Also a general pardon, granted after the great Parliament by their means, and a special pardon granted to the Earl of Arundel, were recalled. It was also prayed by the Commons, still by the mouth of their speaker, that whereas that special pardon had been gotten for a traitor by Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, then Chancellor of England, he, the procurer of the same, who should rather by virtue of his office have been against it, should be declared a traitor. And the Archbishop rose up, wishing to make answer; but the King said: "To-morrow." But thenceforth he appeared not there again. The King also said, as to this petition, that he would take counsel. Also it was decreed that any man henceforth convicted of acting against the Government of our lord the King should be declared a false traitor, and the fitting punishment of treason be awarded to him. Also it was decreed, with assent of the prelates, that criminal charges henceforth be determined without their agreement, in every Parliament. And then, having leave, they withdrew. Then there was, as is wont to be, some bustle. And thereupon the King's archers, who, to the number of four thousand, surrounded the Parliament-house, which was set up to this end in the middle of the palace-yard, thought that some quarrel or strife had arisen in the house; and, bending their bows, they drew their arrows to the ear, to the great consternation of all who were there: but the King quieted them. * * * * * On Friday [September 21], which fell on St. Matthew's Day, the Earls of Rutland, Kent, Huntingdon, Nottingham, Somerset, Salisbury, the Lord Despenser and Sir William Scrope, in a suit of red robes of silk banded with white silk and powdered with letters of gold, set forth the appeal which they had already proclaimed before the King at Nottingham; wherein they accused Thomas Duke of Gloucester, Richard Earl of Arundel, Thomas Earl of Warwick, and Sir Thomas Mortimer, knight of the aforesaid treasons, and also of armed revolt at Haringhay-park traitorously raised against the King. FOOTNOTES: [100] Walshingham, in his account of this Parliament, adds: "A knight of the county of Lincoln, a man of great discretion and very eloquent." THE STATE OF IRELAND (1399). SOURCE.--_Roll of Proceedings of the King's Council in Ireland_ (Rolls Series), Appendix, 264. Item. As regards other matters touching the state of the said land, be it known that the Irish enemies are strong and arrogant and of great power, and there is neither rule nor power to resist them, for the English archers are not able, nor are they willing, to ride against them, without stronger paramount power.