it 1. March 1641. Petition for the Militia and tell him If he would not graunt it they would settle and dispose it without him And the morrow after Resolve upon the Question That the Kingdom be forthwith put in a posture of Defence in such a way as was already agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament and Order the Earle of Northumberland Lord high-Admirall to Rig and send to Sea his Majesties Navie and notwithstanding that the King 4 March 1641 by his Letter directed to the Lord Keeper Littleton had signified that hee would wholly desist from any proceedings against the five Members and Kimbolton Sir John Hotham a Member of the House of Commons who before the King had accused the five Members and Kimbolton had by Order of Parliament seized upon the Towne of Hull the only fortified place of strength in the Kingdom and made a Garison of it summoned and forced in many of the trayned Souldiers of the County of Yorke to help him to guard it And eighth of March 1641 Before the King could get to Yorke it was Voted That whatsoever the two houses of Parliament should Vote or Declare to be Law the People were bound to obey And when not long after the King offered to goe in person to suppresse the Irish-Rebellion That was Voted to bee against the Law and an encouragement to the Rebells and they Declare that whosoever shall assist him in his Voyage thither should bee taken for an enemy to the Common-weale And 15 of March 1641. Resolved upon the Question That the severall Commissions granted under the great-Seale to the Lievetenants of the severall Counties were illegall and void and that whosoever should execute any power over the Militia by colour of any such Commission without consent of both Houses of Parliament should bee accounted a disturber of the Peace of the Kingdom Aprill 1642. Sir John Hotham seizeth the Kings Magazine at Hull and when the King went but with a small attendance to demand an entrance into the Towne denies him though hee had then no Order to doe it Notwithstanding all which the 28 of Aprill 1642. they Vote That what hee had done was in obedience to the commands of both Houses of Parliament and that the Kings proclaming him to bee a Traytor was a high breach of Priviledge of Parliament And Ordered All Sheriffs and Officers to assist their Committees sent down with those their Votes to Sir John Hotham In the meane time the Pulpits flame with seditious invectives against the King and incitements to Rebellion and the People running headlong into it had all manner of countenance and encouragement unto it but those Ministers that preached Obedience and sought to prevent it were sure to bee imprisoned and put out of their places for it Sir Henry Ludlow could bee heard to say in the house of Comons That the King was not worthy to Reigne in England And Henry Marten That the Kingly Office was forfeitable and the happinesse of the Kingdome did not depend upon him and his Progeny And though the King demanded justice of them were neither punished nor put out of the House Nor so much as questioned or blamed for it The Militia the principall part of the Kings regality without which it was impossible either to bee a King or to governe and the Sword which God had given him and his Ancestors for more then a thousand yeeres together had enjoyed and none in the Barons wars nor any Rebellion of the Kingdome since the very being or essence of it durst ever heretofore presume to aske for must now be wrestled for and taken away from him The Commissions of Array being the old legall way by which the Kings of England had a power to raise and levie men for the defence of themselves and the Kingdome Voted to bee illegall The passage at Sea defended against him and his Navy kept from him by the Earle of Warwick whilest the King all this while contenting himselfe to bee meerely passive and only busying himselfe in giving answeres to some Parliament Messages and Declarations and to wooe intreat them out of this distemper cannot be proved to have done any one action like a war or to have so much as an intention to doe it unles they can make his demanding an entrance into Hull with about twenty of his Followers unarmed in his Company and undertaking to returne and leave the Governor in possession of it to be otherwise then it ought to be 5. Of May 1642. The King being informed That Sir John Hotham sent out warrants to Constables to raise the trayned bands of York-shire writes his letter to the Sheriffe of that County to forbid the Trayned bands and commands them to repaire to their dwelling houses 12. Of May 1642. Perceiving himselfe every where endangered and a most horrid Rebellion framing against him and Sir John Hotham so neere him at Hull as within a dayes journey of him moves the County of Yorke for a Troope of horse consisting of the prime gentry of that County and a Regiment of the trayned bands of foot to bee for a guard unto him and caused the Oath of Allegiance to be administred unto them But the Parliament thereupon Vote That it appeared the King seduced by wicked Councell intended to make a War against them and till then if their own Votes should be true must acquite him from any thing more then an intention as they call it to do it And that whosoever should assist him are traytors by the fundamentall Lawes of the Kingdome The Earle of Essex Lord-Chamberlaine of the Kings houshold and all other of the Kings houshold Ser. ants forbid to go to him the Kings putting some of them out others in their places Voted to bee an injury to the Parliament Messengers were sent for the apprehending some Earles and Barons about him and some of his Bed-Chamber as if they had been Felons The Lord Keepers going to him with the great-Seal when he sent for him voted to bee a breach of priviledge and pursued with a warrant directed to all Mayors and Bayliffes to apprehend him Cause the Kings Rents and Revenues to bee brought in to them and forbid any to bee paid him Many of his Officers and Servants put out of their places for being Loyall unto him and those that were ill affected to him put in their Roomes and many of his owne Servants tempted and procured by rewards and maintenance to tarry with them and bee false and active against him The twenty sixt day of May 1642. a Declaration is sent to the King but printed and published before hee could receive it That Whatsoever they should Vote is not by Law to bee questioned either by the King or Subjects No precedent can limit or bound their proceedings A Parliament may dispose of any thing wherein the King or People have any right The Soveraign power resides in both Houses of Parliament The King hath no
Negative voyce The levying of Warre against the Personall commands of the King though accompanied with His presence is not a levying of Warre against the King but a levying Warre against His Lawes and Authority which they have Power to declare is levying of Warre against the King Treason cannot bee committed against his Person otherwise then as Hee was intrusted They have Power to judge whether hee discharge His trust or not that if they should follow the highest precedents of other Parliaments paternes there would bee no cause to complaine of want of modesty or duty in them and that it belonged only to them to Judge of the Law 27 of May The King by his Proclamation forbids all his Subjects and trayned bands of the Kingdome to Rise March or Muster But the Parliament on the same day Command all Sheriffs Justices of Peace and Constables within one hundred and fifty miles of Yorke to seize and make stay of all Armes and Amunition going thither And Declaring the said Proclamation to bee void in Law Command all men to Rise Muster and March and not to Muster or March by any other Authority or Commission and the Sheriffs of all Counties the morrow after Commanded with the posse Commitatus to suppresse any of the Kings Subjects that should bee drawne thither by his Command Secure and seize upon the Magazines of the Counties Protect all that are Delinquents against him make all to bee Delinquents that attend him and censure and put out of the house of Peeres nine Lords at once for obeying the Kings summons and going to him 3. June 1642. The King summoning the Ministery Gentry and Free-holders of the Countie of Yorke declared to them the