Firſt, The King, when there ever was a ſpirit of Juſtice ſtirring and diſcovered in the Houſe, he ſends the Black Rod, and diſſolves the Parliament; and ſo the Parliament men were fain to go home with a flea in their ear, and tell the Free-holders in the Country of the bravery of the King and Lords. So the Generall, &c. when he ſaw the ſpirit of Juſtice ſtirring in the Armie amongſt the free people and Souldiery of this Nation, that had adventured their bloud, he diſſolved their Generall Councell of two Officers and two Souldiers of every Regiment, &c.

Secondly, If the people clamour for another Parliament, then there goes out another Summons; yet a way made to make all fruitleſſe, by a negative voyce that the people cannot ſave themſelves without him; and muſt cut their own throats, if commanded ſo to do. So if any of the people in the Armie claim and clamour for their Rights, even for their indiſputable rights of Petitioning; then preſently there is an Order from the Generall and ſome other Officers, or a Command and negative Voice, to hinder the ſame: Whereas they charged Hollis and Stapleton for overthrowing the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects of this Nation, in arbitrary, violent, and oppreſſive wayes, and endeavoured by indirect and corrupt practices to delay and obſtruct Juſtice, to the great dammage and prejudice of divers of the poor Commoners of England petitioning for the ſame.

Thirdly, Another means he had to put ſome others between him and the Peoples hatred, by a pretended prerogative to be the ſole Judge of Chivalry; and to have the ſole power of conferring Honours; that ſo he might be ſure to have two againſt one to ſtand for his Prerogative againſt all right and reaſon. And ſo, What gaping and depending upon the Generall after Places of Honour and Profit; What undermining any one that is out of favour (though without cauſe;) and what ſnares there are and have been laid for the caſting out of thoſe that have appeared conſcientiouſly ſtedfaſt to their principles, for the Rights of the People, Let all rational men judge.

Fourthly, Another means he had to delude the People, to make the People beleeve, That he had committed all Juſtice to the Judges, and diſtributed the execution thereof into ſeverall Courts; and that the King cannot ſo much as impriſon a man without Law or reaſon. But ſee what a mockery this was to Juſtice: If the King have a minde to have any publick ſpirited men removed out of the way, this man is kill'd, the murtherer known, a Letter comes to the Judge, and it may be it ſhall be found but Man-ſlaughter. So, when the Lord did (though with much temperance, as I appeal to the world) make me to own things that are juſt, according to their own former words and actions (as after appears in my Caſe;) then I was preſently a mark to ſhoot at; and though this hath not extended to murther mee as yet: yet it hath extended (as much as in him lay) to diſ-repute mee, and undoe mee; ſnatch mee off by force from the common Cauſe of the Nation, and unmercifully make mee lyable to Inſurrections and Invaſiens, if any ſhall be.

Fifthly, For matter of Libertie; if the King, or any Courtier ſends a man to Priſon, if the Judge ſet him at libertie, then he puts him out of his Place: which is (ſaith hee) a temptation too heavie for thoſe that love money and Honour more then God. So, if any one appears out of a reall affection to Juſtice, for any one that is extremely oppreſſed; then there is ſuſpicion and jealouſie; and as the new Colonell John Reynolds ſaid to one, If hee ſhould ſpeak for mee, he ſhould prejudice himſelf▪

Sixthly, The King pretended a Prerogative, That he might avoid any of his Grants; and ſo might cozen and cheat any man by a Law; and the ground thereof, That the Kings Grants ſhall be taken according to his intention: And by this means the Kings Grants have been like the Divels Oracles, taken in any contrary ſenſe for his own advantage. Whereas Maſter Solliciton Cook ſaith, All the Judges in England cannot make one Caſe to be Law, that is not Reaſon. But the General (though he hath joyned in many good things) hath made void his own ſolemn Engagements to the Souldiers and People, hath impriſoned and caſhiered thoſe that have appeared conſciencious to their Principles; and uſed divers arbitary and oppreſſive wayes, to make himſelf and his Creatures abſolute and unlimited, tending to the extreme prejudice of many of the Common-Weal; (viz.) Officers and Souldiers of this Nation, as appeared by his actions of Caſhierement, of Captain Ingram, and then the Life-guard, my ſelf, and divers others in the Engagement equally concerned; and ſo he goes on to an abſolute will, divided intereſt, and conqueſt over many of thoſe that have engaged in England's bloud, and appear for England's Libertie, and at length may over all others; contrary to the Declarations of the Army in oppoſing the Parliament, in the Declaration of the fourteenth of June, 1647, in the Volume, pages 40, 41, 42. But Conqueſt or Power makes a Title amongſt Wolves and Bears, but not amongſt men, as Maſter Sollicitor Cook ſaith againſt the King. What a ſad thing is it, that after our Engagements, double and treble Engagements againſt Abſoluteneſſe, Tyranny, Conqueſt, Arbittarineſſe, the ſame things muſt be done amongſt our ſelves?

