1To the KINGS moſt Excellent MAJESTIE The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons aſſembled in Parliament.
May it pleaſe Your Majeſtie,
YOur Majeſties moſt loyall Subjects, the Lords and Commons in Parliament cannot conceive that the Declaration which Your Majeſtie received from us at New-market, was ſuch as did deſerve that cenſure Your Majeſtie was pleaſed to lay upon us in that Speech which Your Majeſtie made to our Committees there, and ſent in writing to both Houſes; Our addreſſe therein being accompanied with Plainneſſe, Humility, and Faithfulneſſe, we thought more•roper for the removing the diſtraction of the Kingdom, then if we had then proceeded according to Your Majeſties Meſſage of the 20th of Ianuary, by which Your Majeſt•e was pleaſ•d to deſire, That we would declare what we intended to do for Your Majeſtie, and what we expected to be done for our ſelves; in both which we have been very much hindred by Your Majeſties deniall to ſecure us and the whole Kingdom, by diſpoſing the Militia, as we had divers times moſt humbly Petiti•ned: And yet we have not bin altogether negligent of either, having lately made good proceedings in preparing a cook of rates to be paſſed in a Bill of Tonnage2 and Poundage; and likewiſe the moſt materiall Heads of thoſe humble deſires which we intended to make to Your Majeſtie for the good and contentment of Your Majeſtie and Your people; but none of theſe could be perfected before the Kingdom be put into ſafety, by ſetling the Militia: And untill Your Majeſtie ſhall be pleaſed to concur with your Parliament in theſe neceſſary things, we hold it impoſſible for you to give the world, or Your people ſuch ſatisfaction concerning the Fears and Jealouſies which we have expreſſed, as we hope your Majeſtie hath already received touching that exception which You were pleaſed to take to Maſter Pyms Speech.
As for Your Majeſties Fears and doubts, the ground whereof is from Seditious Pamphlets and Sermons, we ſhall be as carefull to endeavour the removall aſſoon as we ſhall underſtand what Pamphlets and Sermons are by Your Majeſtie intended, as we have been to prevent all dangerous Tumults: And•f any extraordinary concourſe of people out of the Citie to Weſtminſter had the face and ſhew of Tumult and danger in Your Majeſties apprehenſion, it will appear to be cauſed by Your Majeſties deniall of ſuch a guard to Your Parliament as they might have cauſe to confide in; And by taking into White-hall ſuch a guard for Your ſelf as gave juſt cauſe of Jealouſie to the Parliament, and of terrour and offence to Your People. We ſeek nothing but Your Majeſties Honour, and the peace and proſperitie of Your Kingdoms; And we are heartily ſorry we have ſuch plentifull matter of an anſwer to that queſtion, Whether you had violated our Laws.
We beſeech your Majeſtie to remember, that the Government of this Kingdom, as it was in a great part mannaged by Your Miniſters before the beginning of this Parliament, conſiſted of many continued and multiplied3 acts of violation of Laws, the wounds whereof were ſcarcely healed, when the extremitie of all theſe violations was far exceeded by the late ſtrange and unheard of breach of our Laws in the accuſation of the Lord Kymbolton, and the five Members of the Commons-houſe, and in the proceedings thereupon, for which we have yet received no ful•ſatisfaction.
To Your Majeſties next Queſtion, Whether You had denied any Bill for the eaſe and ſecuritie of Your Subjects, We wiſh we could ſtop in the midſt of our anſwer, that with much thankfulneſſe we acknowledge that Your Majeſtie hath paſt many good Bils full of contentment, and advantage to Your People; But truth and neceſſitie inforceth us to adde this, That even in or about the time of paſſing thoſe Bils, ſome deſign or other hath been on foot, which if it had taken effect, would not onely have deprived us of the fruit of thoſe Bills, but have reduced us to a worſe condition of confuſion then that wherein the Parliament found us.
