# Cassell's Illustrated History of England/Volume 3/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV.
REIGN OF CHARLES I. (Continued.)
The Irish had still greater cause than the Scotch for resisting the encroachments of the English. Besides that, their religion had been on all occasions ruthlessly persecuted, and every effort used to suppress it; their property had been confiscated by whole provinces at a time; their ancient chiefs had been driven from their lands, and many of them exterminated. Elizabeth, and James, and Charles, had proffered them new titles on condition of making large sacrifices, but had never kept their word, and at this moment, the graces promised by Charles to tolerate their religion, and confirm the titles of their estates, were unfulfilled. The example of the Scots had aroused them to the hope of achieving a like triumph. Their great enemy the earl of Strafford had fallen; his acts and doctrines had been condemned; but, on the other hand, they were menaced by the parliament with a still more fierce persecution, and even an avowed extermination of their religion. They believed that the Scotch presbyterians would join with avidity in the attempt to subdue them, and come in for a share of the plunder of their estates; and they now seized on the idea of rising and reclaiming their ancient power and property. True, they were not one united people like the Scots: there were the ancient Irish, the Anglo-Irish, and the English of the pale, that is, English settled in Ireland, holding the estates of the expelled native chiefs, but keeping themselves apart from the Irish. Yet many of the pale were catholics, and the catholic religion was the unanimous object of attachment by the natives. The parliament and the Scotch were banded against this religion, and this produced a counter-bond betwixt the catholic natives and the catholics of the pale. From the British parliament neither of these parties had anything to hope for on the score of religion; but the king was in need of aid against this parliament, and it occurred to them that they might make common cause with him.
Roger Moore, a gentleman of Kildare, entered into this scheme with all the impetuosity of his nation. He saw the lands of his ancestors for the most part in the hands of English and Scotch settlers, and he made a pilgrimage into almost every quarter of Ireland, to excite his countrymen to grasp this opportunity, when the king and parliament of England were engrossed by their disputes, to recover their rights. Everywhere he was listened to with enthusiasm, and the natives held themselves ready to rise, and take a terrible vengeance on the usurpers of their lands at the first signal. The great chiefs of Ulster, Cornelius Maguire, baron of Inniskillen, and Sir Phelim O'Neil, who had become the chieftain of the sept of Tyrone after the death of the son of the late persecuted Tyrone, fell into his views with all their followers. The catholic members of the pale were more disposed to negotiate with Charles than to rush into insurrection against his authority. They knew that it was greatly to his interest at this moment to conciliate his Irish subjects, and they despatched to him a deputation previous to his journey to Scotland, demanding the ratification of those graces for which he had received the purchase money thirteen years before, and offering in return their warmest support to his authority in Ireland. Charles received them very graciously, promised them the full satisfaction of all their demands, and by lord Gormanstown, who headed the deputation, and on whom he lavished the most marked attentions, he sent word to the earls of Ormond and Antrim to secure in his interest the eight thousand troops which had been raised by Strafford, to keep them in efficient discipline, to augment rather than decrease their number, and to surprise the castle of Dublin, where they would find twelve thousand stand of arms.
But the English parliament were by no means unaware of the danger from the army in Ireland, which consisted almost entirely of catholics. They insisted on its being disbanded, as promised by the king on the Scotch pacification. He was not able to prevent this, and signed the order; but at the same time sent secret instructions by Gormanstown to Ormond and Antrim, to prevent this by enlisting the whole body as volunteers to serve the king of Spain in Flanders.
At this juncture Sir Willam Parsons and Sir John Borlace were at the head of the English government in Ireland; they were in the interest of the parliament, and were detested by almost all classes of Irish. Sir John Clotworthy, in the house of commons, had openly declared that "the conversion of the papists in Ireland was only to be effected by the Bible in one hand, and the sword in the other." Pym was reported to have said that they would not leave a priest in Ireland; and at a public entertainment, Parsons had echoed those sentiments by declaring that "in a twelve month not a catholic would be left in that country." The Irish were, therefore, delighted with their success with the king, and Gormanstown and his associates hastened home again, with two bills signed by the king, granting the possession of all lands which had been held sixty years, and setting aside all the sequestrations made by Strafford. But Parsons and Borlace were duly informed by the party with which they acted in England, and aware that the passing of these bills would attach all Ireland to the interests of the king, they defeated the object by proroguing parliament a few days before the arrival of the deputies.
It was now resolved by the leaders Ormond and Antrim to defer any movement till the reassembling of the Irish parliament in November, when they could at the same moment secure the castle and the persons of Parsons and Borlace, and issue in the name of the two houses his majesty's concession to the people of Ireland. But the native Irish, stimulated by the addresses of Moore, could not wait so long. They determined to rise, without waiting for the combined force, on the 28rd of October. Two hundred and twenty men were to surprise the castle, but at the time appointed only eighty appeared. They concluded to wait till the next day for the arrival of the rest, but that night one Hugh M'Mahon, in a drunken fit, betrayed the secret, ​to Owen O'Conolly. a servant of Sir John Clotworthy, and a protestant. He instantly carried the news to Sir William Parsons; the city gates were closed, and a quick search made for the conspirators. All but M'Mahon and lord Maguire escaped, but the castle was saved.
Ignorant of the failure of the pilot, the people of Lister rose on the appointed day. Charlemont and Dungannon were surprised by Sir Phelim O'Neil, Mountjoy by O'Quin, Tanderagee by O'Hanlan, and Newry by Macginnis. In little more than a week all the open country in Tyrone, Monagan, Longford, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Donegal, Derry, and part of Down, were in their hands. The other colonies in which there were English or Scotch plantations, followed their example, and the greater part of Ireland was in a dreadful state of anarchy and terror. The protestant people on the plantations fell beneath the butchering revenge of the insurgents, or fled wildly into the fortified towns. The horrors of the Irish massacre of 1641 have assumed a fearful place in history; the cruelties, expulsions, and oppressions of long years were repaid by the most infuriated cruelty. Men, women, and children, fell indiscriminately in the onslaught, and they who escaped, says Clarendon, "were robbed of all they had, to their very shirts, and so turned naked to endure the sharpness of the season, and by that means, and for want of relief, many thousands of them perished by hunger and cold."
Much pains have been taken by catholic writers to contradict these accounts, and to represent the atrocities committed as of no extraordinary extent. They remind us that no accounts of these barbarous slaughters were transmitted in the reports to the English parliament, which would have been only too glad to spread, and even exaggerate bloody deeds of the catholics. They reduce the number of people slain during the whole insurrection to about ten thousand, instead of the grossly exaggerated statements of Milton in his "Iconoclastes," that there were one hundred and fifty-four thousand in Ulster alone, or of Sir John Temple, that three hundred thousand were slain or expelled altogether. But nothing less than a most frightful massacre could have left the awful impression which still lives in tradition, and the calculations of moderate historians do not make the number massacred less than from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand. The earl of Castlehaven, a catholic, says that all the water in the sea could not wash from the Irish the taint of that rebellion. Whilst remembering the vengeance, however, we must never forget the long and maddening incentives to it. Great blame was attached to the deputy-governors, Borlace and Parsons, who, shut up in security in Dublin, took no measures for suppressing the insurgents. They were charged with purposely allowing the rebellion to spread, in order that there might be more confiscations, in which they would find their own benefit; but it must be remembered that they had few soldiers on whom they could rely, for they were nearly all catholics, nor did the insurgents escape without severe chastisement in many places, for wherever there was a trusty garrison, the soldiers easily repelled the disorderly mob of plunderers; and Sir Phelim O'Neil suffered during the month of November severe losses.
Before Charles reached England, O'Conolly, the discoverer of the plot, arrived in London, with letters from the lords justices, and was called before the house of lords to relate all that he knew. They immediately called the house of commons to a conference on the state of Ireland, and on the better providing for the security of England. They presented O'Conolly with five hundred pounds in money, and settled on him an annuity of two hundred pounds a year. It was resolved to look well after the catholics in this country, and to put the ports into a state of defence. The commons followed out this policy by voting two hundred thousand pounds to the requirements of Ireland; that six thousand foot and two thousand horse should be raised for service there, and that the fleet should carefully guard its coasts. The earl of Leicester, the lord-lieutenant, was desired to furnish a list of the most suitable officers for the service, and arms and ammunition were prepared in haste, to be despatched to Dublin. A pardon was offered to all rebels who laid down their arms by a certain day, at the same time that a reward was set on the heads of the leaders. But they did not stop there; they passed a resolution never to tolerate the catholic worship either in Ireland or in any part of his majesty's dominions. Commissioners were appointed to disarm the recusants in every part of the kingdom; pursuivants were sent out in every direction to seize priests and Jesuits; orders were given for the trial of all such persons; and the king was advised not to pardon or reprieve them. The queen's chapel was closed, her priests dismissed, her confessor sent to the Tower, and no less than seventy catholic lords and gentlemen were denounced by the commons to the lords, as persons who ought to be secured to prevent their doing injury to the state.
Such was the state of things when Charles arrived in London. He was well received by the lord mayor and aldermen of the city, and in return gave them an entertainment at Hampton Court; but he was greatly chagrined at the proceedings of the commons, telling them that they were converting the war in Ireland, which was a civil war, into a war of religion. He took umbrage also at the houses of parliament sitting with a guard round their house. The earl of Essex, on the king's arrival, surrendered his command of the forces south of the Trent to the king, and announced to the lords, that having resigned his commission, he could no longer furnish the guard. A message was sent from the houses, requesting the king to restore them the guard, but he refused, saying he saw no occasion for it; but the commons let him know that many dangerous persons, Irish and others, were lurking about, and that the "Incident" in Scotland, and the late attempt to surprise the castle in Dublin, warned them of their danger; and that not only must they have a guard, but they must nominate the commander of it themselves.