And now I appeal to you for Judgement and Juſtice that may appear without partiality to the underſtandings of all unbiaſſed men.

I ſhall onely hint unto you the buſineſſe of Warre in a few words, (viz.) if I had deſerted the Regiment at the time of the Agreement of the People, I had been a perfidious fellow to my Principles, and the Nation, and Armie; and by that means the Nations intereſt in that Regiment had been the Kings▪ for there were ſome Lords in the Quarters courted them to it. But this Honourable Houſe, and all rationall people may ſee how inhumanely I was uſed.

After my being apprehended in the Field, I was ſix weeks in cuſtody at Windſor, or thereabouts: I was juſtifiable in my grounds and reaſons, which did relate to the Engagement of the Army, The Agreement of the People, and the Generals juſt Authority: And I was declared juſtifiable by Lieutenant Generall Cromwell, as many can witneſſe; and Commiſſary Generall Irevon told one in private (viz. Mr. Sexbye) that there was nothing againſt me. I was appointed my Command again under the notion of an holy Faſt, and of their deſiring an union, and imbracing one another in love, (oh ſad hypocriſie!) but it was to juggle me out of my right: (Reaſon and Juſtice being for me, as doth after appear;) that what Reaſon and Juſtice could not do, Power ſhould. After that, the Generall ſeemed to be diſ-ſatisfied: though Commiſſary General Ireton ſaid, That God did incline the hearts of the Generall and Generall Councell to deſire a union, and embrace one another in love (his very expreſſions, as many were witneſſe;) and ſo I had Lieutenant General Comwels Letter to Newcaſtle: But that Apoſtate, my deadly enemy, Henry Lilburn (having influence in the Generall, when I came from Newcaſtle, two hundred and ten miles from London) got me preſently ſuſpended my Command: after ſome five or ſix weeks ſtay, ſuſpenſion or confinement there, a Commiſſion was ſent from the Generall for another to have my place. I had ſome loſſe alſo by the tedious journey: Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lilburn had alſo broken open my Trunk, and ſeized upon my Commiſſion, and kept it. I was fain after all this to return to London. I had been four or five months or thereabouts ſtrook out of the Muſter-Rols of the Armie without cauſe. When I came to London, I made my appeal to the General and his Counſell of War, and delivered it to himſelf to be heard, and for juſtice; but I ſpake to the air, I could not get it granted. After that I made many private Addreſſes by my ſelf and others: He told me, It was his pleaſure. I offered to refer it to ſome Parliament-men to hear the buſineſſe, I could not have that granted: I offered to refer it to ſome conſciencious Officers of the Armie in private, I could not have that granted: Which actions were (under correction) contrary to the ſolemn Engagement of the Armie, the Articles and Diſcipline of War, and all manner of Chriſtian Society and reaſon amongſt men.—Oh unreaſonableneſſel—And at length, all that I could get from the Generall, was but twenty pound out of the contingent moneys. And the truth of it was, it was extreme grievous to me to bring Odum upon the Generall and others, with continuall hope: of his and others reſurrection, or ſtanding for Principles of Juſtice and Freedom to the People: But now I ſee it is of ſuch an extenſion, as a continued deſign to diſparage, diſhonor, and deſtroy me, and conſequently others; I hope I ſhall be excuſed in the eyes of all rationall men, that I now ſpeak: Though, for enemies to me, and Apoſtates, I care not what they ſay.