reasons of providing himselfe a guard and that he had no intention to make a Warre and the morrow after forbad the Lord Willoughby of Parham to Muster and Trayne the Countie of Lincolne who under colour of an Ordinance of Parliament for the Militia had begun to doe it 1â— June 1642. The Parliament by a Declaration signifying That the King intended to make a War against his Parliament invited the Citizens of London all others well affected as they pleased to mis-call them within 80. miles of the City to bring money or plate into the Guild-Hall London and to subscribe for Men Horses and Army to maintaiâ—e the Protestant Religion the Kings Person and Authority â—ree course of Justice Lawes of the Land and priviledges of Parliament and the morrow after send 19. propositions to the King That the great affaires of the Kingdome and Militia may bee mannaged by consent and approbation of Parliament all the great officers of Estate Priâ—y Councell Ambassadors and Ministers of State and Judges bee chosen by them that the Grvernment Education and Marriage of the Kings Children bee by their consent and approbation and all the Forts and Castles of the Kingdome put under the Command and Custody of such as they should approve of and that no Peeres to bee made hereafter should sit or vote in Parliament without the consent of Parliament with severall other demands which if the King should have granted would at once in effect not only have undone and put his Subjects out of his protection but have deposed both himselfe and his posteritie and then they would proceede to regulate his Revenue and deliver up the Towne of Hull into such hands as the King by consent and approbation of Parliament should appoint But the King having the same day before those goodly demands came to his hands being a greater breach of his Royall Priviledges then his demanding of the 5. Members and Kimbolton if it had not beene Lawfull for him so to doe could be of theirs granted a Commission of array for the Countie of Lecester to the Earl of Huntington and by a letter sent along with it directed it for the present only to Muster and Array the Trayned-Bands And 13. June 1642. Declared to the Lords attending Him at York That Hee would not engage them in any Warre against the Parliament unlesse it were for his necessary defence wherupon the L. keeper Litleton who a little before had either beene affrighted or seduced by the Parliament to vote their new Militia The Duke of Richmond Marquis Hartford Earle of Salsbury Lord Gray of Ruthen now Earle of Kent and divers Earles and Barrons engaged not to obey any Order or Ordinance concerning the Militia had not the Royall assent to it And fourteenth of June 1642. Being informed That the Parliament endeavored to borrow great summes of money of the City of London and that there was great labour used to perswade His Subjects to furnish horse and money upon pretence of providing a guard for the Parliament By His letter to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffes of London disavowing any purpose of making a Warre declared That He had not the least thought of raising or using of forces unlesse Hee should bee compelled to doe it for His owne defence and forbiddeth therefore the lending of money or raising of horses And within two dayes after the Lord Keeper Duke of Richmond Marquis Hartford Earle of Salisbury Lord Gray of Ruthen with 17 Earles and 14. Barons the Lord Chiefe-Justice Bancks and sundrie others of eminent qualitie and reputation attest His Majesties Declaration and profession that Hee had no intention to make a Warre but abhorred it and That they perceived no Councells or preparations tending to any such designe and send it with His Majesties Declaration to the Parliament In the meane time the Committee of Parliament appointed to make the propositions to the Cittie of London for the raising of Horse vizt. 15. June 1642. Made report to the house of Commons That the Citizens did very cheerfully accept the same there being for indeede there had beene some designe and Resolution a yeare before concerning the melting of plate to raise monies already great store of plate and monies brought into Guild-Hall for that purpose and an Ordinance of Parliament was made for the Earle of Warwick to bee Lord Admirall and keepe the Navy though the King had commanded him upon payne of Treason to deliver up the Ships to Him And the Lord Brooke sent downe into Warwick-shire to settle the Militia 17. June 1642. A Committee of both Houses was appointed to goe to the Citie of London to enquire what store of Horse Monies and Plate were already raised upon the Propositions 18. June 1642. The King by His Proclamation Disclaiming any intention to make Warre against His Parliament forbiddeth all levies of Forces without His Majesties expresse pleasure signified under His Great-Seale And 20. June 1642. Informing all His Subjects by His Proclamation of the Lawfullnesse of His Commissions of Array That besides many other Warrants and Authorities of the Law Judge Hutton and Judge Crooke in their arguments against the Ship-money agreed them to be Lawfull and the Earle of Essex himselfe had
and his Commissioners at Vxbridge almost petitioned for a cessation in the interim of that Treaty as they had done before in that which was at Oxford it could not be granted nor have a few daies added to it if the King could in honor Conscience have granted all the other parts of the propositions must grant them an act not only to confiscate the Estates of his Friends and those that took armes to save his Life and Estate but to take away their Lives also and not only that but to condemne them of high Treason and attaint their blood when they fought against them were only guiltie of it a thing so unfitting and unusually stood upon as it was never asked in any treaty or pacification among the civilized or more barbarous heathen and amounts to more then Adonibezeks causing the thumbs and great toes of his captive Kings to bee cut off and making them to gather the crumbes from under his table or Benhadads demande of Ahabs silver and gold his wives and Children and whatsoever else was pleasant in his eyes which the elders and People of Israel perswaded Ahab not to consent unto but was a thing purposely contrived and stood upon to hinder a Peace was not to bee asked or granted by any that could but entitle themselves to the least part of reason or humanity a demand Bajazet would not leave his Iron cage to yeild unto a thing nature it selfe would abhorre and the worst of Villaines and reprobates rather loose their lives then yeild to would never bee demanded by any but a Devill nor granted by any but his Equalls And if their desiring of a war more then a peace and to keepe the King out of his owne had not beene the only cause of such unnaturall and barbarous propositions it may well bee wondred why they that have made to themselves for wee cannot beleive they have found any law or warrant to ground it upon a power to take away the Kings life upon a colour or pretence of an unread as well as unheard of peece of Justice should need to strive so hard with the King to give them a power to doe that they are now so busie to doe of themselves and as if they had beene afraid all this would not bee enough to keepe the doores of Janus or the Devill open for feare lest the King should trouble them with any more offers or Messages for peace a vote must bee made in February 1647. that it should be treason in any man to bring or receive any more Messages from him without consent of Parliament But suppose that which is not that the Parliament could have but found any thing but somewhat like a cause or justification of a war against their Soveraign for notwithstanding all their hypocriticall pretences so it was at first intended and so it hath proved to bee ever since to whom their Masters the People wee meane as to the house of Commons had sent them to consult with not to make a Warre against him they might have remembred that saying of Cicero if they had found nothing in the booke of God and their owne Consciences to perswade them to it That duo sunt genera decertandi unum per disceptationem alterum per vim ad hoc confugiendum non est si uti superiori licebit There are other waies to come by pretended rights then by a Warre