A just VINDICATION On the behalf of john Eliot Esq IN ANSWER TO PETITIONS Preferred against him to His Excellency And to Mr. Speaker Of the Honourable HOUSE of COMMONS, By some Officers under the Command of Major General LAUGHORNE.  
Imprinted in the Year, 1648.   

A just Vindication on the behalf of JOHN eliot Esq in answer to Petitions preferred against him to his Excellency and to Mr. Speaker of the honourable House of Commons, by some Officers under the command of Major General Laughorne.  
THere is nothing more saddens the hearts of honest men, then to be unworthily traduced with false suggestions presented with a colour of truth; and happy is he who notwithstanding such provocations, will entertain no persecuting thoughts to stick or lie down with him: And I am confident the Gentleman in whose vindication I writ, if he hath not attained to his full wishes therein, yet he doth endeavour to study Christian forbearence and passively look upon such malicious calumnies as Dav●d did on S●●●'s Cursing, rather than harbour implacability of revenge; but in his just vindication as a friend to truth and to undeceive such who have read a Petition against him, believing it being once printed it might be stuffed in other weekly Pamphlets and dispersed & the Reader prejudiced in opinion with the falsities thereof; I shall first therefore observe the heads of the said Petition suggested against Mr. Eliot the accused, as I found them in the end of a Trivial Pamphlet of Prince Griffies Histories, and then in order give you an answer to every particular.  
The Petition was directed to his Excellency, entitled, The b●●ble Petition of the Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels, Maj●●● Captains, and other Officers under the Command of Major General Laughorne.  

1. That their Major General's honour and his Forces are tainted by false asperstons, as if they would join with Poyer to maintain the Castle of Pembroke against the Parliament.  
2 That Mr. John Eliot is the professed Author of Accusation.  
3 That Mr. Eliot hath executed the Commission of Array in the County of Pembroke, and that he be enjoined to answer Articles of Delinquency against him.  
4 That he hath defrauded the Army of Provisions sent them by the Parliament.  
5 That he endeavours to defame all those that have faithfully served the Parliament.  
6 That Master Eliot may not dispose of your Petitioners Arms.  
7 That he may he made uncapable to proceed in his usurped Agency.   
These are in brief the particulars charged in the said Petition against Mr. Eliot, which in the frontice piece carries with it the countenance of Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels Majors, when it is well known there is but one Colonel, one Lieutenant Colonel, and one Major in the whole number; here is their first untruth; And I shall pass by their flourishes and their large demonstration of their merits and professions to his Excellency in the first par● of their Petition, and only add my wish they may as really perform as they have professed touching their disbanding, and so answer the rest.  
The first is most wrongfully alleged against Mr. Eliot, for what was printed was to this effect, That Col. Rice powel being desired by Letter from Col. Horton to assist the Gentlemen who had besieged Poyer in the Castle of Pembroke, with the Forces under his Command, did absolutely refuse it: This Mr. Eliot received from good hands out of the County of Pembroke; and this was afterward confirmed to Mr Eliot by a Gentleman of that County, who said he saw Col. powel's Letter to Col. Horton to the effect aforesaid; And on the second day of March the General received a Letter from Col. Fleming, and amongst other particulars he gave an account of to the General touching that Castle, he related these words, viz. I find that some of Major General Laughornes Forces are of Poyers' Council, and great hopes he hath of making his Party good against any Power. This alludes much to make good what was asserted by Mr. Eliot; and in the end of this sheet the Reader may peruse a Letter from the Commissioners to powel, wherein he may see how powel and the rest of the Petitioners have performed their professions to the General touching their disbanding.  
To the second, Mr. Eliot is not the professed accuser of any, but doth really wish the Petitioners were as free from malice and animossitie as himself; he will justify any particular he is Author of▪ And as for their Charge of Delinquency, which they threaten him withal, they cannot possibly do him a greater savour, for in his Answer he doubts not only to clear himself with good advantage, but shall therein make it advantageous to the State, by discovering the actions of the accusers so much accountable.  
There is nothing more false and scandalous than the third for no man living can prove that ever Master Eliot did execute the Commission of Array, and if such a thing had been, it must have been acted in public; But Mr. Eliot did never as much as see the Commission of Array, neither was it ever opened or executed in the County of Pembroke: But this Charge carries with it such a clouding full mouthed aspersion, that it's enough at first view to blast the strongest and clearest reputation, until the mist be dispeld, and their falsehood appear.  
To the fourth; It's well known Mr. Eliot never had the buying of any Provisions, though within this three years he hath sent down to the County of Pembroke according to several Ordinances of Parliament, in moneys, Arms, Ammunition, and Provisions, about the sum of 9000 l. Mr. Arthur Owen being always joined with Mr. Eliot in all Ordinances for sending Provisions unto the County of Pembroke, and both of them together have always received the Provisions ready packed up by the Merchant that bought them, and so conveyed them from Tower Wharff aboard the Ships, so that if Mr. Eliot had been deceitfully bend, he never had the opportunity; but for every penny they can prove that Mr. Eliot hath defrauded the State, he will be bound to give them 100 l. This aspersion being equally scandalous and false with all the rest.  
