the deep Sufferings of those Northern parts the Scotish Army lying so long upon them on Free-quarter I must be very ignorant of the carriage of an unpaid Army if I did not believe that many disorders were committed many a poor Country-man exceedingly oppress'd and abus'd by the unruly Soldiers and more by half taken and spoiled by them than would have sufficed for their Pay and Entertainment if it had been orderly raised and provided by the authority and care of the State which was to pay them And so should I likewise have very small bowels towards my Country England in general and particularly those poor Counties in one of which I receiv'd my being if I did not grieve and mourn from the bottom of my Soul for the sad condition which did then overspread them the poverty to which they are reduced the ruin of so many Houses and Families the Land lying in many places an uninhabited Wilderness all over a face of misery and desolation But then the more I am raised to an indignation against them who were the cause of this those who had rather suffer not one County or two but all the Counties in England and two Kingdoms besides to perish and ruin than they to fail of their Ends. So must all the North be made a Sacrifice to their malice and revenge upon the Scotish Nation and rather than not enforce the Scots to oppress those parts hoping at last they would fall one upon another they will suffer the Country to endure any Misery and not only so but impudently and perfidiously wrest and misinterpret the Treaty themselves had made and so put a great scorn thereon to give greater provocations to the Scots and thus they make themselves ridiculous and infamous to the World and to all posterity by a gross and palpable collusion 51. For when the Commissioners of Scotland and the General of the Army did so often and earnestly move for Pay for the Soldiers representing that on the monthly Pay which was condition'd for and promised they have not of so many Months received any thing and that it was impossible to observe that Discipline in the Army which was requisite for the ease of the County because the Soldiers were unpaid they had the face to say that by the Treaty the Scots could not receive their Pay at present because there was a Clause that if any part thereof were behind they should be allowed Interest for forbearance which Interest was not to be presently paid neither but afterwards when the Peace was setled and the Kingdom more able upon which these conscionable Logicians infer'd that allowing Interest nothing could be demanded So that which the Scots gave way to out of friendliness and confidence to shew they would not exact upon our necessities if at any time through the great occasions of expence we were not able to give them their full Pay is now made use of and ungratefully turned upon them to defer the payment of any part And this only to affront them and make them desperate 52. And as they deal with the Army so did they with the State and Kingdom of Scotland by putting neglects and indignities upon their Ministers raising jealousies of them and of the whole Nation For this they had their Robert Wright and their unknown Knight to give intelligence of Correspondencies held by them with the Queen of undertaking to do great matters for the King Treaties with France strange designs and practices against the Parliament and every foot Letters of Information from some well-wishers abroad to Mr. Sollicitor or Sir Henry Mildmay or some other of that Gang upon this strain Then this is whisper'd about and these Letters go from hand to hand and told as a secret in every bodies Ears to make people afraid and mistrust even their own Shadows as if all were in danger Sometimes the House must be acquainted with some of these things or some person or other brought to the Bar to make some relation as Sir Thomas Hanmore Then the doors are shut long winded Speeches made to set out our dangers and great expectations rais'd of strange discoveries and all but a parturiunt montes Yet this serves to make a noise and they had Instruments abroad to improve it and many hones well meaning men were cozen'd and stood at gaze knew not what to think of their Brethren of Scotland nor yet of the Members of either House and desir'd to have things more fairly carry'd towards them and as they had had experience of their faithfulness formerly so could they not be brought by such artifices to have an ill opinion of them without better grounds for it and therefore differ'd in the entertainment they gave to those alarms judging them false and causeless accordingly expressing themselves diverting and breaking the desperate thrusts which these men made and were therefore decry'd as Scotish malignant and prejudged in all they did or said 53. The malice against the Scots rests not here it carries them to discover and manifest slighting and neglecting and that not sufficiently provoking a violent injuring and affronting of them First they vouchsafe not