Profe

Works, vol.

i. F. 3.4.

finally, it was refolved to proceed capitally against him in a high court of juftice to be erected

for

opprimi neceffe effet. Stabant ab illis Londinenfium plerique inftitores atque opifices, & miniftrorum fac• tiofiflimi quique; a nobis exercitus magnâ fide, modeftiâ, virtute cognitus. Per hos cum retinere libertatem rempub. falutem liceret, an hæc omnia per ignaviam & ftultitiam prodenda fuiffe cenfes? Debellati regiarum partium duces arma quidam inviti, animum hoftilem non depofuerant: omnibus belli renovandi oc• cafionibus intenti ad urbem fe receperant. Cum his, quamvis inimiciffimis, quamvis fanguinem eorum avide fitientibus, Prefbyteriani, poftquam non permitti fibi in omnes tam civilem quàm ecclefiafticam dominationem viderunt, clandeftina confilia, & prioribus tum dictis tum factis indigniffima confociare coeperant : eóque acerbitatis proceffere, ut mallent fe regi denuò mancipare, quàm fratres fuos in partem illam libertatis, quam & ipfi fuo fub fanguine acquifiverant, ade mittere; mallent tyrannum tot civium crurore perfu• fum, irâ in fuperftites, & conceptâ jam ultione ardentem rurfus experiri dominum, quàm fratres, & amiciffimos æquo jure ferre fibi pares. Soli Independentes qui vocantes, & ad ultimum fibi conftare, & fuâ uti • victoria fciebant: qui ex rege hoftem fe fecerat, eum ex hofte regem effe amplius, fapienter, meo quidem judicio, nolebant: neque pacem idcircò non volebant, fed involutum pacis nomine aut bellum novum, aut ææternam fervitutem prudentes metuebant (b).' i. e. What did they do in the mean time, who were found themfelves, and faw fuch pernicious councils on foot? Ought they therefore to have been wanting to the nation, and not provide for its fafety, because the infection had spread itself even in their own houfe? But, • who fecluded thofe ill-affected members? The Englih army, you say: fo that it was not an army of foreigners, but of moft valiant, and faithful, honeft natives, whofe officers for the moft part were members

of

for the purpofe. In purfuance of these refolutions, the King was removed from Hurst

< out.

cattle

of parliament; and whom thofe good fecluded members would have fecluded their country, and banished into Ireland; while in the mean-time the Scots, whose alliance began to be doubtful, had very confiderable forces in four of our northern counties, and kept garrifons in the beft towns of those parts, and had the King himfelf in cuftody; whilft they likewife encouraged the tumultuating of thofe of their own faction, who did more than threaten the parliament, both in city and country, and through whofe means not only a civil, but a war with Scotland too fhortly after brake If it has always been counted praife-worthy in private men to affilt the state and promote the public good; whether by advice or action; our army fure was in no fault, who being ordered by the parliament to come to town, obeyed and came, and when they were come, quelled with eafe the faction and uproar of the King's party, who fometimes threatned the houfe itfelf. For things were brought to that pafs, that of neceffity, either we must be run down by them, or they by us. They had on their fide most of the fhop-keepers and handicrafts-men of London, and C generally thofe of the minifters, that were moft factious. On our fide was the army, whofe fidelity, moderation, and courage were fufficiently known. It being in our power by their means to retain our liberty, our state, our common fafety; do you think we had not been fools to have loft all by our negligence and folly? They who had had places of command in the King's army, after their party were fubdued, had laid down their arms indeed against their wills,' but continued enemies to us in their hearts; and they flocked to town, and were here watching all oppor⚫tunities of renewing the war. With thele men, tho' they were the greatest enemies they had in the world, and thirfted after their blood, did the Prefbyterians, • be

04

castle to Windfor, and in fpight of the oppofition made by the Scottish commissioners, brought

because they were not permitted to exercise a civil, as well as an ecclefiaftical jurifdiction over all others, hold fecret correfpondence, and took meafures very unworthy of what they had formerly both faid and done; and they came to that fpleen at last, that they would rather enthral themfelves to the King again, than admit their own brethren to fhare in their liberty, which they likewife had purchafed at the price of their own blood; they chofe rather to be lorded over C once more by a tyrant, polluted with the blood of fo many of his own fubjects, and who was enraged, and • breathed out nothing but revenge against those of them that were left, than endure their brethren and friends to be upon the quare with them. The Independants, as they are called, were the only men that from first to laft kept to their point, and knew what use to • make of their victory. They refufed, (and wifely, in my opinion) to make him King again, being then an enemy; who when he was their King, had made himself their enemy: nor were they ever the less averfe to a peace, but they very prudently dreaded a new, war, or a perpetual flavery under the name of a ⚫ peace.'

