A PLEA for THE KING, AND KINGDOM;  
By way of Answer to the late Remonstrance of the Army, Presented to the House of Commons on Monday Novemb. 20.  
Proving, that it tends to subvert the Laws, and fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom, and demolish the very Foundations of Government in general.  Seneca. 
Prosperum ac faelix Scelus, virtus vocatur.  
Ius est in Armis.—  Merc. Prag. 
Now prosperous mischief makes it good,  
Against both LAW and REASON,  
Not to spill ROYALL-LOYALL Blood,  
But to be Conquer'd's TREASON.  
Printed in the Year 1648.   

To the Commons assembled in Parliament.  
Gentlemen,  
SInce the Abettors of this Remonstrance have had the confidence to address themselves, and prescribe Rules to you in such peremptory language, give me leave (under your favour and connivance) to publish an Answer thereunto by Pen, since (for aught I see) you dare not give it yourselves by word of mouth; because if you should declare a sense contrary to theirs (as in honour and conscience you must) they have as good as told you in plain terms, that they will make your House too hot to hold you.  
I observe, their Remonstrance is founded upon these principles: that their own Faction (whom alone they call the well-affected, and the honest men, excluding all others) are the People. Secondly, that their Interest is the only Interest of the People. Thirdly, that the Safety of the People is to be respected before any Kings, or Governors, or Governments whatsoever. Lastly, that themselves are the only competent Judges of the People's Safety, and so by consequence may drive on their Design against all Powers, and Forms of Government, and Law whatsoever, upon pretence of that old Aphorism, Salus Populi suprema Lex, the safety of the People is the sovereign Law, which hath been the fruitful mother of Rebellions in all ages, to serve the corrupt ends of ambitious persons; who usually fished in troubled waters to attain those ends, which they could not hope for in a settled State of Commonweals and Kingdoms. And such (now it is apparent to all the world) were some of you in the beginning of this Parliament; from whose plea and practices, this upstart Faction have learned to rebel against yourselves, upon the very same principles and pretences that you first bandied against his Majesty.  
I need not repeat here, how they have terrified and quelled you from time to time, as often as you durst but offer to speak your consciences in the behalf of the Public, against their corrupt and private Interest. But all that is passed is nothing to what they have presented to you now, & wherewith they have affronted you to your very faces, in this Remonstrance. Do they not challenge you, as inconstant to your own Votes and Resolutions, perfidious to that trust reposed in you, and such as will not, or know not which way to settle the just Rights and Liberties of the People? And therefore they undertake to new-mold the fundamental Constitutions of the Kingdom, and conjure you to comply with them, and renounce your King, or any Agreement with him, and settlement by him; or otherwise they say, they shall be constrained to set a period to your Authority, and provide themselves of another Parliament, which shall be elected of persons of their humour, and so establish themselves in a kind of legal Tyranny, by the Law of their own wills, and the Sword.  
It is high time (Sirs) then to look about you, and vindicate the Laws of the Land, the Privileges and Freedom of Parliament, and the just Rights of the People, thus impiously invaded. Acquit yourselves like men, and if you must perish it will be your glory and Crown in the midst of calamity, that you suffer in defence of the Liberties of your Country. Proceed to an happy Accommodation with his Majesty: He hath granted more than ever the world supposed you would have demanded, then let not those Differences which he by his Concessions hath brought into so narrow a Compass, hinder a Peace any longer, but meet him now at length with an honourable Compliance, and leave the success to God, who will scatter those that delight in War; and to this end (how small soever the means be at present, yet ere long) you shall have the hearts, hands, and Purses of Thousands to assist you. I am not ignorant, that your Debates and Resolutions are extremely staggered by a pack of Sectaries, which have crept into the House to that purpose by undue elections; and that you fear, if you should declare against the design of this Remonstrance, they should take this occasion to purge you out of the House, and make use of the same way of unjust elections, to put others in your Places: But howsoever, put it to the venture, and do your duty. As for me, I should reckon it the greatest glory I could be born unto, to be accounted worthy to suffer in so noble a Cause; and since they are arrived to this height of Impiety, to tread all Authority under foot (as well yours as the King▪ s) do you but agree with his Majesty, upon just and equal Terms, than (whatever I have been heretofore) I shall list myself henceforth For King and Parliament.  
Mercurius Pragmaticus. Novem. 27. 1648.   

A Plea for the King and Kingdom, by way of Answer to the late Remonstrance of the Army.  
THe Contexture of this tedious Remonstrance is much like that of the new Government which they aim at, having neither form nor fashion in it, and is so replenished with confused Repetitions, that it brings more trouble to recollect the scattered Fancies into some orderly Frame, than to blast them with a Confutation. No less than 60. Pages are spent in a Preamble, before they come to the things intended; and all to win the world (quorum magn apars capitur Ambagibus) with a world of smooth Pretences; the vanity whereof I shall endeavour to demonstrate in a few sheets, which they have wrapped up in so many, that when the Monster appears without disguise, it may become abominable in the eyes of all good men.  
In the first place they insinuate their tender Regard to the Privileges and freedom of Parliament, in not interposing in their Counsels and determinations, etc. For the falsehood of this, I shall give you two Instances of famous (or rather in famous) memory. The first is taken out of their Remonstrance, dated June 23. 1647. at S. Alban, wherein they threatened to march up against the Parliament, in case the 11. Members were not suspended the House by a short certain day, and their desires not granted.  
The second may be collected out of the prodigious carriage of the Army and their Creatures in the Houses, when the Ordinance was debated for nulling and making void all things whatsoever done in the absence of the two Renegado Speakers, when they ran to the Army. This Ordinance was set forward by the Army-party, and had been debated five, or six several times, and still rejected in the Negative; yet they brought it in play again still, and not being able to prevail by reason they had recourse to Menaces and Threats. Solicitor S. john's threatened that they must have recourse to the power of the Sword; the longest sword take all, since they were engaged to live and die with the Army. Sir Arthur Haslerige said then, some heads must fly off, and he feared the Parliament of England would not save the Kingdom of England, so that they must look another way for safety. They could not satisfy the Army, but by declaring all void ab Initio; and the Lords were so far engaged, that no middle way would serve. And when it was answered, that this was an Appeal from the Parliament to the Army, than the Threats were re-doubled by Sir John Evelyn Junior, Sir Harry Vane Junior, Prideaux, Gourdon, Sir Harry Mildmay, Scot, Holland, and divers others. When nothing would do, at length the Speaker pulled a Letter out of his pocket, together with the Remonstrance from the Army, full of villainous Language and Threats against those Members that sat while the two Speakers were in the Army; calling them pretended Members, charging them (in general) with Treason, Treachery, and Breach of Trust; And protested, that if they should presume to sit before they had cleared themselves, that they did not give their Assents to such and such Votes, they should sit at their peril, and be taken prisoners of War, and tried at a Council of Warr. Certainly, never any King of England ever offered so great a violence to the fundamental privileges of Parliament, as to deny them the liberty of voting yea, and not freely: And yet this very same Army hath the confidence to allege their tender regard of the Privileges and Freedom of Parliament.  
And that the world may take notice, how they intent to behave themselves toward the Houses in time to come, in the very next Paragraph you may read a strange kind of construction of that old abused Maxim, Salus populi suprema Lex, which they say many have made use of in these times, but none with so much justice as themselves; and of this they make their success the only Argument, in justification of their Rebellion against both King and Parliament, as if happy events were the only Touchstones of lawful erterprises; and that by these God had given the verdict on their side.  
(Careat successibus opto,  
Quisquis ab eventu Facta not and a putat.)  
And therefore they proceed to pronounce themselves magisterially to be the only competent Judges of the safety of the People, which to be, is the inseparable Prerogative of the supreme Magistrate (or Magistrates) only, in all Governments whatsoever; And in prosecution of their humour, they do as good as tell the House, in case those pretences of danger be not remedied and those remedies which they remonstrate not followed, they shall not fear to make such Appeals to God (that is, their sword) as formerly they have done. From whence we may collect these following tenets destructive to all Government.  