and wee ought never to make use of a Warre which is the worst of all remedies if wee may obtaine it by a better Hen. 2. King of England was made a Judge betwixt the Kings of Castile and Navarre The Rebellious Barons of England in the raigne of King Hen. 3. referred their controversies to the decision of the king of France and his Parliament at Paris And the blood of this kingdom which ran so plentifully in those unhappy differences was by that meanes only stopped Charles the 4. Emperor was made a Judge of the differences betwixt the English and the French Kings For as Albericus Gentilis saith well Intelligendum eos qui diffugiunt genus hoc decertandi per desceptationem ad alterum quod est per vim currunt illco eos a justitia ab humanitate a probis exemplis refugere et ruere in arma volentes qui subire judicium nullius velint They that rush into a Warre without assaying all other just meanes of deciding the controversie for which it is made and will judge only according to their owne will and opinion doe turne their backs to Justice Humanity and all good Examples And in that also the Parliament will bee found faulty For the French King and the Estates of the united Provinces did by more then one request and embassy severally and earnestly mediate to make an accord betwixt the King and his Parliament and desired to have all things in defference left to their arbitrement but their Ambassadors returned home again with a report how much they found the King inclined to it and how satisfactorily hee had offered and how much the Parliament was averse to their interposition and altogether refused it But wee have tarried long enough among the Parliament partie from thence therefore for it is time to leave the companie of so much wickednesse wee shall remove to the Kings partie and yet that may cause a Sequestration and examine for a fuller satisfaction of that which by the rule of contraries is cleere enough alreadie if hee were not on the defensive and more justifiable part of the businesse The King as hee was defensor et protector subditorum suorum and sworne to see the Law executed had not the sword nor his authority Commited to him in vaine And if hee had had no manner of just cause of feare either in his owne Person or authoritie or no cause given him in relaesae Majestatis the imprisoning of his Subjects and plundring and taking away their estates from them long before he had either armed himselfe or had wherewithall to doe it had beene cause as sufficient as to cause a Hue and Cry to be made after a fellon or raise the posse Commitatus to bring him to Justice and might by the same reason doe it in the case of more and by the same reason hee might doe it by the help of one nothing can hinder but by the same reason hee might doe it by the help of more When Nathan came to David with a parable and told him of the rich man that had taken the poore mans only Sheepe hee that understood well enough the dutie of a King was exceeding wroth against the man and said As sure as the Lord liveth this man shall surely dye And can any man think that the King when hee saw so much Sedition and Treason among the People countenanced and cherished Tumults grow up into outrages outrages to parties and Warlike assemblies proposiâ—ions made to bring in Horse and Money to
King CHARLES the First no Man OF BLOOD BUT A MARTYR FOR HIS PEOPLE OR A sad and impartiall enquiry whether the King or Parliament began the Warre which hath so much ruined and undon the Kingdom of England and who was in the defensive part of it Exoritur aliquod majus è magno malum Nondum ruentis Ilij fatum stetit SENEC Traged in Troade Act 3. Printed in the Yeare 1649. King CHARLES the First No Man of Blood BUT A Martyr for his People THAT there hath beene now almost seaven yeeres spent in Civill-Warres aboundance of Blood-shed and more Ruine and Misery brought upon the Kingdome by it then all the severall Changes Conquests and Civill-Warres it hath endured from the time of Brute or the first Inhabitants of it every mans wofull experience some only excepted who have beene gayners by it will easily assent unto No mervaile therefore that many of those who if all they alledge for themselves that they were not the cause of it could bee granted to be true might eyther have hindred or lessned it would now put the blame of so horrid a businesse from themselves and lay it upon any they can perswade to beare it And that the Conquerours who would binde their Kings in Chaynes and their Princes with fetters of Iron and thinke they have a Commission from Heaven to doe it the guilt of it being necessarily either to bee charged upon the Conquerors or conquered are not willing to have their triumphant Chayres and the glories as they are made beleeve that hang upon their shoulders defiled with it but do all they can to load their Captives with it But howsoever though the successe and power of an Army hath frighted it so farre out of question as to charge it upon the King and take away his life for it by making those that must of necessity bee guilty of the fact if he should have beene as in all reason hee ought to have beene acquited of it the only Judges of him It may well become the judgement and conscience of every man that will bee but eyther a good Subject or a Christian not to lend out his Soule and Salvation so much on trust as to take those that are parties and the most ignorant sort of mens words for it but to enter into a most serious examination of the matter of Fact it selfe and by tracing out the foote-steps of Truth see what a conclusion may be drawn out of it In pursuance wherof for I hope the originall of this Sea of blood will not prove so unsearchable as the head of Nile Wee shall enquire who first of all raysed the Feares and Jelousies Secondly represent and set down the truth of the matter of Fact and proceedings betwixt the King and Parliament from the tumultuous seditious coming of the People to the Parliament and White-hall untill the 25. Aug. 1642. when he set up his Standard at Nottingham from the setting up of his Standard untill the 13 Sep. 1642. when the Parliament by their many acts of hostility a negative Churlish answer to his propositions might well have put him out of hope of any good to be obteined from them by messages of Peace sent unto them Thirdly whether a Prince or other Magistrate labouring to suppresse or punish a rebellion of the People be tied to those rules are necessary to the justifying of a warre if it were made betweene equalls Fourthly suppose the warre to bee made with a neighbour Prince or between equalls whether the King or Parliament were in the defensive or justifiable part of it Fiftly Whether the Parliament in their pretended magistracy have not taken lesser occasions to punish or provide against insurrections treasons rebellions as they are pleased to call them Sixtly Who most desired Peace and offered faireliest for it Seventhly Who laboured to shorten the Warre and who to lengthen it Eightly Whether the Conditions proffered by the King would not have beene more profitable for the People if they had beene accepted and what the Kingdome and People have got insteed of it CHAP. I. Who first of all Raised the Feares and Jealousies THE desiring of a guard for the Parliament because of a tale rather then a plot That the Earle of Crawford had a purpose to take away the Marquis of Hamiltons life in Scotland the refusing of a legall guard offered by the King and His Protestation to bee as carefull of their safety as of the safety of His Wife and Children The dreame of a Taylor lying in a ditch in Finsbury fields of this and the other good Lord and Common-wealths men to be taken away The trayning of horses under ground and a plague plaister or rather a clout taken from a galled horse back sent into the house of Commons to Mr. Pym A Designe of the Inhabitants of Covent-Garden to murther the City of London News from France Italy Spaine and Denmarke of Armies ready to come for England and a supposition or feaverish fancy That the King intended to introduce Popery and alter Religion and take away the Lawes and Liberties of the People and many other the like seditious delusions the People so much as their misery will give them leave have now found out the way to laugh at either came from the Parliament