House of Lords Journal Volume 8: 16 March 1646

DIE Lunæ, 16 die Martii.

PRAYERS, by Mr. Rayner.

Comes Manchester, Speaker.

Answer from the H. C.

Mr. Justice Pheasant and Mr. Justice Rolls return with this Answer to the Message sent to the House of Commons on Saturday last:

That they agree to the Ordinance for Church Government, with the Alterations. (Here enter it.)

The Earl of Warwicke reported a Paper from the Committee of the Admiralty; which was read:

Captain Swanley to command The Charles.

"Whereas this Committee did respite the presenting of Captain Richard Swanley to the Command of a Ship in this Summer's Expedition, in respect of a late Charge against him, which hath long depended before this Committee; and whereas, upon full Hearing of that Matter, and serious Consideration had of what was alledged against him, this Committee hath cleared him from every Particular of the said Charge, nemine contradicente: Ordered, That the said Captain Richard Swanley be presented to both Houses of Parliament, for their approving him to be Captain of His Majesty's Ship The Charles, in this Summer's Expedition.

"W. Jessop, Secretary."

Ordered, That this House approves of this Report.

Another Paper was reported, and read, as followeth:

"Die Sabbati, 14 Martii, 1645.

"At the Committee of Lords and Commons for the Admiralty and Cinque Ports.

Captain Crandley to command The Victory;

and Captain Maynard The Bonadventure.

"Whereas Captain Goodlad, formerly recommended by this Committee to both Houses of Parliament, and by them approved of, for Command of The Victory, hath signified his Desire to be spared from Sea Employment in this Summer's Expedition, in respect of some special Occasions of his own; whereupon this Committee have appointed to that Command Captain Benjamin Crandley, who had been in like Manner recommended and approved of for Command of The Bonaventure; by Means whereof, the Captain's Place of The Bonaventure is become void: Ordered, That Captain Walter Maynard be presented from this Committee to both Houses of Parliament, for their approving of him to the Command of the said Ship The Bonadventure, for this Summer's Expedition."

Ordered, That this House approves of this Report; and that it be sent to the House of Commons.

Paper concerning Guernsey.

Another Paper was reported, and read, concerning the re-gaining of the Isle of Guernsey, with the Particulars of the Ammunition, &c. (Here enter it.)

Ordered, To be sent to the House of Commons.

Message to the H. C. with these Papers;

A Message was sent to the House [ (fn. 1) of Commons], by Sir Edw. Leech and Mr. Page:

To deliver to them the Papers now read and reported from the Committee of the Admiralty, and desire their Concurrence therein.

and about the following Particulars.

2. To put them in Mind of the Business concerning the Foreign Plantations.

3. To put them in Mind of Sir Marmadukes Lloyd's Business.

4. To put them in Mind of Mr. Horton to be added to the Assembly.

Answer from the H. C.

Doctor Aylett and Doctor Heath return with this Answer from the House of Commons to the Message sent on Saturday last:

That they agree to the Business concerning Mr. Ram: To all the rest, they will take them into Consideration, and send an Answer by Messengers of their own.

Ihannes' Cause.

Ordered, That the Counsel of John Ihaines shall be heard, at this Bar, on Saturday next, concerning the Invalidity of Two Decrees made in the Admiralty, concerning the Spanish Ship at the Isle of Wight; and that, at the Hearing, the Original Decrees and the Proceedings thereupon shall be brought into this House; and in the mean Time to have Liberty to peruse them.

Message from the H. C. for a Conference about the Propositions; and Commissioners going into the West;

A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Mr. Knightly:

1. To desire a Free Conference, at such Time as their Lordships please, concerning the Propositions to be sent to the King, for a safe and well-grounded Peace.

2. A Conference concerning some Commissioners to be sent into the West.

3. To desire Concurrence in these Particulars:

and with Ordinances, &c. for Concurrence.

1. For Five Pounds to be paid [ (fn. 2) to the] Messenger that brought the News of slighting Ashby de la Zouch. (Here enter it.)

Agreed to.

2. An Ordinance for Major General Langherne to be Commander in Chief of the Counties of Glamorgan, Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Pembrooke.

(Here enter it.)

Agreed to.

3. An Ordinance concerning the Excise.

4. An Ordinance, That it be left to the Committee of both Kingdoms, to accept of a Garrison tendered unto them, upon such Conditions as they shall think fit.

Agreed to.

5. The Ordinance concerning the Abuse of the Coats of Arms, formerly sent down to them; wherein they have made some Alterations, wherein Concurrence is desired.

The Answer returned was:

That this House will give them a Conference concerning the Commissioners to be sent into the West, and a Free Conference concerning the Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace, and both presently, in the Painted Chamber: To all the rest of the Particulars, this House will send them an Answer by Messengers of their own.

