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<DATE>2013-07-23</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B120728.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A DECLARATION From his Excellencie, with the Advice of his COUNCEL of WAR: Concerninghe pre&s;ent di&s;tempers of part of Commi&s;&s;ary Generall <HI>Iretons</HI> and of Colonel <HI>Scroops</HI> Regiments to undeceive the deluded party, and to leave tho&s;e excu&s;ele&s;&s;e who re|fu&s;e (upon pardon herein offered) to return to their former obedience.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="license">
<P>Signed by the Order and appointment of his Excellencie the Lord <HI>Fairfax,</HI> Lord Generall and his Councell of War.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>Aulton, Ham&s;hire. <DATE>MAY 12. 1649.</DATE></DATELINE> <SIGNED><HI>Ri. Hatter</HI> Secret.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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</TEXT></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>T. R.</HI> &amp; <HI>E. M.</HI> for <HI>R. M.</HI> 1649.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>A <HI>Declaration</HI> from his Excellency the L. <HI>Fairfax,</HI> with the Advice of his Councel of Warre.</HEAD>
<P>_BEing informed by the Officers of Commi&s;&s;a|ry General <HI>Iretons</HI> Regiments, of the late un|heard of, and not to be paralell'd violation of the Government of the Army by divers Souldiers, who without and again&s;t their Officers (no ju&s;t cau&s;e or provocation being given for their &s;o doing) have &s;ei&s;ed four Colours belonging to the &s;aid Regiment, and are marched away with them; and &s;ince of the like practi&s;e in Colonel <HI>Scroops</HI> Regiment, en|deavouring (as I hear) to per&s;wade others unto the like un|lawfull actings.</P>
<P>I have though fit to public&s;h this <HI>Declaration</HI> to &s;ee if it &s;hall plea&s;e God, the per&s;ons &s;o offending, will be by the rea&s;ons therein contained, convinced of the evill of their actions, and returne againe to their obedience; and to pre|vent others from the like practi&s;e: And if not, that I may thereby be clear from all the mi&s;ery and evill likely to en|&s;ue thereupon, in ca&s;e there &s;hall be a perfi&s;ting in the &s;aid di&s;order, and I be nece&s;&s;itated out of the duty I owe to God, and the di&s;harge of my tru&s;t to the Parliament and People of this nation to enforce a &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion and obedience to the Au|thority committed to me for the good of the publique.</P>
<P>This heady and unlawfull action hath the&s;e two evils in
<PB N="4" REF="3">it, the one, again&s;t God and his &s;acred name, the other again&s;t the liberty and peace of the Common-wealth.</P>
<P>You are not ignorant what a ble&s;&s;ing hath gone along with your endeavours again&s;t the enemies of God, &amp; your Country, while&s;t you &s;tood faithfull to the tru&s;t repo&s;ed in you, engage|ing your &s;elves again&s;t the Common enemy, to our liberty and peace, and all this by the pre&s;ence of God with you. But by this unwarrantable act of yours, how do you avowedly declare your di&s;owning of that Providence, tru&s;ting rather to the violence of your own &s;pirits, then waiting to &s;ee what i&s;&s;ue God will give to the great affaires of this Nation. And if you &s;hall per&s;i&s;t herein and be the occa&s;ions of another warre, you will give the enemy advantage to &s;ay, their Cau&s;e hath been good all along, and that now this divi&s;ion among&s;t us is a Iudgement of God upon us for oppo&s;ing them, and doing &s;uch things e&s;pecially in the execution of Ju&s;tice, as doth re|joyce hone&s;t hearts to think of, but the enemy &s;o much &s;tudy to revenge.</P>
<P>Secondly, you do al&s;o di&s;owne the act of God in denying obedience to tho&s;e who by his clear Call are &s;et over you, without any provocation on their part, or &s;o much as rea&s;on given by you for your &s;o doing; and herein you will be found re&s;i&s;ters not of man but of God. No man is able to fore&s;ee the manife&s;t hazard likely to befall this poor wa&s;ted Nation, by this act of yours, for</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, You will hereby give opportunity to the Cavaleiri&s;h party to &s;helter them&s;elves an flie to Armes under the pro|tection of this di&s;temper, and</P>