Whilst Charles was pondering on the answer which he should return to this unwelcome message. Sir Ralph Hopeton appeared at Hampton Court with another address from the commons yet more ominous. This bore the alarming title of a "Remonstrance on the state of the kingdom." It had been drawn up and passed by the commons before the king's return from Scotland, that is, on the 22nd of November, and it was resolved to present it to the king on his return. It was the act of the commons alone, and had not been ​carried even there without a violent debate, which lasted till two o'clock in the morning, the house having sate that day eighteen hours—the longest debate ever known in parliament, and the heat to which it was carried was such, that Sir Philip Warwick says, "We had sheathed our swords in each others' bowels, had not the sagacity and calmness of Mr. Hampden, by a soft speech, prevented it." Cromwell is reported by Clarendon to have said to lord Falkland as they came out, that had it not been carried, he would have sold all and gone to America. "So near," he adds, "was the poor kingdom at that time to its deliverance."
And yet this famous remonstrance was only carried by a majority of nine, according to Clarendon; according to others, by eleven. It was as Clarendon describes it, "A very bitter representation of all the illegal things that had been done from the first hour of the king's coming to the crown, to that minute." It consisted of two hundred and six clauses—The war against the French protestants; the innovations in the church; the illegal imposition of ship-money; forced loans; the cruelties of the Star-chamber and High Commission: the forcing of episcopacy on Scotland; the forcing of it on the Irish by Strafford, and all the other illegal proceedings there; all the opposition of the king and his ministers to necessary reforms; and the plotting of the queen with the papists at home and abroad. It went on to remind the king of what they had done in puling down his evil counsellors, and informed him that other good things were in preparation.
The king the next day delivered his answer in the house of lords, protesting, as usual, his good intentions, telling the commons before he removed evil counsellors, they must point out who they were, and bring real facts against them; at the same time he significantly reminded them that he had left Scotland in perfect amity with him, so that they might infer that they were not to look for support against him there, and calling on them to stir themselves in aiding him to put down the rebellion in Ireland. Matters continued getting worse every day betwixt the king and parliament. From the 8th to the 20th of December there was a sullen humour betwixt them. So far from granting the parliament the usual guard, Charles had posted a guard of his own near the commons. They sent and summoned the commander of the guard before them, pronounced their being placed there a breach of their privileges, and demanded that they be removed. On the 14th of December Charles objected to their ordering the impressment of soldiers from Ireland, that being his prerogative, but that he would permit it for the time on the understanding that his right was not thereby affected. The next day the commons passed an order for the printing and publishing their remonstrance, which they had failed to carry on the day on which it was carried itself. This had a great effect with the public, and the king, in a restless, angry humour, prevailing in nothing against the house, sought to strengthen himself by getting a lieutenant into the Tower of his own party. But in this movement he was equally injudicious and equally unfortunate. He dismissed Sir William Balfour, who had so honestly resisted his warrant and the bribe of Strafford to effect that great culprit's escape; but to have deprived the commons of any plea for interfering in what was unquestionably his own prerogative, he should have replaced him by a man of character. Instead of that, he gave the post to colonel Lunsford, a man of desperate fortunes, and the most unprincipled reputation; outlawed for his violent attacks on different individuals, and known to be capable of executing the most lawless attempts. The city immediately petitioned the commons against the Tower being in the hands of such a man; the commons called for a conference with the lords on the subject, but the lords refused to meddle in what so clearly was the royal prerogative. The commons then called on them to enter the protest they had made on their books; but the lords took time to consider it. On Thursday, December 23rd, a petition was addressed to the commons, purporting to be from the apprentices of London, against papists and prelates, who, they contended, caused the destruction of trade by their plots, and the fears which thence unsettled men of capital, whereby they, the apprentices, "were nipped in the bud," on entering the world. The corporation waited on his majesty on Sunday the 26th, to assure him that the apprentices were contemplating a rising, and meant to carry the Tower by storm, unless Lunsford were removed; and that the merchants had already removed all their bullion from the Mint for fear of him, and the owners of ships coming in with new would not carry it there. That evening Charles sent and took the keys from his new lieutenant, and appointed Sir John Byron in his place.
And now, notwithstanding the reluctance of the lords, they were compelled to entertain this question, for they found lord Newport, the constable of the Tower, also brought into question by the king. It appeared that during Charles's absence in Scotland, at a meeting of a number of the peers and members of the commons at Kensington, regarding some rumour of plots against parliament, lord Newport was reported to have said, "Never mind, we have his wife and children." Newport stated in the house that he had waited on the queen at the time, and assured her that no such words had been spoken; yet on Friday last the king had reminded him of it, and intimated his belief of it. It was now the turn of the lords to call for a conference with the commons. This was granted on Monday, and whilst it was sitting, the house of parliament was surrounded by tumultuous mobs, crying, "Beware of plots! No bishops! no bishops!"
Poor Williams, made archbishop of York on the 4th of this month, was surrounded by this mob and no little frightened; but got away unhurt, any further than in his feelings, from the execrations heaped on the bishops; but one David Hide, a ruffian officer, who had been in the army in the north, and was now appointed to the service in Ireland, drew his sword, and swore that "he would cut the throats of those roundhead dogs that bawled against bishops," and by that expression, says Clarendon, gave the first utterance to the name roundhead, which was immediately universally applied to the parliamentary party; the term cavillers soon being introduced to designate the royalists. The same day Lunsford had the insolence to go through Westminster Hall with thirty or forty of his partisans at his back. The mob fell on them, and they drew their swords and cut right and left among the crowd. Presently there came pouring down to Westminster hundreds of ​fresh apprentices, with swords, cudgels, and other weapons, crying, "Slash us now! Slash us now!" And this was renewed by thousands the next day, December 28th, with the same "Slash us now, whilst we wait on the honourable house to request an answer to our petition." Some of the youths were shut into the abbey and brought before Williams, whilst those without cried, that if they were not released, they would break in, and pull down the organs. This, however, they were prevented doing, by numbers of the bishop's men coming out on the abbey leads, and flinging down stones upon them, by which many were injured; and Sir Richard Wiseman, who happened to be passing, was so much hurt, that he died of his injuries.
Williams, the archbishop, was so incensed at the cry against the bishops, that he forgot his usual cunning, and got eleven other bishops to join him in an address to the king, declaring that the bishops could not get to their places for the riotous crowds, and from fear of their lives from them; and therefore, as bishops had at all times formed part and parcel of the upper house, that house, so long as they were detained from it, was no longer a competent house, and that all its acts, of whatever kind, would be utterly invalid. This was supposed to be a manœuvre of the king's to get rid of the authority of parliament for the present, and thus of his unfortunate surrender of the powers of adjournment; but the lords, taking no other notice of the protest of the bishops, desired a conference with the commons, and then denounced the protest of the bishops as subversive of the fundamental rights of parliament. The commons, on their part, instead of contenting themselves with passing a resolution condemnatory of the folly of the bishops, at once declared them guilty of high treason, and called on the lords to apprehend them, which was at once done, and ten of the bishops were committed to the Tower, and two, on account of their age, to the keeping of cha usher of the black rod.
On the last day of this eventful year, Denzell Hollis waited on his majesty, by order of the commons, to represent to him, that whilst his faithful parliament was ready to shed the last drop of its blood in defence of his majesty, it was itself daily exposed to the danger of plots and ruffians who had dared to shed the blood of the people coming to petition at the very doors of the house. They demanded, therefore, a guard. Charles had taken care to surround his own palace day and night since the commotions. Such a guard was reluctantly granted three days after.
But if 1641 had been an astonishing year, 1642 was destined to cast even it into the shade, and its very opening was with nothing short of the first trumpet note of civil war. On the 3rd of January Charles sent his answer to the commons respecting the guard, acceding to the request, but immediately following it up by a demand that electrified the houses, and was soon to electrify the nation. Whilst the commons were debating on the royal message, the king's new attorney-general, Herbert, appeared at the bar of the house of lords, and presented articles of high treason against six leading members of parliament, one peer and five commoners. These members were, lord Kimbolton in the peers, and Hollis, Hazelrig, Pym, Hampden, and Strode, of the commons. There were seven articles exhibited against them of high treason and other misdemeanour. These were stated in the following words:—"1st, That they have traitorously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental laws and government of the kingdom of England, to deprive the king of his royal power, and to place in subjects an arbitrary and tyrannical power over the lives, liberties, and estates of his majesty's liege people. 2nd, That they have traitorously endeavoured, by many foul aspersions upon his majesty and his government, to alienate the affections of his people, and to make his majesty odious unto them. 3rd, That tiny have endeavoured to draw his majesty's late army to disobedience to his majesty's commands, and to side with them in their traitorous designs. 4th, That they have traitorously invited and encouraged a foreign power to invade his majesty's kingdom of England. 5th, That they have traitorously endeavoured to subvert the rights and the very being of parliaments. 6th, That for the completing of their traitorous designs, they have endeavoured, so far as in them lay, by force and terror, to compel the parliament to join with them in their traitorous designs, and to that end have actually raised and countenanced tumults against the king and parliament. 7th, And that they have traitorously conspired to levy, and actually have levied war against the king."
