing War The specious Pretences for which were the Safety of the King's Person and the taking Him out of the hands of Evil Counsellors the Defence of the Privileges of Parliament the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the maintenance of the ancient Laws of the Land Such inviting causes as these inflamed the Minds of the Multitude and filled them with more aiery hopes of Victory than the noise of Drums and Trumpets But that which was most powerful were the Sermons of such who being displeased with the present Ecclesiastical Government were promised the richest Benefices and a partage of the Revenues which belonged to Bishops Deans and Chapiters These from their Pulpits proclaimed War in the Name of Christ the Prince of Peace and whatsoever was contributed to the spilling of the Blood of the Wicked was to build up the Throne of the meekest Lamb and besides the satisfaction they were to expect from the Publick Faith which the Parliament promised there was a larger Interest to be doubled upon them in the Kingdom of Saints that was now approaching Deluded by these Artifices and Impostures People of all Conditions and all Sexes some carried by a secret Instinct others hurried by some furious Zeal and a last sort led by Covetousness cast into this Holy Treasury the Banck for Blood all the Ornaments of their Family all their Silver Vessels even to their Spoons with the Pledges of their first Love their Marriage-rings and the younger Females spared not their Thimbles and Bodkins the obliging Gifts of their Inamorato's from being a part of the Price of Blood But while these Preparations were made at London the King at York declares against the Scandal that He intended to Levy War against the Parliament calling God to witness how far His desires and thoughts were from it and also those many Lords who were Witnesses of His Counsels and Actions do publish to the World by a Writing subscribed with all their Names to the number of Forty and odd that they saw not any colour of Preparations or Counsels that might reasonably beget the belief of any such Design and were fully perswaded that He had no such intention But all was in vain for the Faction chose that the People should be rather guilty of committing Rebellion that only of favouring the Contrivers of it and decreed to try
also was abolished under pretence of a Spiritual Liberty for it was accused of putting a restraint upon the Spirit but in truth because it had so frequent Offices for the King To these were added the Covenant the Fetters of the Scotish Slavery this was to bind the whole Nation to the Interest of the Faction and was used as the Water of Jealousie to discover those whom they did suspect Therefore all the Conspirators of what Sect soever whether Independents or Anabaptists though they refused to take it themselves because it did oblige to the Preservation of the King's Person and Authority yet were as eager Imposers of it as the Presbyterians who in simplicity urged it as the Fundamental Constitution of their Empire upon all who they thought would not prostitute their Souls to their Designs or had any thing fit to be made their Spoils And by this onely Engine many thousand Persons and Families were miserably ruined especially of the Clergy To oblige more fastly those that had no patience to expect nor hopes to receive any Reward for their Service against their Prince in the other life and so would not be satisfied with the shews of Religion but sought more solid Encouragements in the Spoils of it the Lands of the Bishops were exposed to Sale and that at such easie Rates as might invite the hazard of the Purchase satiate their boundless Covetousness and engage them in a pertinacious Faith to their Merchants To cement all these distinct Humours in one common Pleasure the Archbishop of Canterbury was prepared for a Sacrifice and about this time began his Tryal which continued a whole Year being when the Houses were at leisure called by several Months and Weeks to answer to his Charge that by his frequent Passages as a Prisoner he might give a pleasant Diversion to the Rabble who are delighted with the Ruines and Misfortunes of Great Persons and by their Injuries and Reproaches he might be reduced to such a weakness of Spirit as was not competent with the defence of his Cause But his Cause and his Conscience were impregnable and he overthrew their Slanders though he could not their Power By these Arts and Ways was the Winter spent to prepare for the Attempts of the following Summer An. 1644 wherein though the Parliaments Forces encreased by the Scotish Succours had the Success over several bodies of the Royallists yet that small Number that followed the King's Person and were guided by His own Counsels and Example obtained two great Victories For His Majesty having once more provided for the Safety of the Queen in sending Her to Excester there to lay down the burden of Her Love and from thence to seek for Shelter in France taken contrary to their hopes His last Farewel of Her and left Oxford strengthned against the Siege which the Earl of Essex and Sir William Waller threatned that Place with He with a small Party draws out intending to form His Counsels according to the future Occurrences This made the Enemy divide and Essex was designed to reduce the West But Waller with whom usually went Sir Arthur Hasilrigge a Person fitter to raise Seditious Tumults than manage Armies was to hunt the King upon the Mountains of Wales towards which He seemed to direct His Course But hearing of the Resolutions of these two jealous Generals He wheels about to Oxford and from thence drew the greatest strength of that Garrison and with that falling upon Waller at Cropredy-bridge obtained a great Victory which would have been more prejudicial to the Enemy had not the Tenderness of His Subjects Blood restrained Him from prosecuting His Success to a greater Slaughter But contenting Himself to have diverted Injuries from His own Breast He only used this Victory for an advantage to Peace which in a Letter from Evesham July 4. He moves the Parliament unto But the unquiet Criminals rendred it vain and fruitless and represented to the People their yet prevailing Forces in the North and their Army in the West which had now taken in some considerable places to their obedience Therefore to remove their Confidence in Essex's power the King follows him and so closely pursues him that He drove him up into Cornwall and there did as it were besiege him During which He sent a Letter to him which was seconded by another from the Lords and Gentlemen in His Army to sollicite His endeavours for the Peace and Quiet of the bleeding and wasted Kingdom But it met not its desired effect Because that Earl either valued not that solid Glory of being the happy Author of a Nation 's Settlement or feared that his past Actions had wholly despoiled him of hopes of Security in a return to Obedience or knew that his Authority was not so great to put an issue to those Crimes which he had led others to commit For every inconsiderable person may be powerful at Disturbances but to form Peace requires much Wisdom and great Vertues Which last was generally believed for he had found and complained that his Credit declined with the Faction that they were distrustful lest their own Arts might teach him to have no faith to them because he often sollicited them to a composing of the Kingdoms Distractions Therefore making no return to those Letters he provided for his own safety in a Cock-boat and ignominiously deserted his Army of which the Horse taking the advantage of a dark night made their escape but the Commanders of the Foot did capitulate for their Lives and left their Arms Cannon Baggage and Ammunition to the Disposal of the King The speedy and prudent acquisition of these two Victories shewed the King had those Abilities that might have inserted Him in the Catalogue of the Bravest Commanders and had not want of Success in His following Enterprises clouded the Glory of this Summer He had been as eminent among the Masters of War as He was among the Sons of Peace the Honour of which last He most eagerly thirsted as rendring Him most like that Majesty He did represent Therefore after this Victory by a Letter from Tavestock Sept. 8. He re-inforces that from Evesham for an Accord with the Parliament being not transported from His Lenity by the Violence with which Victory uses to hurry humane breasts to an insolence But He knew that Peace though it is profitable to the Conquered yet it is glorious for the Conquerour To busie His Army while He expected their Answer and formed an Association in the Western Counties He sits down before Plymouth but finding this Message had an equal reception with the former and that the Faction intended not to sacrifice their ill-acquired Power and usurped Interests to the publick Tranquillity He rises from thence and marches towards London from whence were by this time in the way to meet Him Essex and Waller recruited and joyned with the Earl of Manchester's Forces that were now returned from their Northern Services And at Newbery both sides joyn in an eager
to such as were tendred to them in the name of the King His Majesty seeing and bewailing His Condition that He must still have to do with those that were Enemies to Peace prepares Himself for the War at the approaching Spring and although this Winter was infamous with many losses either through the neglects or perfidiousness of some Officers yet before the season for taking the Field was come His Counsels and Diligence had repaired those Damages In April he sends the Prince to perfect the Western Association An. 1645 and raise such Forces as the necessities of the Crown which was His Inheritance did require with Him is sent as Moderator of His Youth and prime Counsellor Sr Edward Hide now Lord High Chancellor of England whose faithfulness had endeared Him to His Majesty who also judged his Abilities equal to the Charge in which He continued with the same Faith through all the Difficulties and Persecutions of his Master till it pleased God to bring the Prince back to the Throne of His Fathers and Him to the Chief Ministery of State After their departure the King draws out His Army to relieve His Northern Counties and Garrisons But being on His march and having stormed and taken Leicester in His way He was called back to secure Oxford which the Parliament Army threatned with a Siege But Fairfax having gotten a Letter of the Lord Goring's whom a Parliament Spy had cajoled to trust him with the delivery of it to His Majesty wherein he had desired Him to forbear ingaging with the Enemy till he could be joyned with Him he leaves Oxford and made directly towards the King that was now come back as far as Daventry with a purpose to fight Him before that addition of strength and at a place near Naseby in Northampton-shire both Armies met on Saturday June 14. Cromwell having then also brought some fresh Horse to Fairfax whose absence from the Army at that time the King was assured by some who intended to betray Him should be effected Nevertheless the King would not decline the Battle and had the better at first but His vanquishing Horse following the chase of their Enemies too far a fatal errour that had been twice before committed left the Foot open to the other Wing who pressing hotly upon them put them to an open rout and so became Masters of His Canon Camp and Carriage and among these of His Majesties Cabinet in which they found many of His Letters most of them written to the Queen which not contented with their Victory over His Forces they print as a Trophee over His Fame that by proposing His secret Thoughts designed only for the Breasts of His Wife to the debauched multitude and they looking on them through the Prejudices which the Slanders of the Faction had already formed in their minds the Popular hatred might be increased But the publication of them found a contrary effect every one that was not barbarous abhorred that Inhumanity among Christians which Generous Heathens scorned to be guilty of and the Letters did discover that the King was not as He was hitherto characterized but that He had all the Abilities and Affections as well as all the Rights that were fit for Majesty And which is not usual He grew greater in Honour by this Defeat though he never after recovered any considerable power For the Fate of this Battle had an inauspicious influence upon all His remaining Forces and every day His losses were repeated But though Fortune had left the King yet had not His Valour therefore gathering up the scattered remains of His broken Army He marches up and down to encourage those whose Faith changed not with His Condition At last attempting to relieve Chester though He was beset behind and before and His Horse wearied in such tedious and restless Marches yet at first He beat Poyntz off that followed but by being charged by fresh Souldiers from the Leaguer and a greater Number He was forced to retreat and leave some of His gallant Followers dead upon the place After this He draws towards the North-East and commands the Lord Digby with the Horse that were left to march for Scotland and there to join with Montross who with an inconsiderable company of Men had got Victories there so prodigious that they looked like Miracles But this Lord was surprised before he could get out of Yorkshire for His Horse having taken 700 of the Enemies Foot were so wanton with their Success that they were easily mastered by another Party and he himself was compelled to fly into Ireland These several overthrows brought another mischief along with it for the King's Commanders and Officers broke their own Peace and Agreement which is the only Comfort and Relief of the Oppressed and which makes them considerable though they are spoiled of Arms by imputing as it useth to be in unhappy Councils the criminous part of their Misfortunes to one another But many gallant Persons whom Loyalty and Religion had drawn to His Service endured the utmost hazards before they delivered the Holds He had committed to their trust and by that means employing the Enemies Arms gave the King time who was at last returned to Oxford to provide for His Safety Hither every day sad Messages of Ruines from every part of the Nation came which though they seemed like the falling pieces of the dissolved World yet they found His Spirit erect and undaunted For He was equal in all the Offices of His Life tenacious of Truth and Equity and not moveable from them by Fears a Contemner of worldly Glory and desirous of Empire for no other reason but because He saw these Kingdoms must be ruined when He relinquished the care of them But that which most troubled Him were the Importunities of His own disconsolate Party to seek for Conditions of Peace which He saw was in vain to expect would be such as were fit to accept for His former experience assured Him that these Men would follow the Counsels of their Fortune and be more Insolent now than ever And for Himself He was resolved not to Sacrifice His Conscience to Safety nor His Honour to Life This He often told those that thus pressed Him and did profess in His Letter to Prince Rupert who likewise moved Him to the same that He would yield to no more now than what He had offered at Uxbridge though He confessed it were as great a Miracle His Enemies should hearken to so much Reason as that He should be restored within a Month to the same Condition He was in immediately before the Battle at Naseby But yet to satisfie every One how tender He was of the Common Safety He sent several Messages to the Parliament for a Treaty and offers to come Himself to London if He may have security for Himself and Attendants All which were either not regarded or answered with Reproaches And because the people began to murmure at so great an earnestness of the Faction to
continue the Wounds of the Nation open and bleeding since there were many Forts yet held out for the King by Gallant Persons besides the Lord Hopton had an Army yet unbroken and Ormond and Montross had considerable Interests in Ireland and Scotland all which might be perswaded in a Treaty to part with those Arms which could not be taken from them without much blood and it was the common belief that these Men sought for Victory not Peace and Liberty which was now tendred therefore to raise suspicions in the Vulgar it is suggested that the Cavaliers who came to Compound would take the advantage of the King's Presence if he were permitted to be there and kindle a new Flame and War in the City And that it might be thought they had real grounds for these fears the disarmed Compounders were commanded to depart above twenty Miles from London and to injealous the People more all the transactions of the King in the Irish Pacification were published and amplified with the malicious Slanders and Comments of the implacable and conscious Demagogues that so the terrours of the Vulgar being augmented they might be frighted into a longer patience The King finding these men irreconcileable to Peace and that they had declared against His Coming though without a Caution tries the Leaders of the English Army but they proved no less pertinacious and were now approaching to besiege Oxford Providence not leaving any more Choice but only shewing Him a way for a present Escape He goes in a Disguise which when Necessity cloaths Royal Persons with seems like an Ominous Cloud before the Setting of the Sun to the Scottish Camp that was now before Newark where the Ambassadour of the King of France who was then in the Leaguer had before covenanted for His Majestie 's Safety and Protection and the Scottish Officers had engaged to secure both Him and as many of His Party as should seek for Shelter with them and to stand to Him with their Lives and Fortunes The King being come thither May 4. made a great alteration in Affairs An. 1646 Newark was surrendred by the King's Command and St Thomas Glemham having gallantly defended Oxford till the Besiegers offered Honourable Conditions delivered up that also But the greatest Change of Counsels were at London where when it was related among whom the King had sought a Sanctuary various and different Discourses were raised Some wondred that His Majesty had sought a refuge there where the Storm began and how He could apprehend to find Relief from those that were not only the Authors of His Troubles but now the great Advancers of His Overthrow And they conceived no Promises or Oaths can be a sufficient Caution from those People that have been often Persidious Others judged that in those Necessities wherein the King was concluded it was as dangerous not to trust as to be deceived no Counsel could be better than to try whether a Confidence in them would make them faithful and whether they would then be honest when they had the Critical Opportunity to testifie to the World that they intended not what they did but what they said That they fought not against Him but for Him But a last sort bewailed both the greatness of the King's Dangers that should make Him seek for Safety in a tempestuous Sea and false bottom as also the debaucheries of the English Genius which was now so corrupted that their Prince was driven to seek an Asylum from their injuries among a People that were infamous and polluted with the Blood of many Kings While others discoursed thus of the King's journey the Parliament heated by the Independents fiercely declared against the Scots who were removing the King to Newcastle and used several methods to make them odious and drive them home For they kept back their Pay that they might exact free-Quarter from the Countrey then they did extenuate their Services derogate from their famed Valour upbraid them as Mercenaries threaten to force them out by the Sword All which while the English Presbyterians though they wish'd well to their Brethren yet lest they should seem to indulge the Insolencies of a strange Nation did not dare to plead in their defence But the Scots themselves for a time did justifie their Reception and Preservation of His Majesty by the Laws of Nature Nations and Hospitality which forbid the delivery and betraying of those that have fled to any for Succour The Democratick Faction urged that it was not lawful for the Scots their Hirelings and in their Dominion to receive the King into their Camp without the leave of their Masters and keep Him without their Consent These Debates were used to raise the King's price Which when the Scots were almost assured of to make their ware more valuable they sollicit the King in hopes of their Defence to command Montross to depart-from his noble Undertakings in Scotland where he had almost recovered the Overthrow Roxbrough and Traquaire had betrayed him unto and was become formidable again as also the Loyal Marquess of Ormond to desist from his gallant Oppositions both of the Irish Rebels and English Forces Which when the King had done being not willing those Gallant Persons should longer hazard their brave Lives and after both these Excellent Leaders had more in anger than fear parted with their unhappy Arms that they might have a colour of betraying Him whom the General Assembly of Scotland which useth to hatch all the Seditions to the heat and strength of a seeming Authority had forbid to be brought into His Native and Ancient Kingdom as He affectionately call'd it they tender Him the Covenant pretending without that Chain upon Him they did not dare to lead Him into Scotland This His Majesty refused not if they would first loose those Scruples of Church-Government which lay upon His Conscience Therefore to untie those Knots Mr. Henderson that was then the Oracle of the Kirk and the great Apostle of the Solemn Covenant was employed to converse with Him But the Greatness of the King's Parts and the Goodness of His Cause made all his attempts void for the Papers being published every one yielded the Victory to His Majesty and unfortunate for he returned home and not long after died as some reported of a Grief contracted from the sense of his Injuries to a Prince whom he had found so Excellent While these things were acting at Newcastle the bargain was stroke at London and for 200000 l. His Majesty stripp'd of those Arms He had when He came among them was deliver'd up as it were to be scourged and crucified to some Commissioners from the Parliament But to honest their Perfidiousness they add this Caution That there should be no attempt made upon the King ' s Person but being entertained at one of His own Palaces He should there be treated with upon Propositions from both Nations which should speedily be sent to Him But the Parliament never though of sending any Propositions till He
came under the Power of the Army who had malicious Designs upon His Person The Commissioners receiving Him convey Him to His own House at Holmeby This was a very curious and stately Building yet was not therefore chosen because it might be a Majestick Prison but because it was within Ken of Naseby which was infamous with His Overthrow that so the Neighbourhood to it might more afflict His grieved Spirit To this unpleasingness of the Place they added other discomforts by making the restraint so strict that they suffered none to come near Him that by owning His Cause were assured of their Welcome yea even His Chaplains which most troubled Him were debarred from their Ministery But God supplied this Want by more plentiful Assistances of His Holy Spirit and made Him like the Ancient Patriarchs both a King and a Priest at least for Himself and here He sacrificed Praises even to that God that hid himself and composed those most Divine Meditations and Soliloquies that are in His Book spending that time in Converse with Heaven which He was not suffered to employ with Men in whom He delighted While the King's Soul was thus winged above the Walls of His Prison and the Fortune of His Enemies they that had put an end to the War yet could not find the way to Peace for their Souls were unequal to the Victory and could not temper their Success the two Sects falling to dissension and turning all their arts and arms one against another The Presbyterians had the richer and more splendid followers but the Independents the most fierce subtle and most strongly principled to Confusion the first was powerful in the Parliament but the latter in the Army After they had a long time practised on one another the very same Methods they had acted against the King and such as favoured Him in the Parliament of which there were always some Number among them the Independents still gained upon their Opposites making the Presbyterians odious by Libels composed to render their Government ridiculous and tyrannical by putting them upon all the most envious Employments as Reforming the Universities and Sequestring Ministers that refused to take the Covenant Not contented thus to deal with their elder Brethren by spoiling them of their Honour they proceeded to strip them of the relicks of their armed Power surprising them in Parliament with a Vote to disband all the Souldiers that were not in Fairfax's Army then the General turns out those Commanders of Garrisons that were any way inclined to them Besides this they either corrupted with Gifts or frighted some of the most busie yet obnoxious Presbyterians either wholly to come over to them or be their Instruments in disturbing and revealing the Counsels of that Party which was done under the Scheme of Moderation and Reconciling the Godly one to another The Presbyterians at last awakened with the daily wounds of their power An. 1647 and the dishonour of their party began now to be more afraid of their Stipendiaries than they were of their Sovereign for they found that they lost all that by the Victory which they sought by the War therefore to break the confidence of the Independents and make themselves free they Vote in the Parliament where they had most Voices That to ease the Commonwealth of the Charges in maintaining the Army 12000 of the Souldiers should be sent over to Ireland and all the rest to be disbanded except 6000 Horse 2000 Dragoons and 6000 Foot who should be disposed in different and distant places in the Nation to prevent any Rising The Commanders and Independents soon discovered the Artifice that it was not to ease the Nation but weaken them therefore they employ the Inferiour Officers being persons that by dissimulation and impudence having accustomed themselves to much speaking did at last imagine their Vices were Gifts of the Holy Ghost and so were fit to disquiet the minds of men to possess the common Souldiers with a fear of Disbanding without their Arrears or else to be sent into that unquiet Island to perish with hunger and cold and the surprises of a treacherous Enemy This presently set the Army to Mutiny which while it was in the Beginnings the Commanders make semblance of Indignation at it seem very busie to compose it and Cromwell to make the Parliament secure calls God to witness that he was assured the Army would at their first Command cast their Arms at their Feet and again solemnly swears that he had rather himself with his whole Family should be consumed than that the Army should break out into Sedition Yet in the mean time he and his Creatures in the Army administer new fuel to the flames of it and when they had raised their Fury to such heat that it was at last concocted to a perfect defection from all obedience to the Parliament they lay aside their disguises and post from London to the Head Quarters where the Synagogue of Agitators was seated and to whom was committed the management of this Conspiracy This Conventicle was made up of two of the most unquiet and factious in every Regiment of Foot and each Troop of Horse their business was to consult the Interests of the whole Army and when they had moulded their Pretences and Arts to their grand Design to instruct the ruder part of it in their Clamours and Injuries and to corrupt all the Garrisons by Emissaries to the same enterprises At last they extended their Cares to the whole British Empire and dictate what their pleasures are concerning England and Ireland Which was in both Kingdoms to establish the Power and Liberty of the People for they openly professed an intent for Democracy And because about an hundred Officers in the Army would not be forward in the Sedition they were by this Committee of Adjutators and the secret intimations of the Commanders cashiered Thus the Counsels of both Parties being directed to overthrow their contrary each thought the Person and Presence of the King would be no vain advantage to their Designs for they would Honest their actions with a care of Him therefore the Presbyterians had it in Consultation to Order Col. Greves who had the Command of the Guard about the King at Holmeby to remove His Majesty to London the Intelligence of which coming to the Army by the treachery of a certain Lord they immediately send a body of Horse to prevent them and to force Him into their own Quarters Thus was that Religious Prince made once more the mock of Fortune and the sport of the Factions and was drawn from His peaceful Contemplations and Prospect of Heaven to behold and converse with men set on Fire of Hell These to tempt Him to a Confidence in their integrity that they might the more easily to His disgrace ruine Him and murder Him by His own Concessions if He would be deluded by them highly pretend to a Compassionate Sense of His Sufferings and complain of the Parliaments Barbarous Imprisoning Him
the Corruptions of men is more efficacious to Impiety than to Vertue could not do that His Law should and He would restrain those Vices which He could not extirpate Religion was never used by Him to veil Injustice for this was peculiar to His Adversaries who when they were plotting such acts as Hell would blush at they would fawn and smile on Heaven and they used it as those subtle Surprisers in War who wear their Enemies Colours till they be admitted to butcher them within their own Fortresses But His Majesty consulted the Peace of His Conscience not only in Piety to God but also in Justice to Men. He was as a Magistrate should be a speaking Law It was His usual saying Let me stand or fall by My own Counsels I will ever with Job rather chuse Misery than Sin He first submitted His Counsels to the Censure of the Lawyers before they were brought forth to Execution Those acts of which the Faction made most noise were delivered by the Judges to be within the Sphere of the Prerogative The causes of the Revenue were as freely debated as private Pleas and sometimes decreed to be not good which can never happen under a bad Prince The Justice of His Times shewed that of His Breast wherein the Laws were feared and not Men. None were forced to purchase their Liberty with the diminution of their Estates or the loss of their Credit Every one had both security and safety for His Life Fortune and Dignity and it was not then thought as afterwards to be a part of Wisdom to provide against Dangers by obscurity and Privacies His Favours in bestowing Great Offices never secured the Receivers from the force of the Law but Equity overcame His Indulgences For He knew that Vnjust Princes become Odious to them that made them so He submitted the Lord Keeper Coventrey to an Examination when a querulous person had accused him of Bribery He sharply reproved one whom He had made Lord Treasurer when he was petitioned against by an Hampshire Knight on whose Estate being held by Lease from the Crown that Treasurer had a design and He secured the Petitioner in his right The greatest Officer of His Court did not dare to do any the least of those injuries which the most contemptible Member of the House of Commons would with a daily Insolency act upon his weaker Neighbour In the Civil Discords He bewailed nothing more than that the Sword of Justice could not correct the illegal Furies of that of War Though by His Concessions and Grants He diminished His Power yet He thought it a Compensation to let the World see He was willing to make it impossible for Monarchy to have an unjust Instrument and to secure posterity from evil Kings Although He proved to a Leading Lord of the Faction That a People being too cautious to bind their King by Laws from doing Ill do likewise fetter Him from doing Good and their fears of Mischief do destroy their hopes of Benefit And that such is the weakness of Humanity that he which is intrusted only to Good may pervert that Power to the extremest Ills. And indeed there is no security for a Community to feel nothing in Government besides the Advantages of it but in the Benignity of Providence and the Justice of the Prince both which we enjoyed while we enjoyed Him Though He was thus in Love with Justice yet He suffered not that to leven His Nature to Severity and Rigour but tempered it with Clemency especially when His Goodness could possibly find out such an Interpretation for the Offence that it struck more at His Peculiar than the Publick Interest He seemed almost stupid in the Opinion of Cholerick Spirits as to a sense of His own Injuries when there was no fear lest His Mercy should thereby increase the Miseries of His People And He was so ambitious of the Glory of Moderation that He would acquire it in despight of the Malignity of the times For the Exercise of this Vertue depends not only on the temper of the Prince but the frame of the People must contribute to it because when the Reverence of Majesty and fear of the Laws are proscribed sharper Methods are required to from Obedience Yet He was unwilling to cut off till He had tried by Mercy to amend even guilty Souls Thus He strove to oblige the Lord Balmerino to peaceful practices by continuing that Life which had been employed in Sedition and forfeited to the Law Soon after His coming into the Isle of Wight by which time He had experienced the numerous Frauds and implacable Malice of His Enemies being attended on by Dr Sheldon and Dr Hammond for they were the earliest in their duties at that time a discourse passed betwixt His Majesty and the Governour wherein there was mention made of the fears of the Faction that the King could never forgive them To which the King immediately replies I tell thee Governour I can forgive them with as good an appetite as ever I eat My Dinner after an hunting and that I assure you was not a small one yet I will not make My self a better Christian than I am for I think if they were Kings I could not do it so easily This shewed how prone His Soul was to Mercy and found not any obstruction but what arose from a sense of Royal Magnanimity He sooner offered and gave life to His captive Enemies than their Spirits debauched by Rebellion would require it and He was sparing of that blood of which their fury made them Prodigal No man fell in battel whom He could save He chose rather to enjoy any Victory by Peace and therefore continually sollicited for it when He seemed least to need it than make one triumph a step to another and though He was passionate to put all in Safety yet He affected rather to end the War by Treaty than by Conquest The Prisoners He took He used like deluded men and oftener remembred that God had made them His Subjects than that the Faction had transformed them to Rebels He provided for them while in His Power and not to let them languish in Prison sent them by Passes to their own homes only ingaging them by Oath to no more injuries against that Sovereign whom they had felt to be Gracious for so He used those that were taken at Brainford But yet the Casuists of the Cause would soon dispense with their Faith and send them forth to die in contracting a new guilt Those whom the fury of War had left gasping in the Field and fainting under their wounds He commends in His Warrants as in that to the Mayor of Newbury to the care of the Neighbourhood either tenderly to recover or decently bury and His Commands were as well for those that sought to murther Him as those that were wounded in His Defence This made the Impudence and Falshood of Bradshaw more portentous when in his Speech of the Assassination he belch'd
Patience a Vertue not usual with Kings to whom the bounds of Equity seem a restraint and therefore are more restless in Injuries He did submit to the Will of His Eternal Soveregin He never murmured nor repined at that Providence which had given Him plenty of tears to drink But His Meditations still breath the Justice of God and the Holiness of all His waies with Him He would take Occasions from displeasing Occurrences to thank God that had fitted Him for the Condition he had brought Him unto For when he marched after His Carriage in pursuit of Essex into the West one of them broke in a very narrow Lane which made Him stop till an intolerable Showre of Rain came pouring upon Him from which that He might seek for a Shelter in the Neighbouring Village His Courtiers offered to hew Him out a way through the Hedge with their Swords but He refused and when they wondred at it He lifting up His Hat and Eyes to worship the Fountain of All Grace said As God hath given me Afflictions to exercise My Patience so He hath given me Patience to bear My Afflictions The Indignity He received from Hotham provoked no Curse from Him nor could the Injuries from Scotch and English move Him to any thing more than Prayers for God's sanctifying them to Him He wanted not Temptations to Passion from His own Party for in a Letter to the Queen He tells Her that She could not but pity Him in His Condition as to them yet He so managed their several Humours and so cherished their Expectations with Patience and Meekness that they quietly waited for a return of His Fortune When He was in His Captivity at Carisbrook under the strictest Restraint those that attended Him never almost observed Him but chearful and pleasant in His Discourses and sometimes breaking out into pleasing Reparties and Jests When in the Treaty at Newport where he had occasions of Passion daily administred by the Perverseness to Peace of the Party He was to deal with one of the Commissioners was importunate with Him for more Concessions and minded Him of His saying That if there were another Treaty it should not lie in the power of the Devil's Malice to hinder Peace the King answered It would be so when there was a Treaty but as for this it could not be thought a Treaty but He was like the man in the Play that cried out he had been in a Fray and when they asked him what Fray he replied there was a Fray and no Fray for there were but three blows given and He took them all so this is a Treaty and not a Treaty for there be many Concessions but I have made them all Another time when He met one of the Presbyterian Ministers near his Chamber enquiring for Captain Titus who then waited on Him and had been faithful to Him in that Service the King told him He wondred he would have any more to do either with Titus or Timothy since he fared so ill in medling with them in his Disputes about Episcopacy the day before These shewed how free His Soul was and uncontrolled in the greatest and most displeasing perplexities He would never take any indirect courses to avoid the Cross nay He scrupled at such expedients as some deemed most conducing to His great end For at the Treaty in the Isle of Wight there being offered to Him an expedient to secure His Conscience and satisfie the Commissioners in the Propositions about the Church and it being urged by a great and faithful Counsellor that He must grant what possibly He could to preserve His own Life for the good of the Church for it was said her safety depended on His with a present and pious indignation He replied Tell not Me what I should do for saving of My Life but what I may do with a safe Conscience God forbid that the Life or Safety of the Church should depend upon My Life or upon the Life of any mortal man and I thank God I have a Son whom I have reason to believe will love the Church as well as I do Another time a little after the Treaty was ended Dr Morley shewing to Him a Billet he had received by the Lady Wheeler the King's Laundress who often conveyed much Intelligence from an Officer of the Army that the King's Death was resolved on His Majesty answered I have done what I can to save My Life without losing of my Soul I can do I will do no more God's will be done In the Pomp of His Murther wherein He was made a Spectacle to the World Angels and Men no Trials were ever greater nor ever were any better born the Parricides found it was easie to take away His Life but impossible His Honour and Patience His Passions being then so low and quiet that the natural Infirmity of His Speech did not in the least measure appear which uses to be most evident in the smallest discomposure of the Spirit After the Regicides had passed their Decree for His Assassination and caused Him to be persecuted with all the Indignities of the fanatick Souldiers there fell from Him nothing like Passion or Indignation but that He gave the Authors of those Impieties the Title that was due to them for when my Lord of London came to Him which was not till eight a Clock on Saturday Night He told him My Lord that you came no sooner I believe was not your fault but now you are come because these Rogues pursue My Blood you and I must consult how I may best part with it Yet even this was spoken without any Fury or Violence for though all about Him was tumultuous with Horrour Destruction and Contempt His Soul seemed unconcerned enjoyed a Calm Serenity and was full of its own Majesty This Vertue made Him forget He was a Prince born to command and only consider that He was a Christian whose Calling obliges to Suffer He had found out a way to Glory by Humility For the Supream Power to which nothing can be added hath no better way to encrease than when secured of its own Greatness it humbleth it self And the Dignity of Princes is in nothing farther from Envy and Danger than in Humility He despised the converse of none though poor if honest He shewed to Sr Philip Warwick who had much of His Trust and Affections in the Isle of Wight a poor ragged Old Man and told him he was a very honest fellow and had been His best Company for two months together He would have those about Him converse rather with Himself than with His Majesty and with them would He mingle Discourses as One of the People none made an end of speaking till His own Modesty not Pride in the King thought it was enough and He never did contradict any Man without this mollifying Preface By your favour Sir His Discourse as it was familiar so it was directed to raise those that heard it to a nearer approach to
no question but there are always some flattering fools that can commend nothing but with hyperbolick expressions and you know that supposito quolibet sequitur quidlibet besides do you think that albeit some ignorant Fellows should attribute more power to Presbyters than is really due unto them that thereby their Just reverence and Authority is diminished So I see no reason why I may not safely maintain that the Interpretation of Fathers is a most excellent strengthning to My Opinion though others should attribute the Cause and Reason of their Faith unto it 2. As there is no question but that Scripture is far the best Interpreter of it self so I see nothing in this negatively proved to exclude any other notwithstanding your positive affirmation 3. Nor in the next for I hope you will not be the first to condemn your self Me and innumerable others who yet unblameably have not tied themselves to this Rule 4. If this you only intend to prove that Errours were always breeding in the Church I shall not deny it yet that makes little as I conceive to your purpose But if your meaning be to accuse the Universal practice of the Church with Errour I must say it is a very bold undertaking and if you cannot justifie your self by clear places in Scripture much to be blamed wherein you must not alledge that to be universally received which was not as I dare say that the Controversie about Free-will was never yet decided by Oecumenical or General Council nor must you presume to call that an Errour which really the Catholick Church maintained as in Rites of Baptism Forms of Prayer Observation of Feasts Fasts c. except you can prove it so by the Word of God and it is not enough to say that such a thing was not warranted by the Apostles but you must prove by their Doctrine that such a thing was unlawful or else the Practice of the Church is warrant enough for Me to follow and obey that Custom whatsoever it be and think it good and I shall believe that the Apostles Creed was made by them such Reverence I bear to the Churches Tradition untill other Authors be certainly found out 5. I was taught that de posse ad esse was no good Argument and indeed to Me it is incredible that any custom of the Catholick Church was erroneous which was not contradicted by Orthodox learned Men in the times of their first Practice as is easily perceived that all those Defections were some of them may be justly called Rebellions which you mention 6. I deny it is impossible though I confess it difficult to come to the knowledge of the Universal Consent and Practice of the Primitive Church therefore I confess a man ought to be careful how to believe things of this nature wherefore I conceive this to be only an Argument for Caution My conclusion is that albeit I never esteemed any Authority equal to the Scriptures yet I do think the Unanimous Consent of the Fathers and the Universal Practice of the Primitive Church to be the best and most Authentical Interpreters of God's Word and consequently the fittest Judges between Me and you when we differ until you shall find Me better For example I think you for the present the best Preacher in Newcastle yet I believe you may err and possibly a better Preacher may come but till then I must retain my Opinion Newcastle July 16. 1646. C. R. His MAJESTY's Quaere concerning Easter propounded to the Parliaments Commissioners at Holdenby April 23. 1647. I desire to be resolved of this Question Why the new Reformers discharge the keeping of Easter The Reason for this Quaere is I Conceive the Celebration of this Feast was instituted by the same Authority which changed the Jewish Sabbath into the Lord's Day or Sunday for it will not be found in Scripture where Saturday is discharged to be kept or turned into the Sunday wherefore it must be the Churches Authority that changed the one and instituted the other Therefore My Opinion is that those who will not keep this Feast may as well return to the observation of Saturday and refuse the weekly Sunday When any body can shew Me that herein I am in an errour I shall not be ashamed to confess and amend it till when you know my mind C. R. His MAJESTY's First Paper concerning Episcopacy At the Treaty at NEWPORT October 2. 1648. CHARLES R. I Conceive that Episcopal Government is most consonant to the Word of God and of an Apostolical institution as it appears by the Scripture to have been practised by the Apostles themselves and by them committed and derived to particular persons as their Substitutes or Successors therein as for ordaining Presbyters and Deacons giving Rules concerning Christian Discipline and exercising Censures over Presbyters and others and hath ever since to these last times been exercised by Bishops in all the Churches of Christ and therefore I cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the said Government Notwithstanding this my perswasion I shall be glad to be informed if our Saviour and the Apostles did so leave the Church at liberty as they might totally alter or change the Church-Government at their pleasure Which if you can make appear to Me then I will confess that one of my great Scruples is clean taken away And then there only remains That being by my Coronation-Oath obliged to maintain Episcopal Government as I found it setled to my hands Whether I may consent to the abolishing thereof until the same shall be evidenced to Me to be contrary to the Word of God Newport October 2. 1648. PRAYERS Used by His MAJESTY in the time of His Troubles and Restraint I. A Prayer used by His MAJESTY at His entrance in state into the Cathedral Church of Excester after the defeat of the Earl of Essex in Cornwal O Most glorious Lord God Father Son and Holy Ghost I here humbly adore thy most Sacred Majesty and I bless and magnifie thy Name for that Thou hast been pleased so often and so strangely to deliver Me from the strivings of my People Father forgive them who have thus risen up against Me and do Thou yet turn their hearts both unto Thee and to Me that I being firmly established in the Throne Thou hast placed Me in I may defend Thy Church committed to My care and keep all this Thine and My People in Truth and Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen II. A Prayer drawn by His MAJESTY's special direction and dictates for a Blessing on the Treaty at Uxbridge O Most merciful Father Lord God of Peace and Truth we a People sorely afflicted by the scourge of an unnatural War do here earnestly beseech Thee to command a Blessing from Heaven upon this present Treaty begun for the establishment of an happy Peace Soften the most obdurate hearts with a true Christian desire of saving those mens blood for whom Christ himself
hath shed his Or if the guilt of our great Sins cause this Treaty to break off in vain Lord let the Truth clearly appear who those men are which under pretence of the Publick Good do pursue their own private ends that this People may be no longer so blindly miserable as not to see at least in this their day the things that belong unto their Peace Grant this gracious God for His sake who is our Peace it self even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen III. A Prayer drawn by His MAJESTY's special directions for a Blessing on the Treaty at Newport in the Isle of Wight O Most merciful Father Lord God of Peace and Truth we a People sorely afflicted by the scourge of an unnatural War do here earnestly beseech Thee to command a Blessing from Heaven upon this Treaty brought about by Thy Providence and the only visible remedy left for the establishment of an happy Peace Soften the most obdurate hearts with a true Christian desire of saving those mens blood for whom Christ himself hath shed His. O Lord let not the guilt of our Sins cause this Treaty to break off but let the Truth of Thy Spirit so clearly shine in our minds that all private ends laid aside we may every one of us heartily and sincerely pursue the Publick Good and that thy People may be no longer so blindly miserable as not to see at least in this their day the things that belong unto their Peace Grant this gracious God for His sake who is our Peace it self even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen IV. A Prayer for Pardon of Sin ALmighty and most merciful Father look down upon Me thy unworthy Servant who here prostrate My self at the Footstool of thy Throne of Grace but look upon Me O Father through the Mediation and in the Merits of Jesus Christ in whom Thou art only well pleased for of My self I am not worthy to stand before Thee or to speak with my unclean lips to Thee most Holy and Eternal God For as in sin I was conceived and born so likewise I have broken all thy Commandments by my sinful Motions unclean Thoughts evil Words and wicked Works omitting many Duties I ought to do and committing many Vices which Thou hast forbidden under pain of thy heavy displeasure As for my Sins O Lord they are innumerable wherefore I stand here liable to all the Miseries in this life and everlasting Torments in that to come if Thou shouldst deal with Me according to My deserts I confess O Lord that it is Thy Mercy which endureth for ever and Thy Compassion which never fails which is the cause that I have not been long ago consumed But with Thee there is Mercy and plenteous Redemption In the multitude therefore of thy Mercies and by the Merits of Jesus Christ I entreat thy Divine Majesty that Thou wouldst not enter into Judgement with thy Servant nor be extream to mark what is done amiss but be Thou merciful unto Me and wash away all my Sins with that precious Blood that my Saviour shed for Me. And I beseech Thee O Lord not only to wash away all my Sins but also to purge my Heart by thy Holy Spirit from the dross of my natural Corruption And as Thou dost add days to my Life so Good Lord I beseech Thee to add Repentance to my days that when I have pass'd this mortal life I may be partaker of thy everlasting Kingdom through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen V. A Prayer and Confession in and for the times of Affliction ALmighty and most merciful Father as it is only Thy goodness that admits of our imperfect Prayers and the knowledge that Thy Mercies are infinite which can give us any hope of Thy accepting or granting them so it is our bounden and necessary Duty to confess our Sins freely unto Thee And of all men living I have most need most reason so to do no man living having been so much obliged by Thee that degree of Knowledge which Thou hast given Me adding likewise to the guilt of my Transgressions For was it through Ignorance that I suffered innocent blood to be shed by a false pretended way of Justice or that I permitted a wrong way of thy Worship to be set up in Scotland and injured the Bishops in England O no but with shame and grief I confess that I therein followed the perswasions of worldly Wisdom forsaking the Dictates of a right-informed Conscience Wherefore O Lord I have no excuse to make no hope left but in the multitude of Thy Mercies for I know my Repentance weak and my Prayers faulty Grant therefore merciful Father so to strengthen my Repentance and amend my Prayers that Thou maist clear the way for thine own Mercies to which O let thy Justice at last give place putting a speedy end to my deserved Afflictions In the mean time give Me Patience to endure Constancy against Temptations and a discerning spirit to chuse what is best for Thy Church and People which Thou hast committed to My Charge Grant this O most merciful Father for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake our only Saviour Amen VI. A Prayer in time of Captivity O Powerful and eternal God to whom nothing is so great that it may resist or so small that it is contemned look upon My Misery with Thine Eye of Mercy and let thy infinite Power vouchsafe to limit out some proportion of deliverance unto Me as to Thee shall seem most convenient Let not injury O Lord triumph over Me and let my faults by Thy Hand be corrected and make not my unjust Enemies the Ministers of thy Justice But yet my God if in thy Wisdom this be the aptest chastisement for my unexcusable Transgressions if this ungrateful bondage be fittest for my over-high desires if the pride of my not enough humble Heart be thus to be broken O Lord I yield unto Thy Will and chearfully embrace what sorrow Thou wilt have Me suffer Only thus much let Me crave of Thee let my craving O Lord be accepted of since it even proceeds from Thee that by thy Goodness which is Thy self Thou wilt suffer some beam of thy Majesty so to shine in my mind that I who acknowledge it my noblest Title to be Thy Creature may still in my greatest Afflictions depend confidently on Thee Let Calamity be the exercise but not the overthrow of my Vertue O let not their prevailing power be to My Destruction And if it be thy Will that they more and more vex Me with punishment yet O Lord never let their Wickedness have such a hand but that I may still carry a pure mind and stedfast resolution ever to serve Thee without Fear or Presumption yet with that humble Confidence which may best please Thee so that at the last I may come to thy eternal Kingdom through the Merits of thy Son our alone Saviour Jesus Christ Amen VII A Prayer in time of imminent Danger O Most merciful Father
though my Sins are so many and grievous that I may rather expect the effects of thy Anger than so great a deliverance as to free Me from my present great Danger yet O Lord since thy Mercies are over all thy Works and Thou never failest to relieve all those who with humble and unfeigned Repentance come to Thee for succour it were to multiply not diminish my Transgressions to despair of thy heavenly favour wherefore I humbly desire thy Divine Majesty that Thou wilt not only pardon all my Sins but also free Me out of the hands and protect Me from the Malice of my cruel Enemies But if thy wrath against my hainous offences will not otherwise be satisfied than by suffering Me to fall under my present Afflictions thy Will be done yet with humble importunity I do and shall never leave to implore the assistance of thy Heavenly Spirit that My Cause as I am Thy Vicegerent may not suffer through My weakness or want of Courage O Lord so strengthen and enlighten all the Faculties of my Mind that with clearness I may shew forth thy Truth and manfully endure this bloody Trial that so my Sufferings here may not only glorifie Thee but likewise be a furtherance to My Salvation hereafter Grant this O merciful Father for His sake who suffered for Me even Jesus Christ the Righteous Amen KING CHARLES HIS MESSAGES FOR PEACE I. From CANTERBURY Jan. 20. MDCXLI II. For the Composing of all Differences HIS Majesty perceiving the manifold distractions which are now in this Kingdom which cannot but bring great inconveniencies and mischief to this whole Government in which as His Majesty is most chiefly interessed so He holds Himself by many reasons most obliged to do what in Him lies for the preventing thereof though He might justly expect as most proper for the duty of Subjects that Propositions for the remedies of these evils ought rather to come to Him than from Him yet His Fatherly care of all His People being such that He will rather lay by any particular respect of His Own Dignity than that any time should be lost for prevention of these threatning evils which cannot admit the delays of the ordinary proceedings in Parliament doth think fit to make this ensuing Proposition to both Houses of Parliament that they will with all speed fall into a serious consideration of all those particulars which they shall hold necessary as well for the upholding and maintaining of His Majesty's Just and Regal Authority and for the setling of His Revenue as for the present and future establishment of their Priviledges the free and quiet enjoying of their Estates and Fortunes the Liberties of their Persons the security of the true Religion now professed in the Church of England and the setling of Ceremonies in such a manner as may take away all just offence Which when they shall have digested and composed into one intire body that so His Majesty and themselves may be able to make the more clear Judgment of them it shall then appear by what His Majesty shall do how far he hath been from intending or designing any of those things which the too great Fears and Jealousies of some persons seem to apprehend and how ready He will be to equal and exceed the greatest examples of the most indulgent Princes in their Acts of Grace and Favour to their People So that if all the present Distractions which so apparently threaten the Ruine of this Kingdom do not by the blessing of Almighty God end in an happy and blessed Accommodation His Majesty will then be ready to call Heaven and Earth God and Man to witness that it hath not failed on His part From HUNTINGDON March 15. Upon His Removal to YORK In pursuance of the Former HIS Majesty being now on His remove to His City of York where He intends to make His Residence for some time thinks fit to send this Message to both Houses of Parliament That he doth very earnestly desire that they will use all possible industry in expediting the business of Ireland in which they shall find so chearful a concurrence by His Majesty that no inconvenience shall happen to that service by His absence He having all that Passion for the reducing of that Kingdom which He hath expressed in His former Messages and being unable by words to manifest more affection to it than He hath endeavoured to do by those Messages having likewise done all such Acts as he hath been moved unto by His Parliament therefore if the misfortunes and calamities of His poor Protestant Subjects shall grow upon them though His Majesty shall be deeply concerned in and sensible of their sufferings He shall wash His hands before all the World from the least imputation of slackness in that most necessary and pious work And that His Majesty may leave no way unattempted which may beget a good understanding between Him and His Parliament He thinks it necessary to declare That as He hath been so tender of the Priviledges of Parliament that He hath been ready and forward to retract any Act of His own which He hath been informed hath trencht upon their Priviledges so He expects an equal tenderness in them of His Majesty 's known and unquestionable Priviledges which are the Priviledges of the Kingdom amongst which He is assured it is a Fundamental one That His Subjects cannot be obliged to obey any Act Order or Injunction to which His Majesty hath not given His consent And therefore He thinks it necessary to publish That He expects and hereby requires Obedience from all His loving Subjects to the Laws established and that they presume not upon any pretence of Order or Ordinance to which His Majesty is no party concerning the Militia or any other thing to do or execute what is not warranted by those Laws His Majesty being resolved to keep the Laws Himself and to require Obedience to them from all His Subjects And His Majesty once more recommends to His Parliament the substance of His Message of the twentieth of January last that they compose and digest with all speed such Acts as they shall think fit for the present and future establishment of their Priviledges the free and quiet enjoying their Estates and Fortunes the Liberties of their Persons the security of the true Religion now professed in the Church of England the maintaining His Majesties Regal and Just Authority and setling His Revenue His Majesty being most desirous to take all fitting and just wayes which may beget a happy understanding between Him and His Parliament in which He conceives His greatest Power and Riches do consist III. From NOTTINGHAM Aug. 25. MDCXLII When He set up His Standard By the Earls of Southampton and Dorset Sir John Culpepper Knight Chancellour of the Exchequer and Sir W. Wedale Knight WE have with unspeakable grief of heart long beheld the distractions of this our Kingdom Our very Soul is full of anguish until We may find some remedy to
Lexington Mr Denzil Hollis Mr Pierrepont Mr Henry Bellasis Mr Richard Spencer Sir Thomas Fairfax Mr John Ashburnham Sir Gervas Clifton Sir Henry Vane Junior Mr Robert Wallop Mr Thomas Chicheley Mr Oliver Cromwell Mr Philip Skippon supposing that these are persons against whom there can be no just exception But if this doth not satisfie then His Majesty offers to name the one half and leaves the other to the election of the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster with the Powers and Limitations before mentioned Thus His Majesty calls God and the World to witness of His sincere intentions and real endeavours for the composing and setling of these miserable Distractions which he doubts not but by the blessing of God will soon be put to a happy conclusion if this His Majesties offer be accepted Otherwise He leaves all the World to judge who are the continuers of this unnatural War And therefore He once more conjures you by all the bonds of Duty you owe to God and your King to have so great a compassion onthe bleeding and miserable estate of your Country that you joyn your most serious and hearty endeavours with His Majesty to puta happy and speedy end to these present Miseries Given at our Court at Oxford the 26. of Decem. 1645. XVI From OXFORD Dec. 29. MDCXLV In pursuance of the former for a Personal Treaty at Westminster For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. ALthough the Message sent by Sir Peter Killegrew may justly require an expostulatory Answer yet His Majesty lays that aside as not so proper for His present endeavours leaving all the World to judge whether His Proposition for a Personal Treaty or the flat denial of a safe Conduct for Persons to begin a Treaty be greater signs of a real intention to Peace and shall now only insist upon His former Message of the 26. of this December That upon His repair to Westminster He doubts not but so to joyn His endeavours with His two Houses of Parliament as to give just satisfaction not only concerning the business of Ireland but also for the setling of a way for the payment of the publick Debts as well to the Scots and to the City of London as others And as already He hath shewn a fair way for the setling of the Militia so He shall carefully endeavour in all other particulars that none shall have cause to complain for want of security whereby just Jealousies may arise to hinder the continuance of the desired Peace And certainly this Proposition of a Personal Treaty could never have entred into His Majesties thoughts if He had not resolved to make apparent to all the World that the publick good and Peace of this Kingdom is far dearer to Him than the respect of any particular Interest Wherefore none can oppose this motion without a manifest demonstration that he particularly envies His Majesty should be the chief Author in so blessed a work besides the declaring himself a direct opposer of the happy Peace of these Nations To conclude whosoever will not be ashamed that his fair and specious protestations should be brought to a true and publick test and those who have a real sense and do truly commiserate the miseries of their bleeding Country let them speedily and chearfully embrace His Majesties Proposition for His Personal Treaty at Westminster which by the blessing of God will undoubtedly to these now-distracted Kingdoms restore the happiness of a long-wisht-for and lasting Peace Given at Our Court at Oxford the nine and twentieth day of December 1645. XVII From OXFORD January 15. MDCXLV VI. In pursuance of the former Containing His Majesty's Concessions and Offers For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. BUT that these are times wherein nothing is strange it were a thing much to be marvelled at what should cause this unparallel'd long detention of His Majesties Trumpeter sent with His gracious Message of the 26. of December last Peace being the only subject of it and His Majesties Personal Treaty the means proposed for it And it were almost as great a wonder that His Majesty should be so long from enquiring after it if that the hourly expectation thereof had not in some measure satisfied His impatience But lest His Majesty by His long silence should condemn Himself of Carelesness in that which so much concerns the good of all His People He thinks it high time to enquire after His said Trumpeter For since all men who pretend any goodness must desire Peace and that all men know Treaties to be the best and most Christian way to procure it and there being as little question that His Majesties Personal presence in it is the likeliest way to bring it to an happy issue He judges there must be some strange variety of accidents which causeth this most tedious delay Wherefore His Majesty earnestly desires to have a speedy account of His former Message the subject whereof is Peace and the means His Personal presence at Westminster where the Government of the Church being setled as it was in the times of the happy and glorious Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James and full liberty for the ease of their Consciences who will not communicate in that Service established by Law and likewise for the free and publick use of the Directory prescribed and by command of the two Houses of Parliament now practised in some parts of the City of London to such as shall desire to use the same and all Forces being agreed to be disbanded His Majesty will then forthwith as He hath in His Message of the 29. of December last already offered joyn with His two Houses of Parliament in setling some way for the payment of the publick Debts to His Scotch Subjects the City of London and others And His Majesty having proposed a fair way for the setling of the Militia which now by this long delay seems not to be thought sufficient security His Majesty to shew how really He will imploy Himself at His coming to Westminster for making this a lasting Peace and taking away all Jealousies how groundless soever will endeavour upon debate with His two Houses so to dispose of it as likewise of the business of Ireland as may give to them and both Kingdoms just satisfaction not doubting also but to give good contentment to His two Houses of Parliament in the choice of the Lord Admiral the Officers of State and others if His two Houses by their ready inclinations to Peace shall give Him encouragement thereunto Thus His Majesty having taken occasion by His just impatience so to explain His intentions that no man can doubt of a happy issue to this succeeding Treaty if now