partie or were cherished and turned into advantages by them For they had found the way and lost nothing by it to be ever jealous of the King And whilest he did all he could to shew them that there was no cause for it they who were jealous without a cause could bee so cunning as to make all the haste they could to weaken Him and strengthen themselves by such kind of artifices But hee that could not choose but take notice that there were secret ties and combinations betwixt his English and Scottish Subjects the latter of whom the Earle of Essex and Sir Thomas Fairfax themselves understood to be no better then Rebels and therfore served in places of Command in His Majesties Army against them That Sir Arthur Haselrig had brought in a Bill in Parliament to take the Militia by Sea and Land away from him saw himselfe not long after by a Printed remonstrance or declaration made to the People of all they could but imagine to bee errours in his government arraigned and little lesse then deposed The Bishops and divers great Lords driven from the Parliament by Tumults Was inforced to keepe his gates at Whitehall shut and procure divers Captaines and Commanders to lodge there and to allow them a table to bee a guard for him and had beene fully informed of many Trayterous Speeches used by some seditious mechaniques of London as that It was pitty Hee should raigne and that The Prince would make a better King was yet so farre from being jealous or solicitous to defend himself by the Sword and power which God had intrusted him with as when he had need reason enough to do it he still
granted them that he might not seem to deny what might but seeme to bee for the good of his People every thing they could reasonably aske of him or hee could but reasonably tell how to part with though hee could not be ignorant but an ill use might be made of them against himselfe As the putting downe of the Starre-Chamber and high Commission Court the Courts of Honour and of the North and Welch marches Commissions for the making of Gun-powder allowing them approbation or nomination of the Lievetenant of the Tower and did all and more then all his Predecessors put together to remove their jealousies And when that would not doe it stood still and saw the game plaid on further Many Tumults raised many Libels and Scandalous Pamphlets publiquely Printed against His Person and Government and when hee complained of it in Parliament so little care was taken to redresse it as that the Peoples comming to Westminster in a Tumultuons manner set on and invited by Pennington and Ven two of the most active mechanick Sectaries of the house of Commons it was excused and called a Libertie of Petitioning And as for the Libels and Pamphlets the Licensing of Bookes before they should bee Printed and all other restraint of the Printing presses were taken away and complaints being made against Pamphlets and seditious bookes some of the Members of the house of Commons were heard to say the worke would not bee done without them and complaints being also made to Mr. Pym against some wicked men which were ill affected to the Government Hee answered It was not now a time to discourage their Friends but to make use of them And here being as many jealousies and feares as could possibly be raised or fancied without a ground on the one side against all the endeavours could bee used on the other side to remove them Wee shall in the next place take a view of the matter of Fact that followed upon them and bring before you CHAP. 2. The Proceedings betwixt the King and the Parliament from the Tumultuous and Seditious comming of the People to the Parliament and White-Hall till the 13 of September 1642. being 18 dayes after the King had set up His Standard at Nottingham VVHEN all the King could doe to bring the Parliament to a better understanding of Him did as they were pleased to make their advantage of it but make them seeme to bee the more unsatisfied that they might the better mis-represent Him to the People and petition out of his hands as much power as they could tell how to perswade him to grant them and that hee had proofes enow of what hath beene since written in the blood and hearts of His People That the five Members and Kimbolton intended to roote out Him and His Posterity subvert the Lawes and alter the Religion and Government of the Kingdome and had therefore sent his Serjeant at armes to demand their persons and Justice to bee done upon them instede of obedience to it an order was made That every man might rescue them and apprehend the Serjeant at armes for doing it which Parliament Records would blush at And Queene Elizabeth who was wont to answer her better composed Parliaments upon lesser occasions with a Cavete ne patientiam Principis laedatis and caused Parry a Doctor of the Civill Lawes and a Member of the house of Commons by the judgement and advice of as sage and learned a privy councell and Judges as any Prince in Christendome ever had to bee hang'd drawn and quartered for Treason in the old Palace of Westminster when the Parliament was sitting would have wondred at And 4. January 1641. desiring only to bring them to a legall-tryall and examination went in Person to demand them and found that his owne peaceable behaviour and fewer attendants then the two Speakers of the Parliament had afterwards when they brought a whole Army at their heeles to charge and fright away eleven of their fellow Members had all manner of evill constructions put upon it and that the Houses of Parliament had adjourned into London and occasioned such a sedition amongst the People as all the trayned bands of London must guard them by Land when there was no need of it and many Boats and Lighters armed with Sea-men and murdering-peeces by water and that unlesse Hee should have adventured the mischiefe and murder hath beene since committed upon him by those which at that time intended as much as they have done since it was high time to thinke of his owne safety and of so many others were concerned in it having left London but the day before upon a greater cause of feare thâ—n the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament in July 1647. to goe to the Army retires with the Prince his Sonne whom the Parliament laboured to seize and take into their custody in his company towards Yorke 8. January 1641. A Cimmittee of the house of Commons sitting in London resolved upon the question That the actions of the City of London for the defence of the Parliament were according to Law and if any man should arest or trouble any of them for it he is declared to be an enemy to the CoÌ„mon-wealth And when the King to quiet the Parliament 12 Jan. 1641. was pleased to signifie that for the present he would waive his proceedings against the five Members and Kimbolton and assures the Parliament that upon all occasions hee will bee as carefull of their Priviledges as of his Life or his Crown Yet the next day after they Declared the Lord Digby's coming to Kingstone upon Thames but with a Coach and six horses in it to be in a Warlike manner and disturbance of the Common-wealth and take occasion thereupon to order the Sheriffes of all Counties in England and Wales with the assistance of the Justices of Peace and trayned bands of the severall Counties to suppresse any unlawfull assemblies and to secure the said Counties and all the Magazines in them 14 January 1641. The King by a second Message professeth to them hee never had the least intention of violating the least priviledg of Parliament and in case any doubt of breach of Priviledges remain will bee willing to cleere that and assert those by any reasonable way his Parliament shall advise him to But the Designe must have been laid by or miscarried if that should have beene taken for a satisfaction and therefore to make a quarell which needed not they Order the morrow after a Charge and Impeachment to bee made ready against Sir Edward Herbert the Kings Attorney-Generall for bringing into the House of Peeres the third of that instant January by the Kings direction a Charge or Accusation against Kimbolton and the five Members c. In February 1641. Seize upon the Towre of London the great Magazine and Store-house of the Kingdome and set some of the trayned-bands of London commanded by Major Generall Skippon to guard