Now, setting aside some of the usual technicalities of such impeachments, it cannot be dented that there was a great deal of truth in these charges. It is not to be denied that the commons had by this time far overstepped their ancient and hereditary functions, had obviously and extensively invaded the prerogatives of the crown; had seized on the right to adjourn or to sit in defiance of the king; had seized on his majesty's right to raise, direct, and employ the army and the militia; had charged him with treasonable practices against the parliament and people; had beheaded one of his ministers; still held in durance another; and had driven others from the realm for executing his commands. It was true that they had called on the Scots with an army to hold him in check, and make war on him if necessary; any one of which acts, or a mere design of such an act, in Henry VIII's time, would have brought them to the block long ago. We have been going on, step by step, from one aggression of the commons to another, for these sixteen years, till we do not recognise, in any lively degree, the strange ground on which we now stand, and it is necessary to look back a little in order to see how it has come about. Charles began with insisting on the right to levy tonnage and poundage and ship-money without permission of parliament; in fact, to make the right of raising taxes at pleasure, in defiance of parliament, the right of the crown. Then its commons were on just and constitutional ground; they fought the battle bravely, and compelled the king to give up his claim. Here, then, with a wise king, there would have been an end of trouble; but Charles was not that wise king. It was soon seen that with the most solemn assurances of his faith, he never for a moment abandoned the idea of wresting this right still from the parliament and people. His advisers, Wentworth and Laud, pointed out the army as the means of putting down the parliament, and that system of the "Thorough" was adopted by them, which was to raise the supremacy of the army, backed by the church, and enable ​him to become, not a constitutional king, but "the most absolute monarch that ever reigned." We have detailed the attempts in England, Scotland, and Ireland, to bring about this end. They have all failed; one of the authors of the "Thorough" has fallen, the other awaits the same fate. Scotland has resisted the same attempt on her liberties, and marched at the call of parliament, to prevent a like catastrophe in England.
King Charles passing through the City.
KING CHARLES AND THE COMMONS.
"The house of peer's," says Clarendon, "was somewhat startled by this alarm, but took time to consider it till the next day, that they might see how their masters, the commons, would behave themselves." Lord Kimbolton declared his readiness to meet the charge: the lords sent a message upon the matter to the commons; and at the same time came the view's that officers of the crown were sealing up the doors, trunks, and papers of Pym. Hampden, and the other impeached members. The house immediately ordered the seals put upon the doors and papers of their members to be broken, and they who had presumed to do such an act to be seized and brought before them. At this moment the serjeant-at-arms arrived at the door of the house; they ordered him to be admitted, but without his mace, and having heard his demand for the delivery of the five members, they bade him withdraw, and sent lord Falkland and have other members to inform the king that they held the members ready to answer any legal charge against them. But the next day the commons were informed by captain Languish, that the king, at the head of his gentlemen pensioners, and followed by some hundreds of courtiers and officers, armed with swords and pistols, was advancing towards the house. The house was well supplied with halberds, which they had previously ordered into it when the king withdrew their guard; but they saw the advantage of preventing an armed collision, and ordered the accused members to withdraw. Charles entered the house, attended only by his nephew, Charles, the prince palatine, his attendants remaining in Westminster Hall, and at the door of the commons. As he advanced towards the speaker's chair, he glanced towards the place where Pym usually sate, and then approaching the chair, said, "By your leave, Sir. Speaker, I must borrow your chair a little." The house, at his entrance, arose and stood uncovered; Lenthall, the speaker, dropped upon his knees, and Charles, much excited, said, "Gentlemen, I am sorry for this occasion of coming unto you. Yesterday I sent a sergeant-at-arms to apprehend some, that at my command were accused of high treason, wherewith I did expect obedience, and not a message; and I must declare unto you here, that albeit no king that ever was in England shall be more careful of your privileges, to maintain them to the utmost of his power, than I shall be; yet you must know that in cases of treason no person hath a privilege, and therefore I am come to know if any of those persons that I have accused, for no slight crime, but for treason, are here. I cannot expect that this house can be in the right way that I do heartily wish it, therefore I am come to tell you that I must have them, wheresoever I find them." He looked earnestly round the house, but seeing none of them, demanded of the speaker where they were Lenthall, still on his knees, declared that he had neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak, but as the house directed. "Well," said the king, "since I see all the birds are flown, I do expect that as soon as they return hither, you do send them to me." And with mingled assurances that he meant no force, yet not without a threat, he withdrew. As he walked out, there were raised loud cries of "Privilege! privilege!" and the house instantly adjourned.
There were many speculations as to who had induced him to take this fatal course. Some said the queen had urged him to it, exclaiming, "Go, you coward, and pull the rogues out by the ears, or never see me more!" But Clarendon attributes the advice to Digby who, since he opposed his party about the bishops, had been shunned by them, and had gone over altogether to the king, as Hyde had done also for some time, though he still kept it a secret, and thus was able to give the king intelligence every night of all that passed amongst the reformers in the day. Digby, he says, first advised, and was the first to condemn the deed, when it had so signally failed. There was but one opinion of the act amongst friends and foes. It was the grossest violation of the privileges of parliament that could have been imagined, and Charles soon saw and felt the irremediable blunder that he had committed.
The commons, to testify that they no longer felt themselves safe in their own house, betook themselves to the city, where establishing a permanent committee to sit at Guildhall, they adjourned till the 11th of January. The next day Charles, taking his usual attendants, but leaving behind his reformados and blustering bullies, went into the city, and at Guildhall demanded of the lord mayor and ​aldermen that they should hunt out and deliver to him the unquestionable way, and assures the parliament that upon accused members who had taken refuge amongst them. His demand was coldly received, and after dining with one of the sheriffs he returned. His passage through the city was attended by continued cries of "Privilege! privilege of parliament!" And one Henry Walker, an ironmonger and political pamphleteer, threw into his majesty's carriage a paper bearing the words, "To your tents, O Israel!"
Scarcely had Charles reached Whitehall, when a deputation from the corporation waited on him, complaining of the Tower being put into unsafe hands, of the fortifying of Whitehall, the wounding of citizens on their way to petition parliament, of the dangerous example of the king entering the house of commons attended by armed men, and praying him to cease from the prosecution of the six members of parliament, and to remove both from Whitehall and the Tower all suspicious personages.
As Charles still persisted by proclamation in endeavouring to get possession of the five members, and as a hundred stand of arms, with gunpowder and shot, had been removed from the Tower to Whitehall, a thousand marines and boatmen signed a memorial to the committee of the commons sitting at Guildhall, offering to guard them on the appointed day to their house in Westminster. The committee accepted the offer, which was immediately followed by one from the apprentices. Seeing that the city, the seamen, and everybody were of one mind in condemning his violent invasion of the national sanctuary of the house of commons, Charles, on the 10th of January, the day previous to the meeting again of parliament, quietly withdrew with his family to Hampton Court, and the next day removed thence to Windsor. Little did Charles imagine, deplorable as was his retreat, that he would never enter his capital again till he came as a prisoner in the hands of this insulted parliament. Yet his feelings at this moment must have been melancholy in the extreme. "In this sad condition," says Clarendon, "was the king at Windsor; fallen in ten days from a height and greatness that his enemies feared, to a lowness, that his own servants durst hardly avow the waiting on him."
On the morning of the 11th, the committee of the commons, attended openly by the lord Kimbolton and the five accused members of the lower house, entered barges at the Three Cranes, and attended by thirty or forty other boats and barges, manned by their trusty guard of seamen, with cannon on board their vessels, and well armed otherwise, and with flags flying, and every sign of triumph, proceeded towards Westminster, the trained bands marching along the river bank as additional protection, and intending to stand guard round the two houses of parliament. The humbled king sent them a message from Hampton Court, in these words:—"His majesty, taking notice that some conceive it disputable whether his proceedings against the lord Kimbolton, Mr. Hollis, Sir Arthur Haselrig, Mr. Pym, Mr. Hampden, and Mr. Strode, be legal and agreeable to the privileges of parliament, and being very desirous to give satisfaction to all men, in all matters that may seem to have relation to privilege, is pleased to waive his former proceedings; and all doubts by this means being settled, when the minds of men are composed, his majesty will proceed thereupon in an ill occasions he will be as careful of their privileges as of his life or his crown."
That was humble style for a king, extremely penitent compared with the forced entry of the commons' house some ten days before: but it was too late. Already there had come riding up out of Buckinghamshire four thousand horsemen, knights, gentlemen, and freeholders, each with a copy of the parliamentary protest in his hat, praying the house of lords to co-operate with the commons in defending parliament against any fresh attack on its privileges, in carrying, on the work of reform, and in bringing to punishment all evil counsellors. They also presented, through a deputation of the commons, a petition to the king in favour of their countryman and member, Mr. Hampden. Charles, impressed by this significant reminder of four thousand horsemen of the folly of his late proceeding, again assured the two houses of his having not the least intention to infringe their privileges. On their part, the commons took measures to convince him that it could not be done with impunity. They had already arrested Sir William Fleming and Sir William Killigrew and their helpers, who had sealed up the houses and papers of the six members, and they now impeached Sir Edward Herbert, the attorney-general, of high crimes and misdemeanours, by violating the privileges of parliament by presenting the accusation, and sentenced him to be rendered incapable of sitting in parliament, of pleading before it, or of holding any office in the state except that of attorney-general, which he then held; and moreover, to be imprisoned at the pleasure of the house.
On the 12th of January the house was informed that lord Digby and colonel Lunsford were at Kingston-on-Thames, where was the magazine for arms for the county of Surrey, and were collecting soldiers. They immediately ordered the train-bands to disperse these forces, and impeached Digby and Lunsford of high treason. Digby escaped abroad, but Lunsford was lodged in the Tower. The house issued orders to every part of the kingdom to the same purpose. Magistrates were to disperse any musters of soldiers, and governors of forts and fortified towns to hold them for the parliament. The keys of the Tower were taken from Sir John Byron, and a guard placed over it, under the charge of the city authorities. Colonel Goring was commanded to hold Portsmouth against any demands or forces of the king; Sir John Hotham to observe the same measures at Hull; and a committee of public safety was appointed, which was to take all necessary measures for putting the kingdom into a condition of defence. Orders were given through the Dutch ambassador that no arms or ammunition should be shipped from the Dutch ports to England or Ireland without the approbation of parliament, to which the government of Holland expressed its full consent. Both at home and abroad it was clear that parliament was now the ruling power in England. The earls of Essex and Holland were commanded to attend to their duties in parliament, though the one was lord chamberlain, and the other groom of the stole to the king, who forbade their attendance. Obeying parliament, the king dismissed them from their offices.
