House of Commons Journal Volume 4: 14 February 1646

Die Sabbati, 14 Februarii, 1645.

Prayers.

ORdered, That Mr. Harvy, a Member of this House, shall have Liberty to go into the Country.

Ordered, That Mr. Harvy, in regard of the Seizing and Taking away of his whole Estate, by the Enemy, shall have, for his present Support, the Allowance of Four Pounds per Week, paid him by the Committee of the Revenue, in like manner as other Members have.

The humble Petition of Gilbert Gerard Esquire was this Day read; and was, for the Place of Clerk of Assize for the Norfolke Circuit.

Ordered, That the Place of Clerk of the Assize for the Norfolke Circuit, being void by the Delinquency of Mr. George Parker, be conferred upon Mr. Gilbert Gerard: And that he have and enjoy the said Place of Clerk of Assize, quamdiu se bene gesserit.

Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee of the West, to hear and examine the whole Business concerning Mr. Swanton; and to hear him, and report their Opinions to the House concerning the same; and likewise concerning his Place.

An Ordinance for the Constituting and Appointing of Gilbert Gerard Esquire to be Clerk of the Assizes for Norfolke Circuit, was this Day read the First time; and appointed to be read the Second time, on Monday next, in the Afternoon.

Instructions for Sir John Bampfield, Sir John Northcote, Baronets, Sir Samuel Rolle, Sir Edmund Fowell, and Sir John Yonge, Knights, Francis Buller, Anthony Nicholl, Francis Godolphin, Richard Erisey, and Thomas Arundell, Esquires, appointed to go down into the Counties of Devon and Cornewall, were once read over all together; and then Article by Article; and, upon the Question, assented unto; and ordered to be sent unto the Lords for their Con currence.

The Instructions were in hæc verba; viz.

YOU are to repair, with all convenient Speed, into the said Counties of Devon and Cornewall, or either of them.

You, or any Three or more of you, shall hereby have full Power and Authority, within the said Counties of Devon and Cornewall, to do and execute all such Matters and Things, as any Committee within the Western Association, may, or can do and execute, by virtue of any Authority granted them from both Houses of Parliament.

You, or any Three or more of you, are hereby enabled to call before you such of the Inhabitants of the said Counties of Devon and Cornewall, as you shall think fit; and to take Information from, and advise with them, and any of them, concerning the better and more perfect settling the said Counties in their Obedience to the Parliament: and the more easy and indifferent Raising of constant Pay for the Soldiers of those Counties, and the cutting off all unnecessary and superfluous Charges.

You are to visit, view, and examine, the State of the Garisons within the said Counties; and to consider, What constant Force is necessary to be raised and maintained for their Defence; what the monthly Pay of the said Force will amount unto; and how the same may be raised; and what Garisons will be fit to be continued.

That there be no Want of Provisions, and other Necessaries, for the Army now in those Parts, you are hereby authorized to send Warrants, under the Hands of any Three or more of you, into the said Counties of Devon and Cornewall, for the Furnishing of Provisions, and other Necessaries, for that Army, as Need shall require.

You are likewise to endeavour, That all Provisions, and other Necessaries, provided by your Care, be so ordered, that Account may be made, What is taken; to the end that such Provisions may be discounted, upon the Pay of the said Forces.

You are to take care, that the several Ordinances of Parliament be put in due Execution against Papists and Delinquents, notwithstanding any Protection whatsoever.

That when the said Counties, or any Part of them, shall be reduced to the Obedience of the Parliament, you shall take care, that the Ordinances for the Directory be put in Execution in all Parishes within the said Counties of Devon and Cornewall: And you shall take further Care, that the Justices of the Peace do swear Constables, and other Officers, being able and well-affected Persons, in the rooms of those who have formerly been employed by the Enemy, and have promoted their Service.

Of all emergent and incident Things, as come not within the Compass of these Instructions, and yet do or may concern the Welfare of the said Counties; or the State in general, you are to certify both Houses, or the Committee of Lords and Commons for the Western Association. Provided that no Power hereby granted, or intended, shall extend to the lessening or diminishing any Power formerly granted to Sir Thomas Fairfax General.