And if Your Majeſtie had asked us the third queſtion intimated in that Speech, What we had done for Your Self, our Anſwer would have been much more eaſie, That we have paid two Armies, wherewith the Kingdom was burthened laſt yeer; And have undergone the charge of the War in Ireland at this time, when through many other exceſſive charges and Preſſures, whereby Your Subjects have been exhauſted, and the ſtock of the Kingdom very much diminiſhed: Which great miſchiefs, and the charges thereupon enſuing, have been occaſioned by the evill counſels ſo powerfull with Your Majeſtie, which have, and will coſt this Kingdom more then two Millions: All which in Juſtice ought to have been born by Your Majeſtie.
As for that free and generall Pardon Your Majeſtie4 hath been pleaſed to offer, it can be no ſecurity to our Fears and Jealouſies, for which Your Majeſtie ſeems to propound it, becauſe they ariſe not from any guilt of our own Actions, but from the evill Deſignes and Attempts of others.
To this our humble Anſwer to that Speech, we deſire to adde an Information which we lately received from the Deputy Governour of the Merchant Adventurers at Rotterdam in Holland, That an unknown perſon p••r•aining to the Lord Digby, did lately ſolicite one Iames Henley a Mariner to go to Elſenore, and to take charge of a Ship in the Fleet of the King of Denmark there prepared, which he ſhould conduct to Hull: In which Fleet likewiſe, he ſaid a great Army was to be tranſported. And although we are not apt to give credit to Informations of this nature, yet we cannot altogether think it fit to be neglected, but that it may juſtly adde ſomewhat to the weight of our Fears and Jealouſies, co ſidering with what circumſtances it is accompanied, Of the Lord Digbies preceding Expreſſions in his letter to Her Majeſtie, and Sir Lewis Dives, And Your Majeſties ſucceeding courſe of withdrawing Your Self Northward from Your Parliament, in a manner very ſutable, and correſpondent to that evil Counſell.
Which we doubt will make much deeper impreſſion in the generality of Your People; And therefore we moſt humbly adviſe and beſeech Your Maj•ſtie for the procuring and ſetling the confidence of Your Parliament, and all Your Subjects, and for the other important reaſons, concerning the recovery of Ireland, and ſecuring this Kingdom, which have been formerly preſented to Your Majeſtie, You will be graci•uſly pleaſed (with all convenient ſpeed) to return to theſe parts, and to cloſe with the Counſell and5 deſire of Your Parliament, where You ſhall finde their dutifull affections, and endeavours ready to attend Your Majeſtie with ſuch entertainment, as ſhall not onely give Your Majeſtie juſt cauſe of ſecurity in their faithfulneſſe, but other man fold evidences of their earneſt intentions and endeavours to advance Your Majeſties Service, Honour and contentment, and to e••abliſh it upon the ſure foundation of the Peace and Proſperity of all Your Kingdoms.
6His Majeſties Anſwer To the Petition of both Houſes of PARLIAMENT, Preſented to Him at YORK on Saturday the 26th of March, 1642. by the Lord Willoughby, Lord Dungarvan, and Sir Anthony Irby.
IF you would have had the patience to have expected Our Anſwer to your laſt Declaration (which, conſidering the nature of it, hath not been long in coming) We beleeve you would have ſaved your ſelves the labour of ſaying much of this Meſſage. And We could wiſh that Our Priviledges on all parts were ſo Stated, that this way of Correſpondencie7 might be preſerved with that Freedom which hath been uſed of old: For We muſt tell you, that if you may ask any thing of Us by Meſſage or petition, and in what language (how unuſuall ſcever) you think fit, & We muſt neither deny the thing you aſk, nor give a reaſon why we cannot grant it, without being taxed of breaking your Priviledges, or being counſelled by thoſe who are enemies to the Peace of the Kingdom, and favourers of the Iriſh Rebellion (for we have ſeen your Printed Votes upon Our Meſſage from Huntington) you will reduce all Our Anſwers hereafter into a very little room. In plain engliſh, It is to take away the Freedome of Our Vote, which, were we but a Subject, were High injuſtice; but being your King, we leave all the world to judge what it is.
