House of Lords Journal Volume 5: 6 February 1643

DIE Lunæ, videlicet, 6 die Februarii.

PRAYERS.

Earl of Manchester was appointed to be Speaker this Day.

Letter from Lord Stamford at Plymouth, for a Supply of Money and Arms.

A Letter sent from the Earl of Stamford, to (fn. 1) the Speaker of this House, was read, dated from Plymouth, the First of February, 1642; shewing, "That he is in Plymouth, but hath not Force enough to go abroad; that the Enemy is too strong as yet for him, because he wants Money and Arms; that there hath been a Treaty of Peace between (fn. 1) him and the Lord Mohun, Sir Ralph Hopton, and Colonel Godolphin; but they demanded the Town and the Fort: Whereupon they (fn. 2) broke off their Treaty."

Sent to the H. C.

Ordered, To communicate this to the House of Commons; which was accordingly sent down to the House of Commons, by Sir Edward Leech and Doctor Bennett.

Mrs. Cane, a Pass.

Ordered, That Mrs. Cane and her Woman shall have Leave to go to Oxford.

Mrs. Fanshaw, a Pass.

Ordered, That Mrs. Dorothy Fanshawe shall have Leave to go to Ditchley, in Oxfordshire.

Ordinance for quieting the Possession of Sutton Marsh, sent to the H. C.

The Ordinance concerning the quieting of the Possession of Sutton Marsh, was read, and aproved of by this House, and sent down to the House of Commons, by Message, by Doctor Aylett and Doctor Heath, to desire their Concurrence.

The Answer returned was:

Answer.

That the House of Commons will send an Answer, to the Ordinance concerning Sutton Marsh, by Messengers of their own.

Sir Basil Brooke and Sir J. Winter. versus Mr. Mynn.

Ordered, That the Cause between Sir Basill Brooke and Sir John Wintour, against Geo. Mynn Esquire, shall be referred to be proceeded in at the Common Law, in the Course as it is already in.

Report of the delivering of the Propositions to the King.

The Earl of Northumb. with the rest of the Lords that were sent to Oxford, to present the Propositions to the King, reported, "That, on Wednesday last, they presented the same to the King; and, after they were read to Him, He made a short Answer: the Effect was, That He would give a further Answer." (Here enter it.)

"That, on Friday following, the King sent for them again, and told them, that He had considered of the Propositions presented unto Him from both Houses of Parliament, and (fn. 3) hath returned this Answer; which he commanded the Earl of Holland to read."

This Answer was commanded to be read, which [ (fn. 4) was accordingly,] in hæc verba:

"My Lords,

The King's Answer to them.

"I was always for Peace; and I am more concerned in it than any, being the Father of the Country, next under God. I cannot chuse but speak, though I thought to have said nothing: I confess I am surprized. Though I have seen somewhat of this, yet I believed them not to have been such. They that principally contrived [ (fn. 5) and penned] them, had no Thoughts of Peace in their Hearts, but to make Things worse and worse. Yet I shall do My Part, and take as much Honey out of the Gall as I can. I will think of them, and take a Time to give you My Answer."

The House Resolved, To communicate this Answer of His Majesty to the House of Commons, as a Matter of great and serious Consideration; and to desire them to take it into their Care and serious Thoughts.

Message to the H. C. for a Conference about it.

A Message was sent to the House of Commons, by Doctor Aylett and Doctor Heath:

To desire a present Conference, concerning the King's Answer to the Propositions sent unto Him from both Houses of Parliament.

The Answer returned was:

Answer.

That the House of Commons will give a present Conference, as is desired.

Ordered, That this House will take the King's Answer to the Propositions [ (fn. 6) into Consideration] Tomorrow Morning.

House was adjourned during Pleasure, and the Lords went to the Conference; which being ended, the House was resumed.

And the House was adjourned until Ten of the Clock To-morrow Morning.

His Majesty's further Answer to the Propositions of both Houses.