First, That the People (or as the case now stands, that part of the People which are prevalent in Arms) are the true and sole Judges of their own safety.  
Secondly, That they may appeal to the Sword against the Authority of their Governors, in order, as they conceive, to the public safety, which two Conclusions, if admitted, must needs open a Gap to perpetual Faction and Rebellion; forasmuch as the People, who are ever floating, and apt to find Fault, will upon such a liberty, never be content and satisfied with their Governors.  
Nevertheless upon these anarchical Grounds, they proceed in the next place to tax the House for quitting their Votes of non-Addresse unto his Majesty, and admitting of a personal Treaty; and hereunto they subjoin no less than three notorious Fictions to strengthen the Votes of Non-Addresse, and gain them a new Reputation to the prejudice of the Treaty, First, they steel their Foreheads with this bold Assertion; that the House was in a condition of Freedom, and not Acted beyond their own Judgements, nor by any Impulsion from the Army, when they passed those Votes. Secondly, that before the passing of those Votes, the People and Soldiery were full of discontents and distempers throughout the Kingdom; but that after the passing of them they were resettled in good Order and discipline, and the whole Affairs of the Kingdom in an hopeful posture for a Settlement. Thirdly, That when the Houses recalled those Votes and took Resolutions for a Treaty, their Judgement was not with due, and former Freedom, etc. To the first I answer, and shall make it evident, that the Parliament was acted beyond their free Judgements, and by Impulsion from the Army, when the 4. Votes of Non-Addresse were passed in either House: For, the design of these Votes was driven on first in the Army, Sir Harry Vane Junior, Sir John Evelyn of Wilts, Nath. Eines, and Soll. S. John's having been employed by the Independent Grandees, to join with a select Committee of the Army, to debate the means of procuring the passage of those 4. Votes in the House; which when they had contrived, they hastened to put in execution at Westminster, having a pat occasion offered them on Monday January 3. when the King's Answer of denial to the four Bills presented to him in the Isle of Wight, came to be debated in the House of Commons: At which time Commissary Ireton, the wise penman of this Remonstrance, made bold to speak the sense of the Army, under the notion of many thousand godly men, who had ventured their lives to subdue their Enemies, and said, The King had denied safety unto his people by denying the four Bills: That subjection to him was but in lieu of his protection to his People; which being denied, they might well deny any more Subjection to him, and settle the Kingdom without him: That it was now expected after so long patience they should show their Resolution; and not desert those valiant men, who had engaged for them beyond all possibility of Retreat, and would never forsake the Parliament, unless the Parliament forsook them first. And what was the intent of this I pray you, but to deliver the sense of the Army against the King? and to insianute a cunning close Threat, that if they did not join Issue with them, they should be looked upon as Enemies?  
But when divers exceptions were taken at this Speech of Ireton's, and the Debate drawing to an upshot, his Father-in-law Cromwell be aught up the Rear in very furious Language; and to signify, that the Gainsayers must expect more than words, he laid his hand upon his sword, and stood in a threatening posture, saying, It was now expected the Parliament should defend and govern the Kingdom by their own power and resolutions, and not teach the people any longer to expect safety and government from an obstinate man, whose heart God had hardened: That those men who had defended the Parliament from so many dangers with expense of their Blood, would defend them herein with fidelity and courage, against all opposition. Teach them not by neglecting your own and the Kingdom's safety (in which their own is involved) to think themselves betrayed, and left hereafter to the rage and malice of an irreconcilable Enemy, whom they have subdued for your sake; and therefore are likely to find his future government of them insupportable, and fuller of revenge than Justice, lest despair teach them to seek their safety by some other means than by adhering to you, who will not stick to yourselves. And how destructive such a Resolution in them will be to you all, I tremble to think, and leave you to judge. Upon the concluding of Oliver, the Question was immediately put, and not a man daring to mutter, it was concluded, that no further Applications should be made unto the King. The other 3. Votes followed of course, as depending thereupon.  
Now the grand difficulty was to make them pass with the Lords, they having very hotly debated against them, insomuch that there were ten Lords to ten: But to turn the Scales, at the very instant, a Regiment of Foot and another of Horse, came to garrison White-Hall and the News, which frighted their Lordships to a quick condescension: So that now I leave the world to judge the falsehood of the Remonstrance in this particular, it being clear, that that the Houses were acted beyond their free Judgement, and by Impulsion from the Army, in passing the Votes of Non-Addresse unto his Majesty: And the truth is, they have acknowledged among themselves; That they rule by Power only, and that the House is no longer theirs than they over-awe them; which is the very reason, why they appear now upon the very Close of the Treaty with this high-flowne Remonstrance.  
To the second, whereas the Remonstrance says, that before the passing those 4. Votes, the people were full of discontents and distempers, but after they were passed, the Kingdom was in a hopeful posture of settlement, I answer; That though the people generally distasted the Proceed of the Grandees, upon the Imprisonment of their King; yet they were not so enraged, as to rush into Arms, till the passing these 4. Votes; which were so far from promoting a settlement, that they inflamed the minds of the whole Commonalty with Revenge, and suspicion what Form of Government the Grandees intended to erect, now they had laid by the King; and every man's mind presaged a new War, which indeed the Independent Grandees were willing to have, to colour their keeping up this Army, and raising money to maintain them. It is moreover, That the whole Kingdom was so far out of charity with the Grandees for those four Votes, that every man, even among the moderate well-affected (as they call them) did detest the proceed; insomuch, that none would second them by Petition, or otherwise, though they proceeded almost so far as to compel them: Witness the Design of Prideaux to engage the whole County of Somerset, but could prevail no further then with a few Sectaries of the Town of Taunton, to thank the House for those Votes by a Petition, which was seconded through the inoustry of Sergeant wild, as he road the Circuit, by the subscription of a packed grand Jury for the County. Colonel Puresoy was at the same work in Warwickshire, and Sir Arthur Haslerig about Newcastle; but all with as small success, as Sir Harry Mildmay had in the County of Essex: For, the people instead of countenancing the four Votes, began every where, openly to protest against them, and to turn their Petitions into a contrary strain, for recalling the Votes, and appointing a Personal Treaty with His Majesty; the rejecting of which Petitions, murdering some of the Petitioners (as the Surrey men) and discountenancing the rest, was the true cause of all the late Insurrections: So that it appears evident (against the sense of the Remonstrance,) That the four Votes rather unsettled the Kingdom, than brought it into a hopeful posture of settlement.  
To the third Falsehood of the Romonstrance; That when the Houses recalled the four Votes, their judgement was not with due Freedom. I answer, That when the face of affairs changed, so that the Army could no longer over-aw the House, then having liberty to Vote with Freedom, and according to their Consciences, they immediately recalled the Votes of Non-Address, upon the Petitions of the City of London, and other Counties about; which were debated in the Houses freely, being then released from that terror wherein they were held formerly by the Army; as appears when they were first passed by the Lords, and communicated by them unto the Commons on Wednesday the 16 of August, where they received a full and free Concurrence, with very little contradiction. Thus the falsehood of these three Particulars being cleared, all the superstructures of Discourse upon them in this fi●st part of the Remonstrance must fall to nothing.  
Having caluminated the just and honourable proceed of the Houses, in recalling the Votes of Non-Addresse, and yielding to a Personal Treaty with His Majesty: in the next place they insinuate the great evil or danger of seeking to the King by Treaty, and of an Agreement or Accommodation with him, including his impunity, and restitution to his Freedom, Revenue, and Dignity; and all under pretence, that sufficient provision is not made thereby for the public Interest. Herein they tacitly condemn the Propositions of both Houses, as if in them they had not been careful of the good and welfare of the People, and propound another way of their own, as the only means to preserve the public Interest of the Nation, which they say consists in these Principal Heads,  
1. That for all matters of supreme Trust, or concernment to the Safety of the whole, there be a supreme Council, or Parliament.  