<P>Secondly, You do manife&s;tly hinder the relief of <HI>Ireland,</HI> where many per&s;ons of honour and hone&s;ty are ready to be &s;wallowed up by tho&s;e blood-thir&s;ty Rebels for maintaining the very &s;ame cau&s;e with s here: And if it &s;hall happen that they be ruin'd there, what can be expected but an immediate
<PB N="5" REF="3">coming over of tho&s;e forces into <HI>England</HI> to revive their old cau&s;e and quarrel here.</P>
<P>And if I be rightly informed, I hear that you make this to be one of your pretences, to this your irregular and ungodly acting, <HI>That you are nece&s;&s;itated to go for</HI> Ireland, which if you &s;hall refu&s;e, you &s;hall be disbanded di&s;honourably. Although I know, and you might have known al&s;o (if you would have had patience to have been rightly informed) that indeed there is not a word of truth, neither in the one nor in the o|ther; The Parliament nor my &s;elfe re&s;olving to compell any one to that &s;ervice, or to puni&s;h in the lea&s;t for refu&s;ing the &s;ame. The Lot being ca&s;t (as it was) put the di&s;po&s;all of men for that imployment upon God, who hath thereby decided it; and if you can &s;atisfie your con&s;ciences in neglecting &s;o clear a cal, let that be between God and you, that being all the inforcement or compul&s;ion that either was or is intended.</P>
<P>And though you may pretend that things are not &s;etled for the good of this Common-wealth, yet how unwarrant|able a thing is it for you upon &s;uch deceitfull pretences, &s;i|thence, the &s;aid things might for ought you know in due time be &s;etled; nay, and are now upon a &s;ettlement, (if the&s;e di&s;tempers of yours hinder not) even upon a bare &s;uppo&s;i|tion to runne into a po&s;itive and notorious act of mutiny and di&s;obedience, again&s;t all rules of hone&s;ty and good con|&s;cience, yea &amp; again&s;t the known lawfull Authority of this Nation, which hath done greater things for the good and welfare of the people, then any of their Predece&s;&s;ors have done in a thou&s;and years before.</P>
<P>And if you have not quie lo&s;t your under&s;tandings and con&s;ciences, (and are thereby become incapable of &s;atisfa|ction) what rea&s;on have you to quarrel at the Parliaments Proceedings, who have improved their time in doing the mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary things fir&s;t? which if they had not in their
<PB N="6" REF="4">wi&s;edomes preferred in point of time, to tho&s;e you would have (for there lyeth all the ground of murmuring in di&s;|contented &s;pirits) the good things you pretend to, and &s;ome call for, could never have come in to act at all, no more then they are like now to do, if by this outragious act of yours the Land be brought into another warre; the only de|&s;igne and means the Malignants and other the implacable e|nemies of the welfare of the Nation have, to keep tho&s;e good things from us: And therefore I &s;hall de&s;ire all men among&s;t you, who are capable of &s;atisfaction, a little to con&s;ider how the Parliament have &s;pent their time &s;ince they were free to act for the good of the Nation, and then weigh (whether the things they have done could have given place to tho&s;e, you, and &s;ome other murmuring &s;pirits would have? and whether it be lawfull for you to ri&s;e in Rebellion upon a bare &s;uppo&s;ition and pretence, that the things you &s;tand for will not at all be brought to pa&s;&s;e? whereas indeed the Parliament hath declared their re&s;oluti|ons therein, and are at this time in a hopefull way to accom|pli&s;h them, if they be not hindred by this &s;o unwarrantable act of yours.</P>
<P>The Parliament begun with that great act of Ju&s;tice, which was by good men &s;o called for, and was indeed &s;o nece&s;&s;ary a duty to take off the pollution of innocent blood, wherewith the Land was defiled; wherein what was done, through what difficulties, and how much time was &s;pent, is obvious to all unprejudiced Per&s;ons.</P>