there shall be so much as a delay of the same He calls God and the World to witness who they are that not only hinder but reject this Kingdoms future Happiness it being so much the stranger that His Majesties coming to Westminster which was first the greatest pretence for taking up Arms should be so much as delayed much less not accepted or refused but His Majesty hopes that God will no longer suffer the malice of Wicked men to hinder the Peace of this too much afflicted Kingdom Given at Our Court at Oxford the fifteenth day of January 1645. XVIII From OXFORD Jan. 17. MDCXLV VI. For an Answer to His former Messages For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty thinks not fit now to answer those Aspersions which are returned as arguments for His not admittance to Westminster for a Personal Treaty because it would enforce a style not suitable to His end it being the Peace of these miserable Kingdoms yet thus much He cannot but say to those who have sent Him this Answer that if they had considered what they have done themselves in occasioning the shedding of so much innocent blood by withdrawing themselves from their Duty to Him in a time when He had granted so much to His Subjects and in violating the known Laws of the Kingdom to draw an exorbitant power to themselves over their fellow-Subjects to say no more to do as they have done they could not have given such a false character of His Majesties Actions Wherefore His Majesty must now remember them that having some hours before his receiving of their last Paper of the 13. of January sent another Message to them of the 15 wherein by divers particulars He enlargeth Himself to shew the reality of His endeavors for Peace by His desired Personal Treaty which He still conceives to be the likeliest way to attain to that blessed End He thinks fit by this Message to call for an Answer to that and indeed to all the former For certainly no rational man can think their last Paper can be any Answer to His former demands the scope of it being That because there is a War therefore there should be no Treaty for Peace And is it possible to expect that the Propositions mentioned should be the grounds of a lasting Peace when the persons that send them will not endure to hear their own King speak But whatever the success hath been of His Majesty's former Messages or how small soever His hopes are of a better considering the high strain of those who deal with His Majesty yet He will neither want Fatherly Bowels to His Subjects in general nor will He forget that God hath appointed Him for their King with whom He treats Wherefore He now demands a speedy Answer to His last and former Messages Given at Our Court at Oxford this 17 of January 1645. XIX From OXFORD Jan. 24. MDCXLV VI. For Answer to His former Message and concerning their Reasons against a Personal Treaty For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. THE procuring Peace to these Kingdoms by Treaty is so much desired by His Majesty that no unjust Aspersions whatsoever or any other Discouragements shall make Him desist from doing His indeavour therein until He shall see it altogether impossible and He therefore hath thought fitting so far only to make reply to that Paper or Answer which He hath received of the 13 of this Instant January as may take away those objections which are made against His Majesty's coming to Westminster expecting still an Answer to His Messages of the fifteenth and seventeenth which He hopes by this time have begotten better thoughts and resolutions in the Members of both Houses And first therefore whereas in the said last Paper it is objected as an impediment to His Majesty's Personal Treaty that much innocent Blood hath been shed in this War by His Majesty's Commissions c. He will not now dispute it being apparent to all the World by whom this Blood hath been spilt but rather presseth that there should be no more and to that end only He hath desired this Personal Treaty as judging it the most immediate means to abolish so many horrid Confusions in all His Kingdoms And it is no Argument to say that there shall be no such Personal Treaty because there have been Wars it being a strong inducement to have such a Treaty to put an end to the War Secondly That there should be no such Personal Treaty because some of His Irish Subjects have repaired to His assistance in it seems an argument altogether as strange as the other as alwaies urging that there should be no Physick because the Party is sick And in this particular it hath been often observed unto them that those whom they call Irish who have so expressed their Loyalty to their Soveraign were indeed for the most part such English Protestants as had been formerly sent into Ireland by the two Houses impossibilitated to stay there any longer by the neglect of those that sent them thither who should there have better provided for them And for any Foreign Forces it is too apparent that their Armies have swarmed with them when His Majesty hath had very few or none And whereas for a third Impediment it is alledged that the Prince is in the head of an Army in the West and that there are divers Garrisons still kept in His Majesty's obedience and that there are Forces in Scotland it must be as much confessed as that as yet there is no Peace And therefore it is desired that by such a Personal Treaty all these impediments may be removed And it is not here amiss to put them in mind how long since His Majesty did press a disbanding of all Forces on both sides the refusing whereof hath been the cause of this objection And whereas exception is taken that there is a time limited in the Proposition for His Majesty's Personal Treaty thereupon inferring that He should again return to Hostility His Majesty protesteth that He seeks this Treaty to void future Hostility and to procure a lasting Peace and if He can meet with like inclinations to Peace in those He desires to Treat with He will bring such Affections and resolutions in Himself as shall end all these unhappy bloody Differences As for those engagements which His Majesty hath desired for His security whosoever shall call to mind the particular occasions that enforced His Majesty to leave His City of London and Westminster will judge His demand very reasonable and necessary for His Safety But He no way conceiveth how the Lord Mayor Aldermen Common-Council and Militia of London were either subject or subordinate to that
Authority which is alledged as knowing neither Law nor Practice for it And if the two Armies be He believes it is more than can be parallel'd by any former times in this Kingdom Nor can His Majesty understand how His Majesty's seeking of a Personal security can be any breach of Priviledge it being likely to be infringed by hindring His Majesty from coming freely to His two Houses As for the objection that His Majesty omitted to mention the setling Religion and securing the Peace of His Native Kingdom His Majesty declares that He conceives that it was included in His former and hath been particularly mentioned in His latter Message of the 15. present But for their better satisfaction He again expresseth that it was and ever shall be both His meaning and endeavour in this Treaty desired and it seems to Him very clear that there is no way for a final ending of such Distractions as afflict this Kingdom but either by Treaty or Conquest the latter of which His Majesty hopes none will have the Impudency or Impiety to wish for And for the former if his Personal assistance in it be not the most likely way let any reasonable man judge when by that means not only all unnecessary Delaies will be removed but even the greatest Difficulties made easie And therefore He doth now again earnestly insist upon that Proposition expecting to have a better Answer upon mature consideration And can it be imagined that any Propositions will be so effectual being formed before a Personal Treaty as such as are framed and propounded upon a full debate on both sides Wherefore His Majesty who is most concerned in the good of His People and is most desirous to restore Peace and Happiness to His three Kingdoms doth again instantly desire an Answer to His said former Messages to which He hath hitherto received none Given at our Court at Oxon the twenty fourth day of January 1645. XX. From OXFORD January 29. MDCXLV VI. Concerning the Negotiations in Ireland with His Majesty's further Concessions in order to a Personal Treaty To the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty having received information from the Lord Lieutenant and Council in Ireland that the Earl of Glamorgan hath without his or their directions or privity entred into a Treaty with some Commissioners on the Roman Catholick party there and also drawn up and agreed unto certain Articles with the said Commissioners highly derogatory to His Majesty's Honour and Royal Dignity and most prejudicial unto the Protestant Religion and Church there in Ireland whereupon the said Earl of Glamorgan is arrested upon suspicion of high Treason and imprisoned by the said Lord Lieutenant and Council at the instance and by the impeachment of the Lord Digby who by reason of his place and former imployment in these affairs doth best know how contrary that proceeding of the said Earl hath been to His Majesty's intentions and directions and what great prejudice it might bring to His Affairs if those proceedings of the Earl of Glamorgan should be any waies understood to have been done by the directions liking or approbation of His Majesty His Majesty having in His former Messages for a Personal Treaty offered to give contentment to his two Houses in the business of Ireland hath now thought fitting the better to shew His clear intentions and to give satisfaction to His said Houses of Parliament and the rest of His Subjects in all His Kingdoms to send this Declaration to His said Houses containing the whole truth of the business Which is That the Earl of Glamorgan having made offer unto Him to raise Forces in the Kingdom of Ireland and to conduct them into England for His Majesty's Service had a Commission to that purpose and to that purpose only That he had no Commission at all to treat of any thing else without the privity and directions of the Lord Lieutenant much less to capitulate any thing concerning Religion or any propriety belonging either to Church or Laity That it clearly appears by the Lord Lieutenants Proceedings with the said Earl that he had no notice at all of what the said Earlhad treated and pretended to have capitulated with the Irish until by accident it came to his knowledge And his Majesty doth protest that until such time as He had advertisement that the person of the said Earl of Glamorgan was arrested and restrained as is abovesaid He never heard nor had any kind of notice that the said Earl had entred into any kind of Treaty or Capitulation with those Irish Commissioners much less that he had concluded or signed those Articles so destructive both to Church and State and so repugnant to His Majesty's publick professions and known resolutions And for the further vindication of His Majesties Honour and Integrity herein He doth declare That He is so far from considering any thing contained in those Papers or Writings framed by the said Earl and those Commissioners with whom he treated as He doth absolutely disavow him therein and hath given commandment to the Lord Lieutenant and the Council there to proceed against the said Earl as one who either out of Falseness Presumption or Folly hath so hazarded the blemishing of His Majesty's Reputation with His good Subjects and so impertinently framed those Articles of his own head without the consent privity or directions of His Majesty or the Lord Lieutenant or any of His Majesties Council there But true it is that for the necessary preservation of His Majesty's Protestant Subjects in Ireland whose case was daily represented unto Him to be so desperate His Majesty had given Commission to the Lord Lieutenant to treat and conclude such a Peace there as might be for the safety of that Crown the preservation of the Protestant Religion and no way derogatory to His Own Honour and publick professions But to the end that His Majesty's real intentions in this business of Ireland may be the more clearly understood and to give more ample satisfaction to both Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland especially concerning His Majesties not being engaged in any Peace or Agreement there He doth desire if the two Houses shall admit of His Majesty's repair to London for a Personal Treaty as was formerly proposed that speedy notice be given thereof to His Majesty and a Pass or Safe-Conduct with a blank sent for a Messenger to be immediately dispatcht into Ireland to prevent any accident that may happen to hinder His Majesty's resolution of leaving the managing of the business of Ireland wholly to the Houses and to make no Peace there but with their consent which in case it shall please God to bless His endeavours in the Treaty with success His Majesty doth hereby engage Himself to do And for a further explanation of His Majesty's
at the same time that the two Houses of the English Parliament do present to His Majesty several Bills and Propositions for His Consent the Commissioners for Scotland do openly protest against them So that were there nothing in the case but the consideration of that difference His Majesty cannot imagine how to give such an Answer to what is now proposed as thereby to promise Himself His great end A perfect Peace And when His Majesty further considers how impossible it is in the condition He now stands to fulfil the desires of the two Houses since the only ancient and known ways of passing Laws are either by His Majesty's personal assent in the House of Peers or by Commission under His great Seal of England He cannot but wonder at such failings in the manner of address which is now made unto Him unless His two Houses intend that His Majesty shall allow of a great Seal made without His Authority before there be any consideration had thereupon in a Treaty Which as it may hereafter hazard the security it self so for the present it seems very unreasonable to His Majesty And though His Majesty is willing to believe that the intentions of very many in both Houses in sending these Bills before a Treaty was only to obtain a Trust from Him and not to take any advantage by passing them to force other things from Him which are either against His Conscience or Honour yet His Majesty believes it clear to all understandings that these Bills contain as they are now penned not only the devesting Himself of all Soveraignty and that without possibility of recovering it either to Him or His Successors except by repeal of those Bills but also the making His Concessions guilty of the greatest pressures that can be made upon the Subject as in other particulars so by giving an arbitrary and unlimited power to the two Houses for ever to raise and levy Forces for Land or Sea service of what persons without distinction or quality and to what numbers they please and likewise for the payment of them to levy what Moneys in such sort and by such ways and means and consequently upon the Estates of whatsoever persons as they shall think fit and appoint which is utterly inconsistent with the Liberty and Property of the Subject and His Majesty's Trust in protecting them So that if the major part of both Houses shall think it necessary to put the rest of the Propositions into Bills His Majesty leaves all the World to judge how unsafe it would be for Him to consent thereunto and if not what a strange condition after the passing of these four Bills His Majesty and all His Subjects would be cast into And here His Majesty thinks it not unfit to wish His two Houses to consider well the manner of their proceeding that when His Majesty desires a personal Treaty with them for the settling of a Peace they in answer propose the very subject matter of the most essential part thereof to be first granted A thing which will be hardly credible to Posterity Wherefore His Majesty declares That neither the desire of being freed from this tedious and irksom condition of life His Majesty hath so long suffered nor the apprehension of what may befal Him in case His two Houses shall not afford Him a Personal Treaty shall make Him change His Resolution of not consenting to any Act till the whole Peace be concluded Yet then He intends not only to give just and reasonable satisfaction in the particulars presented to Him but also to make good all other Concessions mentioned in His Message of the 16. of November last which He thought would have produced better effects than what He finds in the Bills and Propositions now presented unto Him And yet His Majesty cannot give over but now again earnestly presseth for a Personal Treaty so passionately is He affected with the advantages which Peace will bring to His Majesty and all his Subjects of which He will not at all despair there being no other visible way to obtain a well-grounded Peace However His Majesty is very much at ease within Himself for having fulfilled the offices both of a Christian and of a King and will patiently wait the good pleasure of Almighty God to incline the hearts of His two Houses to consider their King and to compassionate their fellow-Subjects miseries Given at Carisbrook-Castle in the Isle of Wight December 28. 1647. XXXV From CARISBROOK August 10. MDCXLVIII In Answer to the Votes for a Treaty For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be communicated to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at Westminster C. R. IF the Peace of My Dominions were not much dearer to Me than any particular Interest whatsoever I had too much reason to take notice of the several Votes which passed against Me and the sad condition I have been in now above these seven months But since you My two Houses of Parliament have opened as it seems to He a fair beginning to a happy Peace I shall heartily apply My self thereunto and to that end I will as clearly and shortly as I may set you down those things which I conceive necessary to this blessed work so that We together may remove all impediments that may hinder a happy conclusion of this Treaty which with all chearfulness I do embrace And to this wished end your selves have laid most excellent grounds For what can I reasonably expect more than to Treat with Honour Freedom and Safety upon such Propositions as you have or shall present unto He and such as I shall make to you But withal remember that it is the definition not names of things which makes them rightly known and that without means to perform no Proposition can take effect Aud truly My present condition is such that I can no more treat than a blind man judge of colours or one run a race who hath both his feet fast tied together wherefore My first necessary demand is That you will recall all such Votes and Orders by which people are frighted from coming writing or speaking freely to Me. Next That such men of all professions whom I shall send for as of necessary use to Me in this Treaty may be admitted to wait upon Me. In a word that I may be in the same state of freedom I was in when I was last at Hampton-Court And indeed less cannot in any reasonable measure make good those offers which you have made Me by your Votes For how can I treat with Honour so long as people are terrified with Votes and Orders against coming to speak or write to Me And am I honourably treated so long as there is none about Me except a Barber who came now with the Commissioners that ever I named to wait upon Me Or with Freedom until I may call such unto Me of whose services I shall have use in so great and difficult a work And for Safety I
speak not of My Person having no apprehension that way how can I judge to make a safe and well-grounded Peace until I may know without disguise the true present state of all My Dominions and particularly of all those whose Interests are necessarily concerned in the Peace of these Kingdoms Which leads Me naturally to the last necessary demand I shall make for the bringing of this Treaty to an happy end which is That you alone or you and I joyntly do invite the Scots to send some persons authorized by them to treat upon such Propositions as they shall make for certainly the publick and necessary Interest they have in this great Settlement is so clearly plain to all the world that I believe no body will deny the necessity of their concurrence in this Treaty in order to durable Peace Wherefore I will only say that as I am a King of both Nations so I will yield to none in either Kingdom for being truly and zealously affected for the good and honour of both My resolution being never to be partial for either to the prejudice of the other Now as to the Place because I conceive it to be rather a circumstantial than real part of this Treaty I shall not much insist upon it I name Newport in this Isle yet the fervent zeal I have that a speedy end be put to these unhappy Distractions doth force Me earnestly to desire you to consider what a great loss of time it will be to treat so far from the body of My two Houses when every small debate of which doubtless there will be many must be transmitted to Westminster before it be concluded And really I think though to some it may seem a Paradox that peoples minds will be much more apt to settle seeing Me treat in or near London than in this Isle because so long as I am here it will never be believed by many that I am really so free as before this Treaty begins I expect to be And so I leave and recommend this Point to your serious consideration And thus I have not only fully accepted of the Treaty which you have proposed to Me by your Votes of the third of this Month but also given it all the furtherance that lies in Me by demanding the necessary means for the effectual performance thereof All which are so necessarily implied by though not particularly mentioned in your Votes as I can no ways doubt of your ready compliance with Me herein I have now no more to say but to conjure you by all that is dear to Christians honest men or good Patriots that ye will make all the expedition possible to begin this happy Work by hastening down your Commissioners fully authorized and well instructed and by enabling Me as I have shewed you to Treat praying the God of Peace so to bless our endeavours that all My Dominions may speedily enjoy a safe and well-grounded Peace CHARLES R. XXXVI From CARISBROOK Aug. 28. MDCXLVIII For some of His Council and others to attend Him at the Treaty For the Earl of Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore and William Lenthall Speaker of the House of Commons MY Lord and Master Speaker I have received your Letter of the twenty fifth of this Month with the Votes that you sent Me which though they are not so full as I could have wished for the perfecting of a Treaty yet because I conceive by what you have done that I am in some measure fit to begin one such is My uncessant and earnest desire to give a Peace to these My now-distracted Kingdoms as I accept the Treaty and therefore desire that such five Lords and ten Commons as My two Houses shall appoint be speedily sent fully authorized and instructed to Treat with Me not doubting but what is now wanting will at our meeting upon debate be fully supplied not only to the furtherance of this Treaty but also to the consummating of a safe and well-grounded Peace So I rest Your good Friend CHARLES R. Here is inclosed a List of the Names of such Persons as I desire GEntlemen of My Bedchamber Duke Richmond Marquess Hertford Earl Lindsey Earl Southampton Grooms of My Bedchamber George Kirk James Leviston Henry Murry John Ashburnham William Leg. Thomas Davise Barber Pages of My back stairs Hugh Henne Humphrey Rogers William Lever Rives Yeoman of My Robes Querries with four or five of My Footmen as they find fittest to wait Sir Edward Sidenham Robert Terwit Jo. Housden Mrs. Wheeler Landress with such Maids as she shall chuse Parsons a Groom of the Presence Sir Fulk Grevil Captain Titus Captain John Burroughs Mr. Cresset ... Hansted Abraham Douset Henry Firebrace to wait as they did or as I shall appoint them Bishop of London B. of Sarum Dr. Shelden Dr. Hammond Dr. Holdsworth Dr. Sanderson Dr. Turner Dr. Heywood Lawyers Sir Thomas Gardiner Sir Orlando Bridgman Sir Robert Holborn Mr. Geffery Palmer Mr. Thomas Cooke Mr. James Vaughan Clarks and Writers Sir Edward Walker Mr. Philip Warwick Nicholas Oudart Charles Whittaker To make ready the House for Treaty Peter Newton Clem. Kinersley I desire in Order to one of your Votes that you would send Me a free pass for Parsons one of the Grooms of My Presence-Chamber to go into Scotland and that you would immediately send him to Me to receive the dispatch thither XXXVII From CARISBROOK Sept. 7. MDCXLVIII Concerning the time of the Treaty and the sending some other Civil Lawyers and Divines For the Lord Hunsdon Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore and William Lenthall Speaker of the House of Commons MY Lord and Master Speaker I have received your Letter of the second of this Month containing the Names of those who are to Treat with Me and though they do not come at the time appoint I shall not wonder at first judging it too short in respect of My two Houses not of My self so that I did not imagine it could be kept as I then commanded Sir Peter Killegrew to tell you by word of mouth and therefore it shall be far from Me to take exceptions for their having elapsed the appointed time for God forbid that either My two Houses or I should carp at Circumstances to give the least impediment to this Treaty much less to hinder the happy finishing of it I say this the rather because I know not how it is possible in this I shall wish to be deceived that in forty days Treaty the many Distractions of these Kingdoms can be setled and if so it were more than strange that time enough should not be given for the perfecting of this most great and good Work which as I will not believe can be stuck on by the two Houses so I am sure it shall never be by Carisbrook 7. Sept. 1648. Your good Friend CHARLES R. I think fit to tell you because I believe in this Treaty there will be need of Civil Lawyers I have sent for my
tendred such Propositions that might occasion the World to judge that they have yielded up not only their Wills and Affections but their Reasons also and Judgments for obtaining a true Peace or good Accommodation It is true that if they can shew what reasonably they could have asked more or wherein the King's Offers were deficient either in Point of Security or by with-holding from any His Subjects a jot of their just Priviledges then they said somewhat to challenge Belief But bare Asseverations even against what a Man sees will not get credit with any but such who abandon their Judgments to an implicite Faith nor can the Determinations of all the Parliaments in the World make a thing Just or Necessary if it be not so of it self And can it be imagined that any who were ever acquainted with the Passages at the Treaties of Oxford and Vxbridge will believe though it be said that the Propositions tendred at Newcastle were the same in effect which had been presented to the King before in the midst of all His strength and Forces Indeed methinks such gross slips as these should at least make a man be wary how to believe such things for which He sees no Proofs And yet it should seem that a man must either take their words for good payment or remain unsatisfied for a little after it is said that the Kings strange unexpected and conditional Answers or Denials might justly have made them consider some other course for setling the Kingdom in Peace and Safety without any farther Application but never shewn wherein the strangeness of His Answers or Denials consists And I should think that those Reasons upon which the laying by of a King's Authority is grounded for it is no less ought to be particularly mentioned for the Worlds satisfaction and not involved in general big words for it thereby seems that it is their force of Arms more than that of Reason which they trust to for procuring of obedience to their Determinations or belief to what they say Otherways can it be imagined that their saying that their last Propositions were so qualified that where it might stand with the publick Safety the wonted Scruples and Objections were prevented or removed can give satisfaction to any rational man who hath seen all their former Propositions for it is most evident that their Demands have always encreased with their good Fortune And for their great Condescension to a Personal Treaty which under favour can scarcely be called so for the King though He had granted what was desired was not to come either to or near London but to stay in the Isle of Wight and there to Treat with Commissioners upon signing the Four Bills surely they incurred therein but little danger for it is most evident that they contain the very substance of the most essential parts of their Demands which being once granted the King would neither have had power to deny nor any thing left worth the refusing for after He had confessed that He had taken up Arms to invade the Liberty of His People whereas it was only for the Defence of His own Rights and had likewise condemned all those who had faithfully served Him of Rebellion and that He had totally devested Himself His Heirs and Successors for ever of the power of the Sword whereby the Protection of His Subjects which is one of the most essential and necessary Rights belonging to Regal Authority is totally torn away from the Crown and that by a silent Confession He had done Himself and Successors an irreparable prejudice concerning the great Seal I speak not of the other two Bills neither of which are of little importance what was there more for Him to grant worth the insisting upon after such Concessions or indeed what power was left Him to deny any thing So that the King's necessity of giving the Answer He did for it was no absolute Refusal is most evident unless He had resolved to have lived in quiet without Honour and to have given His People Peace without Safety by abandoning them to an arbitrary and unlimited power of the two Houses for ever concerning the levying of Land or Sea-Forces without stinting of numbers or distinction of persons and for Payments to levy such summes of Monies in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint And now I cannot but ask is this the Militia that the King contends for or did ever any King of England pretend to or seek for such a Power surely no but this is a new Militia and take heed lest this should prove like the Roman Praetorian Cohorts that what they did in chusing and changing Emperours these do not to this Government by moulding and altering it according to their Fancies Now my eagerness to clear this Point concerning the four Bills had almost made me forget a most material Question I wonder much wherein the Danger consists of a Personal Treaty with the King ever since He was last at Newcastle Surely He cannot bring Forces along with Him to awe His two Houses of Parliament and it is as well known that He hath not Money to raise an Army and truly there is as little fear that the Eloquence of His Tongue should work Miracles but on the contrary if He were so ill a man as you describe Him to be whatsoever He shall say or write must more prejudice Him than You for let Him never flatter Himself it must be clear not doubtful Reason that can prevail against that great visible prevailing Power which now opposes Him nor do I say it will but certainly less cannot do it Where is then the Danger Believe it Reason will hardly maintain those who are afraid of her After this it is said that they had cause enough to remember that the King sometimes denied to receive their humble Petitions but they neither tell where nor when which I am most confident they cannot but I am certain that the King hath sent divers Messages of Peace to them unto which He hath yet had no Answer namely His last from Oxford of the 15. January 1645. and all the rest since As for the Fight at Brainford whosoever will read the Collection of the Declarations in print upon that subject will clearly find that the King hath more reason to complain that they under colour of Treaty sought to environ Him with their Forces than they for what He then did and His retreat was neither for Fear nor with Shame for the appearing of the Enemy made Him retard not hasten His orders for retiring which divers hours before their appearing He had given which He did without any loss at all but on the contrary retreated with more Arms eleven Colours and fifteen pieces of Ordnance beside good store of Ammunition than He had before And for Cruelty there was not a drop of Blood shed but in the heat of the Fight for I saw above five hundred Prisoners who only promising
than words I do hereby promise them and command you to see it done that the Penal Statutes against Roman Catholicks shall not be put in execution the Peace being made and they remaining in their due obedience and further that when the Irish give Me that assistance which they have promised for the suppression of this Rebellion and I shall be restored to My Rights then I will consent to the Repeal of them by a Law but all those against Appeals to Rome and Praemunire must stand All this in Cypher you must impart to none but those three already named and that with injunction of strictest secrecy So again recommending to your care the speedy dispatch of the Peace of Ireland and my necessary supply from thence as I wrote to you in My last private Letter I rest XII The QUEEN to the KING PARIS January 6. December 27. MDCXLIV V. Paris January I Have received one of Your Letters dated from Marleborow of an old date having received many others more fresh to which I have made answer I will say nothing concerning this but only concerning the affair of Gor. If it be not done it is time being very seasonable at this time which I did not believe before I understand that the Commissioners are arrived at London I have nothing to say but that You have a care of Your Honour and that if You have a Peace it may be such as may hold and if it fall out otherwise that You do not abandon those who have served You for fear they do forsake You in Your need Also I do not see how You can be in safety without a Regiment of Guard for My self I think I cannot be seeing the malice which they have against Me and My Religion of which I hope You will have a care of both But in My opinion Religion should be the last thing upon which You should treat for if You do agree upon strictness against the Catholicks it would discourage them to serve You and if afterwards there should be no Peace You could never expect succours either from Ireland or any other Catholick Prince for they would believe You would abandon them after You have served Your self I have dispatched an Express into Scotland to Montross to know the condition he is in and what there is to be done This week I send to Mr of Lorrain and into Holl. I lose no time If I had more of Your news all would go better Adieu My Dear Heart My Wife Dec. 27. Jan. 6. 1644. 5. XIII To the QUEEN OXFORD Decemb. MDCXLIV Dear Heart I Know Thy affection to Me so truly grounded that Thou wilt be in as much if not more trouble to find My Reputation as My Life in danger Therefore lest the false sound of My offering a Treaty to the Rebels upon base and unsafe terms should disturb Thy thoughts I have thought it necessary to assure Thy mind from such rumors to tell Thee the ways I have used to come to a Treaty and upon what grounds I shall first shew Thee My grounds to the end Thou maiest the better understand and approve of My ways Then know as a certain truth that all even My party are strangely impatient for Peace which obliged Me so much the more at all occasions to shew My real intentions to Peace And likewise I am put in very good hope some hold it a certainty that if I could come to a fair Treaty the Ring-leading Rebels could not hinder Me from a good Peace First because their own party are most weary of the War and likewise for the great distractions which at this time most assuredly are amongst themselves as Presbyterians against Independents in Religion and General against General in point of Command Upon these grounds a Treaty being most desirable not without hope of good success the most probable means to procure it was to be used which might stand with Honour and Safety Amongst the rest for I will omit all those which are unquestionably councelable the sound of My return to London was thought to have so much force of popular Rhetorick in it that upon it a Treaty would be had or if refused it would bring much prejudice to them and be advantageous to Me. Yet lest foolish and malicious people should interpret this as to proceed from fear or folly I have joyned Conditions with the Proposition without which this sound will signifie nothing which Thou wilt find to be most of the chief ingredients of an honourable and safe Peace Then observe If a Treaty at London with Commissioners for both sides may be had without it it is not to be used nor in case they will treat with no body but My self so that the Conditions save any aspersion of dishonour and the treating at London the malignity which our factious spirits here may infuse into this Treaty upon this subject This I hope will secure Thee from the trouble which otherwise may be caused by malicious rumours and though I judge My self secure in Thy thoughts from suspecting Me guilty of any baseness yet I held this account necessary to the end Thou maiest make others know as well as Thy self this certain truth That no danger of death or misery which I think much worse shall make Me do any thing unworthy of Thy Love For the state of My present affairs I refer Thee to 92. concluding as I did in My last to Thee by conjuring Thee as Thou lovest Me that no appearance of Peace and I now add nor hopeful condition of Mine make Thee neglect to haste succour for Him who is eternally Thine Copy to My Wife Decemb. 1644. by Tom. Elliot XIV To the QUEEN OXFORD Jan. 1. MDCXLIV V. Dear Heart I Receive it as a good Augury thus to begin this New year having newly received Thine of the 30. Decemb. which I cannot stay to decypher for not losing this opportunity it likewise being a just excuse for this short account This day I have dispatched Digby's Sec. fully relating the state of our affairs therefore I shall only now tell Thee That the Rebels are engaged into an equal Treaty without any of those disadvantages which might have been apprehended when Tom. Elliot went hence and that the distractions of London were never so great or so likely to bring good effect as now lastly that assistance was never more needful never so likely as now to do good to Him who is eternally Thine Copy to My Wife 1. Jan. 1644. by P. A. XV. To the QUEEN OXFORD 2. Jan. MDCXLIV V. Dear Heart HAving decyphered Thine which I received yesterday I was much surprized to find Thee blame Me for neglecting to write to Thee for indeed I have often complained for want never mist any occasion of sending to Thee and I assure Thee never any Dispatch went from either of My Secretaries without one from Me when I knew of it As for My calling those at London a Parliament I shall refer Thee to Digby for particular
come to Thee until I shall send some whom I may trust by word of mouth it being too much trouble to Us both to set them down in paper Copy to My Wife 22. Jan. 1644. XXIII To the QUEEN OXFORD Jan. 30. MDCXLIV V. Dear Heart SUnday last I received three Letters from Thee one a Duplicate of the 30. Decemb. another of the 6. Jan. and the last of the 14. Jan. and even now one Petit is come with a Duplicate of the last wherein as I infinitely joy in the expressions of Thy confident love of Me so I must extreamly wonder that any who pretend to be a friend to Our Cause for I believe Thou wouldst not mention any information from the other side can invent such lyes that Thou hast had ill offices done to Me by any or that Thy care for My assistance hath been the least suspected it being so far from truth that the just contrary is true For I protest to God I never heard Thee spoken of but with the greatest expressions of estimation for Thy love to Me and particularly for Thy diligent care for My assistance But I am confident that it is a branch of that root of knavery which I am now digging at and of this I have more than a bare suspicion And indeed if I were to find fault with Thee it should be for not taking so much care of Thine Own health as of My assistance at least not giving Me so often account of it as I desire these three last making no mention of Thy self Now as for the Treaty which begins this day I desire Thee to be confident that I shall never make a Peace by abandoning My Friends nor such a one as will not stand with My Honour and Safety Of which I will say no more because knowing Thy Love I am sure Thou must believe Me and make others likewise confident of Me. I send Thee herewith My Directions to My Commissioners But how I came to them My self without any others Digby will tell Thee with all the News as well concerning Military as Cabalistical matters At this time I will say no more but that I shall in all things only not answering for words truly shew My self to be eternally Thine The Portugal Agent hath made Me two Propositions first concerning the release of his Master's Brother for which I shall have 50000 l. if I can procure his liberty from the King of Spain the other is for a Marriage betwixt My Son Charles and his Master's Eldest Daughter For the first I have freely undertaken to do what I can and for the other I will give such an Answer as shall signifie nothing I desire Thee not to give too much credit to Sabran's Relations nor much countenance to the Irish Agents in Paris the particular reasons Thou shalt have by Pooly whom I intend for My next Messenger In the last place I recommend to Thee the care of Jersey and Gernsey it being impossible for us here to do much though we were rich being weak at Sea To My Wife 30. Jan. 1644. 5. by Legge Directions for My Uxbridge Commissioners First concerning Religion In this the Government of the Church as I suppose will be the chief question wherein two things are to be considered Conscience and Policy For the first I must declare unto you that I cannot yield to the change of the Government by Bishops not only as I fully concur with the most general opinion of Christians in all Ages as being the best but likewise I hold My self particularly bound by the Oath I took at My Coronation not to alter the Government of this Church from what I found it And as for the Churches Patrimony I cannot suffer any diminution or alienation of it it being without peradventure Sacriledge and likewise contrary to My Coronation Oath But whatsoever shall be offered for rectifying of abuses if any have crept in or yet for the ease of tender Consciences so that it endamage not the foundation I am content to hear and will be ready to give a gracious Answer thereunto For the second As the King's duty is to protect the Church so it is the Churches to assist the King in the maintenance of His just Authority Wherefore My Predecessors have been always careful and especially since the Reformation to keep the dependency of the Clergy entirely upon the Crown without which it will scarcely sit fast upon the King's Head Therefore you must do nothing to change or lessen this necessary dependency Next concerning the Militia After Conscience this is certainly the fittest subject for a King's Quarrel for without it the Kingly Power is but a shadow and therefore upon no means to be quitted but to be maintained according to the ancient known Laws of the Land Yet because to attain to this so much wished Peace by all good men it is in a manner necessary that sufficient and real security be given for the performance of what shall be agreed upon I permit you either by leaving strong Towns or other Military force in the Rebels possession until Articles be performed to give such assurance for performance of Conditions as you shall judge necessary for to conclude a Peace Provided always that ye take at least as great care by sufficient security that Conditions be performed to Me and to make sure that the Peace once setled all things shall return into their ancient Chanels Thirdly for Ireland I confess they have very specious popular Arguments to press this point the gaining of no Article more conducing to their ends than this and I have as much reason both in Honour and Policy to take care how to answer this as any All the world knows the eminent inevitable necessity which caused Me to make the Irish Cessation and there remain yet as strong reasons for the concluding of that Peace Wherefore ye must consent to nothing to hinder Me therein until a clear way be shewn Me how My Protestant Subjects there may probably at least defend themselves and that I shall have no more need to defend My Conscience and Crown from the injuries of this Rebellion Oxford Feb. 1644. Memorials for Secretary Nicholas concerning the Treaty at Uxbridge I. For Religion and Church-Government I will not go one jot further than what is offered by you already II. And so for the Militia more than what ye have allowed by Me but even in that you must observe that I must have free nomination of the full half as if the total number Scots and all be thirty I will name fifteen Yet if they I mean the English Rebels will be so base as to admit of ten Scots to twenty English I am contented to name five Scots and ten English and so proportionably to any number that shall be agreed upon III. As for gaining of particular persons besides security I give you power to promise them rewards for performed services not sparing to engage for places so they be not of great trust
or be taken away from honest men in possession but as much profit as you will With this last you are only to acquaint Richmond Southampton Culpepper and Hide XXIV To the QUEEN OXFORD Feb. 15. 25. MDCXLIV V. Dear Heart 20. THE expectation of an Express from Thee as I find by Thine of the 4. Febr. is very good news to Me as likewise that Thou art now well satisfied with My diligence in Writing As for our Treaty there is every day less hopes than other that it will produce a Peace But I will absolutely promise Thee that if we have one it shall be such as shall invite Thy return for I avow that without thy company I can neither have peace nor comfort within My self The limited days for treating are now almost expired without the least agreement upon any one Article wherefore I have sent for enlargement of days that the whole Treaty may be laid open to the world And I assure Thee that Thou needest not doubt the issue of this Treaty for My Commissioners are so well chosen though I say it that they will neither be threatned nor disputed from the grounds I have given them which upon My word is according to the little Note Thou so well remembrest And in this not only their obedience but their judgments concur I confess in some respects Thou hast reason to bid Me beware of going too soon to London for indeed some amongst us had a greater mind that way than was fit of which perswasion Percy is one of the chief who is shortly like to see Thee of whom having said this is enough to shew Thee how he is to be trusted or believed by Thee concerning our proceedings here In short there is little or no appearance but that this Summer will be the hottest for War of any that hath been yet And be confident that in making Peace I shall ever shew My constancy in adhering to Bishops and all our Friends and not forget to put a short period to this perpetual Parliament But as Thou lovest Me let none perswade Thee to slacken Thine assistance for Him who is eternally Thine C. R. Oxford 15. 25. Feb. 1644. 5. 3. 20. To My Wife 15. Feb. 1645. by P. A. XXV To the Marquess of ORMOND OXFORD 16 Feb. MDCXLIV Ormond I Should wrong My own service and this Gentleman Sir Timothy Fetherston if I did not recommend him and his business to you for the particulars of which I refer you to Digby And now again I cannot but mention to you the necessity of hastening of the Irish Peace for which I hope you are already furnished by Me with materials sufficient But in case against all expectation and reason Peace cannot be had upon those terms you must not by any means fall to a new rupture with them but continue the Cessation according to a Postscript in a Letter by Jack Barry a Copy of which Dispatch I herewith send you So I rest POSTSCRIPT In case upon particular mens fancies the Irish Peace should not be procured upon powers I have already given you I have thought good to give you this further Order which I hope will prove needless to seek to renew the Cessation for a year for which you shall promise the Irish if you can have it no cheaper to joyn with them against the Scots and Inchequin for I hope by that time My condition may be such as the Irish may be glad to accept less or I be able to grant more XXVI To the QUEEN OXFORD 19. Feb. MDCXLIV V. 21. Oxford 19. Feb. Old style DEAR Heart I cannot yet send Thee any certain word concerning the issue of our Treaty only the unreasonable stubbornness of the Rebels gives daily less and less hopes of any accommodation this way wherefore I hope no rumours shall hinder Thee from hastning all Thou mayest all possible assistance to Me and particularly that of the D. of Lorrain's concerning which I received yesterday good news from Dr Goffe that the P. of Orange will furnish Shipping for his Transportation and that the rest of his Negotiation goes hopefully on by which and many other ways I find Thy affection so accompanied with dexterity as I know not whether in their several kinds to esteem most But I will say no more of this lest Thou mayest think that I pretend to do this way what is but possible to be done by the continued actions of My Life Though I leave news to others yet I cannot but tell Thee that even now I have received certain intelligence of a great defeat given to Argyle by Montross who upon surprize totally routed those Rebels killed 1500 upon the place Yesterday I received Thine of 27. Jan. by the Portugal Agent the only way but Expresses I am confident on either to receive Letters from Thee or to send them to Thee Indeed Sabrian sent Me word yesterday besides some Complements of the Imbargo of the Rebels Ships in France which I likewise put upon Thy score of kindness but is well enough content that the Portugal should be charged with Thy Dispatches As for trusting the Rebels either by going to London or disbanding My Army before a Peace do no ways fear my hazarding so cheaply or foolishly for I esteem the interest Thou hast in Me at a far dearer rate and pretend to have a little more wit at least by the Sympathy that is betwixt Us than to put My self into the reverence of perfidious Rebels So impatiently expecting the Express Thou hast promised Me I rest eternally Thine I can now assure Thee that Hertogen the Irish Agent is an arrant knave which shall be made manifest to Thee by the first opportunity of sending Pacquets 11. 21. To My Wife 19 Feb. 1645. by P. A. XXVII To the Marquess of ORMOND OXFORD Feb. 27. MDCXLIV V. Ormond THE impossibility of preserving My Protestant Subjects in Ireland by a continuation of the War having moved Me to give you those powers and directions which I have formerly done for the concluding of a Peace there and the same growing daily much more evident that alone were reason enough for Me to enlarge your powers and to make My commands in the point more positive But besides these considerations it being now manifest that the English Rebels have as far as in them lies given the command of Ireland to the Scots that their aim is a total subversion of Religion and Regal Power and that nothing less will content them or purchase Peace here I think My self bound in Conscience not to let slip the means of setling that Kingdom if it may be fully under My obedience nor to lose that assistance which I may hope from My Irish Subjects for such scruples as in a less pressing condition might reasonably be stuck at by Me. For their satisfaction I do therefore command you to conclude a Peace with the Irish whatever it cost so that My Protestant Subjects there may be secured and my Regal Authority preserved But
for all this you are to make Me the best bargain you can and not discover your inlargement of power till you needs must And though I leave the managing of this great and necessary work entirely to you yet I cannot but tell you that if the suspension of Poining's Act for such Bills as shall be agreed upon between you there and the present taking away of the Penal Laws against Papists by a Law will do it I shall not think it a hard bargain so that freely and vigorously they engage themselves in My assistance against My Rebels of England and Scotland for which no conditions can be too hard not being against Conscience or Honour Copie to Ormond 27. February 1644. 5. XXVIII To the QUEEN OXFORD Mar. 5. MDCXLIV V. Dear Heart NOW is come to pass what I foresaw the fruitless end as to a present Peace of this Treaty but I am still confident that I shall find very good effects of it For besides that My Commissioners have offered to say no more full-measured reason and the Rebels have stucken rigidly their demands which I dare say had been too much though they had taken Me Prisoner so that assuredly the breach will light foully upon them We have likewise at this time discovered and shall make it evidently appear to the world that the English Rebels whether basely or ignorantly will be no very great difference have as much as in them lies transmitted the Command of Ireland from the Crown of England to the Scots which besides the reflection it will have upon these Rebels will clearly shew that Reformation of the Church is not the chief much less the only end of the Scotch Rebellion But it being presumption and no piety so to trust to a good Cause as not to use all lawful means to maintain it I have thought of one means more to furnish Thee with for My assistance than hitherto Thou hast had It is that I give Thee power to promise in My Name to whom thou thinkest most fit that I will take away all the Penal Laws against the Roman Catholicks in England as soon as God shall make Me able to do it so as by their means or in their favours I may have so powerful assistance as may deserve so great a favour and enable Me to do it But if Thou ask what I call that assistance I answer that when Thou knowest what may be done for it it will be easily seen if it deserve to be so esteemed I need not tell Thee what secrecy this business requires yet this I will say that this is the greatest point of confidence I can express to Thee for it is no thanks to Me to trust Thee in any thing else but in this which is the only thing of difference in opinion betwixt Us. And yet I know Thou wilt make as good a bargain for Me even in this I trusting thee though it concern Religion as if Thou wert a Protestant the visible good of My Affairs so much depending on it I have so fully instructed this Bearer Pooly that I will not say more to Thee now but that herewith I send Thee a new Cypher assuring Thee that none hath or shall have any Copy of it but My self to the end Thou mayest use it when Thou shalt find fit to write any thing which Thou wilt judge worthy of Thy pains to put in Cypher and to be decyphered by none but Me and so likewise from Him to Thee who is eternally Thine 20. 23. To My Wife the 5. March 1644. 5. by Pooly XXIX To the QUEEN OXFORD 13 March Old style Dear Heart WHAT I told thee last Week concerning a good parting with our Lords and Commons here was on Monday last handsomly performed and now if I do any thing unhandsom or disadvantageous to My self or Friends in order to a Treaty it will be meerly My own Fault For I confess when I wrote last I was in fear to have been pressed to make some mean overtures to renew the Treaty knowing that there were great labourings to that purpose but now I promise Thee if it be renewed which I believe will not without some eminent good success on My side it shall be to My honour and advantage I being now as well freed from the place of base and mutinous motions that is to say our Mungrel Parliament here as of the chief causers for whom I may justly expect to be chidden by Thee for having suffered Thee to be vexed by them Wilmot being already there Percy on his way and Sussex within few daies taking his journey to Thee but that I know thou carest not for a little trouble to free Me from great inconveniences Yet I must tell Thee that if I knew not the perfect stediness of Thy love to Me I might reasonably apprehend that their repair to Thee would rather prove a change than an end of their Villanies and I cannot deny but My confidence in Thee was some cause of this permissive trouble to Thee I have received Thine of the third of March by which Thou puttest Me in hope of assistance of men and money and it is no little expression of Thy love to Me that because of My business Festivals are troublesome to Thee but I see that Assemblies in no Countries are very agreeable to Thee and it may be done a purpose to make Thee weary of their companies and excuse Me to tell Thee in earnest that it is no wonder that mere Statesmen should desire to be rid of Thee Therefore I desire Thee to think whether it would not advantage Thee much to make a personal Friendship with the Queen Regent without shewing any distrust of Her Ministers though not wholly trusting to them and to shew Her that when Her Regency comes out and possibly before She may have need of Her Friends so that She shall but serve Her self by helping of Thee and to say no more but certainly if this Rebellion had not begun to oppress Me when it did a late great Queen had ended more glorious than She did In the last place I desire Thee to give Me a weekly account of Thy health for I fear lest in that alone Thou takest not care enough to express Thy kindness to Him who is eternally Thine The Northern news is rather better than what we first heard for what by Sir Langdale's and Montross's Victories Carlisle and the rest of our Northern Garrisons are relieved and we hope for this year secured and besides all this the Northern Horse are already returned and joyned with My Nephew Rupert To My Wife 13. March 1644. 5. by P. A. XXX To the QUEEN OXFORD Thursday 20. March Dear Heart UPON Saturday last I wrote to Thee by Sabran but this I believe may come as soon to Thee and I have received Thine of the seventh upon Monday last which gave Me great contentment both in present and expectation the quick passage being likewise a welcome circumstance and yet I
People leaving such debates to a time that may better bear them If this be not accepted the fault is not Mine that this Bill pass not but theirs that refuse so fair an offer To conclude I conjure you by all that is or can be dear to you or Me that laying away all disputes you go on chearfully and speedily for the reducing of Ireland XXXV To the House of Commons about the Five Members January 4. MDCXLI II. GEntlemen I am sorry for this occasion of coming unto you Yesterday I sent a Serjeant at Arms upon a very important occasion to apprehend some that by My Command were accused of High Treason whereunto I did expect Obedience and not a Message And I must declare unto you here that albeit no King that ever was in England shall be more careful of your Priviledges to maintain them to the uttermost of His Power than I shall be yet you must know that in cases of Treason no person hath a Priviledge And therefore I am come to know if any of those persons that were accused are here For I must tell you Gentlemen that so long as those persons that I have accused for no slight crime but for Treason are here I cannot expect that this House can be in the right way that I do heartily wish it Therefore I am come to tell you that I must have them wheresoever I find them Well sithence I see all the Birds are flown I do expect from you that you shall send them unto Me as soon as they return hither But I assure you in the word of a King I never did intend any force but shall proceed against them in a legal and fair way for I never meant any other And now sithence I see I cannot do what I came for I think this no unfit occasion to repeat what I have said formerly That whatsoever I have done in favour and to the good of My Subjects I do mean to maintain it I will trouble you no more but tell you I do expect as soon as they do come to the House you will send them to Me otherwise I must take My Own course to find them XXXVI To the Citizens of LONDON at GUILD-HALL January 5. MDCXLI II. GEntlemen I am come to demand such Prisoners as I have already attained of High Treason and do believe they are shrowded in the City I hope no good man will keep them from Me their offences are Treason and Misdemeanours of an high nature I desire your loving assistance herein that they may be brought to a Legal Trial. And whereas there are divers suspicions raised that I am a favourer of the Popish Religion I do profess in the name of a King that I did and ever will and that to the utmost of My power be a prosecutor of all such as shall any ways oppose the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom either Papist or Separatist and not only so but I will maintain and defend that true Protestant Religion which My Father did profess and I will still continue in during Life XXXVII To the Committe of both Houses at the delivery of the Petition for the Militia at THEORALDS Mar. 1. MDCXLI II. I Am so amazed at this Message that I know not what to answer You speak of Jealousies and Fears lay your hands to your hearts and ask your selves whether I may not likewise be disturbed with Fears and Jealousies and if so I assure you this Message hath nothing lessened them For the Militia I thought so much of it before I sent that Answer and am so much assured that the Answer is agreeable to what in justice or reason you can ask or I in Honour grant that I shall not alter it in any point For my residence near you I wish it might be so safe and honourable that I had no cause to absent My self from White-Hall Ask your selves whether I have not For My Son I shall take that care of him which shall justifie Me to God as a Father and to My Dominions as a King To conclude I assure you upon My Honour that I have no thought but of Peace and Justice to My People which I shall by all fair means seek to preserve and maintain relying upon the goodness and providence of God for the preservation of My Self and Rights XXXVIII To the Committee of both Houses at the presenting of their Declaration at NEW-MARKET March 9. MDCXLI II. I Am confident that you expect not I should give you a speedy Answer to this strange and unexpected Declaration And I am sorry in the Distractions of this Kingdom you should think this way of Address to be more convenient than that proposed by My Message of the 20th of Jan. last to both Houses As concerning the grounds of your Fears and Jealousies I will take time to answer particularly and doubt not but I shall do it to the satisfaction of all the world God in his good time will I hope discover the secrets and bottoms of all Plots and Treasons and then I shall stand right in the eyes of all My People In the mean time I must tell you that I rather expected a vindication from the imputation laid on Me in Master Pym's Speech than that any more general Rumours and Discourses should get credit with you For My Fears and Doubts I did not think they should have been thought so groundless or trivial while so many seditious Pamphlets and Sermons are looked upon and so great Tumults remembred unpunished uninquired into I still confess My Fears and call God to witness that they are greater for the true Protestant Profession My People and Laws than for My own Rights or Safety though I must tell you I conceive that none of these are free from danger What would you have Have I violated your Laws Have I denied to pass any one Bill for the ease and security of My Subjects I do not ask you what you have done for Me. Have any of My People been transported with Fears and Apprehensions I have offered as free and general a Pardon as your selves can devise All this considered There is a Judgment from Heaven upon this Nation if these Distractions continue God so deal with Me and Mine as all My thoughts and intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true Protestant Profession and for the Observation and Preservation of the Laws of this Land And I hope God will bless and assist those Laws for My preservation As for the Additional Declaration you are to expect an Answer to it when you shall receive the Answer to the Declaration it self Some Passages that happened Mar. 9. between His Majesty and the Committee of both Houses when the Declaration was delivered When His Majesty heard that part of the Declaration which mentioned Master Jermin's Transportation His Majesty interrupted the Earl of Holland in reading and said That 's false which being afterwards touch'd upon again His Majesty then said 'T is a lie And when He