to answer the Papers they put into the House some not at all none presently as formerly they were wont to do nor in any convenient time but make them wait days and weeks and months for a return to what the Commissioners present from the Kingdom of Scotland or from themselves in the name of that Kingdom 54. The Committee of the two Kingdoms is now no more in esteem than as they say a Saint without a Holiday That which before did manage all the great business which was looked upon with so much reverence even as a sacred thing pray'd for in the Churches like the Lords in the Council had all the `trust all the power not only in matters of War which were wholly left to them by the ordinance of their Constitution but all other business of consequence as framing propositions for Peace and all Addresses to his Majesty all Negotiations with foreign States whatsoever did in any high degree concern the Parliament or Kingdom was still referred to them and what they did passed for Law was seldom or never alter'd in the House But now the Tide was turn'd they had nothing to do Sir Thomas Fairfax was discharg'd of his subordination to them and left to himself to do as he saw cause with his Army They of the Committee who were of that Faction seldom or never came to it so that the Commissioners of Scotland and the other Members of it did come and attend three or four days one after another sometimes oftner to no purpose and no Committee could sit for want of a number nay they prevail'd so far as now to vilifie and shew their neglect or jealousie of the Scotish Commissioners They would sometimes get business referred to the Members of both Houses that were of that Committee with their Exclusion 55. To provoke them yet more
they Break through the Law of Nations which in all places in the World give protection to publick Ministers employed by any Prince or State so as neither their Servants or Goods and especially not their Letters which are of greater consequence and more immediately concern the Honour and Interest both of their Masters and them ought to be in any sort touch'd or stop'd yet the Packets of the Commissioners of Scotland must be intercepted and their Letters broke open This done several times in a secret and private manner the Letters suppressed and never heard of more which was a great wrong and injury to that Kingdom yet cannot be said to be an affront because it was not avowed But they have likewise done it openly and avowedly in a most inselent way Once they set a Captain one Massey at the Guards by London knowing the Commissioners were sending an Express into Scotland and this Captain who deserves to be made an Example for it and his Masters too who set him to work stops the Gentleman who was sent with the Packet takes the very Letters they had written to the Committee of Estates reads them and keeps the Messenger Prisoner upon the Guard which was the highest affront the greatest violation of the publick Faith the greatest scandal to all Princes States and even Societies of Men the basest unworthiest dealing with a Nation to whom we were engag'd by Amity League Covenant common Interest and all Bonds of Gratitude for the good we had receiv'd from them that ever was heard of or read in any Story or I think ever will be again Yet was this fellow by the power and interest of these Men protected in the House of Commons So far from being punish'd when the Scotish Commissioners made their Complaint that when the Lords had committed him for it they made the House set him at liberty and quarrel with the Lords for breaking their Privileges in committing one who was under examination of their Committee for they had refer'd the business to a Committee in truth not to do the Kingdom of Scotland any right in punishing the Offender but affront it the more in protecting him 56. One would think now these had bid fair for an absolute breach with Scotland but they are not satisfy'd yet one thing more they will do which they are confident will do the feat It is this At the coming in of the Scots they had born them in hand they desir'd nothing but the uniting of the Nations That therefore they would never make Peace without their advice and consent and that as they desir'd a conjunction of Forces and Counsels for prosecution of the War so whensoever a Peace was made they desir'd a conjunction of Counsels and Interests for the preservation thereof that so the Kingdoms interwoven one with another might be a mutual strength and security one to another Therefore in framing the propositions for Peace presented to the King at Oxford and treated on at Vxbridg which was done at the Committee of the two Kingdoms they make it one proposition That some Commissioners from Scotland should be joined with ours in the power of the Militia of this Kingdom and converse some of ours with theirs in their Kingdom and so bring it to the House Where my self and many more who truly desir'd the joyning of the Nations in love and good understanding