After all this injuſtice and disſatisfaction, when others would have wrought upon theſe things, and uſed it, as an argument to me, to revenge my own wrongs, and publique injuries; another pretending for the King and Juſtice, inſinuatingly, politiquely, and privately, That if I would, I might be a Colonell againſt the Grandees. But the Lord made me to abhorr ſuch motions, and the Lord kept me firm, ſtedfaſt, and ſincere in the times of temptations, wrongs, apoſtaſies, and danger, to the Nation, the Army, and this Houſe; and ſo to their perſons, though my perſon have been toſſed like a Tennis-ball by them: And I raiſed a Troop againſt the bloody Inſurrections, and in conſtancy to my Principles, and by the Generals own privitie, unto whom I did in my affections and civility go for that end. And when I was diſmiſſed out of the County of Kent. I have ever ſince kept up my Troop, in order to the Freedom, Juſtice, and Peaceable ſettlement of the Nation, in Colonell Reynold's Regiment, and upon the ſame Account that the Army and the well-affected of the Houſe have manifeſted themſelves, have been at moſt exceſſive charges and damages this Five months in order thereunto; and have been intruſted with the guard of the Kings own perſon, at Hurſt-Caſtle by the authority of the Army, and command of Col. John Reinolds, (voted a Col. of the Army by this Houſe.)

Yet notwithſtanding may it pleaſe this ſupreme Authority, I being at the Generall-Councell of the Army, on, or about the firſt day of March laſt paſt, and there being a Letter preſented by ſome Sou ldiers, to the Generall, and the Councell; it was put to the queſtion and the Poll, whether the Letter ſhould be owned or not owned: And when I was demanded my Vote in the Councell, (which ſhould be free:) I told them, That though I could have wiſhed that many expreſſions that were taken offence at were left out; yet in my Judgment the ſubſtance of the Letter did relate to the right of petitioning, and to a petition that was preſented in Parliament, and therefore I thought the work of that Court was to conſider of it, and ſo I owned it, though I had ſome temptation upon my ſpirit not to own it, becauſe I ſaw a deſigne upon me. A little after, I was ignominiouſly and unreaſonably caſt out of the Councell, and had not liberty (though I deſired it) to ſpeak, as if it were now grown a Capitall offence to ſpeak a mans judgement in a Councell, (which ſhould be free) and as capitall a ſin to ſpeak a word for a private Souldier (though with never ſo much temperance) if contrary to the judgment of ſome Officers; whereas it was offered by the Army, as a neceſſary expedient that there might be a liberty of diſſents in the Houſe of Commons, that the Nation might readily come to know, who they are that perform their truſt faithfully, and who not; and this was offered to render a Parliament leſs nocent, Remonſt. of 23 June, and in the Volume of Declar. page 143. We appeal to all men whether it be juſt or tolerable, that any priviledge of Parliament, ſhould contrary to the Law of Nature make a man judge in his own caſe on concernment. But the Generall would have that unreaſonable power and dominion which he would not give to Parliaments, amd will not give that libertie that he takes to himſelf: Unto what paſs will this Nation come to, unleſs this honorable Houſe juſtly interpoſe with their juſt Authority. But I humbly conceive, That this honorable Houſe, the wel-affected in Army and Nation, are bonnd in conſcience, to interpoſe in their dying Liberties; for what man in the earth knowes where ſuch practiſes and deſignes will end; for after I was caſt out of the Councell without juſt cauſe, my Troop was given away to another, and a Commiſſion given to another to be in the Regiment, and I could not have that indiſputable Juſtice from the Generall, to ſuſpend it till the buſineſs was determined in Parliament, though I deſired it in private of him.

I ſhall deſire the honourable Houſe to conſider the two Caſes before laid down (not mentioning my former Arrears and loſſes in your ſervice, and for your ſakes) by which injuſtice and wrongs will appear, and by reaſon of which I am engaged in the world: and to conſider that the Generall would by vertue of his negative voice, (which the King ſo much ſtood upon under the ſpecious notion of the uſe of his reaſon) deprive me of my right, and give it to his creature; and pretend that he hath an unlimited power to give; and deny, to whom he pleaſe, which may extend as well to kill, and ſave alive, as to honour and dethrone, in an unreaſonable arbitrary manen; juſt like the Kings practiſe, as I have ſhewed before. He himſelf can receive a Commiſſion from Parliament, againſt the King, and after that withſtand the Parliament, again and again, and rend and tear in pieces all power, and break all the reins of government, as to former conſtitutions, and tell them, That it is not the me • r punctilio of a Commiſſion? but impartiall Juſtice, and Freedom, principles of nature and right reaſon is his Commiſſion, (which actions are only juſtifiable before God and Man, in order to Juſtice and Freedom) but he can act arbitrarily, unreaſonably, and fly to his own Sword and power, without reaſon, when he pleaſes, to deſtroy the Nations friends, and his own too (though not flatterers) in their freedom and Juſtice. This corruption may deſtroy the wel-being of this Army and Common-weal; for if this Houſe, or any Officers or Souldiers in this Army, do walk and ſpeak never ſo reaſonably, yet power and Will may deſtroy and caſt out both, or doe both; for by it he may doe one as juſtifiably as the other. And if God in his appointments ſhould give a great part of this Army into the hands of future Enemies, by future Warr and Blood, then another part of the people of this Nation muſt be invited out with the names and expreſſions of Judgment and Conſcience; and after they have obtained Victory alſo with the loſs of many thouſands, and the hazards of many more; all their liberties, and equal good and right, ſhall be uſurped and ſwallowed up into the hands of one man, (or a few men) who may be partially ſwayed to deſtroy and ſave alive whom he pleaſe; if he prove corrupt and apoſtatize as former powers have, and ſo one corrupt man in power corrupts many more, untill at length they will come to call corruption Juſtice; and it muſt be ſo, becauſe they call it ſo; and then he is worthy of death and caſhierment, that will not ſay, The Crow is white.