To the fifth, There is no man living can prove that ever Mr. Eliot spoke any words of derogation of any because they loved the Parliament, for he hath been always a lover of such; he hath two Sons that have been always in Arms for the Parliament under the command of Major General Laughorne since the beginning of the Wars there, that are known to have been in as much action and as faithful lovers of the Parliament as any in that Army; therefore any one may judge, he would be very cautious and chary of laying aspersions on that Army in general: This allegation being as false as all the rest.  
To the sixth, Mr. Eliot doth not desire to have the custody of their Arms, or to dispose of them, neither doth he know what ground they have to suggest to themselves such a thing, if they mean their Arms in the Country, Mr. Eliot is at a sufficient distance from them; and if they intent to disband, what need they be troubled who shall have their Arms  
To the seventh, concerning Mr. eliot's Agency, I shall desire leave of the Reader to digress a little, and give him the true ground of Mr. eliot's Agency, before I answer that point: Mr. Eliot being ever very active for the Parliament, was himself in person with two of his Sons and Servants, at the first taking in of Carmarthen to the Parliament in May, 1644. and several other Castles of that County, commanded there the Trained Band of the hundred he lived in; he garrisoned his house for the Parliament, and for want of timely relief from Major General Laughorne, who promised it, he and two of his Sons were then taken prisoners by Gerhands Forces; Mr. Eliot was afterward exchanged for Col. Pert, his Sons were prisoners in Carmarthen Castle about four months, and Mr. Eliot and his two Sons were indicted of high Treason at Carmarthen before David Jenkins, then Judge for bearing Arms against the King; and the said Mr. Jenkins gave sentence of death on Mr. eliot's eldest Son; and in August 1644 the said Forces burned Mr. eliot's said dwelling noose, and six of his houses in the Town of Narberth, and plundered him of all his personal Estate; and in the year following about April, 1645. at Gerhards' second coming down; his Forces plundered Mr. Eliot again of all the stock he had gotten in that interim, his wife and twelve children and grandchilds left without habitation or subsistence, and he totally ruined in his fortune. Now I come to answer his point of Agency; Mr. Eliot being one of the Committee of that association, and in this sad condition was voted Agent to negotiate the affairs of the distressed County of Pembroke with the Parliament by the Committee, not one voice contradicting; which trust Mr. Eliot undertook, and hath effectually performed it for these three years last passed, as aforesaid; And in that interim he was confirmed by two several Orders to continue in his Agency by the said Committee; and Mr. eliot's great toil, care and diligence, in the conveying down of moneys and provisions for Major General Laughornes Army, is well known to several Members of the Honourable House of Commons; And had not Mr. eliot's affection to the Parliament and his Country obliged him to it; the salary he received from the Committee was small encouragement to him, for he never received above 30 l. from the Committee during the three years aforesaid. Now let all men judge whether his Agency were usurped or not. Having answered the falsities of the said Petition, I will let the Reader see from whom the said Petition took its rise; Let him but inquire who was lately employed down to the County of Pembroke to disband the supernumeraries, and to raise the monthly Assessment; and if he doth but know that party, and the malice he bears Mr. Eliot, he must needs know the influence that party hath over the Petitioners, and then cannot but judge the Petition to be the consequence thereof; the said party and the Petitioners have obstructed the said Committee from sending Mr. Eliot his annual exhibition due for his Agency. The said party caused one John Poyer, who now is proclaimed Traitor by Ordinance of Parliament, for fortifying the Castle of Pembroke against the Parliament and General, to put in Articles against Mr. Eliot and other Gentlemen to the Committee of Gloucester about two years since. Secondly, he caused one John Young, who is likewise in Rebellion with the said Poyer in the said Castle, to exhibit Articles against the said Mr. Eliot and the said Gentlemen, at the Head Quarters at Pniney, being the same in substance as the said scandalous Petition; but as soon as Mr eliot's and the said gentlemen's Answers were read in both places they were dismissed, to their great advantage in their reputations, by the several Committees before whom the business was heard. And after the Ordinance passed for the established Forces of the Kingdom and for the disbanding of Supernumeraries and there being no appearance of the Enemy in the said Association, but all reduced into the obedience of the Parliament, and the Counties of Pembroke, Carmarthe●, and Cardigan, being extremely ruined in the late War, especially the County of Pembroke, whose sufferings and miseries are not to be paralleled by any County of: this Kingdom, fire and sword having its full rage, until it was even glutted in the bowels thereof Mr. Eliot hereupon endeavoured what in him lay to have the Petitioners and the said Forces disbanded that the poor Counties aforesaid might have some time to respi●e and breathe after their tedious, long, irksome burden of free Quarter; but Mr. Arthur Owen aforesaid, being the continued friend of the Petitioners, and first Cousin to the Commander in