House of Lords Journal Volume 8: 13 October 1646

DIE Martis, 13 die Octobris.

PRAYERS, by Mr. Sallawey.

Comes Manchester, Speaker.

Answers from the H. C.

Mr. Baron Atkins, &c. returns with this Answer from the House of Commons:

That they agree to the Ordinance for making Mr. Willis Vicar of Twickenham: Concerning the rest, they will send an Answer by Messengers of their own.

Doctor Aylett and Doctor Heath return with this Answer from the House of Commons:

That they agree to the Order concerning Captain Penn, and to the Order concerning the Commissioners to be sent into Ulster. (Here enter it.)

To the other Particulars, they will take them into Consideration, and send an Answer by Messengers of their own.

Pamphlet, called An Arrow against all Tyrants, &c. brought in.

This Day was presented to the House a scandalous Pamphlet, printed, intituled, "An Arrow against all Tyrants and Tyrany, &c. made by Richard Overton."

And it is Ordered, That the Consideration of this, and all other scandalous and base Books against the Parliament, shall be considered of To-morrow Morning, by a Committee of the whole House; and what Course is fit to be taken for the punishing of such Persons as shall make, print, and divulge them; and all Ordinances to be perused, made concerning Printing.

Letter from Ireland.

The Speaker acquainted this House, "That Sir Gerard Lowther and others, Commissioners from Ireland, delivered him a Letter;" which was read, as follows. (Here enter it.)

Committee of both Kingdoms to meet with the Commissioners from Ireland.

Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee of both Houses that are of the Committee of both Kingdoms, to hear what the Commissioners from Ireland have to deliver; and to consult and consider; and to meet this Afternoon, at Four of the Clock.

The Concurrence of the House of Commons to be desired herein.

The Commissioners were called in, and made acquainted with it.

Message from the H. C. with Ordinances.

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Solicitor General &c. who brought up divers Ordinances, wherein their Lordships Concurrence is (fn. 1) desired:

1. An Ordinance concerning the Peers of Parliament, and other Honours and Titles.

2. An Ordinance for justifying the Proceedings of Parliament.

3. An Ordinance concerning the Great Seal of England.

4. An Ordinance concerning the Cessation of Arms in Ireland, and Grants under the Great Seal of Ireland.

5. An Ordinance concerning the Great Places and Offices in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland.

Ordinance concerning Peers of Parliament.

The Ordinance concerning Peers of Parliament, &c. was read Twice, and Ordered to be taken into Consideration To-morrow Morning; and to be compared with the Propositions for Peace.

The Answer returned was:

Answer to the H. C.

That this House will take their Message into Consideration, and send an Answer by Messengers of their own.

Message from thence, with Ordinances;

A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Sir Rob't Pye Knight; who brought up divers Orders and Ordinances, wherein their Lordships Concurrence is desired.

and for a Conference about the Great Seal.

2. To desire a Conference concerning some Alterations in the Ordinance touching Commissioners of the Great Seal.

Ordinance to raise 200,000 l.

An Ordinance for speedy raising of Two Hundred Thousand Pounds, was read, and Agreed to; and Ordered to be printed. (Here enter it.)

Pierpoint's Order.

An Order for Mr. Pierrepont to have the Benefit of Executorship of his Father the Earl of Kingston, was read.

Sir J. Clotworthy's Order.

An Order was read, That Sir John Clattworthy shall be One of the Commissioners of the Parliament for the Province of Ulster, in the Kingdom of Ireland.

(Here enter it.)

Agreed to.

Committees not to dispose of Offices.

The Order was read, That no Committee shall dispose of any Office, and Agreed to. (Here enter it.)

The Answer returned was:

Answer to the H. C.

That this House agrees to the Order that no Committees shall dispose of any Office, and to the Order that Sir John Clattworthy shall be One of the Commissioners for the Province of Ulster, and to the Ordinance concerning the Two Hundred Thousand Pounds: To all the rest, they will send an Answer by Messengers of their own.

Message to them, about the Conference concerning the Great Seal;

A Message was sent to the House of Commons, by Sir Edward Leech and Mr. Page:

1. To let them knew, that this House appoints the Conference to be To-morrow Morning, at Ten of the Clock, in the Painted Chamber, concerning the Alteration in the Ordinance concerning the Commissioners of the Great Seal.

and for the Committee of both Kingdoms to meet with the Commissioners from Ulster.