2. That the power of making and repealing Laws, and the final power of Judgement in all things, without further Appeal, many rest in that Council, or Representative Body of the People, and that it may not be in the will of the King, or any other particular Persons, to oppose, or make void their determinations.  
These things they set down as the Epitome of the public Interest, and the true Subject of the Contest betwixt the King and Parliament. But that a Supreme Council so qualified, is no part of the public Interest in this Kingdom, I shall make clear, when I come to handle those particulars which they propound in the winding up of the Remonstrance: Nor hath it been the Subject of the Contest betwixt King and Parliament; and therefore they cannot ground any just accusation or charge upon them against the King, as they endeavour here to do: For, the first Contest betwixt the King and Parliament was about the possession of the Militia, which they claimed to have in their hands for a time, under pretence of danger, etc. Yet never proceeded so far as to question the King's negative voice in Parliament, but acknowledged in several Declarations; that their Ordinances are not binding without the Royal Assent, However afterwards they fell to practise the contrary, as the Breach grew wider betwixt them and His Majesty. It being false then which they here suppose, viz. That the Kings negative voice hath been the Ground of the Contest in the late Wars; (for, the Houses never so declared) all their Arguments following against the King, being founded upon a false Supposition, are utterly inconclusive, though if their Supposition were true. I could not allow them as justifiable. But I shall not stand to prove that now, only I shall trace them in their own way: For, they charge the King to have stretched his negative voice so far, as to advance his own will and Interest only in an unlimited power over the lives, liberties, and goods of the People. For this they urge the frequent dissolving Parliaments; but if it were true, that the frequent dissolution were acted on purpose to invade the Liberty of the Subject (as all the World knows it was not, but was occasioned by the petulancy of divers Subjects, who under the shelter of Parliamentary privilege, endeavoured to establish a Faction contrary to the received customs and policy, both of Church and State, as the event hath manifested;) yet what Inconvencie was crept into the Kingdom, through the discontinuing of Parliaments, for which His Majesty did not graat a Remedy in the beginning of this Parliament? And did He not likewise to remove all occasion of Jealousy concerning the like pressures in time to come, give His full and free Consent, for the calling of Parliaments hereafter every three years, whereby all grievances might have a certain Remedy? Nay. He proceeded so for, that to give Satisfaction, He granted that fatal Act of eternity to this Parliament, that there might not remain the least shadow of Arbitrary power to Himself; and therefore it is apparent, that the Ground of the Contest betwixt Him and the Houses, could not be occasioned by any design (on His part) for the advancing of an unlimited and unlawful Prerogative, by making use of His negative voice, either to the dissolution of this Parliament, or denying remedy to their Grievances: But rather, that it was occasioned through a design (on their part) after His Majesty had granted so much, still to invade more of His just Royal Rights and Prerogatives, (as the power of the Militia, without which He could not be a King, etc.) whereby He was given clearly to understand, that they intended to leave Him nothing at all, before they would be satisfied.  
Thus having cleared His Majesty from occasioning the former War, I shall examine their Charge against Him concerning the later; Which (say they) was raised by Commissions from Himself and the Prince, to force the Parliament, in a personal Treaty, to seek Peace at his will, and that to this end the Scots last coming in was procured. The malicious vanity of this is very evident, seeing He had neither Scale, nor opportunity to grant Commissions, all men being barred of access to His Majesty, and he utterly ignorant of Affairs, and so kept at that time, when the Scotish Engagement was first set on foot, and the general discontents of the Kingdom had made them break forth into Insurrections. And for what was done by the Prince, that cannot be charged upon His Majesty, his Highness having acted therein for his own Interest, as Heir apparent of the Crown, which was invaded and rifled by sacrilegious hands; and as a dutiful Son, for the restitution of his Royal Father from a barbarous Imprisonment: By which it is manifest, that His Majesty was wholly passive, and not at all active, in relation to the last War, and so this Charge is fully refuted.  
After this, they charge His Majesty with refusing the four Bills presented to Him at Carisbrooke Castle, upon no other consideration, but mere Interest of will and power alone without a Parliament. To refute this, I shall prove, that the Bills were rejected merely to preserve the Interest of both King, Parliament, and People, according to the Law. For, as being destructive to the Legal Interest of the King, They were called the four dethroning Bills: This will appear by that Bill for the power of the Militia to be in their hands for 20. years, and after the said term of 20. years, it prohibited the King, or His Heirs, to exercise the Militia, without the consent of the Lords and Commons; but they only to Act, and all Bills drawn up by them for levying and raising of Forces, to have the Force of Acts of Parliament, without the Royal Assent: Which Bill (if it had been granted) as it would have taken away the Kings negative voice (invested in Him by Law) and made an Ordinance equal to an Act of Parliament; so it would have settled an Arbitrary power in the Lords and Commons over the Estates and persons of their Fellow-Subjects, and have caused the same miseries to return upon us, which happened in the days of our Forefathers under Henry the third, when the 24. Conservators of the Peace were called totidem Tyranni, so many Tyrants: For, what might not our Grandees have done, when the Sword had been theirs by Act of Parliament? Besides, if the King had given them His Sword, they might have taken all the rest of the Propositions demanded, without a Treaty.  
Nor had the granting the four Bills been destructive only to the legal Interest of the King, and the liberty of the People, but also to the Freedom of Parliament; one of the four being for Adjournment of both Houses to any other place besides Westminster, etc. Which was a Plot of the Grandee-Faction in the Houses and Army, to gain power of Adjourning the Houses from time to time, to, or near the Head Quarters of the Army: where those Members that would refuse to be of their Party, should neither sit with accommodation, nor safety, and so be shaken off at last, which had been a new way of purging the Houses; and so His Majesty's passing those four Bills would have been destructive likewise to the Interest and Freedom of Parliament. Whereby it appears, that His Majesty, in rejecting those Bills, was not swayed with any consideration of establishing His own will and power, above or without a Parliament, but with a tender respect only to His own Legal Rights, the Privileges and Freedom of Parliament, and the Liberties of the People.  
Having hitherto manifested the vanity of all their Suppositions; and in particular, those by way of Charge against His Majesty, I shall in the next place examine their Inferences against Him, which being raised upon such sandy Grounds, cannot stand: For, taking all for granted which they say, they first affirm, That there can be no just ground of a Treaty, or accommodation with the King: First, because by perverting the Trust reposed in him, to the hurt and prejudice of the Generality, and endeavouring to establish himself in a tyrannical power, he hath forfeited all that trust and power, and doth set the people free to take their best Advantage, and (if he fall within their power) to proceed in Judgement against him. Secondly, Because he engaged to uphold his will and Interest, against the Supreme Council of the Kingdom, must needs be the Author of an unjust War, and therein guilty of all the blood spilt thereby, and of all the evils consequent, or concomitant thereunto, and likewise of the highest Treason. For the verity of these things, they refer us to what hath been before spoken; and so must I the Intelligent Reader likewise, where he shall find how causeless these unworthy Slanders are against His Majesty, under presence whereof they condemn as unjust, any accommodation with him by Treaty.  
And therefore it is, that their malice proceeds further, even to the bringing of his Sacred Person to a public Trial, and execution, without which (they say) the public Justice of the Kingdom cannot be satisfied, the Blood and Rapine, etc. expiated, nor the wrath of God appeased. Never was such damnable doctrine vented before in the World: For, the Persons of Sovereign Princes have ever been held sacred (in respect of their immediate Authority under God) even among the most barbarous Nations; and though in many Kingdoms they have been regulated by force of Arms, and sometimes (for the security of the grand Rebels) deposed, and afterward privately murdered; yet in no History can we find a Parallel for this, that ever the rage of Rebels extended so far, as to bring their Sovereign Lords to public trial and execution, it being contrary to the law of Nature, the Custom of Nations, and the sacred Scriptures. Put case the hand of Heaven should give them and us so far over, as to permit this; What Court shall their King be tried in? who shall be his Peers? what Form of Process shall be made? who shall give Sentence? what eyes dare be so impious to behold the execution? and what Arm be stretched out to give the stroke against the Lords Anointed, and shall not whither like that of Jeroboam, when he lifted it up against an Anointed Prophet?  