you to venture nothing Whatsoever you shall be willing freely to contribute I will take kindly of you and whatsoever you shall lend Me I will in the word of a King see justly repayed to you I appoint the Sheriff to receive such Money or Plate as you Gentlemen shall be willing to assist Me with and to return their names to Me And you of the Clergy shall repair to Master Vice-Chancellor who shall do the like And I expect that you should advance this Service throughout the Countrey and return your Collections suddenly to Me by the hand of the Sheriff And I assure you I shall take especial notice of such who shall be backward in this time of so visible Necessity XLIX To the Lords and Commons assembled at OXFORD Jan. 22. MDCXLIII IV. MY Lords and Gentlemen When I consider your publick Interests and Concernments in the Happiness and Honor of this Nation and your particular sufferings in this Rebellion for your affection and Loyalty to Me I must look upon you as the most competent Considerers and Counsellers how to manage and improve the Condition we are all in for sure our Condition is so equal that the same Violence hath oppressed us all I have therefore called you together to be witnesses of my Actions and privy to my Intentions and certainly if I had the least thought disagreeing with the happiness and security of this Kingdom I would not advise with such Counsellors And I doubt not but your Concurrence with Me will so far prevail over the hearts and understandings of this whole Kingdom who must look upon you as persons naturally and originally trusted by and for them that it will be above the reach and Malice of those who have hitherto had too great an influence upon the People to discredit my most intire Actions and sincere Promises You will be the best witnesses for the one and security for the other Very many of you can bear me witness with what unwillingness I suffered my self first to take up these Defensive Arms indeed with so great that I was first almost in the power of those who in two set Battels have sufficiently informed the world how tender they have been of the safety of my Person I foresaw not only the rage and oppression which would every day break out upon my Subjects as the Malice of these ill men increased and their purposes were detected but also the great inconveniences my best Subjects would suffer even by my own Army raised and kept for their preservation and protection For I was not so ill a Souldier as not to foresee how impossible it was to keep a strict discipline I being to struggle with so many defects and necessities and I assure you the sense I have of their sufferings who deserve well of Me by my Forces hath been a greater grief to me than any thing to my own particular My hope was that either by Success on my part or Repentance on theirs God would have put a short end to this great storm But guilt and despair have made these men more wicked than I imagine they at first intended to be for instead of removing and reconciling these bloudy Distractions and restoring Peace to this languishing Countrey they have invited a Forein power to invade this Kingdom and that in your names and challenge this Invasion from them as a debt to the Commonwealth You My Lords have like your selves as good Patriots expressed your dissent and vindicated your selves from that imputation and I doubt not but you Gentlemen will let your Countreys know how far you are from desiring such assistance and how absolute and peremptory a breach this raising of Arms of my Scotish Subjects is of that Pacification which was so lately and solemnly made by you and can intend nothing but a conquest of you and your Laws I shall send you all the advertisements I have of that business which is threatned from Scotland and what is already acted from thence and shall desire your speedy advice and assistance what is to be said or done both with reference to this and that Kingdom Our ends being the same I am sure there will be no other difference in the way than what upon debate and right understanding will be easily adjusted Let our Religion in which we are all most nearly concerned and without care of which we must not look for God's blessing be vindicated and preserved let my Honor and Rights which you find to have an inseparable relation with your own Interests be vindicated and restored let your Liberties Properties Priviledges without which I would not be your King be secured and confirmed there is nothing you can advise Me to I will not meet you in And I doubt not but we shall together inform Posterity how much our trust and confidence in each other is a better expedient for the Peace and preservation of the Kingdom than Fears and Jealousies I shall keep you no longer from consulting together than in telling you that I have prepared fit places for your Meetings to which I desire you to repair this night assuring you that I shall be always ready to receive any thing from you admitting you to Me or coming to you My self whensoever you shall desire And so God direct you the best way L. To the Lord Primate of Ireland and the Congregation at Christ-Church in OXFORD MDCXLIII HIS Majesty being to receive the Sacrament from the hands of the Lord Archbishop of Armagh rising up from His knees and beckening to the Archbishop for a short forbearance said My Lord I espy here many resolved Protestants who may declare to the world the Resolution I do now make I have to the utmost of My power prepared My Soul to become a worthy Receiver and may I so receive comfort by the Blessed Sacrament as I do intend the establishment of the true Reformed Protestant Religion as it stood in its beauty in the happy days of Queen Elizabeth without any connivence at Popery I bless God that in the midst of these publick Distractions I have still liberty to communicate And may this Sacrament be My Damanation if My Heart do not joyn with My Lips in this Protestation LI. To the Lords and Commons at OXFORD February 7. MDCXLIII IV. MY Lords and Gentlemen I have hardly thus long forborn to give you thanks for the care and pains you have taken for the publick safety since your coming together And first I thank you for your inclination to Peace to which as My willingness of complying shewed the constancy of My endeavours in the best way for the publick good so the Rebels by their scornfully rejecting your Overtures as they have done heretofore Mine have shewed their constancy in their way Next I must thank every one of you for so chearfully applying your selves to the maintenance and recruiting of My Army which I hope God will so bless that thereby these enemies of Peace shall have their due reward And
hither I do stand more for the Liberty of My People than any here that come to be My pretended Judges and therefore let Me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will answer it otherwise I will not answer it Bradshaw Sir how really you have managed your Trust is known your way of Answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this Condition You have been told of it twice or thrice KING Here is a Gentleman Lieutenant Colonel Cobbet ask him if he did not bring Me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court. I will stand as much for the Privilege of the House of Commons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to His Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the Publick Faith of the World Let Me see a Legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will answer Bradshaw Sir you have propounded a Question and have been answered Seeing you will not answer the Court will consider how to proceed In the mean time those that brought you hither are to take charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this be all the Answer you will give or no. KING Sir I desire that you would give Me and all the World satisfaction in this Let Me tell you It is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that Duty I owe to God and My Countrey and I will do it to the last breath of My body And therefore you shall do well to satisfie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it If you do it by an usurped Authority you cannot answer it There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you Power to account Satisfie Me in that and I will answer otherwise I betray My Trust and the Liberties of the People and therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow That it is as great a Sin to withstand Lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any otherways unlawful Authority And therefore satisfie God and Me and all the World in that and you shall receive My Answer I am not afraid of the Bill Bradshaw The Court expects you should give them a final Answer Their purpose is to adjourn till Monday next If you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon God's Authority and the Kingdoms and that Peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Justice and that 's our present Work KING For Answer let Me tell you you have shewn no Lawful Authority to satisfie any reasonable man Bradshaw That 's in your apprehension we are satisfied that are your Judges KING 'T is not My apprehension nor yours neither that ought to decide it Bradshaw The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded So commanding the Guard to take Him away His Majesty only replied Well Sir And at His going down pointing with His Staff toward the Ax He said I do not fear that As He went down the stairs the People in the Hall cried out God save the King notwithstanding some were there set by the Faction to lead the clamour for Justice O yes being called they adjourn Westminster-Hall Monday Jan. 22. Afternoon SVnday being spent in Fasting and Preaching according to their manner of making Religion a pretence and prologue to their Villanies on Monday afternoon they came again into the Hall and after Silence commanded called over their Court where Seventy persons being present answered to their Names His Majesty being brought in the People gave a shout Command given to the Captain of their Guard to fetch and take into his custody those who make any Disturbance Then their Solicitor Cook began May it please your Lordship my Lord President I did at the last Court in the behalf of the Commons of England exhibite and give into this Court a Charge of High Treason and other high Crimes against the Prisoner at the Bar whereof I do accuse him in the name of the People of England and the Charge was read unto him and his Answer required My Lord he was not then pleased to give an Answer but in stead of answering did there dispute the Authority of this High Court My humble motion to this High Court in behalf of the Kingdom of England is That the Prisoner may be directed to make a Positive Answer either by way of Confession or Negation which if he shall refuse to do that the matter of Charge may be taken pro confesso and the Court may proceed according to Justice Bradshaw Sir you may remember at the last Court you were told the occasion of your being brought hither and you heard a Charge read against you containing a Charge of High Treason and other high Crimes against this Realm of England you heard likewise that it was prayed in the behalf of the People that you should give an Answer to that Charge that thereupon such proceedings might be had as should be agreeable to Justice you were then pleased to make some scruples concerning the Authority of this Court and knew not by what Authority you were brought hither you did divers time propound your Questions and were as often answer'd That it was by the Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament that did think fit to call you to account for those high and capital Misdemeanours wherewith you were then charged Since that the Court hath taken into consideration what you then said they are fully satisfied with their own Authority and they hold it fit you should stand satisfied with it too and they do require it that you do give a positive and particular Answer to this Charge that is exhibited against you They do expect you should either confess or deny it If you deny it is offered in the behalf of the Kingdom to be made good against you Their Authority they do avow to the whole World that the whole Kingdom are to rest satisfied in and you are to rest satisfied with it and therefore you are to lose no more time but to give a positive Answer thereunto KING When I was here last 't is very true I made that Question and if it were only My own particular Case I would have satisfied My self with the Protestation I made the last time I was here against the Legality of this Court and that a King cannot be tried by any superior Jurisdiction on Earth But it is not My Case alone it is the Freedom and the Liberty of the People of England and do you pretend what
Privileges to alter the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Sir you must excuse Me. Bradshaw Sir this is the third time that you have publickly disown'd this Court and put an Affront upon it How far you have preserv'd the Privileges of the People your Actions have spoke it but truly Sir mens Intentions ought to be known by their Actions you have written your meaning in bloody Characters throughout the whole Kingdom But Sir you understand the pleasure of the Court. Clerk record the Default And Gentlemen you that took charge of the Prisoner take him back again KING I will only say this one word more to you If it were only My own particular I would not say any more nor interrupt you Bradshaw Sir you have heard the pleasure of the Court and you are notwithstanding you will not understand it to find that you are before a Court of Justice Then the King went forth with the Guard And Proclamation was made That all persons which had then appeared and had further to do at the Court might depart into the Painted Chamber to which place the Court did forthwith adjourn and intended to meet in Westminster-Hall by ten of the Clock next morning Cryer God bless the Kingdom of England Westminster-Hall Saturday Jan. 27. Afternoon TWo or three dayes being spent in a formal Examination of Witnesses and preparing themselves for the last scene of this Mock-shew at length on Saturday the twenty seventh of January Bradshaw in his Scarlet Robes appeared in the Hall and Sixty seven others answered to their Names As the King came in in His wonted posture with his Hat on and passed toward them some few Souldiers began a clamour for Justice Justice and Execution O yes made and Silence commanded the Captain of their Guard ordered to take into Custody such as made any disturbance His Majesty began I desire a word to be heard a little and I hope I shall give no occasion of interruption Bradshaw saucily answered You may answer in your time hear the Court first His Majesty patiently replied If it please you Sir I desire to be heard and I shall not give any occasion of interruption and it is only in a word A sudden Judgment Bradshaw Sir you shall be heard in due time but you are to hear the Court first KING Sir I desire it it will be in order to what I believe the Court will say and therefore Sir A hasty Judgment is not so soon recalled Bradshaw Sir you shall be heard before the Judgment be given and in the mean time you may forbear KING Well Sir shall I be heard before the Judgment be given Bradshaw Gentlemen it is well known to all or most of you here present that the Prisoner at the Bar hath been several times convented and brought before this Court to make Answer to a Charge of Treason and other high Crimes exhibited against him in the name of the People of England To which Charge being required to answer he hath been so far from obeying the Commands of the Court by submitting to their Justice as he began to take upon him to offer Reasoning and Debate unto the Authority of the Court and to the highest Court that appointed them to try and judge him But being over-ruled in that and required to make his Answer he was still pleased to continue Contumacious and to refuse to submit to Answer Hereupon the Court that they might not be wanting to themselves nor the Trust reposed in them nor that any man's wilfulness prevent Justice they have thought fit to take the matter into their consideration they have considered of the Charge they have considered of the Contumacy and of that Confession which in Law doth arise upon that Contumacy they have likewise considered of the Notoriety of the Fact charged upon this Prisoner and upon the whole matter they are resolved and are agreed upon a Sentence to be pronounced against this Prisoner But in respect he doth desire to be heard before the Sentence be read and pronounced the Court hath resolved that they will hear him Yet Sir thus much I must tell you beforehand which you have been minded of at other Courts That if that which you have to say be to offer any debate concerning the Jurisdiction you are not to be heard in it You have offered it formerly and you have struck at the Root that is the Power and Supreme Authority of the Commons of England which this Court will not admit a debate of and which indeed it is an irrational thing in them to do being a Court that acts upon Authority derived from them But Sir if you have any thing to say in defence of your self concerning the matter charged the Court hath given me in command to let you know they will hear you KING Since I see that you will not hear any thing of Debate concerning that which I confess I though most material for the Peace of the Kingdom and for the Liberty of the Subject I shall wave it I shall speak nothing to it But only I must tell you that this many-a day all things have been taken away from Me but that that I call dearer to Me than My Life which is My Conscience and My Honor And if I had a respect to My Life more than the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject certainly I should have made a particular Defence for My Self for by that at leastwise I might have delayed an ugly Sentence which I believe will pass upon Me. Therefore certainly Sir as a man that hath some understanding some knowledge of the World if that My true Zeal to My Countrey had not overborn the care that I have for My own Preservation I should have gone another way to work than that I have done Now Sir I conceive that an hasty Sentence once past may sooner be repented of than recalled and truly the self-same desire that I have for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject more than my own particular Ends makes Me now at last desire That I having something 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 unto 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 it is very well worth the hearing Therefore I do conjure you as you love that that you pretend I hope it is real the Liberty of the Subject the Peace of the Kingdom that you will grant me this hearing before any Sentence be past 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 will retire and you may think of
it but if I cannot get this Liberty I do protest That these fair shews of Liberty and Peace are pure shews and that you will not hear your King Bradshaw Sir you have now spoken KING Yes Sir Bradshaw 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 Liberty of the Subject then the shame is Mine Now I desire that you will take this into your Consideration if you will I will withdraw Bradshaw 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 Bradshaw 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 their 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 Delays as these neither may the Kingdom nor Justice well bear You have had three several days 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 and 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 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 This he did to prevent the disturbance of their Scene by one of their own Members Colonel John Downes who could not stifle the reluctance of his Conscience when he saw his Majesty press so earnestly for a short hearing but declaring himself unsatisfied forced them to yield to the King's Request KING Shall I withdraw Bradshaw Sir You shall know the pleasure of the 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 Then withdrawing into the Chamber of the Court of Wards their business was not to consider of his Majesties desire but to Chide Downes and with reproaches and threats to harden him to go through the remainder of their Villany with them Which done they return and being sate Bradshaw commanded Serjeant at Armes send for your Prisoner Who being come Bradshaw proceeded 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 and Commons 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 tantùm 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 Authority and Judges are no more to delay than they are to deny Justice they are good words in the Great 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 long since have proceeded to Judgment against you and notwithstanding what you have offered they are resolved to proceed to Sentence 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 must confess I think it would have been for the Kingdoms Peace if you would have taken the pains for to have shewn 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 at alone it is the Kingdoms Welfare and the Kingdoms Peace It is an old Sentence That we should think on long before we resolve of great matters suddenly Therefore Sir I do say again that I do put at your doors all the inconveniency of a hasty Sentence I confess I have been here now I think this Week this day eight dayes was the day I came here first but a little Delay of a day or two further may give Peace whereas a hasty Judgment may bring on that Trouble and perpetual Inconveniency to the Kingdom that the Child that is unborn may repent it And therefore again out of the Duty I owe to God and to My Country I do desire that I may be heard by the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber or any other Chamber that you will appoint Me. Bradshaw You have been already answered to what you even now moved being the same you moved before since the Resolution and the Judgment of the Court in it And the Court now requires to know whether you have any more to say for your self than you have said before they proceed to Sentence KING I say this Sir That if you hear Me if you will give
Husband for Our Daughter in which the Protestant Religion was Our principal Consideration We conceived We had reason to expect your present thanks and the increase of your future trusts We suppose these Demands by this time to appear such as the Demanders cannot be supposed to have any such real fear of Us as hath been long pretended they are too much in the style not only of Equals but of Conquerours and as little to be intended for removing of Jealousies for which end they are said to be asked and that is not as Merchants ask at first much more then they will take but as most necessary to effect it which if they be God help this poor Kingdom and those who are in the hands of such persons whose Jealousies nothing else will remove which indeed is such a way as if there being differences and suits between two persons whereof one would have from the other several parcels of his ancient Land he should propose to him by way of Accommodation that he would quit to him all those in question with the rest of his Estate as the most necessary and effectual means to remove all those suits and differences But We call God to witness that as for our Subjects sake these Rights are vested in Us so for their sakes as well as for Our own We are resolved not to quit them nor to subvert though in a Parliamentary way the ancient equal happy well-poised and never-enough-commended Constitution of the Government of this Kingdom nor to make Our Self of a King of England a Duke of Venice and this of a Kingdom a Republick There being three kinds of Government amongst men absolute Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy and all these having their particular conveniences and inconveniences the experience and wisdom of your Ancestors hath so moulded this out of a mixture of these as to give to this Kingdom as far as humane Prudence can provide the conveniences of all three without the inconveniences of any one as long as the Balance hangs even between the three Estates and they run joyntly on in their proper Chanel begetting Verdure and Fertility in the Meadows on both sides and the overflowing of either on either side raises no Deluge or Inundation The ill of absolute Monarchy is Tyranny the ill of Aristocracy is Faction and Division the ills of Democracy are Tumults Violence and Licentiousness The good of Monarchy is the uniting a Nation under one Head to resist Invasion from abroad and Insurrection at home the good of Aristocracy is the Conjunction of Counsel in the ablest Persons of a State for the publick benefit the good of Democracy is Liberty and the Courage and Industry which Liberty begets In this Kingdom the Laws are joyntly made by a King by a House of Peers and by a House of Commons chosen by the People all having free Votes and particular Privileges The Government according to these Laws is trusted to the King power of Treaties of War and Peace of making Peers of chusing Officers and Counsellours for State Judges for Law Commanders for Forts and Castles giving Commissions for raising men to make War abroad or to prevent or provide against Invasions or Insurrections at home benefit of Confiscations power of Pardoning and some more of the like kind are placed in the King And this kind of regulated Monarchy having this power to preserve that Authority without which it would be disabled to preserve the Laws in their force and the Subjects in their Liberties and Proprieties is intended to draw to Him such a Respect and Relation from the Great ones as may hinder the ills of Division and Faction and such a Fear and Reverence from the People as may hinder Tumults Violence and Licentiousness Again that the Prince may not make use of this high and perpetual Pow'r to the hurt of those for whose good He hath it and make use of the name of publick Necessity for the gain of His private Favourites and Followers to the detriment of His People the House of Commons an excellent Conserver of Liberty but never intended for any SHARE in GOVERNMENT or the chusing of them that should GOVERN is solely intrusted with the first Propositions concerning the Levies of Monies which is the sinews as well of Peace as War and the impeaching of those who for their own ends though countenanced by any surreptitiously-gotten Command of the King have violated that Law which He is bound when He knows it to protect and to the protection of which they were bound to advise Him at least not to serve Him in the contrary And the Lords being trusted with a Judicatory power are an excellent Screen and Bank between the Prince and People to assist each against any Incroachments of the other and by just Judgments to preserve that Law which ought to be the Rule of every one of the Three For the better enabling them in this beyond the Examples of any of Our Ancestors We were willingly contented to oblige Our Self bouth to call a Parliament every three years and not to dissolve it in fifty days and for the present Exigent the better to raise Money and avoid the pressure no less grievous to Us then them Our People must have suffered by a longer continuance of so vast a Charge as two great Armies and for their greater certainty of having sufficient time to remedy the inconveniences arisen during so long an absence of Parliaments and for the punishment of the Causers and Ministers of them We yielded up Our Right of dissolving this Parliament expecting an extraordinary moderation from it in gratitude for so unexampled a Grace and little looking that any Malignant Party should have been encouraged or enabled to have perswaded them first to countenance the Injustices and Indignities We have endured and then by a new way of Satisfaction for what was taken from Us to demand of Us at once to confirm what was so taken and to give up almost all the rest Since therefore the Power Legally placed in both Houses is more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny and without the Power which is now asked from Us We shall not be able to discharge that Trust which is the End of Monarchy since this would be a total Subversion of the Fundamental Laws and that excellent Constitution of this Kingdom which hath made this Nation so many years both Famous and Happy to a great degree of Envy since to the power of Punishing which is already in your hands according to Law if the power of Preferring be added We shall have nothing left for Us but to look on since the incroaching of one of these Estates upon the power of the other is unhappy in the effects both to them and all the rest since this power of at most a joynt-Government in Us with Our Counsellors or rather Our Guardians will return Us to the worst kind of Minority and make Us despicable both at home and abroad
from which We could never have been secured by declaring That no Member of either House upon any Accusation of Treason could have his Person seized without the Consent of that House of which he is a Member though the known Law be That Privilege of Parliament extends not to Treason and if it did any Member the House being for a short time adjourned and so their Consent not being so had how treasonable soever his Intentions were how clearly soever known and how suddenly soever to be executed must have fair leave given him to go on and pursue them no way how Legal soever after the passing such a Clause being left to prevent it To conclude We conjure you and all men to rest satisfied with the Truth of Our Professions and the Reality of Our Intentions not to ask such things as deny themselves that you declare against Tumults and punish the Authors that you allow Us Our Propriety in Our Towns Arms and Goods and Our share in the Legislative Power which would be counted in Us not only breach of Privilege but Tyranny and Subversion of Parliaments to deny to you And when you shall have given Us satisfaction upon those Persons who have taken away the one and recalled those Declarations particularly that of the 26. of May and those in the point of the Militia Our just Rights wherein We will no more part with then with Our Crown lest We enable others by them to take that from Us which would take away the other and declined the beginnings of a War against Us under pretence of Our Intention of making one against you as We have never opposed the first part of the Thirteenth Demand so We shall be ready to concurre with you in the latter And being then confident that the Credit of those men who desire a general Combustion will be so weakned with you that they will not be able to do this Kingdom any more harm We shall be willing to grant Our general Pardon with such Exceptions as shall be thought fit and shall receive much more joy in the hope of a full and constant Happiness of Our People in the True Religion and under the Protection of the Law by a blessed Union between Us and Our Parliament so much desired by Us then in any such increase of Our own Revenue how much soever beyond former Grants as when Our Subjects were wealthiest Our Parliament could have settled upon Us. His MAJESTIES Declaration made the 13 of June 1642. to the Lords attending his Majesty at York and to others of His Majesties Privy Council there Together with their Promise thereupon subscribed by them Charles R. WE do declare That We will not require nor exact any Obedience from you but what shall be warranted by the known Law of the Land as We do expect that you shall not yield to any Commands not legally grounded or imposed by any other And We do further declare That We will defend every one of you and all such as shall refuse any such Commands whether they proceed from Votes and Orders of both Houses or any other way from all dangers and hazards whatsoever And We do further declare That We will defend the true Protestant Religion established by the Law of the Land the lawful Liberties of the Subjects of England and just Privileges of all the three Estates of Parliament and shall require no further Obedience from you then as accordingly We shall perform the same And We do declare That we will not as is falsly pretended engage you or any of you in any War against the Parliament except it be for Our necessary defence and safety against such as do insolently invade or attempt against Us or such as shall adhere to Us. York 13. Junii 1642. The Promise of the said Lords and others WE do engage our selves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever not warranted by the known Laws of the Land We do engage our selves to defend Your MAJESTIES Person Crown and Dignity together with Your Majesties Just and Legal Prerogative against all persons and power whatsoever We will defend the true Protestant Religion established by the Law of the Land the lawful Liberties of the Subject of England and just Priviledges of Your Majesty and both Your Houses of Parliament And lastly we engage our selves not to obey any Rule Order or Ordinance whatsoever concerning any Militia that hath not the Royal Assent York 13. Junii 1642. Subscribed by Lord Keeper L. D. of Richmond L. Marquess Hartford E. of Lindsey E. of Cumberland E. of Huntington E. of Bath E. of Southampton E. of Dorset E. of Salisbury E. of Northampton E. of Devonshire E. of Cambridge E. of Bristol E. of Westmorland E. of Berkshire E. of Monmouth E. of Rivers E. of Newcastle E. of Dover E. of Carnarvon E. of Newport L. Mowbray and Maltravers L. Willoughby of Eresby L. Rich. L. Ch. Howard of Charleton L. Newark L. Paget L. Chandos L. Falconbridge L. Paulet L. Lovelace L. Savile L. Coventry L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Grey of Ruthen L. Capell L. Falkland Mr. Comptroller Mr. Secretary Nicholas Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer L. Chief Justice Banks His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His loving Subjects occasioned by a false and scandalous Imputation laid upon His Majesty of an intention of Raising or Levying War against His Parliament and of having raised Force to that end Published at His Court at York the 16 day of June THough We have these last seven months met with so many several Encounters of strange and unusual Declarations under the names of both Our Houses of Parliament that we should not be amazed at any new Prodigy of that kind and though their last of the six and twentieth of May gave Us a fair warning that the Contrivers of it having spent all their stock of bitter and reproachful Language upon Us We were to expect they should now break out into some bold and disloyal Actions against Us and having by that Declaration as far as in them lies divested Us of that Preeminence and Authority which God the Law the Custom and Consent of this Nation had placed in Us and assumed it to themselves that they should likewise with expedition put forth the fruits of that supreme Power for the violating and suppressing that Power they despised an effect of which Resolution of their wild Declaration against Our Proclamation concerning the pretended Ordinance for the Militia and the punishing of the Proclaimers appears to be yet We must confess in their last Attempt We speak of the last We know they may probably since or at this present have outdone that too they have outdone what We conceive was their present intention and whosoever hears of Propositions and Orders for bringing in of Money or Plate to maintain Horse Horsemen and Arms for the preservation of the publick Peace or for the Defence of the King and both Houses of Parliament such is their Declaration or what else
they please to call it of the tenth of June will surely believe the Peace of this Kingdom to be extreamly shaken and at least the King himself to be consulted with and privy to these Propositions But We hope that when Our good Subjects shall find that this goodly pretence of the Defence of the King is but a specious bait to seduce weak and inconsiderate men into the highest Acts of Disobedience and Disloyalty against Us and of Violence and Destruction upon the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom they will no longer be captivated by an implicite Reverence to the name of both Houses of Parliament but will carefully examine and consider what number of persons are present and what persons are prevalent in those Consultations and how the Debates are probably managed from whence such horrid and monstrous Conclusions do result and will at least weigh the Reputation Wisdom and Affection of those who are notoriously known out of the very horrour of their Proceedings to have withdrawn themselves or by their skill and violence to be driven from them and their Counsels Whilst their Fears and Jealousies did arise or were infused into the people from Discourses of the Rebels in Ireland of Skippers at Roterdam of Forces from Denmark France or Spain how improbable and ridiculous soever that bundle of Informations appeared to all wise and knowing men it is no wonder if the easiness to deceive and the willingness to be deceived did prevail over many of Our weak Subjects to believe that the Dangers which they did not see might proceed from Causes which they did not understand But for them to declare to all the world That We intend to make War against Our Parliament whilest We sit still complaining to God Almighty of the Injury offered to Us and to the very Being of Parliaments and that We have already begun actually to levy Forces both of Horse and Foot whilest We have only in a Legal way provided a smaller Guard for the security of Our own Person so near a Rebellion at Hull than they have had without lawful Authority above these eight Months upon imaginary and impossible Dangers to impose upon Our peoples Sense as well as Understanding by telling them We are doing that which they see We are not doing and intending that they all know as much as Intentions can be known We are not intending is a boldness agreeable to no power but the Omnipotence of those Votes whose absolute Supremacy hath almost brought Confusion upon King and People and against which no Knowledge in matter of Fact or Consent and Authority in matter of Law they will endure shall be opposed We have upon all occasions with all possible Expressions professed Our fast and unshaken Resolutions for Peace And We do again in the presence of Almighty God Our Maker and Redeemer assure the World that We have no more thought of making a War against Our Parliament than against Our own Children that We will maintain and observe the Acts assented to by Us this Parliament without Violation of which that for the frequent assembling of Parliaments is one and that We have not or shall not have any thought of using any force unless We shall be driven to it for the security of Our Person and for the defence of the Religion Laws and Liberty of the Kingdom and the just Rights and Privileges of Parliament And therefore We hope the Malignant Party who have so much despised Our Person and usurped Our Office shall not by their specious fraudulent insinuations prevail with Our good Subjects to give credit to their wicked Assertions and so to contribute their Power and Assistance for the ruine and destruction of Us and themselves For Our Guard about Our Person which not so much their Example as their Provocation inforced Us to take 't is known it consists of the prime Gentry in Fortune and Reputation of this County and of one Regiment of Our Trained Bands who have been so far from offering any Affronts Injuries or Disturbance to any of Our good Subjects that their principal end is to prevent such and so may be Security can be no Grievance to our People That some ill affected persons or any persons have been employed in other parts to raise Troops under colour of Our Service or have made large or any offers of Reward and Preferment to such as will come in is for ought We know and as We believe an Untruth devised by the Contrivers of this false Rumour We disavow it and are confident there will be no need of such Art or Industry to induce Our loving Subjects when they shall see Us oppressed and their Liberties and Laws confounded and till then We shall not call on them to come in to Us and to assist Us. For the Delinquents whom We are said with a high and forcible hand to protect let them be named and their Delinquency and if We give not satisfaction to Justice when We shall have received satisfaction concerning Sir John Hotham by his legal Trial then let Us be blamed But if the Design be as it is well known to be after We have been driven by force from Our City of London and kept by force from Our Town of Hull to protect all those who are Delinquents against Us and to make all those Delinquents who attend on Us or execute Our lawful Commands We have great reason to be satisfied in the Truth and Justice of such Accusation lest to be Our Servant and to be a Delinquent grow to be terms so convertible that in a short time We be left as naked in Attendance as they would have Us in Power and so compel Us to be waited on only by such whom they shall appoint and allow and in whose presence We should be more miserably alone than in Desolation it self And if the seditious Contrivers and Fomenters of this Scandal upon Us shall have as they have had the power to mis-lead the major part present of either or both Houses to make such Orders and send such Messages and Messengers as they have lately done for the apprehension of the great Earls and Barons of England as if they were Rogues or Felons and whereby Persons of Honour and Quality are made Delinquents merely for attending upon Us and upon Our Summons whilst other men are forbid to come near Us though obliged by the Duty of their Places and Oaths upon Our lawful Commands 't is no wonder if such Messengers are not very well intreated and such Orders not obeyed Neither can there be a surer and a cunninger way found out to render the Authority of both Houses scorned and vilified than to assume to themselves merely upon the Authority of the Name of Parliament a power monstrous to all Understandings and to do Actions and to make Orders evidently and demonstrably contrary to all known Law and Reason as to take up Arms against Us under colour of defending Us to cause Money to be brought in to
many eminent Persons and further weighing the addition of Loss Misery and Danger to Your Majesty and Your Kingdom which must ensue if both Armies should again joyn in another Battel as without God's especial Blessing and Your Majesty's Concurrence with Your Houses of Parliament will not probably be avoided We cannot but believe that a suitable Impression of Tenderness and Compassion is wrought in Your Majesty's Royal Heart being Your Self an eye-witness of the bloody and sorrowful destruction of so many of Your Subjects and that Your Majesty doth apprehend what dimination of Your own Power and Greatness will follow and that all Your Kingdoms will thereby be so weakned as to become subject to the Attempts of any ill-affected to this State In all which respects we assure our selves that Your Majesty will be inclined graciously to accept this our humble Petition that the Misery and Desolation of this Kingdom may be speedily removed and prevented For the effecting whereof we most humbly beseech Your Majesty to appoint some convenient place not far from the City of London where Your Majesty will be pleased to reside until Committees of both Houses of Parliament may attend Your Majesty with some Propositions for the removal of these bloody Distempers and Distractions and settling the state of the Kingdom in such a manner as may conduce to the Preservation of God's true Religion Your Majesty's Honour Safety and Prosperity and to the Peace Comfort and Security of all Your People His MAJESTY's Answer to the aforesaid Petition WE take God to witness how deeply We are affected with the Miseries of this Kingdom which heretofore We have stroven as much as in Vs lay to prevent it being sufficiently known to all the World that as WE were not the first that took up Arms so We have shewed Our readiness of Composing all things in a fair way by Our several Offers of Treaty and shall be glad now at length to find any such Inclinations in others the same Tenderness to avoid the Destruction of Our Subjects whom We know to be Our greatest Strength which would always make Our greatest Victories bitter to Vs shall make Vs willingly hearken to such Propositions whereby these bloody Distempers may be stopped and the great Distractions of this Kingdom settled to God's Glory Our Honour and the Welfare and flourishing of Our People and to that end shall reside at Our own Castle at Windsor if the Forces there shall be removed till Committees may have time to attend Vs with the same which to prevent the Inconveniences that will intervene We wish may be hastened and shall be ready there or if that be refused Vs at any place where We shall be to receive such Propositions as aforesaid from both Our Houses of Parliament Do you your Duty We will not be wanting to Ours God of his mercy give a Blessing But the same night after the Messengers were gone certain Information was brought unto Us that the same day the Earl of Essex had drawn his Forces with great store of Ordnance out of London towards Us upon which a Council of War being present and We having there considered upon debate Our present Condition That being already almost surrounded by his Forces some at Windsor some at Kingston and some at Acton if We suffered the Remainder to possess Brainceford We should be totally hemm'd in and Our Army deprived of all convenience of either moving or subsisting yet how necessary soever it appeared We could not obtain Our own Consent to advance towards Brainceford and either prepossess it or dispossess them of it till We had satisfied Our Selves that it was as lawful as necessary and fully weighed all that not only Reason but Malice it self which We knew to be very watchful upon Our Actions could object against it We considered first that it could not reasonably be esteemed an Aversion from Peace and an Intention to interrupt the Treaty than in expectation since on the other side We had cause to believe by the former rejection of Our offers of Treaty when We were supposed to be in no condition of strength that if We would not thus preserve Our Selves from being so encompass'd as to come into their Powers the very possibility of a Treaty would immediately vanish We considered next that much less could it be interpreted any breach of Faith since willingness to receive Propositions of Treaty was never held to amount to a suspension of Arms since otherwise We must because mention of a Treaty had been once made by the same Logick have been bound not to hinder them to encompass Us on all parts to Colebrook Towns-end since no word to that purpose of any suspension was in Our Answer nay since in that by wishing their Propositions might be hastned to prevent the Inconveniences which would intervene We implied that by this Arms were not suspended and since their own Votes of proceeding vigorously notwithstanding the Petition and their own actions in sending after their Messengers great store of Forces with Ordnance so near to Us having before girt Us in on all other parts and sent Men and Ordnance to Kingston after the safe Conduct asked of Us implied the same Being resolved upon these Reasons that this Advancing was necessary and just We were not yet satisfied till We had endeavoured the same day though the interruptions of shooting stopt the way till the next to satisfie Our Parliament and People of the same and that Peace was still Our desire We to that end directed a Message by John White Esquire which was so received that his danger of being put to death for bringing it and the Imprisonment of him and the Trumpeter that went with him in the Gate-house shew'd that the Law of Nations was by some no more considered than all other Laws had been before A Copy of which Message hereafter follows to shew how little temptation the matter of that gave them for such an usage His MAJESTY's Message of the twelfth of November WHereas the last night being the eleventh of November after the departure of the Committee of both Our Houses with Our gracious Answer to their Petition We received certain Information having till then heard nothing of it either from the Houses Committee or otherwise That the Lord of Essex had drawn his Forces out of London towards Vs which hath necessitated Our sudden Resolution to march with Our Forces to Brainceford We have thought hereby fit to signifie to both Our Houses of Parliament That We are no less desirous of the Peace of the Kingdom than We exprest in Our aforesaid Answer the Propositions for which We shall willingly receive where-ever We are and desire if it may be to receive them at Brainceford this night or early to morrow morning that all possible speed may be made in so good a Work and all Inconveniences otherwise likely to intervene may be avoided And to justifie yet further that Our Intention was no other than was here profest
as soon as We were informed that the Earl of Essex his Forces were departed from Kingston before any appearance or notice of further Forces from London Our end of not being inclosed being obtained We gave orders to quit Brainceford and to march away and possess that place We cannot but make one Argument more of the truth of Our Profession that this was all Our end and that We had not the least thought by so advancing to surprise and sack London which the Malignant party would infuse into that Our City and that is That probably God Almighty would not have given such a Blessing to Our Journy as to have assisted Us so both by Land and Water as with less than a third part of Our Foot and with the loss but of ten Men to beat two of their best Regiments out of both Braincefords for all the great advantage of their Works in them to kill him who commanded in chief and kill and drown many others to take five hundred Prisoners more Arms eleven Colours and good store of Ammunition fifteen Pieces of Ordnance whereof We sunk most that We brought not away and then unfought with and unoffer'd at nearer than by Ordnance to march away notwithstanding the great disadvantage of Our Forces by the difficulties of the Passages if He who is the Searcher of all Hearts and Truth it self had not known the truth of Our Professions and the Innocence of Our Heart and how far We were from deserving those horrid Accusations of Falshood and Treachery cast so point-blank upon Our own Person that it would amaze any Man to see them suffered to be printed in Our City of London if any thing of that kind could be a wonder after so many of the same and how really they desire Accommodation who have upon this voted they will have none These Our Reasons for this Action this Our satisfaction sent for it and this Blessing of God's upon it will We doubt not clear Us to all indifferent persons both of the Jesuitical Counsels and the Personal Treachery to which some have presumed so impudently to impute it And God so bless Our future Actions as We have delivered the truth of this The Answer of both Houses of Parliament to His Majesty's Message of the 12 of Nov. With his Majesty's Reply thereunto The Answer of both Houses of Parliament to His Majesty's Message of the 12 of November TO Your Majesty's Message of the 12 of this Month of November we the Lords and Commons in Parliament do make this humble Answer That this Message was not delivered to us till Monday the 14. We thought it a strange Introduction to Peace that Your Majesty should send Your Army to beat us out of our Quarters at Brainceford and then appoint that place to receive our Propositions which yet it plainly appears Your Majesty intended not to receive till You had first tried whether You could break through the Army raised for Defence of this Kingdom and Parliament and take the City being unprovided and secure in expectation of a fair Treaty made to secure the City If herein Your Majesty had prevailed after You had destroyed the Army and mastered the City it is easie to imagine what a miserable Peace we should have had and whether those Courses be suitable to the Expressions Your Majesty is pleased to make in Your Answer to our Petition and of Your Earnestness to avoid any further Effusion of blood let God and the world judge As for our Proceedings they have in all things been answerable to our Professions we gave directions to the Earl of Essex to draw the Army under his Command out of the City and Suburbs before we sent any Message to Your Majesty so that part of it was inquartered at Brainceford before the Committee returned with Your Answer and immediately upon the receit thereof that very morning order was taken that the Soldiers should exercise no Act of Hostility against any of Your Majesty's People We sent a Letter by Sir Peter Killegrew to know Your Majesty's Pleasure whether You intended the like forbearance of Hostility but the fury of your Souldiers thirsting after blood and spoil prevented the delivery of the Letter for coming upon Saturday in his way towards Your Majesty as far as Brainceford he found them in fight there and could pass no further God who sees our Innocency and that we have no Aims but at his Glory and the publick good will we hope free Your Majesty from those destructive Counsels who labour to maintain their own Power by Blood and Rapine and bless our Endeavours who seek nothing but to procure and establish the Honour Peace and Safety of Your Majesty and Kingdoms upon the sure foundation of Religion and Justice MDCXLII Nov. 18. To the Answer of both Houses of Parliament to His Majesty's Message of the 12 of November His MAJESTY makes this Reply THat His Message of the twelfth though not received by them till the fourteenth was sent to them first upon the same day upon which it was dated and meeting with stops by the way was again sent upon the 13 and taken upon that day at ten in the morning by the Earl of Essex and though not to him directed was by him opened so the slowness of the Delivery is not so strange as the stop of the Letter said to be sent by Sir Peter Killegrew which His Majesty hath not yet received but concludes from the matter expressed to have been contain'd in that Letter to wit to know His Pleasure whether He intended the forbearance of Hostility and by the Command of such forbearance said to be sent to the Lord of Essex his Army that no such forbearance was already concluded and consequently neither had His Majesty cause to suppose that He should take any of their Forces unprovided and secure in expectation of a fair Treaty neither could any Hostile Act of His Majesties Forces have been a course unsuitable to His Expressions much less could an endeavour to prepossess for so He hoped He might have done that Place which might have stopt the farther march of those Forces towards Him which for ought appeared to Him might as well have been intended to Colebrook as to Brainceford and by that the further effusion of blood deserve that style His Majesty further conceives that the Printing so out of time of such a Declaration as their Reply to His Answer to theirs of the 26. of May but the day before they Voted the Delivery of their Petition and the March of the Earl of Essex his Forces to Brainceford so near to his Majesty when the Committee at the same time attended Him with a Petition for a Treaty the Earl of Essex being before possest of all the Avenues to his Army by his Forces at Windsor Acton and Kingston was a more strange Introduction to Peace than for His Majesty not to suffer Himself to be coopt up on all sides because a Treaty had been mentioned
shall observe the Articles of the Cessation by which that is restrained III. As for the expression of the Army raised by the Parliament they are contented it should be altered thus raised by both Houses of Parliament as not desiring to differ upon words But to give any conclusive Power in this case to the Committee upon such Differences as may arise wherein the Houses have given no express direction is neither safe for the Committee to undertake nor fit for the two Houses to grant yet to debate and to press the reason of their desires whereby an Agreement from Your Majesty may be procured is granted to them And although the two Houses did think it most proper the Cessation should be first agreed on and that it was unfit to Treat in blood yet to satisfie the World of their earnest longing after Peace they have given power to the Committee to enter into the Treaty upon the two first Propositions notwithstanding the Cessation be not yet assented to and those being agreed they hope the foundation will be laid not only of a suspension but a total abolition of all Hostility in the Kingdom IV. If the nature of War be duly considered it must needs be acknowledged that it is incompatible with the ordinary rules of a peaceable Government Your Majesty would have them commit none but according to the known Laws of the Land whereby they conceive Your Majesty understands that it must be by the ordinary Process of Law which being granted it will follow that no man must be committed by them for supplying Your Majesty with Arms Powder Ammunition for by the Law of the Land the Subjects may carry such goods from London or any other place to Oxford the Souldiers must not be committed if they run from their Colours and refuse any duty in the Army no man shall be committed for not submitting to necessary supplies of Mony So that if this be yielded in Your Majesty's sense they shall be disabled to restrain supplies from their Enemies and to govern or maintain their own Souldiers It cannot be thought reasonable that under the disguise of a Cessation they should admit that which will necessarily produce the dissolving of the Army and destruction of the Cause It seems not probable that Your Majesty doth intend that if any be taken with supplies for this Army or mutining in Your own such persons shall not be committed but according to the known Laws of the Land that is by process of Law but rather that Your Majesty will so interrupt this limitation of known Laws that though it lays streight bonds upon the two Houses yet it leaves Your Generals as much liberty as before For it hath been denied by Your Majesty that these known Laws give any Power to the two Houses of Parliament to raise Arms and so consequently their General cannot exercise any Martial Law in those cases and it is not unlike but that it will be affirmed that the Generals constituted by Your Majestys Commission have that power by the same known Laws So that this Article under the specious shew of Liberty and Law would altogether disable them to defend their Liberties and Laws and would produce to Your Majesty an absolute Victory and Submission under pretence of a Cessation and Treaty V. Being by necessity inevitable on their part enforced to a defensive War in this unhappy Breach between Your Majesty and them and that they are therein warranted both by the Laws of God and Man it must needs follow that by the same Law they are enabled to raise means to support that War and therefore till it shall please God to incline Your Majesty to afford them such a Peace as may secure them they cannot relinquish the power of laying Taxes upon those who ought to joyn with them in that Defence and the necessary ways of levying those Taxes upon them in case of refusal for otherwise their Army must needs be dissolved But if Your Majesty shall consent to disband the Armies the Cause of the War being taken away the Consequences will likewise be removed and the Subject restored to the benefit of those Laws which the necessity of Arms hath in such cases suspended VI. They deny any pretence of consenting to those Alterations and Additions offered by Your Majesty only in the Preamble they say they have considered of those Articles with such Alterations and Additions unto which Articles they profest they were ready to agree not as they were accompanied with those Alterations and Additions but in such manner as they expressed As for the Clause left out in the third Article it implyed a freedom of passage and communication of Quarters which is contrary to the nature of a Cessation whereby matters should be preserved in the state they are and neither party have liberty so much to advantage himself as it is evident Your Majesty might do if your Forces in the North and West might joyn with those at Oxford and bring those supplies of Treasure or Arms thither which were brought out of Holland or at least it should be so indifferent as to give a proportionable advantage to the other side which this doth not For the Forces under the power of both Houses are so disposed that they have an easie passage from one to the other but Your Majesty's Forces are severed the one from the other by many large Counties strong Passes and competent Armies and if they had admitted this Clause they had bereaved themselves of one of the greatest Advantages and freed Your Majesty's party of one of the greatest Inconveniences which Your Majesty or they have in this War For the Reasons already alledged they cannot agree to the alterations and enlargements of the Cessation propounded or to transfer any such power to the Committee of treating debating and agreeing upon those Articles in any other manner than the Houses have directed but that a fair and speedy passage may be opened to a secure and a happy Peace they have enabled their Committees to treat and debate upon the two Propositions concerning His Majesty's own Revenue the delivery of His Towns Castles Magazines and Ships and the disbanding of the Armies which being agreed upon a present Peace and Security will follow and the Treaty upon the other Propositions be facilitated without fear of interruption by the confusion of War or exasperation of either party by the bloody effects thereof In which Treaty the two Houses will desire and expect nothing but what doth stand with Your Majesty's Honour and the Trust reposed in You and is necessary for your Majesty's good Subjects that they may enjoy the true Religion and their Liberties and Privileges and that they may freely and in a Parliamentary way concur with Your Majesty in those things which may conduce to the Glory of God the Safety and Happiness of Your Majesty and Your Posterity and People and preventing the like miserable effusion of English blood for the time to come For the