Ordinance concerning the Excise.

The Ordinance concerning the Excise was read, and committed to these Lords following:

Any Five, to meet on Thursday next, in the Prince's Lodgings, at Three of the Clock in the Afternoon; and when after they please.

Ordinance to prevent Abuses in Heraldry.

Next, the Ordinance concerning Abuses in Heraldry, was read.

Message from the H. C. with Letters from the West.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Sir Henry Mildemay Knight:

To communicate to this House Two Letters received, of the good Success which it hath pleased God to give our Forces in the West; which was read, as follow.

(Here enter them.)

Answer from thence.

Sir Edward Leech and Mr. Page return with this Answer to the Message:

That they will send an Answer by Messengers [ (fn. 3) of their own].

Committee of both Kingdoms may accept of a Garrison.

"It is this Day Ordered, by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, That it be left to the Committee of both Kingdoms, to accept of a Garrison tendered unto them, upon such Conditions as they shall think fit."

General Langherne to command in Glamorgan, &c.

"It is this Day Ordered, by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, That Major General Langherne shall be Commander in Chief of the County of Glamorgan; and that the Members of both Houses that are of the Committee of both Kingdoms do grant him a Commission to be Commander in Chief of the said County, and also of the Counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Pembrooke."

Letters from Mr. Rushworth, concerning a Treaty going forward between the King's Army and the Parliament's in Cornwall.

"SIR,

"In my last, (fn. 3) I acquainted you of the Defeat given to the Party of the Enemy's Horse, wherein Major General Pert and others were taken Prisoners, being on Saturday last; and also of an Inclination in the Lord Hopton to treat, yet withall endeavouring to get Time and a Cessation of Arms; both which were denied: Whereupon the Army advanced from their several Quarters on Monday, to Probus and Treg'ny within Four or Five Miles of Truro, the Head Quarter being at Treg'ny, where our Forlorn came near unto the Enemy. They stood in a peaceable Manner, not offering to give Resistance; saying, there was a Cessation agreed unto, and they hoped there would be a Peace. Our Officers had much ado to persuade them there was no Cessation; and therefore it did behove them not to stay any longer, but to retire to their Places of Advantage, or otherwise our Forces would (as they might at this present have done) taken Advantage upon them, by falling on them. They did very kindly thank our Officers and Soldiers for their Civility that they did forbear, there being no Cessation; and so retired back. It is conceived the Lord Hopton did bruit this abroad amongst his own Men as concluded by us, to the Intent that our Men might fall foul on them, and so to provoke them to some desperate Engagement. It had another Effect; for the Terror was such throughout their Army, upon the Advance of our whole Army in their Sight, that the Lord Hopton was enforced to send a Trumpet, at Twelve a Clock at Night, to desire a Parley, expressing his Willingness to lose no Time in making an End; and indeed, if that had not come to keep their Men together, they had been in great Disorder. The Offer was accepted; whereupon, about Three a Clock this Morning, the Trumpet was returned with our Commissioners Names, videlicet, Commissary General Ireton, Colonel Lambert, Commissary Stane, the Comptroller of the Ordnance, and Colonel St. Aubin. The Place agreed to treat at was Tresilian Bridge, near Truro; the Time, Nine a Clock this Morning; the Treaty to continue for Three Hours after: But the Lord Hopton failed to send his Commissioners Names till past Nine. Our Army, Horse and Foot, being at a Rendezvous by Six a Clock, were advanced from their several Quarters, between Nine and Ten, within Two Miles of Truro. The Trumpeter then coming with their Commissioners Names, who are these, Colonel Goring, Colonel Pont, Colonel Bovell, Colonel Trevor, and Sir Richard Prideaux the King's High Sheriff of this County, whom they nominated to balance the King's High Sheriff nominated by the Parliament, Colonel St. Aubin; they desired that Colonel Goteere, a Frenchman, might be added: Which was agreed unto, and Captain Herle added to our Commissioners. The safe Convoys from both Generals were sent this Day betwixt Ten and Eleven of the Clock; with a Letter further from the General to the Lord Hopton, letting of him know, that, his Army being upon a March, he intended to quarter at Truro this Night, which he thought good to give him Notice of, that his Forces may withdraw; and, if he pleased, in regard it might be late before the Treaty could be agreed to, the Bounds being set for each Army to quarter in, there might be a Cessation of Arms till To-morrow Morning at Six of the Clock, by which Time you need not doubt but all Things will be concluded on. The Sum of the whole will be, as I conceive, and as Instructions are given, that, according to the General's First Proposition, the Lord Hopton's Officers and Soldiers must all lay down their Arms; yet the Officers to march away with their Horses, and such Arms they had wont to wear in peaceable Times, and Passes to their several Homes, or beyond Seas if they desire it, engaging themselves never to bear Arms against the Parliament: The Common Soldiers to deliver up their Horses and Arms, and to have allowed them Twenty Shillings a Man to carry them Home; by that Article, I hope, there will be good Recruits, and Numbers of Horses sufficient got for the Army: For the Foreigners and Strangers to have Leave to depart the Kingdom; they likewise engaging themselves never to bear Arms more against the Parliament, and Officers to have their Horses with them. This indeed, we are informed, will suit well with the Strangers Desires, they being afraid Quarter would be denied them, as indeed most of them do deserve it; but it is in relation to the Point of Time that these Things are propounded and pursued, to the End that this Field Force might be totally scattered; that the Irish (which are every Day expected to land in these Parts) may not have such a Body of Horse to join with them. This is all the Account I can give of this Business; and I hope, when it is effected (of which you need not doubt), the Consequence will be greater than is at present expected. God hath struck our Enemies Hearts with a Fear; otherwise, having such a brave Body of Horse, they would not have been compelled to listen to, and seek for, a Treaty. Within few Hours, there will another Express be sent unto you, with the Particulars of what is concluded. I thought good to dispatch this Messenger away (though the journey be long), to prevent Misreports that might go upon this Business.