But that they might not seem to endeavour this without Precedent, they say, the same Offences which they pretend to be in our King, have been judged capital in several of his Predecessors, from whom he claims; which is very false, not one of our Princes having ever been brought to public Trial, nor put to death, for any offence whatsoever: The only sad examples of unfortunate Royalty, were Edward the second, and Richard the second; yet neither of these proceeded against capitally, though they Articled against the latter; but both of them being (to the dishonour of our Nation) deposed, were afterwards cruelly murdered in private: The first, not without the instigation or consent of a faithless wife, to make room in her Bed for an Adulterer; the other to secure the Ambition of a Kinsman, which had usurped the Crown by the name of Henry the fourth; so that neither of these can afford a Pattern to these Times, for any capital Proceeding against their Lord and Sovereign: But if it please the Tirrels and the Gourneys of our Age, they may draw hence a pattern of private parricide (as it is to be feared they will, instead of public) and finish that work, which their dear Rolph had brought to so near a point of execution.  
And lest they should want a plausible Ground for their bloody Intentions, being conscious to themselves of their own weak Proofs of Gild in His Majesty, the Remonstrance insinuates further unto the world, as if His Majesty were guilty of all the Blood by his own confession; and for this they urge the Preamble of the first Proposition, which they say, He hath passed in justification of the Grounds of the War on the Parliaments part, and the condemnation of His own, though all the World knows (and themselves confess also in this Remonstrance) that it was passed but conditionally, in order to a full Agreement, and out of necessity, because the Treaty would not be proceeded in without it: And yet they rail against it also, as the greatest Hypocrisy that ever was before God and the World; and because this confession (they say) proceeded not out of inward Remorse and Conviction, it must stand for a ground of condemnation against him. Thus you see, since they have kenneled their King, and used him like a Dog, it is an easy matter to find a staff to beat him.  
Now the Remonstrance having hitherto, upon idle Suppositions and Slanders against their King, precended that an Accommodation with Him by Treaty, cannot be just or good; in the next place, they pretend that it cannot be safe, in regard it hath not been usual to restore Princes when they have been once subdued by their Subjects, in the prosecution of their Liberties. And in this Assertion they are so confident; that they challenge all Story for an Instance to the contrary. This is a strange peremptory challenge, considering that nothing is more obvious in History than Examples of this Nature. Not need we go any further for a Testimony than our own; witness the Feuds betwixt King John and the Barons, and also betwixt his son, Henry the third and them, who having vindicate their Liberties (as they pretended) and reduced Henry within their power, and sometime under restraint, and regulated him for divers years, yet (nevertheless) at length he was restored to his Crown and Dignity. How many Instances could I collect else where I But I need not light a Candle to the Sun, nor would I willingly to the Devil; for I suppose the Penner of the Remonstrance could not but see, unless his memory were obscured with too great a Cloud of Witnesses.  
Next, they think (they say) an Agreement with the King by Treaty cannot be safe, because it is the Custom of Princes, when they are over thrown by Force of their Subjects, usually to bestow and yield the Things contended for, when they can no longer hold them, and be take themselves by Fraud, to recover them afterward, and be revenged on those that opposed them. So that you see they are led by Machiavels Rule, Never to trust that Prince whom they have once injured, and conclude with Catiline in the Poet, that 
The Ills which They have done cannot be safe,  
But by attempting greater—   
Because they have provoked their King▪ is counted Reason sufficient to destroy Him, rather than hazard their guilty necks under His Government. When men are once persuaded thus, they are past recovery, and betray themselves to be most implacable Traitors, and that they have a never dying worm in the Chest, which gnaws their Consciences with the Remembrance of their Treason. And the punishment due to it being perpetually before their eyes, their only Refuge (in order to their own security) is to scandalise the Prince, as one not to be trusted, a violater of Faith, Oaths, Promises, and Protestations, in hope to palliate their villainies, by endeavouring to render Him odious, and so preserve their own Reputation with the People; But if we do but scanned the Proceed of the Abettors of this Remonstrance, since their Faction came in power, the World cannot produce greater or more odious Examples of Hypocrisy, Treachery, and feigned Protestations, than they have manifested by their Breach of Faith, and Promise with the King and Kingdom, as I shall prove in due place by and by.  
Another Argument of theirs, why an Agreement now cannot be safe, is. The Facility of a Prince's finding occasion and quarrel after such an Agreement, to make a Breach, when he 〈◊〉 his Advantage: And this they fear the King may easily do for several Reasons, which I shall but touch, because I must be brief: First, because the King is conceived to be in prison still (at least not so free as he ought to be) during the Treaty: it being so expressed by the Prince, in his Declaration in Answer to the Earl of Warwick's Summons, and so nothing can be concluded now, but may (upon that pretence) be broken hereafter. Besides, they say, The Enlargement now afforded the King (with the pettit State added) is but a Mock-liberty, and Counterfeit of State, only to set him up in a colourable posture to Treat, but not being free from Force, be cannot be so free in what he grants, as to render it oblieging when granted. Where take notice of the desperate Hypocrisy and cunning of these Follows, that they should declaim against Force, as rendering the Treaty in vain, when themselves have put this Force upon it; so that it is evident, That all those additional Forces lately joined to the ordinary Guards of the Island, were sent thither unpurpose to raise a prejudice upon the Treaty, that so they might have some plausible Pretence to except against an Agreement by it. Secondly, Because if the King comes in with the Reputation of having long sought Peace, by a Personal Treaty, he will be looked upon as the Repairer of Broaches, the Restorer of Trade, Peace, and Plenty; and if the Army should keep up (as it must) to be maintained by Taxes, than the Houses and they would be look●ed on as Oppressors', and so the Jealousies and Discontents of the People be raised and 〈◊〉 against them, and make them apt to join Issue with the King's Interest again, against the Public. Let the World take notice of this strange way of Arguing. Because the King is like to be hugged and beloved by his People, therefore they cannot trust Him, but fear by His Interest in their Afflictions, they may be called to Account for all their Do. Observe likewise, that they make it their Interest, to keep their King in prison, the Kingdom out of Settlement, and the People in perpetual Taxes and Payments, to support these their Taskmasters, in their new established Tyranny, in opposition to His Majesty: So that the People of England, so long as they have no King, shall have neither Trading, Peace, nor Plenty.  
Thirdly, they insinuate, how easy it is, not only for a Prince to make a Breach to the prejudice of the public Interest; but also the hazard of those that engaged for it against Him, by making use of the People's Affections after an Accommodation: For, they say, 'tis possible, the People may yield them up a sacrifice, to appease the King and his enraged Party. Here indeed the shoe wrings Them, and the Curse of Cain pursues Them, supposing their Iniquities are greater than can be forgiven, and being of the same Faith with the Italian Atheist, that Injuries done to Princes may sleep a while in their m●mories, but revive again, sooner or later, as they find an Opportunity to Revenge Them. Some Examples there are indeed of this Nature, but very few among the Princes of this Nation. The most notorious Rebellion (next to this) that ever was in our Island, happened against Henry the third, whose sufferings were parallel to those of King CHARLES in every point. He was bandied against in Parliament, driven thence, forced to Surrender the Royal Authority into the hands of twenty four Persons, taken Prisoner, and carried up and down in an Army, afterward was confined close upon the very same Pretences, and so continued, till the People being tired out by the new Tyrants in Arms, and Taxes, he recovered their Affections, and His Crown both together. And now when the chief Ringleaders expected nothing but Revenge from their abused Prince, He pardoned those lives which were forfeited to His Mercy, not so much as one man of them being executed, but had a general Act of oblivion, and liberty to sue out their Pardons upon very moderate Fines; of which incomparable piece of Clemency, that ancient Record, called Dictum de Kenelworth, remains a Monument to this day. And though the Beateseus of our Age (being conscious of their heinous guilt) might hope as little for pardon, as those their Elder Brethren; yet I am confident, were our King restored to His pristine power, they should all of them (the worse of them even the very Cromwelites among them) taste of the same Bounty and Mercy: For, look upon him impartially in all the Passages of his life, and you may dismiss him with a Quo nihil in terris clementius aspicit aether, even with this Character, that the world cannot produce a more rare pattern of piety, patience, and humanity.  