At this crisis Charles perpetrated another most impolitic act. The Scottish commissioners offered their mediation to settle ​all differences betwixt his majesty and parliament. Charles snubbed them for intermeddling in his affairs, and the commons thanked them; the consequence was, that the Scotch were made still more the fast friends of the parliament, and immediately agree with them to send two thousand five hundred men into Ireland, to aid in putting down the rebellion.
The house of commons now urged Charles to proceed with the impeachment of lord Kimbolton and the five commoners. He had assured them that he should let the impeachment drop; but they were desirous to discover who had been the advisers of the measure, and therefore sent him this challenge. Charles declined to proceed, but desired the house to give him a statement at once of all the grievances that they had to complain of, and they should find him one of the most complying of monarchs. They were too well acquainted with the king's habit of promising what he meant only to concede for a present purpose, to make their statement too easy, as he would have deprived them of all power of proceeding by nominally granting them everything; but they put down their chiefest of grievances, the want of confidence in his assurances, and demanded as the guarantee of all arrangements that the government of the forts and the command of the army and navy should be intrusted to officers nominated by parliament. Startling as was this proposition, for it, in fact, demanded a surrender of his last prerogative, Charles declared himself ready to grant all for a time, provided he might nominate the officers, which the commons, of course, regarded as a mere subterfuge.
All this time Charles and his court were favouring the Irish insurgents, partly, it was supposed, through the queen's interest in the catholics, and the king's dislike to the presbyterian protestants, who were as much puritans as his own troublesome subjects. The king was found to have withdrawn the ships which were ordered to guard the coasts: great numbers of the catholics who had served in the army of the north hastened over and joined the insurgents, and others were known to be assisting them with arms and ammunition. The commons applied for a loan of one hundred thousand pounds to the city of London, to furnish the necessary supplies for the Irish army against the insurgents; but they had not paid the money already borrowed, and whilst they reminded the house of it, they complained that these expenses were occasioned by the bishops and popish lords, who favoured the Irish insurgents. The commons, therefore, issued orders to all justices and sheriffs to prevent these treasonable attempts. They also sent Mr. Pym up to the peers, who told them that if they would not heartily join the commons in saving the kingdom, they would go on and save it without them; and the commons thanked Pym for his plain speaking.
But on Pym's speech being printed by order of the commons, Charles greatly resented it, and demanded to know on what authority he had declared him to favour such designs. The commons named commissions given to lord Delvin, Sir George Hamilton, a known papist, a son of lord Nettlefield, to colonel Butler, a brother of lord Minyard, and others. Charles denied or explained, and this correspondence was drawn out. Charles afterwards reached York at the end of March, when he called on the house to declare publicly that they had accused him on insufficient grounds. But about the same time a letter was intercepted from lord Digby to the queen, and read publicly in the house, informing her that unless the king betook himself to a place of safety, and took rigorous measures to protect his servants, he himself should prefer remaining abroad; and he offered to do the king service abroad, and correspond with the queen in that service in ciphers.
This produced great alarm at court, and the queen, apprehensive of an impeachment, made haste to escape out of the country. The commons assured her that they had no such intention, and she professed to be satisfied; but not the less did she resolve to escape, and a most favourable opportunity now offered. The princess Mary, who had been some time betrothed to the prince of Orange, though she was yet a mere child, only about ten years of age, was to be delivered to the Dutch court, and nothing was more natural than that her mother should accompany her. Even the stern reformers, who had forbidden her twice before leaving the kingdom, could find no excuse for forbidding this maternal office. On the 9th of February Charles and the court returned from Windsor to Hampton Court, and the next day the royal party set out for Dover, where, on the 23rd, the queen and her daughter embarked for Holland. The prince of Orange received her majesty with all kindness, which he indeed owed her, for she had always taken the part of him and his country against Richelieu; but the civic authorities were not so glad to see her, fearing that she might embroil them with the all-powerful parliament of England. They entered her presence with their hats on, seated themselves in her presence, and took their leave without a bow or a word. But Henrietta restrained her disgust better than her husband would have done, for she had great interests at stake, and succeeded by her flattering courtesies in so melting the Dutch phlegm, that she eventually succeeded in borrowing of the authorities of Amsterdam eight hundred and forty-five thousand guilders, at Rotterdam sixty-five thousand, of the merchants at the Hague one hundred and sixty-six thousand, besides pawning her pearls for two hundred and thirteen thousand, and six rubies for forty thousand, thus raising for her husband two million pounds sterling.
Whilst the king was at Canterbury, waiting for the queen's departure, the commons sent to press his signing the two bills for the removal of the bishops from parliament, and they and the clergy from all temporal offices, and for power to press soldiers for the service of Ireland. He passed them, the second bill to be in force only till the 1st of November. The commons expressed their satisfaction, but still urged the removal of all privy counsellors and officers of state, except such as held them hereditarily, and the appointment of others having the confidence of parliament; they then returned to the subject of the militia bill, which would put the whole force of the army into the hands of parliament; but there Charles made a stand. He sent orders that the prince of Wales should meet him at Greenwich. The parliament, which watched his every movement, and no doubt were informed of his intentions, sent a message to the king, praying him to allow the prince to remain at Hampton Court, but Charles, complaining of these suspicions, orders ​the prince's governor, the marquis of Hertford, to bring him to Greenwich. On Sunday, the 27th of February, some of the lords went to Greenwich, to endeavour to bring the prince back; but Charles would not suffer it, declaring that the prince should accompany him wherever he went. He removed to Theobalds, and there again a deputation followed him, urging him to grant the matter of the militia, or that the parliament would feel compelled to assume it for the safety of the kingdom. They also renewed their request for the return of the prince. Charles expressed much surprise at these importunities, and refusal them both.
On receiving this answer, the two houses issued an order to fit out the fleet, and put it into the command of the earl of Northumberland, as lord high admiral. The lords, who had hesitated to join the commons in the demand for the control of the militia, now passed the ordinance for it with very few dissentients. Fifty-five lords and commons were named as lords-lieutenants of counties, many of them royalists, but still not such as the commons feared joining the king in an open rupture. The commons then proceeded to issue a declaration, expressing their apprehensions from the favour shown to the Irish rebels and massacrers by the court; of the intention of evil advisers of the king to break the neck of parliament, and of the rumours of aid from abroad for these objects from the pope, and the kings of France and Spain. The lords, with only sixteen dissentient voices, joined in this declaration, and the earls of Pembroke and Holland waited on the king with it at Royston. On hearing this out-spoken paper read, Charles testified much indignation, pronouncing some assertions in it, in plain terms, lies; and when the earls entreated him to consent to the granting of the militia for a time, he exclaimed,—"No, by God, not for an hour. You have asked that of me which was never asked of any king, and with which I should not trust my wife and children." That was true, but he had formerly said he would sooner lose his life than consent to the bill against the bishops, and yet had given them up. That he would on the first opportunity break his word, was certain; that at this very moment his wife was moving heaven and earth abroad, and pawning her jewels for money to put down parliament and people, was equally certain and well known. In vain, therefore, were the solemn asseverations which he made, that he desired nothing be much as to satisfy his subjects.
At this moment he was stealing away towards the north. He got away to Newmarket, thence to Huntingdon, next to Stamford, and from that place wrote to the two houses, informing them that he proposed to take up his residence for a time in York. The deputies had strongly importuned him to return to the neighbourhood of his parliament; this was his answer, accompanied by a positive refusal to put the militia into their hands. The two houses at once were roused to action. War was inevitable; the king was intending to take them by surprise. They therefore voted that the king's absence was most detrimental to the affairs of Ireland; that the king was easily advised, and that it was necessary for parliament that the power of commanding the militia must be exercised by the sole authority of parliament, and orders for that purpose were issued to the lieutenants and deputy-lieutenants of the counties.
Charles had meantime proceeded by Doncaster to York where he arrived on the 19th of March. On the 26th the lords Willoughby and Dungarvon, with Sir Anthony Ereby, arrived from parliament with a justification of their proceedings. They admitted that he had passed many satisfactory bills at their instance, but that always at the same time some attempts had been set on foot to render them abortive. They informed him that they had certain information of preparations making abroad, and of a design to enter Hull with foreign forces. Charles denied the truth of these allegations, and assured them that he would return and reside near his parliament as soon as he was sure of the safety of his person. He did not forget, however, the words dropped about Hull. It was of immense consequence to obtain possession of that place; but it was in the keeping of the stout Sir John Hotham and his son, who had declared in parliament "fall back, fall edge, he would carry out the wishes of parliament." As Charles could not hope to obtain it by force, he conceived the idea of winning it by stratagem. He sent the earl of Newcastle to request that the town and arsenals might be put into his hands. Newcastle assumed the name of Sir John Savage to obtain admission to the town, but was discovered, and this clumsy trick only increased the suspicions of the people. Parliament then sent, an order for the removal of the arms and ammunition to the Tower of London; but Charles told them that he claimed them as purchased with money borrowed on his own account and begged they would leave him to look after his own property He also sent them word that it was his intention to pass over to Ireland, to suppress the rebellion; that he should require all the arms and ammunition for that purpose, and that they would be necessary for the use of his guard of two thousand foot and two hundred horse, which he meant to embark there for Ireland.
On the 22nd of April he sent the duke of York, the prince palatine, his nephew, the lords Newport, Willoughby, and some other persons of distinction, but without any armed force, to see the town of Hull. Sir John Hotham and the mayor received them with all honour, and entertained their as became their rank. They were shown the place, and were to dine with the governor on the morrow, being St. George's day. Just before dinner time, however, Hotham; was startled by the sudden appearance of Sir Lewis Dives, the brother-in-law of the outlawed lord Digby, who informed him that his majesty was intending to do him the honour to dine with him, and was already within a mile of the town, accompanied by three hundred horse. Sir John, who saw the ruse, instantly ordered the drawbridges to be raised, and shut the gates in the king's face, for by this time he had arrived at the Beverley gate.