unto him all Armies and Levies made by the Parliament laid downe the pretended Ordinance for the Militia disavowed and the Parliament adjourned to a secure place hee would lay downe Armes and repaire to them and desired all differences might bee freely debated in a Parliamentary way whereby the Law might recover its due reverence the Subject his just Libertie Parliaments their full vigour and estimation and the whole Kingdome a blessed Peace and Prosperity and requiring their answer by the 27. of that July promised till then not to make any attempt of force upon Hull had Armed their Generall with power against Him given him a Commission to kill and slay all that should oppose him in the execution of it and chosen their Generall of the Horse 8. August 1642. Upon information That some of the Towne of Portsmouth had revolted to Collonell Goring being but sent thither with a message from the King and Declared for His Majestie Order forces to bee sent thither spedily to beleaguer it by Land and the Earle of Warwick to send thither 5. Ships of the Navy to prevent any Forraigne forces comming to their assistance and upon Intelligence that the Earle of Northampton appeared with great strength at Banbury to hinder the Lord Brookes carrying the peeces of Ordinance to Warwick Ordered 5000 Horse and Foote to bee sent to assist Him 9. August 1642. Upon information That the Marquis of Hartford and divers others were in Somerset-shire demanding obedience to the Kings Commission of Array and to have the Magazine of the Countie to bee delivered unto them Gave power to the Earle of Essex their Lord Generall the Lord Brooke and others to apprehend the Marquis of Hartford and Earle of Northampton and their complices and to kill and slay all that should oppose them And the day following gave the Earle of Stamford a Commission to raise forces for the Suppressing of any should attempt for the King in Leicester-shire or the adjacent Counties And on the eleventh of August 1642. Upon the Kings Proclamation 2. dayes before Declaring the Earle of Essex and all that should adhere unto him in the levying of Forces and not come in and yeild to His Majestie within 6. dayes to be Traytors vote the said Proclamation to bee against the Fundamentall Lawes of the Kingdome Declare their resolutions to maintaine and assist the Earle of Essex and resolve to spend no more time in Declarations and Petitions but to endeavour by raising of Forces to suppresse the Kings Party Though all that the Kings Loyall Subjects did at that time for Him was but to execute the Commission of Array in the old legall way of the Militia and within a day or two after Ordered the Earle of Essex their Lord Generall to set forth with his Army of Horse upon the Monday following but not so much as an answer would bee afforded to the Kings message sent from Hull where whilst Hee with patience and hope forbore any action or attempt of force according to His promise Sir John Hotham sallied out in the night and murdered many of His fellow Subjects 12. August 1642. The King though hee might well understand the greate leavies of Men and Armes ready to march against Him by a declaration published to all His Subjects assures them as in the presence of God That all the Acts passed by him in this Parliament should bee as equally observed as those which most of all concerned his owne interest and rights and that his quarrell was not against the Parliament but particular men and therefore desired That the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Hollis Sir Henry Ludlow Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr. Strode Mr. Martin Mr. Hampden Alderman Pennington and Capt. Venne might bee delivered into the hands of Justice to bee tried by their Peeres according to the knowne Lawes of the Land and against the Earles of Essex Warwick Stamford Lord Brooke Sir John Hotham Major Generall Skippon and those who should exercise the Militia by vertue of the Ordinance hee would cause Indictments to bee drawne of high Treason upon the Statute of 25. Edw. 3. and if they submit to triall and plead the Ordinance would rest satisfied if they should bee acquited But when this produced as little effect as all other endeavours Hee had used for peace Hee that saw the Hydra in the mud and slyme of Sedition in its Embrio birth and growth and finds him now erected ready to devoure him must now though very unwilling to cast off His beloved robe of Peace forsake an abused patience and beleeve no more in the hopes of other remedies had so often deceived Him but if Hee will give any account to the Watch-man of Israel of the People committed to his Charge or to the People of his protection of them or any manner of satisfaction to his own Judgement and discretion betake Himselfe to the Sword which God had intrusted Him with and therfore makes the best use he could of those few friends were about Him and with the money which the Queen had not long before borrowed and the small supplies He had obtained of His Servants and Friends about Him who pawned and engaged their Plate Jewels and Lands for Him with those Lords and Gentlemen that willingly offered to beare Him Company in His Troubles provides what Men and Armes Hee could in His way towards Nottingham where Hee intended to set up His Standerd But the Parliament about the 23. of August 1642. having received some information that Hee intended to set up His Standard at Nottingham Declare That now it appeares to all the World that there is good ground of their feares and jealousies which if ever there had beene any as there was no cause at all of any more then that meaning to murder and ruine Him they were often afraid Hee should take notice of it and seeke to defend Himselfe there was by their own confession till this time no manifest or certaine ground appearing that Hee intended to defend Himselfe against the Parliament and therefore Order That all that shall suffer in their Estates by any forces raised by the King without consent of Parliament shall have full reparation of their damages out of the Estates of the actours and out of the Estates of all such Persons in any part of the Kingdome who should persist to serve the King in this Warre against the Parliament and That it should bee Lawfull for any number of persons to joyne and defend themselves and That the Earle of Essex their Generall should grant out Commissions for Levying and conducting forces into the Northerne parts And Sir John Hotham the Governour of Hull assist them and Command also the Sheriffes of the Countie of Yorke and the adjacent Counties with the Power of the Counties and Trayned-Bands to aide them and to seize upon all that shall execute the Commission of Array for His Majestie who thus sufficiently beset by those that intended what since they have brought to passe against Him 25
Lord Keeper Littleton should bee Null and of no force in the Law and that a new Seale should bee provided The King therefore seeing what Hee must trust to 19. September 1642. Being at Wellington in Shrop-shire in the head of such small forces and friends as Hee could get together for the Parliament that very day had received letters That the King but the weeke before having a muster at Nottingham there appeared but about 3000. foote and 2000. horse and 1500. dragoones and that a great part of His men were not provided with armes made His Protestation and Promise as in the presence of almighty God and as Hee hoped for His blessing and protection to maintaine to the utmost of His power the true reformed Protestant Religion established in the Church of England and that Hee desired to governe by the knowne Lawes of the Land and that the Libertie and propertie of the Subject should be preserved with the same care as His owne just rights and to observe inviolably the Lawes consented to by Him in this Parliament and promised as in the sight of almighty God if Hee would please by His blessing upon that Army raised for His necessary defence to preserve Him from that Rebellion to maintaine the just priviledges and freedome of Parliament and governe by the known Lawes of the Land In the meane while if this time of Warre and the great necessity and straights Hee was driven to should beget any violation of them Hee hoped it would bee imputed by God and man to the