The "Wellington Declaration" (otherwise known as the Declaration of Wellington) was a manifesto by King Charles I near the start of the English Civil War On 18 September 1642, before the first major pitched battle of Civil War, King Charles I raised his standard "in the vicinity of" (i.e. not actually in) Wellington, at the time a small, though highly influential, market town in Shropshire and addressed his troops the next day. He declared that he would uphold "the Protestant Religion, the Laws of England, and the Liberty of Parliament".