"Your humble Servant,

From the Rendezvous, within Two Miles of Truro, March 10, 1645, 12 at Noon.

"J. R.

"I thought fit to stay the sending of this Letter till next Day, and can give you this further Account: That the Army, according to former Purpose, marched into Truro, and possessed ourselves of the Town; and another Part of it to St. Alians, within less than Three Miles of the North Sea, which is their only Piece of Land the Enemy have left to break through, if they intended it; but our Guards are so strong, and our Quarters so disposed of, that there is not the least Fear of that: We have them now before us in a Pound. The Commissioners met Yesterday about Three of the Clock, continued Treating till almost Ten. Some Progress they have made; but there are so many Circumstances concerning the Articles, and the Manner of performing than, as, how those shall be transported and go beyond Seas, how those shall be convoyed that are to go to their several Homes, and other Things of that Nature, that it occasioned a Necessity last Night to agree that the Treaty might continue for this Day also; and their Commissioners to come this Forenoon to Truro, to finish the Treaty there. The Cessation being agreed to, their Soldiers come to our Quarters, and we go to theirs; and they are now so fully possessed of our fair Intending towards them, that it concerns the Lord Hopton to dispatch the Treaty, or else is like to have few to attend him. The Lord Hopton does really profess he was ignorant of the Prince's Going; that they are Traitors that had a Hand in it; and I believe it is a Thing that much works with him, that the Prince should be so carried away.

Truro, March 11, at Noon.

"J. R.

"For the Honourable William Lenthall Esquire, Speaker of the Honourable House of Commons. Haste. These."

"SIR,

"I wrote to you this Day, of the further Progress of the Treaty; it hold all this Day, and till Twelve at Night, and yet could not be finished, though all the material Parts were over; those which remain are only circumstantial, yet so necessary to be concluded, in order to perfecting of the Treaty, that more Time is granted for the Finishing thereof; so the Treaty and Cessation is to continue To-morrow also; and the Rendezvous of this Army, that should have been To-morrow, is put off to the next Day, at which Time the Enemy is likewise to draw out to a Rendezvous, and there, according to the Articles, or as shall be further agreed on, dismount their Common Troopers, and deliver up their Horses and Arms. The Enemy is so impatient till the Treaty be done, that this very Day there hath no less than between Thirty and Forty Lieutenant Colonels, Majors, and Captains, come away from the Enemy to us, besides others that came to visit our Quarters that did not return. This Evening likewise there came a Captain and Forty Gentlemen of Quality, with their Horses and Arms, who likewise by the Articles were to have the Benefit of their Horses; and likewise there came from Xuryn Ninety-six Common Soldiers with their Muskets and Matches lighted, and Twelve more since come, and Forty more gone another Way; which so much disheartened Colonel Trevanian the Governor of the Fort and Harbour at Penryn near Pendennis, that he sent unto the General late this Evening, to desire that he might be included within the Treaty with the Lord Hopton, and have the same Conditions that other Officers have; which are, Passes to go Home, and Protections to live quietly from the Violence of Soldiers (we conceive there will be); all Officers and others of Quality being allowed their Horses: According to the Articles, near Two Thousand Horse (fn. 4) will come to be delivered up to the General, for the Use of the State; and though they stand the State in Two Thousand Pounds Horses and Arms, yet they will be worth to the State Ten Thousand Pounds at the least: But that is the least Thing considerable in this great Business; the Dissolving of such a Strength, by which Means the West of England is cleared of a Field Enemy, and Foreign Adversaries deprived of that Assistance they did expect from this Force, whilst it was in so considerable a Body. We doubt not but Pendennis will, upon the Disbanding of these Forces, incline to moderate Terms; the Governor thereof is a Gentleman of good Fortune and Estate in the Country, and in all Likelihood will not be so mad to see all the whole Gentry at Liberty enjoying their own, and himself as it were in Prison enjoying nothing that is his own. I cannot express with what Joy most of the Officers receive those Conditions, and with they had sooner known our Intentions towards them. Those which are most discontented at this Business are the Troopers that were to be dismounted; but many of them do, during this Cessation, use Ways in an handsome Manner to recompense themselves and ours too, by exchanging good Horses for bad Horses, gaining Twenty Shillings or Thirty Shillings in Exchange from our Troopers; they reserving the bad Horses, to receive the Twenty Shillings upon the Delivery of them up unto us again; so we have many of the Horses already, though not in Manner according to the Treaty. I had Directions to prepare a Letter for the Committee of the Army, to make Stop of the providing of Horses for the Train, for that here will be Six Hundred to be spared for that Purpose; and the rest that are serviceable to be likewise disposed for Recruits in the Army. I am,