"If His Majesty had not given up all the Faculties of His Soul to an earnest Endeavour of a Peace and Reconciliation with His People; or if He would suffer Himself, by any Provocation, to be drawn to a Sharpness of Language, at a Time when there seems somewhat like an Overture of Accommodation; He could not but resent the heavy Charges upon Him in the Preamble of these Propositions, and would not suffer Himself to be reproached with protecting of Delinquents by Force from Justice (His Majesty's Desire having always been, that all Men should be tried by the known Law, and having been refused it); with raising an Army against His Parliament; and to be told that Arms have been taken up against Him, for the Defence of Religion, Laws, Liberties, Privileges of Parliament, and for the sitting of the Parliament in Safety, with many other Particulars in that Preamble, so often and so fully answered by His Majesty; without remembering the World of the Time and Circumstances of raising those Arms against Him, when His Majesty was so far from being in a Condition to invade other Mens Rights, that He was not able to maintain and defend His own from Violence; and without telling His good Subjects, that their Religion (the true Protestant Religion, in which His Majesty was born, hath faithfully lived, and to which He will die a willing Sacrifice), their Laws, Liberties, Privileges, and Safety of Parliament, were so amply settled and established, or offered to be so, by His Majesty, before any Army was raised against Him, and long before any raised by Him for His Defence; that, if nothing had been desired but that Peace and Protection, which His Subjects and their Ancestors had in the best Times enjoyed under His Majesty or His Royal Predecessors, this Misunderstanding and Distance between His Majesty and His People, and this general Misery and Distraction upon the Face of the whole Kingdom, had not now been the Discourse of Christendom. But His Majesty will forbear any Expressions of Bitterness, or of a Sense of His own Sufferings, that, if it be possible, the Memory thereof may be lost to the World; and therefore, though many of the Propositions presented to His Majesty by both Houses appear to Him very derogatory from, and destructive to, His just Power and Prerogative, and no Way beneficial to His Subjects, few of them being already due to them by the Laws established (and how Unparliamentary it is, by Arms to require new Laws, all the World may judge); yet (because these may be waved or mollified, and many Things that are now dark or doubtful in them cleared and explained, upon Debate) His Majesty is pleased (such is His Sense of the Miseries this Kingdom suffers by this unnatural War, and His earnest Desire to remove them by a happy Peace) that a speedy Time and Place be agreed upon, for the Meeting of such Persons as His Majesty and both Houses shall appoint, to discuss these Propositions, and such others here following as His Majesty doth propose to them:

"1. That His Majesty's own Revenue, Magazines, Towns, Forts, and Ships, which have been taken or kept from Him by Force, be forthwith restored unto Him.

"2. That whatsoever hath been done or published, contrary to the known Laws of the Land, or derogatory to His Majesty's legal and known Power and Rights, be renounced, and re-called, that no Seed may remain, for the like to spring out for the future.

"3. That whatsoever illegal Power hath been claimed and exercised by or over His Subjects, as imprisoning their Persons without Law, stopping their Habeas Corpusses, and imposing upon their Estates without Act of Parliament, &c. either by both or either House, or any Committee of both or either, or by any Persons appointed by any of them, be disclaimed; and all such Persons, so committed, forthwith discharged.

"4. That, as His Majesty will readily consent (having done so heretofore) to the Execution of all Laws already made, and to any good Acts to be made, for the suppressing of Popery, and for the firm settling of the Protestant Religion now established by Law; so He desires that a good Bill may be framed, for the better preserving of the Book of Common Prayer from the Scorn and Violence of Brownists, Anabaptists, and other Sectaries, with such Clauses for the Ease of tender Consciences as His Majesty hath formerly offered.

"5. That all such Persons as, upon the Treaty, shall be excepted out of the General Pardon, shall be tried per Pares, according to the usual Course and known Law of the Land; and that it be left to that, either to acquit or condemn them.

"6. And, to the Intent this Treaty may not suffer Interruption by any intervening Accidents, that a Cessation of Arms, and free Trade for all His Majesty's Subjects, may be first agreed upon.

"This Offer and Desire of His Majesty, He hopes, will be so chearfully entertained, that a speedy and blessed Peace may be accomplished. If it shall be rejected, or, by insisting upon unreasonable Circumstances, be made impossible, which, He hopes, God in His Mercy to this Nation will not suffer, the Guilt of the Blood which will be shed, and the Desolation which must follow, will lie upon the Heads of the Refusers. However, His Majesty is Resolved, through what Accidents soever He shall be compelled to recover His Rights, and with what prosperous Successes soever it shall please God to bless Him, that, by His earnest constant Endeavours to propagate and promote the true Protestant Religion, and by His governing according to the known Laws of the Land, and upholding the just Privileges of Parliament, according to the frequent Protestations made before Almighty God, which He will always inviolably observe, the World shall see that He hath undergone all these Difficulties and Hazards, for the Defence and Maintenance of those; the zealous Preservation of which, His Majesty well knows, is the only Foundation and Means for the true Happiness of Him and His People."

Committee to assess the Assistants of this House.

Ordered, That these Lords following shall assess the Assistants of this House for the Twentieth Part, according to the Ordinance of Parliament:

Their Lordships, or any Three, to meet when they please.