Is this the way to compoſe all miſunderſtandings? We thought we ſhewed you one by Our Meſſage of the 20th of January, if you have a better or••adier, we ſhall willingly hearken to it, for hitherto you have ſhewed us none. But why the refuſall to conſent to your order, (which you call a deniall of the Militia) ſhould be any interruption to it, we cannot underſtand. For the Militia (which we alwaies thought neceſſary to be ſetled) we never denied the thing (as we told you in Our Anſwer of the 28th of January, to the petition of the Houſe of9 Commons, for We accepted the perſons, (except for Corporations) We onely denied the way. You ask it by way of Ordinance, and with ſuch a preface as We can neither with Iuſtice to Our Honour, or innocency conſent to: You exclude Vs for any Power in the diſpoſition or execution of it, together with you, and for a time utterly unlimited. We tell you we would have the thing done; Allow the perſons (with that exception;) Deſire a Bill (the onely good old way of impoſing on Our Subjects.) We are extreamly unſatified what an Ordinance is, but well ſatisfied, that without Our Conſent it is nothing, not binding: And it is evident by the long time ſpent in this argument, the neceſſity and danger was not ſo imminent, but a Bill might have well been prepared, which if it ſhall yet be done with that due regard to Vs, and care of Our People, in the limitation of the power and other circumſtances, we ſhall recede from nothing we formerly expreſſed in that Anſwer to your Order, otherwiſe we muſt declare to all the world, That we are nothing ſatisfied with, or ſhall ever allow Our Subjects to be bound by your printed Votes of the fifteenth or ſixteenth of this moneth, or that under pretence of declaring what the Law of the Land is, you ſhall (without Vs) make a new Law, which is plainly the caſe of the Militia: And10 what is this but to introduce an Arbitrary way of Government?
Concerning Pyms Speech, you will have found by what the Lord Compton, and Mr Baynton brought from Vs, in anſwer to that Meſſage they brought to Vs, that as yet we reſt nothing ſatisfied in that particular.
As for the ſeditious Pamphlets and Sirmons, we are both ſorry and aſhamed in ſo great a variety, and in which Our Rights, Honour and Authority are ſo inſolently ſlighted and vilified, and in which the Dignitie and Freedome of Parliament is ſo much invaded and violated, it ſhould be asked of Vs to name any; the mentioning of the Proteſtation proteſted, the Apprentices Proteſtation, To your Tents, O Iſrael, or any other, would be too great an excuſe for the reſt. If you think them not worth the inquiry, We have done. But We think it moſt ſtrange, to be told, That Our deniall of a Guard (which We yet never denied, but granted in another manner, and under a Command at that time, moſt accuſtomed in the Kingdome) or the deniall of any thing elſe (which is in Our power legally to deny) which in Our underſtanding (of which God hath ſurely given Vs ſome uſe) is not fit to be granted, ſhould be any excuſe for ſo dangerous concourſe of people, which not onely in Our apprehenſion, but (we beleeve) in the interpretation10 of Law it ſelf, hath been alwayes held moſt tumultuous and ſeditious. And we muſt wonder, what, and whence comes the Inſtructions and Informations that thoſe people have, who can ſo eaſily think themſelves obliged by the Proteſtation to aſſemble in ſuch a manner, for the defence of Priviledges, which cannot be ſo clearly known to any of them, and ſo negligently paſſe over the conſideration, and defence of Our Rights (ſo beneficiall and neceſſarie for themſelves, and ſcarce unknown to any of them) which by their Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacie (and even by the ſame Proteſtation) they are at leaſt equally obliged to defend. And what interruptions ſuch kinde of Aſſemblies may be to the freedom of future parliaments (if not ſeaſonably diſcountenanced and ſuppreſſed) we muſt adviſe you to conſider, as likewiſe whether both Our powers may not by ſuch meanes by uſurped, by hands not truſted by the Conſtitution of this Kingdom. For Our Guard, we referre you to Our Anſwer to your Declaration.