Charles commanded Sir John to open the gate and admit him and his guard, but Sir John replied, that though a loyal subject of his majesty, he could not do so without consent of parliament, which had put the town into his keeping. If his majesty would be pleased to enter with the prince and twelve attendants he should be welcome; but Charles refused to enter without the whole of his guard. He staid before the gate from one o'clock till four, continuing the parley, trusting to the people being affected by the sight of their sovereign, and compelling the governor to admit him. But he was ​disappointed, and at four, going away for an hour, he gave Hotham that time to consider of it. On his return at five Hotham still refused entrance to more than before, when Charles proclaimed him a traitor, and rode off with the prince and his guard to Beverley. The next day he sent a herald to offer Hotham pardon and promotion on surrender of the town, but in vain; and he then returned to York. A warm correspondence took place betwixt the enraged king and the parliament, in which the latter spoke plainer truth to the monarch than monarchs had heard for ages. In reply to his indignant remonstrance, that he demanded the town, the arms, and ammunition as his own property, the parliament stripped away all the fiction of the state's property being the king's. They informed him that national property was not his, but the nation's, and was by courtesy only called the king's, because intrusted to him for the administration of the state's affairs. If the towns were the king's, where was the property of the subjects; but that the towns were not the king's any more than the kingdom was the king's, and the kingdom was no more the king's than the people's own lives and persons were the king's. This, they said, was the language which had infused into the minds of kings the erroneous notions that kingdoms were their own, and that they might do what they would; as if kingdoms were for them, and not they for the kingdoms. This was the root of all their invasions of the rights and liberties of the people, a gross delusion; the very jewels of the crown belonging not to the king, but merely lent him for the use and ornament of his royal dignity. The power intrusted to him, they reminded him, must be used by advice and consent of parliament, without which it was nothing.
If the spirit of Henry VIII. could but have listened to such language from subjects to a king! How mightily the times were changed! What a proud revolution of soul and language had sprung forth in the nation from the slumbering deeds of Magna Charta, through the dauntless labours and patriotic devotion of such men as Pym, Hampden, Selden, Hollis, Elliot, Haselrig, and Cromwell. They proceeded to inform him of their knowledge of the traitorous endeavours making abroad, and thereupon justified their refusal to put Hull into his power.
Having failed in one stratagem to secure this important seaport, Charles and his advisers now sought another. A lieutenant Fawkes, serving in Hull, had married the daughter of a Mr. Beckwith, of Beverley. Beckwith wrote to Fawkes, desiring him to come to Beverley, to speak with him. This letter Fawkes showed to Hotham's secretary, who laid it before the governor. By him it was arranged that Fawkes should go to Beverley, and make himself master of the object of the invitation. He was warmly welcomed by his father-in-law, and introduced to a number of gentlemen, all of whom were strangers to him, except one who had a mask on, and whom he recognised as Sir Jocelyn Percy, a catholic living in Beverley. All, who were professedly warm friends of the king, were extremely civil to Fawkes, and said they were certain that he and his captain could mean no disloyalty to the king, but consented to do what they did in Hull as soldiers. They told him that if he and his captain would find some way of surrendering the king's own town to him, the king would guarantee one thousand pounds a year to the captain, and five hundred pounds a year to himself, as well as one thousand pounds in money. The lieutenant fell very naturally into the scheme in appearance, promised to do his best, took fifty gold pieces which were offered him as an earnest, and arranged to correspond with his father-in-law on the subject.
On returning to Hull, and detailing the overture to the governor, it was determined to appear to favour the design. Fawkes wrote, saying that all promised well. A correspondence was kept up with the parties in Beverley, and at length it was fixed that on a certain night the king should send one thousand horse to Hull, with five hundred foot soldiers riding behind the horsemen, and that they should be admitted at two o'clock in the morning. This being accepted, Hotham then laid the matter before a council of war, when the officers were for letting in the soldiers, and then cutting them to pieces. But Hotham had probably his instructions from parliament not to commence the bloodshed, and he therefore sent a messenger post haste to York, to inform the king that the whole scheme was known to him. Parliament sent public thanks to Sir John, and arrested Beckwith, who, however, was rescued out of the officers' hands by the king's followers. Hotham, to prevent any further attempts to seize the arms and ammunition, shipped them off to London.
Each party now hastened to raise forces and prepare for the struggle. On the 5th of May the parliament issued a declaration that as the king refused his consent to the militia bill, they called on all men to obey their own ordinance for the raising of forces and the defence of the king. In this ordinance they nominated the lieutenants of counties, who nominated their deputy-lieutenants, subject to the approbation of parliament. Amongst these deputies appeared Hampden, Whitelock, St. John, Selden, Maynard, Grimston, and other leaders of parliament, who now became equally zealous enrollers and drillers of soldiers. The king, on his side, denounced the order as traitorous and illegal, forbade all men obeying it, and summoned a county meeting at York for promoting the levy of troops for his service. At that meeting we find Sir Thomas Fairfax stepping forward as a parliamentary leader, and laying on the pommel of the king's saddle a strong remonstrance from the freeholders and farmers of Yorkshire, who advised the king to come to an agreement with his parliament.
The country was now come to that crisis when every man must make up his mind, and show to which side of the question he leaned. It was a day of wonderful searching of characters and interests, and many strange revolutions took place. Towns, villages, families, now appeared in convulsion and strife, and some fell one way, some another, not without much heart-ache and many tears, old friends and kindred parting asunder, to meet again only to shed each others' blood. Then was there a strange proclaiming and contradiction of proclamations, one party denouncing and denying the proceedings of the other. The king raised only a troop of horse and a regiment of foot; the parliament soon found themselves at the head of eight thousand men, consisting of six regiments, commanded by zealous officers, and the month of May saw the fields of Finsbury white with tents, and major-general Skipton manoeuvring his train-bands. ​The next shift was for the fleet. The earl of Northumberland being ill, or more probably indisposed, the commons commanded him to surrender his command to the earl of Warwick for the time. The lords hesitated, on account of the king's sanction being wanted for such an appointment but the commons settled it alone. Clarendon says that the king remained passive, confiding in the attachment of the sailors, whose pay he had advanced; but we hear from other sources that Charles had contrived to alienate the mariners as much as the rest of his subjects, by calling them "water-rats." His amount of popularity with them was soon put to the test, for he ordered the removal of Warwick, and that Pennington should take his place; but the sailors would not receive him. Without ammunition or arms, Charles's few forces were of little use, and the commons proclaimed any one who should bring such material without consent of parliament, or should bring in any money raised on the crown jewels, should be considered an enemy to the country,
Fight for the Standard at the Battle of Edge Hill.
The coasts being diligently watched by the fleet, Charles now turned to the Scots, the leaders of whom he hoped to win over to him by the honours and favours he had distributed on his last visit; and, in truth, the members of the council seemed quite inclined to fall in with his wishes; but the English commons being made aware of it, soon turned the scale, letting both council and people know that it was their interest, as much as that of England, that the king ​should come to an understanding with his parliament, which, they continued to assert, sought only the good of both king and people. The parliament had now, however, to see considerable defections from its own body, for many thought they were driving matters too far; that the king had conceded more than was reasonable, and that the commons were themselves aiming at inordinate power. Amongst those who had gone off to the king were the lord Falkland, Sir John Colepepper, and Mr Hyde. Falkland and Colepepper, Charles had, before leaving, made his ministers, and Hyde had long been secretly seeing the king, conveying all the news to him at night, and writing the king's declarations. The commons had for some time perceived well enough who composed those papers by the style, yet they could not directly prove it; but he was found by the earls of Essex and Holland shut up with the king at Greenwich, and by the marquis of Hamilton at Windsor. In April the king summoned Hyde to attend him at York, but even then, as if afraid of the parliament, he had gone in a very private way, pretending that he sought the country for his health; and even after reaching the neighbourhood of York, instead of openly avowing his adhesion to the royal cause, he kept himself concealed in the neighbourhood, and attended to the king's correspondence. He arrived in Yorkshire at the end of May, but before leaving London, he had contrived that the lord keeper Littleton should run off with the great seal to the king, a matter of no little importance, as it regarded the authenticity of all public documents.
Numbers of both lords and commons continued to steal away to the king, especially, says Hay, lawyers and clergy, "whose callings make them capable of easier and greater gratifications from the king than other men, and therefore apt to lean that way, where preferment lies." The commons summoned nine peers, who had gone away to York, to appear in their places in Westminster, and, on their refusing, impeached them of high treason. These were Spencer, earl of Northampton, the earls of Devonshire, Dover, Monmouth, and the lords Howard of Charlton, Rich, Grey of Ruthven, Coventry, and Capel.
On the 2nd of June the lords and commons sent proposals to the king for an amicable arrangement of the national affairs on a permanent basis; but matters had so far changed with Charles, that he was in no mood to listen. On that very day, one of the ships freighted by the queen in Holland with arms and ammunition, managed to elude the fleet, and land its supplies on the Yorkshire coast. With these, and the prospect of more, with a number of lords and courtiers around him, Charles at once dropped the humble and conciliatory tone, called the parliament a nest of caballers and traitors, who had no right to dictate to him, the descendant of a hundred kings, and protested that he would never agree to their terms if he were bound and at their mercy.
From this moment all hope of accommodation was at an end, and king and parliament went on preparing with all diligence for trying their strength at arms. The question to be decided was, whether this country should bean abject despotism or a free nation. If the parliament were worsted, then must England sink to the level of the rest of the king-ridden nations. On the part of the king, his adherents joined him on his solemn engagement to maintain the protestant religion, and to claim nothing but his rightful prerogative; on the part of the parliament, an avowal as solemn was, that they fought not against the king, but for him and his crown, as well as the liberties and privileges of the people, which were endangered by the evil counsellors of the king.
