HAving, with others, for a long while sadly beheld and tasted, in your proceedings, the miserable fruits of Councels divided and corrupted by Faction and personal Interest, even to the neglect, betraying and casting away all thats publique and good, to the lengthning out of endless troubles, burthen and damage to the Kingdom, to the continuance and widening of that issue of blood, whereby these Nations have been so much polluted and consumed, and to the perpetual hazard of Bondage and Destruction to them at last: And both we and many others ha­ving propounded foundations of Justice and Set­tlement, which are of evident Advantage and Se­curity to the publique Interest, and clear from any thing thats personal or particular; But find­ing that through th'aforesaid Corruption and Divisions in your Councels, the same can obtain [Page 3] no place or consideration at all: And foreseeing evidently that the condition of the Kingdom will not bear delay of Settlement one way or other, We conceive our selves and others that are sensible hereof, to be necessitated unto some extraordinary vigorous and speedy way, whereby those roots of Faction, Division, and private Interests may be weeded out from amongst you, and so your Councels cleared and united, to the timely and ef­fectual prosecution of Justice, with a sound Set­tlement and publique good to the Kingdom, and to the speedy introducing of such a succeeding Au­thority, wherein future Differences may be pre­vented, and a general Acquiescence obtained.

Therefore seeing no better or other way, We propound and demand as followeth:

1. Whereas Denzil Hollis Esq Lionel Copley Esq Major Gen: Massey, and others of your Members, (whose Names you well know) were in the year 1647. impeached by your selves for Treason, or for high Crimes and Misdemeanors, in relation to the Treasonable Engagement in the City of London, The violence then done upon the Parlia­ment, and The levying of a new War, and other evils in maintenance and prosecution thereof; and upon clear proofs against them, were by your censure expelled the House, and disabled from fur­ther [Page 4] trust therein, and upon new Writs issued out new Members were chosen and return'd in some of their rooms; and yet by the prevalence of their Faction ( When in the last Summers War divers faithful Members were ingaged abroad upon necessary publique ser­vice, and others through Malignant Tumults and Distur­bances could not safely attend the House) the same per­sons were afterwards re-admitted to sit in the House, and Vote as formerly, without any tryal or satisfaction in the things whereof they were accused: We demand, That all those Members so Impeached, may be forthwith secured, to be brought to Justice or Trial for their said Crimes; and that such others of their Faction, by whose Votes, Councels and Confederacy they were so re-admitted, may be secluded from the House, and not sit as Judges for those their confederates.

2. Whereas by the Confederacy of Major Gen: Brown now Sheriff of London, with the said Im­peached Members, the Scots were invited and drawn in to invade this Kingdom the last Sum­mer, in somuch as when upon the actual Invasion the House proceeded to declare them Enemies, and those that adhered to them Traytors; yet the said Confederates and other treacherous Members (to the number of Ninety and odde, as upon the division of the House appeared) did by their [Page 5] Councel and Votes endeavor to hinder the House from declaring against their confederate Invaders; We desire, That the said Major Gen: Brown may be secured and brought to judgement, for that and other his treacherous Confederacies or Correspondencies with the publique and de­clared Enemies of the Kingdom (which we here­by charge him with, and shall be ready to make proof of) And that the rest of the Ninety and odde persons dissenting in the said Vote, may be excluded, and not trusted further in your Coun­cels.

3. Whereas in a continued Series of your pro­ceedings for many moneths together, we have seen the prevalence of the same treacherous, cor­rupt and divided Councels, through Factions and private Interests, opposing or obstructing Justice in all kindes, diverting your Councels from any thing of publique good, hindring any proceed­ings to any such Settlement, as would consist with Security to the publique Interest, or put a real end to the Troubles, Burthens or Hazards of the Kingdom, and precipitating into treacherous and destructive Compliances and Conjunctions with the acknowledged Enemies thereof; and this we have have seen particularly in the corrupt Councels and Resolves of receding from, and re­calling [Page 6] the Votes of No more Addresses to the King, &c. (the justness and necessity whereof you had once so cleared to the world) also in the Votes for entertaining or seeking (after all that) a Personal Treaty with the King your Prisoner, upon such Propositions as himself should tender, as well as your own, offering upon imperfect (and those but wrested) Concessions from him, to Restore him, with impunity, to Honor, Freedom, Safety, and his Revenue, exempting all (even the princi­pal) Authors and Actors in the last Summers War from capital Punishment or Tryal, and bringing off the rest with Fines or Censures most inconsiderable to the publique Damage and Mischief they have done; whereby both they and others are encouraged to renew and multiply the Kingdoms Troubles: And lastly, in the Votes declaring the Kings past Concessions to be a Ground for the House to proceed upon, for the Settlement of the PEACE of the Kingdom, notwithstanding the visible insufficiency and defects of them in things essentially concern­ing the publique Interest, and Liberties of the Kingdom (as those propounded in our late Re­monstrance are) and in other matters both Reli­gious and civil (from which, by express Covenant or publique Faith given, you were obliged not to [Page 7] recede) In which Votes & councels it is apparent, those that are guilty of thē have deserted, betrayed & justly forfeited their Trust for the publique; in­somuch that we dare appeal to all well affected or reasonable men, Whether there be any hopes by, or with the conjunction of such men in your Councels, to have any sound or timely Settle­ment, to have any end of Troubles, Burthens or Hazards, or any publique good done for the Kingdom: We therefore most earnestly desire, That all such faithful Members who are in­nocent in these things, would immediately (by Protestation and publique Declaration) acquit themselves from any guilt of, or concurrence in the several Votes or Councels here before parti­cularly mentioned, as corrupt or destructive, that the Kingdom may know who they are that have kept their Trust, and distinguish them from the rest that have thus falsified the same; and that all such as cannot or shall not so acquit themselves particularly, may be immediately excluded or suspended the House, and not readmitted, until they shall have given clear satisfaction therein to the Judgement of those who now so acquit themselves, and the grounds of such satisfaction be published to the Kingdom.

4. Thus, such as by faithfulness have retained [Page 8] their Trust, being set in a condition to pursue and perform the same, without such Interruptions, Diversions and Depravations of Councels, as formerly, We shall desire and hope you will speedily and vigorously proceed, To take order for the execution of Justice, To set a short period to your own Power, To provide for a speedy Succession of equal Representatives, according to our late Remonstrance, wherein Differences in the Kingdom may be ended, and we and others may comfortably acquiesce; as (for our parts) we hereby engage and assure you we shall.