By that Queſtion of Violating your Lawes; by which we endeavoured to expreſſe Our care and reſolution to obſerve them; we did not expect you would have been invited to have looked back ſo many yeers, for which you have had ſo ample Reparation; Neither looked we to be reproached11 with the Actions of our Miniſters (then againſt the Lawes) whileſt we expreſſe ſo great a zeal for the preſent defence of them, it being Our Reſolution, upon obſervation of the miſchief which then grew by Arbitrary power (though made plauſible to Vs by the ſuggeſtions of neceſſity and imminent danger, and take you heed ye fall not into the ſame errour upon the ſame ſuggeſtions) hereafter to keep the Rule Our ſelf, and to Our power require the ſame from all others. But above all, we muſt be moſt ſenſible of what you caſt upon Vs for requitall of thoſe good Bills you cannot denie. We have denied any ſuch Deſigne, and as God Almighty muſt judge in that point between Vs, who knowes Our upright intentions at the paſſing thoſe Lawes: So in the mean time we defy the Devill to prove that there was any Deſigne (with Our knowledge or Privity) in or about the time of paſſing thoſe Bils, that had it taken effect could have deprived Our Subjects of the fruit of them: And therfore we demand full Reparation in this point, that we may be cleared in the ſight of all the world, and chiefly in the eyes of Our loving Subjects, from ſo notorious and falſe an imputation as this is.
We are far from denying what you have done. For we acknowledge the charge Our People have ſuſtained in keeping the two13 Armies, and in relieving Ireland, of which we are ſo ſenſible, that in regard of thoſe great Burthens Our People have undergone, we have and do patiently ſuffer thoſe extream perſonall wants, as Our Predeceſſours have been ſeldom put to, rather then we would preſſe upon them: which we hope (in time) will be conſidered on your parts.
In Our offer of a Generall Pardon, Our intent was to compoſe and ſecure the generall condition of Our Subjects, conceiving that in theſe times of great Diſtractions the good Lawes of the Land have not been enough obſerved; But it is a ſtrange world when Princes proffered Favors are counted Reproaches: yet, if you like not this Our offer, we have done.
Concerning any diſcourſes of Forreign Forces (though we have given you a full Anſwer in Ours to your laſt Declaration, yet) we muſt tell you, we have neither ſo ill an opinion of Our own merit, or the Affections of Our good Subjects, as to think Our ſelf in need of any Forreign Force to preſerve Vs from Oppreſſion (and we ſhall not need for any other purpoſe) but are confident (through Gods providence) not to want the good wiſhes and aſſiſtance of the whole Kingdome, being reſolved to build upon that ſure Foundation, the Law of the Land. And we take it very ill that any14 generall Diſcourſes betweene an unknown Perſon and a Mariner, or inferences upon Letters ſhould be able to prevail in matters ſo improbable in themſelves, and ſcandalous to Vs, for which We cannot but likewiſe aſk Reparation, not onely for the vindicating of Our Own Honour, but alſo thereby to ſettle the mindes of Our Subjects, whoſe Feares and Iealouſies would ſoon vaniſh, were they not fed and maintained by ſuch falſe and malicious Rumours as theſe.
For Our return to Our Parliament, We have given you a full Anſwer in Ours to your Declaration, and you ought to look on Vs as not gone but driven (We ſay not by you, yet) from you. And if it be not ſo eaſie for you to make Our reſidence in London ſo ſafe as We could deſire, We are, and will be contented that Our Parliament be adjourned to ſuch a place, where We may be fitly and ſafely with you. For (though we are not pleaſed to be at this diſtance, yet) ye are not to expect Our Preſence, Vntill ye ſhall both ſecure Vs concerning Our juſt apprehenſions of Tumultuary Inſolencies, and likewiſe give Vs ſatiſfaction for thoſe Inſupportable and Inſolent Scandals that are raiſed upon Vs.
To conclude, As We have or ſhall not Refuſe any way agreeable to Iuſtice or Honour, which ſhalbe offered to Vs for the14 begetting a right underſtanding between Vs: So we are Reſolved, that no ſtraits or neceſſities (to which we may be driven) ſhall ever compell Vs to do that, which the Reaſon and underſtanding that God hath given Vs, and Our Own Honour and Intereſt, with which God hath truſted Vs for the good of Our Poſterity and Kingdoms, ſhall render unpleaſant and grievous unto Vs.
And we aſſure you that (how meanly ſoever you are pleaſed to value the diſcharge of Our publike dutie) we are ſo Conſcious to Our ſelf of having done Our part, ſince this Parliament, that (in whatſoever condition we now ſtand) we are confident of the continued Protection from Almighty God, and the conſtant gratitude, obedience, and affection from Our people: And we ſhall truſt God with all.