general council of officers quaſhing all the projects of his party[footnote 1], he publiſhed, December 15th 1648,[sidenote 1] ſuch articles of an Agreement with the People as had then been propoſed (tho’ without effect), by them, and preſenting at the head of ſeveral of his friends, a complaint of the army, and a kind of proteſt againſt their proceedings, to Cromwell, on the 28th,[footnote 2] returned in a few days to Newcaſtle, where he continued attending the buſineſs of his reparations ’till the death of his Majeſty, ſoon after which he went back to London[footnote 3], where finding Duke Hamilton, Lord Capel, and ſome other royaliſts, latelybrought
Sidenotes
- ↑ (c c c) He prefixed an epiſtle to ⟨i⟩t of his penning, and printed the whole at his own expence.
Footnotes
- ↑ [S S] All theſe projects were quaſhed by the general council of officers.] After many fierce conteſts with Ireton only, ſometimes whole nights together, wherein the Commiſſary was often very angry and lordly. The chief points of difference being about Liberty of Conſcience, and the Parliament’s puniſhing where no law provides. An expedient in the firſt point was ſettled; and whereupon, the major part of the ſixteen commiſſioners came to an abſolute and final concluſion, ſuppoſing then all further debates were at an end, and that the agreement ſhould, without any more ado, be promoted for ſubſcriptions, firſt in the council of war, and next in the regiments, and laſtly all over the nation. ‘But alas! poor fools, continues our author, we were merely cheated and cozened. It being the principal unhappineſs of ſome of us (as to the fleſh[citation 3]), to have our eyes wide open, to ſee things long before moſt honeſt men come to have their eyes open; and this is that which turns to our ſmart and reproach, and that which we commiſſioners feared at the firſt, viz. that no tyes, promiſes, nor engagements, were ſtrong enough to the grand jugglers and leaders of the army, was now made clearly manifeſt; for, when it came to the Council, there came the General, Cromwell, and the whole gang of creatures, colonels and other officers, and ſpent many days in taking it all in pieces; and there Ireton ſhewed himſelf an abſolute King, if not an Emperor, againſt whoſe will no man muſt diſpute; and then Shittlecock Roe, their ſcout Okey, and Major Barton, where Sir Hardreſſe Waller ſat Preſident, begun to quarrel, and call ſome of us baſe and unworthy names, which procured them from me a ſharp retortment, and a challenge of Sir Hardreſſe into the field. And ſo I took my leave of them, for a pack of diſſembling juggling knaves, and returning to thoſe who truſted me, and, giving them an account of all theſe proceedings at a publick meeting appointed for the purpoſe, I diſcharged myſelf abſolutely for meddling or making any more with ſo perfidious a generation of men, as the great ones of the army were, but eſpecially the cunningeſt of Machiavilians, Commiſſary Henry Ireton[citation 4].⟨’⟩
- ↑ [T T] He printed an agreement of the people, and preſented it to Cromwell.] The paper now mentioned was no more than a bare ſketch of that compleat agreement drawn up by our author and his two aſſociates in the Tower next year; and the reaſon of printing and publiſhing this, was chiefly to be beforehand with the army, where they knew[citation 5] an inſtrument of the like ſort, but more conſonant to the views of the leading men therein, was preparing in the Council of Officers. Accordingly ſuch a thing, intitled alſo An Agreement, was preſented by the General and Council to the Houſe of Commons on the 20th of January following[citation 6].