is intended may be so exprest and understood that no mistakes may arise so that His Majesty may not be understood to consent to any imposing upon levying distraining or imprisoning His good Subjects to force them to contribute or assist against Him which He shall always continue to inhibit requiring all men to resist those Illegal acts of Injustice and Violence against which He doth absolutely protest and so that there may not be a liberty for any Rapine Plundering or seizing upon His Subjects by any of the Soldiers of that Army for not submitting to such Illegal Impositions as aforesaid For otherwise they may during this Cessation besides what is already imposed impose new Taxes not only to the Nineteenth part but if they please for their pleasure is all their bound to the half of or all their Estates upon His good Subjects in His City of London and all Counties within their reach and their Army would then be at leisure to be employed as Collectors as well of the old Impositions which in most places without their Army they cannot levy as of any such new one and vast summs would and might by this means be raised to the destruction of His Subjects extraordinary advantage to them and great disadvantage to His Majesty who can neither obtain His own Consent to take the like courses nor in case He could is He so quartered as to have within the power of His Army without breach of the Cessation by drawing nearer to their Forces any such City or so many so rich and so fresh Counties as they have to retire into to that purpose So that as nothing is more just in it self and for His People than such a limitation so nothing can be more unequal to His Majesty or more advantagious to them than the admission of or connivance to any such practices upon His People This Cessation to begin on the 9. of April and to continue to the end of 20. days from the 25. of March. And His Majesty desires that the Treaty may proceed upon the Propositions in order upon which His Majesty hath an earnest desire that a firm and stable Peace may be agreed on and both Armies speedily disbanded otherwise if during this Cessation in the Articles of which His Majesty in order to Peace hath yielded to things manifestly unreasonable and prejudicial to His Army the Treaty be not dispatched His Majesty cannot without manifest ruine to His Army principally that of the North be able to contain Himself beyond this time now limited for the Cessation in the Quarters in which He hath so long been and now is and which will hardly be able to hold out so long but must be forced to remove as He shall find agreeable for His Occasions And in case any delay be made in consenting to these His Majesty's limitations or that the Houses shall reject this His offer of Cessation His Majesty as He hath lately desired by a Proposition to both Houses delivered to their Committee to which He hath yet received no Answer so He doth earnestly continue to desire that the Treaty it self may not be delayed or interrupted by it but that their Committee may be enabled to proceed upon it in the mean while Jo. Brown Cler. Parliamentorum Copia vera Addition of four days longer to Treat April 4. 1643. WE humbly acquaint Your Majesty that we received this morning the resolution of both Houses of Parliament whereby farther time is given to us to Treat upon the two first Propositions viz. the first Proposition of Your Majesty and the first Proposition of both Houses and that the time prescribed for the Treaty upon the two first Propositions shall be until Friday night Northumberland John Holland B. Whitelocke Will. Pierrepont Will. Armyne A Letter from both Houses received April 8. 1643. WE are commanded to send these inclosed Instructions to you from both Houses of Parliament by which the resolutions of the Houses will appear unto you This is all we have in command and rest Westminster the 7. of April 1643. Your humble Servants Manchester Speaker pro tempore William Lenthall Speaker of the Commons House Instructions concerning the Cessation received April 8. 1643. A farther Addition of Instructions agreed upon by the Lords and Commons in Parliament for Algernon Earl of Northumberland William Pierrepont Esq Sir William Armyne Baronet Sir John Holland Baronet and Bulstrode Whitelocke Esquire Committees of both Houses of Parliament attending His Majesty at Oxon. YOU are hereby to take notice That the two Houses have considered His Majesty's Answer to their Reasons concerning the Cessation wherein there are divers expressions which reflect much upon the Honour and Justice of the Houses and might occasion particular Replies yet at this time they desire to decline all Contestation their wishes and endeavours being earnestly bent upon the obtaining a speedy Peace For which cause they do not think good to consume any more of that time allowed for the Treaty in any farther debates upon the Cessation concerning which they find His Majesty's expressions so doubtful that it cannot be suddenly or easily resolved and the remainder of the time for the whole Treaty being but seven days if the Cessation were presently agreed it would not yield any considerable advantage to the Kingdom Wherefore you shall desire His Majesty that He will be pleased to give a speedy and positive Answer to their first Proposition concerning the Disbanding that so the People may not have only a Shadow of Peace in a short time of Cessation but the Substance of it in such manner as may be a perpetual Blessing to them by freeing the Kingdom from those miserable effects of War the effusion of English blood and Desolation of many parts of the Land For the obtaining of which Happiness the Lords and Commons have resolved to enlarge your Power That if you shall not have fully agreed upon the two first Propositions before Friday night you may notwithstanding any former restraint proceed to treat upon them according to the Instructions formerly given you although the Articles of the Cessation are not agreed upon And those two first Propositions being concluded the two Houses will thereupon give you further Instructions to proceed to the other Propositions that so the whole Treaty may be determined within the twenty days formerly limited to be reckoned from the 25 of March last which can admit no alteration or enlargement without manifold Prejudice and Danger to the whole Kingdom Joh. Brown Cler. Parliamentorum The KING's Reply touching Cessation and His desire to enable the Committee to treat upon the Propositions in the mean time and touching His coming to the Parliament C. R. IF the Committee according to His Majesty's desire had had but power to agree in the wording of Expressions in the Articles of Cessation His Majesty's which are as clear as the matter would bear and as He could make them had not appeared so doubtful to any but that the Cessation
might have been suddenly and speedily resolved and that long before this time And if the expressions of both Houses in their Reasons had not necessitated His Majesty in His own defence to give such Answers as could not upon those points deliver Truth without some shew of Sharpness no Expression of that kind in His Majesty's Answer had given any pretence for the rejection of or refusing so much as to treat upon this Cessation which though it were at present for no long time yet was from the day named by themselves the 25 of March whereas His Majesty first moved for a Cessation and Treaty without any limitation at all in the time of either and His Majesty was most ready to have enlarged the time so that in the mean while the point of Quarters might be so settled as that His Armies might subsist and which might have been if they had pleased a very good and promising earnest and fore-runner of that great blessing of Peace for the obtaining of which the wishes and endeavours of all good men being earnestly bent a farther debate in order to so great a Benefit did not deserve to be styled a consumption of time And His Majesty cannot but conceive Himself to be in a strange condition if the doubtfulness of Expressions which must always be whilst the Treaty is at such a distance and power is denied to those upon the place to help to clear and explain or His necessary Replying to charges laid upon Him that He might not seem to acknowledge what was so charged or the limitation of the time of seven days for the Treaty which was not limited by His Majesty who ever desired to have avoided that and other limitations which have given great interruptions to it should be as well believed to be the grounds as they are made the arguments of the rejection of that which next to Peace it self His Majesty above all things most desires to see agreed and settled and which His Majesty hopes if it may be yet agreed on will give His People such a taste of such a Blessing that after a short time of consideration and comparing of their several conditions in War and Peace and what should move them to suffer so much by a Change they will not think those their friends that shall force them to it or be themselves ready to contribute to the renewing of their former Miseries without some greater evidence of Necessity than can appear to them when they shall have seen as they shall see if this Treaty be suffered to proceed that His Majesty neither asks nor denies any thing but what not only according to Law He may but what in Honour and care of His People he is obliged to ask or deny And this alone which a very short Cessation would produce His Majesty esteems a very considerable advantage to the Kingdom and therefore cannot but press again and again that whatever is thought doubtful in the expressions of the Articles may as in an hour it may well be done be expounded and whatsoever is excepted at may be debated and concluded and that Power and Instructions may be given to the Committee to that end that the miserable effects of War the effusion of English blood and desolation of England until they can be totally taken away may by this means be stayed and interrupted His Majesty supposes that when the Committee was last required to desire His Majesty to give a speedy and positive Answer to the first proposition concerning Disbanding His Answers in that point to which no Reply hath been made and which He hopes by this time have given satisfaction were not transmitted and received but wonders the Houses should press His Majesty for a speedy and positive Answer to the first part of their first Proposition concerning Disbanding when to the second part of the very same Proposition concerning His Return to both Houses of Parliament they had not given any Power or Instructions to the Committee so much as to treat with His Majesty and when His Majesty if His desire of Peace and of speeding the Treaty in order to that had not been prevalent with Him might with all manner of Justice have delayed to begin to treat upon one part until they had been enabled to treat upon the other In which point and for want of which power from them the only stop now remains His Majesty's Answers to both parts of their first Proposition being given in transmitted and yet remaining unanswered To which until the Houses shall be at leisure to make Answer that as little delay in this Treaty as is possible may be caused by it His Majesty desires likewise that the Committee may be enabled to treat upon the following Propositions in their several orders A Letter from both Houses April 8. WE have sent unto you by this Gentleman Sir Peter Killegrew some additional Instructions by which your Lordship and the rest of the Committee will perceive the Resolutions which the Houses have taken upon the Papers which they received this day from you This is all we have in command and remain Your Lordship 's humble Servants Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore Will. Lenthall Speaker of the Commons House in Parliament Westminster this 8 of April 1643. Instructions concerning the Insisting received April 9. 1643. Additional Instructions for Algernon Earl of Northumberland William Lord Viscount Say and Seal William Pierrepont Esquire Sir William Armyne and Sir John Holland Baronets Bulstrode Whitelocke Esquire Committees from both Houses attending His Majesty at Oxford Magazines and enlarging the time THE two Houses of Parliament are unsatisfied with His Majesty's Answer to that Clause of the first Proposition which concerns the Magazines Wherefore you are to desire His Majesty to make a further Answer in such manner as is exprest in the Instructions formerly given you and you shall let His Majesty know That the Lords and Commons do not think fit to enlarge the time of the Treaty beyond the twenty days formerly limited Cinque-Ports Towns Forts and Castles They likewise remain unsatisfied with His Majesty's Answer concerning the Cinque-Ports Towns Forts and Castles being in the most material points an express Denial Wherefore you are to insist upon their desire for another Answer according to your Instructions Ships They observe in His Majesty's Answer concerning the Ships not only a Denial to all the desires of both Houses but likewise a Censure upon their proceedings However you are to insist upon their desires expressed in your Instructions Disbanding They further conceive that His Majesty's Answer to their first Proposition concerning the Disbanding is in effect a Denial unless they desert all those cautions and limitations which they have desired in their Answer to His Majesty's first Proposition Wherefore you are to proceed insisting upon that part of their first Proposition concerning the Disbanding according to your Instructions KING's Return to the Parliament You shall declare to His Majesty
the desire of both Houses of His Majesty's coming to His Parliament which they have often exprest with as full offers of security to His Royal Person as was agreeable to their Duty and Allegiance and they know no cause why His Majesty may not repair hither with Honour and Safety but they did not insert it into your Instructions because they conceived the Disbanding of the Armies would have facilitated His Majesty's Resolution therein which they likewise conceived was agreeable to His Majesty's Sense who in declaring His Consent to the Order of the Treaty did only mention that part of the first Proposition which concerned the Disbanding and did omit that which concerned His coming to the Parliament Oath of Officers They conceive the ordinary Oaths of the Officers mentioned are not sufficient to secure them against the extraordinary causes of Jealousie which have been given them in these troublesome times and that His Majesty's Answer lays some tax upon the Parliament as if defective and thereby uncapable of making such a Provisional Law for an Oath therefore you shall still insist upon their former desires of such an Oath as is mentioned in your Instructions If you shall not have received His Majesty's positive Answer to the humble desire of both Houses in these two first Propositions according as they are exprest in your Instructions before the twenty days limited for the Treaty shall be expired you shall then with convenient speed repair to the Parliament without expecting any further direction Jo. Brown Cler. Parliamentorum CHARLES REX TO shew to the whole World how earnestly His Majesty longs for Peace and that no Success shall make Him desire the continuance of His Army to any other end or for any longer time than that and until things may be so settled as that the Law may have a full free and uninterrupted course for the defence and preservation of the Rights of His Majesty both Houses and His good Subjects 1. As soon as His Majesty is satisfied in His first Proposition concerning His own Revenue Magazines Ships and Forts in which He desires nothing but that the just known Legal Rights of His Majesty devolved to Him from His Progenitors and of the Persons trusted by Him which have violently been taken from both be restored unto Him and unto them unless any just and legal exceptions against any of the Persons trusted by Him which are yet unknown to His Majesty can be made appear to Him 2. As soon as all the Members of both Houses shall be restored to the same capacity of sitting and voting in Parliament as they had upon the first of January 1641. the same of right belonging unto them by their birth-rights and the free election of those that sent them and having been voted from them for adhering to His Majesty in these Distractions His Majesty not intending that this should extend either to the Bishops whose Votes have been taken away by Bill or to such in whose places upon new Writs new Elections have been made 3. As soon as His Majesty and both Houses may be secured from such tumultuous assemblies as to the great breach of the Priviledges and the high dishonour of Parliaments have formerly assembled about both Houses and awed the Members of the same and occasioned two several complaints from the Lords House and two several desires of that House to the House of Commons to joyn in a Declaration against them the complying with which desire might have prevented all these miserable Distractions which have ensued which security His Majesty conceives can be only settled by adjourning the Parliament to some other place at the least twenty miles from London the choice of which His Majesty leaves to both Houses His Majesty will most chearfully and readily consent that both Armies be immediately disbanded and give a present meeting to both His Houses of Parliament at the time and place at and to which the Parliament shall be agreed to be adjourned His Majesty being most confident that the Law will then recover the due credit and estimation and that upon a free debate in a full and peaceable convention of Parliament such provisions will be made against seditious Preaching and Printing against His Majesty and the established Laws which hath been one of the chief causes of the present Distractions and such care will be taken concerning the legal and known Rights of His Majesty and the Property and Liberty of His Subjects that whatsoever hath been publisht or done in or by colour of any illegal Declaration Ordinance or Order of one or both Houses or any Committee of either of them and particularly the power to raise Arms without His Majesty's Consent will be in such manner recalled disclaimed and provided against that no seed will remain for the like to spring out of for the future to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and to endanger the very Being of it And in such a Convention His Majesty is resolved by His readiness to consent to whatsoever shall be proposed to Him by Bill for the real good of His Subjects and particularly for the better discovery and speedier conviction of Recusants for the education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion for the prevention of practices of Papists against the State and the due execution of the Laws and true levying of the Penalties against them to make known to all the World how causless those Fears and Jealousies have been which have been raised against Him and by that so distracted this miserable Kingdom And if this Offer of His Majesty be not consented to in which He asks nothing for which there is not apparent Justice on His side and in which He defers many things highly concerning both Himself and People till a full and peaceable convention of Parliament which in Justice He might now require His Majesty is confident that it will then appear to all the World not only who is most desirous of Peace and whose default it is that both Armies are not now disbanded but who hath been the true and first cause that this Peace was ever interrupted or these Armies raised and the beginning or continuance of the War and the destruction and desolation of this poor Kingdom which is too likely to ensue will not by the most interessed passionate or prejudicate person be imputed to His Majesty His MAJESTY's Questions before the Treaty and the Committees Answers March 25. 1643. Mis MAJESTY desires to be answered these Questions in writing by the Committee of both Houses 1. WHether they may not shew unto Him those Instructions according to which they are to Treat and Debate with His Majesty upon the two first Propositions of which the last Message from both Houses takes notice and refers unto 2. Whether they have power to pass from one Proposition to the other in the Debate before His Majesty have exprest His mind concerning the Proposition first entred into 3. Whether they have power
undoubted Rights doth oblige Him to insist And when His Majesty shall think fit to make an Admiral as near as He can He shall be such an one against whom no just Exception can be made and if any shall be offered He will readily leave him to the tryal of the Law Falkland The Papers concerning an Oath for Officers March 29. 1643. WE are humbly to desire Your Majesty that all Generals and Commanders in any of the Armies on either side as likewise the Lord Admiral of England the Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports all Commanders of any Ships and Commanders of any Town Castle or Fort may take an Oath to observe the Articles formerly mentioned and to use their utmost power to preserve the true Reformed Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom against all Foreign Forces and all other Forces raised without Your Majesty's Authority and Consent of the two Houses of Parliament Northumberland W. Pierrepont W. Armyne J. Holland B. Whitelocke April 5. 1643. HIS Majesty conceives the Oaths which all those Officers are already by Law obliged to take to be very fully sufficient But if any thing shall be made appear unto Him necessary to be added thereunto when there shall be a full and peaceable Convocation in Parliament His Majesty will readily consent to an Act for such an addition Falkland April 10. 1643. BY Instructions yesterday received from both Houses of Parliament we are commanded humbly to inform Your Majesty that both Houses of Parliament conceive the ordinary Oaths of the Officers mentioned in Your Answer concerning the same are not sufficient to secure them against the extraordinary causes of Jealousie which have been given them in these troublesome times and that Your Majesty's Answer lays some tax upon the Parliament as if defective and thereby uncapable of making such a provisional Law for an Oath Therefore we are humbly to insist upon our former desires for such an Oath as is mentioned in those Papers which we have formerly presented to Your Majesty concerning this matter Northumberland John Holland W. Armyne W. Pierrepont B. Whitelocke April 14. 1643. HIS Majesty did not refuse by His former Answer to consent to any such Oath as shall be thought necessary though He did and doth still conceive the Oaths already settled by Law to be sufficient neither did He ever suppose the Parliament incapable of making a provisional Law for such an Oath but as He would be willing to apply any proper remedy to the extraordinary causes of Jealousies if He could see that there were such causes so He will be always most exact in observing the Articles agreed on in preserving the true Reformed Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom against Foreign Forces and other Forces raised or imployed against Law And when both Houses shall prepare and present such an Oath as they shall make appear to His Majesty to be necessary to those ends His Majesty will readily consent to it Falkland The Papers concerning the Disbanding of the Armies March 28. 1643. His MAJESTY's Answer to the first Proposition of both His Houses of Parliament HIS Majesty is as ready and willing that all Armies be disbanded as any person whatsoever and conceives the best way to it to be a happy and speedy conclusion of the present Treaty which if both Houses will contribute as much to it as His Majesty shall do will be suddenly effected And that this Treaty may the sooner produce that effect His Majesty desires that the time given to the Committee of both Houses to treat may be enlarged And as His Majesty desires nothing more than to be with His two Houses so He will repair thither as soon as He can possibly do it with His Honour and Safety Falkland March 29. 1643. WE are directed by our Instructions humbly to desire Your Majesty's speedy and positive Answer concerning the Disbanding of the Armies to which if Your Majesty be pleased to assent we are then to beseech Your Majesty in the name of both Houses that a near day may be agreed upon for the Disbanding of all the Forces in the remote parts of Yorkshire and the other Northern Counties as also in Lancashire Cheshire and in the Dominion of Wales and in Cornwall and Devonshire and they being fully disbanded another day may be agreed on for the Disbanding of all Forces in Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Leicestershire and all other places except at Oxford and the Quarters thereunto belonging and Windsor and the Quarters thereunto belonging and that last of all a speedy day may be appointed for the Disbanding of those two Armies at Oxford and Windsor and all the Forces members of either of them That some Officers of both Armies may speedily meet to agree of the manner of the Disbanding and that fit persons may be appointed by Your Majesty and both Houses of Parliament who may repair to the several Armies and the see Disbanding put in speedy execution accordingly Northumberland W. Pierrepont J. Holland W. Armyne B. Whitelocke March 29. 1643. COncerning Your Majesty's Answer to the Proposition of both Houses for Disbanding of the Armies We humbly desire to know if by the words By a happy and speedy Conclusion of the present Trevty Your Majesty do intend a Conclusion of the Treaty on Your Majesty's first Proposition and their Proposition for Disbanding the Armies or a Conclusion of the Treaty in all the Propositions of both parts We have given speedy notice to both Houses of Parliament of Your Majesty's desires that the time given to the Committee of both Houses to treat may be enlarged To the last Clause we have no Instructions Northumberland Will. Pierrepont Will. Armyne Joh. Holland B. Whitelocke April 5. 1643. HIS Majesty intended by the words By a happy and speedy Conclusion of the Treaty such a Conclusion of or in the Treaty as there might be a clear evidence to Himself and His good Subjects of a future Peace and no ground left for the continuance or growth of these bloody Dissentions which He doubts not may be obtained if both Houses shall consent that the Treaty may proceed without further interruption or limitation of days Falkland April 5. 1643. WHEN the time for Disbanding the Armies shall be agreed upon His Majesty well approves that some Officers of both Armies may speedily meet to agree of the manner of Disbanding and that fit persons may be appointed by His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament who may repair to the several Armies and see the Disbanding speedily put in execution accordingly Falkland April 6. 1643. WE humbly desire to know if by the words By a happy and speedy conclusion of the present Treaty Your Majesty intends a Conclusion of the present Treaty on Your Majesty's first Proposition and the Proposition of both Houses for Disbanding of the Armies or a Conclusion of the Treaty on all the Propositions of both parts And what Your Majesty intends to be a clear evidence to Your Self and Your good
Subjects of a future Peace and no ground left for the continuance or growth of these bloody Dissentions Northumberland W. Pierrepont W. Armyne J. Holland B. Whitelocke April 6. 1643. HIS Majesty desires to know from the Committee of both Houses whether they acquiesce with His Majesty's Replies to their Answers concerning His first Proposition which yesterday they received from Him and to which they have yet made no return His Majesty likewise desires to know whether they have yet received power and Instructions to treat with His Majesty concerning His Return to His two Houses of Parliament which is a part of the first Proposition of both Houses Falkland April 6. 1643. WE shall transmit Your Majesty's Replies to our Answers concerning Your first Proposition to both Houses of Parliament without farther Reply We likewise humbly answer that we have not received any power or Instructions to treat with Your Majesty concerning Your Return to Your two Houses of Parliament but we assure our selves they will give Your Majesty satisfaction therein Northumberland Joh. Holland Will. Pierrepont Will. Armyne B. Whitelocke April 7. 1643. HIS Majesty conceives His Answers already given for He hath given two to be very clear and significant And if the Conclusion of the present Treaty on His Majesty's first Proposition and the Proposition of both Houses shall be so full and perfectly made that the Law of the Land may have a full free and uninterrupted Course for the defence and preservation of the Rights of His Majesty both Houses and His good Subjects there will be thence a clear evidence to His Majesty and His good Subjects of a future Peace and no ground lest for the continuance and growth of these bloody Dissentions and it will be such a Conclusion as His Majesty intended His Majesty never intending that both Armies should remain undisbanded until all the Propositions of both sides were fully concluded But His Majesty is very sorry that in that point of the first Proposition of both Houses which hath seemed to be so much wished and which may be so concluded as alone much to conduce to the evidence desired viz. His Return to both Houses to which His Majesty in His Answer hath expressed Himself to be most ready whensoever He may do it with Honour and Safety they have yet no manner of power nor Instructions so much as to treat with His Majesty Falkland April 7. 1643. WE have not transmitted Your Majesty's Answer to the Proposition of Disbanding wherein Your Majesty mentions Your Self to be most ready to return to both Houses of Parliament whensoever you may do it with Honour and Safety for that we humbly conceive we were to expect Your Majesty's Answer to that Proposition this day received before we could give a due account thereof to both Houses of Parliament the which we will presently send away without farther Reply Northumberland J. Holland W. Pierrepont W. Armyne B. Whitelocke April 8. 1643. BY Instructions this day received from both Houses of Parliament we humbly conceive that we are to acquaint Your Majesty That they have taken into consideration Your Majesty's Answer to their Reasons concerning the Cessation wherein there are divers expressions which will occasion particular Replies which at this time they desire to decline their wishes and endeavours being earnestly bent upon the obtaining a speedy Peace for which cause they do not think good to consume any more of the time allowed for the Treaty in any farther debates upon the Cessation concerning which they find Your Majesty's expressions so doubtful that it cannot be suddenly or easily resolved and the remainder of the time for the whole Treaty being but seven days if the Cessation were not presently agreed it would not yield any considerable advantage to the Kingdom Wherefore we are required to desire Your Majesty to give a speedy and positive Answer to the first Proposition concerning the Disbanding that so Your Subjects may not only have a shadow of Peace in a short time of Cessation but the substance of it in such manner as may be a perpetual blessing to them by freeing the Kingdom from these miserable effects of War the effusion of English blood and defolation of many parts of the Land Northumberland Joh. Holland Will. Pierrepont Will. Armyne B. Whitelocke April 10. 1643. BY Instructions yesterday received from both Houses of Parliament we are commanded humbly to insist upon that part of the first Proposition of both Houses of Parliament concerning the Disbanding according to the Papers we have formerly presented to Your Majesty thereupon and we are humbly to acquaint Your Majesty That both Houses of Parliament do conceive Your Majesty's Answer concerning the Disbanding to be in effect a Denial unless they desert all those Cautions and Limitations which they have desired in their Answer to Your Majesty's first Proposition Northumberland Will. Pierrepont Joh. Holland Will. Armyne B. Whitelocke April 10. 1643. BY Instructions from both Houses of Parliament yesterday received we are commanded to declare unto Your Majesty the desire of both Houses for Your Majesty's coming to Your Parliament which they have often expressed with full offers of Security to Your Royal Person agreeable to their Duty and Allegiance and they know no cause why Your Majesty may not return thither with Honour and Safety but they did not insert it into our Instructions because they conceived the Disbanding of the Armies would have facilitated Your Majesty's Resolution therein which they likewise conceived was agreeable to Your Majesty's sense who in declaring Your consent to the order of the Treaty did only mention that part of the first Proposition which concerned the Disbanding and did omit that which concerned Your Majesty's coming to both Houses of Parliament Northumberland Will. Pierrepont Joh. Holland Will. Armyne B. Whitelocke April 14. 1643. HIS Majesty had great reason to expect that as He answered to every part of the first Proposition of both Houses so the Committee should likewise have had power and Instructions to Treat with His Majesty concerning both parts of the same nor had the Houses any reason to suppose their course agreeable to His Majesty's sense for His Majesty in declaring His consent to the order of the Treaty indeed mentioned their first Proposition by the style of the first Proposition which concerned Disbanding but did not style it that part of the first Proposition which concerned Disbanding as if He had meant to have excluded any part of that Proposition from being treated on He would and ought to have done But though His Majesty's Answers in the point of Disbanding and Return to His Parliament were as particular and as satisfactory as His Majesty had cause to make or could well give till this latter part were consented to be treated upon yet out of His great desire of Peace and of complying with both Houses His Majesty hath made a full and particular Answer and Offer to both Houses concerning as well the first part
the way thereunto were not such as were reasonable and necessary for them to make and just and honourable for His Majesty to grant and whether His Majesty's Answers to these Propositions are satisfactory or correspondent to His Expression to have given up all the faculties of His Soul to an earnest endeavour of a Peace and Reconciliation with His People But they must confess that they had just cause to suspect that this would be the happy issue of the Treaty for the prevalency of the enemies thereof who like that evil Spirit do most rage when they think they must be cast out was such that they would not proceed therein one step without some attempt or provocation laid in the way to interrupt and break it off for after they had resolved to present their humble Desires and Propositions to His Majesty their Committee must not without a special safe Conduct and Protection from Him have access to Him a liberty incident to them not only as they are Members of the Parliament and employed by both Houses but as they were free-born Subjects and yet when they passed over this His Majesty refused a safe Conduct to the Lord Viscount Say and Seal being one of the Committee appointed by both Houses to be employed upon that occasion such a breach of Priviledge that they believe is not to be parallel'd by the example of former times and yet their desire was such to obtain the end they drive at that is a happy and lasting Peace that they resolved not to interrupt the Treaty for that time by insisting upon it And then they had no sooner entred upon the Treaty but a Proclamation dated at Oxon the 16 of February 1642. entituled His Majesty's Proclamation forbidding all His loving Subjects and the Counties of Kent Surrey Sussex and Hampshire to raise any Forces c. and another Proclamation dated the 8 of February forbidding the assessing and payment of all Taxes by vertue of an Ordinance of both Houses and all entring into Associations were published in His Majesty's Name containing most bitter invectives and scandals against the proceedings of both Houses by styling them and such as obeyed them Traitors and Rebels charging them under the name of Brownists Anabaptists and Atheists to endeavour to take away the Kings Life and to destroy His Posterity the Protestant Religion and the Laws of the Kingdoms with many other such scandals and aspersions and even at this time were many designs practising against the Parliament which in all probability were the grounds and reasons of His Majesty's confidence and denial of their just desire Insomuch that His Majesty in a Letter sent from Him to the Queen and read in the House of Commons did declare That He had so many fine designs laid open to Him that He knew not which first to undertake One whereof probably was the most bloody and barbarous design upon Bristol attempted though by God's infinite mercy prevented during the Treaty And whether that of Sir Hugh Cholmley's in betraying of Scarborough Castle wherewith he was entrusted by the Parliament to the Queens hands and acted likewise during the Treaty and that of Killingworth Castle which should have been likewise betrayed and a design discovered by a Letter found in the Earl of Northampton's pocket slain near Stafford written to Him from Prince Rupert were some of the other designs mentioned in His Majesty's Letter they cannot certainly affirm but conjecture And when these collateral provocations and attempts could not prevail to make them desert the Treaty then comes in His Majesty's Message of the fourth of April which they have mentioned before charging them to abuse the people with imaginary Dangers and pretended Fears to use Force and Rapines upon His good Subjects with publishing new doctrines That it is unlawful for the King to do any thing and lawful to do any thing against Him with Malice and Subtilty to abuse the People that their Pleasure is all their bounds with many other such bitter expressions that no Man could think such an Answer could be any part of a Treaty or at least to proceed from a heart that desired a happy issue thereunto Notwithstanding all which the Lords and Commons were so resolutely fixed to prosecute that Treaty and if possibly they could to bring it to a blessed and happy conclusion that they were content to lie under all these Scandals and endure all these wounds so they might make up the breaches of the Commonwealth and therefore they did forbear the returning of an Answer to any of these provocations And then when the Malignant and Popish party too-too prevalent with his Majesty perceived their constancy not to be provoked to break that Treaty of their part they found it necessary to seduce His Majesty to refuse His Consent to their most necessary and just Desires and to propound such things as could not with the peace and safety of the Church and State be yielded to and so effected their own desires All which the Lords and Commons thought it their duty to publish to the Kingdom to the end that they may see that what hath been long endeavoured by subtile and secret practices is now resolved to be effected by open Violence and Hostility that is the destruction of our Laws and the Protestant Religion and introducing of Popery and Superstition and that there is little or no hope by any endeavour of a Treaty to procure the Peace of this Church and Kingdom unless both be exposed to the will and pleasure of the Popish party until the Army and Forces now raised and continued by them be first destroyed or suppressed And therefore the Lords and Commons do hope that not only such as are already convinced of their Design and Malice but even those that by their subtile and false pretences have been ignorantly seduced to joyn with them that love their Liberty and the Protestant Religion will now with one heart and mind unite together to preserve their Religion and Liberty in the defence whereof the Lords and Commons are resolved to offer up themselves their lives and fortunes a willing Sacrifice Die Sabbati 6 May 1643. A Declaration upon the Result of the Treaty brought in with some Amendments was this day read in the House of Commons and ordered to be delivered unto the Lords at a Conference And it is further Ordered by this House That this Declaration shall be Printed and Master Glyn do take care for the Printing of it and that none shall Print or re-print it but such as Master Glyn shall appoint to the end that by his care the Records may be rightly cited and the Letters and other matters Ordered to be Printed with it be carefully Printed H. Elsinge Cler. Parliament D. Com. His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His Loving Subjects in Answer to a Declaration of the Lords and Commons upon the Proceedings of the late Treaty of Peace and several Intercepted Letters of His MAJESTY to the QUEEN and of
Prince RUPERT to the Earl of Northampton Oxford 3. June 1643. THough His Majesty be assured it cannot but be of great Advantage to Him to have such an occasion as is now given Him by the late Declaration of both Houses to shew to all His good People who it is that is really in fault that the last Treaty so much desired by His Majesty and only begun upon His Desire broke off so abruptly as He doubts not to do if those who govern in the remaining part of both Houses have but so much ingenuity left as to suffer what He says to be equally freely published to His People yet His Majesty cannot without great grief of Soul see that Treaty which He hoped and expected should have begot the settled Peace and Happiness of His Subjects in stead thereof beget nothing but Disputes and Declarations yet it will be some Cordial to Him when He shall be forced to see the Desolation of this Kingdom and the Misery of His People that not only it is not He that hath made that Desolate and them Miserable but that He is able to demonstrate to all the World that He hath used His utmost and most earnest endeavours to prevent it as will appear at large by the following state of the Case After that the Conspiracy of some Persons against the present establisht Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil had made means to infuse into part of the People by publishing unheard-of Declarations obtain'd and past in a new and unheard-of manner sometimes but by eleven Voices after seventeen hours sitting and that but in one House strange Fears and Jealousies of the other House and of His Majesty and by them given the Rise to those insufferable Tumults and Seditious unparliamentary Petitions at once to and against the Lords which they afterwards avowed publickly to protect and encourage and forced the Lords House by fearing them to seem to fear with them and to joyn with them first in requiring and next in forcing no less security for those Fears from His Majesty who was then in condition to have most real Cause of Fear Himself than almost all that Power which the Law had trusted to Him for the security of the Crown and the Protection of His People after that His Majesty and most of the Members were forced away from the Parliament and that His share in making new Laws was denyed to Him in any case in which they would pretend Necessity and every Subject that would not submit to any new extravagant extemporary legislative Declaration or Order of one or both Houses against the antient known Law of the Land was become sent for up and imprisoned as a Delinquent and whosoever would assist them against the known Law was not only-protected by them in that but in any other Case although they were of them who had been most apparently active in those former Pressures upon the People which they now afresh impute to His Majesty so that to be of their side was now become a known Sanctuary after that nothing was left undone or unsaid that might render His Majesty both weak and odious and that all that He could say or do to clear Himself was either supprest or interpreted in a contrary and impossible sense so that His very offer to venture His Royal Person against the Irish Rebels was voted to be an Encouragement to that Rebellion after that from declaring of Law they came to declaring of Thoughts and forgetting that the Hearts of Kings are inscrutable presumed to dive into His and without Apparence and contrary to Truth had declared that He meant to make War upon His Parliament and made that Declaration a ground to levy a real War against Him and then made that War a ground to begin to make War upon His People forcing away the Arms and Money of all such as they pleased to suspect of the Crimes of Allegiance and Loyalty after that they had so far exprest and discovered the true end of all these Actions as to propose the total Change of the present Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil in the Nineteen Propositions as the only way to Peace and that His Majesty might by all this have been sufficiently perswaded that it was impossible for Him to obtain Peace from them but either by Submission or by the Sword yet after all this His Majesty was so averse to the latter Course as to descend to so great a degree of the former as from Nottingham to propose to and desire from them a Treaty for Peace and being there twice openly and absolutely refused it yet did then declare that He would notwithstanding be ready to receive it whensoever they would propose it And to shew that these Offers proceeded not from His Condition but from His Inclination after His Victory at Edge-hill and after that the Earl of Essex had so far forgot his Errand as to return to London alone in stead of bringing up His Majesty and those His good Subjects whom they call'd Delinquents His Answer at Colebrook will shew to all the World that He was still of the same mind as when He sent His Messages from Nottingham and His Message so carefully sent from Colebrook to prevent all mis-construction of that march of His which they had necessitated to Brainceford and His pressing still that a Treaty might go on in that and several other Messages all slighted and neglected shewed sufficiently who really was desirous of and who were averse to Peace But when the Petition of so many Citizens that a Treaty might be accepted finding so little countenance or acceptance from the House of Commons and the Injuries and Imprisonments which the Petitioners suffered for it from Alderman Pennington and others finding so much countenance from them did so far begin to open the eyes of the People that the Aversion to Peace began to be imputed to them who were truly guilty and that they found this Discovery made men generally unwilling to part with their money to make themselves miserable and that again encouraged many of the Members to appear for Peace too and that consequently their too open and avowed desire of War would but render them unable to continue it they thought it necessary to make some Propositions which might deceive the People so far as to make them believe they desired Peace and yet resolved to make them so unreasonable as they might notwithstanding be sure to be out of all danger of effecting Peace by them and sent those down to His Majesty Which though they pretend now to be such as no indifferent man will find any thing contained in them but what was necessary for the maintenance and advancement of the true Protestant Religion the due execution of Justice the Preservation of the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the establishment of the Kingdoms Peace and Safety yet His Majesty is confident that even those who are not very indifferent are yet able to see that no
as to contribute to their own Misery to obtain no one Right how small and inconsiderable soever denied to them by His Majesty and that the maintenance and advancement of Religion Justice Liberty Property and Peace are really but their Stalking-Horses and neither the Ground of their War nor of these Demands which will appear to any indifferent Man that shall duly weigh them as far from being moderate as from being necessary Yet such was His Majesty's most earnest desire to catch at any thing that by producing a Treaty might settle a Peace and so far were any such Enemies of it as are supposed by this Declaration from being prevalent with Him against this desire that His Majesty proposed that persons should be appointed by His Majesty and both Houses to Treat even upon these very Propositions and such other as His Majesty proposed which were only Demands according to or in behalf of the Law establisht and which more concerned His Subjects than Himself And His Majesty cannot but appeal to all the World whether not only any of their Propositions did but whether any other Propositions that could be devised could express more desire of the maintenance and advancement of the true Protestant Religion than His Majesty's Fourth Proposition in which His readiness to consent to the execution of all Laws made and to any good Laws to be made for the suppressing of Popery His desire that the Laws already made to preserve the Common-Prayer from the scorn and violence of Sectaries be backt and fortified and His Offer at the same time that tender Consciences be eased by it are so clearly and carefully exprest and united or of the due execution of Justice than His Majesty's Fifth Proposition which refers all such Delinquents as should by the Treaters be excepted in the Pardon to the usual course and known Law of the Land or of the preservation of the publick Liberty and Property for His Majesty conceives that He hath a Property too without maintaining of which He will be never able to defend His Subjects than His First Second and Third or of the Peace of the Kingdom than His Sixth Proposition which by restoring His Subjects by a Cessation to a short Trial of the quiet and benefit of Peace would have rendered them so far in love with that almost-forgotten Happiness that seeing nothing demanded by them that was worth a War they would have had a hard work to have engaged them again into so unprofitable a Madness And His Majesty is so confident of His advantage in all these that He conjures His Subjects seriously to read consider and compare what He and what they demanded and by their indifferent Propositions to judge of their several Intentions And indeed the violent party both in the City and the Houses which for all the publick Fears and Jealousies they pretend inwardly and really are fearful and jealous of nothing so much as of Peace dislike nothing more in His Majesty's Propositions than the Moderation and suspecting that the reasonableness and unreasonableness of what His Majesty and what they askt would but too generally appear by the Discussion of both in a free and open Treaty and so might in despight of them produce a Peace earnestly and openly oppose the Treaty and so far oppose His Majesty's Proposition of Cessation that it sufficiently appeared by their aversion to the Shadow of Peace as themselves call it how much and how heartily they were averse to the Substance it self But when they found that they could perswade no Man to joyn with them in rejecting all imaginable manners of Treaty and Cessation that did not joyn with them in abhorring any imaginable manner of Peace they reserved their Authority to enable them to break off both upon somewhat more plausible difference in the Circumstances and Conditions A safe Conduct is demanded by the Houses and their first Art is to get the Lord Say named in that Demand for a Treater which they knew certainly he having born Arms against His Majesty and been excepted in one of His Proclamations of Pardon His Majesty must except against but when they could not perswade even both Houses who well remembred an example of no elder date than since His Majesty was at Colebrook when the same exception at the person of Sir John Evelyn was made by His Majesty and not excepted at by both Houses that this exception was so unparallel'd a breach of Priviledge as to deserve to hinder the Treaty from going on their next Arts are so to bound and limit their Committee both in the Matter Manner Time and Power as might wholly render it uneffectual And to that end they first obtain that their Committee should Treat with none but with His Majesty a Course which how lofty how advantagious and how unreasonable soever yet His Majesty out of His earnest desire of Peace contrary to their hopes and expectations was contented to admit and next obtain that they should not Treat upon any point but of the Cessation till that were concluded and for that allowed but four days and that at twice in hope that some matter of Advantage might happen in the time of that delay and allow them no Power without still sending to the Houses upon every occasion to conclude farther than the Papers they brought down or delivered or so much as to explain or new-word any thing in them a new and a strange way of Treating and by which at that distance it was wholly and plainly impossible that any thing should be concluded and when His Majesty had quitted all wherein Himself or His Army were solely concerned and yielded almost to all that they proposed and at last insisted upon nothing but that they might not make use of the leisure of their Army occasioned by this Cessation to force what Sums they would from what Countries they pleas'd for they neither would nor could name any other bound of their Taxes than their pleasure when they imputed that assertion to His Majesty and so extremely burthen His Subjects and advantage and enable themselves against His Majesty in contradiction to the Principle lay'd down by themselves and approved of by His Majesty That by the very nature of a Cessation matters should be preserved in the state they are in and neither party have liberty much to advantage himself nor yet insisted any further upon that neither than to leave room still for satisfaction if any Reason could be offered against so reasonable a Limitation by a continuance of the Treaty concerning it they vouchsafed Him no offer of any such Reason nor allowed their Committee any farther Time or Power to Treat concerning it without expressing any better cause for so abrupt an end of so important a Debate than to avoid the Wast of Time though His Majesty could not conceive that could be called a Wast or how time could be better spent than to settle such a degree of publick Peace as might reduce the minds of all Men
to such a Temper as might make a full Peace much more probable Nor did His Majesty find in the Treaty it self that the Committee were any better enabled though to avoid delay and that a Conclusion might be made possible His Majesty often desired it They were limited twice to four days and once to seven they were bounded to two Propositions and to their bare narrow Instructions concerning those nor had they so much as any Power or Instructions at all concerning that most important part of their own Proposition so often prest by themselves His Majesty's Return to His Parliament So that resolving as it will be afterward shewed they did to yield no farther to His Majesty's Proposition than with such Limitations as would in effect retain what they seemed to give up they expect that His Majesty should entirely yield to theirs without any Limitation and to invert their own words upon another occasion should yield to that which would have produced to them an absolute Victory and Submission under pretence of Agreement and Peace It being evident to all Men that His Rights forced from Him by Violence being not absolutely restored His Army being disbanded and He returned to London the Members of both Houses for dissenting from them and assisting of Him remaining expelled no security from Tumults for the rest of the Members being given and all good Subjects being totally discouraged by so absolute a Prevalence of the Factious and Rebellious His Majesty were as much in the disposal of the Five Members as if they had him in the Tower and He ought His Crown wholly to their Grace and Favour if they did not Depose Him And yet they would be thought to desire nothing in desiring that the Armies should be upon these Terms disbanded but only that the Kingdom might be eased of their Burthen and the spring of these Calamities might be stopped His Majesty demands That His own Revenue Magazine Towns Forts and Ships taken by Force be restored to Him The Revenue which they could easily pay back out of other Mens Purses they easily agree about but to part with such strengths which had and did help to enable them to leave no Subject any more of his Right than they had to the detaining of these they can by no means endure And therefore they propose such Limitations as in effect limit away all and yet may seem to the vulgar or to the careless not to signifie much to wit That these Strengths may be put into such hands as they will confide in and that no less than three years That the Commanders may during that time not admit of any Forces upon whatsoever occasion without Consent of the Houses and they and all Generals and Commanders of the Armies on either side may swear to preserve the Peace of the Kingdom against all Forces raised without consent of both Houses and this for no limited time His Majesty who had asked nothing but what was His by Law and who in order to Peace had not asked so much as by Law was due to Him to wit the punishment of those who had taken these things from Him could not but wonder to see such things asked of him to which by Law there was no Pretence He therefore endeavours to limit their Limitations to the Law of the Land He names those Persons to this Custody whom the Law had named first and exprest Himself most willing that they should be put out at the same door they came in at that the Law which had vested them might eject them if they had offended against it But expected not that the Injury done Him of taking these things from Him and them contrary to Law should be a reason why any new conditions or Limitations should be laid upon Him or His Ministers which the Law laid not To this the Committee replies not denying what the King asked to be legally His or to have been illegally taken from Him nor making any legal or so much as colourable or at all any Exceptions against the Persons legally vested in those Places and without any Cause shewed it would have ill become His Majesty to have devested His Servants of their Rights in the instant when some of them are venturing their Lives for his Service but retire to their old inaccessible Fort of Fears and Jealousies To this His Majesty rejoyns shews what he had done to prevent and destroy Fears and Jealousies in them intimates what they had done to create Fears and Jealousies in Him that having by Force taken these things from Him when He had them He had more Reason to have insisted upon further Security to inable him to keep them than simply to desire them to be returned to Him and much more than to grant them more hold of them to enable them the better to wrest them from Him again represents to them that by the same Reason upon the same ground they may ask Him all His Legal Power since all the Power vested in Princes for the necessary Protection of their Subjects may possibly be employed for their hurt and concludes in His Opinion with a very wholesome Advice against that dangerous and now too Epidemical Disease of Fears and Jealousies and prescribes to them to make the Law their Rule and Measure as the best Antidote and Cure for that Disease This insisting upon this Answer as His Majesty for these Reasons thought to be most reasonable so He likewise thought it most necessary First because themselves having told Him in the Debate about Cessation in the point of Ships that for them to allow Him the Approbation of Commanders was to give Him up the Strength He could not want Logick so much as not to draw this Conclusion from these Premises That for Him to allow them the Approbation of the Commanders both of Magazines Towns Forts and Ships was in that to give all back to them which they would seem to restore to Him Secondly because his Majesty by now consenting upon the ground of Jealousies to such Demands as exceed those which before they had joyned the injustice of forcing these things from Him to the unreasonableness of demanding them His Majesty in His weakest Condition denied to them He must appear to justifie those Jealousies to approve of those Demands and of that Injustice and to condemn Himself as guilty of the woful effects of that Contention for not having sooner consented to them Thirdly because He must condemn the Lords House of the same Crime for having twice refused to joyn in that demand and having had no Jealousies as long as they had no Tumults Fourthly because He must either quit during the lives of these several Persons required to be sworn and at least for three years when the Militia in their own Bill was asked but for two His known Right of sole raising Men and without the consent of both Houses even although no Parliament were sitting for the Bill that says it may continue does not say it
say they endeavour to take His Life who have shot at Him as often as He hath come within Cannon-shot of them and that the Treaty should not oblige them from taking any Town or Castle of His Majesty 's from Him and yet His Majesty be obliged by it neither to regain any of His Towns nor receive any of His own Castles that Sir William Waller may really take Malmesbury and Tukesbury and His Majesty must not so much as think of Scarborough or Bristol upon which City as His Majesty doth avow to have had a Design to recover it from the Rebels so He absolutely denies it to have been either bloody or barbarous Epithets which they are pleased to give it but for what reason He cannot imagine His Majesty abhorring all thought of what is printed at London That it was intended Man Woman and Child should have been all killed in that Town that had not such a Word or wore not such a Ribband though some Word or Mark might well be agreed on not with intention to kill all that had it not but that more particular care might be taken of their protection that had it not only from all danger but from all disrespect But the execution upon cold blood of some of the principal Citizens of that City for their Loyalty to His Majesty upon a single Order without the least colour of any Legal proceedings will appear to all men most barbarous and bloody and such a Murther as His Majesty must not leave unrevenged nor can His Subjects look upon otherwise than as purposely now committed to make Peace yet more impossible and as an earnest of that intolerable Arbitrary Government which they must always expect to suffer under if that Violent party should prevail Since therefore notwithstanding these frivolous Objections His Majesty's Desire of Peace by His earnestness for it both before and during and after the Treaty doth so fully appear and since their inclination to the contrary by their most earnest and utmost endeavours to hinder both the beginning continuance and renewing of the Treaty is no less evident since in the Treaty His Majesty's main aim was the immediate disbanding of the Armies and that Differences might be debated in a full and free Convention in Parliament and that to that end the Parliament might be restored to the natural and genuine Condition and all things only restored into that state wherein they were when the Houses were full and free since His Majesty ask'd nothing that they could deny to be due to Him by Law and His Majesty denied nothing that themselves could claim by Law to belong to them nor any one thing of that publick necessity or value as deserves the shedding of one drop of that Sea of Blood which will be spent in this unnatural natural Quarrel since His Majesty made the last most reasonable Proposition and they will never suffer it to be granted nor debated and three Messages of His Majesty's cannot obtain one Answer His Majesty hopes that the scales will now fall from the eyes of His most blindly-seduced Subjects and they will now be able do discern both their Duty and their Interest by so clear a Light that it will be no longer in the power of this Violent party to ingage them to be Wicked that they may be Miserable and by opposing Justice to destroy Peace And His Majesty doth most earnestly conjure those whose fault hath hitherto proceeded rather from want of heat than want of light who out of too much care of their private safety have been either lookers on or have at once dislik'd and countenanc'd these Courses that they at last rouze up their Courage to take part with their Conscience and fear to be Damned more than to be Plundred and consider that if they will desert and oppose that Party whom their Tameness only makes considerable and unite themselves with but half that industry to defend His Majesty and the Religion and Law establisht which the others use to destroy them all they may avoid the One and be in no danger of the Other their numbers being such that if they once but knew one another by meerly joyning to appear to think as they do they might speedily end this truly styled by them the worst kind of War both as it is of English against English and of Subjects against their Prince But if they shall still suffer themselves to be carried away with the Stream they will by that suffer the Power of the Violent party to take so deep a root by being seized of all the Arms Ships and strong places of the Kingdom that if they should happen to prevail in this War against His Majesty they will in despight not only of them but of their present Rulers if they should be willing to divert them extirpate the Law Root and Branch alter the whole frame of Government introduce Democracy Independence and Parity and leave neither King Church nor Gentleman And besides that they will then appear to themselves guilty of this intolerable Innovation which they have not timely enough opposed this Party will then forget that they did not oppose them at all and remember that they did assist them but a little will distinguish between those who assisted them out of Zeal and out of fear and who are now call'd Moderate they will then call Malignant and the Inequality Injustice and Oppression they will then indure will too late discover to them to their Costs that they have undone themselves with too much Discretion and obtain'd nothing by their unjustifiable cautious Compliance but to be destroyed last By the King A Proclamation warning all His MAJESTY'S good Subjects no longer to be misled by the Votes Orders and pretended Ordinances of one or both Houses by reason the Members do not enjoy the Freedom and Liberty of Parliament With His MAJESTY'S gracious offer of Pardon to the Members of both Houses and of Protection to such of them as shall repair to Him WHereas We have been long since driven by Force and Violence from Our Palace at Westminster the place of sitting for Us and Our two Houses of this Parliament so that We could not with safety of Our Life be present with Our great Council and much the greater part of the Members of both Houses of Parliament have been likewise driven by Tumults and Force for their safety from their Attendance upon that Council the said Members having been threatned and assaulted for delivering their Opinions freely in the Houses or have out of Conscience and Duty withdrawn themselves from being present at the Debates and Resolutions which they have well known to be so contrary to their Duty and Allegiance or for so withdrawing or for freely speaking in the Houses have been expelled or suspended from being Members of that Council contrary to the ancient Practice and just Privileges of Parliament since which time and by which means a great and Rebellious Army hath been raised against Us