.

I will add but one paffage more, and that taken from ⚫ the declaration of the houfe of commons, fetting forth the reasons for annulling all former votes in favour of a treaty with the King,' which was paffed, and ordered to be printed fan. 15, 1648. In this declaration, after giving many reafons for their diflike of the treaty, they go on in the following manner: Neither can we believe, that any agreement we could have made with the King in the ifle of Wight, in the condition he was then in, would ever have been obferved, either by himself or any of his party: for, fetting afide the bare name of honor, fafety and freedom, which the treaty did pretend unto, neither the King, nor any of his,

brought to an open tryal at Westminster, where, after his refufal to acknowledge the autho

did ever hold him in any other condition than that of a prifoner. For clearing whereof, befides his message fent to both houfes, Oct. 2, in which he proposeth to have liberty to come to Westminster, and to be reftored to a condition of abfolute freedom and fafety;' which can import no other than that he judged himtelf at that present, being in the time of treaty, to be deprived of both; his letters to a prime magiftrate of the city of London declare, that he held himself at that time as great a prisoner as ever' and, the prince in his declaration made at Goree, fays plainly, that the King in truth is ftill a prifoner; and invites the Earl of Warwick to join with him to rescue his father from his unworthy imprisonment.' And fince enfor⚫ced oaths are, in many mens judgments, not neceffary to be kept, what affurance could we have that he, who so often had failed of his promifes made to us, ' when he was free and at his own difpofal, would make that good to us, when he came to be re-established in his royal power, which he had obliged himself to do, when he was in durance and a prifoner? And fince hardly any example can be produced, either foreign or domeftick, of any prince, once engaged in a war with his fubjects, that ever kept any agreement which. he made with them any longer than meer neceffity did compel him thereto. The examples to the contrary whereof are fo many and fo mainfeft, and the late bloody violation of the peace betwixt the crown of Spain and thofe of Naples is fo fresh in our memories, as we cannot expect any propofitions, agreed upon at the ifle of Wight, fhould bind the King more than the fundamental laws, and his coronation oath; befides his often proteftations and engagements in the ⚫ name of a King, and of a gentleman, which he hath mentary fo often violated (c).'- -Thefe were fome of the Hiftory, principal reasons given in defence of an action generally vol. xviii.

con

(c) Parlia

P. 509.

authority of the court, he received fentence of death, which accordingly was put in exe

cution.

condemned as impudent, bafe, and tyrannical. The reader who understands the hiftory of thefe times, will be beft able to judge of the truth of the pretences on which it is founded-All I shall fay is, if ruin was apprehended by these men to themselves or the kingdom; if their civil or religious rights, in their eyes, appeared as intended to be facrificed, and the King and the priest, whether prelate or prefbyter matterd not, were to reaffume their wonted rule; and above all, if the King's character appeared fuch to them, that no reliance was to be put on his promifes, declarations or oaths, (all which they feem ftrongly to affirm) we are not to wonder at the deed. All men know the force of neceffity and felf prefervation, and know alfo that they will operate more ftrongly than law or reafon, if indeed they be not almoft fuperiour to all law. To plead this in bar of thofe, will feldom be thought valid by men verfed in great affairs, and, though it be made ufe of by them fometimes for purposes of their own, yet is it little credited and believed by themfelves.That the army really feared a treaty between the King and the parlia ment, is certain-How far their fears were juft in themfelves, or will justify their proceedings in this matter, the public muft determine.- -Thus much for the

fact itself. In defence of Cromwell, who is fuppofed to have been at the bottom of it, it is urged, That there was a party in the parliament that bore an early spleen against him, and fain would have nipt him in the bud; but his eminent fervice at Nafeby procuring him to be appointed and continued lieutenant general under Fairfax; the continual fucceffes that attended him from that time forward, fet him above their machi⚫ nations. Nevertheless, they did not crafe out of his breaft, the remembrance of the kindneffes they would have done him; nor did their flatteries of his profperity make him the more neglectful of ftanding

upon