On the 10th of June the commons issued an address, receiving money and plate for maintaining the struggle, engaging to pay eight per cent, interest, and appointing Sir John Wollaston and three other aldermen of London treasurers, who were authorised to give receipts. In a very short time an immense treasure was accumulated in Guildhall, the poor contributing as freely as the rich. Charles wrote to the corporation of London, forbidding this collection, but without effect. He made an attempt also to secure the fleet, inducing the earl of Warwick to surrender the command to admiral Pennington, but only five captains consented, and these were speedily secured and superseded. On the 12th of July parliament appointed the earl of Essex commander of the army, and many members of the parliament, both lords and commons, took commissions under him. Amongst these were Sir John Merrick, lord Grey of Groby, Denzell Hollis, Sir William Waller, Hampden, and Cromwell. Hampden's regiment was clad in a green uniform, and carried a banner, having on one side his motto, "Vestigia nulla retrorsum" on the other, "God is with us."
Cromwell, who was also appointed a colonel, was extremely active in the eastern counties. The whole country was thrown into the mast wonderful state of confusion by the exertions of the noblemen and gentlemen endeavouring to seize strong places, and engage the people, some for this side, some for that. Never had there been such a state of anarchy, opposition, and rending asunder of old ties. For the most part, the southern counties and mercantile places were for the parliament—the more purely agricultural and remote districts for the king. In many, however, there was a pretty equal division of interests, and fierce contests for superiority. In Lincohishire lord Willoughby of Parham was very successful for parliament. In Essex the earl of Warwick was equally so, and Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, and the sea-coast of Sussex, were strongly parliamentary. Cromwell did wonders in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridge. In Berkshire Hampden and the earl of Holland were opposed by the earl of Berkshire, lord Lovelace, and others; but the earl of Berkshire was seized by Hampden, and sent up to the parliament. In Buckinghamshire Hampden had it nearly all his own way. Colonel Goring, who was governor of Portsmouth, after receiving a large sum from parliament to put that place in full condition of defence, betrayed it, as he had before done the royal party; but the parliament seized the earl of Portland, Goring's ally, and put the Isle of Wight into the keeping of the earl of Pembroke. Warwickshire was divided betwixt lord Brooke for the parliament, and the earl of Northampton for the king. Leicestershire betwixt the earl of Huntingdon for the king, and of Stamford for the parliament. Derbyshire was almost wholly for the king, and so on northward; yet in Yorkshire lord Fairfax was zealous for parliament, and Sir Thomas Stanley and the Egertons in Lancashire. The earl of Derby and his son, lord Strange, embraced the ​side of royalty; and the first blood in this war was shed by lord Strange endeavouring to secure Manchester, where he was replied and driven out. Great expectations were entertained by the Royalists of the assistance of the numerous catholics in Lancashire and Cheshire, but they were either indifferent or overawed. In the west of England Charles had a strong party. Charles, in his commission of array, had appointed the marquis of Hertford lieutenant-general of the west, including seven counties in Wales, and the second skirmish took place in Somersetshire, between him and the deputy-lieutenant of the county, where ten men were killed and many wounded.
No exertions were spared by the parliament at the same time to induce the king to come to an arrangement; but he showed that he was at heart totally unchanged, for he replied to their overtures by still insisting that the lord Kimbolton and the five members of the commons should be given up to him, as well as alderman Pennington, the lord mayor of London, and captain Venn, commander of the train-bands. He demanded indictments of high treason against the earls of Essex, Warwick, and Stamford, Sir John Hotham, major-general Skippon, and all who had dared to put in force the ordinance of parliament for the raising of the militia. Yet at the same time he was in secret negotiation with Hotham for the betrayal of Hull; and Hotham sullied that reputation for patriotic bravery which he had acquired, by listening to bun. He was, however, stoutly resisted by the inhabitants, the garrison, and his own son. The king then invested Hull, and intrigued with some traitors within to set fire to the town, so that he might assault it in the confusion. But the plot was discovered, and the incensed inhabitants made a sortie under Sir John Meldrum, and put the king's forces to a precipitate flight.
Charles then marched away to Nottingham, where he raised his standard on the 25th of August, according to Clarendon, on the 22nd, according to Rushworth. It was a most tempestuous time; the standard, which was raised on the castle-hill, an elevated and exposed place, was blown down in the night, an ominous occurrence in the opinion of both soldiers and people, and it was three days before it could be erected again, owing to the fierceness of the wind. Besides the prostration of the standard, the condition of the king's affairs was equally discouraging. The people showed no enthusiasm in flocking to the royal banner, the arms and ammunition did not arrive from York, and the royal arms had received a severe repulse at Coventry. News came that the earl of Essex was at the head of fifteen thousand men at Northampton, and the earl of Southampton and his other officers entreated the king to make overtures of peace to the parliament, telling him that if they refused them, it would turn the tide of popular favour against him. At first Charles listened to such counsels with anger, but at length despatched Sir John Colepepper to London to treat. But the parliament would not hear of any accommodation till the king had pulled down his standard, and withdrawn his proclamations of high treason against the earl of Essex, the accused members of parliament, and all who had supported them. In fact, all attempts at agreement were become useless, and were rendered more so by the conduct of Charles's nephew, prince Rupert, who, with his younger brother Maurice, sons of Charles's sister, Elizabeth of Bohemia, had arrived in England, and were placed at the head of the royal cavalry. Whilst Colepepper was trading to effect a peace in London, Rupert, with that rashness which afterwards became so notorious, and so fatal to Charles's army, was making war all through the midland counties, insulting all who advocated peace, ordering rather than inviting men to the king's standard, and plundering towns and villages at will for the supply of his troopers.
About the middle of September Charles marched from Nottingham, intending to reach the west of England and unite his forces with those of the marquis of Hertford. He conducted himself in a very different manner to the fiery Rupert, or Robber, as the people named him. He everywhere issued the most positive assurances of his love for his people, and his resolve to maintain their liberties; but these assurances were not well maintained by his actions, betraying the fact that he was playing a part. He in one place invited the train-bands to attend his march as his body-guard, but when they arrived, he expressed his doubts of their loyalty, forcibly seized their arms, and sent them away. In spite of his professions of respecting his subjects rights, he still levied money and supplies in the old arbitrary manner. On the 20th of September he was at Shrewsbury, where he assured the inhabitants that he would never suffer an army of papists, and at the same time, the 23rd, he wrote to the earl of Newcastle, telling him that the rebellion had reached that height, that he must raise all the soldiers he could, without any regard to their religion. He received five thousand pounds in cash from the catholics of Shropshire, sold a title of baron for six thousand pounds more, and began minting money from plate brought in with great alacrity. And to put the finish to his insincerity, he despatched orders to Ireland to send him as many troops thence as they could, who were almost wholly catholic.
But the earl of Essex was carefully watching the king's progress; he had sent him the parliamentary proposals of accommodation, which he refused to receive from what he called a set of traitors. Essex reached Worcester in his march to cut off the king's movement towards London, just as prince Rupert and Colonel Sandys had had a skirmish in that town, from which Rupert was forced to fly. There Essex lay still for three weeks, till at length Charles, encouraged by his inaction, ventured to quit Shrewsbury on the 20th of October, and by a bold march by Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Kenilworth, actually shot past Essex's position on the road to London. The parliamentary general, however, gave quick pursuit, and on the 22nd reached Keinton, in Warwickshire, just as the king encamped on Edge Hill, close above him.
Charles had the way open, but a council of war advised the attack of Essex, who had marched at such a rate, that a great part of his forces were left behind. On the following morning, the 23rd of October—it was Sunday—Essex accordingly found the royal army drawn up in order of battle on the heights of Edge Hill. It was a serious disadvantage to the parliamentary army to have to charge up hill, and both parties were loth to strike the first blow. They remained, therefore, looking at each other till about two o'clock at noon. On the royal side, Charles was on the field in ​complete armour, and encouraging the soldiers by a cheerful speech. He held the title of generalissimo of his own forces, the earl of Lindsay was his general, au experienced soldier, who had fought side by side in the foreign wars with Essex, to whom he was now opposed. So much, however, was he disgusted with the youthful insolence of prince Rupert, that he gave himself no further trouble than to command his own regiment. Sir Jacob Astley was major-general of the horse under Lindsay, prince Rupert commanding the right wing of the horse, and lord Wilmot the left, two reserves of horse being also under the command of lord Digby and Sir John Byron. In numbers, both of horse and foot, the royal army exceeded that which Essex had on the field; but Essex had a better train of artillery.
Essex had drawn out his army at the foot of the hill in the broad Vale of the Red Horse. Sir John Meldrum, who had so lately chased the king's forces from Hull, led the van. Three regiments of horse were posted on the right, commanded by Sir Philip Stapleton and Sir William Balfour. On the left were the twenty troops of horse under Sir James Ramsay. In the centre, behind the cavalry, were posted the infantry, Essex's own regiment occupying the main position, flanked by two reserves of horse under lord Brooke and Denzell Hollis.