We are to receive Advice for the Preservation of the Religion Laws and Safety of the Kingdom and as far as in Us lyes to restore it to its former Peace and Security Our chief and only end from those whom they have trusted though We cannot receive it in the place where We appointed And for the better encouragement of those Members of either House to resort to Us who may be conscious to themselves of having justly incurred Our Displeasure by submitting to or concurring in unlawful Actions and that all the World may see how willing and desirous We are to forget the Injuries and Indignities offered to Us and by an Union of English Hearts to prevent the lasting Miseries which this Foreign Invasion must bring upon this Kingdom We do offer a free and General Pardon to all the Members of either House who shall at or before the said twenty second day of January appear at Our City of Oxford and desire the same without Exceptions which considering the manifest Treasons committed against Us and the Condition We are now in improved by God's wonderful blessing to a better degree than We have enjoyed at any time since these Distractions is the greatest instance of Princely and Fatherly Care of Our People that can be expressed and which malice it self cannot suggest to proceed from any other Ground And therefore We hope and are confident that all such who upon this our gracious Invitation will not return to their Duty and Allegiance shall be no more thought Promoters of the Religion laws and liberty of the Kingdom which this way may be without doubt setled and secured but Persons engaged from the beginning out of their own Pride Malice and Ambition to bring Confusion and Desolation upon their Country and to that purpose having long since contrived the Design to invite and joyn with a Foreign Nation to ruine and extinguish their own and shall accordingly be pursued as the most desperate and malicious Enemies of the Kingdom And Our pleasure is That this Our Proclamation be read in all Churches and Chapels within this Our Kingdom and Dominion of Wales Given at Our Court at Oxford the two and twentieth day of December in the Nineteenth year of Our Reign 1643. God Save the KING MDCXLIII IV. A Letter from the Lords at Oxford and other Lords whose Names are subscribed to the Lords of the Privy-Council and the Conservators of the Peace of the Kingdom of Scotland Our very good Lords IF for no other Reason yet that Posterity may know we have done our Duties and not sate still while our Brethren of Scotland were transported with a dangerous and fatal mis-understanding that the Resolution now taken among them for an Expedition into England is agreeable to their obligation by the late Treaty and to the Wishes and Desires of this Kingdom expressed by the two Houses of Parliament we have thought it necessary to let your Lordships know That if we had dissented from that Act it could never have been made a Law And when you have examined and considered the Names of us who subscribe this Letter who we hope are too well known to your Lordships and to both Kingdoms to be suspected to want Affection to Religion or to the Laws and Liberties of our Country for the Defence and maintenance of which we shall always hold our Lives a cheap Sacrifice and when you are informed that the Earls of Arundel and Thanet and the Lords Stafford Stanhope Coventry Goring and Craven are in the parts beyond the Seas and the Earl of Chesterfield Westmorland and the Lord Mountague of Boughton under restraint at London for their Loyalty and Duty to His Majesty and the Kingdom your Lordships will easily conclude how very few now make up the Peers at Westminster there being in truth not above five and twenty Lords present or privy to those Councils or being absent consenting or concurring with them whereas the House of Peers consist of above one hundred besides Minors and Recusant Lords neither of which keep us company in this Address to your Lordships How we and the major part of the House of Commons come to be absent from thence is so notorious to all the World that we believe your Lordships cannot be strangers to it How several times during our sitting there Multitudes of the meanest sort of People with weapons not agreeing with their condition or custom in a manner very contrary and destructive to the privilege of Parliament fill'd up the way between both Houses offering Injuries both by words and actions to and laying violent hands upon several Members and crying out many Hours together against the established Laws in a most tumultuous and menacing way How no remedy would be submitted to for preventing those Tumults After which and other unlawful and unparliamentary Actions many things rejected and setled upon solemn debate in the House of Peers were again after many Threats and Menaces resumed altered and determined contrary to the Custom and Laws of Parliaments and so many of us withdrew ourselves from thence where we could not Sit Speak and Vote with Honour Freedom and Safety and are now kept from thence for our Duty and Loyalty to our Sovereign And we must therefore protest against any Invitation which hath been made to our Brethren of Scotland to enter this Kingdom with an Army the same being as much against the Desires as against the Duty of the Lords and Commons of England And we do conjure your Lordships by our common Allegiance and Subjection under one gracious Sovereign by the Amity and Affection between the two Nations by the Treaty of Pacification which by any such Act is absolutely dissolved and by all Obligations both Divine and Humane which can preserve Peace upon earth to use your utmost endeavours to prevent the effusion of so much Christian blood and the Confusion and Desolation which must follow the unjust Invasions of this Kingdom which we and we are confident all true English men must interpret as a Design of Conquest and to impose new Laws upon us And therefore your Lordships may be assured we shall not so far forget our own Interests and the Honour of our Nation as not to expose our Lives and Fortunes in the just and necessary defence of the Kingdom But if your Lordships in truth have any doubts or apprehensions that there now is or hereafter may be a purpose to infringe your Laws or Liberties from any Attempt of this Kingdom we do engage our Honours to your Lordships to be our selves most religious observers of the Act of Pacification and if the Breach and violation do not first begin within that Kingdom we are most confident you shall never have cause to complain of this And having thus far expressed Our selves to your Lordships we hope to receive such an Answer from you as may be a means to preserve a right understanding between the two Nations and lay an Obligation upon us to continue Your Lordships
Majesty having by His Proclamation of the 22. of December upon the occasion of the Invasion threatned and in part begun by some of His Subjects of Scotland summoned all the Members of both Houses of Parliament to attend him here at Oxford we whose Names are under-written are here met and Assembled in obedience to those His Majesty's Commands His Majesty was pleased to invite us in the said Proclamation by these gracious expressions That His Subjects should see how willing He was to receive Advice for the preservation of the Religion Laws and Safety of the Kingdom and as far as in Him lay to restore it to its former Peace and Security His chief and only end from those whom they had trusted though He could not receive it in the Place where He appointed This most gracious Invitation hath not only been made good unto us but seconded and heightned by such unquestionable Demonstrations of the deep and Princely sense which possesses His Royal Heart of the Miseries and Calamities of His poor Subjects in this unnatural War and of His most entire and passionate Affections to redeem them from that sad and deplorable condition by all ways possible consistent either with His Honour or with the future Safety of the Kingdom that as it were Impiety to question the Sincerity of them so were it great want of Duty and Faithfulness in us His Majesty having vouchsafed to declare that He did call us to be Witnesses of His Actions and privy to His Intentions should we not testifie and witness to all the World the assurance we have of the Piety and sincerity of both We being most entirely satisfied of this truth we cannot but confess that amidst our highest afflictions in the deep and piercing sense of the present Miseries and Desolations of our Country and those farther Dangers threatned from Scotland we are at length erected to some chearful and comfortable thoughts that possibly we may yet by God's Mercy if his Justice have not determined this Nation for its Sins to total Ruine and Desolation hope to be happy Instruments of our Countries Redemption from the Miseries of War and restitution to the Blessings of Peace And we being desirous to believe your Lordship howsoever ingaged a person likely to be sensibly touched with these considerations have thought fit to invite you to that part in this blessed Work which is only capable to repair all our misfortunes and to buoy up the Kingdom from Ruine that is by conjuring you by all the Obligations that have Power upon Honour Conscience or publick Piety that laying to heart as we do the inwardly-bleeding condition of your Country and the outward more menacing Destruction by a Foreign Nation upon the very point of invading it you will co-operate with us to its Preservation by truly representing to and faithfully and industriously promoving with those by whom you are trusted this following most sincere and most earnest desire of ours That they joyning with us in a right sense of the past present and more threatning Calamities of this deplorable Kingdom some persons be appointed on either part and a place agreed on to treat of such a Peace as may yet redeem it from the brink of Desolation This Address we should not have made but that His Majesty's Summons by which we are met most graciously proclaiming Pardon to all without exception is evidence enough that His Mercy and Clemency can transcend all former Provocations and that He hath not only made us witnesses of His Princely Intentions but honoured us also with the name of being Security for them God Almighty direct your Lordship and those to whom you shall present these our most real desires in such a course as may produce that happy Peace and Settlement of the present Distractions which is so heartily desired and prayed for by us and which may make us Your c. From Oxford the 27. of Jan. 1643. We are not ashamed of that earnest meek and Christian request we made in that Letter though it was cryed through London Streets in scorn as the Petition of the Prince and Duke of York for Peace and we thought it would have prevailed to have procured a Treaty for so blessed a thing as Peace and for such an end as redeeming the Kingdom from Desolation the only desire of that our Letter But instead of a compliance with us in this Christian work of Treaty and Accommodation we received a mere frivolous Answer or rather a paper of Scorn in form of a Letter directed to the Earl of Forth wherein was inclosed a Printed paper called A National Covenant of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland and two other Papers in writing one called A Declaration of both those Kingdoms and the other A Declaration of the Kingdom of Scotland Pamphlets full of Treason Sedition and Disloyalty which being publick and needless here to be inserted the Copy of the Letter hereafter followeth My Lord I Received this day a Letter of the nine and twentieth of this instant from your Lordship and a Parchment subscribed by the Prince Duke of York and divers other Lords and Gentlemen but it neither having Address to the two Houses of Parliament nor therein there being any acknowledgment of them I could not communicate it to them My Lord the maintenance of the Parliament of England and of the Privileges thereof is that for which we are all resolved to spend our blood as being the foundation whereupon all our Laws and Liberties are built I send your Lordship herewith a National Covenant solemnly entred into by both the Kingdoms of England and Scotland and a Declaration passed by them both together with another Declaration of the Kingdom of Scotland I rest Your Lordships humble Servant Essex Essex-House Jan. 30. 1643. Whosoever considers this Letter will easily find it was fully understood to whom ours was desired to be communicated under the expression of those by whom their General was trusted And although it be pretended because there was no Address to the two Houses of Parliament nor ackuowledgment of them it could not be communicated to them it is notoriously known he did so far impart it that a Committee of theirs advised the Answer and it appears by the penning they all concurred in the resolution therein mentioned whereby it is evident that this was but an excuse framed to avoid a Treaty And what could that printed Covenant and two Declarations enclosed signifie but to let us know that before we come to any Treaty we must also joyn in that Covenant with them for the absolute extirpation of Church-Government here without nay though against the Kings Consent submit the Lives Liberties and Estates of us and all those who according to their Allegiance have assisted His Majesty to their Mercy and admit and justifie the Invasion from Scotland according to the plain sense of their Declaration which all indifferent Men will think strange Preparatives to a Treaty for Peace and after such
what business soever without leave from the Earl of Essex in pursuance of which Order though the same passed only the Commons a sworn Messenger of His Majesty's hath been barbarously put to death for carrying a Legal Writ to London we thought any address for Peace would most successfully pass through His hands and that when we had considered how unhappily he had been made an Instrument of so much Blood and Devastation he would with great chearfulness have interposed in a business of Reconciliation and at least have met us half way in so blessed a Work and therefore with His Majesty's leave which He most readily and graciously gave us and for which we doubt not He shall receive the Thanks and Prayers of all His good Subjects we direct a Letter to that purpose to him signed under our hands Whosoever reads that Letter and we hope it will be read by all men will bear us witness and it will be a Witness against those who have rejected it that we have done our parts In stead of vouchsafing us any Answer or proposing us any other way towards Peace if that which we proposed was not thought convenient he writes a short Letter to the Earl of Forth General of His Majesty's Army acknowledging the receipt of ours but saying that it neither having Address to the two Houses of Parliament nor therein there being any acknowledgement of them he could not Communicate it to them whereas the Address was in the way prescribed prescribed under pain of Death no Address being allowed as aforesaid but by the Earl of Essex and he being desired to represent to and promove with those by whom he is trusted our most sincere and earnest desire of a Treaty so that if there had been the least inclination to or enduring of an Overture of Peace he might have as easily communicated it to all those by whom he is instrusted as to a Committee by whose Advice 't is well known his Answer was sent and with it and as part of it a Paper intituled The Declaration of the Kingdom of Scotland and A Declaration of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland and another A solemn League and Covenant the Declarations and Covenant being against the King of both Kingdoms without the consent of and against the major part of the Nobility and we are confident the Gentry and Commonalty of This. And if his Lordship would make good his own Letter and spend his Blood or but use his endeavour for the maintenance of the Parliament of England being indeed the foundation whereupon all Our Laws and Liberties are supported we should not Treat at this distance at least a Treaty would not have been rejected We suffered not Our Selves to be discouraged with this refusal but a safe Conduct was desired for two Gentlemen against whom there neither was nor could be the least exception to go to Westminster to present such Propositions as might best conduce to the Peace of the Kingdom conceiving that by such means our meaning and intentions might best appear and all formalities and unnecessary insisting and mistakes upon words might be removed This safe Conduct which hath never been denied by His Majesty or His Generals to any person who hath desired to have admittance to Him was likewise absolutely refused by the Earl of Essex yet with some expressions That if any Propositions should be sent to those by whom he was intrusted he would use his utmost endeavours to advance the Peace which though it seem'd nothing agreeable to his former Answers obtained yet so much credit with us that we besought His Majesty once more in His own Royal Name to press and desire a Treaty and to direct His Message under such a Title that they who call themselves the two Houses of Parliament could not take any Exception but should be compelled to return some Answer or other And an Answer it hath drawn from them but such an one as will sufficiently inform the World if there could yet have remained any doubt of it how much they are Enemies to Peace Those Answers Declarations and that Covenant are likewise publick to all men God and the World must judge between us In the mean time we must without bitterness or sharpness of Language to which neither example or provocation shall transport us tell these men That most of us are too well known even to themselves to be suspected to incline to be either Papists or Slaves or that we can possibly be made Instruments to advance either Popery or Tyranny And since the defence of the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom seems to be and in truth is on our part the Argument of this bloody Contention and that we are endeavouring all ways to destroy one another in the behalf of that we all do or all pretend to desire we think our selves obliged to Truth to the present Age and to Posterity to let the World know That as we are much more tender of the Religion Laws and Liberty of the Kingdom than of our Lives and Fortunes so the uneasie Condition wherein we are and the heavy Judgments and Proscriptions imposed on us by our Equals have proceeded and been caused from that Conscience Loyalty and Duty in which we have been Born and Bred and from which we could not swerve without the manifest breach of our Allegiance and those civil Oaths we are obliged by As we hope will appear to all men by this our ensuing Declaration We shall pass over only acknowledging His Majesty's abundant care and favour to His People those excellent Laws made this Parliament for the vindication and removal of those Mischiefs and Inconveniences which seemed to threaten our Rights and Liberty to all which there are very few amongst us who concurred not fully however we are now traduced with the negligence of both and that most gracious Offer of His Majesty to consent to an Act for the ease of tender Consciences in matters indifferent which if it had been accepted would have prevented many of the Miseries have since besallen this poor Kingdom And because the Name and Privilege of Parliament is pretended in defence of those Actions which are done contrary to the known Laws by which only Right and Wrong can be measured and determined and by that venerable Name many of our Companions and Friends have been led into unwarrantable Actions before we come to consider the state and condition of the Religion Laws and Liberty of the Kingdom by these Distractions we shall let the World know how much the inherent and essential Privileges of Parliament have been violated how we being called by His Majesty and trusted by our Country with their Suffrages in that Council hath been driven and are now kept from the place whither we were first called by His Majesty and where some Members still sit and lastly how far this miserable and to say no more this unjustifiable Civil War and this desperate and odious Invasion of a
County of Surrey directed to the House of Peers concluded with this close That they should be in duty obliged to mantain their Lordships so far as they should be united with the House of Commons in their just and pious proceedings sufficiently intimating that if they joyned not with the House of Commons they then meant as much as others had plainly professed About the same time a Citizen saying at the Bar of the House of Commons That they heard there were Lords who refused to consent and concur with them and that they would gladly know their names or words to that effect a Petition in the name of many thousand poor People in and about the City of London was directed to the House of Commons taking notice of a malignant Faction that made abortive all their good motions which tended to the Peace and Tranquillity of this Kingdom desiring that those noble Worthies of the House of Peers who concurred with them in their happy Votes might be earnestly desired to joyn with that Honourable House and to sit and Vote together as one entire body and professing that unless some speedy remedy were taken for the removing all such Obstructions as hindred the happy progress of their great Endeavours their Petitioners should not rest in quietness but should be forced to lay hold on the next remedy which was at hand to remove the disturbers of the Peace and Want and necessity breaking the bounds of Modesty not to leave any means unessayed for their relief lastly adding that the cry of the poor and needy was that such Persons who were the obstacles of their Peace and the hinderers of the happy proceedings of this Parliament might be forthwith publickly declared whose removal they conceived would put a period to those Distractions And this Petition was brought up to the House of Lords by the House of Commons at a Conference And after the same day Master Hollis a Member of the House of Commons in a Message from that House pressed the Lords at their Bar to joyn with the House of Commons in their desire about the Militia and farther with many other expressions of like nature desired in words to this effect That if that desire of the House of Commons were not assented unto those Lords who were willing to concur would find some means to make themselves known that it might be known who were against them and they might make it known to those that sent them After which Petition so strangely framed countenanced and seconded many Lords thereupon withdrawing themselves the Vote in order to the Militia twice before rejected was then passed After these and other unparliamentary Actions many things rejected and settled upon solemn debate were again after many Threats and Menaces resumed altered and determined contrary to the Custom and Laws of Parliament And so many of us withdrew our selves from thence where we could not Sit Speak and Vote with Honour Freedom and Safety and are now kept from thence for our Duty and Loyalty to our Sovereign And though some of us Sate and continued there long after this hoping that we might have been able to have prevented the growth and progress of farther Mischief yet since the Privilege of Parliament is so substantial and entire a Right that as the Invasion of the Liberties of either House is an injury to the other and the whole Kingdom so the Violence and Assaults upon any of our fellow-Members for expressing their opinions in matters of debate were instances to us what we were to look for when we should be known to dissent from what was expected and under that consideration every one of our just Liberties suffered violation Many of us for these and other reasons after His Majesty Himself was by many Indignities and Force driven from Westminster have been contrary to the Right and Freedom of Parliament Voted out of the House without committing any Crime and some of us without hearing or so much as being summoned to be heard and so our Countries for which we were and are trusted have been without any Proxies or Persons trusted on their behalf An Army hath been raised without and against His Majesty's Consent and a Protestation enjoyned to live and die with the Earl of Essex their General of that Army and a Member now amongst us refusing to take that Protestation was told That if he left not the Town speedily he should be committed to the Tower or knocked on the head by the Souldiers All Persons even the Members of both Houses have been and now are forced or injoyned to contribute for the maintenance and support of that Army A trayterous Covenant is since taken by the Members who remain and imposed upon the Kingdom That they will to their power assist the Forces raised and continued by both Houses of Parliament against the Forces raised by the King with many other Clauses directly contrary to their Allegiance and another for the alteration of the Covenant of the Church established by Law and such Members as have refused according to their Duty and Conscience to take those Covenants have been imprisoned or expelled so as they have suffered none to reside with them but those who are engaged with them in their desperate courses The whole Power and Authority of both Houses is delegated against the Law and nature of Parliament to a close Committee which assumes and usurps the Power of King Lords and Commons disposes of the Persons Liberties and Estates of us and our fellow-Subjects without so much as communicating their Resolutions to those that sit in the Houses And when an Order hath been reported to be confirmed by them it hath been only put to the Question no debates being suffered it having been said in the House where the Commons sit to those who have excepted against such an Order when presented That they were only to Vote not to dispute and thereupon all Argument and contradiction hath been taken away And to shew how impossible it is to contain themselves within any bond of civility and humanity when they have forfeited their Allegiance after the attempt in a most barbarous manner to murther the Queens Majesty at Her landing at Burlington by making many great shot at the house where She lodged for Her repose after a long Voyage by Sea where by God's blessing it was disappointed they impeached Her of High Treason for assisting the King Her Husband and the Kingdom in their greatest necessities All Petitions and Addresses for Peace have been with great Art and Vehemence discountenanced and suppressed whilst others for Sedition and Discord have with no less industry and passion been promoted And when the Members of the House of Commons in August last had agreed upon a long and solemn debate to joyn with the Lords in sending Propositions of Peace to His Majesty the next day printed Papers were scattered in the Streets and fix'd upon the publick places both in the City and Suburbs requiring all Persons
Parliament as they had upon the first of January 1641. the same of right belonging unto them by their Birth-rights and the free Election of those that sent them and having been Voted from them for adhering to His Majesty in these Distractions His Majesty not intending that this should extend either to the Bishops whose Votes have been taken away by Bill or to such in whose places upon new Writs new Elections have been made 3. As soon as His Majesty and both Houses may be secured from such tumultuous Assemblies as to the great breach of the Privileges and the high Dishonour of Parliaments have formerly assembled about both Houses and awed the Members of the same and occasioned two several complaints from the Lords House and two several desires of that House to the House of Commons to joyn in a Declaration against them the complying with which desire might have prevented all these miserable Distractions which have ensued which Security His Majesty conceives can be only settled by Adjourning the Parliament to some other place at the least twenty Miles from London the choice of which His Majesty leaves to both Houses His Majesty will most chearfully and readily consent that both Armies be immediately disbanded and give a present meeting to both His Houses of Parliament at the time and place at and to which the Parliament shall be agreed to be Adjourned His Majesty being most confident that the Law will then recover the due credit and estimation and that upon a free debate in a full and peaceable Convention of Parliament such Provisions will be made against Seditious Preaching and Printing against His Majesty and the established Laws which hath been one of the chief causes of the present Distractions and such care will be taken concerning the Legal and known Rights of His Majesty and the Property and Liberty of His Subjects that whatsoever hath been published or done in or by colour of any illegal Declaration Ordinance or Order of one or both Houses or any Committee of either of them and particularly the Power to raise Arms without His Majesty's Consent will be in such manner recalled disclaimed and provided against that no seed will remain for the like to spring out of for the future to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and to endanger the very Being of it And in such a Convention His Majesty is resolved by His readiness to consent to whatsoever shall be proposed to Him by Bill for the Real good of His Subjects and particularly for the better discovery and speedier conviction of Recusants for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion for the prevention of practices of Papists against the State and the due execution of the Laws and true levying of the Penalties against them to make known to all the World how causeless those fears and jealousies have been which have been raised against Him and by that so distracted this miserable Kingdom And if this Offer of His Majesty be not consented to in which He asks nothing for which there is not apparent Justice on His side and in which He defers many things highly concerning both Himself and People till a full and peaceable Convention of Parliament which in Justice He might now require His Majesty is confident that it will then appear to all the World not only who is most desirous of Peace and whose fault it is that both Armies are not now disbanded but who have been the true and first cause that this Peace was ever interrupted or these Armies raised and the beginning or continuance of the War and the Destruction and Desolation of this poor Kingdom which is too likely to ensue will not by the most interessed passionate or prejudicate Person be imputed to His Majesty His MAJESTY'S Message to both Houses May 19. in pursuance of the foregoing Message SInce His Majesty's Message of the twelfth of April in which he conceived He had made such an Overture for the immediate Disbanding of all Armies and Composure of these present miserable Distractions by a full and free Convention in Parliament that a perfect and settled Peace would have ensued hath in all this time above a full Month procured no Answer from both Houses His Majesty might well believe Himself absolved before God and Man from the least possible Charge of not having used His utmost endeavour for Peace Yet when He considers that the Scene of all this Calamity is in the Bowels of His own Kingdom that all the Blood which is spilt is of His own Subjects and that what Victory soever it shall please God to give Him must be over those who ought not to have lifted up their hands against Him when He considers that these desperate civil Dissentions may encourage and invite a Foreign Enemy to make a Prey of the whole Nation that Ireland is in present danger to be totally lost that the heavy Judgments of God Plague Pestilence and Famine will be the inevitable Attendants of this unnatural Contention and that in a short time there will be so general a habit of uncharitableness and Cruelty contracted throughout the Kingdom that even Peace it self will not restore His People to their old Temper and Security His Majesty cannot but again call for an Answer to that His Message which gives so fair a Rise to end these unnatural Distractions And His Majesty doth this with the more earnestness because He doubts not the condition of His Armies in several parts His strength of Horse Foot and Artillery His plenty of Ammunition which some Men lately might conceive He wanted is so well known and understood that it must be confessed that nothing but the Tenderness and Love to His People and those Christian Impressions which always have and He hopes always shall dwell in His heart could move Him once more to hazard a Refusal And He requires them as they will answer to God to Himself and all the World That they will no longer suffer their fellow-Subjects to welter in each others Blood that they will remember by whose Authority and to what end they met in that Council and send such an Answer to His Majesty as may open a door to let in a firm Peace and Security to the whole Kingdom If His Majesty shall again be disappointed of His Intentions herein the Blood Rapine and Distraction which must follow in England and Ireland will be cast upon the Account of those who are deaf to the motion of Peace and Accommodation CHARLES R. May 19. 1643. OUR express Pleasure is That this Declaration of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford be read by the Parson Vicar or Curate in every Church and Chapel within Our Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales MDCXLIV April 15. The Petition of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford Presented to His MAJESTY the day before the Recess And His MAJESTY'S Gracious Answer to the same To the Kings most excellent
Southampton the Earl of Kingston the Earl of Chichester the Lord Capell the Lord Seymour the Lord Hatton the Lord Culpeper Secretary Nicholas Master Chancellor of the Exchequer the Lord Chief Baron Lane Sir Orlando Bridgeman Sir Thomas Gardiner M. John Ashburnham M. Jeffrey Palmer together with Dr. Steward Clerk of His Majesty's Closet upon the Propositions concerning Religion to meet with the persons mentioned in the said Message at Vxbridge on Wednesday night the 29 th of this instant January the Treaty to begin the next day which persons or any Ten of them shall be sufficiently authorized by His Majesty to Treat and conclude on His Majesty's part And to the end that the persons aforesaid and their Retinue may repair to Vxbridge stay there and return at their pleasure without interruption or go or send during their abode there to His Majesty as often as occasion shall require His Majesty desires that a safe Conduct may accordingly be sent for the said persons and their Retinue according to a List of their names herewith sent And then also inclosed in a Letter from Prince Rupert to the Earl of Essex His Majesty sent Propositions to be Treated upon on His Majesty's part which Letter and Propositions follow My Lord I Am commanded by His Majesty to send these enclosed Propositions to your Lordship to be presented to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland to the end that there may be as little loss of time as is possible but that the same may be treated on as soon as may be thought convenient after the entry upon the Treaty His MAJESTY'S Propositions to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland for a safe and well-grounded Peace I. THAT His Majesty's own Revenue Magazines Towns Forts and Ships which have been taken or kept from Him by force be forthwith restored unto Him II. That whatsoever hath been done or published contrary to the known Laws of the Land or derogatory to His Majesty's Legal and known Power and Rights be renounced and recalled that no seed may remain for the like to spring out of for the future III. That whatsoever illegal Power hath been claimed or exercised by or over His Subjects as Imprisoning or putting to Death their Persons without Law stopping their Corpus's and imposing upon their Estates without Act of Parliament c. either by both or either House or any Committee of both or either or by any Persons appointed by any of them be disclaimed and all such persons so committed forthwith discharged IV. That as His Majesty hath always professed His readiness to that purpose so He will most chearfully consent to any good Acts to be made for the suppression of Popery and for the firmer settling of the Protestant Religion established by Law as also that a good Bill may be framed for the better preserving of the Book of Common-Prayer from scorn and violence and that another Bill may be framed for the ease of tender Consciences in such particulars as shall be agreed upon For all which His Majesty conceives the best expedient to be that a National Synod be legally called with all convenient speed V. That all such persons as upon the Treaty shall be excepted and agreed upon on either side out of the General Pardon shall be tried per Pares according to the usual course and known Law of the Land and that it be left to that either to acquit or condemn them VI. And to the intent this Treaty may not suffer interruption by any intervening Accidents that a Cessation of Arms and free Trade for all His Majesty's Subjects may be agreed upon with all possible speed Given at the Court at Oxford the 21th day of Jan. 1644. The Earl of Essex upon receipt hereof returned to Prince Rupert together with a safe Conduct this Letter of the 25. of January Sir I AM commanded by both Houses of the Parliament of England and desired by the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland to desire Your Highness to let His Majesty know That they do agree that their Committees do begin the Treaty at Vxbridge on Thursday the 30 th of this January with the Persons appointed by His Majesty on the matters contained in the Propositions lately sent unto His Majesty in such manner as was proposed And their Committees shall have Instructions concerning the Propositions sent from His Majesty in your Highness Letter And you will herewith receive a safe Conduct from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England for the Persons that are appointed by His Majesty to come to Vxbridge to Treat on the Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace with their Retinue in a List hereunto annexed Sir I am Your Highness humble Servant Essex Westminster 25. Jan. 1644. Thursday the 30th of January all the Commissioners named by His Majesty and Commissioners named by the two Houses of Parliament in England and the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland did meet at Uxbridge where their Commissions were mutually delivered in and read and are as followeth His MAJESTY'S Commission CHARLES R. VVHereas after several Messages sent by Us to the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster expressing Our desires of Peace certain Propositions were sent from them and brought unto Us at Oxford in November last by the Earl of Denbigh and others and upon our Answers Messages and Propositions to them and their Returns to Us it is now agreed That there shall be a Treaty for a safe and well grounded Peace to begin at Vxbridge on Thursday the 30 th of this instant January as by the said Propositions Answers Messages and Returns in writing may more fully appear We do therefore hereby appoint assign and constitute James Duke of Richmond and Lenox William Marquess of Hartford Thomas Earl of Southampton Henry Earl of Kingston Francis Earl of Chichester Francis Lord Seymour Arthur Lord Capell Christopher Lord Hatton John Lord Culpeper Sir Edward Nicholas Knight one of Our principal Secretaries of State Sir Edward Hyde Knight Chancellour and Under-Treasurer of Our Exchequer Sir Richard Lane chief Baron of Our said Exchequer Sir Thomas Gardiner Sir Orlando Bridgeman Mr. John Ashburnham and Mr. Jeffrey Palmer together with Doctor Richard Steward upon these Propositions concerning Religion to be Our Commissioners touching the premises and do hereby give unto them and to any Ten or more of them full power and authority to meet and on Our part to Treat with Algernon Earl of Northumberland Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Bafil Earl of Denbigh Thomas Lord Viscount Wenman Denzil Hollis William Pierrepont Esquires Sir Henry Vane the younger Knight Oliver St. John Bulstrode Whitelock John Crew and Edmund Prideaux Esquires for the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and
from His Majesty's Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both His Kingdoms are mentioned to be sent to His Majesty from the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster and upon His Majesty's Answers Messages and Propositions to them and their Returns to His Majesty that a Treaty is to begin and wherein we also observe you have no Power thereby to Treat upon the Propositions sent to His Majesty from His humble and Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms and the Answers Messages and Propositions sent from His Majesty to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland then at London and their Returns to His Majesty We desire those defects may be cleared and speedily amended The King's Commissioners Answer 31. January VVE conceive our Power being to Treat upon the Propositions brought by the Earl of Denbigh and others and those Propositions being sent from the Parliaments of both Kingdoms there need no mention of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms in that place but that our Power is ample to Treat with your Lordships upon the whole both by express words and by other general words in the Commission which give power to Treat upon those Propositions or any other which general words are not observed by your Lordships in your Paper and our Power is to Treat with the Lords and others authorized for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland by name yet since you insist upon it it shall be altered by Tuesday next And in the mean time if your Lordships please we desire the Papers promised yesterday in the Paper delivered by the Earl of Northumberland may be delivered unto us that there may be as little loss of time as may be Their Reply 31. January IN Answer to your Lordships Paper concerning your power to Treat we are content to proceed in the Treaty with your Lordships in expectation that the Defects mentioned by us in our Paper shall be supplied by Tuesday next On Munday the third of February the King's Commissioners did deliver their Commission renewed as followeth CHARLES R. VVHereas certain Propositions were sent unto Us from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and from the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland which were brought unto Us at Oxford in November last by the Earl of Denbigh and others and upon Our Answers c. as followeth verbatim in His Majesty's former Commission Touching the Manner of the Treaty The King's Commissioners Paper 31. January WE desire to the end there may be a greater freedom in debate which we conceive will much conduce to the happy conclusion of this Treaty that nothing may be understood to be concluded on either side but what is delivered in writing according as your Lordships have begun And we declare That what shall be delivered in writing upon any Proposition or upon any part of a Proposition is not to be binding or prejudicial to either Party if the Treaty break off upon any other Proposition or part of any other Proposition Their Answer 31. Jan. WE shall deliver our demands and Answers in writing and desire your Lordships to do the like The King's Commissioners Reply 1. February WE desire a full Answer of our Paper that nothing shall be taken as agreed upon but what is put in writing and your Concurrence in declaring That what shall be delivered in writing upon any Proposition or upon any part of a Proposition shall not be binding or prejudicial to either Party if the Treaty break off Their further Answer 1. February ACcording to our former Paper we shall deliver our Demands and Answers in writing and we desire your Lordships to do the like and nothing shall be taken as agreed upon but what is put in writing And we shall acquaint the Houses of Parliament that you have declared what shall be delivered in writing upon any Proposition or upon any part of a Proposition is not to be binding or prejudicial to either Party if the Treaty break off 3. February IN Answer to Your Lordships Paper formerly delivered we do declare that what shall be delivered in writing upon any Proposition or upon any part of a Proposition is not to be binding or prejudicial to either Party if the Treaty break off upon any other Propositions or part of any Proposition Touching the Seditious Sermon The King's Commissioners Paper 31. January WE have certain Information from divers Persons present in Vxbridge Church yesterday that there was then a Sermon preached by one Mr. Love in which were many passages very Scandalous to His Majesty's Person and derogatory to His Honour stirring up the People against this Treaty and incensing them against us telling them That we come with hearts full of Blood and that there is as great distance between this Treaty and Peace as between Heaven and Hell or words to that effect with divers other Seditious passages both against His Majesty and this Treaty We know His Majesty's hearty desire of a happy and well-grounded Peace such as may be for Gods Honour and the good of all His Subjects as well as Himself and we that are entrusted by His Commission come with clear Intentions to serve Him in it according to our Consciences and the best of our Judgments And this being preached in your Quarters where we are now under safe Conduct we desire your Lordships to consider how much this may reflect upon our Safety how much it may prejudice and blast the blessed hopes of this Treaty and how just offence and distrust it may beget in His Majesty And therefore we desire Justice against the Man that he may have exemplary Punishment Their Answer 31. Jan. TO the Paper delivered in by your Lordships this day concerning the Information received of several Scandalous passages preached in a Sermon in Vxbridge Church by one Master Love we do return this Answer That the said Master Love is none of our Retinue nor came hither by any privity of ours That we conceive it most reasonable and agreeable to the business we are now upon that all just occasions of Offence on either part be avoided and as it hath been our desire so it shall be our endeavour to take the best care we can to prevent all prejudices upon the present Treaty which may blast the blessed hopes thereof or may beget any just offence and distrust in His Majesty and shall be as tender of the Safety of your Lordships Persons according to the safe Conduct as of our own We shall represent your Lordships Paper concerning this business if your Lordships so desire unto the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England who will proceed therein according to Justice The King's Commissioners Reply 1. February VVE insist upon our former desire concerning the Sermon preached by Mr. Love and must refer the way of doing Justice to your Lordships and if
be seasonable to give any Answer concerning the Time And we are ready to confer with your Lordships upon what shall be offered by you to our Paper concerning the Militia formerly delivered The King's Commissioners Reply 4. February VVE are of opinion that the Propositions in your Lordships Paper contain the Alterations mentioned in the Paper we lately delivered to your Lordships and take by express words or necessary consequence the whole Military and Civil Power out of the Crown which Alterations we are ready to make appear in Debate And the Alterations being so great we have reason to desire to know the limitation of Time the consideration of which makes the Propositions more or less reasonable The King's Commissioners second Paper 4. Feb. VVE desire to know who the Commissioners shall be in whose hands the Forces by Sea and Land shall be entrusted and whether you intend His Majesty shall be obliged to consent to such Persons or whether He may except against them and name others in their places of known affection to Religion and Peace Their Answer 4. February THE Commissioners in whose hands the Forces by Sea and Land shall be entrusted are to be nominated for England by both the Houses of the Parliament of England and for Scotland by the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland as is expressed in our Paper formerly delivered to your Lordships concerning the Militia The King's Commissioners Reply 4. Feb. VVE desire a full Answer to our Paper concerning the Persons to be entrusted with the Militia it being very necessary to know the Persons before consent can be given to the matter and whether His Majesty may except against any such persons and nominate others in their rooms against whom there can be no just exception The King's Commissioners third Paper 4. Feb. VVE desire to know whether your Lordships intend that the Militia of the City of London shall be independent and not subordinate to those Commissioners in whose hands the Forces by Sea and Land shall be entrusted Their Answer 4. Feb. IT appears by the Propositions concerning the Militia of the City of London that the same is to be ordered in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament The King's Commissioners Reply 4. February WE desire an Answer to our Paper concerning the Militia of the City of London whether the same shall be subordinate to the Commissioners in whose hands the Forces by Sea and Land are to be intrusted your Lordships Answer that the same is to be ordered in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament which yet doth not appear by the Propositions being no Answer to the Question The King's Commissioners Paper 5. Feb. HAving with great diligence perused your Lordships Paper concerning the Militia and being very desirous to come to as speedy a conclusion in that Argument as we can we will be ready to morrow to give your Lordships our full Answer which we are confident will give your Lordships satisfaction concerning the matter of the Militia of this Kingdom The King's Commissioners Paper in Answer to the Propositions concerning the Militia 6. February TO suppress any Forces that may be raised to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdom or that shall invade this Kingdom and to preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbances of the publick Peace that may arise by occasion of the late Troubles and that His Majesty and all His People may be secured from the Jealousies and Apprehensions they may have of Danger we do consent that all the Forces of the Kingdom both by Sea and Land shall be put into the hands of Persons of known faithfulness to the Religion and Peace of the Kingdom in such manner and for such time as hereafter mentioned That the number of those Persons be Twenty or if that be not accepted by your Lordships such greater or lesser number as shall be agreed upon between us and that His Majesty may name half the persons to be so entrusted and the two Houses the other half That such Forts and Towns in which Garrisons have been before these Troubles and such other as shall be agreed upon between us to be necessary for a time to be kept as Garrisons shall be entrusted likewise to persons to be chosen by the Commissioners or the major part of them to be subordinate to the said Commissioners and to receive orders from them and no others And all other places which have been fortified since the beginning of these Troubles shall be left as they were before and the Fortifications and Works slighted and demolished and all Forces with all possible expedition to be disbanded that the Kingdom may be eased of that intolerable burthen That an Act of Parliament shall be passed for the raising of such Moneys for the maintenance of the Navy and Sea-Forces as His Majesty and both Houses shall think fit That when any of the said Commissioners shall dye who was nominated by His Majesty His Majesty shall name another and when any shall dye of those named by the two Houses another shall be chosen by them and in the Intervals of Parliament by the major part of the said Commissioners named by the two Houses and neither the one nor the other to be removed but by the joynt consent of His Majesty and both Houses except it shall be desired by your Lordships that His Majesty and the two Houses respectively may remove the respective persons named by them as often as they shall see occasion to which if it shall be insisted on we shall consent These Commissioners or the major part of them or such other number of them as shall be aggreed upon shall have Power by Act of Parliament to suppress any Forces raised sitting a Parliament without the joynt consent of His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliament without consent of the said Commissioners or the major part of them to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdom and to suppress any Forces that shall invade the Kingdom And it shall be high Treason in any who shall levy any Forces without such Authority or consent to the disturbance of the publick Peace That they shall have like Power to preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbances of the publick Peace that may arise by occasion of the late Troubles And if any Forces shall be brought into the Kingdom without the joynt Consent of the King and the two Houses of Parliament it shall be lawful for any four of the said Commissioners to levy Forces for the supppressing resisting and destroying of the said Forces so brought in We are content that this Power to such Persons shall continue for the space of three years which we doubt not but by the blessing of God will be abundantly sufficient to secure all Persons from their Doubts and Fears and in which
already settled by the Laws of that Kingdom Their Answer thereunto 15. February TO your Lordships fourth Paper of the 14. of Feb. it is answered that by our Propositions for settling the Admiralty of Scotland by Act of Parliament it is intended that the Admiralty and Forces at Sea c. shall be settled in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fittest for the safety and security of that Kingdom And as touching the inheritance of any person which is already settled by the Laws of that Kingdom the Estates of Parliament will do that which is agreeable to Justice The King's Commissioners Paper 15. February VVE desire to know whether the Papers delivered to us touching the Militia contain all your Lordships Propositions touching the Militia of England and Scotland and if they do not that your Lordships will deliver the rest that we may make our Answers upon the whole Their Answer 15. Feb. VVHatsoever is contained in the Propositions concerning the Militia of England and Scotland is delivered in to your Lordships except the 23. Proposition and the last Article in the 26. Proposition which are reserved for their proper place After all these passages the King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper in further Answer to their Propositions concerning the Militia 17. Feb. VVE had no purpose in our Answer delivered by us to your Lordships on the sixth day of February to divide our Answers concerning the Militia of the two Kingdoms otherwise than in point of time and till we might receive satisfaction from your Lordships concerning the Powers to be given to the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and the other particulars mentioned in our Papers since delivered to your Lordships wherein we are not as yet satisfied by any Papers delivered by your Lordships to us Our further Answer to those Propositions concerning the Militia is That we are willing and do agree that the like course shall be taken and observed touching the Militia of the Kingdom of Scotland as is offered in our said Paper of the sixth of February and as shall be hereafter agreed on for the Kingdom of England which we conceive to be a full security for the performance and observation of all Articles which shall be agreed upon between us in order to a blessed Peace which we are so desirous may be punctually and exactly observed that we are willing that His Majesty be desired to take a most solemn strict Oath for the full observation thereof and likewise that all persons of any immediate trust by office or attendance on His Majesty and any other whom you shall think fit shall take such Oath for the due observance of the same with such reasonable Penalties as shall be proposed by your Lordships and agreed to by us in which we believe we shall not differ with your Lordships being willing that whosoever shall in the least degree infringe the Agreement which shall be made between us may be looked upon and accounted as most pernicious Enemies to King and Kingdoms And if it shall be thought necessary to make any additional settlement of the Militia with a general reference to the good of the Kingdoms respectively we desire the same may be done after the Peace established by the joynt consent of His Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament in England and His Majesty and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively And as we shall desire and endeavour to remove all occasions that may interrupt the Peace and Tranquillity of that Kingdom and a perfect Amity with them and shall not desire any change of or to intermeddle in their Laws or Government or give them cause to apprehend any disturbance or violation of them from this Kingdom so are we obliged with all tenderness to preserve the Honour Dignity and Constitution of this Realm And therefore as we are yet satisfied we cannot consent that any Persons authorized by the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland or any advice from thence shall have any influence upon the Militia of this Kingdom or further interpose in the affairs of this Kingdom than is already provided by the Act of Pacification And we offer to your Lordships considerations whether unless there could be an union of the Laws of both Kingdoms such a mixture of Power as is now proposed and the influence thereof both upon Martial and Civil affairs may not prove very inconvenient and prejudicial to both Kingdoms and give cause of Jealousies to each other to the disturbance of that mutual Amity so much desired But if this intermingling of Power in both Kingdoms shall be further insisted on by your Lordships we propound that the same may be settled as after a Peace established shall be agreed by the joynt consent of His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament of England and of His Majesty and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland and if your Lordships shall insist on any thing further for necessary Security we shall apply our selves to the consideration thereof if we shall have further time so to do according to our desires grounded upon His Majesty's Letter Their Paper 17. Feb. WE do conceive that we have in our former Papers punctually satisfied your Lordships in all you desired to know concerning the Powers of the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and the other particulars mentioned by your Lordships And what your Lordships now offer concerning the Militia of the Kingdom of Scotland that the like course shall be taken in it as is expressed in your Lordships Paper of the 6 th of Feb. to be observed for the Militia of this Kingdom your Lordships may remember that in our Answer to that Paper we told your Lordships it was differing from what we had proposed and unsatisfactory to our just and necessary desires for securing the Peace of the Kingdoms and it cannot be expected that what was so then for the Kingdom of England should now be thought other for the Kingdom of Scotland And though both Kingdoms be now united in the same Cause and labouring under the same Dangers and therefore necessitated to a mutual and reciprocal Assistance of each other had proposed a joynt remedy and security by that Commission desired in our 17 th Proposition we find your Lordships say that as yet you are satisfied you cannot consent unto it To which we answer That we believed we had given your Lordships such convincing Reasons as might have satisfied you and we doubt not but they may if you will recollect your memories concerning them and rightly weight them This being the last day we are to Treat upon this Subject it cannot be expected and as we conceive it is altogether needless to use any more Arguments we do therefore desire your Lordships will be pleased now at the last to give us your full and positive Answer to our Demands as we have often already pressed your Lordships And whereas your Lordships do propound that if we shall further insist upon the
Commissioners insisted no farther The Kings Commissioners Second Paper 19. Feb. BY the thirteenth Proposition it is demanded that an Act be passed to settle the Prosecution of the War of Ireland in both Houses of Parliament of England to be managed by the joynt advices of both Kingdoms We desire to know whether if the two Kingdoms shall not agree in their advice touching that War each have a negative Voice or whether the Scots Commander in chief of the Forces in Ireland may manage that War in such case according to his own discretion Their Answer 19. Feb. IN Answer to your Lordships second Paper the Prosecution of the War of Ireland is to be setled in the two Houses of the Parliament of England but is to be managed by a joynt Committee of both Kingdoms wherein the Committee of each Kingdom hath a negative Voice but in case of disagreement the Houses of Parliament of England may prosecute the War as they shall think fit observing the Treaty of the sixth of August 1642. between the two Houses and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland and the Ordinance of the 11. of April 1644. delivered to your Lordships formerly The Kings Commissioners Third Paper 19. Feb. BY the twentieth Proposition in the Intervals of Parliament the Commissioners for the Militia have power to nominate the Lord Deputy of Ireland and other Officers and Judges there We desire to know whether that Power be limited to the Commissioners of both Kingdoms or only to the Commissioners for England and whether in such cases the Commissioners of Scotland shall vote as single Persons Their Answer 19. Feb. THe power of the Commissioners in the Intervals of Parliament to nominate the Lord Deputy of Ireland and other Officers and Judges there mentioned in the twentieth Proposition being no matters of joynt concernment is to be limited to the Commissioners of the Parliament of England wherein the Commissioners of Scotland are to vote as single Persons The Kings Commissioners Fourth Paper 19. Feb. THe Articles of the Treaty of the sixth of August giving Power to the Lieutenant of Ireland when the Scotish Army shall be joyned with his Army to give Instructions to the Scotish Commander in chief and the Orders of the two Houses of the 9. of March 1644. and the 11. of April 1644. appointing the General of the Scotish Forces in Ireland to command in chief over all the Forces as well British as Scots and both being desired to be Enacted we desire to know whether the Lieutenant of Ireland shall command the Scots Forces or whether the Scotish General shall command all Forces both British and Scots Their Answer 19. Feb. IN Answer to your Lordships fourth Paper we say that the Ordinances of the 9. of March and 11. of April 1644. were made when there was no Lieutenant of Ireland and when a Lieutenant shall be made with the Approbation of both Houses according to our former Demands in the seventeenth and twentieth Propositions it will be a fitting time to give further Answer to your Lordships The Kings Commissioners Reply 20. Feb. VVE desire a full Answer from your Lordships to our fourth Paper delivered to your Lordships yesterday concerning the Power of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the General of the Scots Forces your Lordships having proposed to us that the Articles of the Treaty and the Ordinance of the 11. of April be enacted by His Majesty by one of which the General of the Scots Forces is to receive Instructions for the managing the War there from the Lieutenant of Ireland and by the other which is the later the General of the Scots Forces is to command in chief both the British and Scots Forces by which it seems the Lievtenant of that Kingdom is to have no Power in the prosecution of that War Their Answer 20. Feb. WE do insist upon our former Papers that the prosecution of the War in Ireland is to be settled in both Houses of Parliament and is to be managed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms as in those Papers is set down and when a Lievtenant of Ireland shall be appointed as is expressed in the Propositions and it shall be necessary for the good of the service that he and the Commander in chief of the Scotish Army joyn the Commander of the Scotish Army shall receive Instructions from the Lord Lievtenant or Deputy or other who shall have the chief Government of the Kingdom for the time according to the Orders which shall be given by the Commissioners of both Kingdoms The King's Commissioners fifth Paper 19. February THe last part of the seventeenth Proposition gives power to the Commissioners for the Militia of both Kingdoms as a joynt Committee to order the War of Ireland according to the Ordinance of the 11. of April and to order the Militia and conserve the Peace of the Kingdom of Ireland and by that of the 11. of April the Earl of Leven being appointed Commander in chief over all the Forces as well British as Scots we desire to know whether he shall be subordinate to those Commissioners for the Militia and be obliged to observe such Orders as he shall receive from them Their Answer 19. Feb. THe Commissioners of the Militia desired by the seventeenth Proposition are to order the War of Ireland according to the Ordinance of the 11. of April and the Earl of Leven being by that Ordinance Commander in chief of the Forces there is obliged to observe such Orders as he shall receive from those Commissioners Their Commissioners likewise the same 19. of Feb. delivered in some Papers of Demands on their part Their Answer 19. Feb. WE desire that no Cessation of Arms or Peace in Ireland may be Treated upon or concluded without consent of both Houses of Parliament of England Another 19. Feb. WE desire to know whether any Peace or Cessation of Arms in Ireland be consented unto by His Majesty and for what time and whether any Commission be now on foot or other Authority given by His Majesty for that purpose The King's Commissioners Answer to both 20. February TO your Lordships sixth and seventh Papers delivered to us yesterday concerning any Peace or Cessation of Arms in Ireland your Lordships well know that long after the War begun in this Kingdom and the want of a Supply from hence that a Cessation hath been made with His Majesties consent and we conceive that the same expires in March next and we are confident there is no Peace made there But for the making a Peace or a farther Cessation we can give no farther Answer till we may know whether there may be a blessed Peace made in England since if the miserable Civil Wars shall continue in this Kingdom we cannot conceive it possible for His Majesty by Force to reduce the Kingdom of Ireland or to preserve His Protestant Subjects there without a Peace or Cessation Their Reply 20. Febr. WE conceive your Lordships have given