to perpetuity opposed it fearing that joining them in that power would prove a dividing of affection which should be best set and so preserved by keeping several their several Interests But those carry'd it and what we fear'd prov'd true it being afterward made an occasion of great endeavours to set the two Kingdoms farther asunder and certainly was first done by them out of that design 57. For now when the propositions were to be sent again to the King to Newcastle that Party took their rise upon that proposition to have them all review'd and changed almost all in them that look'd towards the Scots and gave themselves liberty as they had a large Field to shew the inconveniencies of admitting another Kingdom to share power in this And much was done and said reflecting upon Scotland and against all such intermixtures Then those who shewed their dislike of it before and would not have had it done when it was to do being now done did not desire at that time to have it undone in truth unwilling there should be any altering of the propositions at all not knowing where these Men would stop if once they began to change any part And therefore offer'd this consideration that though before it had been no wrong or unkindness to our Brethren not to have admitted them to such a Copartnership which they apprehended would prove rather a prejudice than otherwise but being now in they thought it might be ill taken to thrust them out and argue a jealousie and change of Affection according to the Rule Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur c. But for that very reason were these Men the more earnest for it that it might be ill taken that it might argue a jealousie that the Scots might see by it that the countenance of the Parliament was not to them as before and that the Ligament being untied by which the two Kingdoms did seem to be bound up together they might fall in sunder and the breach be the greater O the wickedness of these Men that thirsted after nothing but to see the two Kingdoms weltering in that blood which they must let out of one another's Veins But that does the more commend the goodness piety wisdom and moderation of our Brethren of Scotland which prevented it for notwithstanding all these provocations all these injuries and affronts they were stedfast they were unmoveable in their resolutions to promote the Peace of England They said they came in to help it they will not be made Instruments to destroy it They had bound themselves in a Covenant before God and in a Treaty with their Brethren of England to endeavour by all good ways and means a happy Settlement and Reformation both in Church and State The art and malice of their Enemies and the Enemies of Peace shall not engage them to become in any sort an occasion of hindering it Therefore they deny themselves they renounce their own interest they quit all pretensions and agree with the Parliament in those alterations aand thereby defeat the expectation of those who hop'd to see not only the propositions of Peace laid aside upon that occasion but that Scotland should have born the blame both of not making Peace with the King and also of all the Miseries which must have followed upon both Kingdoms by a rupture and breach between ' em 58. When they saw they could not by Art and underhand-dealing compass this Breach that neither the Scots would be provoked to declare against the Parliament and so the War begin on that side nor could they engage the Northern Counties to fall
upon them If either of which had taken they had still kept themselves behind the Curtain and hid the Arm which had thrown the Stone they had seem'd alas innocent well-meaning Men and yet the mischief befallen which they had contriv'd But rather than fail they will throw of the Vizard and come downright with open face to the executing their Design They set on their Teazers as Haslerig Mildmay Martin and many others to move That Sir Thomas Fairfax might go down with his Army to protect those Northern Counties and relieve them from the oppression of the Scots a pretty way of protection and giving ease to send an Army into a Country We see how this Army eases the Country now to the breaking both of their backs and hearts But could they have gotten a Vote for this their work had been done and we should soon have heard of mischief and felt it The animosity between those two Armies had instantly put them and the Kingdoms into blood for which no question Sir Thomas Fairfax had his Instructions but the House would never give way to it tho with earnestness prest many times by that Party And when they saw they could not prevail the presumptions are very strong that they would have had the Army to have march'd thither without the Parliament's order for the Scots had an alarm of the Army 's moving towards them and their Commissioners so inform'd the House with a protestation against it upon which there was a stop with a denial and disavowment of their having any such intention Yet certainly