and Letters from several men of Repute and Quality, but that we will not trouble
your Lordships with Repetition of private Advices) we cannot think but your Lordships
are now satisfied, that the Necessities of that Kingdom, which were the ground of the
Cessation there, were real, and not pretended: and therefore for Excuses, we leave them
to them who stand in need of them; and we desire your Lordships to consider, as the di∣stracted
condition of this Kingdom was, what other way could be imagined for the Pre∣servation
of that Kingdom, than by giving way to that Cessation. And though it is insisted
on in your Lordships Paper, that some Protestants in Vlster, Munster and Connaught, (who
have refused to submit to that Cessation) have yet subsisted; yet your Lordships well
know these were generally of the Scotish Nation, who had strong Garrisons provided and
appointed to them, and were in those parts of Ireland near the Kingdom of Scotland,
whence more ready supplies of Victuals might be had, than the English could have from
England, and for whose Supply (as His Majesty hath been credibly informed, and we believe
that your Lordships know it to be true) special care was taken, when the English Forces
and other English Protestant Subjects there were neglected, whereby they were exposed to
apparent Destruction by Sword and Famine. And we cannot but wonder at the Assertion,
That His Majesties Forces have, as much as lay in them, endeavoured to prevent those Sup∣plies
for Ireland, and at the mention of the intercepting those Provisions near Coventry,
with His Majesties own knowledge and direction; whereas, as we have formerly ac∣quainted
your Lordships, it was not known to His Majesty, that those Provisions which
were taken near Coventry going thither, when His Majesties Forces were before it, were
intended for Ireland, till after the seisure thereof, when it was impossible to recover them
from the Souldiers; which might have been prevented, if a safe Conduct had been de∣sired
through His Majesties Quarters, which we are assured he would have readily granted
for those or any other Supplies for that Kingdom, but was never asked of him. And as
there is no particular Instance of any other Provisions for Ireland intercepted by His Ma∣jesties
Forces, but those near Coventry, which were considerable; so we can assure your
Lordships, that when His Majesty was in the greatest wants of all Provisions, and might have
readily made use of some provided for Ireland, lying in Magazines within His Quarters,
yet he gave express Order for the sending them away, which was done accordingly, and
would have supplyed them further out of His own Store, if He had been able. And no
man can be unsatisfied of His Majesties tender sense of the Miseries of His Protestant Subjects
in Ireland, when they shall remember how readily He gave His Royal Assent to any Pro∣position
or Acts for raising of Men, Moneys, and Arms for them; that He offered to pass
over in Person for their Relief, (which His Majesties Subjects of Scotland approved, and
declared it to be an Argument of Care in His Majesty) and if that had proceeded, it might
in possibility have quenched the flames of that unhappy Rebellion, as long before it might
probably have been prevented, if the Army of Irish Natives there had been suffered to
have been transported out of that Kingdom, as was directed by His Majesty.
What Provisions are lately sent, or are now sending to Ireland from the two Houses,
we know not: but His Majesty hath been informed, that even those Provisions are design∣ed
in pursuance of the late Treaty concerning Ireland made with His Subjects of Scotland
without His Majesties consent, and only for such who have declared themselves against
His Majesties Ministers, and in opposition to that Cessation to which many of them had
formerly consented, though they have since, upon private Interest, and the Incouragement
and Solicitations of others, opposed the same: and therefore His Majesty cannot look upon
those Supplies as a Support for the War against the Irish Rebels, or as a Repayment of those
Moneys, which being raised by Acts of Parliament for that War, have been formerly di∣verted
to other uses, of which Money 100000 l. at one time was issued out for the pay∣ment
of the Forces under the Earl of Essex.
And as to diverting the Forces provided for the reducing of Ireland, though we con∣ceived
it ought not to be objected to His Majesty, considering the Forces under the Com∣mand
of the Lord Wharton, raised for Ireland, had been formerly diverted and imployd
against Him in the War here in England; yet it is evident they were not brought over till
after the Cessation, when they could no longer subsist there, and that there was no present
use for them; and before those Forces brought over, there was an attempt to bring the Scotish
Forces in Ireland, as likewise divers of the English Officers there, into this Kingdom; and
since the Earl of Leven their General, and divers Scotch Forces were actually brought over.
To the Allegations that many Persons of all sorts have forsaken the Kingdom, rather
than they would submit to that Cessation, we know of none: but it is manifest, that divers
who had left that Kingdom, because they would have been famished, if they had con∣tinued
there, since that Cessation, have returned.
Touching the Committee sent into Ireland, we have already answered, they were not dis∣countenanced
by His Majesty in what they lawfully might do, although they went with∣out