no Answer to us whether any Commission be now on foot or other Authority given by his Majesty for any Peace or Cessation of Arms in Ireland other then that which determines in March next nor to our desire that no Cessation of Arms or Peace in Ireland may be Treated upon or concluded without consent of both Houses of the Parliament of England nor do we understand why your Lordships should delay your Answer herein till the Peace in England be concluded since it hath been so clearly manifested to your Lordships by the true meaning of the Act passed by His Majesty this Parliament that His Majesty can make no Peace nor Cessation without the Consent of the two Houses and that your Lordships satisfactory Answer to this and our other Demands concerning Ireland will much conduce to the settling the Peace of this Kingdom We therefore again desire your Lordships full and clear Answer to the particulars expressed in our sixth and seventh Papers yesterday delivered to your Lordships The King's Commissioners Answer 20. Febr. VVE do not hold our selves any ways obliged to answer your Lordships Demand whether any Commission be on foot or other Authority from His Majesty for a Peace or Cessation of Arms in Ireland that Question not arising upon any Propositions on His Majesties part yet for your Lordships satisfaction we do again assure you we do not know there is any Peace or Cessation made there other than that which determines in March next But what Commission the Marquess of Ormond as Lievtenant of Ireland or General of the Forces there hath to that purpose we do not know and therefore cannot inform your Lordships And as to the other particulars in that Paper we do refer our selves to the Answers formerly given in to your Lordships Demands touching that Subject with this that we do conceive it to be most clear that His Majesty is in no wise restrained by express words or by the meaning of any Act made this Parliament from making a Peace or Cessation in Ireland without the consent of the two Houses Their Paper 19. Feb. THere being but three days left to Treat upon the Propositions for Religion the Militia and for Ireland and for that your Lordships have given no satisfactory Answers to our Demands concerning them we therefore now desire to confer with your Lordships how to dispose of the three days yet remaining that we may receive your Lordships full and clear Answers thereunto The King's Commissioners Answer 19. February VVE see no cause why your Lordships should think our Answers upon the Propositions for Religion and the Militia were not satisfactory And for that of Ireland we have received many Papers from your Lordships concerning that business besides the Propositions themselves to all which we doubt not to give a full and clear Answer to your Lordships to morrow being the time assigned and the last day of the Treaty upon that Subject After we shall be ready to confer with your Lordships of disposing the remainder of the time Accordingly after the before-mentioned Demands and Answer thereunto of the 19. of February the King's Commissioners in Answer to theirs of the 18. of February n. 149. delivered in this Paper 20. February VVE have already told your Lordships how far we are from being satisfied by what you have alledged against His Majesties Power to make a Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland neither have your Lordships in any degree answered the important Reasons which induced his Majesty so to do it being very evident that by the Cessation there His Majesties Protestant Subjects have been preserved and subsisted which without it they could not have done the two Houses forbearing to send any relief or supply to them and His Majesty not being able And we desire your Lordships to consider how impossible it was whilst the War continued in England with such fierceness and animosity by Arms to reduce the Kingdom of Ireland to His Majesties Obedience and therefore His Majesty had great reason to preserve that by a Cessation which he could not reduce by a War And we are most confident that the Necessities which are not offered as excuses for but were the real grounds of the Cessation were very visible to all those in that Kingdom whose Advices His Majesty ought in reason to follow and whose Interests were most concerned and would not have given such Advice if any other way could have been found out to preserve them And we have been credibly informed that the Committee sent into Ireland which His Majesty never understood to be sent thither to supply the Necessities but to observe the Actions of His Majesties Ministers there having in their Journey thither signed Warrants in their own names to apprehend the Persons of Peers of this Realm and Persons of His Majesties Privy Council were never discountenanced there for His Majesties directions that Persons who were not of His Privy Council there should not be present at those Councils cannot be interpreted a discountenance to them in any thing they ought to do And we are most assured that His Majesty sent no Message or Letter to divert the course of the Officers subscribing for Land in satisfaction of their Arrears but the Soldiers were meerly discouraged from the same by discerning that for want of Supplies they should not be able to go on with that War And we do assure your Lordships that His Majesty doth not believe that the Sums of Money raised for Ireland which your Lordships do admit to have been made use of by both Houses of Parliament otherwise then was appointed are yet satisfied in any proportion the greatestpart of the Money raised upon the Bill for 400000 l. and of the Moneys raised upon the charitable Collections as well as the Adventurers Moneys being imployed upon the War here and if the same were since satisfied it doth no ways excuse the diverting of them when in the mean time that Kingdom suffered by that diversion and that the fear that other Moneys so raised might likewise be misimployed was a great reason amongst others that made His Majesty not consent to that Bill mentioned by your Lordships And for the Regiments of Horse and Foot which your Lordships in your Paper of the 18. of this Month say were designed for Ireland though they were imployed otherwise because a Commission could not be obtained for the Lord Wharton who was to command those Forces it is well known that those Forces were raised before His Majesties Commission was so much as desired and then the Commission that was desired should have been independent upon His Majesties Lieutenant of that Kingdom and therefore His Majesty had great reason not to consent to such a Commission and so the damages of keeping those six Pinnaces and the 1000 Land-Forces if any such were proceeded not from any default of His Majesty And for the Provisions seized by His Majesties Forces it is notorious that they were seized in the way
to the Committee of both Kingdoms and in case of Disagreement an Appeal lies to the two Houses of the Parliament of England in whom the power of prosecuting the War is to be settled And we must insist to desire that the Lord Lieutenant and the Judges in that Kingdom may be nominated by the two Houses of Parliament who have by sad experience to the great cost of this Kingdom expence of so much Treasure and Blood the loss of many thousand Lives there and almost of all that whole Kingdom from His Majesties Obedience and an inestimable prejudice to the true Protestant Religion found the ill consequence of a bad choice of Persons for those great places of Trust Therefore for His Majesties Honour the good of His Service the great Advantage it will be to the rest of His Majesties Dominions the great Comfort to all good Christians and even an acceptable Service to God himself for the attaining of so much good and the prevention of so much evil they desire to have the nomination of those great Officers that by a prudent and careful Election they may by providing for the good of that now miserable Kingdom discharge their Duty to God the King and their Countrey And certainly if it be necessary to reduce that Kingdom and that the Parliament of England be a faithful Council to his Majesty and fit to be trusted with the prosecution of that War which his Majesty was once pleased to put into their hands and they faithfully discharged their parts in it notwithstanding many practices to obstruct their proceedings as is set forth in several Declarations of Parliament then we say your Lordships need not think it unreasonable that His Majesty should ingage himself to pass such Acts as shall be presented to him for raising Moneys and other necessaries for that War for if the War be necessary as never War was more that which is necessary for the maintaining of it must be had and the Parliament that doth undertake and manage it must needs know what will be necessary and the People of England who have trusted them with their Purse will never begrudge what they make them lay out upon that occasion Nor need his Majesty fear the Parliament will press more upon the Subject then is fit in proportion to the occasion It is true that heretofore Persons about his Majesty have endeavoured and prevailed too much in possessing him against the Parliament for not giving away the Money of the Subject when his Majesty had desired it but never yet did his Majesty restrain them from it and we hope it will not be thought that this is a fit occasion to begin We are very glad to find that your Lordships are so sensible in your expressions of the Blood and Horrour of that Rebellion and it is without all question in His Majesties Power to do Justice upon it if your Lordships be willing that the Cessation and all Treaties with those bloody and unnatural Rebels be made void and that the prosecution of the War be settled in the two Houses of the Parliament of England to be managed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms and the King to assist and to do no Act to discountenance or molest them therein This we dare affirm to be more than a probable course for the remedying those mischiefs and preserving the remainder of His Majesties good Subjects there We cannot believe your Lordships will think it fit there can be any Agreement of Peace any respite from Hostility with such Creatures as are not fit to live no more than with Wolves or Tigers or any ravenous Beasts destroyers of mankind And we beseech you do not not think it must depend upon the condition of His Majesties other Kingdoms to revenge or not revenge God's Quarrel upon such perfiduous Enemies to the Gospel of Christ who have imbrued their hands in so much Protestant Blood but consider the Cessation that is made with them is for their advantage and rather a Protection then a Cessation of Acts of Hostility as if it had been all of their own contriving Arms Ammunition and all manner of Commodities may be brought unto them and they may furnish themselves during this Cessation and be assisted and protected in so doing that afterwards they may the better destroy the small remainder of his Majesties Protestant Subjects We beseech your Lordships in the bowels of Christian Charity and Compassion to so many poor Souls who must perish if the strength of that raging Adversary be not broken and in the Name of him who is the Prince of Peace who hates to be at Peace with such shedders of Blood give not your consents to the continuation of this Cessation of War in Ireland and less to the making of any Peace there till Justice have been fully executed upon the Actors of that accursed Rebellion Let not the Judgment of War within this Kingdom which God hath laid upon us for our Sins be encreased by so great a Sin as any Peace or Friendship with them whatsoever becomes of us if we must perish yet let us go to our Graves with that comfort that we have not made Peace with the Enemies of Christ yea even Enemies of mankind declared and unreconciled Enemies to our Religion and Nation let not our War be a hindrance to that War for we are sure that Peace will be a hindrance to our Peace We desire War there as much as we do Peace here for both we are willing to lay out our Estates our Lives and all that is dear unto us in this World and we have made Propositions unto your Lordships for both if you were pleased to agree unto them We can but look up to God Almighty beseech him to encline your hearts and casting our selves on him wait his good time for the return of our Prayers in settling a safe and happy Peace here and giving success to our Endeavours in the prosecution of the War of Ireland It had been used by the Commissioners during the Treaty that when Papers were delivered in of such length and so late at night that present particular Answers could not be given by agreement between themselves to accept the Answers the next day dated as of the day before although they were Treating of another Subject and these two last Papers concerning Ireland being of such great length and delivered about twelve of the clock at night when the Treaty in time was expiring so as no Answer could be given without such consent and agreement therefore the King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper 22. February YOur Lordships cannot expect a particular Answer from us this night to the two long Papers concerning Ireland delivered to us by your Lordships about twelve of the clock this night but since there are many particulars in those Papers to which if they had been before mentioned we could have given your Lordships full satisfaction and for that we presume your Lordships are very willing to
be satisfied in those particulars which so highly reflect upon his Majesty we desire your Lordships to receive the Answers which we shall prepare to those Papers in the Evening to morrow dated as of this night and we doubt not to give your Lordships clear satisfaction therein This desire was not granted nor any Paper delivered in Answer to it but soon after the Treaty broke off During the Twenty days Treaty upon Religion Militia and Ireland the particular passages whereof are before expressed some other passages did occur concerning His Majesties Propositions and particularly for a Cessation and touching His Majesties return to Westminster after disbanding of Armies and further time for continuing or renewing the Treaty which do here follow And first touching His Majesties Propositions the King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper the second day of the Treaty 1. February WE desire to know whether your Lordships have any Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions for settling a safe and well-grounded Peace and if you have any touching the same we desire to have a sight of them Their Answer 1. February WE have not yet received Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions and shall therefore acquaint the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England with the desires expressed in that Paper who having taken those Instructions into their consideration before our coming from them will send them to us in time convenient After upon the third of February His Majesties Commissioners delivered this Paper concerning His Majesties sixth Proposition for a Cessation of Arms. 3. February WE desire to know whether your Lordships have received any Instructions concerning that Proposition of His Majesties for a Cessation and if your Lordships have not received any that you will endeavour to procure Authority to Treat thereupon which we have power to do and conceive it very necessary that during the time we are endeavouring to establish a blessed and happy Peace the issues of Blood may be stopped in this miserable Kingdom and His Majesties oppressed and languishing Subjects have some earnest and prospect of the Peace we are endeavouring by God's blessing to procure for them To this no particular Answer was given The King's Commissioners Paper 10. Febr. HAving now spent three days severally upon each of your Lordships three Propositions concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland we desire to know whether your Lordships have received any Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions that we may prepare our selves to Treat upon them when your Lordships shall think fit Their Answer 11. Febr. WE have received Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions and when the Houses of Parliament shall be satisfied in the good Progress of the Treaty upon their Propositions concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland they will give time for the Treaty upon those Propositions sent by His Majesty But there was not any time given to Treat upon His Majesties Propositions Touching further time for continuing or reviving the Treaty and His Majesties Return to Westminster after disbanding these Papers were delivered The King's Commissioners Paper 14. Feb. WE have this day received Directions from His Majesty to move your Lordships that you will endeavour to procure an addition of time for this Treaty after the expiration of the days limited for the same upon the Reasons mentioned in His Majesties Letter which Letter we herewith deliver to your Lordships The Letter mentioned in the last Paper from His Majesty to His Commissioners is this RIght Trusty c. Having received from you a particular accompt of your proceedings in the Treaty and observing thereby how impossible it is within the days limited to give such full Answers to the three Propositions you are now upon as you might if upon Consideration had of the rest of the Propositions you could clearly see what fruit such Answers will produce in order to a blessed Peace for the present and the future good and Happiness of this Kingdom We have thought it fit to advise you that you propose and desire of the Commissioners with whom you Treat that they will procure such farther time to be allowed after the expiration of the Twenty days as may be sufficient for you upon a full understanding one of another upon the whole to make such a Conclusion that all our Subjects may reap the Benefit good men pray for Deliverance from these bloody Distractions and be united in Peace and Charity And if you think fit you may communicate this our Letter to them And so we bid you heartily farewell Given at Our Court at Oxford 13. Feb. 1644. By His Majesties Command George Digby To Our Right Trusty c. the Lords and others Our Commissioners for the Treaty at Uxbridge Their Answer 14. Feb. COncerning the Paper delivered by your Lordships for addition of time for the Treaty we can give no other Answer than that we will send Copies of His Majesties Letter and of the Paper unto the Houses of Parliament and after signification of their pleasure we will give further Answer Afterwards on the 18. of Feb. they delivered this Paper 18. Febr. YOur Lordships may please to take notice that in the twenty days appointed to Treat upon the Propositions concerning Religion Militia and Ireland the first Thursday and three Sundays are not to be included The King's Commissioners Paper 20. Febr. BY our Paper delivered to your Lordships the 14. of this Month we moved your Lordships to endeavour an addition of time for this Treaty after the expiration of the days limited for the same upon the Reasons mentioned in His Majesties Letter which Letter we then delivered to your Lordships whereunto your Lordships then returned Answer that you would send Copies of His Majesties Letter and of our Paper to the Houses of Parliament and after signification of their pleasure you would give farther Answer We now desire to know whether there may be an addition of time for this Treaty after the expiration of the days limited for the same upon the Reasons mentioned in His Majesties said Letter and what time may be added Their Answer 20. Feb. YOur Lordships Paper of the 14. of this Month for an addition of time for this Treaty together with His Majesties Letter concerning the same were sent by us to the Houses of Parliament who as we have already acquainted your Lordships have declared That if they shall be satisfied in the good progress of the Treaty upon the Propositions concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland they will give time for the Treaty upon the Propositions by His Majesty but farther then this have not as yet signified their pleasures unto us The King's Commissioners Paper 20. February HAving now spent 18. days with your Lordships in the Treaty upon Religion the Militia and Ireland and besides the present satisfaction we have given your Lordships in those particulars we having offered that further consideration and order be taken therein by His Majesty and the Two Houses of Parliament and
your Lordships having proposed many important things in the said several particulars to be framed settled and disposed by the Two Houses before a full Agreement can be established we propose to your Lordships whether the two days remaining may not be best spent towards the satisfying your Lordships in those three Propositions and the procuring a speedy blessed Peace upon finding out some expedient for His Majesties repair to Westminster that so all Differences may be composed and this poor Kingdom be restored to its ancient Happiness and Security and to that purpose if your Lordships shall think fit we are willing to Treat with your Lordships concerning the best means whereby all Armies being first disbanded His Majesty may with Honour Freedom and Safety be present with his two Houses of Parliament at Westminster To which two particulars that is first concerning the Disbanding all Armies and then for His Majesties speedy repair and residing at Westminster with Honour Freedom and Safety we shall if your Lordships think fit apply our selves and accordingly to morrow will be ready to deliver to your Lordships some Propositions upon that Subject And if your Lordships shall concur with us herein we hope it will be a good inducement to procure an addition of time to this Treaty according to His Majesties Proposition in his late Letter to us which we delivered to your Lordships Their Paper 20. Feb. VVE shall according to mutual agreement between His Majesty and the two Houses of the Parliament of England and the Commissioners for the Parliament of Scotland Treat these two remaining days upon the three Propositions for Religion the Militia and Ireland and shall be glad to receive satisfaction in them from your Lordships as the best expedient for procuring a speedy and blessed Peace that the Armies may be disbanded and the Happiness of His Majesties Presence may again be enjoyed by those who have nothing more in their Prayers and endeavours then by His Majesties Conjunction with his Parliament to see all these sad Differences composed and these distracted Kingdoms restored to thein Ancient Happiness and Security Accordingly we shall be ready to begin again to morrow upon the Propositions for Religion and receive what your Lordships will propose and being satisfied upon that and the other two Propositions we are confident we shall have further time given us to Treat upon such other particulars as shall be necessary for the attaining of those ends we all desire There was no other Answer given concerning His Majesties Commissioners desire to Treat touching His Return to Westminster and Disbanding Armies whereupon His Majesties Commissioners delivered this Paper 20. February VVE conceive that the Reasons why your Lordships do not give us any Answer to our Paper concerning the Treating for the Disbanding all Armies and for His Majesties coming to Westminster may be because you have no Authority by your Instructions so to do though we proposed the same to your Lordships and do still conceive it most conducing to the conclusion of the Propositions upon Religion the Militia and Ireland upon which we have Treated and we therefore desire your Lordships that you will endeavour to have your Instructions so enlarged that we may Treat upon so important and necessary an Expedient for the publick Peace In the mean time we shall be ready to receive whatsoever your Lordships please to propose in the business of Religion presuming that if your Lordships are not satisfied with our Answer therein in which we have applied Remedies to whatsoever hath ever been complained of as a Grievance in the present Government of the Church that your Lordships will make it appear that the Government by Bishops is unlawful or that the Government you intend to introduce in the room thereof is the only Government that is agreeable to the Word of God either of which being made evident to us we shall immediately give your Lordships full satisfaction in that you propose The King's Commissioners Paper 22. Feb. BY our Paper delivered to your Lordships 1. February we did desire to know whether your Lordships have any Instructions concerning his Majesties Propositions for settling a safe and well grounded Peace and by our Paper of the third of Feb. we did desire to know whether your Lordships had received any Instructions concerning that Proposition of His Majesties for a Cessation and if your Lordships had not received any that you would endeavour to procure authority to Treat thereupon and by our Paper of the Tenth of Feb. we did desire to know whether your Lordships had received any Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions that we might prepare our selves to treat upon them when your Lordships should think fit and by our Paper delivered to your Lordships 14. Feb. we moved your Lordships upon Directions received from his Majesty that you would endeavour to procure an addition of time for this Treaty after the expiration of the days limited for the same upon the Reasons mentioned in his Majesties Letter which Letter we then delivered to your Lordships and by our Paper delivered to your Lordships the twentieth of this Month we moved your Lordships to endeavour an addition of time for this Treaty after the expiration of the days limited for the same upon the Reasons mentioned in his Majesties said Letter to which we have not yet received full Answer nor have we yet had any notice from your Lordships whether the Two Houses of Parliament have given any further time for this Treaty and having hitherto according to the order prescribed us Treated only upon the three first heads of Religion the Militia and Ireland and the Twenty days expiring this day we again desire to know whether there is any addition of time granted for this Treaty our Safe-Conduct being but for two days longer Their Answer 22. Feb. YOur Lordships Papers of the first third and tenth of February whether we had any Instructions concerning his Majesties Propositions and power to Treat for a Cessation as also your Papers of the 14 th and 20 th of Feb. concerning his Majesties Letter for an addition of time to this Treaty with your Lordships desire thereupon have been by us sent up to both Houses of Parliament from time to time as we received them together with our Answer given to them and in our Answers we have from time to time declared to your Lordships that when the Houses shall be satisfied in the good progress of the Treaty upon their Propositions concerning Religion Militia and Ireland they will give an addition of time for the Treaty And we do conceive that if your Lordships Answers to our Demands concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland had been such as to have given satisfaction in the good progress of this Treaty mutually consented to for twenty days upon the said Propositions we should have before this been enabled with power to continue the Treaty as well upon his Majesties as the rest of the Propositions But your Lordships having
of the said Trust which being considered as the Security is mutual so neither part can be supposed to violate the Agreement without very evident inconvenience and danger to that part who shall so violate it the whole Kingdom being likely and indeed obliged to look upon whosoever shall in the least degree violate this Agreement as the Authors of all the miseries which the Kingdom shall thereby suffer And as it is most reasonable that for this Security his Majesty should part with so much of his own Power as may make him even unable to break the Agreement which should be now made by him and on his part so it is most necessary that all apprehension and danger of such breach being over that Sovereign Power of the Militia should revert into the proper Chanel and be as it hath always been in his Majesties proper and peculiar Charge And therefore we have proposed that the time limited for that Trust should be for three years which by the Blessing of God will produce a perfect understanding between his Majesty and all his People and if there should be any thing else necessary to be done in this Argument either for power or time that the same be considered after the settlement of Peace in Parliament but whatever is now or hereafter shall be thought necessary to be done we desire may be so settled that this Kingdom may depend upon it self and not be subject to the Laws or Advice of Scotland as we think fit that Scotland should not receive Rules or Advice from this having offered the like for Scotland as for England In the business of Ireland your Lordships propose not onely that his Majesty disclaim and make void the Cessation made by his Royal Authority and at the desire of the Lords Justices and Council of that Kingdom and for the preservation of the remainder of his poor Protestant Subjects there who were in evident danger of Destruction both by Famine and the Sword but also to put the whole managery of that War and disposal of the Forces within that Kingdom and consequently the Government of that Kingdom into the hands of the Scots General to be managed by the Advice of a joynt Committee of both Kingdoms wherein each should have a Negative Voice In Answer to which we have acquainted your Lordships with the just grounds of his Majesties proceedings in the business of Ireland which we are confident being weighed without prejudice may satisfie all men of his Majesties Piety and Justice therein and we are very ready and desirous to joyn with your Lordships in any course which may probably preserve and restore that miserable Kingdom Having put your Lordships in mind of these particulars as they have a general reference to the publick good of the Kingdoms we beseech your Lordships to consider that we have this great Trust reposed in us by his Majesty and to remember how far these Propositions trench upon his peculiar Kingly Rights without any or any considerable recompence or compensation In the business of Religion your Lordships propose the taking away his whole Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction his Donations and Temporalties of Bishopricks his First Fruits and Tenths of Bishops Deans and Chapters instead whereof your Lordships do not offer to constitute the least dependance of the Clergy upon his Majesty and for that so considerable a part of his Revenue you propose onely the Bishops Lands to be settled on his Majesty reserving a power to dispose even those Lands as you shall think fit whereas all the Lands both of Bishops Deans and Chapters if those Corporations must be dissolved do undoubtedly belong to his Majesty in his own Right In the business of the Militia as it is proposed his Majesty is so totally devested of the Regal Power of the Sword that he shall be no more able either to assist any of his Allies with aid though men were willing to engage themselves voluntarily in that Service or to defend his own Dominions from Rebellion or Invasion and consequently the whole Power of Peace and War the acknowledged and undoubted Right of the Crown is taken from him In the business of Ireland the power of nominating his Lieutenant or Deputy and other Officers there of managing directing or in the least manner of medling in that War or of making a Peace is proposed to be taken from him And to add to all these attempts upon his Kingly Rights it is proposed to bereave him of the Power of a Father in the Education and Marriage of his own Children and of a Master in the rewarding his own Servants And therefore we refer it to your Lordships whether it be possible for us with a good Conscience and discharge of the Trust reposed in us to consent to the Propositions made to us by your Lordships Lastly we must observe to your Lordships that after a War of near four years for which the Defence of the Protestant Religion the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the Priviledges of Parliament were made the Cause and grounds in a Treaty of Twenty days nor indeed in the whole Propositions upon which the Treaty should be there hath been nothing offered to be Treated concerning the breach of any Law or of the Liberty or Property of the Subject or Priviledge of Parliament but onely Propositions for the altering a Government established by Law and for the making new Laws by which almost all the old are or may be cancelled and there hath been nothing insisted on of our part which was not Law or denied by us that you have demanded as due by Law All these things being considered and being much afflicted that our great hope and expectation of a Peace is for the present frustrated by your Lordships Declaration that no more time will be allowed for this Treaty we are earnest Suitors to your Lordships that you will interpose with the two Houses to whom we believe you have transmitted the Answers delivered by us to your Lordships upon Religion the Militia and Ireland that this Treaty though for the present discontinued may be revived and the whole matter of their Propositions and those sent to them by his Majesty which have not yet been Treated on may be considered and that depending that Treaty to the end we may not Treat in Blood there may be a Cessation of Arms and that the poor People of this Kingdom now exposed to Plunderings and Spoils and other direful effects of War may have some earnest of a blessed Peace And because this Treaty is now expiring if your Lordships cannot give a present Resolution we desire when you have represented this to the two Houses his Majesty may speedily receive their Answer Their Answer 22. Feb. WE conceive your Lordships cannot in reason expect an Answer to the long Paper delivered to us very late this Night at the close of the Treaty a thing of many days labour which we apprehend to be rather a Declaration upon the Treaty than
Treaty from Our Commissioners We caused a Narrative thereof to be made and published wherein besides the necessary Connexions there is nothing set down but what passed in Writing But because their last Paper upon the Subject of the Militia and two last Papers concerning Ireland were delivered upon the Close of that Treaty although We conceive the Answers given in the Papers formerly delivered by Our Commissioners are abundantly sufficient to give satisfaction to those also yet because there may be a want of memory in some and of observation in others who shall read that Narrative to bring home and apply the former Answers of Our Commissioners to those Papers and because they seem to expect Answers which the Treaty being determined cannot be given by Our Commissioners and to vindicate Our Self from many Passages scattered in those Papers particularly reflecting upon Our Person and Royal Authority We have thought fit for the further satisfaction of all Our good People to make these ensuing Answers And first to that Paper concerning the Militia WHosoever shall observe the passionate expressions in the close of this Paper wherein they do most earnestly desire Our Commissioners as they tender the deplorable Estate of these bleeding Kingdoms the settling Religion Our Honour and the composing these miserable Distractions to give full and clear Answers to the Demands concerning the Militia might very well believe that they who so importunately demanded would as willingly have received an Answer But when it shall be considered that this Paper was not delivered in till after two of the Clock in the morning upon the breaking off the Treaty when they had denied any further time to treat or to receive any Papers dated as within the time of the Treaty as formerly was mutually done and this very Paper of theirs delivered in truth upon the 23. was received as dated the 22. of February it will be most apparent they kept it as a Reserve to be purposely and by design delivered so as it should remain unanswered For the matter of that Paper They say they have by their Answers satisfied the several Questions proposed to them by Our Commissioners touching the Militia It was necessary they should have done so that it being proposed to Us to part with so great a Trust as the Power of the Sword and to put it wholly out of Our own hands We might know how and to whom and for what time and upon what terms We parted with it But We will look back upon some of their Answers that it may appear what they are Our Commissioners desired to know who the Commissioners should be in whose hands the Forces both by Sea and Land should be entrusted and whether We might except against such Persons and name others in their Places of known Affections to Religion and Peace To that part of the Question Whether We might except against the Persons they made no Answer To the other part requiring who the Commissioners should be they answered That the Commissioners were to be named for England by the two Houses and for Scotland by the Estates of the Parliament there whereas the Question was not Who should name those Commissioners but Who they were that should be named a thing most necessary for Us to know before We entrusted them with so great a Power Our Commissioners desired to know Whether the Militia of London should be independent and not subordinate to those Commissioners They answered It appeared by the Propositions the same was to be ordered in such manner as should be agreed on by both Houses Which was no Answer to the Question though likewise necessary to be known the Militia of London being so great and of such importance Our Commissioners desired to know What Authority the Commissioners nominated by the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland were to have in the Militia and settling of all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom and what influence the Advices and Orders from the Estates of that Parliament should have upon this Kingdom They answered That might be fully satisfied by the Propositions concerning the Militia And though Our Commissioners desired it they could get no other Answer from them in writing Our Commissioners desired to know What Jurisdiction they intended the Commissioners of both Kingdoms should have by the power given to them to hear and determine all differences that might occasion the breach of the Articles of the Peace and by what Law they should proceed to hear and determine the same They answered That the Commissioners were to proceed in such manner as was expressed in the Propositions Whereas the Propositions express no more than what is contained in the words of the Question And being further pressed to an Answer they answered That the matter of the Jurisdiction of the Commissioners was expressed in the Propositions and for the manner of exercising of it and by what Law they should proceed The same was to be settled by the two Houses of the Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively This being no Answer and a full and direct Answer being required to these Questions the Answer given was That they referred themselves therein to their former Answers Our Commissioners desired to see the Act of the late Treaty for the settling of the Garrison of Barwick of the 29. of November 1643. being made betwixt the two Houses and those of Scotland without Our Privity as relating to the business of the Militia They answered It was not then to be treated on but was reserved to its proper time and Our Commissioners could never see it Our Commissiones desired to know Whether by the joynt Power mentioned in the Propositions to be given to the Commissioners for both Kingdoms to preserve the Peace between the Kingdoms and the King and every one of them they intended any other than Military Power for suppressing Forces only which Question was asked because in the Proposition there are two distinct Clauses one whereby they have that Power to preserve the Peace the other whereby they have Power to suppress Forces In answer to this they refer Our Commissioners to the Propositions That these Answers though made to Questions arising upon the doubtful Expressions in their Propositions referring to the Propositions themselves or to what was not then but was after to be settled by the two Houses are not satisfactory Answers to those Questions is most evident But we do not wonder they were unwilling We should see the clear drift of those Propositions the ill consequence whereof which hereafter appears We are willing to believe most of those who agreed unto them did not at first apprehend They say They marvel why it should be insisted on that the Commissioners for the Militia should not be nominated by the two Houses only and that we who were to be equally secured should name none since this Power was
not to be exercised till a Peace concluded upon the Treaty and then We had been secured by the Laws of the Kingdom and by the Duties and Affections of Our Subjects We think it far more matter of wonder since it is confessed that We and such Our Loyal Subjects who have faithfully and constantly adhered to Us were equally to be secured that they would allow Us no security at all but to put Our selves wholly upon them who even afterwards in this Paper deny Our Just Power of the Militia and of making Peace and War and might with much more colour hereafter do so if by Our Consent that Power should be once though for a time only put wholly into their Hands It is true the Laws of the Land and the Hearts of the People are the best security for a Prince that He shall enjoy what belongs to Him But it is as true that the Laws of the Land and the Love of the Prince towards His People are likewise their best security that they shall enjoy what belongeth to them It is a mutual confidence each in other that secures both but this is to be understood in calm and quiet times The present Distempers have bred mutual Jealousies and if they think it not at this time reasonable wholly to trust the Laws and Us concerning their security but require the Power of the Militia in which they have no right much less is it reasonable that We should wholly trust them concerning Our security who avowedly bear Arms against Us but if for the love of Peace We are content for a time to part with this great Power which is Our Known Right it is reasonable that We should have the nominating of some of those who should be trusted with it Yet on Our part We were well content to repose Our selves in that security they mention if the two Houses would likewise have relied upon the same security of the Laws and Affections of the People to which they so much pretend But though it was offered that We should return to Our two Houses whereby all Armies being Disbanded both they and We might have been restored to the Laws and guarded by those Affections of the People yet that was not admitted They say This Power of the Militia was not to be exercised till after a Peace but they do not remember it is to be agreed on before a Peace and proposed in order to a Peace and We might with as much Reason and far more Justice in respect of Our undoubted Right over the Militia of this Kingdom have insisted upon the sole nomination of the Commissioners because their Power was not to be exercised till a Peace concluded as they for that cause to have excluded Us from the nomination of an equal number and assumed that Power wholly to themselves not affording Us so much as the liberty to except against any of them And whereas they say these Commissioners for the Militia have a Rule prescribed and being removable and lyable for any miscarriage to a severe punishment cannot do any thing to Our prejudice contrary to the Trust reposed in them If they had such a Rule which yet by their Propositions and Papers We cannot find having by general and indefinite terms an unlimited Power given to them it proves they should not not that they would not break it He that hath Power as these Commissioners would have the greatest that ever Subjects had and Will to abuse that Power may extend and interpret the Rule prescribed him as he shall please himself And therefore since out of Our ardent desire of Peace We were content to part with this Power We had reason to require that at least some of those who should execute it might be such whom We Our selves should nominate and could trust For that which is said That if the Commissioners had been severally chosen the memory of these unnatural Divisions must needs have been continued and probably being severally named they would have acted dividedly according to several Interests and the War thereby might be more easily revived It is apparent the memory of the War must as much continue where any Commissioners are named at all as where they are named by either Party since by putting that Power into their hands it is put out of the proper Chanel But it is not the memory of a past War that is dangerous but such a remembrance of it as is joyned with a desire or inclination to revive it And if it were probable as is alledged that if the Commissioners were partly chosen by Us and partly by them that being severally named they would have acted dividedly according to several Interests it would be much more probable that being wholly named by them they would have acted only according to their Interest and so on Our part instead of an equal Security We must have been contented with what Laws an Conditions they would have imposed But We shall again remember that the offer on Our part was to name such against whom there could be no just Exception if the Persons were named equally betwixt us It was likewise offered That those Commissioners should take an Oath for the true discharge of their Trust that We Our selves were willing to take an Oath to observe the Articles of the Treaty and that all Persons of any immediate Trust by Offices or attendance upon Vs and all others whom they should nominate should take the like Oath and with such penalties that whosoever should infringe the Agreement should be accounted most pernicious Enemies to Vs and the Kingdoms And if this way of mutual nomination were not approved there was another proposed that the Persons should be nominated between Our Commissioners and theirs by whose mutual consent it might well have been hoped such Persons might have been named in whom We and they might have confided But to this no Answer hath been vouchsafed nor could any thing satisfie concerning the Militia unless without knowing who the Persons were who should be entrusted We should with an implicite Faith in Persons whom We did not know put that Power into their hands They say that though by their Propositions the Commissioners were to continue without any limitation of time yet they have since proposed a time of seven years We know not that they have during the whole Treaty in any one particular receded from insisting on their Demands as they are set down in their Propositions in terminis And in this point though they seem to reduce the time which in their Propositions was indefinite to a certainty to which yet the Scotish Commissioners have not absolutely agreed the alteration is more in shew than in deed and rather to the heightning than abating their Demands For whereas they have limited the time to seven years yet it is with an additional Clause That after those seven years it was to be executed as We and they should agree and not otherwise so that though the
given way to several unusual Bills for raising of Forces and likewise to the Bill for the 400000. l. for the Adventurers and others for raising of Moneys which Moneys by those Acts were to be pay'd to particular Persons or otherwise out of the ordinary course and not into Our Exchequer as was usual in like cases thence to be issued for publick use those Supplies were diverted and imployed to feed and nourish a Rebellion in England rather than to suppress that in Ireland Thus 100000. l. of the Adventurers Money was imployed for the Earl of Essex his Army when he first march'd against Us and that imployment of it though contrary to the express words of the Act which are That no part of that Money shall be imployed to any other purpose than the reducing of those Rebels was publickly justified by a Declaration made in the name of the House of Commons the sixth of September not long before the Battel at Edge-hill and at the same Battel several Regiments of Horse and Foot raised for Ireland under the Command of the Lord Wharton Lord of Leny Sir Faithful Fortescue and others were imployed against Us at Edge-hill the Moneys raised upon the Bill of 400000. l. and others have been wholly made use of against Us. And it was impossible without thus working themselves under the specious pretence of suppressing the Rebellion of Ireland into the managery of that War and misapplying the aids intended for Ireland to have brought this Kingdom into the bleeding and desperate condition wherein it now languisheth The Propositions concerning Ireland as they are insisted upon by these Commissioners though in charity We shall hope not so intended by all of them are apparently in pursuance of that original design in begetting a suspicion of Our Integrity in that business of Ireland and ingrossing the managing of that War and the Power of that Kingdom into their hands They would have the Cessation which We have avowed to be assented to by Us and advised as most necessary for the preservation of that Kingdom to tend to the utter Destruction of the Protestants there and the continuance of the Cessation there though but during the War here to be a countenancing of that bloody Rebellion and We Our selves are charged to be privy and to give directions for the seising of some Provisions made and sent for the supply of the Protestants in Ireland In the next place concerning the War there they demand that the prosecution of that War be settled in both Houses of Parliament to be managed by the Advice of both Kingdoms of England and Scotland that is a Commmittee of both Kingdoms those of each Kingdom to have a Negative Voice and all the Forces there to be under the Command of the Scotch General the Lieutenant and other great Officers and Judges there to be nominated by both Houses and that We should consent to pass all Acts to be proposed by them for the raising of Moneys and other things necessary for the prosecution of that War And notwithstanding all the zealous and pathetical Epressions in those Papers desiring the continuance of that War and the execution of Justice upon those Rebels it is not barely the prosecution of the War in zeal of Justice that is desired that might be managed either by Us whom God and the Law have entrusted solely with that Power and whose Predecessors have alone and without the concurrence of their Parliaments other than by competent assistance with Moneys suppressed great Rebellions in that Kingdom or by fit Ministers to be appointed upon just occasion to be removed by Us they have not made any the least Proposition or desire to that purpose But they insist upon such a prosecution of the War wherein those who are in Arms against Us may have the sole managing of the War and of Moneys to maintain that War even while they are in Arms against Us. For the Cessation already made it is apparent it was the only visible means whereby the Kingdom was preserved the poor Protestants there being in danger inevitably to have perished either by Famine for want of Food or by the Rebels for want of Ammunition there being not above forty Barrels of Powder there as appears by the Letters of the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland mentioned by Our Commissioners and no supplies of Victuals or Money sent in six Months time before those Letters although Our Ships were then taken away from Us and all the Forces at Sea belonging to this Kingdom were under their Command Neither could the not making void or declaring against that Cessation have hindered a Peace upon this Treaty if it had been intended really on their part it being to expire in March and so before the Treaty could probably have been perfected and there being no further Peace or Cessation made in Ireland And therefore Our Commissioners did earnestly desire them to make such Propositions as were fit to be consented to for the growth of the Protestant Religion and the good of that Kingdom But instead of such Propositions they still except against the Cessation and though expiring within a Month they insist upon their demands of an Act of Parliament to make that Cessation void to which if We should have consented as We must have rendered Our selves uncapable of being trusted at any time after and odious abroad in breaking that Cessation solemnly made by Our publick Ministers of State in Ireland and after consented unto by Our selves so We must have implicitely confessed contrary to the truth that which they alledge against the Cessation that it was destructive to the Protestants there and a countenancing of that bloody Rebellion and thereby having lost the Plea of Our Innocency have also lost the hearts of Our People and rendered Our selves guilty of those Infamous Slanders which have been charged upon Us concerning the Irish Rebellion and which some were so willing to fix upon Us that even during this Treaty when Mac-guire was impeached by them for this Rebellion for which he was by them after executed though they well knew Confessions of Men in his condition in hopes of Pardon or Reprieves are not to be credited he was strictly examined concerning Us as We are credibly informed whether or no We gave any Commission to the Rebels of Ireland or any assistance to them and if he had not absolutely denied it to his last with more sense of Conscience in that particular than they who examined him expected it is likely whatsoever Untruths reflecting upon Us had been forced from him had been as others were published to Our disgrace And although they long questioned the credit and truth of those Letters of the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland notwithstanding one of them being directed to the Speaker of the House of Commons was received and communicated to the House and Ours was but a Duplicate thereof and Copies were delivered to them of both Letters which two of their Commissioners compared
propose conditions of Peace though the VVar otherwise might justly be pursued And surely as a Cessation in Ireland may be some advantage to the Rebels as all Cessations in their nature are to both parts they having thereby time and liberty to procure Arms and Ammunition to be brought to them so it is not only for the advantage but necessary preservation of Our good Subjects there whose bleeding Dangers call for Our bowels of Charity and Compassion by suspending the rage of the Adversary by this Cessation till means may be found to turn their hearts or to disable their Malice from pursuing their Cruelty to the utter Ruin of that Remainder of Our good Subjects there it being more acceptable to God and Man to preserve a few good men from destruction than to destroy a multitude though in the way of Justice and perhaps a Cessation may bring some of those Rebels to reflect upon their Offences and to return to their Duty all are not in the same degree of guilt all were not Authors of nor consenting to the Cruelties committed some were inforced to comply with or not resist their proceedings some were seduced upon a belief the Nation was designed to be eradicated and the VVar not against the Rebellion only but their Religion The VVar destroys all alike without distinction even innocent Children have suffered not by the Rebels only and all are not Tigers or Wolves there may be grounds of Mercy to some though no severity be excessive towards others However We cannot desire the destruction even of the worst of those Irish Rebels so much as We do the preservation of the poor English remaining there but should make choice rather to save the Rebels for preserving the lives of those poor Protestants than destroy them to ruine the Rebels And therefore exceeding strange it is to Us and We are sorry to find that any English men who have seen this their Native Country heretofore even in Our time flourishing beyond most of the Kingdoms and Churches in the world and now most hideous and deformed weltring in the blood of her own Children and if this VVar continue like to be a perpetual spectacle of Desolation should express that they desire War in Ireland as much as they do Peace here no more valuing the sparing of English blood here than they do the effusion of the blood of the Rebels in Ireland They say indeed they are willing to lay out their Estates and Lives both for the War in Ireland and Peace in this Kingdom but withal they say they have made Propositions for both if Our Commissioners would agree to them These are the Conditions they offer neither Peace is to be had here without agreeing to their Propositions nor that VVar in Ireland to be managed but according to those Propositions such Propositions as apparently tend to the ruine of the Church to the subversion of all Our Power to the setting up a new frame of popular Government to the destructioo of Our Loyal and true-hearted Subjects Propositions which associate Our Subjects of Scotland in their Counsels and Power and invest them in a great share of the Government and VVealth of this Kingdom and render both the VVealth and Power of Ireland to be at their command These Propositions they insist upon and for the obtaining these they are resolved to engage the Lives and Estates of Our poor People in this unnatural Rebellion But VVe trust God Almighty will open the Eyes and the Hearts of Our People not to assist them any longer against Us in the shedding innocent blood in this VVar. And VVe cast Our selves on Him waiting His good time for the restoring the Peace of Our Kingdoms and Our deliverance from these Troubles which at length VVe are assured He will give unto Us. MESSAGES PROPOSITIONS AND TREATIES FOR PEACE WITH DIVERS RESOLUTIONS AND DECLARATIONS THEREUPON MDCXLV VI. VII VIII His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford December 5. 1645. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore CHARLES R. HIS Majesty being deeply sensible of the continuation of this bloody and unnatural War cannot think himself discharged of the Duty He owes to God or the Affection and regard He hath to the preservation of His People without the constant application of His earnest Endeavours to find some Expedient for the speedy ending of these unhappy Distractions if that may be doth therefore desire That a Safe-Conduct may be forthwith sent for the Duke of Richmond the Earl of Southampton John Ashburnham and Jeffrey Palmer Esquires and their Attendants with Coaches Horses and other Accommodations for their Journey to Westminster during their stay there and return when they shall think fit whom His Majesty intends to send to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland furnished with such Propositions as His Majesty is confident will be the foundation of a happy and well-grounded Peace Given at the Court at Oxford the fifth of December 1645. The Letter of the two Speakers For Sir Thomas Glemham Governour of Oxford SIR VVE have received your Letter of the 5 th of this instant December with His Majesties inclosed and have sent back your Trumpet by command of both Houses who will with all convenient speed return an Answer to His Majesty and rest Your Loving Friends Grey of VVark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore VVilliam Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses in pursuance of the former From Oxford Dec. 15. 1645. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore CHARLES R. HIS Majesty cannot but extreamly wonder that after so many expressions on your part of a deep and seeming sense of the Miseries of this afflicted Kingdom and of the Dangers incident to His Person during the continuance of this unnatural War your many great and so often repeated Protestations that the raising these Arms hath been only for the necessary defence of God's true Religion His Majesties Honour Safety and Prosperity the Peace Comfort and Security of His People you should delay a safe Conduct to the Persons mentioned in His Majesties Message of the fifth of this instant December which are to be sent unto you with Propositions for a well-grounded Peace a thing so far from having been at any time denied by His Majesty whensoever you have desired the same that He believes it hath been seldom if ever practised among the most avowed and professed Enemies much less from Subjects to their King But His Majesty is resolved that no Discouragements whatsoever shall make Him fail of His part in doing his uttermost endeavours to put an end to these Calamities which if not in time prevented must prove the ruin of this unhappy Nation and therefore doth once again desire that a safe Conduct may be forthwith sent for those Persons expressed in His former Message and doth therefore conjure you as you
