during his Majesties said Reign, but such as shall act by the consent and approbation of the
two Houses of Parliament. Nevertheless his Majesty intends that all Patents, Commissions,
and other Acts concerning the Militia, be made and acted as formerly; and that after his
Majesties Reign, all the Power of the Militia shall return intirely to the Crown, as it was in
the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James of blessed memory.
After this Head of the Militia, the consideration of the Arrears due to the Army is not
improper to follow; for the payment whereof, and the ease of his People, his Majesty is wil∣ling
to concur in any thing that can be done without the Violation of his Conscience and
Honour. Wherefore if his two Houses shall consent to remit unto him such benefit out of
Sequestrations from Michaelmas last, and out of Compositions that shall be made before the
concluding of the Peace, and the Arrears of such as have been already made, the assistance
of the Clergy, and the Arrears of such Rents of his own Revenues as his two Houses shall not
have received before the concluding of the Peace, his Majesty will undertake within the space
of eighteen Months the payment of four hundred thousand pounds for the satisfaction of the
Army; and if those means shall not be sufficient, his Majesty intends to give way to the sale
of Forest Lands for that purpose, this being the Publick Debt which in his Majesties
Judgment is first to be satisfied: and for other publick Debts already contracted upon
Church-Lands or any other Ingagements, his Majesty will give his consent to such Act or
Acts for raising of moneys for payment thereof as both Houses shall hereafter agree upon,
so as they be equally laid, whereby his People (already too heavily burthened by these
late Distempers) may have no more Pressures upon them than this absolute necessity re∣quires.
And for the further securing of all Fears, his Majesty will consent, that an Act of Parlia∣ment
be passed for the disposing of the great Offices of State, and naming of Privy Councel∣lors,
for the whole term of his Reign, by the two Houses of Parliament, their Patents and
Commissions being taken from his Majesty, and after to return to the Crown, as is exprest
in the Article of the Militia.
For the Court of Wards and Liveries, his Majesty very well knows the consequence of ta∣king
that way, by turning of all Tenures into common Soccage, as well in point of Revenue
to the Crown, as in the Protection of many of his Subjects being Infants: nevertheless, if
the continuance thereof seem grievous to his Subjects, rather then he will fail on his part in
giving satisfaction, he will consent to an Act for taking of it away, so as a full recompence be
settled upon his Majesty and his Successors in perpetuity, and that the Arrears now due be
reserved unto him towards the payment of the Arrears of the Army.
And that the memory of these late Distractions may be wholly wiped away, his Majesty
will consent to an Act of Parliament for the suppressing and making null of all Oaths, De∣clarations
and Proclamations against both or either House of Parliament, and of all Indict∣ments
and other proceedings against any persons for adhering unto them; and his Majesty
proposeth, (as the best Expediment to take away all seeds of future Differences) that there
be an Act of Oblivion to extend to all his Subjects.
As for Ireland, the Cessation there is long since determined; but for the future (all other
things being fully agreed) his Majesty will give full satisfaction to his Houses concerning that
Kingdom.
And although his Majesty cannot consent in Honour and Justice to avoid all his own
Grants and Acts past under his Great Seal since the two and twentieth of May 1642. or to
the confirming of all the Acts and Grants passed under that made by the two Houses; yet his
Majesty is confident, that, upon perusal of particulars, he shall give full satisfaction to his two
Houses to what may be reasonably desired in that particular.
And now his Majesty conceives that by these his Offers (which he is ready to make good
upon the settlement of a Peace) he hath clearly manifested his intentions to give full securi∣ty
and satisfaction to all Interests, for what can justly be desired in order to the future Hap∣piness
of his People. And for the perfecting of these Concessions, as also for such other things
as may be proposed by the two Houses, and for such just and reasonable demands as his Ma∣jesty
shall find necessary to propose on his part, he earnestly desires a Personal Treaty at Lon∣don
with his two Houses, in Honour, Freedom and Safety, it being, in his Judgment, the most
proper, and indeed only, means to a firm and settled Peace, and impossible without it to re∣concile
former, or to avoid future misunderstandings.
All these things being by Treaty perfected, his Majesty believes his two Houses will think
it reasonable that the Proposals of the Army, concerning the Succession of Parliaments and
their due Elections, should be taken into consideration.
As for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland, his Majesty will very readily apply him∣self
to give all reasonable satisfaction, when the Desires of the two Houses of Parliament on