2. To let them know, that the Lords this Morning received a Letter from the Council of Ireland, who have sent Commissioners to the Houses of Parliament; whereupon this House hath referred the Hearing of the said Commissioners to the Members of this House that are of the Committee of both Kingdoms; and to consider and consult thereof; and to meet this Afternoon, at Four of the Clock: And to desire the House of Commons, that they would give the like Power to the Members of their House that are of the Committee of both Kingdoms, and to meet accordingly.

Browne committed, for serving Writs on L. Pawlett.

This Day Nathaniell Browne was brought to this Bar, who confessed he delivered the Writs to the Lord Pawlett.

Whereupon the House Ordered, That the said Nath. Browne shall be committed to the Prison of The Fleete, during the Pleasure of this House, for serving an illegal Warrant upon John Lord Pawlett, a Peer of this Realm; and that the Sheriff's Clerk shall attend this House To-morrow Morning, to give an Account who gave Directions for the issuing out of the said Writs.

Letter of Credence from the E. of Ormond and Council of Ireland, for Sir Gerrard Lowther & al. as Commissioners to treat with the Houses about the Relief of Ireland;-and giving an Account of the Rise of the Troubles there.

"To the Right Honourable our very good Lord, the Lord Speaker of the most Honourable the Lords House of Parliament of the Kingdom of England.

Our very good Lord,

We who have the Honour to be intrusted by His Majesty with the Government of this His Kingdom of Ireland, and on whom the greater Obligation of Duty is laid, towards preserving this Kingdom for the Crown of England, by how much that great Trust is here deposited with us, do find clearly that the Dangers here are now grown to that Height, as either a speedy Course must be instantly taken towards overcoming those Dangers, or otherwise the Kingdom will be unavoidably torn from the Crown of England, the Protestant Religion here rooted out, and the Remnant of His Majesty's Protestant Subjects here utterly destroyed.

Hence therefore it is, that we are at this Time induced (all Difficulties set apart) to this most necessary and hasty Application by your Lordship to the most Honourable the Lords House of Parliament of that Kingdom of England.

We doubt not you have heard of the Articles of Peace lately concluded here by me the Lieutenant, whereunto I was necessitated for Preservation of this Kingdom for the Crown of England; but now we find, that many of this People, even divers of those who seemed desirous and willing to embrace Peace (whose Rottenness of Heart the publishing of that Peace hath now laid open), had in their secret Thoughts further and more destructive Aims and Purposes than they outwardly pretended, and that as in other Things so particularly in these Two; namely,

First, The overthrowing of all Plantations, which, by the Piety and Wisdom of His Majesty and His Royal Predecessors, for the better strengthening, civilizing, and enriching the Kingdom, and establishing it in due Obedience to the Crown of England, had been in several Ages settled and established here; upon which Plantations were settled, when this Rebellion began, many Thousands of Protestant Families Undertakers, and besides them many Servitors, as well Natives of this Kingdom, who are found Persons of eminent Merit and approved Fidelity to the Crown of England, as others; and many of them underwent vast Charge, in costly Buildings and chargeable Improvements, now for the most Part defaced by the Rage and Fury of the Rebels.

And Secondly, The setting-up of Popery in this Kingdom, in the Fulness of Papal Power, Jurisdiction, and Practice; and both those Aims laboured by the Popish pretended Prelacy and Clergy, and by most of the meer Irish, and others of desperate Fortunes, and others of English Extraction too easily carried away by the Seducements of their Prelacy and Clergy, and all industriously set on and fomented by Two Persons who came into this Kingdom, and have a long Time resided here, without Licence from His Majesty, and contrary to the Laws of the Land, and without any Licence from us His Majesty's Ministers, or any Application by them made unto us; namely, the King of Spaine's Agent, and the Pope's Nuncio.