<P>In the next place the removing of the Hou&s;e of Peers, which challenged &s;o great a &s;hare in the Legi&s;lative power, without who&s;e concurrence every thing that tended to the publike good received a &s;top, and could not pa&s;&s;e in|to a Law, and therefore would be without effect, whereby the Legi&s;lative power is brought into the Repre&s;entatives of
<PB N="7" REF="4">the People, with what difficultie this was obtained they be&s;t know who had the trouble of it? and what time and labour it co&s;t to effect this, and to make Laws again&s;t King&s;hip, and a Hou&s;e of Peers, that they never returne againe upon us, (except by this Act of yours) is likewi&s;e mo&s;t evident.</P>
<P>The next in point of time was the providing to &s;ecure trade by putting a fleet to &s;ea, and what they encountred with in this worke, the &s;tores of the Navy being emptied and all trea&s;uries exhau&s;ted by tho&s;e in Parliament, who drove on the Kings de&s;igne, on purpo&s;e to make it impo&s;|&s;ible to get out a fleet this Summer, that by this and dis|banding the Army they might the better bring on an un|worthy and un&s;afe Peace with the King, and thereby cau&s;e our mi&s;erie the &s;ubver&s;ions of our Liberties, and Ti|ranny to fall irre&s;i&s;tably upon us; And notwith&s;tanding all the&s;e difficulties the Parliament hath to the &s;ecuring of Trades, and defence of the Nation from forraigne inva|&s;ion, put out the greate&s;t fleet to &s;ea that ever this Nation did, whereby the Trade is revived, which was almo&s;t &s;unk, and the enemy di&s;appointed of their mi&s;chievous de|&s;ignes again&s;t us.</P>
<P>In the la&s;t place before the things you &s;o much urge could be thought on, it was judged by the Parliament a thing mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary, to take off free-quarter to prepare wherewithall to relieve <HI>Ireland,</HI> and to provide for Soul|diers arrears: in all which they have &s;o farre proceeded, (though with much expence of time and meeting, many &s;ad ob&s;tructions by rea&s;on all Trea&s;uries were &s;o anticipa|ted) that free-quarter is totally taken off, except you now againe begin it, (and then I doubt the Countrey will hardly judge you friends to their Liberties, or at all tru&s;t your faire pretences.) The reliefe of <HI>Ireland</HI> al&s;o is &s;o pro|vided for, as that the Souldiers who is de&s;igned thither
<PB N="8" REF="5">is equally to be paid with tho&s;e remaining in <HI>England,</HI> and both theirs and tho&s;e here, &s;o taken care for in point of Arrears; as that the only be&s;t and mo&s;t pre&s;ent &s;ecurity and &s;atisfaction in <HI>England,</HI> viz. the late Kings Parks and his Revenues is by the Parliament &s;etled for their &s;atisfa|ction; And to the endt he Souldiery might neither be de|layed nor defrauded in the &s;tating and auditing their Ac|compts, it is referred to the Field-Officers of each re&s;pe|ctive Regiment to performe the &s;ame; and if this Ju&s;tice and favour de&s;erve the requitall of &s;uch actings as the&s;e? let the whole Nation judge.</P>
<P>The&s;e things being done, and the other things of &s;ettle|ment compri&s;ed in the Agreement (pre&s;ented with all hu|mility from the Councell of the Army,) being begun upon, and now in hand, and that in particular of putting a period to this pre&s;ent Parliament, and &s;etling a future equal Repre|&s;entative, the fir&s;t in their con&s;ideration; what is the cau&s;e, and how will it be an&s;wered to God or men to have &s;o ra&s;h an act as this is, performed by you upon no provocation &s;o much again&s;t your duty and tru&s;t, and all obligations which may be expected from hone&s;t men?</P>
<P>For you (I &s;ay) to ca&s;t off this Authority upon &s;o weake and mi&s;taken grounds, how think you? are you able to an|&s;wer the &s;ame?</P>
<P>Many things more might be urged in aggravation of this offence but becau&s;e <HI>I</HI> had rather &s;ee you returne to your obedience, then delight to put my finger upon the fore; I thought fit to let you know, that if after all this, you all, or any among&s;t you &s;hall &s;ubmit and returne, I am ready and willing to pa&s;&s;e by and pardon: But if you &s;hall per&s;i&s;t in your ob&s;tinacie, <HI>I</HI> &s;hall endeavour by force to reduce you, and therein put my &s;elfe and the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e upon God.</P>
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