Ordered, That the Report from the Committee of the West, concerning Colonel Massie's Forces, be peremptorily made, and taken into Consideration, on Wednesday Morning next, the first Business after Mr. Speaker comes to the Chair: And that Mr. Speaker put the House in mind hereof.

Ordered, That, next after the Conference ended, Mr. Greene do make his Report concerning the Excise.

A Message from the Lords, by Doctor Aylett and Doctor Heath;

The Lords have received a Petition from the Lord Buckhurst; which they conceive reasonable; and have granted it; and desire your Concurrence in it. They desire they may have Liberty to communicate something at this Conference, at Ten of the Clock, concerning the Ordinance for Martial Law. The Lords do agree, That the Vote of both Houses, concerning the supernumerary Scotts Horse, may be communicated, by the Members of both Houses that are of the Committee of both Kingdom, to the Commissioners of Scotland. The Lords have added Six Lords to the Committee of Sequestrations, the Earl of Essex, * * * * * . They desire to put this House in mind of the Lady Drake's Petition, formerly sent to this House. They have agreed to the Ordinance for Martial Law, to the Garisons of Ailesbury and Newport-Pagnell, with one Amendment; to which they desire the Concurrence of this House.

Ordered, That this House doth agree, That, at this Conference, the Lords may communicate what they desire, concerning the Ordinance for Martial Law.

Ordered, That the Members of this House, that are of the Committee of both Kingdoms, do this Afternoon communicate the Vote of both Houses, concerning the Scottish supernumerary Horse, to the Scotts Commissioners, in pursuance of the Concurrence and Order of both Houses.

Resolved, &c. That, as to the Adding of Six Lords to the Committee of Sequestrations, they will send Answer by Messengers of their own.

The Proviso to the Ordinance for Martial Law, for the Garisons of Aylesbury and Newport-Pagnell, was read; and, upon the Question, assented unto.

Ordered, That the House do meet this Afternoon, to hear the Reports and Ordinances concerning Compositions with Delinquents, from the Committee at Goldsmiths-Hall: And that the House do proceed in the Dispatch of the said Reports and Ordinances, this Afternoon; and on Monday next, in the Afternoon: And that no other Business whatsoever be then taken into Consideration, until the said Reports and Ordinances be dispatched.

Resolved, &c. That the Committee of Petitions be suspended for Six Weeks.

Mr. Samuel Browne, Mr. Selden, Mr. Grimston, Mr. Rigby, Mr. Sollicitor, Mr. Holland, Mr. Reynolds, Sir William Lewes, Colonel Sydenham, Mr. Holles, Mr. John Goodwyn;

This Committee, or any Four of them, are to consider, What Power the Committee of Petitions are to have; and by what Rules they are to proceed: And have Power to consider, What is the best Way for the Payment of the most pressing and necessitous Debts, in the first place; and how the poorest People may be satisfied: And are to meet thereupon, on Wednesday next, in the Afternoon, in the Exchequer-Chamber: And the Care hereof is referred to Mr. Selden.

Sir Gilbert Gerard reported, from the Committee of both Kingdoms, a Packet of Letters intercepted near Evesham, coming from the Lord Digby to the King.

Resolved, &c. That the Committee of both Kingdoms do take Order for the Payment of Twenty Pounds, to be distributed, as they shall direct, between the Two Persons that brought up, and were the Occasion of intercepting, the Letters from the Lord Digby to the King.

A Message from the Lords, by Doctor Aylett and Doctor Heath;

The Lords desire at this Conference, to communicate something which concerns the Countess of Peterborough, and a Member of this House, the Lord Mounson.

Answer returned by the First Messengers;

The House hath considered your Message: And, as to the Petition of the Lord Buckhurst, the Lady Drake's Petition, and the Addition of Six Lords to the Committee of Sequestrations, they will send Answer by Messengers of their own: They do agree, That, at this Conference, the Lords may communicate what they desire, concerning the Ordinance for Martial Law; and do agree to the Proviso to the Ordinance for Martial Law for Aylesbury and Newport-Pagnell.