Authours of the Warre and not to Him who had so earnestly desired and laboured for the Peace of the Kingdome and preservation thereof and that when Hee should faile in any of those particulars Hee would expect no aide or reliefe from any man nor protection from Heaven And now that the stage of Warre seemes to bee made ready and the parliament partie being the better furnished had not seldome shewed themselves and made severall traverses over it for indeede the King having so many necessities upon him and so out of power and provision for it might in that regard only if Hee had not beene so unwilling to have any hurt come to His People by his own defending of Himselfe bee backward and unwillingly drawn unto it wee may doe well to stand by and observe who cometh first to act upon it 22. Of September 1642. The Earle of Essex writeth from Warwick that hee was upon his march after the King and before the 6. of October following had written to the Countie of Warwick with all speede to raise their Trained bands and Voluntiers to resist his Forces if they should come that way and to the three Counties of Northampton Lecester and Darby to gather head and resist him if hee should retire into those parts and by all that can bee judged of a matter of fact so truely and faithfully represented must needes bee acknowledged to have great advantages of the King by the City and Tower of London Navy Shipping Armes Ammunition the Kings Magazine all the strong Townes of the Kingdome most of the Kingdomes plate and money the Parliament credit and high esteeme which at that time the People Idolized the fiery Zeale of a Seditious Clergie to preach the People into a Rebellion and the People head-long lie runing into the witcheraft of it When the King on the other side had little more to help him then the Lawes and Religion of the Land which at that time every man began to mis-conster and pull in peeces had neyther men horse armes ammunition ships places of strength nor money not any of his partie or followers after the Parliament had as it were proclaimed a Warre against Him could come single or in small numbers through any Towne or Village but were either openly assaulted or secretly betrayed no man could adventure to serve or owne him but must expose Himselfe and his Estate to bee ruined either by the Parliament or People or such as for malice or profit would informe against him All the gaines and places of preferment were on the Parliaments part and nothing but losses and mis-fortunes on the Kings No man was afraid to goe openly to the Parliaments side and no man durst openly so much as take acquaintance of his Soveraigne but if hee had done a quarter of that which Ziba did to David when hee brought him the 200. loaves of bread or old Barzillai or Ittay the Gittite when hee went along with him when his sonne Absolom rebelled against him They should never have escaped so well as they did but have beene sure to bee undone and sequestred for it So much of the affâ—ctions of the People had the Parliament cosened and stolne from them so much profit and preferment had they to perswade it and so much power to enforce those that otherwise had not a minde to it to fight against him Who thus every way encompassed about with dangers and like a Partridge hunted upon the Mountaines marcheth from Shrewsbury towards Banbury perswading and picking up what help and assistance His better for of Subjects durst adventure to afford Him in the way to which On Sunday the 23. of October 1642. for they thought it better to rob God of his Sabboth then loose an opportunity of murdering their Soveraign Tâ—e Earle of Essex and Parliament Army powring in from all quarteâ—s of the kingdom upon him had compâ—ssâ—d Him in on all sides and before the King could put His men in battell Aray many of whom being young country fellows had no better armes then clubs and staves in their hands cut out of the hedges and put His two young Sonnes the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Yorke in the guard of a troope of horse at the further end of the field and had finished a short prayer a bullet of the Earle of Essex's Cannon grazâ—d at His heeles as hee was kneeling at His prayers on the side of a bâ—â—ke for Blague a villaine in the Kings Army having a great Pension allowed Him for it had given notice in what part of the field the King stood that they might the better know how to shoot at him But God having a greater care of his Annointed then of their Rebellious pretences so ordered the hands of those that fought for the King as the Earle of Essex was so loaden with Victories as hee left five of His men for one of the Kings dead behinde him lost his baggage and Artillery retired back to Warwick and left the King to blesse God in the field where Hee supped with such Victualls as the more Loyall and better naturd neighbours sent him when the worser sort refused to do it and lying there all night sent warrants out the next day to the neighbour Parishes to bury the dead drew off His ordnance and marched to Banbury and yet hee could not forget to pitty those were at such paynes and hazard the day before to murther him but before
maintaine an Army against Him and many of his Subjects daily imprisoned sequestred undone or killed can bee blamed if hee had a great deale sooner gone about to defend both himselfe and his People For who saith St. Jerom did ever rest quietly sleeping neer a viper et lex una perpetua salutem omni ratione defendere haec ratio doctis necessitas Barbaris mos genâ—ibus feris natura ipsa prescripsit et haec non scripta sed nata lex saith Tully that great master of morality Reason Necessity Custome and Nature it selfe have made selfe preservation to bee warrantable Nemo exponere so debet periculis obviam offensiom eundum non modo quae est in actu sed quae est in potentia ad actum justus metus justum facit belium say the Civill Lawes and where there was not unda cogitatio or a bare intention only to ruine the King but so much over and over againe acted as might well occasion more then a feare and apprehension in him of what hath since beene brought to passe against him no man certainly without much blindnesse or partiality can think it to bee a fault in him to seeke to defend himselfe when the Parliament did not only long before hee raised any forces to defend himselfe but at the same time when hee was doing of it make the people beleeve his Person was in so much danger as they must needs take up armes to defend Him And how much more warrantable then must it bee in the Kings case when it was not only an endeavour to defend himselfe but all those that have beene since slaine and undone and ruined for want of power enough to doe it Defence is by the civill Lawyers said to bee either necessary profitable or honest Nec distingui vult Baldus sive se sua suosve defendar sive prope sive posita longé a man is said to defend himselfe when it is but his owne goods estate or People whether neere or furtherof Necessaria defensio ejus est et factum ad necessariam defensionem contra quem veniat armatus inimicus et ejus contra quem inimicus se paravit It must needs bee a necessary defence against whom an armed Enemy is either marching or preparing Vtilis defensio quum nos movemus bellum verentes ne ipsi bello petamur when wee make a Warre to prevent or bee before hand when Warre or mischiefe is threatned or likely to come upon us For as Nicephorus the Historian saith Hee that will live out of danger must occurrere malis impendentibus et autevertere â—ec est cunctandum aut expectandum c. meete and take away growing evills and turne them another way and not to delay and bee â—â—ock in it Honesta defensio quae citra metumâ—ullum periculi nostri nulla utilitate quaesita tantum in gratiam aliorum suscipitur When for no feare of danger to our selves and for no consideration of profit to our selves but meerely in favour or help of others the Warre is undertaken Wherefore certainly when the King may bee justly said to tarâ—y too long before hee made the second and third kindes of defences either to prevent the danger and fury of a Warre against himselfe or to help those that suffered and were undone in seeking to defend him and was so over much in love with Peace as hee utterly lost it and could never again recover it and was so