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<DATE>2014-10-06</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140721.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A91692">
<STC T="W">R1149</STC>
<STC T="T">E128_27</STC>
<STC T="C">R9435</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99873548</BIBNO>
<VID>156252</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE RESOLUTION OF The Gentry and Commonalty of the County <HI>OF</HI> KENT: Wherein they declare their Love and Loyalty to the Parliament, with their full Determination to ha|zard their lives and fortunes in this pre&s;ent expedition, again&s;t the evill Coun&s;ellours and Cavaliers that are enemies to the King and Parliament: With their humble Petition pre&s;ented to the Hou&s;e of Peeres.</P>
<P>Al&s;o the PARLIAMENTS care for the future pre|vention of plundering and pillaging, with their Charge for the Re&s;titution of &s;uch Goods to the Owners, as have been illegally taken from them by the Souldiers.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON, Novemb.</HI> 28. Printed for <HI>T. Wright.</HI> 1642.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="resolution and petition to Parliament">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>THE RESOLUTION Of the County of KENT.</HEAD>
<P>WArr hath deeply plunged this land into the mi&s;ery of a Civill de&s;truction, &s;o that the cleere&s;t Judgment cannot di&s;cerne, what &s;hould be the event thereof. For both Armies being provided of great &s;trength, they flatter them&s;elves with an ex|pectation of victory, the lo&s;&s;e and effu&s;ion of bloud being certaine, the gaine nothing but the ruin of the Common-wealth, under a pretended &s;hew of Re|ligion, which doth per&s;wade the acting of the blou|dy Tragedy. In the&s;e doubtfull, times no County can &s;tand as a looker on, but mu&s;t declare theit Re|&s;olution either to &s;tand for the King or Parliament, &s;o that the affections of the Commons are now cleer|ly di&s;cerned, and in this doubtfull matter are di&s;co|vered either to be friends or foes; their hearts by their inclination, to either &s;ide being laid naked to view of the world.</P>
<P>That which &s;hall now be the &s;ubject of this Decla|ration, is the con&s;tant Re&s;olution of the <HI>Kenti&s;h</HI> men, who&s;e cleere intents do give example to other coun|ties,
<PB N="2" REF="3"> to be firme and true with them&s;elves and Reli|gion which now lies a bleeding.</P>
<P>The <HI>Kenti&s;h</HI>-men were formerly conduced by their owne opinions, to thinke it the &s;afe&s;t cour&s;e to &s;tand upon their owne guard, or el&s;e to a&s;&s;i&s;t the King in this civill War, their Petitions not being &s;o well accepted as tho&s;e of other Counties pre&s;ented to the Parliament, &s;o that it was &s;uppo&s;ed that upon any occa&s;ion they would rai&s;e forces to a&s;&s;i&s;t the King, and with all the aide they could afford him, encrea&s;e the flame of this Civill di&s;&s;ention.</P>
<P>Now the <HI>Kenti&s;h</HI> men are happyly converted to a|nother opinion, thereby giving certaine te&s;temony of a great acknowledging their former errour. And they do now intend to be no more blinded, with a glori|ous &s;hew of &s;tanding for the King; but in all matters do addre&s;&s;e their de&s;ires to the Parliament, and to ho|nour and defend both Hou&s;es.</P>
<P>The cau&s;es moving forward a de&s;igne, and the good end whereunto any action is directed, do make it perfect and worthy of glory, if therefore the reader would con&s;ider the cau&s;e, and end, exciting the <HI>Ken|ti&s;h</HI>-men to this Re&s;olution, he &s;hall finde they wete ind<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">ed thereunto by the per&s;wa&s;ion of Religion and Re<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;on, they &s;aw their could be no Reformation of the Church, unle&s;&s;e they complyed with the Parlia|ment, and therefore they &s;ent a late Petition to the Parliament, which gave them better &s;atisfaction then the former did, de&s;iring that the Parliament would be plea&s;ed to go on to a through Reformation, and ma|ny other good de&s;ires they intimated in that Petition
<PB N="3" REF="3"> &s;hewing how much they de&s;ired to expedite their proceedings, and in many high expre&s;&s;ions declared their Re&s;olution, and con&s;tant affection to the Parli|ament.</P>
<P>Religion and the &s;acred care thereof, was the fir&s;t &s;trong inducement to worke this happy change in their affections, and now have made a late demon|&s;tration of their firme love to &s;tand for the truth, and and tho&s;e great defenders thereof the Parliament, they having now as ardent a de&s;ire, to advance the common cau&s;e, as tho&s;e other Counties; who made more early adre&s;&s;e to the hou&s;e.</P>
<P>The next con&s;ideration that begot in them a good opinion of the Parliament, was the inhumane deal|ing of the C<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">valiers, unto which the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> &s;lavery being compared would appeare mercy, they have their eares &s;trook with the terrour of their bloudy actions, their pillaging and plundering of hou&s;es, their extreame cruelty to &s;uch as they take, tortur|ing them with words, before they will afford them the happyne&s;&s;e of an expected death; thereby to lengthen their mi&s;ery, and to rejoyce at their owne wickedne&s;&s;e, in Sacrificeing the liues of all they take, and killing Weomen with child, thinkeing it to be a worke of Diveli&s;h pollicy to kill a Round-head.</P>
<P>What Souldiers heart though obdurate as <HI>Vli&s;&s;es Mirmidons,</HI> can &s;eeing the&s;e mo&s;t bloudy and treacherous crueltyes refraine from teares,
<PB N="4" REF="4"> teares, to know and behold &s;o many butcheryes daily by them committed.</P>