there was an attempt and it is said orders out for part of the Army to move that way but God be thanked it went no further for that would have been a sad business 59. Before I go off this matter I must do that right to Col. Pointz who commanded the Northern Forces as to attribute to his care and vigilancy and his discreet ordering of his business a great part of our happiness that all that mischief was prevented which was so earnestly endeavour'd to be pull'd on us by engaging the Country and Scotish Army in quarrel and bloodshed and that was his Crime with these Men to be for it since so unjustly put out of his Command after they had stir'd up the unruly Rabble of the Agitators to take him by violence out of his House at York being as absolutely in his Command as Fairfax was in his Meerly doing it by an act of power force and violence breaking through all Rules of Justice Equity and Honesty bringing him a Prisoner to the Army not suffering him so much as to put on his Clothes or speak to his Wife or any Friend but use him as if he had been the greatest Traytor in the world when Sir Thomas Fairfax could not pretend to the least jurisdiction over him not any thing could be laid to his charge Such is their hatred of every honest Man who stands in their way to their pernicious designs 60. Their next hope was that the Scotish Army would not go out of the Kingdom at the desire of the Parliament so bloody Noses would be upon that occasion and I must give them their due there was no failure in them to do all that was possible to have kept them in still only to quarrel with them but with a seeming to desire nothing so much as their going Very forward they were to get the Vote of the Parliament that they should be gone but to inable them to go they would not help rather hinder and hang on all the weights they could To say the truth they had some ground to believe First That they would not go Secondly That they could not if they would for the Scots had a colour if not just reason to have refus'd 61. By the Covenant and Treaty the two Kingdoms had bound themselves before God and one to another as one intire Body to prosecute the Cause these are the very words of the Declaration of both Houses to the State of the united Provinces which Declaration Mr. Sollicitor himself penn'd therefore they must hold it Canonical and that neither Kingdom should lay down Arms till the Ends mention'd in the Covenant and Treaty were obtain'd If then in this Cause the Forces of both Kingdoms made but one intire Body the Scots had a good Plea Why will you send us away and disband us wholly This proceeding is not equal the Body must suffer and cannot act as an intire Body if one whole Member be cut off or if there be no more need of acting if the Ends be obtain'd for which the Body was constituted and therefore you send us away then why do you keep up your own Army the other part of this Body This had certainly been strong reason which Mr. Sollicitor would have been puzled to answer 62. Besides the Scots had cause enough to have their jealousie prompt them that it was not safe for them to depart with their Army lay by their Swords and leave standing in this Kingdom so great a Force which they knew to be so ill affected to them and might act to their prejudice and the King being in their power perhaps force both him and the Parliament to a Peace disadvantageous to Scotland and differing from those grounds upon which by the Kingdom of England they were engag'd in this Quarrel or else make no Peace at all but interpose as Cromwel to the Earl of Manchester to hinder it and themselves govern by the Sword not only to the prejudice of Scotland but also ruin of England One may swear there was ground enough for such a fear for since it hath prov'd so to purpose But according to the old Rule they who mean well themselves are not suspicious of others The Scots had no thoughts but of setling a Peace laying down of Arms calling the People and all things to revert into their old Channel therefore they were willing to be gone and return into their own Country in confidence that after their departure the Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax should likewise presently be disbanded since there was no more need of any Army at all so they were willing to go 63. But then the question was if they would go or not and how the Soldiers would be dispos'd to march out who had not been paid of so many Months insomuch as the Scotish Commissioners gave in an account of some 800000 l. Arrears Here our Gallants hop'd they had them upon the Hip and should surely give them a fall Then they thrust on some of their little Northern Beagles as Mr. Blaxton and others to inform what high Sums they had rais'd upon the Country upon which they conclude the Scotish Army was in their debt and therefore they would come to an account with them which had been a sure way to have kept them in the Kingdom five or six months longer But to help that our just Pay-masters said the Army should march away and some persons