Answer returned to the Second Messengers; That this House hath considered their Lordships Message; and do agree, That, at this Conference, they may communicate what they desire, concerning the Countess of Peterborough, and the Lord Mounson, a Member of this House.

Sir John Evelyn of Wiltes, Mr. Nathanael Fiennes, Mr. Lisle, and Mr. Holles, are appointed Managers and Reporters of this Conference.

An Ordinance for the Securing and Reimbursing of Five-and-twenty hundred Pounds to the Advancers, being the Remainder of Three thousand Pounds charged, the Fourth of November last, upon the Receipts of the Excise in Course, was this Day read; and, upon the Question, recommitted to the Committee of the Three Counties of Oxon, Bucks, and Berks.

The House being informed, That divers Gentlemen of the Counties of Middlesex and Surrey, and of the City of Westminster, were at the Door;

They were called in: And Sir James Harrington acquainted the House, That he came in the Name, and on the Behalf, of the Sub Committees of the Tower Hamlets, Westminster, and Southwarke, and of the Inhabitants in the said Parts; who are considerable in respect of their Numbers, consisting of about Thirty thousand Families; and in respect of the Numbers of their Militia, which are Six full Regiments of their Trained Bands; considerable also in respect of their Situation, some of their Houses being near to the Parliament, and are as their Prætorian Bands and Guards: And that, in their Names, they came, to implore the Favour of this House for the Preservation of their Liberties and Privileges: That they blessed God for the Piety and Care of this House towards them, and the Kingdom; and did desire, with all humble Thankfulness, to acknowledge it. He desired likewise to remember to this House, That the Gentlemen of these Sub-Committees, and Inhabitants of the said Parts, had raised Ten full Regiments; and sent them out in the Service of the Parliament, to the great Wasting of their Estates, and Loss of their Bloods; which he did not mention to extol their Merit, but to declare their Gratitude: That the Reports abroad, of Propositions for Peace, occasioned their Attendance at this Time; and particularly That of the Militia, a Business of high Concernment to the Gentlemen and Inhabitants within the said Parts: And that what they had further to say, concerning this Particular, they had drawn up into Heads in a Petition.

The Petition was presented; and was stiled, The humble Petition of the Three Military Sub-Committees of the Tower Hamlets, Westminster, and Southwarke, in the Behalf of Themselves, and the Inhabitants of the said Parts.

Ordered, &c. That on Friday next, the first Business, peremptorily, the Petition from the City of London, and the Petition from Westminster, the Hamlets of the Tower, and the Borough of Southwarke, and the whole Business concerning the Militia of the City of London, and of those Parts, as it relates to the Propositions for a safe and wellgrounded Peace; and the Report from the Committee; and the City-Propositions, returned from the Lords; be taken into Consideration: And that Mr. Speaker put the House in mind thereof.

The Petitioners were again called in: And Mr. Speaker, by the Command of the House, acquainted them, That the House hath received their Petition; and did conceive it to be a Matter of great Weight and Consequence, as they have represented it; and have therefore appointed to take it into Consideration on Friday Morning next.

Mr. Lisle reports from the Conference, That the Lords had agreed to all the Amendments returned by this House to the Ordinance concerning Martial Law, excepting Five: Which were as followeth; viz. This House thought fit, that Colonel Daniel Sowton, Major Robert Tompson, and Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, should be added as Commissioners in the said Ordinance: To which the Lords disagree. And

It is Resolved, That this House doth adhere to have them added.

The Lords think fit to adhere to that Clause, in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Lines of the Fifth Page, concerning the Exempting of the Peers of this Realm, and the Assistants and Attendants of the House of Peers, from being sent for by the Commissioners, as Delinquents or Witnesses: And

The House doth concurr with them therein.

The Lords think not fit to agree to the Addition proposed, by this House, to be made, in the Ninth Line of the Seventh Folio, of these Words; viz. "apprehending or summoning, either as Delinquents or Witnesses, or to the:" And

This House doth concurr with them.

The Lords think not fit to agree to the Addition proposed, by this House, to be made, at the End of the Twelsth Line, in the Seventh Folio, of these Words; viz. "without Assent and Leave first had and obtained of the Houses of Parliament, respectively, whereof he is, shall be, or hath been, a Member, Assistant, or Officer."

