WHEREAS We have been lately informed of an Order pretended to be made in the House of Commons, wherein the Loyall and dutifull carriage of Sir Ralph Hopton to Vs, and in obedience to Our just commands, in Our Counties of Cornewall and Devon, is much inveighed against, and stiled to be Hostile and Rebellious, and upon the complaint of one William Strode (a Person whom We have accused, and is notoriously known to be guilty of High Treason, and endeavouring to take away Our Life from Vs) the Estate of the said Sir Ralph Hopton is by that Order, without the least colour of Iustice or pretence of Legall power, sequestred into the hands of the said Strode; We have thought Our selfe obliged in Honour and Iustice to Our selfe, the said Sir Ralph Hopton, and such other Loyall and dutifull Persons who joyne with him in Our Service to declare, that the House of Commons, hath not the least power to sequester or dispose of the Estates of any of Our Subjects, or can usurpe the same, without destroying the interest and Property they were borne to; And to publish to all Our good Subjects, that the said Sir Ralph Hopton with other Persons of Honour and Quality being long since imployed in a Peaceable manner, and according to the known Lawes of the Land, to preserve the Peace of Our County of Somerset, then endangered by the Faction and Sedition of some turbulent Persons there, where the said Sir Ralph Hopton and his Ancestors had long lived with great Reputation; and to oppose that illegall and grievous imposition of the Militia upon Our good Subjects of that County, that the Lord Marquesse Hartford, and all the considerable Gentry of that Our County being there together in their own Country, where there Estates lay, and where they had alwaies lived, were by force and violence of a Rebellious Army assaulted and driven from their own Houses, insomuch as We were compelled to send Our Commission to the said Lord Marquesse under Our Great seale of England, to be Our Generall, and to raise Forces to resist and subdue that desperate Rebellion, which neverthelesse got so great a head, by the Malice and Industry of ill Instruments, infuseing into the mindes of Our weak Subjects, wicked and groundlesse Lyes of Our intention to take away their Estates from them by Our Commission of Array, that the said Lord Marquesse, and all such of Our good and dutifull Subjects, who had expressed a sense of their duty and Affection to Vs, being most of the eminent Gentry, and persons of greatest quality and fortune, were compelled to leave that Country, since which time, the said Lord Marquesse having brought the Forces raised by him to Vs, We have sent Our Commission under Our Great Seale of England, to the said Sir Ralph Hopton, that he with the Assistance of those Persons of Honour and Quality, who have since joyned with him, and whose particular services We shall alwaies remember, and hope to reward, might raise such Forces as might subdue the Rebellion in those parts, and defend Our good Subjects there from the Force and Violence of their fellow Subjects. And We doe therefore declare to all Our loving Subjects, That what Forces soever the said Sir Ralph Hopton hath raised, or what Acts soever he hath done in pursuance of Our said Commands, and by vertue of Our said Commission, the same have been done by Our Royall Authority, and that he is so farre from being guilty of Disloyalty or Rebellion against Vs, that he and such of Our good Subjects as have assisted him have resisted and opposed only Rebells, who without any Colour of Law or Right have, and doe use their utmost power to destroy Vs, to suppresse the true reformed Protestant Religion on the behalfe of Anabaptists, Brownists, and other Sectaries, to take away the Liberty and Property of Our good Subjects, and to alter the whole frame of Government so long setled, and so happily enjoyed in this Kingdome. And We doe straitly forbid and inhibite all manner of Persons to presume to yeeld any obedience to the said Order, or any way to meddle with the Estate of the said Sir Ralph Hopton to his prejudice, or to interrupt his Tenants or Officers in their quiet and peaceable enjoying the same: which if any shall presume to doe, We shall look upon them as Persons disaffected to Vs, and countenancers and fomenters of those dissentions which so neerely threaten the ruine of this Kingdom. And We farther Will and Command all Our good Subjects of Our Counties of Cornewall, Devon, and Somerset, that they be aiding and assisting to the said Sir Ralph Hopton, and use their utmost power for the subduing the Rebells now in Armes against Us in those parts, under the Command of the Earle of Stamford, and for the apprehending the said Earle, and such other persons whom We have particularly excepted out of Our Proclamation of Pardon for the said severall Counties, that We may proceed against them as Traitors by the known Rules and Lawes of the Land. And We doe hereby declare, That as We shall alwaies remember the singular courage of Our County of Cornewall, and such of Our good Subjects of Devon and Somerset, who have assisted them in their notable Zeale and Affection to Vs, the Protestant Religion, and the Liberty of the Subject, so whosoever shall assist the said Sir Ralph Hopton with Horse, Armes, Plate, or Mony, shall doe a most acceptable service unto Vs, & We shall carefully pay all such summes of Mony as shall be so lent to him, And whosoever shall have the hard fortune to loose his Life in that Service, We shall grant the Wardship of his Heyre to his own use without Rent or Fine, when on the contrary, the Heires of such who shall fall in the Rebellion against Us, must expect no favour from Vs. Lastly Our pleasure is, That this Our Proclamation be read in all the Churches and Chappels within Our said Counties of Somerset, Devon, and Cornewall, that all Our Subjects may take notice of Our Will and Pleasure herein.