At two o'clock, according to one historian, Essex commanded his artillery to fire on the enemy. According to another, the cavaliers grew impatient of inaction, and demanded to be led against the foe; and the king firing a cannon with his own hand as a signal for the assault, the royalists began to descend the hill. When they came within musket shot, their spirits were greatly raised by seeing Sir Faithful Fortescue fire his pistol into the ground, and range himself with two troops of horse on their side. The parliamentary cavalry made a charge on the king's centre, and endeavoured to seize the standard, but could not resist the pikes of the royalists. Prince Rupert made a furious charge on the left wing of the parliamentarians, broke it, and pursued it in headlong chase into the village of Keinton, where finding the baggage of the enemy, he allowed his men an hour to plunder it. This uncalculating conduct on the part of Rupert continued through the whole war, and no amount of experience of the disastrous results of it over cured him of it in the least. Put him at the head of a body of horse, and such was his valour and impetuosity, that he would carry all before him, but he was rarely seen again in the field till the battle was over, when he returned from the headlong chase, often to find his friends totally defeated. To-day, during his absence, the main bodies of infantry were led into action by Essex and Lindsay, each marching on foot at the head of his men. The steady valour of the roundheads astonished the cavaliers. The left wing of Charles's army, under lord Wilmot, sought refuge behind a body of pikemen, but Balfour, one of the commanders of the parliamentary right wing, wheeled his regiment round on the flank of the king's infantry, broke through two divisions, and seized a battery of cannon. In another part of the field the king's guards displayed extraordinary valour, and forced back all that were opposed to them. Essex perceiving it, ordered two regiments of infantry and a squadron of horse to charge them in front and flank, and at the same time Balfour, abandoning the guns he had captured, attacked them in the rear. They were now overpowered and broke. Sir Edward Varney, the standard-bearer, was killed, and the standard taken; but this being intrusted by Essex to his secretary. Chambers, was, by treachery or mistake, given up to a captain Smith, one of the king's officers, whom Charles, for this service, made a baronet on the field. Charles beheld with dismay his guards being cut to pieces by overwhelming numbers, and advanced at the head of the reserve to their rescue. At this moment Rupert returned from his chase, and the remnant of the guards was saved. Lord Lindsay had received a mortal wound, his son, lord Wiloughby, and colonel Vavasour, were taken prisoners in endeavouring to rescue him, and colonel Monroe and other officers had fallen. Had Rupert returned on having put to the route the parliamentary right wing, all this might have been prevented. As it was, a check was given to the vehemence of the roundheads, the firing ceased, and both armies having stood looking at each other till the darkness fell, each drew off, the royalists back to their hill, the parliamentarians to the village of Keinton.
Both parties claimed the victory, but if remaining on the field of battle, and being the last to march away, are any criterions of success, these were on the side of Essex. His men lay in the field all night, a keenly frosty one, without covering, but supplied with meat and beer; and the next morning Charles marched away to Banbury. It was said that gunpowder failed in Essex's army, or that he would have pursued the royal army up the hill. As it was, though strengthened by the arrival of most of his forces left behind under Hampden, he did not think fit to follow Charles the next day, but allowed him to continue his route, himself retreating to Warwick. This was not the part of a victor, so that neither could be said to have won. The number of slain has been variously estimated; most writers state them at about five thousand, but the clergyman of Keinton, who buried the dead, the best authority, reports them only twelve hundred.
Charles marched from Banbury to Oxford, where a number of gentlemen, well mounted, having heard his engagement at Edge Hill represented as a victory, came in, and thus recruited the wasted body of his cavalry. Rupert, during the king's stay, kept up that species of warfare which he had been taught to admire in court Mansfeldt, in Germany. He made rapid rides round the country, to Abingdon, Henley, and other towns, where he levied contributions without scruple from the roundhead partizans. The Londoners were in the greatest alarm at the tidings of the king's growing army at Oxford, and sent pressing orders to Essex to hasten to the defence of the capital. The train-bands were kept constantly under arms, trenches were thrown up round the city, forces were despatched to hold Windsor Castle, seamen and boatmen were sent up the Thames to prevent any approach in that direction, and the apprentices were encouraged to enroll themselves by the promise of the time they served being reckoned in the term of their apprenticeship. At length Essex reached London, posted his men about Acton on the 7th of November, and rode to Westminster, to give an account of his campaign. It could not be said that he had shown much generalship, ​but it was not a time to be too critical with commanders: the brilliant military genius of Cromwell had not yet revealed itself, therefore the parliament gave him hearty thanks, voted him five thousand pounds, and recommended the capital to his care.
Essex was scarcely arrived when news came that Charles had quitted Oxford, and was directing his march on London. Henry Martin, a member of the commons, who commanded at Reading, considering that town untenable, fell back on London. The panic in the capital was great. A deputation was sent, consisting of the earl of Northumberland and three members of the commons, to meet the king and present a petition for an accommodation. They encountered him at Colnbrook: he received the petition very graciously, and called God to witness that he desired nothing so much as peace, and the sparing of his bleeding country. This being reported to parliament, they ordered Essex to suspend hostilities, and sent Sir Peter Killigrew to request the same on the part of the king, supposing that after this gracious message, in which he promised to reside near London till the differences were settled, that he would have ceased all offensive operations. But scarcely was Killigrew gone, when parliament was startled by the sound of artillery, and Essex rushed from the house and rode in the direction of the sound. He found prince Rupert closely followed by the king in the full attack of Brentford, which was defended by a small force of Hollis's horse. The king had taken advantage of a thick November fog, to endeavour to steal a march on London; but Hollis's horse, though few, were stout, and withstood the whole weight of the attack till reinforced by the regiments of Hampden and Brooke. Thus the king's object was defeated, and the next day, the 14th of November, being Sunday, there was such an outpouring from London of the train-bands, and of zealous citizens, that Essex found himself at the head of twenty-four thousand men, drawn up on Turnham Green. Hampden, Hollis, and all the members of parliament advised sending a body of soldiers to make a detour and get into the king's rear, and then to fall vigorously on in front, and Hampden, with his regiment, was despatched on this service. But Essex speedily recalled him, saying he would not divide his forces; and thus, not only was the retreat left open to the king, but three thousand troops, which had been posted at Livingston Bridge, were called away to add to the force in London. Charles, therefore, finding a very formidable body in front, and the way open behind, drew off his forces, and retreated to Reading, and then again to his old quarters at Oxford. Again Essex had displayed miserably defective tactics, or he might have readily surrounded and cut up the royal force. It was in vain that the parliamentary leaders urged Essex to give instant pursuit of the retreating army; but other officers thought it was better to let him take himself away. The parliament, in great indignation at this conduct of the king, passed a resolution never to enter into any future negotiations with him again; and Charles, on his part, pretended equal surprise and resentment, declaring that the parliament had thrown three regiments into Brentford after sending to treat with him. But it must be remembered that they proposed this accommodation at Colnbrook, and what business, then, had he at Brentford? The march, and the hour of it, were sufficiently decisive of Charles being the aggressor.
Charles lay with his army at Oxford during the winter, and prince Rupert exercised his marauding talents in the country round. Of the parliamentary proceedings or preparations we have little account, except that the parliamentarians were generally discontented with Essex, who was slow, by no means sagacious, and, many believed, not hearty in the cause. Sir William Waller, however, drove Goring out of Portsmouth and took possession of it, so that he was dubbed by the people William the Conqueror, and it was agitated to put him at the head of the army in the place of Essex. There was, however, another man, Cromwell, who had quitted his farm and raised a regiment of his own. He was colonel Cromwell now, and his son Oliver captain. He had told Hampden at the battle of Edge Hill, where they both were, that it would never do to trust to a set of poor tapsters and town apprentices for fighting against men of honour. They must have men, too, imbued with a principle still higher, and that must be religion. Hampden said it was a good notion if it could be carried out; and from that time Cromwell kept it in view, and so collected and trained that regiment of serious religious men, known the world over, and to be known while the world stands, as his invincible Ironsides. Cromwell was active all this winter along the eastern coast, in Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Essex, and elsewhere, raising supplies, stopping those of the enemy, and forming associations of counties for mutual defence. Four or six were formed, but all soon went to pieces except that of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge, Herts, of which lord Grey of Wark was the commander, and Oliver, his lieutenant, the soul. This association maintained its district during the whole war. In February we find Cromwell at Cambridge, the castle of which, with its magazines, he had taken by storm, and had now collected there great forces from Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk.
In February, whilst Cromwell was thus engaged, the queen landed at Burlington, in Yorkshire. She had come over from Scheveling in a first-rate English ship, the Princess Royal, baring eleven transports filled with ammunition and stores for the king's array. As the parliamentary fleet was on the watch and guarding the English coast, she was convoyed by the celebrated admiral Van Tromp. She landed on the 22nd under protection of Van Tromp's fleet, and of one thousand cavaliers on land. Her voyage had been stormy, and she was got to bed in Burlington, when a brisk cannonade roused her, the balls whistling over and through the house where she lay. It was from five English men-of-war under admiral Batten, which had come on in all haste from Newcastle, but being too late to prevent her landing, vented their unmanly spite in endeavouring to destroy the queen in her lodging. She was obliged to rush from the house half dressed, without stockings and shoes, the balls falling fast around her and her attendants as they hurried out of the town and took shelter beneath a high bank. There even the balls passed close over their heads, and actually threw the earth and stones over the queen. One of her servants was killed within seventy paces of her.
Batten did not stay to fight with Van Tromp, so the queen returned into Burlington, and remained there seven ​days. Henrietta took up her head-quarters at Boynton Hall, the seat of Sir William Strickland, a regular round-head, but where the ladies of the family entertained her courteously, and imprudently brought out in her honour all their old family plate. The queen's eye caught the sight instantly, and she said she must make a loan of it, for all means were necessary to raise funds for the war, the round-heads doing the same; but she pledged herself to see it returned or paid for if she lived, and till then left a fine portrait of herself, done at the court of Holland. The plate, of course, was never restored, but the painting became in course of time of equal value.
