Records of the Kirk of Scotland / containing the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies from 1638 downwards, as authenticated by the clerks of assembly.

by Church of Scotland. General Assembly

On the 7th, Cromwell came to the house, and received its thanks for his services; and, that day, several other members were prevented by the guard from entering the house, which, in a state of terror, broke up, after agreeing to hold a humiliation and fast in the house next day, and to discuss the army’s proposals on the 9th. Notwithstanding the prayerful proceedings in the house on the 8th, the General marched two regiments of foot and several troops of cavalry into the city, (the bulk of the army being stationed in the suburbs,) and secured the treasuries of several incorporations, from one of which £20,000 were taken. On the day following the proposed debate dropped sub silentio; and nothing was done save listening to communications from the city and General about cash; but, for further security, another regiment of dragoons was quartered in the city. And thus the city, suburbs, and precincts of Parliament, continued in military occupation, neither of the houses sitting till Tuesday the 12th of December. In the meanwhile, however, the General and Council concocted, on the Monday, what may be termed a “Reform Bill”—embracing various propositions for an equal representation—for the dissolution of the existing Parliament—relating to the qualification of members; and, on the whole, presenting a model not very dissimilar to the codes of our more modern Radicals and Chartists.[399]

On the 12th of December, both houses met. In the Commons, a vote of 3d January, 1647, by which Hollis and ten other members, previously excluded, had been rescinded, was declared null; and another vote of 30th June, 1648, concurring with the Lords for opening a treaty with the King, was declared highly dishonourable to the proceedings of Parliament, and nullified. The Sheriff of London, and six other persons, were apprehended by the army, and imprisoned in St James’; and the house and army vied with each other in renouncing all the acts which they had recently passed for effecting a settlement of affairs in the kingdom.[400] Next day, the Commons reconsidered these resolutions, and fully adopted them; declaring that no further communications should be made to or received from the King; and that whosoever contravened these ordinances should be guilty of high treason.[401]

From this time forward the whole affairs of England may be regarded as being entirely under a military government. From all quarters, where portions of the army were stationed, declarations of adherence to the remonstrance were poured in. The General and Council issued proclamations for freedom of trade; and the Parliament—an obedient tool in the hands of the soldiery—complied with all that was dictated to them. Of the secluded members, sixteen were liberated from confinement. The new navy, under the Earl of Warwick’s command, concurred with the army, in the council at which all matters of civil and ecclesiastical concernment were discussed and decided on as they thought fit: in short, the nation groaned under a military despotism.

The King was taken from Hurst Castle to Windsor on the 23d of December; and, on the 25th, a committee of the Commons was appointed to consider in what manner proceedings should be held against him; petitions from Norfolk and elsewhere pouring in with clamorous demands that he and all others aiding and abetting him “in shedding blood, may, without further delay, be brought to due and impartial justice.” The Council of War, on the 27th, gave an order that all ceremonies to the King be left off—his attendants to be fewer, and at less expense; and, the day after, the committee appointed to consider of the charge against the King, and the manner of his trial, reported an ordinance for attainting him of high treason, and for trying him by such commissioners as should be nominated in the body of the said ordinance. On Friday the ordinance was committed; and, on the 1st of January, 1649, the Commons passed an act nominating 150 commissioners and judges for the hearing, trying, and adjudging the said Charles Stuart for the treasons imputed to him.[402]

On the 2d of January, the ordinance for trial of the King was, by message, brought up to the Lords, who demurred to it, and evaded an immediate answer by saying that they would send it by their own messenger, and adjourned for ten days. A deputation of the Commons was, however, sent (3d January) to examine the Lords’ journals, and reported thence “that their Lordships do not concur to the declaration; and that their Lordships rejected the ordinance for the trial of the King;” and, after adjusting the names of the commissioners, by excluding the peers who had been named, and substituting others, and resolving that the ordinance for trial should be in name of the Commons only, they, on the 4th, passed the following resolutions:—

“Resolved, That the Commons of England assembled in Parliament do declare that the people under God are the original of all just powers.

“They do likewise declare, that the Commons of England assembled in Parliament being chosen by, and representing the people, have the supreme authority of this nation.

“They do likewise declare, that whatsoever is enacted and declared law by the Commons of England, assembled in Parliament, hath the force of law; and all the people of this nation are included thereby, although the consent and concurrence of the King and the House of Peers be not had thereunto.

“These being reported to the House, the House put them, one after another, to the question, and there was not one negative voice to any one of them. Then an ordinance for trial of Charles Stuart was again read and assented unto, and ordered to be forthwith engrossed in Parchment, and to be brought in to-morrow morning.”[403]

And here, for the present, we pause in our narrative of proceedings in England, that we may recur to those in the Parliament of Scotland, which met at Edinburgh the same day that the Commons of England had adopted these resolutions. We have entered more particularly into the foregoing statements, which are drawn from the journals of the Parliament itself, because, without tracing the entire progress of events in their due order, it is impossible to form any just conception of the real facts from the general histories which treat of that period, and because it is desirable to exhibit in their true colours the outrageous nature of proceedings by which a self-constituted and lawless oligarchy, by palpable and daring acts of usurpation, overturned the constitution of their country, and established in its stead a wild, democratic, and military despotism.