"Sir,

Truro, March 11th, 1645.

"Your most humble Servant,

"J. R.

"I stayed the Messenger till this Forenoon; but can add no more, but that the Commissioners are (fn. 5) at it, and, as some of them tell me, almost finished the Treaty. I shall (as soon as they are signed by both Sides) send an Express with the Contents. Though One Army visits another during this Cessation, yet we are more circumspect in keeping strong Guards than when the Enemy was most active against us. This Morning One Hundred Soldiers of Colonel Champernon's came in To-day, with Muskets, Swords, and Bandileers.

Truro, March 12th, 12 at Noon.

"For the Honourable William Lenthall Esquire, Speaker of the Honourable House of Commons."

Die Jovis, 26 Februarii, 1645.

"By the Committee of Lords and Commons for the Admiralty and Cinque Ports.

Paper from the Admiralty Committee, concerning regaining Guernsey.

"Whereas, upon a Reference made to this Committee from the House of Commons concerning Jersey, it was, on the 21th of November last past, conceived fit by this Committee, That a Regiment of Foot be sent to the said Island, for the reducing of it, the Charge of the complete Fitting thereof was then referred to be computed to a Sub-committee. Sir Phillip Stapleton, One of the said Sub-committee, made Report, That, upon Consideration of the Matter, it appeared necessary that the said Regiment consist of Twelve Hundred Foot and Officers, and Fifty Snaphances, to be raised in England.

"That Vessels be provided here for their Transportation, and Victuals to carry them thither, together with Pay to the Time of their Landing, and a Month after; that there be sent with them a Proportion of Ammunition and Ordinance, for the Taking-in of the Two Castles; that, for the Encouragement of this Service, there will be in all Likelihood about Five and Twenty Hundred of the Inhabitants ready to join with the Force at their First Landing, who, till a considerable Strength comes, dare not appear; and the Consequence thereof is further set forth by the Yearly Revenue that the Queen hath from thence, amounting to about Eighteen Thousand Pounds, and the great Inconvenience that would accrue to the Parliament if any Foreign Nation shall gain Possession thereof; that the Charge of their Victualling and Pay till they come into the Island, and a Month's Pay after, together with Ammunition necessary for the Train, is contained in the Schedule annexed; all which this Committee doth recommend to the Consideration of both Houses of Parliament, that a Course may be directed for the putting of the said Particulars in Execution, by appointing of Monies, and giving Order for the said Ammunition, Stores, and other Necessaries, if they in their Wisdoms shall think fit.

"W. Jessop, Secretary."

Estimate of Forces and Ammunition, &c. necessary for the Undertaking.

"A Regiment of Foot, consisting of Ten Companies and Twelve Hundred Soldiers.

"Besides their Pay to their Landing."

Bastwick's Petition, concerning the Sentence against him in the Star-chamber, High Commission Court, &c.

This Day was read in the House the Petition of John Bastwick, Doctor in Physic; complaining "against the Proceedings of the High Commission, Star-chamber, and Council-table, both in censuring, fining, pillorying, cutting off the Petitioner's Ears, close imprisoning, and sending him into Banishment, and desiring Reparations for his great Losses and Damages:" At which Time were read also the Names of the Commissioners of the said High Commission that voted against the Petitioner, the Names of those that voted in the Star-chamber against him, and the Names of such as were in the the Council-board at the making of the Order for his Exile.

Whereupon it is Ordered, by the Lords in Parliament assembled, That the Parties concerned are to be heard in this House between this and this Day Sevennight, being the Three and Twentieth of this Instant March, why the Petition should not be granted, if they shall desire it; and afterwards this House will give such further Directions as shall be meet.