be left behind to see all accounts adjusted which had requir'd very good Rhetorick to have made it Justice especially to have appear'd so to the Scotish Soldiers for to have sent them away without Money and then ask the Country-man what the Soldiers had taken when he might say what he thought â— good the Soldier not there to answer for himself and yet his Pay to be thereby determin'd would have been but hard measure But the Rhetorick had been Sir Thomas Fairfax to have gone down with his Army which should have made it just and easie and every thing for this was it they desir'd to bring it to as it was often mov'd and press'd by them 64. At last the well-wishers to Peace with much ado prevail'd in the House and it was carry'd to offer the Scots a gross Sum for all so to part fair and avoid the delay and disputes of an account to which they presently agreed Then the question was what Sum. Here again we had a strong debate For our Incendiaries hung by every twig sticking fast to their Principles to dissatisfie the Scots and break with them if possible upon any point pretending the poverty of the Kingdom and the great Sums the Scots had rais'd and therefore they would give but 100000 l. which they knew was all one with a hundred Shillings as to the satisfying of the Soldiers for marching away In the end after many debates in the House and passages to and again with the Scotch Commissioners the lowest Sum that could be agreed unto by the Commissioners was 400000 l. two in hand and the other two after some time with a protestation of theirs that the Army would not be satisfy'd with less nor inabled to march which was motive enough for these Men to deny it for if they could have wrought the dissatisfaction of the Army so as to have refus'd to go it was where they would have it Whereupon 't was oppos'd by them with all the power they had but in the end the better part that is the moderate Party who were the Peace-makers those that labour'd to keep things even and fair between the two Kingdoms carry'd it And the sum was voted and all things agreed upon tho with difficulty for they fought it out and lost it by Inches then the Scots declar'd they would march out by such a day 65. Yet had our Boutefeus one hope left which was to quarrel at last about the person of the King believing the Scots would certainly have taken his Majesty with them into Scotland This they knew had been ground sufficient and would have engag'd all England against them giving a confirmation to all the jealousies formerly rais'd and occasion'd a thousand more And had certainly more advantag'd the designs of those who thirsted after the destruction of the King first the Scots next and then all such as desir'd Peace within this Kingdom and have made them a smoother way to their damnable Ends the altering of the Government and bringing in a confusion both in Church and State than any thing that could have happen'd And the two Kingdoms had been together in blood the author of the mischief undiscover'd mask'd over with the glorious pretences of zealously vindicating the honesty and interest of England and every breach of Covenant and Treaty in this Cause which made them with so much peremptoriness and incivility and in truth injustice demand that the Scots would deliver up his Majesty who had an equal interest in his Royal Person with the Kindom of England he being equally King of both and an equal interest in the closing and binding up the unhappy differences which were between him and both his Kingdoms they having been engag'd in that Quarrel at the entreaty of England and made up together with an intire Body with England as is before shewed for the prosecution of it Therefore they had no more reason to trust us with the King than we had them and as much were they concern'd in all that related to his Majesty's Person so as they had ground enough to have disputed it and out of that hope was it press'd by the others But the wisdom of the Scotish Nation foresaw the inconveniencies which must have necessarily follow'd had they been positive at that time how they had plaid their Enemies game to their own ruin and even ruin to his Majesty Therefore they made for him the best conditions they could that is for the safety and honour of his Person and to avoid greater mischiefs were necessitated to leave him in England and so march away Which they did in February 1646. 