For my part, I ſhall profeſs my ſelf to the world to be for the Generals perſonall Authority, and power of Conduct (ſo long as this intruſted Authority thinks fit and juſt; and as may appear by an addreſs unto his Excellency written by my own hand, and conſented to by the Troops about two months laſt paſt) as much as any inſinuater or flatterer that hath interpoſed between the Generall and me, in order to the Rights of the People; and I ſhould be glad if the Generall did walk truly, juſtly, and honourably, ſutable to ſuch an Authority. But to have (as much as in him lay) my body, little eſtate, and more eſpecially, or above all, the Liberties of my Country, the liberty and freedom of my Conſcience, to be all enſlaved at once by him, I had rather be rack'd to death or deſtroyed by the General, or by any unworthy, mercenary-ſpirited, inſinuating Officer or Souldier, then ſubſcribe in that ſenſe. And I profeſſe impartially, I know not what ſenſe is expected from me elſe, by theſe and the like actings: juſt like the actings of Willam the Norman Conquerour, who deprived the Engliſh Natives of the comforts of Riches, and Places, and their ſmalleſt offences againſt his will and Norman Lawes, were made grants to entitle him to their Lands, and places of Truſt, to fulfill his luſt, ſatisfie his Creatures, and carry on his Tyrannous deſignes over the People. And I do finde it a very great evill, that when the People and the Souldiery claim juſt and undenyable things; then preſently ſome men commonly fly to a deceivable miſtaking of the Queſtion, and ſubvert the People and Souldiery in their Cauſe; and ſay that the men are againſt Authority, as the King did againſt the Parliament: and ſo the People and Souldiery are jugled out of the Queſtion.

But I deſire this Honourable Houſe to conſider, That Injuſtice is the foundation of almoſt all evils in the world: and when Politique Murtherers (which are the greateſt Murtherers in the world) give continued occaſion, then they cry out againſt the evil, and rend and tear like unreaſonable beaſts of prey; and cry out upon the Lambe, if it ſeek but his juſt, righteous, naturall, and reaſonable ſafety; they extremely offend, and then they are offended if a man ſpeak in his juſt cauſe; like Tiberius the ſucceſſor of Octavius, who after a faigned clemency at the beginning of his Reign, ſuffered no day to paſſe without ſhedding the blood of poor innocents; and he prohibited on pain of death, that no one ſhould be ſo bold as to weep or to manifeſt ſorrow: They make occaſions; they cry out of paſſions, though they abundantly provoke.

And therefore Right Honourable, ſithence Authority is meerly for that end, to doe Juſtice impartially, that one might not oppreſſe another, that Might may not ovorcome Right; and ſince you have overturned the face of other perſonall Authorities, caſt out, and impriſoned divers Members of your own Houſe, to their ignominie and diſhonour, nulled the Houſe of Lords, impartially beheaded the King and ſome Lords, and Declared to the people, That it is out of an affection to impartiall Juſtice and Righteouſneſſe, according to the firſt Inſtitution of authority by Judges, according to the Scriptures, Deut. I. 16, 17. I ſhall deſire you would doe Juſtice for Juſtice ſake, that it may appear to the People, and to the Officers and Souldiers of the Nation, whom it juſtly concerns, and unto whom I am deeply engaged, whoſe Cauſe I make my own, and whoſe blood I eſteem as my own, and unto whom I have now diſcharged my Conſcience, and then you will juſtly oblige me to manifeſt my ſelf yours, and to employ my ſmall talent of reaſon and underſtanding for your ſervice, and in defence of your ſupreme Authority.