Resolved, &c. That the House doth adhere to this Addition.

The Lords think not fit to agree to the Leaving out of the Proviso, That no Execution of Sentence, as to Death, shall be had upon this Ordinance, until Fourteen Days after Notice given of the said Sentence unto both Houses of Parliament. And

It is Resolved, &c. That this House doth adhere to the Leaving out of the said Proviso.

The Reasons the Lords gave for these their Alterations, were delivered in Writing at the Conference; and were there read: And were likewise read in this House; and were in hæc verba; viz.

To the Amendment, Fifth Folio, Eighteenth Line, The Lords think it not fit, that Peers of this Realm, or the Judges, should, upon Warrants of Commissioners for Martial Law, be summoned to appear; nor that the Privilege of Parliament should, in that Case, be waved.

In the Seventh Folio, Ninth Line, those Words seem so obscure, as the Effect of the Ordinance is made doubtful: Wherefore, it being needful, in such Ordinances as these, all Things should be clear, my Lords think fit to lay it aside.

In the Seventh Folio, my Lords do not agree to the Amendment; it intrenching against the most inherent Privilege of the Peers of this Realm, not only in, but out of Parliament; who in Cases Capital, are invested, by the fundamental Laws of this Kingdom, with that Right of Tryal by Peers.

And therefore they have commanded me to let you know their Resolution in this Particular, in the ancient Style; Nolumus leges Angliæ mutari.

To the Amendment, in the Seventh Folio, they do not agree; but adhere: Which they think necessary, that, in all Cases Martial, there should be a Power to pardon; and putting it in both Houses, they think it is in safe Hands: Which were ineffectual, were there not such a competent Time left for Information of the Houses, and for sending, and conferring together, as in such Cases may be requisite.

Resolved, &c. That a free Conference be desired with the Lords, upon the Amendments to the Ordinance for Martial Law: And that it be referred to the Committee formerly appointed for the Ordinance for Martial Law; with the Addition of Mr. Ellis, Mr. Martyn, Mr. Salway junior, Sir Henry Vane junior, and Mr. Grimston; to consider of and prepare some Answer to the Lords Reasons, and some Reasons for this House to allege for their Adhereing to divers Amendments of theirs, to the said Ordinance for Martial Law: And they, or any Three of them, are to meet upon it on Tuesday next, at Two Post meridiem, in the Court of Wards.

Resolved, &c. That an Ordinance be brought in, on Monday Morning next, for the Tryal of Mr. Wm. Murray, by Martial Law, for a Spy.

Mr. Lisle is appointed to bring in an Ordinance to this Purpose.

Mr. Holles reports, from the Conference, an Order of the Lords House, of 11 of March 1643, prohibiting the Felling or Carrying away of any Trees that are near unto, or do any way shelter, the Priory-House of Rygate, which the Countess of Peterborough claimeth to be hers: And likewise an Affidavit of one Thomas Forster, taken before Dr. Aylett, Februarii 11 1645, alleging, That, notwithstanding the said Order, some Persons had felled some Trees; being warranted thereunto, as he alleged, by the Lord Mounson, a Member of this House.

Post Meridiem.

AN Ordinance for passing a Pardon unto Thomas Dunstall, of Shermanbury in the County of Sussex, and granting and restoring him to his Estate, from the Twenty-fifth Day of March 1645, was this Day read the First and Second time; and, upon the Question, re-committed.

Upon the Report of Mr. John Stephens, from the Committee at Goldsmiths-Hall, concerning the Case of Sir Francis Lloyd, who was taken Prisoner at Hereford;

It is Ordered, That the said Sir Francis Lloyd be referred to the said Committee; to make his Composition for his Delinquency, and for the Taking of the Sequestration off from his Estate. And

It is further Ordered, That he shall have Liberty, upon sufficient Bail, to attend the said Committee, during the Time of his Composition.