<P>The&s;e <HI>Kenti&s;h</HI> men wi&s;ely pondring and weighing this unnaturall cruelty, have for&s;aken the Cavaliers and both condemned them and their actions. Now they have for&s;ooke tho&s;e flattering per&s;wa&s;ions of expo&s;ing their lives and fortunes, among&s;t the rabble of roaring Cavaliers, and have given them&s;elves up to &s;erve the King and Parliament, in &s;uch manner as their con&s;ciences do guide them with the light of a pure zeale. In this they &s;hew that they were never conquered, becau&s;e no bad or private re&s;pects could &s;ubdue them to an obedience again&s;t the Common-wealth; but all our &s;trength &s;hall be imployed to the de&s;ire of our Religious and honourable Parliament. The <HI>Kenti&s;h</HI> men are a people that are &s;ooner drawne by gentle meanes then any way enforced, their af|fection mu&s;t flow uncompelled, and their former &s;tanding off, or coldne&s;&s;e in the great affaires of the Common-wealth is now grown &s;trong in ardent de|&s;ires, earne&s;t wi&s;hes, and actuall expo&s;itions of their affection to the Parliament, what a &s;trange alteration hath &s;ome few Moneths wrought; <HI>Kent</HI> was then &s;uppo&s;ed to be for the King, but for the Parliament now, they will vindicate the Parliaments Priviledges, they de&s;ire now (as all others true &s;ubjects do) that there may be peace betweene the King and Parlia|ment, and that the wounds of this War may be hea|led, and not by the hand of Delinquents opened rea|dy to bleed unto de&s;truction.</P>
<P>They have beheld the Kingdomes di&s;tractions, and htiw bleeding hearts &s;uffered in the mi&s;ery that hath
<PB N="5" REF="4"> fallen upon this Common-Wealth, they know that Religion is that &s;acred knot which neither great <HI>Ale|xander</HI> nor any King can cut a&s;under, but there will follow a generall di&s;&s;olution of all government, and this land be converted into the fir&s;t principles of heathen barbari&s;me, or which is wor&s;e, blind and &s;u|per&s;titious Popery. And they have no le&s;&s;e ob&s;erved the progre&s;&s;e of wicked cruelty among the Cavali|ers, and from their bloudy de&s;ignes again&s;t the Parli|aments Forces, have in&s;tructed them&s;elves how they ought to be affected to &s;uch wicked Cavaliers, giving thereby example unto other Counties, to &s;tand firm in their re&s;olution for Religion and the Parliament.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>To the Right Honourable, the high Court of Parliament: The humble Petition of the Knights, Gentlemen, Mini&s;ters, Freeholders, and other Inhabitants of the County of <HI>Kent.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER>Sheweth,</OPENER>
<P>THat the Petitioners do with joy and humble thank|fulne&s;&s;e acknowledge the good corre&s;pondency and concurrence which (by the ble&s;sing of God) this Honoura|ble Hou&s;e hath held with the Worthy Hou&s;e of Commons, in pa&s;sing the Bill to take away the Votes of the Prelates in this Honourable Hou&s;e, and di&s;abling them from tempo|rall imployments, and &s;etling the Kingdome into a Po|&s;ture of Warre for its defence.</P>
<P>And the Petitioners do in like manner mo&s;t humbly and heartily profe&s;&s;e, That they will ever honour this honourable Hou&s;e, and to the utmo&s;t of their power defend
<PB N="6" REF="5"> the &s;ame, &s;o far as your Lord&s;hips &s;hall continue to hold Corre&s;pondence and Concurrence with the &s;aid Hou&s;e of Commons in all their ju&s;t de&s;ires, and endeavours. Upon which the Petitioners do humbly conceive, greatly depen|deth the Peace and Welfare of this Kingdome.</P>
<P>And the Petitioners mo&s;t humbly pray, That this Ho|nourable Hou&s;e (declaring therein your noble Re&s;olutions for the publike good) would be plea&s;ed to goe on with the &s;aid Hou&s;e of Commons, to a through Reformation, e&s;pe|cially of the Church, according to the Word of God; to pre&s;&s;e di&s;patch for the aid of Ireland, to expedite proceed|ings again&s;t Delinquents, to vindicate Parliament Privi|ledges, to di&s;cover, remove, and puni&s;h evill Councellors, to deprive the Popi&s;h Lords of their Votes, to di&s;arm and &s;earch out Papi&s;ts, and put them into &s;afe cu&s;tody, to &s;up|pre&s;&s;e Ma&s;&s;e, both in publike and private; to ca&s;t out &s;candalous Mini&s;ters, plant painfull Preachers every where, and di&s;cover who are Church-Papi&s;ts, as well as known Recu&s;ants,</P>
</DIV2>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>And the Petitioners &s;hall daily pray, &amp;c.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="Parliamentary order">
<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE>Die Martis 22. Novemb. 1642.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>WHereas the hou&s;es of divers of His Maje&s;ties god Subjects in the &s;everall Counties of <HI>England</HI> have been plundered, and their goods taken by &s;trong hand from them by Souldiers; It is this day ordered by the Commons Hou&s;e of Parliament, That all &s;uch goods (in who&s;e po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion &s;oever they be) being found by any party from whom they were taken, and deniall made of Re&s;titution upon fight hereof; It &s;hall be lawfull for them, or any of them, to call the Con&s;tables, and other Officers, and all other His Maje&s;ties good People; to be aiding and a&s;&s;i&s;ting, for the gaining the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of them, by way of Examination of any that can give any information be|fore any Officer, or otherwi&s;e, in who&s;e hands they &s;hall be found to remain, and &s;uch as &s;hall a&s;&s;i&s;t in this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, &s;hall be &s;aved harmle&s;&s;e by vertue of this Order.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Hen. El&s;ing Cler. Parl. D. Com.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
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