- ↑ [U U] He returned to London after the King’s death.] In the road, he was told by the Poſtmaſter of Borough-brigg and others in Yorkſhire, that the Cavaliers in thoſe parts were moſt deſperate mad at him in particular, about the beheading of the late King, although he was as far as Newcaſtle when it was done, and had alſo refuſed to give his conſent to be one of the King’s Judges, being ſollicited thereto before he left London. Nay more, he had accordingly declared himſelf at Windſor (in the debates mentioned in remark [S S) againſt the manner and time of the army’s intended dealings with his Majeſty; arguing there very ſtiffly, that, upon their own principles, which led them to look upon all legal authority in England as now broken, they could be no better than murderers, in taking away the King’s life, though he were never ſo guilty of the crimes they charged upon him: for, as juſtice ought to be done, eſpecially for blood, which they then principally charged upon him: ſo ſaid I, continues he, and ſtill ſay, it ought to be done juſtly; for, in caſe another man murder me, and a day, a week, or a year after, my brother or friend, that is no legal magiſtrate, executes him therefore, yet this is murder in the eye of the Law, becauſe it was done by a hand which had no authority to do it; and therefore I preſs’d again and again, ſeeing themſelves acknowledged all legal authority in England was broke, that they would ſtay his trial, ’till a new and equal free repreſentative, upon the agreement of the well-affected people, that had not fought againſt their liberties, rights, and freedoms, ſhould be choſen and ſit; and then either try him thereby, or elſe by their Judges, ſitting in the court called King’s-Bench. When they aſked him, How by Law he could have him tried? he told them, that the Law of England expreſsly ſays, Whoſoever murders or kills another ſhall die; it doth not ſay, excepting the King, Queen, or Prince, &c⟨.⟩ but indefinitely, whoſoever murders ſhall die; and therefore, where none is excepted, there all men are included in Law: but the King is a man: Ergo, he is included as well as I. To this they objected, that it could hardly be proved, that the King with his own hands killed a man. In anſwer to which he obſerved, that, by the Law of England, he that counſels or commiſſions another to kill a man, is as guilty of the fact as he that does it. And beſides the advantage was conſiderable, of trying the King by the rules of the Law, as it would be ſufficient to declare, that no man is born, or juſtly can be made, lawleſs; but that even magiſtrates, as well as people, are ſubject to the penal as well as the directive part. On the other hand, to try him in an extraordinary way, that has no real footſteps nor paths in our law, would be a thing of extraordinary ill precedent; for why not twenty, upon pretended extraordinary caſes, as well as one? and why not a thouſand as well as twenty? and extraordinary caſes are eaſily made and pretended by thoſe that are uppermoſt, though never ſo unjuſt in themſelves. Add to which, That to try him in an extraordinary way, when the Law hath provided all the eſſentials of juſtice in an ordinary way, and merely wants nothing (if it do want[citation 7] that) but twelve Kings as his peers or equals, will nouriſh and increaſe in men that erroneous conceit, that magiſtrates, by the law of God, Nature, and Reaſon, are not, nor ought to be, ſubject to the penal part of the law of men, as well as the directive part of it, which is the bane, ruin, and deſtruction of all the commonwealths in the world[citation 8].
ſent to the head-quarters at St Albans. But the Army’s declaration againſt the King coming out ſoon after, created ſo much uneaſineſs, and jealouſy of their deſigns againſt the Levellers, that theſe preſently repaired to Windſor to talk with Ireton about it; where, being accompanied with ſome of the Independents, they met him and a whole train of officers at the Garter inn, and, after ſeveral ſharp diſputes, they parted without coming to any agreement. However, propoſing to Colonel Harriſon ſoon after, that the army, and thoſe whom they called their honeſt friends in the Parliament, as alſo the Independents and the Levellers, ſhould chuſe each of them four perſons to draw up a final agreementl the Colonel was ſatisfied therewith, and engaged alſo for the other officers; and having actually procured Ireton’s conſent, the following ſixteen perſons were choſen for the purpoſe. For the Independents, Colonel Tichburn, Colonel John White, Mr Daniel Taylor, and Mr Price a Scrivener. For the Levellers, Meſſ. Walwyn, Maximilian Petty, Wildman, and Lilburne. For the honeſt men in the Parliament, Colonel Henry Martin, Colonel Alexander Rigby, Mr Thomas Challoner, and Mr Scott. And for the Army, Commiſſary-General Ireton, Sir William Conſtable, Colonel Tomlinſon, and Colonel Baxter. Theſe commiſſioners, after the army came to town [December 2[citation 1]], conſtantly met at Whitehall, except that the Parliament-men failed, only Mr Martin was commonly there[citation 2].
Citations
- ↑ (111) Salmon, ubi ſupra.
- ↑ (112) Legal and Fundamental Liberties, p. 29 to 34.
- ↑ * As to the fleſh, he ſays emphatically; for as to things of the ſpirit, theſe conceited minions of Heaven were ⟨f⟩avoured with this ſuper-eminent degree of foreſight aſſuredly, and, as they perſwaded themſelves, beyond the poſſibility of all contravention.
- ↑ (113) Ibid. p. ⟨3⟩5.
- ↑ (114) ’Tis upon this knowledge, that our author aſſerts, he printed their agreement before that preſented by the army was half perfected. Ibid. p. 38.
- ↑ (115) Ibid. p. 36.
- ↑ (116) Lilburne plainly ſuggeſts here with regard to the army, what Milton did ſoon after of the Preſbyterians, that, by ſtripping his Majeſty of the kingly office and dignity, as they had long ago done, he was reduced to the ſtate and rank of a private man. See Milton’s tenure of Kings, &c. throughout, in his Works, by Birch, Vol. I. tract 13. begun at p. 354. edit. 2, 1753, 2 vols, 4to.
- ↑ (117) Legal and Fundamental Liberties aſſerted, p. 42, 43.
[W W] He