Decemb. 1645. Grey of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons His MAJESTIES Gracious Answer to both Houses sent by Sir Peter Killegrew December 29. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. ALthough the Message sent by Sir Peter Killegrew may justly require an expostulatory Answer yet His Majesty layes that aside as not so proper for His present Endeavours leaving all the World to judge whether His Proposition for a Personal Treaty or the flat denial of a safe Conduct for Persons to begin a Treaty be greater signs of a real Intention to Peace and shall now only insist upon His former Message of the 26. of this December That upon His repair to VVestminster He doubts not but so to joyn His Endeavours with His two Houses of Parliament as to give just satisfaction not only concerning the business of Ireland but also for the settling of a way for the payment of the Publick Debts as well to the Scots and the City of London as others And as already He hath shewn a fair way for the settling of the Militia so He shall carefully endeavour in all other particulars that none shall have cause to complain for want of Security whereby just Jealousies may arise to hinder the continuance of the desired Peace And certainly this Proposition of a Personal Treaty could never have entred into His Majesties Thoughts if He had not resolv'd to make apparent to all the World that the Publick good and peace of this Kingdom is far dearer to Him than the respect of any particular Interest Wherefore none can oppose this Motion without a manifest demonstration that he particularly envies His Majesty should be the chief Author in so blessed a Work besides the declaring himself a direct opposer of the happy Peace of these Nations To conclude whosoever will not be ashamed that his fair and specious Protestations should be brought to a true and publick Test and those who have a real sense and do truely commiserate the Miseries of their bleeding Countrey let them speedily and chearfully embrace His Majesties Proposition for His Persosonal Treaty at VVestminster which by the blessing of God will undoubtedly to these now distracted Kingdoms restore the Happiness of a long-wish'd-for and lasting Peace Given at the Court at Oxford the 29. day of December 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford Jan. 15. 1645-46 For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. BUT that these are times wherein nothing is strange it were a thing much to be marvelled at what should cause this unparallel'd long detention of His Majesties Trumpet sent with His Gracious Message of the 26. of December last Peace being the only subject of it and His Majesties Personal Treaty the means proposed for it And it were almost as great a wonder that His Majesty should be so long from inquiring after it if that the hourly expectation thereof had not in some measure satisfied His Impatience But lest His Majesty by His long silence should condemn Himself of Carelesness in that which so much concerns the good of all His People He thinks it high time to inquire after His said Trumpeter For since all men who pretend any goodness must desire Peace and that all men know Treaties to be the best and most Christian way to procure it and there being as little question that His Majesties Personal Presence in it is the likeliest way to bring it to a happy Issue He judges there must be some strange variety of accidents which causeth this most tedious Delay Wherefore His Majesty earnestly desires to have a speedy Account of His former Message the subject whereof is Peace and the means His Personal Presence at Westminster where the Government of the Church being setled as it was in the times of the happy and glorious Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James and full Liberty for the ease of their Consciences who will not communicate in that Service established by Law and likewise for the free and publick use of the Directory prescribed and by Command of the two Houses of Parliament now practised in some parts of the City of London to such as shall desire to use the same and all Forces being agreed to be Disbanded His Majesty will then forthwith as He hath in His Message of the 29. of December last already offered joyn with His two Houses of Parliament in setling some way for the payment of the publick Debts to His Scots Subjects the City of London and others And His Majesty having proposed a fair way for the setling of the Militia which now by this long Delay seems not to be thought sufficient Security His Majesty to shew how really He will imploy Himself at His coming to Westminster for making this a lasting Peace and taking away all Jealousies how groundless soever will endeavour upon debate with His two Houses so to dispose of it as likewise of the business of Ireland as may give to them and both Kingdoms just satisfaction not doubting also but to give good contentment to His two Houses of Parliament in the choice of the Lord Admiral the Officers of State and others if His two Houses by their ready inclinations to Peace shall give him encouragement thereunto Thus His Majesty having taken occasion by His just impatience so to explain His Intentions that no man can doubt of a happy issue to this succeeding Treaty if now there shall be so much as a Delay of the same He calls God and the World to witness who they are that not only hinder but reject this Kingdoms future Happiness it being so much the stranger that His Majesties coming to Westminster which was first the greatest pretence for taking up Arms should be so much as delayed much less not accepted or refused But His Majesty hopes that God will no longer suffer the Malice of Wicked men to hinder the Peace of this too much afflicted Kingdom Given at the Court at Oxford the 15. of January 1645. The Answer of both Houses to His MAJESTIES two former Messages of the 26. and 29. of Dec. May it please your Majesty WE your humble and loyal Subjects of both Kingdoms have received your Letters of the 26. and 29. of December last unto which we humbly return this Answer That there hath been no Delay on our parts but what was necessary in a business of so great a consequence as is exprest in our former Letter to Your Majesty Concerning the Personal Treaty desired by your Majesty There having been so much innocent blood of Your good Subjects shed in this War by Your Majesties Commands and Commissions Irish Rebels brought over into
both Kingdoms and endeavours to bring over more into both of them as also Forces from Foreign parts Your Majesty being in Arms in these parts and the Prince in the head of an Army in the West divers Towns made Garrisons and kept in Hostility by Your Majesty against the Parliament of England there being also Forces in Scotland against that Parliament and Kingdom by Your Majesties Commission the War in Ireland fomented and prolonged by Your Majesty whereby the three Kingdoms are brought near to utter Ruine and Destruction we conceive that until satisfaction and security be first given to both Your Kingdoms Your Majesties coming hither cannot be convenient nor by us assented unto neither can we apprehend it a means conducing to Peace that Your Majesty should come to Your Parliament for a few days with any thoughts of leaving it especially with intentions of returning to Hostility against it And we do observe That Your Majesty desires the Ingagement not only of Your Parliaments but of the Lord Mayor Aldermen Common-Councel and Militia of the City of London the chief Commanders of Sir Thomas Fairfax's Army and those of the Scots Army which is against the Priviledges and Honour of the Parliaments those being joyned with them who are subject and subordinate to their Authority That which Your Majesty against the Freedom of the Parliaments inforces in both Your Letters with many earnest expressions as if in no other way than that propounded by Your Majesty the Peace of Your Kingdoms could be established Your Majesty may please to remember that in our last Letter we did declare that Propositions from both Kingdoms were speedily to be sent to Your Majesty which we conceive to be the only way for the attaining a happy and well-grounded Peace and Your Majesties Assent unto those Propositions will be an effectual means for giving satisfaction and security to Your Kingdoms will assure a firm Union between the two Kingdoms as much desired by each for other as for themselves and settle Religion and secure the Peace of the Kingdom of Scotland whereof neither is so much as mentioned in Your Majesties Letter And in proceeding according to these just and necessary grounds for the putting an end to the bleeding Calamities of these Nations Your Majesty may have the glory to be a Principal Instrument in so happy a Work and we however mis-interpreted shall approve our selves to God and the World to be real and sincere in seeking a safe and well-grounded Peace Westminster 13. Jan. 1645. Grey of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore VVilliam Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons Signed in the Name and by warrant of the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland Balmerino His MAJESTIES Reply to the Answer of both Houses from Oxford Jan. 17. 1645-46 For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHALLES R. HIS Majesty thinks not fit now to answer those Aspersions which are returned as Arguments for his not admittance to VVestminster for a Personal Treaty because it would inforce a Style not suitable to his End it being the Peace of these miserable Kingdoms yet thus much he cannot but say to those who have sent him this Answer That if they had considered what they had done themselves in occasioning the shedding of so much innocent Blood by withdrawing themselves from their Duty to him in a time when he had granted so much to his Subjects and in violating the known Laws of the Kingdom to draw an exorbitant Power to themselves over their fellow-Subjects to say no more to do as they have done they could not have given such a false Character of his Majesties Actions Wherefore his Majesty must now remember them that having some hours before his receiving of their last Paper of the 13. of Jan. sent another Message to them of the fifteenth wherein by divers particulars He inlargeth himself to shew the reality of his endeavours for Peace by his desired Personal Treaty which he still conceives to be the likeliest way to attain to that blessed End he thinks fit by this Message to call for an Answer to that and indeed to all the former For certainly no rational man can think their last Paper can be any Answer to his former Demands the scope of it being that because there is a War therefore there should be no Treaty for Peace And is it possible to expect that the Propositions mentioned should be the grounds of a lasting Peace when the Persons that send them will not endure to hear their own King speak But whatever the success hath been of his Majesties former Messages or how small soever his hopes are of a better considering the high strain of those who deal with his Majesty yet he will neither want Fatherly bowels to his Subjects in general nor will he forget that God hath appointed him for their King with whom he Treats Wherefore he now demands a speedy Answer to his last and former Messages Given at Our Court at Oxon this 17. of Jan. 1645. His MAJESTIES further Reply to the said Answer of both Houses Jan. 24. To the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. THE procuring Peace to these Kingdoms by Treaty is so much desired by his Majesty that no unjust Aspersions whatsoever or any other Discouragements shall make him desist from doing his endeavour therein untill he shall see it altogether impossible and therefore hath thought fitting so far only to make Reply to that Paper or Answer which he hath received of the 13. of this instant Jan. as may take away those Objections which are made against his Majesties coming to VVestminster expecting still an Answer to his Messages of the 15. and 17. which he hopes by this time have begotten better thoughts and resolutions in the Members of both Houses And first therefore Whereas in the said last Paper it is objected as an impediment to his Majesties Personal Treaty that much innocent Blood hath been shed in this War by his Majesties Commissions c. He will not now dispute it being apparent to all the World by whom this Blood hath been spilt but rather presseth that there should be no more and to that end only he hath desired this Personal Treaty as judging it the most immediate means to abolish so many horrid Confusions in all his Kingdoms And it is no Argument to say That there shall be no such Personal Treaty because there have been Wars it being a strong inducement to have such a Treaty to put an end to the War Secondly That there should be no such Personal Treaty because some of his Irish Subjects have repaired to his Assistance in it seems an Argument altogether as strange as the other as
always urging that there should be no Physick because the party is sick And in this particular it hath been often observed unto them that those whom they call Irish who have so expressed their Loyalty to their Soveraign were indeed for the most part such English Protestants as had been formerly sent into Ireland by the two Houses impossibilitated to stay there any longer by the neglect of those that sent them thither who should there have better provided for them And for any Forein Forces it is too apparent that their Armies have swarmed with them when his Majesty hath had few or none And whereas for a third impediment it is alledged that the Prince is in the head of an Army in the West and that there are divers Garrisons still kept in his Majesties Obedience and that there are Forces in Scotland it must be as much confessed as that as yet there is no Peace and therefore it is desired that by such a Personal Treaty all these impediments may be removed And it is not here amiss to put them in mind how long since his Majesty did press a disbanding of all Forces on both sides the refusing whereof hath been the cause of this Objection And whereas exception is taken that there is a time limited in the Proposition for his Majesties Personal Treaty thereupon inferring that he should again return to Hostility his Majesty protesteth that he seeks this Treaty to avoid future Hostility and to procure a lasting Peace and if he can meet with like inclinations to Peace in those he desires to Treat with he will bring such affections and resolutions in himself as shall end all these unhappy bloody Differences As for those Ingagements which his Majesty hath desired for his Security whosoever shall call to mind the particular occasions that enforced his Majesty to leave his City of London and VVestminster will judge his Demand very reasonable and necessary for his Safety But he no way conceiveth how the Lord Maior Aldermen Common-Council and Militia of London were either subject or subordinate to that Authority which is alledged as knowing neither Law nor practice for it and if the two Armies be he believes it is more than can be parallel'd by any former times in this Kingdom Nor can his Majesty understand how his Majesties seeking of a Personal Security can be any breach of Priviledge it being likely to be infringed by hindring his Majesty from coming freely to his two Houses As for the Objection that his Majesty omitted to mention the settling Religion and securing the Peace of his Native Kingdom his Majesty declares that he conceives that it was included in his former and hath been particularly mentioned in his latter Message of the 15. present But for their better satisfaction he again expresseth that it was and ever shall be both his meaning and endeavour in this Treaty desired And it seems to him very clear that there is no way for a final ending of such Distractions as afflict this Kingdom but either by Treaty or Conquest the latter of which his Majesty hopes none will have the impudence or impiety to wish for and for the former if his Personal assistance in it be not the most likely way let any reasonable man judge when by that means not only all unnecessary Delays will be removed but even the greatest Difficulties made easy And therefore he doth now again earnestly insist upon that Proposition expecting to have a better Answer upon mature consideration And can it be imagined that any Propositions will be so effectual being formed before a Personal Treaty as such as are framed and propounded upon a full debate on both sides Wherefore his Majesty who is most concerned in the good of his People and is most desirous to restore Peace and Happiness to his three Kingdoms doth again instantly desire an Answer to his said former Messages to which he hath hitherto received none Given at Our Court at Oxon the 24. of Jan. 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford Jan. 29. 1645-46 For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty having received Information from the Lord Lieutenant and Council in Ireland that the Earl of Glamorgan hath without his or their Directions or privity entred into a Treaty with some Commissioners on the Roman-Catholick Party there and also drawn up and agreed unto certain Articles with the said Commissioners highly derogatory to his Majesties Honour and Royal Dignity and most prejudicial unto the Protestant Religion and Church there in Ireland whereupon the said Earl of Glamorgan is arrested upon suspicion of High Treason and imprisoned by the said Lord Lieutenant and Council at the instance and by the Impeachment of the Lord Digby who by reason of his Place and former Imployment in these Affairs doth best know how contrary that Proceeding of the said Earl hath been to His Majesties Intentions and Directions and what great prejudice it might bring to His Affairs if those Proceedings of the Earl of Glamorgan should be any ways understood to have been done by the directions liking or approbation of his Majesty His Majesty having in his former Messages for a Personal Treaty offered to give contentment to his two Houses in the Business of Ireland hath now thought fitting the better to shew his clear Intentions and to give satisfaction to his said Houses of Parliament and the rest of his Subjects in all his Kingdoms to send this Declaration to his said Houses containing the whole truth of the business Which is That the Earl of Glamorgan having made offer unto him to raise Forces in the Kingdom of Ireland and to conduct them into England for his Majesties Service had a Commission to that purpose and to that purpose only That he had no Commission at all to Treat of any thing else without the privity and directions of the Lord Lieutenant much less to capitulate any thing concerning Religion or any Propriety belonging either to Church or Laity That it clearly appears by the Lord Lieutenant's Proceedings with the said Earl that he had no notice at all of what the said Earl had Treated and pretended to have capitulated with the Irish until by accident it came to his knowledge And his Majesty doth protest that until such time as he had advertisement that the Person of the said Earl of Glamorgan was arrested and restrained as is above-said He never heard nor had any kind of notice that the said Earl had entred into any kind of Treaty or Capitulation with those Irish Commissioners much less that he had concluded or signed those Articles so destructive both to Church and State and so repugnant to his Majesties publick Professions and known Resolutions And for the further vindication of his Majesties Honour and Integrity herein He doth declare That He is so far from
considering any thing contained in those Papers or Writings framed by the said Earl and those Commissioners with whom he Treated as he doth absolutely disavow him therein and hath given Commandment to the Lord Lieutenant and the Council there to proceed against the said Earl as one who either out of falseness presumption or folly hath so hazarded the blemishing of his Majesties Reputation with his good Subjects and so impertinently framed those Articles of his own head without the Consent Privity or Directions of his Majesty or the Lord Lieutenant or any of his Majesties Council there But true it is that for the necessary preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects in Ireland whose Case was daily represented unto him to be so desperate his Majesty had given Commission to the Lord Lieutenant to Treat and conclude such a Peace there as might be for the safety of that Crown the preservation of the Protestant Religion and no way derogatory to his own Honour and publick Professions But to the end that his Majesties real Intentions in this business of Ireland may be the more clearly understood and to give more ample satisfaction to both Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland especially concerning his Majesties not being engaged in any Peace or Agreement there he doth desire if the two Houses shall admit of his Majesties repair to London for a Personal Treaty as was formerly proposed that speedy notice be given thereof to his Majesty and a Pass or safe Conduct with a Blank sent for a Messenger to be immediately dispatched into Ireland to prevent any accident that may happen to hinder his Majesties Resolution of leaving and managing of the business of Ireland wholly to the two Houses and to make no Peace there but with their Consent which in case it shall please God to bless His endeavours in the Treaty with success His Majesty doth hereby engage himself to do And for a further explanation of his Majesties Intentions in his former Messages he doth now Declare That if his Personal repair to London as aforesaid shall be admitted and a Peace thereon shall ensue he will then leave the Nomination of the Persons to be entrusted with the Militia wholly to his two Houses with such Power and Limitations as are expressed in the Paper delivered by his Majesties Commissioners at Vxbridge the 6. of Febr. 1644. for the term of seven years as hath been desired to begin immediately after the Conclusion of the Peace the disbanding of all Forces on both sides and the dismantling of the Garrisons erected since these present Troubles so as at the expiration of the time before mentioned the Power of the Militia shall entirely revert and remain as before And for their further security his Majesty the Peace succeeding will be content that pro hac vice the two Houses shall nominate the Admiral Officers of State and Judges to hold their places during Life or quamdiu se bene gesserint which shall be best liked to be accomptable to none but the King and the two Houses of Parliament As for matter of Religion his Majesty doth further Declare That by the Liberty offered in his Message of the 15. present for the ease of their Consciences who will not communicate in the Service already established by Act of Parliament in this Kingdom he intends that all other Protestants behaving themselves peaceably in and towards the Civil Government shall have the free exercise of their Religion according to their own way And for the total removing of all Fears and Jealousies His Majesty is willing to agree That upon the Conclusion of Peace there shall be a general act of Oblivion and Free Pardon past by Act of Parliament in both his Kingdoms respectively And lest it should be imagined that in the making these Propositions his Majesties Kingdom of Scotland and his Subjects there have been forgotten or neglected his Majesty Declares That what is here mentioned touching the Militia and the naming of Officers of State and Judges shall likewise extend to his Kingdom of Scotland And now his Majesty having so fully and clearly expressed his Intentions and Desires of making a happy and well-grounded Peace if any person shall decline that Happiness by opposing so apparent a way of attaining it he will sufficiently demonstrate to all the World his intention and design can be no other then the total subversion and change of the ancient and happy Government of this Kingdom under which the English Nation hath so long flourished Given at the Court at Oxford the 29. of January 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford Feb. 26. 1641. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty needs to make no excuse though he sent no more Messages unto you for he very well knows he ought not to do it if he either stood upon punctilioes of Honour or his own private Interest the one being already call'd in question by his often sending and the other assuredly prejudic'd if a Peace be concluded from that He hath already offer'd He having therein departed with many of his undoubted Rights But nothing being equally dear unto Him to the preservation of His People His Majesty passeth by many scruples neglects and delays and once more desires you to give Him a speedy Answer to His last Message For His Majesty believes it doth very well become Him after this very long Delay at last to utter His Impatience since that the Goods and Blood of His Subjects cries so much for Peace Given at the Court at Oxford the 26 th of Febr. 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford March 23. 1645-46 For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster CHARLES R. NOtwithstanding the unexpected silence instead of Answer to His Majesties many and gracious Messages to both Houses whereby it may appear that they desire to attain their ends by Force rather than Treaty which may justly discourage His Majesty from any more Overtures of that kind yet His Majesty conceives He shall be much wanting to His Duty to God and in what He oweth to the Safety of His People if He should not intend to prevent the great inconveniences that may otherwise hinder a safe and well-grounded Peace His Majesty therefore now proposeth That so He may have the Faith of both Houses of Parliament for the preservation of His Honour Person and Estate and that liberty be given to all those who do and have adhered to His Majesty to go to their own Houses and there to live peaceably enjoying their Estates all Sequestrations being taken off without being compelled to take any Oath not enjoyned by the undoubted Laws of the Kingdom or being put to any other molestation whatsoever He will
Treason being first declared guilty of such Offence by the said Lords and Commons any Commission under the Great Seal or other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding And he or they that shall offend herein to be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty His Heirs or Successors and their Estates shall be disposed as the said Lords and Commons shall think fit and not otherwise Provided that the City of London shall have and enjoy all their Rights Liberties and Franchises Customs and Usages in the raising and imploying the Forces of that City for the defence thereof in as full and ample manner to all intents and purposes as they have or might have used or enjoyed the same at any time before the making of the said Act or Proposition to the end that City may be fully assured it is not the intention of the Parliament to take from them any Priviledges or Immunities in raising or disposing of their Forces which they have or might have used or injoyed heretofore The like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit XIV That by Act of Parliament all Peers made since the day that Edward Lord Littleton then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal deserted the Parliament and that the said Great Seal was surreptitiously conveyed away from the Parliament being the One and Twentieth day of May 1642. and who shall be hereafter made shall not sit or Vote in the Parliament of England without Consent of both Houses of Parliament and that all Honour and Title conferred on any without Consent of both Houses of Parliament since the Twentieth of May 1642. being the day that both Houses declared That the King seduced by evil Counsel intended to raise War against the Parliament be declared null and void The like for the Kingdom of Scotland those being excepted whose Patents were passed the Great Seal before the fourth of June 1644. XV. That an Act be passed in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively for Confirmation of the Treaties passed betwixt the Two Kingdoms viz. the large Treaty the late Treaty for the coming of the Scots Army into England and the settling of the Garrison of Barwick of the 29 th of November 1643. and the Treaty concerning Ireland of the 6. of August 1642. for the bringing of Ten Thousand Scots into the Province of Vlster in Ireland with all other Ordinances and Proceedings passed betwixt the Two Kingdoms and whereunto they are obliged by the aforesaid Treaties And that Algernon Earl of Northumberland John Earl of Rutland Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery Robert Earl of Essex Theophilus Earl of Lincoln James Earl of Suffolk Robert Earl of Warwick Edward Earl of Manchester Henry Earl of Stamford Francis Lord Dacres Philip Lord Wharton Francis Lord Willoughby Dudly Lord North John Lord Hunsdon William Lord Gray Edward Lord Howard of Escrich Thomas Lord Bruce Ferdinando Lord Fairfax Master Nathaniel Fiennes Sir William Armyne Sir Philip Stapleton Sir Henry Vane senior Master William Pierrepont Sir Edward Aiscough Sir VVilliam Strickland Sir Arthur Hesilrig Sir John Fenwick Sir VVilliam Brereton Sir Thomas VViddrington Master John Toll Master Gilbert Millington Sir VVilliam Constable Sir John VVray Sir Henry Vane junior Master Henry Darley Oliver Saint-John Esquire His Majesties Solicitor General Master Denzill Hollis Master Alexander Rigby Master Cornelius Holland Master Samuel Vassal Master Peregrine Pelham John Glyn Esquire Recorder of London Master Henry Marten Master Alderman Hoyle Master John Blakeston Master Serjeant VVilde Master Richard Barwis Sir Anthony Irby Master Ashurst Master Bellingham and Master Tolson Members of both Houses of the Parliament of England shall be the Commissioners for the Kingdom of England for Conservation of the Peace between the Two Kingdoms to act according to the Powers in that behalf exprest in the Articles of the large Treaty and not otherwise That His Majesty give His Assent to what the Two Kingdoms shall agree upon in prosecution of the Articles of the large Treaty which are not yet finished XVI That an Act be passed in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively for establishing the joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms bearing date the 30 th day of January 1643. in England and 1644. in Scotland with the Qualifications ensuing 1. Qualification That the persons who shall expect no pardon be only these following Rupert and Maurice Count Palatines of the Rhene James Earl of Derby John Earl of Bristol VVilliam Earl of Newcastle Francis Lord Cottington George Lord Digby Matthew Wren Bishop of Ely Sir Robert Heath Knight Doctor Bramhall Bishop of Derry Sir William Widdrington Colonel George Goring Henry Jermin Esquire Sir Ralph Hopton Sir John Biron Sir Francis Doddington Sir John Strangwayes Master Endymion Porter Sir George Radcliffe Sir Marmaduke Langdale Henry Vaughan Esquire now called Sir Henry Vaughan Sir Francis Windebanke Sir Richard Greenvile Master Edward Hyde now called Sir Edward Hyde Sir John Marley Sir Nicholas Cole Sir Thomas Riddell junior Sir John Culpepper Master Richard Lloyd now called Sir Richard Lloyd Master David Jenkins Sir George Strode George Carteret Esquire now called Sir George Carteret Sir Charles Dallison Knight Richard Lane Esquire now called Sir Richard Lane Sir Edward Nicholas John Ashburnham Esquire Sir Edward Herbert Knight His Majesties Attorney General Earl of Traquaire Lord Harris Lord Rae George Gourdon sometime Marquess of Huntley James Graham sometime Earl of Montross Robert Maxwell late Earl of Nithisdale Robert Dalyell sometime Earl of Carnwarth James Gordon sometime Viscount of Aboyne Lodowick Linsey sometime Earl of Crawford James Ogleby sometime Earl of Airley James Ogleby sometime Lord Ogleby Patrick Ruthen sometime Earl of Forth James King sometime Lord Itham Alester Macdonald Irwing younger of Drunim Gordon younger of Gight Lesley of Auchentoule Colonel John Cockram Graham of Gorthie Master John Maxwell sometime pretended Bishop of Rosse and all such others as being Processed by the Estates for Treason shall be condemned before the Act of Oblivion be passed 2. Qualification All Papists and Popish Recusants who have been now are or shall be actually in Arms or voluntarily assisting against the Parliaments or Estates of either Kingdom and by name The Marquess of VVinton Earl of VVorcester Edward Lord Herbert of Ragland Son to the Earl of VVorcester Lord Brudenell Carel Molineaux Esquire Lord Arundel of VVardour Sir Francis Howard Sir John VVinter Sir Charles Smith Sir John Preston Sir Bazill Brook Lord Audley Earl of Castlehaven in the Kingdom of Ireland VVilliam Sheldon of Beely Esquire Sir Henry Beddingfield 3. Qualification All persons who have had any hand in the plotting designing or assisting the Rebellion of Ireland except such persons who having only assisted the said Rebellion have rendred themselves or come in to the Parliament of England 4. Qualification That Humfrey Bennet Esquire Sir Edward Ford Sir John Penruddock Sir George Vaughan Sir John Weld Sir Robert Leè Sir John Pate John Ackland Edmund Windham Esquire Sir John Fitz-herbert
and Consent of the said Lords and Commons or of such Committees or Council in the Intervals of Parliament as they shall appoint 3. That during the same space of ten years the said Lords and Commons may by Bill or Ordinance raise and dispose of what Moneys and for what Forces they shall from time to time find necessary as also for payment of the Publick Debts and Damages and for all other the Publick uses of the Kingdom 4. And to the end the temporary Security intended by the three particulars last precedent may be the better assured it may therefore be provided That no Subjects that have been in Hostility against the Parliament in the late War shall be capable of bearing any Office of Power or publick Trust in the Commonwealth during the space of five years without Consent of Parliament or of the Council of State or to sit as Members or Assistants of either House of Parliament until the second Biennial Parliament be past III. For the present form of disposing the Militia in order to the Peace and Safety of this Kingdom and the Service of Ireland 1. That there be Commissioners for the Admiralty a Vice-Admiral and Rere-Admiral now to be agreed on with power for the forming regulating appointing of Officers and providing for the Navy and for ordering the same to and in the ordinary Service of the Kingdom and that there be a sufficient provision and establishment for Pay and maintenance thereof 2. That there be a General for Command of the Land-Forces that are to be in pay both in England Ireland and Wales both for Field and Garrison 3. That there be Commissioners in the several Counties for the standing Militia of the respective Counties consisting of Trained Bands and Auxiliaries not in pay with power for the proportioning forming regulating training and disciplining of them 4. That there be a Council of State with power to superintend and direct the several and particular powers of the Militia last mentioned for the Peace and Safety of this Kingdom and of Ireland 5. That the same Council may have power as the King 's Privy Council for and in all Forreign Negotiations provided That the making of War or Peace with any other Kingdom or State shall not be without the Advice and Consent of Parliament 6. That the said power of the Council of State be put into the hands of trusty and able persons now to be agreed on and the same persons to continue in that power si bene se gesserint for a certain Term not exceeding seven years 7. That there be a sufficient establishment now provided for the Salary Forces both in England and Ireland the establishment to continue until two Months after the meeting of the first Biennial Parliament IV. That an Act be passed for disposing the great Offices for ten years by the Lords and Commons in Parliament or by such Committees as they shall appoint for that purpose in the Intervals with submission to the Approbation of the next Parliament and after ten years they to nominate three and the King out of that number to appoint one for the succession upon any vacancy V. That an Act be passed for restraining of any Peers made since the 21. day of May 1642. or to be hereafter made from having any power to sit or vote in Parliament without Consent of both Houses VI. That an Act be passed for recalling and making void all Declarations and other Proceedings against the Parliament or against any that have acted by or under their Authority in the late War or in relation to it and that the Ordinances for Indemnity may be confirmed VII That an Act be passed for making void all Grants c. under the Great Seal that was conveyed away from the Parliament since the time that it was so conveyed away except as in the Parliaments Propositions and for making those valid that have been or shall be passed under the Great Seal made by the Authority of both Houses of Parliament VIII That an Act be passed for Confirmation of the Treaties between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland and for appointing Conservators of the Peace betwixt them IX That the Ordinance for taking away the Court of Wards and Liveries be confirmed by Act of Parliament Provided His Majesties Revenue be not damnified therein nor those that last held Offices in the same left without reparation some other way X. An Act to declare void the Cessation of Ireland c. and to leave the prosecution of that War to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England XI An Act to be passed to take away all Coercive Power Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops and all other Ecclesiastical Officers whatsoever extending to any Civil Penalties upon any and to repeal all Laws whereby the Civil Magistracy hath been or is bound upon any Ecclesiastical Censure to proceed ex officio unto any Civil Penalties against any persons so censured XII That there be a repeal of all Acts or Clauses in any Act enjoyning the use of the Book of Common Prayer and imposing any Penalties for neglect thereof as also of all Acts or Clauses in any Act imposing any penalty for not coming to Church or for Meetings elsewhere for Prayer or other Religious Duties Exercises or Ordinances and some other provision to be made for discovering of Papists and Popish Recusants and for disabling of them and of all Jusuites or Priests from disturbing the State XIII That the taking of the Covenant be not enforced upon any nor any penalties imposed upon the Refusors whereby men might be constrained to take it against their Judgments or Consciences but all Orders or Ordinances tending to that purpose to be repealed XIV That the things here before proposed being provided for settling and securing the Rights Liberties Peace and Safety of the Kingdom His Majesties Person His Queen and Royal Issue may be restored to a Condition of Safety Honour and Freedom in this Nation without diminution to their Personal Rights or further Limitation to the Exercise of the Regal Power than according to the particulars aforegoing XV. For the matter of Compositions 1. That a less number out of the Persons excepted in the two first Qualifications not exceeding five for the English being nominated particularly by the Parliament who together with the persons in the Irish Rebellion included in the third Qualification may be reserved to the future Judgment of the Parliament as they shall find cause all other excepted persons may be remitted from the Exception and admitted to Composition 2. That the Rates for all future Compositions may be lessened and limitted not to exceed the several proportions hereafter exprest respectively That is to say 1. For all persons formerly excepted not above a third part 2. For the late Members of Parliament under the first Branch of the fourth Qualification in the Propositions a fourth part 3. For other Members of Parliament in the second and third Branches of the
same Qualification a sixth part 4. For the persons nominated in the said fourth Qualification and those included in the tenth Qualification an eighth part 5. For all others included in the sixth Qualification a tenth part And that real Debts either upon Record or proved by Witnesses be considered and abated in the valuation of their Estates in all the cases aforesaid 3. That those who shall hereafter come to Compound may not have the Covenant put upon them as a Condition without which they may not Compound but in case they shall not willingly take it they may pass their Compositions without it 4. That the Persons and Estates of all English not worth two hundred pounds in Lands or Goods be at liberty and discharged and that the King 's menial Servants that never took up Arms but only attended His Person according to their Offices may be freed from Composition or to pay at most but the proportion of one years Revenue or a twentieth part 5. That in order to the making and perfecting of Compositions at the Rates aforesaid the Rents Revenues and other Dues and Profits of all sequestred Estates whatsoever except the Estates of such persons who shall be continued under exception as before be from henceforth suspended and detained in the hands of the respective Tenants Occupants and others from whom they are due for the space of six months following 6. That the Faith of the Army or other Forces of the Parliament given in Articles upon Surrenders to any of the King's Party may be fully made good and where any breach thereof shall appear to have been made full reparation and satisfaction may be given to the parties injured and the persons offending being found out may be compelled thereto XVI That there may be a general Act of Oblivion to extend unto all except the persons to be continued in exception as before to absolve from all Trespasses Misdemeanors c. done in prosecution of the War and from all trouble or prejudice for or concerning the same after their Compositions past and to restore them to all Priviledges c. belonging to other Subjects provided as in the fourth particular under the second general Head aforegoing concerning Security And whereas there have been of late strong endeavours and practices of a factious and desperate party to embroil this Kingdom in a new War and for that purpose to induce the King the Queen and Prince to declare for the said Party and also to excite and stir up all those of the King 's late Party to appear and engage for the same which Attempts and Designs many of the King's Party out of their desires to avoid further Misery to the Kingdom have contributed their endeavours to prevent as for divers of them we have had particular Assurance we do therefore desire that such of the King's Party who shall appear to have expressed and shall hereafter express that way their good Affections to the Peace and Welfare of the Kingdom and to hinder the imbroiling of the same in a new War may be freed and exempted from Compositions or to pay but one years Revenue or a twentieth part These Particulars aforegoing are the Heads of such Proposals as we have agreed on to tend in order to the settling of the Peace of this Kingdom leaving the Terms of Peace for the Kingdom of Scotland to stand as in the late Propositions of both Kingdoms until that Kingdom shall agree to any alteration Next to the Proposals aforesaid for the present settling of a Peace we shall desire that no time may be lost by the Parliament for dispatch of other things tending to the welfare ease and just satisfaction of the Kingdom and in special manner I. That the just and necessary Liberty of the People to represent their Grievances and Desires by way of Petition may be cleared and vindicated according to the fifth Head in the late Representation or Declaration of the Army sent from St. Albans II. That in pursuance of the same Head of the said Declaration the common Grievances of the People may be speedily considered of and effectually redressed and in particular 1. That the Excise may be taken off from such Commodities whereon the poor people of the Land do ordinarily live and a certain time to be limited for taking off the whole 2. That the Oppressions and Incroachments of Forest Laws may be prevented for future 3. All Monopolies old or new and Restraints to the freedom of Trade to be taken off 4. That a course may be taken and Commissioners appointed to remedy and rectifie the inequality of Rates lying upon several Counties and several parts of each County in respect of others and to settle the proportions for Land rates to more equality throughout the Kingdom in order to which we shall offer some further particulars which we hope may be useful 5. The present unequal troublesome and contentious way of Ministers maintenance by Tithes to be considered of and some Remedy applied 6. That the Rules and Course of Law and the Officers of it may be so reduced and reformed as that all Suits and Questions of Right may be more clear and certain in the issues and not so tedious or chargeable in the proceedings as now in order to which we shall offer some further particulars hereafter 7. That Prisoners for Debt or other * Creditors who have Estates to discharge them may not by embracing Imprisonment or any other ways have advantage to defraud their Creditors but that the Estates of all men may be some way made liable to their Debts as well as Tradesmen are by Commissions of Bankrupt whether they be imprisoned for it or not and that such Prisoners for Debt who have not wherewith to pay or at least do yield up what they have to their Creditors may be freed from Imprisonment or some way provided for so as neither they nor their Families may perish by their Imprisonments 8. Some provision to be made that none may be compelled by Penalties or otherwise to answer unto Questions tending to the accusing of themselves or their nearest Relations in Criminal Causes and no man's life to be taken away under two Witnesses 9. That consideration may be had of all Statutes and the Laws or Customs of Corporations imposing any Oaths either to repeal or else to qualifie and provide against the same so far as they may extend or be construed to the molestation or ensnaring of religious and peaceable people meerly for non-conformity in Religion III. That according to the sixth Head in the Declaration of the Army the large powers given to Committees or Deputy-Lieutenants during the late times of War and Distraction may be speedily taken into consideration to be re-called and made void and that such powers of that nature as shall appear necessary to be continued may be put into a regulated way and left to as little Arbitrariness as the nature and necessity of the things wherein they are conversant
Table at Hampton-Court Nov. 11. 1647. CHALLES R. LIberty being that which in all Times hath been but especially now is the common Theme and Desire of all men common Reason shews That Kings less then any should endure Captivity And yet I call God and the World to Witness with what Patience I have endured a tedious Restraint which so long as I had any hopes that this sort of My Suffering might conduce to the Peace of My Kingdoms or the hindring of more effusion of Blood I did willingly undergoe But now finding by two certain proofs that this My continued Patience would not only turn to My Personal Ruine but likewise be of much more prejudice then furtherance to the Publick Good I thought I was bound as well by Natural as Political Obligations to seek my Safety by Retiring My self for some time from the publick View both of My Friends and Enemies And I appeal to all indifferent men to judge if I have not just cause to free My self from the hands of those who change their Principles with their Condition and who are not ashamed openly to intend the Destruction of the Nobility by taking away their Negative Voice and with whom the Levellers Doctrine is rather countenanced then punished and as for their intentions to My Person their changing and putting more strict Guards upon Me with the discharging most of all those Servants of Mine who formerly they willingly admitetd to wait upon Me does sufficiently declare Nor would I have this My Retirement misinterpreted for I shall earnestly and uncessantly endeavour the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace where-ever I am or shall be and that as much as may be without the effusion of more Christian Blood for which how many times have I desired prest to be heard and yet no ear given to Me and can any Reasonable man think that according to the ordinary course of affairs there can be a setled Peace without it or that God will bless those who refuse to hear their own King Surely no. Nay I must further add that besides what concerns My self unless all other chief Interests have not only a hearing but likewise just satisfaction given unto them to wit the Presbyterians Independants Army those who have adhered to Me and even the Scots I say there cannot I speak not of Miracles it being in My Opinion a sinful presumption in such cases to expect or trust to them be a safe or lasting Peace Now as I cannot deny but My Personal Security is the urgent cause of this My Retirement so I take God to witness that the Publick Peace is no less before My Eyes and I can find no better way to express this My Profession I know not what a wiser man may do then by desiring and urging that all chief Interests may be heard to the end each may have just Satisfaction As for example the Army for the rest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to content ought in My Judgment to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences have an Act of Oblivion or Indemnity which should extend to all the rest of My Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindred from using such Lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let Me be heard with Freedom Honour and Safety and I shall instantly break through this Cloud of Retirement and shew My self really to be Pater Patriae Hampton-Court 11. Novemb. 1647. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses with Propositions Novemb. 17. 1647. For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be communicated to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty is confident that before this time his two Houses of Parliament have received the Message which he left behind him at Hampton-Court the eleventh of this Month by which they will have understood the Reasons which enforced him to go from thence as likewise his constant endeavours for the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace wheresoever he should be And being now in a place where he conceives himself to be at much more Freedom and Security then formerly he thinks it necessary not only for making good of his own Professions but also for the speedy procuring of a Peace in these languishing and distressed Kingdoms at this time to offer such grounds to his two Houses for that effect which upon due examination of all Interests may best conduce thereunto And because Religion is the best and chiefest foundation of Peace His Majesty will begin with that particular That for the abolishing Arch-bishops Bishops c. His Majesty cleary professeth that he cannot give his consent thereunto both in relation as he is a Christian and a King For the first he avows that he is satisfied in his Judgment that this Order was placed in the Church by the Apostles themselves and ever since their time hath continued in all Christian Churches throughout the World until this last Century of years and in this Church in all times of Change and Reformation it hath been upheld by the Wisdom of his Ancestors as the great preserver of Doctrine Discipline and Order in the Service of God As a King at his Coronation he hath not only taken a solemn Oath to maintain this Order but his Majesty and his Predecessors in their confirmations of the Great Charter have inseparably woven the Right of the Church into the Liberties of the rest of their Subjects And yet he is willing it be provided that the particular Bishops perform the several Duties of their Callings both by their personal Residence and frequent Preachings in their Dioceses as also that they exercise no Act of Jurisdiction or Ordination without the consent of their Presbyters and will consent that their Powers in all things be so limited that they be not grievous to tender Consciences Wherefore since his Majesty is willing to give ease to the Consciences of others he sees no reason why he alone and those of his Judgment should be pressed to a violation of theirs Nor can his Majesty consent to the Alienation of Church-Lands because it cannot be denied to be a sin of the highest Sacriledge as also that it subverts the intentions of so many pious Donors who have laid a heavy Curse upon all such profane violations which his Majesty is very unwilling to undergoe and besides the matter of Conscience His Majesty believes it to be a prejudice to the Publick good many of his Subjects having the benefit of renewing Leases at much easier Rates then if those Possessions were in the hands of private men not omitting the discouragement which it will be to all Learning and Industry when such eminent rewards shall be taken away which now lye open to the Children of meanest Persons Yet his Majesty considering the great present
thereunto Provided always and be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That nothing herein before contained shall extend to the taking away of the ordinary Legal Power of Sheriffs Justices of Peace Maiors Bailiffs Coroners Constables Headboroughs or other Officers of Justice not being Military Officers concerning the Administration of Justice so as neither the said Sheriffs Justices of Peace Maiors Bailiffs Coroners Constables Headboroughs and other Officers or any of them do levy conduct imploy or command any Forces whatsoever by colour or pretence of any Commission of Array or extraordinary Command from His Majesty His Heirs or Successors without the Consent of the said Lords and Commons and that if any persons shall be gathered and assembled together in Warlike manner or otherwise to the number of Thirty persons and shall not forthwith separate and disperse themselves being required thereto by the said Lords and Commons or Command from them or any by them especially authorized for that purpose then such person and persons not so separating and dispersing themselves shall be guilty and incur the pains of High Treason being first Declared guilty of such Offence by the said Lords and Commons any Commission under the Great Seal or other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding and he or they that shall offend herein shall be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty His Heirs and Successors and their Estates shall be disposed as the said Lords and Commons shall think fit and not otherwise Provided also further That the City of London shall have and enjoy all their Rights Liberties and Franchises Customs and Usages in the raising and imploying the Forces of that City for the Defence thereof in as full and ample manner to all intents and purposes as they have or might have used or enjoyed the same at any time before the sitting of this present Parliament Soit baillé aux Seigneurs A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentuz An Act for justifying the Proceedings of Parliament in the late War and for Declaring all Oaths Declarations Proclamations and other Proceedings against it to be void WHereas the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament have been necessitated to make and prosecute a War in their just and lawful Defence and thereupon Oaths Declarations and Proclamations have been made against them and their Ordinances and Proceedings and against others for adhering unto them and for executing Offices Places and Charges by Authority derived from them and Judgments Indictments Outlawries Attainders and Inquisitions for the causes aforesaid have been had and made against some of the Members of the Houses of Parliament and other his Majesties good Subjects and Grants have been made of their Lands and Goods Be it therefore Declared and hereby Enacted by the Kings Majesty and by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by Authority of the same That all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations heretofore had or made against both or either of the Houses of Parliament or any the Members of either of them for the causes aforesaid or against their Ordinances or Proceedings or against any for adhering unto them or for doing or executing any Office Place or Charge by any Authority derived from the said Houses or either of them and all Judgments Indictments Outlawries Attainders Inquisitions and Grants thereupon made and all other Proceedings for any the causes aforesaid had made done or executed or to be had made done or executed whether the same be done by the King or any Judges Justices Sheriffs Ministers or any others are void and of no effect and are contrary to and against the Laws of the Realm And be it further Enacted and hereby Declared by the Authority aforesaid That all Judges Justices of the Peace Maior Sheriffs Constables and other Officers and Ministers shall take notice hereof and are hereby prohibited and discharged in all time to come from awarding any Writ Process or Summons and from pronouncing or executing any Judgment Sentence or Decree or any way proceeding against or molesting any of the said Members of the two Houses of Parliament or against any of the Subjects of this Kingdom for any the causes aforesaid Soit baillé aux Seigneurs A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentuz An Act concerning Peers lately made and hereafter to be made BE it Enacted by the Kings Majesty and by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That all Honour and Title of Peerage conferred on any since the twentieth day of May 1642. being the day that Edward Lord Littleton then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal deserted the Parliament and that the said Great Seal was surreptitiously conveyed away from the Parliament be and is hereby made and declared Null and Void Be it further Enacted and it is hereby Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no Person that shall hereafter be made a Peer or His Heirs shall sit or vote in the Parliament of England without consent of both Houses of Parliament Soit baillé aux Seigneurs A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentuz An Act concerning the Adjournments of both Houses of Parliament BE it Declared and Enacted by the Kings Majesty and by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by the Authority of the same That when and as often as the Lords and Commons assembled in this present Parliament shall judge it necessary to adjourn both Houses of this present Parliament to any other place of the Kingdom of England than where they now sit or from any place adjourn the same again to the place where they now sit or to any other place within the Kingdom of England that then such their Adjournment and Adjournments to such places and for such time as they shall appoint shall at all times and from time to time be valid and good any Act Statute or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding Provided always and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Adjournment or Adjournments to be had or made by reason or colour of this Act shall be deemed adjudged or taken to make end or determine any Session of this present Parliament And they also commanded us to present to Your Majesty these ensuing Propositions Heads of the Propositions 1. That the new Seal be confirmed and the old Great Seal and all things passed under it since May 1642. be made void 2. That Acts be passed for raising Moneys to satisfie Publick Debts 3. That Members of both Houses put from their places by the King be restored 4. That the Cessation in Ireland be made void and the War left to both Houses 5. That an Act of Indemnity be passed 6. That the Court of Wards be taken away and such Tenures turned into common Soccage 7. That the Treaties between the English and Scots be confirmed and Commissioners appointed for Conservation of the Peace between the Kingdoms 8. That the Arrears of the Army be paid out of the Bishops Lands forfeited Estates and Forests 9. That an Act be
your Majesties Letter of the tenth of August instant Westminster 25. Aug. 1648. Your Majesties most loyal and most humble Subjects and Servants Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons Die Jovis 24. Aug. 1648. Resolved upon the Question by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That for opening a way towards a Treaty with his Majesty for a safe and well-grounded Peace these four Votes following are hereby revoked and taken off viz. 1. Resolved That the Lords and Commons do declare That they will make no further Addresses or Applications to the King 2. Resolved by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That no Application or Addresses be made to the King by any person whatsoever without the leave of both Houses 3 Resolved by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That the person or persons that shall make breach of this Order shall incur the penalties of high Treason 4. Resolved That the Lords and Commons do declare That they will receive no more any Message from the King and do enjoyn that no person whatsoever do presume to receive or bring any Message from the King to both or either of the Houses of Parliament or to any other person Resolved by the Lords and Commons That his Majesty be desired to send to the Houses the Names of such Persons as he shall conceive to be of necessary use to be about him during this Treaty they not being persons excepted by the Houses from Pardon or under restraint or in actual War against the Parliament by Sea or Land or in such numbers as may draw any just cause of suspicion And that his Majesty shall be in the Isle of Wight in the same state and Freedom as he was in when he was last at Hampton-Court Resolved That the Houses do agree that such Domestick Servants not being in the former Limitations as his Majesty shall appoint to come to attend upon his Majesties Person shall be sent unto him Resolved That the Town of Newport in the Isle of Wight named by the King shall be the Place for this Treaty with his Majesty Resolved That if the King shall think fit to send for any of the Scotish Nation to advise with him concerning the Affairs of the Kingdom of Scotland only the Houses will give them a safe Conduct they not being persons under restraint in this Kingdom or in actual War against the Parliament by Sea or Land or in such numbers as may draw any just cause of suspicion Resolved That Five Lords and Ten Members of the House of Commons be Commissioners to Treat with the King Resolved That the time of beginning the Treaty be within ten days after the Kings Assent to Treat as is agreed and to continue forty days after the beginning thereof Resolved That his Majesty be desired to pass his Royal Word to make his constant Residence in the Isle of Wight from the time of his Assenting to Treat until twenty days after the Treaty be ended unless it be otherwise desired by both Houses of Parliament and that after his Royal Word so passed and his Assent given to Treat as aforesaid from thenceforth the former Instructions of the 16. of November 1647. be vacated and these observed and that Colonel Hammond be authorized to receive his Majesties Royal Word passed to the two Houses of Parliament for his Residence in the Isle of Wight according as is formerly expressed and shall certifie the same to both Houses His MAJESTIES Answer to the Votes For the Earl of Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore and William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons Carisbrook Monday 28. August 1648. MY Lord and Master Speaker I have received your Letter of the 25. of this Month with the Votes that you sent Me which though they are not so full as I could have wished for the perfecting of a Treaty yet because I conceive by what you have done that I am in some measure fit to begin one such is My uncessant and earnest desire to give a Peace to these My now distracted Dominions as I accept the Treaty and therefore desire that such five Lords and ten Commoners as My two Houses shall appoint be speedily sent fully Authorized and Instructed to Treat with Me not doubting but what is now wanting will at our meeting upon Debate be fully supplied not only to the furtherance of this Treaty but also to the consummating of a safe and well-grounded Peace So I rest Your good Friend CHARLES R. Here Inclosed I have sent you a List that ye have desired I desire in order to one of your Votes that ye would send Me a free pass for Parsons one of the Grooms of My Presence-Chamber to go into Scotland and that ye would immediately send him to Me to receive the Dispatch thither The List Duke Richmond Marq. Hartford Earl Lindsey Earl Southampton Gentlemen of My Bed-Chamber George Kirke James Leviston Henry Murrey John Ashburnham William Leg Grooms of My Bed-Chamber Thomas Davise Barber Hugh Henne Humph. Rogers William Levett Pages of My Back-Stairs Rives Yeoman of My Robes Sir Ed. Sidenham Robert Terwitt John Housden Querries with four or six of My Footmen as they find fittest to wait Mistress Wheeler Landress with such Maids as she will chuse Parsons a Groom of My Presence Sir Fulke Grevill Captain Titus Captain Burroughs Master Cresset Hansted Ab. Dowsett Firebrace to wait as they did or as I shall appoint them Bishop of London Bishop of Salisbury Doctor Shelden Doctor Hammond Doctor Holdsworth Doctor Sanderson Doctor Turner Doctor Heywood Chaplains Sir Thomas Gardiner Sir Or. Bridgman Sir Ro. Holbourne Mr. Geffrey Palmer Mr. Thomas Cooke Mr. J. Vaughan Lawyers Sir Edward Walker Mr. Phil. Warwick Nic. Oudart Charles Whitaker Clarks and Writers Peter Newton Clem. Kinersley to make ready the House for Treating A Letter from the Speakers of both Houses to His MAJESTY Sept. 2. MDCXLVIII With the Names of their Committee to Treat with Him YOur two Houses of Parliament have commanded us to acquaint Your Majesty that they have appointed the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Pembroke the Earl of Salisbury the Earl of Middlesex and the Lord Viscount Say and Seale Members of the House of Peers and Thomas Lord Wenman Master Denzil Hollis Master William Pierrepont Sir Henry Vane junior Sir Harbottle Grimston Master Samuel Brown Master John Crew Master Recorder of the City of London Sir John Potts Master John Bulkeley Members of the House of Commons to Treat with Your Majesty at Newport in the Isle of Wight And though they cannot come within the time appointed yet they shall give their attendance with all convenient speed 2. Septemb. 1648. Your Majesties most loyal and humble Servants Hunsdon Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons His MAJESTIES Answer to both Speakers For the Lord Hunsdon Speaker of the House of