Resolved, &c. That this House doth accept of the Fine of One thousand Pounds, for the Discharge of the Delinquency of John Penruddock, of Compton in the County of Wiltes, Esquire; he having been at Oxford, and in Arms against the Parliament: His Estate being Three hundred Pounds per Annum, in Possession; and Four hundred Pounds per Annum, in Reversion, after his Father: And that an Ordinance be brought in, for granting him a Pardon of his Offence; and for the taking the Sequestration off from his Estate; for which the said Fine was accepted.

Resolved, &c. That this House doth accept of the Fine of Six hundred Pounds, for the Discharge of the Delinquency of Richard Brereton, of Ashley in the County of Chester, Esquire; he having left his own House, and lived in the King's Quarters; he having an Estate of Five hundred Pounds per Annum, for his Life; whereof Thirtyseven Pounds per Annum is old Rents: And that an Ordinance be brought in for granting him a Pardon of his Ofsence, and for the taking the Sequestration off from his Estate; for which the said Fine was accepted.

Resolved, &c. That this House doth accept of the Fine of Two thousand Three hundred and Ninety Pounds, for the Discharge of the Delinquency of George Speake, of White-Lackington in the County of Somersett, Esquire; he having left his Habitation, and resided in the Enemies Quarters, and voluntarily contributed to the Maintenance of the Forces raised against the Parliament: And his Estate, in Fee-simple, in Possession, of old Rents, One hundred Twenty-and-two Pounds per Annum; and, of other Demesne Lands, Four hundred Pounds per Annum; and, in Reversion, after his Mother, in old Rents, One hundred and Thirty Pounds per Annum; and, in Reversion likewise, after the Death of his Mother, the Rectory Impropriate of Ilmister, for Three Lives in Being, of the clear yearly Value of Ninety-and-six Pounds per Annum; in old Rents also, in Reversion to him, and his Heirs, One hundred and Twelve Pounds Three Shillings and Three-pence per Annum; and Sixteen Pounds per Annum, in old Rents, for Life; other Lands, in Demesne, in Reversion, to the Value of Two hundred Thirty-and-seven Pounds: Out of which is issuing Thirteen Pounds Six Shillings and Eightpence: There is likewise issuing out of the said Estate Two-and-forty Pounds per Annum to an Alms-house, for ever: And that an Ordinance be brought in for granting him a Pardon for his Offence, and for the taking the Sequestration off from his Estate, for which the said Fine is accepted.

Resolved, &c. That this House doth accept of the Fine of Two hundred Pounds, for the Discharge of the Delinquency of Henry Widdrington, of Blackheddon in the County of Northumberland, Gentleman; he having been in Arms against the Parliament; and his Estate Sixty Pounds per Annum, in Lands; and a Term of Years of certain Tythes of One hundred Pounds per Annum: And that an Ordinance be brought in for granting him a Pardon for his Offence, and for the taking the Sequestration off from his Estate; for which the said Fine is accepted.

Mr. John Stephens reports from the Committee at Goldsmiths-Hall, That, upon Examination of the Delinquency and Estate of William Coker, of Mapowder in the County of Dorsett, Esquire, the Committee found, he had been a Commissioner for raising Contributions for Maintenance of the Forces raised against the Parliament: And that he had an Estate, for his Life, of Two hundred and Forty Pounds per Annum; and a personal Estate of Two hundred Pounds: And that therefore the Committee proposed, for his Fine, the Sum of Two hundred and Eighty Pounds.

The Question being put, For Re-commitment of this Report;

The House was divided.

The Yeas went forth.

And so the Question passed with the Negative.

The Question being then put, For concurring with the Committee, in accepting of the said Sum of Two hundred and Eighty Pounds of Mr. Coker;

It passed with the Affirmative.

And it is further Ordered, That an Ordinance be brought in, for granting him a Pardon for his Offence, and for taking the Sequestration off from his Estate; for which the said Fine was accepted.

Ordered, That the Interest and Estate, in all Advowsons, and Rights of Patronage, unto any Churches, belonging unto any Delinquents against the Parliament, shall, upon their Compositions, be reserved to the Disposal of the Parliament: And that the Committee at Goldsmiths-Hall do, upon all such Compositions, except the same.