much mistaken in the love and religion of his Subjects and Parliament promises and the impossibilities of such horrid proceedings against him as all his three Kingdomes were in a flame of Warre and strong Combinations made by two of them and the Pulpits every where flaming Seditious exhortations against Him his Navy Magazines Ports Revenues Mint strongest Townes and places seised on Armies marching against him and hee only and a few friends and followers pend up in a corner had an enemy and a strong Towne at his back readie every day to surprize him and severall Armies marching and in action before and round about him before hee granted out any Commission for Warre or liad or could make any preparation for it and had so many to help and defend besides himself It would be too much injury and too great a violence to all manner of reason and understanding to deny him a Justification upon the first sort of defences if the two latter will not reach it for the first cannot by any interpretation goe without For haec est necessitas saith Baldus quae bellum justificat quum in extremo loco ad bellum configitur Or if with Grotius wee looke upon it another way and make the Justice of Warre to consist 1o in defensione 2o in recuperatione rerum 3o in punitione The King before ever hee went to demand Hull or before ever he desired a guard of the County of Yorke had cause enough and enough to doe it and it would be hard if a great deale lesse then that should not bee able to deliver him from the censure or blame of an offensive or unnecessary Warre When that which was made by David upon the Children of Ammon and that of the late glorious King of Sweden against the Emperour of Germany the former for misusing the latter for encroaching upon him and not receiving his Ambassadors found warrant and necessity enough to doe it But what could the King doe more in his endeavours and waiting for a Peace or lesse in his preparations or making of a War when the least or one of the hundred provocations or causes wee dare say plainly here set downe in the matter of fact hath hitherto among the wisest Princes and Common-wealths in the World beene reputed a just and warrantable cause of warre Homicide by the Lawes of England shall bee excused with a se defendendo when the assaulted hath but simply defended himselfe or retired in his owne defence so farre till by some Water or Wall hee bee hindred from going any further Death and destruction marching towards the King Hull fortified kept behind him and all manner of necessities compassing him in on every side could then doe no lesse then rouse him up to make his owne defence and hee must bee as much without his sences as care of his owne preservation if hee should not then think it to bee high time to make reaedy to defend himselfe and necessity enough to excuse him for any thing should bee done in order to it The Parliament and hee as this case stood could not bee both at one and the same time in the defensive parte For they had all the Money Armes Ammunition and strength of the Kingdome in their hands and multitudes of deluded People to assist them and so hunted and pursued him from place to place as it was come to be a saying and a by word among the apprentices and new levied men at London they would goe a King-catching
the Tribe of Benjamin and the men of Gibeah for committing lewdnesse and folly in Israel that of David to rescue his Wives that were carried away captive by the Amalekites or to fetch home the Arc of God from the Philistines that which Ahab made with Benhadad the king of Syria who was not half so Tyrannical in his Propositions as the Parliament were aproved of in sacred Story or that which was made by Judas Machabeus and his Brethren to rescue the decayed Estate of the people of the Jewes or that which was used to be made by the heathen pro aris focis wer never yet so much as suspected to be unlawfull How shall this of the kings be condemned that had as much as Abraham David Ahab against Benhadad Judas Machabeus and the tribes of Israel or those heathens that made it pro aris socis put them altogether to warrant it Or by what reason or Law is any man by the Lawes of England excused for killing a man in his owne defence when hee is necessitated or hindred by a Wall or a Water that hee can goe no further or for killing theeves that come to assault or Rob him in his house or Castle If the King shall bee hunted from his house through all the parts and corners of his Kingdome for his Life and not only for his Life but his Honour and not only for his Life and Honour but his Conscience and yet must never draw his Sword or seeke to defend himselfe or have any body else to doe it for him Or how have all the Kings Princes and Magistrates of the world hitherto governed and defended themselves and their people or shall ever bee able to give an account of the people committed to their charge if they may not bee at libertie to make a Legall use of the sword power and reason God hath given them Or how can those State riddles like those of Sphinx only made to destroy men withall that they fought for the King and Parliament as is alledged in many of their Orders and Declarations and that the warre was a Rebellion raised against the King and Parliament as is expressed in the Ordinance of Parliament for association of the Counties of Pembroke Cardigan and Caermrthen bee ever understood by any rules of sence or reason if hee were on the offensive part of the warre and had begunne it against them But if any shall bee so in love with the sense of the house of Commons as to bee out of their own senses and think that though there bee no manner of evidence or proofe to bee had for love or money that the Parliament were constrained to defend themselves by a warre yet the Kings admitting of the Preamble of the Parliaments Propositions presented to him at the Isle of Wight that the Parliament was necessitated to take up Armes in their just and lawfull defence makes him who must needs be best acquainted with his owne actions to bee so clearly guiltie of all the blood hath beene shed in these warres as it puts to silence all that can bee now alledged or said in his behalfe They that made the preamble and placed it in limine and threshold of the Treatie on purpose to catch and insnare him for either hee must have denied it at the very beginning and entrance into the Treatie and leave his Kingdomes and People to wallow in the blood and miserie their Parliament Idols had brought them to and have all the blame laid upon him for hindring a Peace hee had so much longed and laboured for or put himselfe and all his Loyall Subjects that helped to defend him under the burden of those Sinnes and Shames the Parliament themselves had all the right to can tell their undone and deluded Proselites how much the King stuck at it how unwilling hee was to breake off the Treatie and was unwilling to wrong his owne Innocency and that when the Parliament Commissioners had not any thing either in Law or Truth or Reason or Argument to perswade him to yeild unto it but laid it only as a case of necessitie before him though there was no such preamble at the Treaties of Oxford and Vxbridge nor any such necessity at those times insisted upon that unlesse hee would take the guilt upon himselfe his two Houses of Parliament and the People had engaged with them must necessarily bee guilty of Treason and could not have any security from the guilt and punishment The King bemoaning himselfe and people that must bee thus shut out from any hopes of peace intreated some expedient or medium might bee found out to reconcile the difference But Cains sinnes being greater then could bee forgiven him unlesse Abell can bee brought to say hee killed Cain they that could afterward finde an expedient for 21. of their great Councell of estate that refused to subscribe to the Lawfullnesse of murdering the King after it was done could finde none at all for the King to purchase a peace for the People though many kinds of wayes and expedients as allowing him to make the like preamble to his owne proposition or the like might have beene easily contrived and thought upon For the truth was the Independent partie desired no Peace at all and the Preshyterian desired it only to get into their hands the Kings Power and