But suppose, that we grant all they pretend to; That King's are such faithless Creatures, as they would make them; and that our King intended to make a Breach hereafter, and to recover that by Fraud, which he lost by Force, and to be revenged, etc. yet what ground of jealousy will be left, when their safety is so fairly provided for in the Propositions of both Houses? For, if there be an Agreement upon them, his Majesty (it is apparent to all the world) must return so naked, and devested of all power, and with his hands so tied behind him, that he will remain no more but a Cipher of Kingly power, not able to help himself or friends, and become far less than Buchanan's King, or a Duke of Venice. He will not have so much as a voice in the Senate, nor an Office in the Commonwealth, nor so much Power left as the meanest petty Constable, further than his Guardians shall be pleased to indulge him, his Person, and regal Authority being wholly surrendered up to them in Wardship. Hence than we may justly conclude against the sense of the Remonstrance; that were the King led by principles of Falsehood and Revenge▪ yet being so bound up in point of power by the Propositions, it will be safe as well as just for the Houses, to make an Agreement with him by the Treaty. I am sure it must be done one time or another, why then not now? an Accommodation with the King being the only Basis of a settlement in the Nation, except the Houses have so little courage as to comply with our Remonstrants, and let it continue no longer a Kingdom, but change the whole Frame of Government, and turn all Topsiturvy.  
A fourth Argument (founded as the rest are upon matter of Jealousy, not Equity) which they make use of unto the Houses, against an Agreement with the King by Treaty, is taken from the Divisions of the Parliamentary Party, and the Jealousies they have of each other; alleging, that if the King were returned, it is more than probable; That each Party would be apt to strive, which should most and first comply with him. And left this course should be objected against themselves▪ as having taken it formerly for their own Advantage, when they had the King with them in the Army, they in the next place excuse it thus, and say first; That they did not seek to the King, but were sought unto by him, and were drawn into some negative compliances; only for prevention of mischief to the public, but still profestly refused any thing of Conjunction with him or his: Secondly, That all their Declarations at that time were but hypothetical, ana with careful Caution for the public Interest: Thirdly, That they aimed not at the strengthening of themselves, by their then preiending for the King: The Falsehood of all which I shall clearly demonstrate to their everlasting Infamy, and give you some brief Evidences of their double dealing, and how that they professed absolutely to close with the legal Interest of his Majesty.  
As for their public professions in their Declarations and Proposals, They are so notoriously known unto the world, that I need not mention them; But their Private hypocritical Trucking with his Majesty will be the only Touchstone to try them by. And because their Resolutions pretended then for his Majesty were as high as these are now against him, I shall be very punctual to satisfy all men of the Truth, That the world may know what fine white Devils our new Saints are, and abhor their hypocrisy. But before I produce my Evidences, I must declare whence I had them; even from Major Huntingdon, Cromwell's own Major, a partaker formerly of his Secrets, and so intimate, that Oliver was pleased to call him Mistress, and was employed as a Messenger betwixt the King, and him, and Ireton.  
That their private Truck with the King were not hypothetical, but pretended absolute for his Interest, and of their own seeking, is manifest by what passed at Caversham, where the King was continually solicited by Messengers from Cromwell, and Ireton, proffering any thing his Majesty should desire, as Revenues, chaplains, Wife, Children, Servants of his own, visitation of Friends, access of Letters; and by Ireton himself (who pleads so cruelly against him in this bloody Remonstrance) that his Negative voice should not be meddled with all, for that he had convinced those that reasoned against it at the General Council of the Army: And all this they would do, that his Majesty might the better see into all their Actions, and know their Principles, which lead them to give him all those things out of Conscience; For that they were not a people hating his person, on Monarchical government, but that they did like it as the best, and that by this King, saying also, that they held it a very unreasonable thing, for the Parliament to abridge him of them, often promising, that if his Majesty would sit still, and not Act against them, they would in the first place restore him to all these, and make him the most glorious Prince in Christendom; and that for this end they were drawing up Proposals; which if any power should oppose, and there were but six men in the Kingdom that would stand for them, Ireton said, himself would make the seventh to justify and make them good.  
His Majesty being removed to Wooborne, the Proposals were sent to him by Mayor Huntingdon, at which time the King said at first, he would not Treat upon them, but afterwards yielded and then Ireton, Rainsborough, Hammond, and Rich attended the King at Wooborne, debating the whole business with him upon the Proposals; upon which debate, many of the most material things which the King disliked were struck out, and many other things much abated by Promises, whereupon his Majesty was pretty well satisfied. Afterward, his Majesty being removed to Stoke, told Mayor Huntingdon he feared an Engagement between the Army and City, and bade him go tell Ireton, that he would wholly throw himself upon them, and trust them for a settlement of the Kingdom. which Message being delivered by Mayor Huntingdon to Ireton at Colebrook, he seemed to receive with joy, saying, That they should be the veriest Knaves that lived, if in every thing they made not good what ever they had promised, because the King, by his not declaring against them, had given them great Advantage against their Adversaries. But who I pray you were these Adversaries? Even the Presbyterian Party. By this than we may judge them out of their own mouths; That they had no other end by their then pretending for the King, but to strengthen themselves against the Presbyterians, to suppress their Faction, and advance their own: So that Iretons own words will witness in this Particular, against the Falsehood of this his Remonstrance.  
When the Army at length began to falter in their proceed, and the King feared, they intended not to make good what they had promised, he sent Major Huntingdon to Cromwell to tell him he was unsatisfied with the proceed of the Army, because he understood that himself and Ireton agreed with the house in some late Votes that opposed the Proposals of the Army. It was replied, that they would not have his Majesty mistrust them, for that since the House would go to high, they only concurred with them, that their unreasonableness might the better appear to the Kingdom. And Cromwell bade Huntingdon assure the King, that if the Army remained an Army, his Majesty should trust the proposals, with what was also promised, to be the worst of his Conditions which should be made for him; and striking his hand on his Breast (in his Chamber at Putney) bade the Mayor tell the King, he might rest confident, and assured of it: Which Message was sent many times to the King from them both; but with this addition from Ireton; That they would purge and purge, and never leave purging the houses, till they had made them of such a temper as should do his Majesty's business: And rather than they would fall short of what was promised, he would join with Cavalier, French, or Spaniard, or any that would join with them to force them to it.  
Yet notwithstanding all this, it was not long after that his Majesty was ●●gled away into the Isle of Wight; where he had not been above 6. days, but the very same Ireton, the godly Promiser) standing by the fire side in his Quarters at Kingston, and some speaking of an Agreement of Peace like to be made between the King and the Houses, now he was out of the power of the Army Ireton replied with a discontented-coun●enance: That he hoped it would be such a Peace, as they might with a good conscience fight against them both.  