66. Here then the very mouth of Iniquity was stopt Malice it self had nothing to say to give the least blemish to the faithfulness and reality of the Kingdom of Scotland the clearness of their Proceedings their zeal for Peace without self-seeking and self-ends to make advantage of the miseries and misfortunes of England This gave such a reputation to them and to those that appear'd for them that is so far for them as to endeavour the doing of them right and prevent the practices of those who sought all means of doing them wrong and gave such a blow to the other violent Party so broke their power and lessen'd their authority in the Parliament as it made way for obtaining those resolutions which were presently taken for disbanding Sir Thomas Fairfax's Army Till when by the fomenting jealousies against the Scots and against all moderate and well affected persons as if their designs were to betray the Cause deliver over the Honour and Interest and Strength of England into the hands of the Scots they prevail'd so far generally upon the affection of the people and especially upon many well-meaning but not so well discerning persons Members of Parliament as they were able to suppress all good motions tending towards Peace all endeavours of smoothing those rugged ways that their violence had put all things in and to swell up that Independent Army like the Spleen in the Body by the concourse of all ill humours to the ruin and consumption of the Body it self And yet other Forces cashier'd as Major General Massey's Brigade which had done all the Service in the West of which those Drones robb'd the sweet getting the honour and advantage of it to themselves That tho that Army was compos'd for the most part of factious Sectaries except some few gallant Men that were scatter'd here and there amongst them as Colonel Greves Colonel Thomas Sheffield Sir Robert Pye Colonel Herbert Colonel Butler Quarter-Master General Fincher and other Officers of Quality and Gentlemen of the Life-Guard who had formerly serv'd under my Lâ—â—d of Essex and Sir William Waller and in other parts of the Kingdom to whom they did the honour of letting them perform all the Action which that Army had to do and who every one of them afterward left it when it left its obedience to the Parliament and fidelity to the Kingdom and
in his room The Self-denying Ordinance was a trick for this purpose In the begining of these troubles Sir William Lewis not agreeing with their Palate being Governour of Portsmouth they make the Earl of Essex who was then General send for him upon a supposition that he was a favourer of Malignants and of many other things which being examin'd by the Committee of Safety he gave so good an account of himself as the Committee could not do less than write a Letter in his justification to the General leaving it to him to repair him as he thought fit Then some of these honest Men who themselves had subscrib'd to it sent a Letter privately to my Lord of Essex by which they advis'd his not sending him back to Portsmouth which jugling of theirs he receiv'd with indignation and wish'd Sir William Lewis to return to his Command but he seeing what Men he had to deal with quitted the Employment and to say the truth he only can be happy who has nothing to do with them except it be in punishing them according to their demerits 173. They have now they think both Houses to their minds ready to do whatsoever they please Accordingly the House of Commons orders those of the eleven Members who were beyond Sea upon their Passes which gave them liberty of travelling six Months to appear the 16 th of October taking no course to have them summon'd only notice to be given at their Houses or places of their last abode where few of us had any Servants my self only an old Porter and a Maid or two 174. Then they go on to the publick business such work as the Army had cut out for them Which were certain Proposals that Sir Thomas Fairfax and the Council of War had sent them the 1 st of August sign'd by Iohn Rushworth Secretary now far above Iohn Brown and Henry Elsing In these they 〈◊〉 down a new platform of Government an Vtopia of their own take upon them to alter all give Rules to all cajole the King claw with the people cheat both never intending good to either The reading of the Articles themselves which are in print will satisfie every body they need no Comment and are so many and of so vast a comprehension as to treat of them all to shew the absurdities contradictions impossibilities unreasonableness which many of them contain would swell this to too big a Volume I will only speak to some few and shew how they dissolve the whole frame of this Monarchy taking a sunder every part pulling out every pin and new making it First The constitutions and proceedings of Parliaments projecting new things for their beginnings continuances and endings for the elections of Members privileges and customs of the Houses which they had violated before de facto but now must be alter'd de jure The Militia of the Kingdom where they will have a General appointed to command it Pay setled to maintain it a Council of State to superintend it which signifies to establish by Act of Parliament this holy Army the Council of War and General Cromwel Then matters of the Church where they will have no power exercis'd to preserve Religion and Piety they would have Bishops so they may be just Cyphers and all Acts to be repeal'd which hinder Men from being Atheists or Independents for no body must be enjoyn'd to come to the