such others as they shall authorise for that purpose If it shall be more satisfactory to His two Houses to have the Militia and Powers thereupon depending during the whole time of His Majesties Reign rather than for the space of ten years His Majesty gives them the Election Touching Ireland His Majesty having in the two preceding Propositions given His Consent concerning the Church and the Militia there in all things as in England as to all other matters relating to that Kingdom after advice with His two Houses He will leave it to their determination and give His Consent accordingly as is herein hereafter expressed Touching Publick Debts His Majesty will give His Consent to such an Act for raising of Monies by general and equal Taxations for the payment and satisfying the Arrears of the Army Publick Debts and Engagements of the Kingdom as shall be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament and shall be audited and ascertained by them or such persons as they shall appoint within the space of twelve Months after the passing of an Act for the same His Majesty will Consent to an Act that during the said space of ten years the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper Commissioners of the Great Seal or Treasury Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports Chancellor of Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Master of the Rolles and Judges of both Benches and Barons of the Exchequer of England be nominated by both Houses of the Parliament of England to continue quamdiu se bene gesserint and in the intervals of Parliament by such others as they shall authorise for that purpose His Majesty will Consent That the Militia of the City of London and Liberties thereof during the space of ten years may be in the Ordering and Government of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in the Common-Councel assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the time being to be three to be imployed and directed from time to time during the said space of ten years in such manner as shall be agreed upon and appointed by both Houses of Parliament And that no Citizen of the City of London nor any of the Officers of the said City shall be drawn forth or compelled to go out of the said City or Liberties thereof for Military service without their own free consent That an Act be passed for granting and confirming the Charters Customes Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Nonuser Misuser or Abuser And that during the said ten years the Tower of London may be in the Government of the City of London and the Chief Officer and Governor from time to time during the said space to be nominated and removable by the Common-Council as are desired in your Propositions His Majesty having thus far expressed His Consent for the present satisfaction and security of His two Houses of Parliament and those that have adhered unto them touching your four first Propositions and other the particulars before specified as to all the rest of your Propositions delivered to Him at Hampton-Court not referring to those Heads and to that of the Court of Wards since delivered as also to the remaining Propositions concerning Ireland His Majesty desires only when He shall come to Westminster Personally to advise with His two Houses and to deliver His Opinion and the reasons of it which being done He will leave the whole matter of those remaining Propositions to the determination of His two Houses which shall prevail with Him for his Consent accordingly And His Majesty doth for His own particular only propose that He may have Liberty to repair forthwith to Westminster and be restored to a condition of absolute Freedom and Safety a thing which He shall never deny to any of His Subjects and to the possession of His Lands and Revenues and that an Act of Oblivion and Indemnity may pass to extend to all persons for all matters relating to the late unhappy Differences Which being agreed by His two Houses of Parliament His Majesty will be ready to make these His Concessions binding by giving them the force of Laws by His Royal Assent Votes concerning His MAJESTIES Propositions and Concessions Die Lunae Octobr. 2. 1648. Resolved by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled THat they are not satisfied in the Propositions made by His Majesty in His Letter And that a Letter be sent to the Commissioners in the Isle of Wight to acquaint them that the Houses do well approve of their proceedings and do give them thanks for their great care and pains in managing of this important and weighty business requiring them still to proceed and act punctually according to their Instructions But upon further Debate in the Treaty some things being yet further cleared and more fully granted by His Majesty out of His earnest desire of Peace they at last came so near to an Agreement that the Lower House after long consultation passed the following Vote Die Martis 5. Decembr 1648. Resolved upon the Question That the Answers of the King to the Propositions of both Houses are a Ground for the House to proceed upon for the Settlement of the Peace of the Kingdom The Chief Heads of the Remonstrance of the Army presented to the House of Commons Nov. 20. MDCXLVII To the Right Honourable the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament The humble Remonstrance of his Excellency the Lord General Fairfax and his General Council of Officers held at St. Albans Thursday the 16. of Novemb. 1648. The Remonstrance it self being very long and serving only to introduce their Propositions in the end we have thought fit to represent only the Propositions themselves as they are contracted in their own Abridgment FIrst That the Capital and grand Author of our Troubles the Person of the King by whose procurement and for whose Interest only of will and power all our Wars have been may be brought to Justice for the Treason Blood and Mischief he is therein guilty of Secondly That a timely day may be set for the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York to come in by which time if they do not that then they may be immediately declared incapable of any Government or Trust in this Kingdom or its Dominions and thence to stand exil'd for ever as Enemies and Traitors to dye without mercy if ever after found and taken therein Or if by the time limited they do render themselves that then the Prince be proceeded with as on his appearance he shall give satisfaction or not and the Duke as he shall give satisfaction may be considered as to future Trust or not But however that the Revenue of the Crown saving necessary allowances for the Children and for Servants and Creditors to the Crown be sequestred and the costly Pomp suspended for a good number of years and that this Revenue be for that time disposed toward publick Charges Debts and Damages for the easing of the
People so as the Estates neither of Friends to publick Interest nor alone of inferior Enemies thereto may bear wholly the burthen of that loss and charge which by and for that Family the Kingdom hath been put unto Thirdly That Capital punishment be speedily executed upon a competent number of his chief Instruments also both in former and later Wars and that some of both sorts be pitcht upon as are really in your hands or reach Fourthly That the rest of the Delinquents English may upon rendring themselves to Justice have mercy for their Lives and that only Fines be set upon them and their persons declared incapable of any publick Trust or having any voice in Elections thereto at least for a good number of years And that a short day may be set by which all such Delinquents may come in and for those who come not in by that day that their Estates be absolutely confiscate and sold to the publick use and their persons stand exil'd as Traitors and to die without mercy if ever found after in the Kingdom or its Dominions Fifthly That the satisfaction of Arrears to the Soldiery with other publick Debts and competent reparations of publick Damages may be put into some orderly way And therefore that the Fines and Compositions of Delinquents be disposed to those uses only as also the Confiscations of such who shall be excluded from Pardon or not come in by the day assigned Now after publick Justice thus far provided for we proceed in order to the general satisfaction and settling of the Kingdom First That you would set some reasonable and certain period to your own Power Secondly That with a period to this Parliament there may be a settlement of the Peace and future Government of the Kingdom First That there may be a certain succession of future Parliaments Annual or Biennial with secure provision 1. For the certainty of their sitting meeting and ending 2. For equal Elections 3. For the Peoples meeting to elect provided that none engaged in War against the Kingdom may elect or be elected nor any other who oppose this Settlement 4. For clearing the future power of Parliaments as supreme only they may not give away any Foundation of Common Right 5. For liberty of entring Dissents in the said Representatives that the People may know who are not fit for future Trusts but without any further penalty for their free judgements Secondly That no King be hereafter admitted but upon Election of and as upon Trust from the People by such their Representatives not without first disclaiming all pretence to a Negative Voice against the determinations of the Commons in Parliament and this to be done in some form more clear than heretofore in the Coronation Oath These matters of general Settlement we propound to be provided by the Authority of the Commons in this Parliament and to be further established by a general Contract or Agreement of the People with their Subscriptions therunto And that no King be admitted to the Crown nor other person to any Office of publick Trust without express Accord and Subscription to the same Four Queries propounded by His MAJESTY when the Armies Remonstrance was read unto him at Newport concerning the intended Trial of His MAJESTY 1. WHether this Remonstrance be agreeable to the former Declarations of the Army and if not whether the Parliament would make good their Votes that after He had consented to what they desired He should be in a capacity of Honour Freedom and Safety 2. Whether His acknowledgement of the Blood that hath been spilt in the late Wars nothing being as yet absolutely concluded or binding could be urged so far as to be made use of by way of Evidence against Him or any of His Party 3. Whether the Arguments that He hath used in a free and Personal Treaty to lessen or extenuate and avoid the exactness of any of the Conditions though in manner and form only might be charged against Him as an act of Obstinacy or wilful persistence in what is alledged against Him in that He goes on in a destructive course of Enmity against the People and the Laws of the Land when He hath declared that His Conscience was satisfied concerning divers particulars in the Propositions 4. Whereas by the Letter of the Law all persons charged to offend against the Law ought to be tried by their Peers or Equals what the Law is if the Person questioned is without a Peer And if the Law which of it self is but a dead Letter seems to condemn him by what power shall Judgement be given and who shall give it or from whence shall the administrators of such Judgement derive their power which may by the same Law be deemed the supreme Power or Authority of Magistracy in the Kingdom His MAJESTIES Declaration concerning the Treaty and His dislike of the Armies Proceedings Delivered to one of His Servants at His Departure from the Isle of Wight and commanded to be published for the satisfastion of all His Subjects WHen large pretences prove but the shadows of weak performance then the greatest labours produce the smallest effects and when a period is put to a work of great concernment all mens ears do as it were hunger till they are satisfied in their expectations Hath not this distracted Nation groaned a long time under the burthen of tyranny and oppression And hath not all the blood that hath been spilt these seven years been cast upon My Head Who am the greatest Sufferer though the least guilty And was it not requisite to endeavour the stopping of that flux which if not stopt will bring an absolute Destruction to this Nation And what more speedy way was there to consummate those Distractions than by a Personal Treaty being agreed upon by My two Houses of Parliament and condescended to by Me And I might declare that I conceive it had been the best Physick had not the operation been hindred by the interposition of this imperious Army who were so audacious as to style Me in their unparallel'd Remonstrance their Capital Enemy But let the world judge whether Mine endeavours have not been attended with reality in this late Treaty and whether I was not as ready to grant as they were to ask and yet all this is not satisfaction to them that pursue their own ambitious ends more than the welfare of a miserable Land Were not the dying hearts of my poor distressed People much revived with the hopes of a Happiness from this Treaty and how suddenly are they frustrated in their expectations Have not I formerly been condemned for yielding too litte to My two Houses of Parliament and shall I now be condemned for yielding too much Have I not formerly been Imprisoned for making War and shall I now be condemned for making Peace Have I not formerly ruled like a KING and shall I now be ruled like a Slave Have I not formerly enjoyed the society of my dear Wife and Children in peace
and quietness and shall I now neither enjoy them nor Peace Have not My Subjects formerly obeyed Me and shall I now be obedient to My Subjects Have I not been condemned for Evil Counsellors and shall I now be condemned for having no Counsel but God These are unutterable Miseries that the more I endeavour for Peace the less My endeavours are respected and how shall I know hereafter what to grant when your selves know not what to ask I refer it to your consciences whether I have not satisfied your desires in every particular since this Treaty if you find I have not then let Me bear the burthen of the fault but if I have given you ample satisfaction as I am sure I have then you are bound to vindicate Me from the fury of those whose thoughts are filled with blood though they pretend zeal yet they are but Wolves in Sheeps cloathing I must further declare that I conceive there is nothing can more obstruct the long-hoped-for peace of this Nation than the illegall proceedings of them that presume from Servants to become Masters and labour to bring in Democracy and to abolish Monarchy Needs must the total alteration of Fundamentals be not only destructlve to others but in conclusion to themselves for they that endeavour to rule by the Sword shall at last fall by it for Faction is the Mother of Ruine and it is the humour of those that are of this weather-cock-like disposition to love nothing but mutabilities neither will that please them but only pro tempore for too much variety doth but confound the senses and makes them still hate one folly and fall in love with another Time is the best cure for Faction for it will at length like a spreading leprosie infect the whole body of the Kingdom and make it so odious that at last they will hate themselves for love of that and like the Fish for love of the bait be catch'd with the hook I once more declare to all My loving Subjects and God knows whether or no this may be My last That I have earnestly laboured for Peace and that My thoughts were sincere and absolute without any sinister ends and there was nothing left undone by Me that My Conscience would permit me to do And I call God to witness that I do firmly conceive that the interposition of the Army that cloud of Malice hath altogether eclips'd the glory of that Peace which began again to shine in this Land And let the world judge whether it be expedient for an Army to contradict the Votes of a Kingdom endeavouring by pretending for Laws and Liberties to subvert both Such actions as these must produce strange consequences and set open the flood-gates of Ruin to overflow this Kingdom in a moment Had this Treaty been only Mine own seeking then they might have had fairer pretences to have stopt the course of it but I being importun'd by My two Houses and they by most part of the Kingdom could not but with a great deal of alacrity concurr with them in their desires for the performance of so commodious a work and I hope by this time that the hearts and eyes of My People are opened so much that they plainly discover who are the Underminers of this Treaty For Mine own part I here protest before the face of Heaven that Mine own Afflictions though they need no addition afflict Me not so much as My Peoples Sufferings for I know what to trust to already and they know not God comfort both them and Me and proportion our Patience to our Sufferings And when the Malice of Mine Enemies is spun out to the smallest thred let them know that I will by the grace of God be as contented to suffer as they are active to advance My Sufferings and Mine own Soul tells Me that the time will come when the very clouds shall drop down vengeance upon the heads of those that barricado themselves against the proceedings of of Peace for if God hath proclaimed a blessing to the Peace-makers needs must the Peace-breakers draw down curses upon their heads I thank My God I have armed My self against their Fury and now let the arrows of their Envy fly at Me I have a breast to receive them and a heart possest with Patience to sustain them for God is My Rock and My shield therefore I will not fear what man can do unto Me. I will expect the worst and if any thing happen beyond My expectation I will give God the glory for vain is the help of man THE END AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE PAPERS WHICH PASSED BETWIXT HIS MAJESTY And the Divines which Attended the Commissioners of the TWO HOUSES at the TREATY at NEWPORT CONCERNING CHURCH-GOVERNMENT In this APPENDIX are contained I. His MAJESTIES Reason why He cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the Episcopal Government October 2. 1648. p. 612. II. The Answer of the Divines to His MAJESTIES Reason Octob. 3. ibid. III. His MAJESTIES Reply to their Paper Octob 6. p. 616. IV. The Rejoinder of the Divines to His MAJESTIES Reply Octob. 17. p. 621. V. His MAJESTIES Final Answer concerning Episcopacy Nov. 1. 1648. p. 634. I. His MAJESTIES Reason why He cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the Episcopal Government CHARLES R. I Conceive that Episcopal Government is most consonant to the Word of God and of Apostolical Institution as it appears by the Scripture to have been practised by the Apostles themselves and by them committed and derived to particular Persons as their Substitutes or Successors therein as for Ordaining Presbyters and Deacons giving Rules for Christian Discipline and exercising Censures over Presbyters and others and hath ever since till these last times been exercised by Bishops in all the Churches of Christ And therefore I cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the said Government Notwithstanding this My perswasion I shall be glad to be informed if our Saviour and the Apostles did so leave the Church at liberty as they might totally alter or change the Church-Government at their pleasure Which if you can make appear to Me then I will confess that one of My great Scruples is clean taken away And then there only remains That being by My Coronation-Oath obliged to maintain Episcopal Government as I found it setled to My hands Whether I may consent to the abolishing thereof until the same shall be evidenced to Me to be contrary to the Word of God Newport 2. Oct. 1648. II. An Humble Answer returned to Your Majesties Paper delivered to us Octob. 2. MDCXLVIII May it please Your Majesty WE do fully agree without hesitation That these Scriptures cited in the margin of Your Paper Acts xiv 23. Acts vi 6. 1 Cor. xvi 1. 1 Cor. xiv 1 Cor. v. 3. iii John 9 10. do prove that the Apostles did ordain Presbyters and Deacons give Rules concerning Christian Discipline and had power of exercising Censures over Presbyters and others
than snow Teach Me to learn Righteousness by thy Judgments and to see my frailty in thy Justice While I was perswaded by shedding one mans blood to prevent after-troubles thou hast for that among other sins brought upon Me and upon my Kingdoms great long and heavy troubles Make Me to prefer Justice which is thy Will before all contrary clamors which are but the discoveries of mans injurious will It is too much that they have once overcome Me to please them by displeasing Thee O never suffer Me for any reason of State to go against my Reason of Conscience which is highly to sin against Thee the God of Reason and Judg of our Consciences Whatever O Lord Thou seest fit to deprive Me of yet restore unto Me the joy of thy Salvation and ever uphold Me with thy free Spirit which subjects my Will to none but thy Light of Reason Justice and Religion which shines in my Soul for Thou desirest Truth in the inward parts and Integrity in the outward expressions Lord hear the voice of thy Sons and my Saviours Blood which speaks better things O make Me and my People to hear the voice of Joy and Gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce in thy Salvation III. Vpon his MAJESTIES going to the House of COMMONS MY going to the House of Commons to demand Justice upon the Five Members was an act which my Enemies loaded with all the obloquies and exasperations they could It filled indifferent men with great jealousies and fears yea and many of My Friends resented it as a motion rising rather from Passion than Reason and not guided with such discretion as the touchiness of those times required But these men knew not the just motives and pregnant grounds with which I thought My self so furnished that there needed nothing to such evidence as I could have produced against those I charged save only a free and legal Tryal which was all I desired Nor had I any temptation of displeasure or revenge against those mens Persons further than I had discovered those as I thought unlawful correspondencies they had used and engagements they had made to embroyl My Kingdoms of all which I missed but little to have produced writings under some mens own hands who were the chief Contrivers of the following Innovations Providence would not have it so yet I wanted not such probabilities as were sufficient to raise jealousies in any Kings heart who is not wholly stupid and neglective of the publick Peace which to preserve by calling in question half a dozen men in a fair and Legal way which God knows was all my design could have amounted to no worse effect had it succeeded than either to do Me and My Kingdom right in case they had been found guilty or else to have cleared their Innocency and removed My Suspicions which as they were not raised out of any Malice so neither were they in Reason to be smothered What flames of Discontent this spark tho I sought by all speedy and possible means to quench it soon kindled all the world is witness The aspersion which some men cast upon that action as if I had designed by force to assault the House of Commons and invade their Privilege is so false that as God best knows I had no such intent so none that attended Me could justly gather from any thing I then said or did the least intimation of any such thoughts That I went attended with some Gentlemen as it was no unwonted thing for the Majesty and Safety of a King so to be attended especially in discontented times so were My Followers at that time short of my ordinary Guard and no way proportionable to hazard a tumultuary conflict Nor were they more scared at my coming than I was unassured of not having some affronts cast upon Me if I had none with Me to preserve a Reverence to Me For many people had at that time learn'd to think those hard thoughts which they have since abundantly vented against Me both by words and deeds The Sum of that business was this Those men and their adherents were then looked upon by the affrighted Vulgar as greater Protectors of their Laws and Liberties than My self and so worthier of their protection I leave them to God and their own Consciences who if guilty of evil machinations no present impunity or Popular vindications of them will be subterfuge sufficient to rescue them from those exact Tribunals To which in the obstructions of Justice among men we must religiously appeal as being an argument to us Christians of that after unavoidable Judgement which shall re-judge what among men is but corruptly decided or not at all I endeavoured to have prevented if God had seen fit those future Commotions which I foresaw would in all likelihood follow some mens activity if not restrained and so now have done to the undoing of many thousands the more is the pity But to over-awe the Freedom of the Houses or to weaken their just Authority by any violent impressions upon them was not at all My design I thought I had so much Justice and Reason on My side as should not have needed so rough assistance and I was resolved rather to bear the repulse with Patience than to use such hazardous extremities But thou O Lord art my witness in heaven and in my heart If I have purposed any violence or oppression against the Innocent or if there were any such wickedness in my thoughts Then let the Enemy persecute my Soul and tread my life to the ground and lay mine Honour in the dust Thou that seest not as man seeth but lookest beyond all popular appearances searching the heart and trying the reins and bringing to light the hidden things of darkness shew thy self Let not my Afflictions be esteemed as with wise and godly men they cannot be any argument of my Sin in that matter more than their Impunity among good men is any sure token of their Innocency But forgive them wherein they have done amiss though they are not punished for it in this world Save thy Servant from the privy Conspiracies and open Violence of bloody and unreasonable men according to the uprightness of my heart and the innocency of my hands in this matter Plead my cause and maintain my right O thou that sittest in the Throne judging rightly that thy Servant may ever rejoyce in thy Salvation IV. Vpon the Insolency of the Tumults I Never thought any thing except our Sins more ominously presaging all these Mischiefs which have followed than those Tumults in London and Westminster soon after the Convening of this Parliament which were not like a Storm at Sea which yet wants not its Terror but like an Earthquake shaking the very foundations of all than which nothing in the world hath more of horror As it is one of the most convincing Arguments that there is a God while his power sets bounds to the raging of the Sea so 't is no
Thou by my own Subjects strip Me of my strength and eclipse my glory But shew thy self O my hope and only refuge Let not mine Enemies say There is no help for him in his God Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not Keep Me as the apple of thine eye hide Me under the shadow of thy wings Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness O Thou that savest by thy right hand them that put their trust in Thee from those that rise up against them From the wicked that oppress Me from my deadly enemies that compass Me about Shew Me the path of life In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore XI Vpon the Nineteen Propositions first sent to the KING and more afterwards ALtho there be many things they demand yet if these be all I am glad to see at what price they set My own safety and My Peoples peace which I cannot think I buy at too dear a rate save only the parting with My Conscience and Honour If nothing else will satisfie I must chuse rather to be as miserable and inglorious as My Enemies can make or wish Me. Some things here propounded to Me have been offered by Me others are easily granted The rest I think ought not to be obtruded upon Me with the point of the Sword nor urged with the injuries of a War when I have already declared that I cannot yield to them without violating my Conscience 'T is strange there can be no method of Peace but by making War upon my Soul Here are many things required of Me but I see nothing offer'd to Me by the way of grateful exchange of Honour or any requital for those Favours I have or can yet grant them This Honour they do Me to put Me on the giving part which is more Princely and Divine They cannot ask more than I can give may I but reserve to My self the incommunicable Jewel of my Conscience and not be forced to part with that whose loss nothing can repair or requite Some things which they are pleased to propound seem unreasonable to Me and while I have any mastery of my Reason how can they think I can consent to them who know they are such as are inconsistent with being either a King or a good Christian My yielding so much as I have already makes some men confident I will deny nothing The love I have of my Peoples Peace hath indeed great influence upon Me but the love of Truth and inward Peace hath more Should I grant some things they require I should not so much weaken my outward state of a King as wound that inward quiet of my Conscience which ought to be is and ever shall be by Gods grace dearer to Me than my Kingdoms Some things which a King might approve yet in Honour and Policy are at some time to be denied to some men lest he should seem not to dare to deny any thing and give too much incouragement to unreasonable demands and importunities But to bind My self to a general and implicit consent to whatever they shall desire or propound for such is one of their Propositions were such a latitude of blind obedience as never was expected from any Freeman nor fit to be required of any man much less of a King by his own Subjects any of whom he may possibly exceed as much in Wisdom as he doth in Place and Power This were as if Sampson should have consented not only to bind his own hands and cut off his hair but to put out his own eyes that the Philistines might with the more safety mock and abuse him which they chose rather to do than quite to destroy him when he was become so tame an object and fit occasion for their sport and scorn Certainly to exclude all power of denial seems an arrogancy least of all becoming those who pretend to make their Addresses in an humble and loyal way of petitioning who by that sufficiently confess their own inferiority which obligeth them to rest if not satisfied yet quietted with such an answer as the will and reason of their Superior thinks fit to give who is acknowledged to have a freedom and power of Reason to consent or dissent else it were very foolish and absurd to ask what another having not liberty to deny neither hath power to grant But if this be My right belonging to Me in Reason as a Man and in Honour as a Soveraign King as undoubtedly it doth how can it be other than extreme injury to confine my Reason to a necessity of granting all they have a mind to ask whose minds may be as differing from Mine both in Reason and Honour as their aims my be and their qualities are which last God and the Laws have sufficiently distinguisht making Me their Soveraign and them My Subjects whose Propositions may soon prove violent Oppositions if once they gain to be necessary Impositions upon the Regal Authority since no man seeks to limit and confine his King in Reason who hath not a secret aim to share with him or usurp upon him in Power and Dominion But they would have Me trust to their moderation and abandon Mine own discretion that so I might verifie what representations some have made of Me to the world that I am fitter to be their Pupil than their Prince Truly I am not so confident of My own sufficiency as not willingly to admit the Counsel of others But yet I am not so diffident of my self as bruitishly to submit to any mens dictates and at once to betray the Soveraignty of Reason in My Soul and the Majesty of my own Crown to any of My Subjects Least of all have I any ground of credulity to induce Me fully to submit to all the desires of those men who will not admit or do refuse and neglect to vindicate the freedom of their own and others sitting and voting in Parliament Besides all men that know them know this how young Statesmen the most part of these propounders are so that till experience of one seven years hath shewed Me how well they can Govern Themselves and so much Power as is wrested from Me I should be very foolish indeed and unfaithful in my Trust to put the reins of both Reason and Government wholly out of my own into their hands whose driving is already too much like Jehu's and whose forwardness to ascend the throne of Supremacy portends more of Phaeton than of Phoebus God divert the Omen if it be his will They may remember that at best they sit in Parliament as my Subjects not my Superiors called to be my Counsellors not Dictators Their Summons extends to recommend their Advice not to command My Duty When I first heard of Propositions to be sent me I expected either some good Laws which had been antiquated by the course of time or overlaid by the corruption of manners had been desired to a restauration of their
noise of my Evil Counsellors was another useful device for those who were impatient any mens counsels but their own should be followed in Church or State who were so eager in giving Me better counsel that they would not give Me leave to take it with Freedom as a Man or Honour as a King making their counsels more like a Drench that must be poured down than a Draught which might be fairly and leisurely drank if I liked it I will not justifie beyond humane errors and frailties My self or my Counsellors They might be subject to some Miscarriages yet such as were far more reparable by second and better thoughts than those enormous Extravagances wherewith some men have now even wildred and almost quite lost both Church and State The event of things at last will make it evident to my Subjects that had I followed the worst counsels that My worst Counsellors ever had the boldness to offer to Me or My self any inclination to use I could not so soon have brought both Church and State in Three flourishing Kingdoms to such a Chaos of Confusions and Hell of Miseries as some have done out of which they cannot or will not in the midst of their many great advantages redeem either Me or my Subjects No men were more willing to complain than I was to redress what I saw in Reason was either done or advised amiss and this I thought I had done even beyond the expectation of moderate men who were sorry to see Me prone even to injure My self out of a Zeal to relieve my Subjects But other mens insatiable desire of Revenge upon Me My Court and My Clergy hath wholly beguiled both Church and State of the benefit of all my either Retractations or Concessions and withal hath deprived all those now so zealous Persecutors both of the comfort and reward of their former pretended Persecutions wherein they so much gloried among the Vulgar and which indeed a truly-humble Christian will so highly prize as rather not to be relieved than be revenged so as to be bereaved of that Crown of Christian Patience which attends humble and injured Sufferers Another artifice used to withdraw My Peoples Affections from Me to their designs was The noise and ostentation of Liberty which men are not more prone to desire than unapt to bear in the Popular sense which is to do what every man liketh best If the divinest Liberty be to will what men should and to do what they so will according to Reason Laws and Religion I envy not my Subjects that Liberty which is all I desire to enjoy My self so far am I from the desire of oppressing theirs Nor were those Lords and Gentlemen which assisted Me so prodigal of their Liberties as with their Lives and Fortunes to help on the enslaving of Themselves and their Posterities As to Civil Immunities none but such as desire to drive on their Ambitious and Covetous Designs over the Ruines of Church and State Prince Peers and People will ever desire greater Freedoms than the Laws allow whose bounds good men count their Ornament and Protection others their Manacles and Oppression Nor is it just any man should expect the Reward and Benefit of the Law who despiseth its Rule and Direction losing justly his Safety while he seeks an unreasonable Liberty Time will best inform my Subjects that those are the best preservers of their true Liberties who allow themselves the least licentiousness against or beyond the Laws They will feel it at last to their cost that it is impossible those men should be really tender of their fellow-Subjects Liberties who have the hardiness to use their King with so severe restraints against all Laws both Divine and Humane under which yet I will rather perish than complain to those who want nothing to compleat their mirth and Triumph but such Musick In point of true Conscientious Tenderness attended with Humility and Meekness not with proud and arrogant activity which seeks to hatch every egg of different opinion to a Faction or Schism I have oft declared how little I desire my Laws and Scepter should intrench on Gods Soveraignty which is the only King of mens Consciences and yet He hath laid such restraints upon men as commands them to be subject for Conscience sake giving no men liberty to break the Law established further than with Meekness and Patience they are content to suffer the Penalties annexed rather than perturb the publick Peace The truth is some mens thirst after Novelties others despair to relieve the necessities of their Fortunes or satisfie their Ambition in Peaceable times distrusting Gods Providence as well as their own Merits were the secret but principal impulsives to these Popular Commotions by which Subjects have been perswaded to expend much of those plentiful Estates they got and enjoyed under My Government in peaceable times which yet must now be blasted with all the odious Reproaches which impotent Malice can invent and My self exposed to all those Contempts which may most diminish the Majesty of a King and encrease the ungrateful insolences of my People For mine Honour I am well assured that as mine Innocency is clear before God in point of any Calumnies they object so My Reputation shall like the Sun after Owls and Bats have had their freedom in the night and darker times rise and recover it self to such a degree of splendor as those feral Birds shall be grieved to behold and unable to bear For never were any Princes more glorious than those whom God hath suffer'd to be tried in the furnace of Afflictions by their injurious Subjects And who knows but the just and merciful God will do Me good for some mens hard false and evil speeches against Me Wherein they speak rather what they wish than what they believe or know Nor can I suffer so much in point of Honour by those rude and scandalous Pamphlets which like fire in great Conflagrations flie up and down to set all places on like flames as those men do who pretending to so much Piety are so forgetful of their duty to God and Me by no way ever vindicating the Majesty of their KING against any of those who contrary to the precept of God and precedent of Angels speak evil of dignities and bring railing accusations against those who are honoured with the name of Gods But 't is no wonder if men not fearing GOD should not Honour their KING They will easily contemn such shadows of God who reverence not that Supreme and adorable Majesty in comparison of whom all the Glory of Men and Angels is but obscurity yet hath he graven such Characters of Divine Authority and Sacred power upon Kings as none may without sin seek to blot them out Nor shall their black veils be able to hide the shining of My face while God gives Me a heart frequently and humbly to converse with him from whom alone are all the irradiations of true Glory and Majesty Thou O Lord knowest
constitution The Abuses of which deserve to be extirpated as much as the use retained for I think it far better to hold to Primitive and Uniform Antiquity than to comply with divided Novelty A right Episcopacy would at once satisfie all just desires and interests of good Bishops humble Presbyters and sober People so as Church affairs should be managed neither with Tyranny Parity nor Popularity neither Bishops ejected nor Presbyters despised nor People oppressed And in this Integrity both of My Judgment and Conscience I hope God will preserve Me. For Thou O Lord knowest my Vprightness and Tenderness As Thou hast set Me to be a Defender of the Faith and a Protector of thy Church so suffer Me not by any violence to be over-born against My Conscience Arise O Lord maintain thine own Cause let not thy Church be deformed as to that Government which derived from thy Apostles hath been retained in purest and Primitive times till the Revenues of the Church became the object of secular Envy which seeks to rob it of all the encouragements of Learning and Religion Make Me as the good Samaritan compassionate and helpful to thy afflicted Church which some men have wounded and robbed others pass by without regard either to pity or relieve As My Power is from Thee so give Me grace to use it for Thee And though I am not suffered to be Master of my other Rights as a KING yet preserve Me in that liberty of Reason love of Religion and thy Churches welfare which are fixed in My Conscience as a Christian Preserve from Sacrilegious invasions those temporal Blessings which thy Providence hath bestowed on thy Church for thy Glory Forgive their Sins and Errors who have deserved thy just permission thus to let in the wild Boar and subtile Foxes to waste and deform thy Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the dew of Heaven so long watered to a happy and flourishing estate O let Me not bear the infamous brand to all posterity of being the first Christian KING in this Kingdom who should consent to the oppression of thy Church and the Fathers of it whose Errors I would rather with Constantine cover with silence and reform with meekness than expose their Persons and Sacred Functions to vulgar contempt Thou O Lord seest how much I have suffered with and for thy Church make no long tarrying O my God to deliver both Me and It from unreasonable men whose counsels have brought forth and continue such violent Confusions by a precipitant destroying the ancient boundaries of thy Churches Peace thereby letting in all manner of Errors Schisms and Disorders O thou God of Order and of Truth in thy good time abate the Malice asswage the Rage and confound all the mischievous Devices of Thine Mine and thy Churches Enemies That I and all that love thy Church may sing Praises to Thee and ever magnifie thy Salvation even before the Sons of men XVIII Vpon Uxbridg Treaty and other Offers made by the KING I Look upon the way of Treaties as a retiring from fighting like Beasts to arguing like Men whose strength should be more in their Understandings than in their Limbs And tho I could seldom get opportunities to Treat yet I never wanted either desire or disposition to it having greater confidence of my Reason than my Sword I was so wholly resolved to yield to the first that I thought neither My self nor others should need to use the second if once we rightly understood each other Nor did I ever think it a diminution of Me to prevent them with expresses of My Desires and even Importunities to Treat It being an office not only of Humanity rather to use Reason than Force but also of Christianity to seek peace and ensue it As I was very unwillingly compelled to defend My self with Arms so I very willingly embraced any thing tending to Peace The events of all War by the Sword being very dubious and of a Civil War uncomfortable the End hardly recompencing and late repairing the mischief of the Means Nor did any success I had ever enhaunce with Me the price of Peace as earnestly desired by Me as any man tho I was like to pay dearer for it than any man All that I sought to reserve was Mine Honour and My Conscience the one I could not part with as a KING the other as a Christian The Treaty at Vxbridg gave the fairest hopes of an happy Composure had others applied themselves to it with the same Moderation as I did I am confident the War had then ended I was willing to condescend as far as Reason Honour and Conscience would give Me leave nor were the remaining Differences so essential to my Peoples Happiness or of such consequence as in the least kind to have hindred My Subjects either Security or Prosperity for they better enjoyed both many years before ever those demands were made some of which to deny I think the greatest Justice to My self and Favor to my Subjects I see Jealousies are not so easily allayed as they are raised Some men are more afraid to retreat from violent Engagements than to engage what is wanting in Equity must be made up in Pertinacy Such as had little to enjoy in Peace or to lose in War studied to render the very name of Peace odious and suspected In Church affairs where I had least liberty of Prudence having so many strict ties of Conscience upon Me yet I was willing to condescend so far to the setling of them as might have given fair satisfaction to all men whom Faction Covetousness or Superstition had not engaged more than any true Zeal Charity or love of Reformation I was content to yield to all that might seem to advance true Piety I only sought to continue what was necessary in point of Order Maintenance and Authority to the Churches Government and what I am perswaded as I have elsewhere set down My thoughts more fully is most agreeable to the true Principles of all Government raised to its full stature and perfection as also to the primitive Apostolical Pattern and the practice of the Universal Church conform thereto From which wholly to recede without any probable reason urged or answered only to satisfie some mens wills and phantasies which yet agree not among themselves in any point but that of extirpating Episcopacy and fighting against Me must needs argue such a softness and infirmity of Mind in Me as will rather part with Gods Truth than Mans Peace and rather lose the Churches Honour than cross some mens Factious humors God knows and time will discover who were most to blame for the unsuccessfulness of that Treaty and who must bear the guilt of after-calamities I believe I am very excusable both before God and all unpassionate men who have seriously weighed those Transactions wherein I endeavoured no less the restauration of Peace to My People than the preservation of My own Crowns to My Posterity Some men have that
height as to interpret all fair Condescendings as Arguments of Feebleness and glory most in an unflexible stifness when they see others most supple and inclinable to them A grand Maxime with them was always to ask something which in reason and Honour must be denied that they might have some colour to refuse all that was in other things granted setting Peace at as high a rate as the worst effects of War endeavouring first to make Me destroy My self by dishonourable Concessions that so they might have the less to do This was all which that Treaty or any other produced to let the world see how little I would deny or they grant in order to the Publick Peace That it gave occasion to some mens further restiveness is imputable to their own depraved tempers not to any Concessions or Negations of Mine I have always the content of what I offered and they the regret and blame for what they refused The highest tide of Success set Me not above a Treaty nor the lowest ebb below a Fight tho I never thought it any sign of true Valor to be prodigal of mens lives rather than to be drawn to produce our own Reasons or subscribe to other mens That which made Me for the most part presage the unsuccessfulness of any Treaty was some mens unwillingness to Treat which implied some things were to be gained by the Sword whose unreasonableness they were loath to have fairly scanned being more proper to be acted by Soldiers than by Counsellors I pray God forgive them that were guilty of that Treaties breaking and give them grace to make their advantages gotten by the Sword a better opportunity to use such Moderation as was then wanting that so tho Peace were for our sins justly deferred yet at last it may be happily obtain'd What we could not get by our Treaties we may gain by our Prayers O Thou that art the God of Reason and of Peace who disdainest not to Treat with Sinners preventing them with offers of Atonement and beseeching them to be reconciled with thy self who wantest not Power or Justice to destroy them yet aboundest in Mercy to save soften our hearts by the Blood of our Redeemer and perswade us to accept of Peace with Thy self and both to procure and preserve Peace among our selves as Men and Christians How oft have I intreated for Peace but when I speak thereof they make them ready to War Condemn us not to our Passions which are destructive both of our selves and of others Clear up our Vnderstandings to see thy Truth both in Reason as Men and in Religion as Christians and encline all our hearts to hold the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Take from us that Enmity which is now in our hearts against Thee and give us that Charity which should be among our selves Remove the evils of War we have deserved and bestow upon us that Peace which only Christ our great Peace-maker can merit XIX Vpon the various Events of the War Victories and Defeats THE various Successes of this unhappy War have at least afforded Me variety of good Meditations Sometimes God was pleased to try Me with Victory by worsting my Enemies that I might know how with Moderation and thanks to own and use his Power who is only the true Lord of Hosts able when he pleases to repress the Confidence of those that fought against Me with so great advantages for Power and Number From small beginnings on My part he let me see that I was not wholly forsaken by My Peoples Love or his Protection Other times God was pleased to exercise my Patience and teach Me not to trust in the arm of Flesh but in the living God My Sins sometimes prevailed against the Justice of my Cause and those that were with Me wanted not matter and occasion for his just Chastisement both of them and Me. Nor were my Enemies less punished by that Prosperity which hardened them to continue that Injustice by open Hostility which was begun by most riotous and unparliamentary Tumults There is no doubt but personal and private Sins may oft-times over-balance the Justice of publick engagements nor doth God account every gallant man in the worlds esteem a fit instrument to assert in the way of War a righteous Cause The more men are prone to arrogate to their own Skill Valour and Strength the less doth God ordinarily work by them for his own Glory I am sure the Event or Success can never state the Justice of any Cause nor the peace of mens Consciences nor the eternal fate of their Souls Those with Me had I think clearly and undoubtedly for their Justification the Word of Cod and the Laws of the Land together with their own Oaths all requiring Obedience to My just Commands but to none other under Heaven without Me or against Me in the point of raising Arms. Those on the other side are forced to flie to the shifts of some pretended Fears and wild fundamentals of State as they call them which actually overthrow the present Fabrick both of Church and State being such imaginary Reasons for self-defence as are most impertinent for those men to alledg who being My Subjects were manifestly the first assaulters of Me and the Laws first by unsuppressed Tumults after by listed Forces The same Allegations they use will fit any Faction that hath but power and Confidence enough to second with the Sword all their demands against the Present Laws and Governors which can never be such as some Side or other will not find fault with so as to urge what they call a Reformation of them to a Rebellion against them Some parasitick Preachers have dared to call those Martyrs who died fighting against Me the Laws their Oaths and the Religion established But sober Christians know that glorious Title can with truth be applied only to those who sincerely preferred God's Truth and their Duty in all these particulars before their Lives and all that was dear to them in this world who having no advantagious designs by any Innovation were religiously sensible of those ties to God the Church and My self which lay upon their Souls both for Obedience and just Assistance God could and I doubt not but he did through his Mercy crown many of them with Eternal Life whose lives were lost in so just a Cause the destruction of their Bodies being sanctified as a means to save their Souls Their Wounds and temporal Ruine serving as a gracious opportunity for their eternal Health and Happiness while the evident approach of Death did through Gods Grace effectually dispose their hearts to such Humility Faith and Repentance which together with the Rectitude of their present Engagement would fully prepare them for a better Life than that which their Enemies brutish and disloyal Fierceness could deprive them of or without Repentance hope to enjoy They have often indeed had the better against My side in the Field but never I believe at the Bar of
by the unparallel'd prosperity of Solomon's Court and so corrupted to the great diminution both for Peace Honour and Kingdom by those Flatteries which are as unseparable from prosperous Princes as Flies are from Fruit in Summer whom Adversity like cold weather drives away I had rather You should be Charles le Bon than le Grand Good than Great I hope God hath designed You to be both having so early put You into that exercise of his Graces and Gifts bestowed upon You which may best weed out all vicious inclinations and dispose You to those Princely Endowments and Employments which will most gain the love and intend the welfare of those over whom God shall place You. With God I would have You begin and end who is King of Kings the Soveraign Disposer of the Kingdoms of the world who pulleth down one and setteth up another The best Government and highest Soveraignty You can attain to is to be subject to Him that the Scepter of his Word and Spirit may rule in your Heart The true Glory of Princes consists in advancing God's Glory in the maintenance of true Religion and the Churches good also in the dispensation of Civil Power with Justice and Honour to the publick Peace Piety will make You prosperous at least it will keep You from being miserable nor is he much a loser that loseth all yet saveth his own Soul at last To which center of true Happiness God I trust hath and will graciously direct all these black lines of Affliction which he hath been pleased to draw on Me and by which he hath I hope drawn Me nearer to Himself You have already tasted of that Cup whereof I have liberally drank which I look upon as God's Physick having that in Healthfulness which it wants in Pleasure Above all I would have You as I hope You are already well grounded and setled in your Religion the best Profession of which I have ever esteemed that of the Church of England in which You have been educated Yet I would have your own Judgment and Reason now seal to that sacred Bond which Education hath written that it may be judiciously your own Religion and not other mens Custom or Tradition which You profess In this I charge You to persevere as coming nearest to God's Word for Doctrine and to the Primitive examples for Government with some little Amendment which I have other-where expressed and often offered tho in vain Your fixation in matters of Religion will not be more necessary for your Souls than your Kingdoms Peace when God shall bring You to them For I have observed that the Devil of Rebellion doth commonly turn himself into an Angel of Reformation and the old Serpent can pretend new Lights When some mens Consciences accuse them for Sedition and Faction they stop its mouth with the name and noise of Religion when Piety pleads for Peace and Patience they cry out Zeal So that unless in this point You be well setled You shall never want temptations to destroy You and Yours under pretensions of Reforming matters of Religion for that seems even to worst men as the best and most auspicious beginning of their worst Designs Where besides the Novelty which is taking enough with the Vulgar every one hath an affectation by seeming forward to an outward Reformation of Religion to be thought Zealous hoping to cover those Irreligious deformities whereto they are conscious by a severity of censuring other mens opinions or actions Take heed of abetting any Factions or applying to any publick Discriminations in matters of Religion contrary to what is in your Judgment and the Church well setled Your partial adhering as Head to any one side gains You not so great advantages in some men hearts who are prone to be of their King's Religion as it loseth You in others who think themselves and their profession first despised then persecuted by You. Take such a course as may either with Calmness and Charity quite remove the seeming differences and offences by impartiality or so order affairs in point of Power that You shall not need to fear or flatter any Faction For if ever You stand in need of them or must stand to their courtesie You are undone The Serpent will devour the Dove You may never expect less of Loyalty Justice or Humanity than from those who engage into Religious Rebellion Their Interest is always made God's under the colours of Piety ambitious Policies march not only with greatest security but applause as to the populacy You may hear from them Jacob's voice but You shall feel they have Esau's hands Nothing seemed less considerable than the Presbyterian Faction in England for many years so compliant they were to publick Order nor indeed was their Party great either in Church or State as to mens Judgments But as soon as Discontents drave men into Sidings as ill Humors fall to the disaffected part which causes Inflammations so did all at first who affected any Novelties adhere to that Side as the most remarkable and specious note of difference then in point of Religion All the lesser Factions at first were officious Servants to Presbytery their great Master till Time and Military success discovering to each their peculiar Advantages invited them to part stakes and leaving the joynt stock of Uniform Religion pretended each to drive for their Party the trade of Profits and Preferments to the breaking and undoing not only of the Church and State but even of Presbytery it self which seemed and hoped at first to have ingrossed all Let nothing seem little or despicable to You in matters which concern Religion and the Churches Peace so as to neglect a speedy reforming and effectual suppressing Errors and Schisms which seem at first but as a hand-breadth yet by Seditious Spirits as by strong winds are soon made to cover and darken the whole Heaven When You have done Justice to God Your own Soul and his Church in the profession and preservation both of Truth and Unity in Religion the next main hinge on which Your Prosperity will depend and move is that of Civil Justice wherein the setled Laws of these Kingdoms to which You are rightly Heir are the most excellent Rules You can Govern by which by an admirable temperament give very much to Subjects Industry Liberty and Happiness and yet reserve enough to the Majesty and Prerogative of any King who owns his People as Subjects not as Slaves whose Subjection as it preserves their Property Peace and Safety so it will never diminish Your Rights nor their ingenuous Liberties which consist in the enjoyment of the fruits of their Industry and the benefit of those Laws to which themselves have consented Never charge Your head with such a Crown as shall by its heaviness oppress the whole Body the weakness of whose parts cannot return any thing of strength honour or safety to the Head but a necessary debilitation and Ruin Your Prerogative is best shewed and exercised in remitting
Declaration in Answer p. 281 A Proclamation against the Earl of Essex Aug. 9. 1642. p. 283 His Majesty's Proclamation for the setting up His Standard Aug. 12. 1642. p. 285 His large Declaration of Aug. 12. 1642. p. 286. His Declaration concerning His Messages for Peace p. 315 His Speeches to His Army Sept. 19. to the Inhabitants of Denbigh and Flint Sept. 27. of Shropshire Sept. 28. 1642. p. 181 183 His Declaration after the Battle at Edge-Hill p. 323 His Speech to the Inhabitants of Oxfordshire Nov. 2. 1642. p. 183 His Declaration concerning His Advance to Brentford p. 325 The Answer of both Houses to His Message from thence With His Reply p. 327 328 The Petition of both Houses Nov. 24. 1642. With His Answer p. 329 MDCXLII III. The Proceedings in the Treaty at Oxford p. 330. His Majesty's Messages Apr. 12. 1643. p. 353. and May 19. 1643. p. 101 A Declaration of both Houses upon the Treaty p. 372. With His Majesties Declaration in Answer Jun. 3. 1643. p. 380 His Proclamation against the pretended Orders of the Two Houses Jun. 20. 1643. p. 397 Concerning the Rebellion and Troubles in Ireland See Icon Basil XII p. 671 Articles between the two Houses and the Scots concerning Ireland Aug. 6. 1642. p. 524 Letters of the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland Apr. 4. May 11. 1643. p. 527 528 529 The Grounds and Motives of the Cessation in Ireland Oct. 19. 1643. p. 401 Of the Coming in of the Scots and their Covenant See Icon Basil XIII XIV p. 674 677 Articles between the two Houses and the Scots Nov. 29. 1643. p. 519 A Proclamation for Assembling the Members of Parliament at Oxford Dec. 22. 1643. p. 409 MDCXLIII IV. A Letter of the Lords at Oxford to the Scots Jan. 1643 4. p. 410 His Majesty's Speeches to the Lords and Commons at Oxford Jan 22. Feb. 7. 1643 4. p. 184 185. Votes of the Commons at Oxford Jan. 26. Mar. 12. 1643 4. p. 411 A Declaration of the Lords and Commons at Oxford of their Proceedings for a Treaty Mar. 19. 1643 4. p. 412 Another Declaration concerning their Endeavours for Peace March 19. 1643 4. p. 422 MDCXLIV Their Petition to His Majesty Apr. 25. 1644. With His Answer p. 433 His Speech at their Recess Apr. 26. 1644. p. 185 A Declaration to Foreign Churches May 13. 1644. p. 436 His Majesty's Message from Evesholme Jul. 4. 1644. after the Defeat of Waller at Cropredy p. 102 His Speech to the Inhabitants of Somerset at Kingsmore Jul. 23. 1644. p. 186 His Letter to the Earl of Essex Aug. 6. 1644. p. 141 His Message from Tavestock Sept. 8. after the Defeat of Essex in Cornwal 1644. p. 103 A Proclamation Declaring His Resolution for Peace Sept. 30. 1644. p. 437 His Majesties Message from Oxford Dec. 13. 1644. p. 103 MDCXLIV V. A Proclamation for a Fast upon occasion of the Treaty Jan. 27. 1644 5. p. 439 His Majesty's Letters to the Queen With His Instructions to His Commissioners at Vxbridge and Secretary Nicholas p. 143 145 146 147 148 A Full Relation of the Treaty at Vxbridge p. 437. With the Appendix p. 515. And His Majesty's Answer to their three last Papers p. 531 Of Vxbridge Treaty See also Icon Basil XVIII p. 692 His Majesty's Letters to the Queen Mar. 13. 1644 5. Mar. 30. 1645. p. 150 152 MDCXLV His Majesty's Letter to Prince Rupert Aug. 3. 1645. p. 155 His Letter to Secretary Nicholas concerning the publishing His Letters Aug. 4. 1645. ibid. Of which See also Icon Basil XXI p. 699 MDCXLV VI. Ten Messages of His Majesty to both Houses Dec. 5 15 26 29 1645. Jan. 15 17 24 29. Feb. 26. Mar. 23. 1645 6. With two or three Answers of theirs p. 547 seqq MDCXLVI His Majesty's Letter to the Lieutenant of Ireland Apr. 13. 1646. p. 557 Of His going to the Scots See Icon Basil XXII p. 701 His Messages to both Houses From Southwell May 18. From New-Castle Jun. 10. With His Letter to the Governours of His Garrisons Jun. 10. 1646. p. 558 560 561 His Letter to the Lieutenant of Ireland Jun. 11. 1646. p. 561 The Propositions of both Houses to His Majesty at New-Castle Jul. 24. With His Answer Aug. 1. 1646. p. 562 570 His Message from New-Castle Dec. 20. 1646. p. 571 MDCXLVI VII His Queries to the Scots Jan. 14. 1646 7. With their Answer and His Reply p. 572 573 Of their delivering Him to the English and His Captivity at Holdenby See Icon Basil XXIII p. 702 His Messages for His Chaplains Feb. 17. Mar. 6. 1646 7. p. 115 116 Of which See also Icon Basil XXIV XXV p. 703 707 MDCXLVII His Majesties Message from Holdenby May 12. 1647. p. 573 Of the Armies Surprisal of him at Holdenby and the insuing Distractions See Icon Basil XXVI p. 708 The Petition and Engagement of the Londoners With the Declaration of both Houses thereupon Jul. 24. And an Ordinance and Votes Jul. 26. 31. 1647. p. 576 577 The Proposals of the Army Aug. 1. 1647 p. 578. The Propositions of both Houses to His Majesty at Hampton-Court Sept. 7. With His Answer Sept. 9. 1647. p. 584 585 His Message left at Hampton Court Nov. 11. 1647. p. 586 His Letter to Colonel Whaley p. 156 To the Lord Montague ibid. His Message from the Isle of Wight Nov. 17. 1647. p. 586 His Letters to Sir Thomas Fairfax p. 157 His Message for an Answer to the Former Dec. 6. 1647. p. 590 The Four Bills and Propositions to His Majesty with the Scots Papers Dec. 24. And His Answer Dec. 28. 1647. p. 590. 594 MDCXLVII VIII A Declaration and Votes for no further Address to His Majesty p. 595 His Majesty's Declaration thereupon Jan. 18. 1647 8. p. 596 His Answer to the Reasons for their Votes for No Address p. 132 See also Icon Basil XXVIII p. 716 MDCXLVIII His Majesty's Letter to the Scots Jul. 31. 1648. p. 157 Votes for a Treaty p. 598 His Majesty's Speech to the Committee Aug. 7. 1648. p. 187 His Message in Answer to the Votes Aug. 10. 1648. p. 598 Votes in Order to the Treaty With His Majesty's Answer Aug. 28. 1648. p. 600 601 A Letter of both Speakers Sept. 2. With His Majesty's Answer Sept. 7. 1648. p. 601 602 His Majesty's Message with Propositions Sept. 29. 1648. p. 602 A Vote concerning them Oct. 2. 1648. p. 606 His Majesty's Speech to the Commissioners of both Houses Nov. 4. 1648. p. 188 The Heads of the Remonstrance of the Army Nov. 20. 1648. p. 607 His Majesty's Queries concerning it p. 608 His Speech to the Commissioners at their taking leave p. 188 His Letter to the Prince p. 158 His Declaration concerning the Treaty and the Army p. 608 MDCXLVIII IX His Majesty's Speeches to the Pretended High Court of Justice With the History of His Trial Jan. 1648 9. p. 189 His Speeches to His Children Jan. 29. 1648 9. p. 205 His Speech upon the Scaffold With the manner of His