By these fore going Passages than it appears plainly, to the shame of this Remonstrance; First, that the Army first sought to the King, and not he to them: Secondly, that their deal with the King were pretended as high and absolute for his Interest, as ever were the endeavours of his own party: And lastly, That their only aim in all this, was to give advantage to suppress the Presbyterian party, and advance their own, and then to cast off the King, and domineer over him and his People. This last Particular will be more clear by that saying of Cromwell's in his Chamber at Kingston, when he had played all his Pranks, and brought his design to perfection; That he knew nothing to the contrary, but that himself was as able to govern the Kingdom, as Hollis and Stapleton did before him. So that you see, Dominion and Rule was the only end of this unparallelled Hypocrisy; he and his Son Ireton being both apt Scholars of Machiavelli, and follow his rules; who counsels those that mean to effect great matters, to make small reckoning of keeping their words, and to know by their craft to turn and wind men about. Also, that such men ought not to keep their faith given, when the observance there of turns to the disadvantage of their designs, and the occasions that made them promise are once past. Likewise, that it is advantageous to seem, pitiful, faithful, mild, religions, and of integrity, and indeed to be so; Provided, they be of such a composition, that if need require them to use the contrary, they can, and know how to apply themselves thereto, and now and then to do contrary to faith, charity, humanity, and religion; and to have a mind so disposed, as to turn and take the advantage of all winds and fortunes. These are Maxims which the godly ones of our Age have thriven by; this is the Gospel which our new Saints have practised, to attain unto this height of Tyrannies And now nothing will satisfy, but the destruction of that gracious Prince, to whom they made such high promises: He must be brought to the Block to secure their Ambition, or else have at the Parliament: For, it is a professed Maxim of their own, as Mayor Huntingdon hath discovered. That it is lawful to pass through any forms of Government▪ for the accomplishing of their ends; and therefore either to purge the Houses, and support the remaining Party by power everlastingly, or put a period to them by Force.  
Nor doth Mayor Huntingdon only discover this; but themselves do as good as declare thus pag. 45. when they make another Argument against the safety of an Accommodation with his Majesty; because (say they) if the King return, and this Parliament continue long and unlimited, he will be able to make a party among them. Nay (say they) he hath bid fair for it among the Commons already, & the Lords are his own out of question; & therefore we dare not trust the King among them: which is as much as to say, that if they close with the King, they shall not sit any longer but be dissolved by Force: which must be looked for at last, it being a necessary preparative to that devilish design of bringing all under the military power, that is, the Power of themselves and their Creatures. And therefore it is, that they declare for a dissolution of this Parliament, after a certain time, and they will so order the matter, that the next Parliament ensuing shall be altered from the fundamental Form, to be merely popular, and none but those of their own Faction to be elected; and then farewell for ever the glory of the kingdom. But more of this by and by, when I come to examine the several Propositions in the close of their Remonstrance.  
Their last Argument against the safety of an Accommodation by this Treaty is, because no Provision is made by the Houses against the Impunity of Kings in time to come, so as that they may remain accountable for their Actions, and liable to justice, or against the Impunity of this King in particular; which they conceive would be the only means of security to themselves and the public, and here they take occasion to inveigh against those maxims of our Law, that say, the King can do no wrong; which were founded upon the same equitable Considerations of Policy in our own, as in other Kingdoms, it having been presumed ever by all Legislators; That Kings, who are the common Fathers of the people cannot be so unnatural, as to do any thing willingly to their prejudice; and that if by accident they did, yet for the reverence due to royal Majesty, it should rather be imputed to the ill Council of those about them, than their own Inclination; forasmuch as if a Sovereign Prince should be left liable to Account in a Criminal way, it would introduce confusions in government, and the putting it once in execution would bring more damage and Inconveniences upon the Commonwealth, than all the Enormities and Tyrannies he could commit throughout his whole Reign. Upon which considerations it is that all wise Statesmen of our own and other Nations, have reckoned Impunity as a part of the Prince's Prerogative, and inseparable from his Crown and Dignity. And therefore away with the vanity of these puny Politicians, whom nothing will satisfy, but that transcendent piece of Treason (on which the Jesuits themselves durst never venture) to bring the sacred persons of Kings, to public trial and Execution.  
Having heitherto driven on the design of their Remonstrance, not upon matter of equity, but jealousies concerning their own security, and prosecuted it so fare, as that to save themselves from supposed afterclaps of Revenge, they make it lawful to destroy their Prince; they in the next place proceed to answer what may be objected against this Course from the Covenant; which binds all that have taken it, to the preservation of the King's person and Authority. This they say, is not to be understood absolutely; but in a way subordinate to Religion and the public Interest, which were the principal and supreme matters engaged for by Covenant; as appears by that Clause [viz. In the preservation of the true Religion and liberties of the kingdoms▪] It hath been always feared that some such use would be made (one time or other) of that clause of the Covenant: And therefore it was, that many learned and pious men refused the taking of it, witness those incomparable Reasons of the University of Oxford against it; among which this is one, that they knew not what construction might be put upon that large clause, to the prejudice of his Majesty's royal person and authority. But though they endeavour to make a nose of wax of it, and turn it any way by interpretations most suitable to their antimonarchical principles and Designs, yet they cannot found any pretence thereupon to subvert the Laws of the Land and Fundamental constitutions of the Kingdom, the Covenant obliging in express terms to the maintenance of them, and these undoubtedly are the true Foundations of the public Jnterest, and the Supporters also of the King's person and Authority. By the Laws of the Land, the King is the only Sovereign and supreme, and above the reach of all penal statutes. which make it high Treason for any to attempt the least force upon his person. Therefore to make such a construction of the Covenant (upon pretence of any Clause in it) that shall clash with the Laws of the Land, the maintenance whereof is one of the primary ends of it, is absurd and ridiculous. And therefore as long as by the fundamental Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom, the King is exempt from all Criminal proceed against him by his Subjects, certainly all men that have taken the Covenant are absolutely and undeniably bound by it, to defend his Majesty from such horrid, and treasonable intents and practices, to the damage of his person, and destruction of Kingly power.  
Moreover, the Scotish nation, who were the first Founders of the Covenant, and both Houses of Parliament have published in several Declarations and all their Priests in the Pulpits; that the intent of the Covenant, in respect of his Majesty, was only, that His Throne should be established in righteousness; and though they made use of that Clause, thereby to suspend him from the Exercise of regal power, till satisfaction given to the desires of the Parliament of both Kingdoms, yet it was never in their thoughts to strain it so far, as that in case he stood out against their desires, they would proceed in a Criminal way against their Lord and Sovereign. And therefore it is clear against these Anarchists, both from the primary civil end of the Covenant, and the practice of its Founders, that it obligeth all those which have taken it, to defend the Person of the King's most Excellent Majesty, according to the Fundamental Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom, against all treasonous, illegal, and arbitrary Proceed, by way of Criminal Accusation.  
Now we are come at length to the Conclusion of this tedidious Remonstrance, which consists of several Propositions, grounded upon the frivolous premises already confuted. They are of two sorts. In the first they propound such things, as they pretend are for the satisfaction of public justice. In the second such as are for the settling (or rather unsettling) of the Kingdom. In order to justice, first they propound; That the person of the King may be speedily brought to justice. If I should cite the innumerable Testimonies of Antiquity and our Modern writters against this prodigious principle, I might swell into a volume it is contrary to the very law of nature, reason, the constitutions of all Kingdoms and the whole tenor of the Scriptures; Impunity being an inseparable adjunct of Kings as they are Supreme in their Kingdoms, For, if there can be no true kingdom where the King is not invested in the Supremacy. As King he is judge of judges, and subject to the judgement of none other but God himself: For, it is contrary to nature, that the Superior should be judged by the Inferior; but the people (take them collective) are Inferior to their Monarch; for, that cannot be called a Monarchy, which admits either of a Superior or an equal: And therefore the People cannot exercise any power or jurisdiction over their Sovereign; forasmuch as it proceeds from himself, and cannot subsist one moment without him, he being as it were the Fountain of Authority. As say all our statute and Law-Books, S. Peter bids us, Submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake, whether it be to the King as supreme; or unto Governors as those that are sent by him. As free, and not using your liberty for a Cloak of maliciousness, but fear God, Honour the King. A text which plainly shows, that the people should not stretch their liberty to the prejudice of the royal authority. Thou shalt not speak ill of the Governor of the people, much less destroy him. Give the people liberty once of judging their King, and all things are presently out of Order considering the ignorance, the audacity, the levity and inconstancy of the vulgar, For by this means it falls out oftentimes, that those Princes which deserve best, are worst handled; as histories do witness concerning Coriolanus, Camillus, Themistocles, Phocian, and divets others both ancient and modern.  Scinditur incertum studia in contraria vulgus. 