Church and there may be Meetings to practise any thing of superstition and folly the Covenant must be laid aside In sum it is to take away all Government and set up Independency They propose a new way for making grand Jury-men Justices of Peace and Sheriffs When these and many other things which they mention are settled which will take up time enough then the King Queen and Royal Issue to be restor'd which is as much as just nothing Next they make the people believe they do as great matters for them will have a liberty of petitioning which is but to make way for schismatical seditious Petitions for if any Petition stick at their Diana none so fierce to punish Who more than they against all the Petitions from London and the Counties for disbanding of the Army and complaining of their factious ways how eager were they against the Petitions promoted in the City in the beginning for which Benion was fined and many troubled and some Petitions out of Kent for which some Gentlemen were committed How barbarously did they fall upon some poor women which came one time to Westminster petitioning for Peace commanding a Troop of Horse to run over them the Train'd Bands to shoot at them whereby many were wounded and some kill'd Yet the world must think they will have it free for all to petition Then they will have the Excise taken off from some Commodities whereon the poor people live and a time limited for taking off the whole which was but to please and amuse them till they had got the mastery of those who they thought stood in their way but being Masters themselves they soon sent out a Command more now than any Proclamation or Ordinance to forbid all Soldiers any way to interrupt the levying of the Excise orany other Tax charg'd by the Parliament which they had made merely instrumental to poll the people for the support of them and their Faction They will have no Tythes to be paid and so Ministers to be starv'd for in truth they would have no Ministers at all or rather no Ministery like Iulian the Apostate take away presbyterium not presbyteros for Ministers that will be subservient to them like Mr. Marshal shall be much made of The rules and course of Law must be reduc'd indeed they will need no Law for they will rule by the Sword and the Councils of War shall supply all Courts of Justice Prisoners for debt if they have not wherewith to pay must be freed so we may be sure few debts shall be satisfy'd for it is an easie thing so to convey or conceal an Estate as nothing visible will be left for doing right to Creditors None must be compell'd to answer to questions tending to the accusing themselves or their nearest Relations in criminal Causes witness their Orders to make men under great Penalties state their Case in no less matter than Treason therefore this is understood to extend only to the privilege of their own Faction We must alter all Statutes and Customs of Corporations and of imposing Oaths which may be constru'd to the molestation of religious people that is Independents for all others are Greeks and Barbarians Yet these men in how many Letters and Declarations do they say and protest they have no thought of setting up Independency nor to meddle with any thing but what concerns the Soldiery and leave all the rest to the wisdom of the Parliament Indeed they conclude their Proposals with what concerns the Soldiery That provision may be made for payment of Arrears to the Army and the
punishment and expect mercy neither from God nor Man nay even in relation to the Army and those persons who have a long time sought my ruin if all I desir'd and aim'd at in disbanding that schismatical factious Soldiery in carrying on the business of the House in opposition to that Party and even in this last great Treason of levying War against King Parliament and Kingdom as they stile it which was only to do my best endeavour to defend them and my self from a rebellious Army that was marching up for all our destructions contrary to the Orders of both Houses against whom it first rebell'd instead of an obedient disbanding then cudgel'd them to own it for their Army forc'd the City into a trouble and shew of opposition to what it had made the Parliament do then took that occasion to march both against it and the Parliament If notwithstanding all this in what I did I had any thought of personal revenge or to do the least hurt to any particular person in case we had prevail'd but only to return into the way whence we were put out of a free quiet Parliamentary proceeding to accomplish the great work of settling the Peace both of Church and State let me perish and God who is the searcher of hearts knows I now speak nothing but truth 199. Well then I say if all our endeavours must like an untimely birth come to nothing our hope be cut off our persons destroy'd our integrity innocency fidelity question'd and decry'd our good names traduc'd torn in sunder our memories made to stink to all posterity by the false calumnies of our