chief of those Forces, did always oppose Mr. Eliot therein, and to keep the said Forces undisbanded; herein Mr. Eliot acting contrary to the Petitioners interest in order to the public, drew their malice consequently on him. But truly I wonder how men so guilty as the Petitioners are, should be so maliciously bold to traduce Mr, Eliot with such falsities, being a man of approved and known integrity to the Parliament; for a clearer demonstration cannot be of his affection than his activeness and sufferings for them, which are sufficient testimonies in his behalf, besides his faithful solicitations here in the reducing South-Wales to the obedience of the Parliament. And as Mr. Eliot hath preferred always to be in love and charity with all men before malice and revengefulness; so he as little values the inveterate and irreconcilable spleen of his Enemies: And though he hath many vigilant and potent adversaries that drive at his ruin, yet the candidness of his actions, and the just grounds he proceeds on, hath so protected him under God hitherto, that they cannot much boast of their prevailences against him. Mr. Eliot hath no ambition or self seeking ends, only he trusts in the goodness of God and the Parliament, to enable him to be in the same condition he was in long before the late War, being then in Commission of the Peace in the County of Pembroke, and his family as ancient Gentry as any of that County; lived beloved in his County in a commendable and peaceable condition. To conclude, I wish the Petitioners would in imitation to Col- Lewis and his Regiment with Captain Lloyd, Capt. Jones, Capt. Vaughan and Capt Sli●wman, yield their obedience in disbanding according to the Ordinance of Parliament; but I doubt their own actions will daily witness to the contrary against them; for why hath some of the prime of the Petitioners drawn down their Foot, their Magazines and Guns from Carmarthin to Tenby, and fortify the said Town, since they refused to make their appearance before the Commissioners to be paid off according to the Ordinance? why do they mutter that they will declare for the King, and accordingly make preparation under hand? But I still wish their future obedience to the Ordinance of Parliament may expiate their former disobedience, and that they may leave their selfish destructive ends, and become lovers of their Country.  
SIR,  
WE received an Ordinance of Parliament, attended with several Instructions for the disbanding of Major General Laughornes Forces in the associated Counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan, and Pembroke, in pursuance of which Ordinance we the Commissioners appointed for that service did address to the most convenient place we could think upon for the ease of the Gentlemen of all Quarters to meet us, and to contribute their advice for the well settlement of the Country, and to answer the expectation of those that put us in trust; so we sitting at Carmarthen, where yourself was then present and did participate with what was then agreed upon; we in due obedience to the said Ordinance, and to accomplish the resolutions by us then resolved, appointed several Troops to be at Lambeder on wednesday the first of March, there to receive their now present pay allowed them by the Ordinance, and to be disbanded, Colonel Lewis, Captain Jones, Captain Lloyd, Captain Vaughan, Captain Read, Captain Sloeman; and several other Officers of Colonel Lewis Regiment, appeared that day with several Troops, whom we mustered and their number, and by us registered, of which we shall give an account to the honourable Houses and his Excellency; yet notwithstanding our trust so well performed, and as we thought our Country disburdened of Freequarter, or any other Impositions on the Inhabitants, by them we are given to understand that a party of Horse, namely Captain Addis and Captain Morgan, who refused their appearance before us, to be Mustered and Disbanded and Paid according to the Orders agreed by all the Commissioners at Carmarthen, have since made their Inroad into the County, and forced the people to a new obedience of Freequarter and Taxations settled and commanded by them, and what other may be within the command of a Soldier, without our privity or consent, being the appointed Commissioners for that employment. Sir, we desire to be rightly understood whether this intrusion be done by your Order, though we have better confidence of your fidelity & obedience to the Ordinance of both Houses; yet we shall desire you to express yourself, that we may be satisfied, and render a candid construction of your fidelity to those as we conceive under whom you have hitherto fought: To this end we desire you will give order for their speedy removal out of this country, otherwise we hope it will not be ill taken if the country join in a course to relieve themselves from a burden under which they have so long groaned. Your speedy answer is desired by your servants,  
James philip's. Thomas Lloyd, et al.  
EVen as I had concluded there appears more news in Letters to his Excellency, which adds much to Mr. eliot's Justication, and to the Petitioners accusation:  
That part of Major General Laughornes Forces seized upon those Pieces of Battery sent from Gloucester towards Colonel Fleming's and brought them to Pembroke Castle, that they have jointly with Poyer fallen upon Colonel Fleming's 100 foot there being then no more come to him, and on those of the Country that joined with him, and have either slain or taken prisoners Colonel Fleming, Roger Lort, Esquire, Captain Cuney, Master John Lort, and many others, and have hereby raised the Siege.  
FINIS.