When those that aimed at those pernicious Ends found that there was no Possibility to incline His Majesty to grant them those Desires, then the Trains and Mines which had been secretly laid between them and that Agent and Nuncio began to appear in Public Act; the Nuncio on one Side, and with him the Popish pretended Prelacy and Clergy, assembling in Public Convocations, as a National Congregation and Clergy, issued out publicly in Print Excommunications, Interdicts, Edicts, Sentences, Letters, Decrees, and other Fulminations, against all those that should embrace Peace, which were as diligently dispersed into all Mens Hands throughout the Kingdom, as they were maliciously contrived: And on the other Side, the Spanish Agent supplied the Nuncio with large Sums of Money, therewith to levy Men, assemble Forces, and make War here, under the Conduct of Owen Row O'Neale, who from his Youth was bred in the Condition of a Soldier in the Wars and Service of the King of Spaine, in Flaund'rs and elsewhere; which Monies the Nuncio so cunningly and liberally distributes amongst the Soldiery, with large Promises, as they are thereby for the most part seduced to his Party; and to such a Height is the Nuncio advanced, as by Directions from him Commissions in great Numbers are issued by the said Owen Row O'Neale, for raising Men, assembling Forces, forming Armies, levying War, seizing of Towns and Forts; and proceeds yet further, even to take upon him the judging and deciding Controversies in Matters meerly Temporal, and in fine openly usurps the Exercise of all Powers and Jurisdictions, in all Matters and Causes, as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal: And as well by Awe (fn. 2) the open and Public Ways and Means herein formerly mentioned, as by his and the said Agent and their Adherents Subtilty and underhand Intelligence and Working amongst the People, they have so far prevailed, as they have drawn to their Party exceeding great Multitudes of People, and all the Cities and Corporate Towns and Forts in the Irish Quarters, and some of the Forts in the English Quarters, and particularly that of Athlone, a Piece next this of Dublin of the greatest Importance of any which were in our Hands; in some of which Cities and Towns they have plentiful Magazines of Arms and Munition: And it is now come to pass, that not only all those who are professedly Enemies to the English Nation and to the English Government here, and to all Peace with England, but also many others, and some of them of those who formerly seemed willing to embrace Peace, are now openly declared against it, and for the Spanish Agent and Nuncio; and it now appears clearly that the joint Endeavours of that Agent and Nuncio and their Adherents are, utterly to shake off from the Subjects of this Kingdom the English Government, to root out the Brittish Nation and Protestant Religion, and finally to rend this Kingdom from the Crown of England, and to transfer it entirely to the King of Spaine or the Pope.

And albeit those traiterous Purposes have taken deep Rooting in the Minds of Multitudes of this People, and that perhaps by the just Judgement of God, so in due Time to bring deserved Vengeance on those Miscreants who have here glutted themselves in the bloody Massacres and horrid Spoils of His Majesty's Brittish and Protestant Subjects, and have made this Kingdom even an Heap of Desolation; yet certainly there are now amongst them a great Party, not only in Cities and Corporate Towns, now declared against us, but also in many other Parts of the Country, who are not so much Partakers of the Crimes of others, as hurried away violently and unwillingly in the general Tumults of other Mens Disorders; and however (as Things now stand) those Men cannot now shew themselves for us, yet we presume that they will join with us, and they will be of great Use and Advantage to us, as soon as we can appear in the Field with such a Force as may render Safety and Protection to them, and be enabled to put Arms in their Hands; the Arms and Munition whereof they should now make Use being for the most Part out of their Power, and under the Power of the opposite Party.

This then being the present State of this Kingdom, and the Kingdom thereby in Danger to be wrested from the Crown of England; we, towards preventing so great an Evil, have now employed to the Most Honourable the Lords House of Parliament there, these Persons; namely, Sir Gerrard Lowther Knight Lord Chief Justice of His Majesty's Court of Common Pleas, Sir Francis Willoughby Knight Serjeant Major General of His Majesty's Army (both Members of this Board), and Sir Paule Davis Knight Clerk of the Council, with whom we have sent Propositions to be humbly presented there; to which Persons we humbly desire Credence may be given in what they shall there move concerning the Public Service; and for us, who, as we first and principally above all Things desire the Preservation of this Kingdom for the Crown of England, so we choose to seek and desire to find our own particular Safeties in the common Good of the Crown and Kingdom of England, rather than in any other Means under Heaven.