malicious Enemies and their power in suppressing truth and which is worst for all this is but particular the general the publick the Common wealth once in so fair a way of recovery at the eve of a happy day to be rid of Armies enjoy a Peace hear no more of the Instruments of War but see a blessed composure of all unhappy differences reap the fruits of Justice and Mercy and upon a sudden to find all this but as the hungry man's Dream who is the more empty when he awakes so instead of this solid happiness to embrace a Cloud have nothing but the empty promises of a false deceitful Army and be cast back into a greater gulf of misery and confusion than all the enemies in the World could have brought it into and the latter end to be far worse than the beginning 200. If this be our Portion were I a Heathen I should say with Brutus when he meant to kill himself seeing the assertors of publick Liberty overcome and ruin'd and the Invaders prevail and conquer O misera virtus eras igitur fabula seu verba ego te ut rem colebam exercebam tu autem fortunae serviebas But being a Christian I am taught another Lesson to know that nothing comes by chance God who dos all things in number weight and measure orders and disposes all as may most make for his own Honour and the good of his Church and Children to which even the wickedness of the wicked and these Disorders will conduce tho the wit of Man cannot fathom it therefore I will lay my Hand upon my Mouth and not once whisper because the Lord has done it only take up St. Paul's admiration and with it end crying out O Altitudo O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! How unsearchable are his Iudgments and his Ways past finding out FINIS AN Alphabetical Table A. Accommodation with the King propos'd by the Lords and laid aside by the malignant Party of the Commons p. 9 10. Agitators set up by the Army their Actions 86 87. Receive some check from Cromwel 87 88. Write a Letter against the Parliament 88 89. The Insolence of those that brought it 89. Their extravagant Proposals to Sir Tho. Fairfax in relation to the Parliament c. 171. Allen Treasurer of the Army 135. Concern'd in conveying away a great Sum of Money design'd for the Army 161. Army forsaken of divers brave Officers when it left its Obedience to the Parliament 70. Countenanc'd great Disorders in Churches c 71. Petitions from City and Country to have it disbanded 72. Recruits daily tho it had no Enemy to oppose 72. Hinders the Relief of Ireland 73 76 79 83. Voted to be disbanded but what was necessary for Garisons c. 74. Some of its Officers mutiny 76. Petition for an Indemnity before disbanding c. 77 78. Incens'd by the Officers against the Parliament 83 84. Are rather incourag'd than discountenanc'd by the Officers that were sent to appease them 91. Their Representation to the Parliament 91 92. Address their General against disbanding 94 95. Enter into an Ingagement not to disband 99. Their Representation in which they censure the Parliament's Actions with Contempt 100 101 111. Intermeddle with the Business of the Kingdom contrary to their Protestations 103. Refuse to hear the Parliament's Votes tho in their own favour aud march towards the City 108. Their high Pretences for the good of the People c. 110 112 149. Make the Parliament do what they please 111. Require a Period to be put to it 112. Their insolent Demands of it 113 115 116 163. Their specious Pretences for the King 118. Vpbraid the Parliament for doing what they forc'd 'em to 119. Their pretended Care for the Privileges of Parliament ibid. Manage all Affairs of the Kingdom 142 c. Are compos'd of mean Officers c. 149. Their extravagant Proposals to the Parliament in relation to Church and State 177 181. Their Remonstrance Decemb. 7. 1648. against the Parliament 192 195. which is descanted on 195 197. Make the Parliament act against it self set up for Lords and Masters c. 200 201. Army Party their Actions and Aims 1 5. How they got into Power 6. Their Vsage of the King Queen c. 7. Are for the Covenant c. 13. Misrepresent Affairs to the Scots 14. Begin to shew themselves after Marston-moor Fight 18. Oppose the Lords for medling with a Commoner 20 56. Against putting an end to the War 25 29. Govern by the Sword c. 26. Oppos'd by an honest Party in the House ibid. Frustrated in their Expectation of some they had got chosen 43 44. Indeavour to set the two Kingdoms against each other 45. and the Country against the Scots 49. Amuse the House with strange things against them 52. Break the Law of Nations with relation to the Scots Commissioners 54 55 56. Ioin some Scots Commissioners to the English in the Power of the Militia but with an ill design 57. which they would afterwards have alter'd 58. Would have the Army march into the North against the Scots without the Parliament's Order 61. Hinder the Scots going out of England tho they pretended to be for it 62. Quarrel with 'em about the Person of the King 67 68. Their Designs frustrated by the Scots