Authoritie and lay the guilt of all the blood they had shed for it upon him and â—oth of them were so well content to have him allow of the preamble as the latter thought himselfe safe and out of controversie if the King tooke the blood upon him and the former that it would prove no small advantage or colour to take away his Life for confessing himselfe guilty of it by allowing of the preamble in this unparalel'd demand never before stood upon by Subjectâ— to their Prince or Conquerours to their Captives Nero himselfe was so farre short of as though hee had cuuning enough when hee set Rome on fire to lay the fault upon the Christians had not Villany enough to torture and seek to draw them to a confession that they did it The King after Protestation that hee could not without a manifest injury to the Truth and a violation of his Honour and Conscience take upon him a guilt could no way bee charged upon him or those that appeared in his defence was yet for peace sake and his peoples sake content to say It will bee a great self deny all to take this supposition of a guilt upon my selfe and a Christian virtue to undergoe any affliction that may bee for the good of my People and I am confident those that have adventured so much for me will bee content to share with me for so good a purpose in the suffering for it I shall therefore Conditionally consent to the Preamble so as there follow a conclusion upon the whole matter in Treaty and Propositions betwixt us otherwise it is but sub modo
and conditionall as it is alwaies to bee understood in this Treaty that nothing agreed in part betwixt us shall be binding unlesse their be a conclusion upon the whole And here let the Truth bee judge if the King did not aboundantly endeavour to save his People and if the Parliament had not neede of a justification when they used all manner of force and shifts to have the King take the fault upon him they therefore that shall consider that the King was a close prisoner robbed and bereaved of all hee had but his Honour and Conscience and a great measure of knowledge and understanding and the hearts of his Loyall Subjects was debarred of all friends and comforts penned up and used with all manner of hardship and and extremities and every day like to bee murdered that conditions adimpleri debent priusquam sequatur effectus are but inserted or added inâ—casum incertum qui potest tendere ad esse aut non esse depend on subsequencies or following effects which not hapning or coming to be performed according to the intent of the conditions makes them to vanish and expire as if there no such matter at all had bene acknowledged or expressed in them That Cooke his accuser who when hee comes to bee hanged for it will never bee able to prove that the People who substituted or gave him warrant for to accuse him And Bradshaw who sate higher in the pageant of Justice and the rest of his fellow murderers tooke the Kings conditionall consenting to the Preamble to bee so little for their purpose as they never so much as mentioned it must not only acquit him of any Confession or guilt to bee inferred from his conditionall yeilding to that Ambuscado Preamble but dissolve into wonder and admiration that hee who in his Royall Meditations and Conference with death upon the Parliaments votes of non addresse and his closer imprisonment at Carisbrooke-Castle had clearnesse of Conscience enough to say for as for his judgment wee hope it cannot bee suspected when Mr. Carill the Independent and Mr. Vines a Presbyterian Minister could say hee was a second Salomon and the Parliaments Commissioners at the Isle of Wight report him to bee the master of the greatest wisdome and understanding That hee had the feast of a good Conscience and the brazen wall of a judicious integrity and Conscience doubted not but his Innocency would find God to bee his protector rejoyced in the comfort of Imitating Christs example in suffering for Righteousnesse sake and thanked God hee could pray for them that God would not impute his Blood to them further then to convince them what neede they had of Christs Blood to wash their Soules from the guilt of Sheding His And was afterwards in the face and view of Death and his murderers heard to say upon the Scaffold Hee never did begin a Warre with the two houses of Parliament and called God to his witnesse to whom hee was shortly to make an account hee never intended to incroach upon their priviledges but they began upon him It was the Militia they began upon though they confest it was his and that any that would looke into the date of their Commissions and his might cleerely see that they began these unhappie troubles and hoped God would cleer him of it Could bee so much more then a man and so great a protectour of his People as not only to bee content to bee robbed and despoiled of all that hee had for their sakes but to save the Lawes and estates of his People when there was no other way to doe it deliver up himselfe so as a Peace and Agreement might have followed upon the Treaty to the unjust Censure of Robbing and Spoyling those that had robbed and undone him But now that we have hunted this Parliament Protens through all this disguises of Parliament priviledges and pretences and are lamentably assured a great and accursed thing is committed in our Israel and the anger of the Lord is kindled against us it may bee labour well bestowed though here is sure enough already said and prov'd that the King was in the defensive and justifiable part of the Warre to send into Achans tent and search and see what is there to bee found concerning this matter and here we find the Lord Say the Lord Brooke and their complices had not long before the King had summoned them to that which is now called the Parliament setled and conveyed their estates to prevent any dangers might happen upon their intended enterprises Peard the pragmatique Parliament man was heard to say a little before this holie Warre began to break out That the Government of the Kingdome would within a year or two bee altered A little before the second Scottish invasion Hinderson the Scotch firebrand confesses the Covenanters of both Kingdomes were unanimously agreed to bring the King to their lure before they laid downe Armes the joynt declaration of both Kingdomes in January 1643. professes they will never lay down Armes till the pretended reformation bee accomplished many declarations and remonstrances of the Parliament if they may bee so called and the Army mention the originall power and Soveraignty to bee in the people the common Rights and Freedome of the Nation and the opertunities God hath put into their hands An Ordinance of Parliament 20. October 1645. concerning rules and directions for Tryers and Judges of the abilitie of Elders declares it was the wonderfull providence of God in calling them which hee never did by force of Armes Hypocrisie Treason Rebellion and usurping of regall authority to the great and difficult worke of reformation and purging the Church The Lord Fairfax and his generall councell of Officers in their Remonstrance of the 16. November 1648. made to the Parliament call the putting downe of Monarchy and the Establishing of their unjust ends the publique interest originally contended for on the Parliaments part and the declaration and votes of those that call themselves the Commons of England in Parliament assembled 15. January 1648. affirm the bringing of Delinquents to punishment which if they had beene Delinquents is certainly a part of the Kingly office the maine if not the only end of making this Warre And in another place thereof acknowledges the rooting out of Episcopacy and bringing Delinquents to punishment to bee the only motives that induced them to undertake this Warre And though Achan will neyther confesse nor bee brought to punishment till the wroth and never failing judgement of God shall bring them and their sons their daughters and their successes the asses that follow them to be consumed in the field of Achor and the Fig-leaves which they have patched together to palliate hide their nakednesse cannot keepe out the eyes and understanding of a ruined Nation bleeding under the burden of of their iniquity but whether ever confessed or never will bee as plaine as the most infallible demonstration they were never