We have so fully instructed those we now send thither, as we need not in these our Letters to enlarge ourselves upon this Subject, either for the Ways and Means of carrying on the War powerfully and vigorously against these persidious and bloody Rebels, or for that Supply which is in present of absolute Necessity to be sent us, to enable us to preserve some Footing in the Kingdom in the Interim while we expect those powerful Succours, which we hope, by the Care and Wisdom of that Most Honourable House, will be in due Time sent unto us: And therefore we conclude with this Assurance, That, as we have now, by this our Representation thither, discharged our Duty to God, to His Majesty, to that Kingdom, and to this, and indeed to all His Majesty's Kingdoms and Dominions, whose joint Happiness are very highly concerned therein; so that Most Honourable House, out of a just and honourable Sense of the State of this Kingdom, will be pleased speedily to enable us with Means to return due Vengeance to these Foreign Enemies and Domestic Rebels, which thus conspire against the Crown and Kingdom of England; and then we no Way doubt, by the Blessing of God upon our Councils and Actions, to give such an Account of ourselves and this Kingdom, as may terminate in the Glory of God, the Honour of His Majesty, the Happiness of all His Crowns and Kingdoms, the Preservation of the Protestant Religion in this Kingdom, the Safety of His Majesty's good Subjects therein, and the Satisfaction of the Parliament of England; and all to be done in such Manner as may abundantly recompence in mighty Advantage to the Kingdom of England, and in great Profit to all particular Adventurers, the Charge of this War; and withall recompence, in large Proportions of Lands, the Soldiery and others whose Merits here shall be found worthy of that Favour.

And so we remain, from His Majesty's Castle of Dublin, the 26 Day of September, 1646.

Your Lordship's Very assured loving Friends,

Ormonde.

Ri. Bolton, Canc. Roscomon.

Geo. Cloyne. Cha. Lambert.

Hen. Tichborne.

Robert Forte. Tho. Lucas. Arthur Chichester.

Ja. Ware."

Sir J. Clotworthy to be a Commissioner for Ulster.

"Ordered, by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, That Sir John Clotworthy shall be One of the Commissioners of the Parliament for the Province of Ulster, in the Kingdom of Ireland."

Committees not to grant Offices.

"Ordered, by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, That no Office shall from henceforth be granted by any Committee of Parliament."

Ordinance to raise 200,000 l. upon the Credit of Bishops Lands, &c.

The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, intending to raise the Sum of Two Hundred Thousand Pounds, for the present Service of the State; for the Encouragement of such as shall advance any Sum for and towards the same, and to the Intent they may have Notice thereof; do Declare, That every Person who hath advanced any Monies, Plate, or Horses, with their Furniture and Arms, upon the Public Faith, may, for every Sum of Money he shall further lend for the Advancement of the said Sum, be secured a like Sum more, out of the Receipt of the Grand Excise, in Course, and the Sale of the Bishops Lands (except Advowsons and Impropriations), which shall first happen, together with the Interest, after the Rate of Eight Pounds per Centum per Annum, to be paid every Six Months, out of the Receipts of the Excise, till Principal and Interest be fully discharged; as for Example, if there be owing to any Person One Hundred Pounds Principal, which, with Interest due thereupon for Three Years past, will make One Hundred Twenty-four Pounds, he, adventuring One Hundred Twenty-four Pounds more, may be secured for the whole Two Hundred Forty-eight Pounds as aforesaid, and so proportionably for a greater or lesser Sum, and according to the Interest due thereupon: And for the more speedy reimbursing of the said Money secured and lent for the Purpose aforesaid, That the said Lands of the Bishops (except before excepted) are estated and made over to such Feoffees, for the speedy Sale thereof, and such Treasurers for the Receipt of the Monies, as may give Satisfaction to the Lenders: And the said Lords and Commons do Declare, That it shall and may be lawful for any Person or Persons to assign his Right and Interest in any Sum or Sums of Money owing to him upon the Public Faith as aforesaid to any Person or Persons that will advance the like Sum in Manner as is before expressed."

Ordinance concerning the Commissioners to be sent into Ulster.

"Ordered, by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, That the Commissioners in Ulster be continued until the last of November next; and that they have Power to act alone according to the former Ordinance, in case, upon due Notice given to the Commissioners of Scotland, or any of them, of the Time and Place of Meeting, the Commissioners of Scotland shall not be present to join with them."