For, such is the nature of the multitude, that they are greedy still after Novelties, and great admirers of them, till they have a little experience, and then they would willingly change again, being led with vain hopes of advantage, upon every Innovation. And therefore if Princes were under the correction of their Subjects, both good and bad would suffer alike. Such was the insolence of the Lacedaemonian Ephori toward their Kings, that they would call them to account for every Trifle, and punished King Archidamus for no other cause, but because he took a little woman to wife; and it was usual among the Goths in Spain, to murder their Kings, as oft as they distasted them. Moreover, should all Kings of this Nation remain liable to question by the people (as our Remonstrants require) in time to come, they must ever be subject to Slanders and Snares, because then every ambitious popular person would be ready to pick holes in their Coats, to bring them into disfavour of the People; and so that would be sufficient cause of condemnation.  
Admit these things once, and who sees not, how all things would run to confusion, and how great mischiefs, such a dissolute and licentious Liberty would bring upon Kings and Kingdoms? But it happens also most often in these Cases, That not all the People, nor the major part, do consent to the condemning of their King, but some few (perhaps) that have gotten the power into the hands of their Faction. These (to set off their Actions) cry up their own Interest for the Interest of the Commonwealth, and so under pretence of the public Good, prosecute their private ends, to the ruin of the Prince, and condemn him as an Enemy to the People.  Quis furor, o populus, quae tanta licentia Ferri? 
An example of this we have among our neighbours, in Henry the Third of France; against whom some few Cities revolted at first, which were headed by some small number of the Nobility; afterwards more and more, till at length the Rebels grew formidable; and though they were but a contemptible part in comparison of the rest, yet they assumed the Reputation of the whole, pretended the public Good, declared against their King as a Tyrant, to defend the Rights and Liberties of the People, and at length proceeded so high as to give Sentence against Him, and renounce the Allegiance to Him, & give public Command, that none should dare to acknowledge Him their King. The Parallel to this, was the Conspiracy occasioned by the Bastard Murray, against that unfortunate Lady, Mary Queen of Scots, our King's Grandmother; so likewise is his own case at present, being at the mercy of a merciless petty Faction, that have usurped the power of the Kingdom into the power of their hands, cry up their own corrupt Interest to be the Interest of the Kingdom, Themselves to be the People, and so by a new kind of Logic conclude him to be the public Enemy of the People, and a Tyrant, because they have no way to establish their own Tyranny, but by destroying His Person, under pretence of Justice, and cashier Kingly Government, to introduce a new Form of their own, wherein themselves will be Princes.  
In order whereunto it is, and not out of any consideration of equity, (for in this there can be none) that they would bring His Majesty to public Execution; because they well know, this one stroke would give the fatal Blow to Monarchy; For it would take away the very life of Majesty, which consists in the Impunity, or exemption from penal Statutes. Subject a King once to be judged and condemned by the People, upon any pretence whatsoever, than it follows presently, that the power is declared in their Hands, and so the Kingly Government is defunct, and changed ipso facto to a popular. And therefore it is apparent, that the Army, by Remonstrating against their King, and demanding Him thus to Justice, intent no less than the ruin of Monarchy, and the rearing up of a kind of a military-democraticall Form of Government; which, by abolishing our old Laws, and leaving none but that of the Sword, must needs be absolutely Tyrannical over our Estates, Lives, and Liberties. This is the true drift of their first Proposition. Give ear, and regard, O ye Commons of England, lest under a specious pretence for the Liberty of the People (which Cromwell himself once called a mere Chimaera, and a thing not to be contended for) ye be drawn into Parricide and perpetual Slavery.  
Nor do they rage's only against the Person of the King, but in the second Proposition, they endeavour to shake off His Posterity; and therefore they propound these harsh Conditions concerning the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York, either to yield themselves up to their mercy at a certain day; to acquit themselves of their Capital Delinquency (as they call it) or else to be at their discretion, whether they shall follow their Royal Father to the Shambles. These are fine Conditions for the two Princes to be summoned in upon, are they not? But knowing these will never be accepted, this Summons is but pretended to blear the eyes of the People, and insinuate their Gild, if they refuse to appear; that so they may exclude the next Heirs of the Crown, the more plausibly, in order still to their design of changing the Government. And therefore it is likewise, that in this Proposition, they demand the Revenue of the Crown may continue still in Hucksters hands, and the Pomp of it be suspended, to make amends (they say) for public Debts, (which are all in the Pockets of their Faction) and repair the losses of the People, but indeed to be shared among them and their Creatures, who usurp the name and reputation of the PEOPLE; all which whosoever seriously considers, will see these things are but preparatory to the cashiering of Kingly Government. In Order to this design still, it is also, That in the third and fourth-Propositions, they demand the bringing of His Majesty's Principal Friends to the Block, not reckoning themselves safe, as long as their Heads are on their shoulders. And for the rest that have served Him, though they claw with them in pressing, that moderate Fines may be set upon them for Delinquency; yet they deprive them of their native Birthrights, so long as shall seem good unto these new Conquerors, and so they shall be no more but in the condition of Slaves to this insolent Faction, all over the Kingdom. And thus you see, what is the design, and like to be the Issue of their pretended public Justice.  
Next, they proceed to propound towards the Settlement of the Kingdom both in relation to the Parliamentary and Kingly power, in time to come. First, as the Parliamentary, they demand, That some reasonable, and certain period may be set to this Parliament, by which time, that Supreme Trust in them may return unto the People. That is, themselves and their Faction; for, They only will be the People. But the People of England may do well to consider, that the King being outed of all Power, there is no visible Authority left at present, but that in the two Houses, who are now the only Bulwarks against military Tyranny; and the dissolving them before the King be re-invested, will leave us all in the power of the Army, and then as that Leveller Major White said at Putney in the General Council, (for, he knew it was designed then, and could not choose but utter it) there will be no visible Authority left in the Kingdom, but the power of the Sword; which will introduce a new Parliament of its own Creatures, as appears by what follows, wherein they exclude all from the power of Election, or being elected, that are not of their Faction. And so farewell the Government, and glory of our Nation.  
For proof of this, observe next what they propound concerning the Sucession of future Parliaments: First, that none shall be capable of electing, or being elected, that have engaged against the public Interest, nor any that oppose them in this Agreement.  
Secondly, that Elections may be so distributed, as to render the House of Commons, as near as may be, a Representative of the whole People; and that the certainty of the People's meeting to Elect may be provided for. So farewell the ancient Legal way of Electing, by the King's Writ or Summons; it being inherent in the Prerogative of all Kings, to call, and dissolve the Supreme Assemblies. If this course also be taken to give all men voices in Electing, than it will seldom happen, that they will ever agree; which will be the cause of innumerable Riots and Confusions, at every Election.  
Thirdly, That it be declared, that the Representatives of the People (by them Elected) shall have the Supreme Trust and Power, as to making of Laws. So farewell the Negative Voice of the King and Nobility, and with it the Ancient and Legal Constitutions of Parliament.  
Lastly, They propound, that our Kings in time to come may be Elective, and upon their Coronation disclaim any Negative Voice to the determinations of the said Representatives, and subscription to this Agreement. And so instead of Kings, they would set up mere Scarecrows of Royalty. But (alas) this is to amuse the People with the name of King, when as they intent no such matter; for, an Elective Kingship without a Negative Voice is none at all, it being a received Maxim among all Politicians; That there is a necessity the Supreme Power should reside in the hands of one, or of few, or of many. The first is the Government of a Monarch, or King; the second, that of States; the third is democratical, or Popular. Now though it cannot be denied, that the power of a King may be more or less absolute, according to the several Qualifications or Restrictions laid upon it, by the mixture of any other Power with it (as by the constitution of this Kingdom, there is a mixture of all the three Powers in King, Lords, and Commons;) yet if either of these Powers encroach upon the other, they change their nature. As for example, if the Aristocratical part prescribe rules to the Monarch, and take away his Negative Voice, it can be no longer a Monarchy or Kingdom; and so, if the Popular presume to take away Ius imperii from the Aristocracy, it can be no longer a Government by States: so that the Remonstrants in allowing us an elective King, but denying Him a Negative voice (the very substance of Sovereignty) do but delude us with a Mockery, and by placing the supreme power of making and repealing Laws in the People, do aim to establish a mere popular Tyranny, which they will assume unto themselves, under the Nation of the PEOPLE, to the destruction of our Laws and Liberties: For, it is a sure Rule, That those that seek to make themselves Lords, by force of Arms, over their fellow-subjects, under pretence of reforming their Prince's defects in government, are always, if they have success, more cruel and tyrannous, than those against whose government they fancied Exceptions; and regard the common-good no further, than it conduceth to their own wicked ends and purposes.  
There are too many evidences of this Truth, to be found in History; I shall instance only in two most notable, and which come close to our Time. The first is fetched from the City Syracuse, which had been long governed by hereditary Kings, virtuous and just, save only Thrasihulus, the last of the race of Gelon, was suspected to be a Tyrant, and therefore the Syracusians deposed him after ten month's government. After they had deposed him, to prevent the greatness of any one among them for the future, they devised a kind of Banishment of such among them as should at any time be suspected, taking pattern from the Athenian ostracism; and this their new devised judgement they called Petalismus, wherein every one wrote upon an Olive-leafe (as at Athens they did upon shells) the name of him, whom they would have expelled the City; and he that had most suffrages against him, was banished the City for five years. Hhereby in a short time it came to pass, that the Nobility having learned to banish one another, the State became wholly popular, which was a curse sufficient to their City, since nothing is so terrible in any State, as a powerful, and authorised ignorance. This Democracy carried itself so wickedly, that God raised up Dionysius the Tyrant, to take vengeance as well of their cruelty toward strangers, as their own best Citizens; for, they had made it their pastime to reward the worthiest with disgrace, or death. So that the means by which Dionysius got their favour, grew from his accusing the principal men. It is the delight of base people to domineer over their betters: wherefore he help them to break, as Fetters imprisoning their liberty, the Bars that held it under safe Custody. And after that he had usurped the Government to himselse (I pray God our Cromwell take not after him, for, he hath traced him thus far already) he spared none of his known, nor suspected Enemies: he was the greatest Robber that ever lived in any State, and the most impartially cruel, rnd so proved a fit scourge to them for expelling their Kings, and erecting a popular Government.  
But my second instance (and the most notorious one) is from Athens. This City, and Territory of Attica, had been originally governed, and very prosperously by hereditary Kings. And because that Codrus the thirtieth King of that Race, willingly died for the safety of his People, he was therefore so honoured, as thinking none worthy to succeed him, they changed their former government from Monarchical, to Princes for term of life; of which Medon the son of Codrus was the first; of whom his successors by election which were twelve in number, were called Medontidae: But after experience, that those Elective Princes (who had no hereditary right to the Crown, but only a limitation of government to their lives) and for that only reason made a prey of the People, & studied more to rob them for particular advantage, then to manage the government for the public good, they laid aside that form of Government, and appointed Archons, or Decennall Governors, that is, one Prince for ten years; but finding the like inconvenience in that, with somewhat a more swift rapine, because their time of gain was shorter, then after the trial of seven of these Decennall Governors, they buried that Form, and set up annual or yearly Magistrates: But their oppression was so great, that that Form continued but seven successions, of whom Solon, that most excellent Lawgiver, was the last: And and so after many experiments, this giddy People finding no better rest than in Monarchy, submitted again to it under Pisistratus, who left the Crown to his Son Hippias; and then another Toy taking these inconstant Athenians, they drove him out of his Kingdom, and enforced him to fly unto Darius' King of Persia, to crave aid for restitution; which was the only cause of all the Wars, Commotions, and Troubles, that followed in Greece, for 300. years after, to the utter ruin, and enslaving of the Nation.  
After Hippias was thus driven out, they erected a pure Democracy, or Government by the people. Herein they were so insolent, that no Integrity, no good desert was able to preserve the estate of any such as had born any great Office, longer than by flattering the rascal Multitude, he could form all his words and Actions to their good liking: (behold here, O ye Nobleses and Gentry of England, and ye wealthy Citizens of London, what ye must come to) Nay, they banished their famous General Themistocles (look to it then Fairfax) who had been their only deliverer from the fury of the Persian, only for endeavouring to restrain by wise counsels the riotous excess of their extreme folly and Madness. At length the principal men of Athens conspiring with the Captains abroad, caused them to set up the Form of an Aristocracy in the Towns of their Confederates, & in a short time the Majesty of Athens was usurped by four hundred men, who embroiled the State in a bloody and furious War with the Peloponesians, which was the ruin of their City, and subversion of their Wals.  
After a time reviving again, in hope to better their distracted condition, they chose thirty Governors, commonly called the thirty Tyrants of Athens. These having (by degrees) drawn all Power into their hands, were more careful to hold it then deserve it, and employed it only to oppression, and shedding the Blood of all those whom they made, or counted their Enemies, that they might in rich themselves and friends, with their Lands and possessions. And the better to maintain and secure themselves in these cruel courses, after they had by Force overawed all the Territories of that State round about, they made a Faction of their own in the City of Athens (as our Remonstrants have now in London;) which being done, they disarmed all others whom they could not draw to their Party, and settled a Militia of three thousand Citizens to keep the rest of their fellows in subjection. Look to thyself then London; for, if they cannot work thee to engage with them, they must of necessity take the same course with thee to carry on their design: And then thou must look to far no better than did the poor Athenians. For when the thirty Tyrants had thus established their Tyranny, they far exceeded their former Villainies, plundering all without fear or shame, despoiling them of Lands and Goods, and forcing them to fly into Banishment to save their lives. In conclusion, the City being tired out with these outrages and extremities, when they had smarted sufficiently, began to find their own strength, and all as one man risen up, and slew them; which done, to avoid future inconveniences, all was salved up with a general Act of Oblivion, and the State recovered its former Peace and Tranquillity.  
Many more instances might be given, but none more pat then these for the present occasion; wherein (as in a glass) every man may behold those fatal miseries and confusions, that must needs ensue a change of the Kingly to a popular, or (as the case now stands with us) to a Military Government; which I have proved clearly unto the world to be the design of this Remonstrance, to the utter subversion of our Laws, the fundamental constitutions and Privileges of Parliament, with the destruction of the King and His Posterity, and the enslaving of the Kingdom. What remains then, but that the Lords and Commons in Parliament, do stand up now for their Privileges, the Laws, and the maintenance of Monarchy, and yet (if it be possible) revive the dying hopes of the Nation with an Agreement by this Treaty; for as much as His Majesty is (and of necessity must be) the Basis of a settlement. Let the people understand how much you abhor the contrary, and then you can never want their hearts and hands to assist you: And if any of you should miscarry, and be purged out of the House (as some of you have been heretofore by this Faction) and forced to banishment, it will be your chiefest glory in time to come, that you suffered in the behalf of your King and Country.  
If I perish, I perish.  
— Nec me vidêre superbum  
Prospera fatorum, nec fractum Adversa videbunt.  
FINIS.