Prince Rupert. From an authentic Potrait
HAMPDEN WOUNDED AT CHALGROVE FIELD
And although the parliament, in its resentment at the king's treachery at Brentford, had vowed never to treat with him again, in March, 1643, it made fresh overtures to him. The deputation sent to him consisted of the earls of Northumberland, Pembroke, Salisbury, and Holland, viscounts Wenman and Dungarvon, John Holland and William Litton, knights, and William Pierpoint, Bulstrode Whitelock, Edmund Waller, and Richard Winwood, esquires. They were received by the king in the garden of Christchurch, and permitted to kiss his hands. On Waller performing that ceremony, Charles said graciously, "You are the last, but not the worst, nor the least in my favour." In fact, Waller at that moment was engaged in a plot for the king, whence the significant remark. As the two parties insisted on their particular demands, the interview came to nothing. Courteous as the king was to Waller, he was otherwise by no means so to the deputation. The queen was in the country with abundant supplies of arms and ammunition, and he was elated with the fact. He interrupted so rudely the earl of Northumberland, and so frequently, whilst reading the parliamentary proposals, that the earl stopped, and demanded proudly whether his majesty would allow him to proceed. To which Charles replied curtly, "Aye! aye!" The negotiations continued for several weeks, but during their abortive proceedings military movement was going on. Essex took Reading after a siege of ten days, and Hampden proposed to invest Oxford and finish the war at once, which Clarendon confesses would have done it, for the town was ill fortified, was so crowded with people that it could not long hold out, and Charles had not then received his ammunition from the queen. The dilatory spirit of Essex, however, and his officers prevailed, and this opportunity was lost. In May the ammunition arrived, and whilst Charles was preparing to act, the parliament was busy in unraveling different plots against them. One was that in which Waller was engaged. This was a most daring one. Waller, as we have seen, had been one of the most determined and ultra-declaimers in parliament against the king; but now he had been won over by lord Falkland and had entered into a scheme for betraying London to the royalists, and seizing the leaders of the opposition. In this scheme were himself, Tomkins, his brother-in-law, Challoner, Blinkhorne, and others. A commission of array was smuggled into the city through lady Aubigny, whose husband fell at Edge Hill, by which all inclined to the king's service might receive due authority. But the servant of Tomkins overheard the conspirators, carried the news to Pym, and they were speedily in custody. Tomkins and Challoner were hanged within sight of their own houses; Blinkhorne, White, Hasell, and Waller were, by the intercession of Essex, reprieved, but Waller was fined ten thousand pounds, and confined in the Tower for a year.
About the same time a similar plot was detected for betraying Bristol by colonel Fiennes, the governor, son of lord Say and Sele. The chief conspirators were Robert and William Yeomans, who were condemned to be executed; but one of them was saved by the king declaring that he would hang as many of his prisoners. The prospect which was opened of terror and barbarity by such retaliation, put an end to it, and saved at this time colonel Lilburne, who had been taken at Brentford. Lilburne was a most ultra-republican, and at the same time declaimer from the Bible on the mischief of kings. He had been whipped in Westminster, but had only been made more outrageous, and was so pugnaciously inclined, that it was said that if he were left alone in the world, John would be against Lilburne, and Lilburne against John. Charles ordered his execution, but the threats of the parliament of sweeping retaliation saved the democratic orator and soldier.
The parliament now made a new great seal, and passed under it no less than five hundred writs in one day. All other events, however, were sunk into comparative insignificance by one which now occurred. Prince Rupert had extended his flying excursions of cavalry, and committed great depredations in Gloucestershire, Wilts, Hants, and even as far as Bath; and though the earl of Essex had his forces lying about Thame and Brickhill, in Buckinghamshire, yet he was so inert that Rupert burst into both Bucks and Berkshire in his very face. Colonel Hurry, who had gone over from Essex to the king, now informed Rupert that two parliamentary regiments were lying at Wycombe, apart from the rest of the army, and easy to be cut off. The fiery prince at once determined to make a night attack upon them. He trotted away from Oxford on the 17th of June with two thousand horsemen, rode past Thame, where Essex was lying, without any opposition, and reached the hamlet of Postcombe at three o'clock in the morning. Here, to their surprise, they found a body of horse posted to stop them. Hampden, in fact, who ought to have been at the head of the army, had been uneasy about the unprotected condition of the two regiments at Wycombe, and had in vain urged Essex to call in the outposts from Wycombe, Postcombe, and Chinnor. Not being able to rouse him to this prudent measure, he continued on the alert, and hearing of the march of Rupert in that direction, despatched a trooper in all haste to Essex, to advise him to move a body of horse and foot instantly to Chiselhampton Bridge, the only place where Rupert could cross the Cherwell. Not satisfied with this, he himself rode with some cavalry in that direction, and found Rupert on the field of Chalgrove, in the midst of the standing corn. On being checked at Postcombe, Rupert had diverged to Chinnor, surprised the outpost there, killed fifty men, and captured sixty others. On descrying Hampden's detachment coming down Beacon Hill, he posted himself in the wide field of Chalgrove, where he was attacked by the troops of captains Gunter and Sheffield, with whom Hampden had ridden. They boldly attacked Rupert, but Gunter was soon slain, and Hampden, who was impatiently ​looking for Essex's reinforcements, but in vain, rode up to lead on Gunter's troopers to the charge, and received a mortal wound. He did not fall, but feeling his death blow, wheeled round his horse, and rode away towards the house of his father-in-law at Tyrton, whence he married his first wife, whose early death had made such a change in him. The soldiers of Rupert barred the way in that direction, and he made for Thame, and reached the house of Ezekiel Browne. He still continued to live for a week, and spent the time with what strength he had in urging on the parliament a correction of the palpable military errors of the campaign, and especially the dilatory motions of Essex, which, in fact, had cost him his life. He expired on the 24th of June, and was buried in his own parish church at Hampden, followed to the grave by his regiment of green-coats with reversed arms and muffled drums.
The news of this national disaster spread dismay through London and over the whole country. The prudence, the zeal, and activity united in Hampden, had made him one of the most efficient men in the house and in the field. The suavity of his manners, the generosity of his disposition, the soundness of his judgment, had won him universal confidence. It was clearly seen that nothing but the deepest and most patriotic concern for the real welfare of the country, animated him. Though he was conscientiously convinced of the mischief of political bishops, he was attached to the doctrines of the church of England; and though he was, like Pym, finally persuaded that nothing but the strongest obligations, the most imperative necessity, would ever tie down Charles to an observance of the limits of the constitution, he was far from dreaming of his death, or of sweeping away the monarchy to make way for a republic. A little more time must have placed him at the head of the army, and, with such a right hand man as Cromwell, must have soon terminated the campaign. His death seemed like a general defeat, and struck the deepest and most lasting sorrow into the public mind. Time, only, has increased the veneration for the name of John Hampden, which has become the watchword of liberty, and the object of popular appeal in every great crisis.
Other discouragements fell on the parliament at the same period. The earl of Newcastle had established so strong a power in the north, that he had reduced the resistance of the Fairfaxes to almost nothing. His army abounded with papists, and was officered by many renegade Scots, amongst them, conspicuous, Sir John Henderson. He had possession of Newark Castle, and even repulsed Cromwell in Lincolnshire. But his greatest triumph was in seducing the Hothams, father and son, and nearly succeeding in obtaining possession of Hull from their treason. Newcastle had defeated the Fairfaxes at Atherton Moor, and if Hull was lost, all was lost in the north. It was therefore proposed to put Hull into the hands of lord Fairfax and his son Sir Thomas, which probably hastened the defection of the Hothams. The plot, however, was discovered in time; the Hothams were seized, their papers secured, their letters intercepted, the whole treason made open to the daylight, and the delinquents shipped off to London. Great as had been their services in Hull, their apostacy wiped away all past merits, and they were condemned and executed on Tower Hill.
These melancholy events were considerably softened by the growing successes of Cromwell, who seemed to be almost everywhere at once, always fighting, mostly successful. On the 13th of March he dashed into St. Albans, and seized the sheriff, who was enrolling soldiers by the king's writ, and sent him off to London. On the 17th he marched from Norwich and took Lowestoff, with a number of prisoners, amongst them Sir Thomas Barker, Sir John Pettus, and Sir John Wentworth, who were glad to compromise with good fines, "Wentworth paying one thousand pounds. He next made an attempt to wrest Newark Castle from the earl of Newcastle, but in vain, it stood out to the end of the war; but he raised the siege of Croyland, made his appearance at Nottingham and Lynn, and in July he defeated Newcastle's troops near Grantham, took Burghleigh House and Stamford, and before the month closed, fought a stout battle under the walls of Gainsborough to relieve lord Willoughby, who was sorely pressed in that town by Newcastle's forces, and but for Cromwell's timely march to his aid, would have been cut to pieces. Cromwell attacked the besieged on some sandhills near the town, dispensed them, and killed general Cavendish, a cousin of Newcastle's. After this exploit, however, Newcastle's main allay came down upon them, and they were compelled to retreat to Lincoln, and even beyond it.
Meantime, the parliamentary affairs went greatly wrong in the west. Waller, who had gained the name of conqueror by his rapid reduction of Portsmouth, Winchester, Malmsbury, and Hereford, was now defeated with an army eight thousand strong by prince Maurice, near Bath, and by lord Wilmot, near Devizes. His whole army was dispersed, and he hastened to London, to complain of the inaction of Essex being the cause of his failure. The army of Essex itself, indeed, distinguished itself this summer so far only by inaction, whilst Paipert in the west laid siege to Bristol, and in three days made himself master of it, through the incapacity of Fiennes, the governor, who was tried by a council of war and sentenced to death, but pardoned by Essex with loss of his commission.
The king's brightening fortunes enabled the queen to march from Newark on the 3rd of July, by Ashby, Walsal, King's Norton, to Stratford-on-Avon. In the native town of Shakespeare, Rupert and his cavaliers received her with acclamations, and on the 11th held a sort of jubilee there in her honour. The king, at the head of a regiment of horse, met her and her triumphant train on Edge Hill, which he considered the field of his first victory. They were received in Oxford with wonderful triumph: Henrietta was regarded as a heroine bringing victory, and the poets of the university rivalled each other in songs to her glory. One of these is so full of the spirit and events of the time, that it deserves quoting:—
   "When gallant Grenville stoutly stood And stopped the gap up with his blood, When Hopton led his Cornish band Where the sly Conqueror durst not stand, We knew the queen was nigh at hand.
   When great Newcastle so came forth, As in nine days he scoured the north, When Fairfax' vast, perfidious force Was shrunk to five invisible horse,
   When none but lady——staid to fight, We knew oar queen was come in sight
   When with Carnarvon, who still hit With his keen blade and keener wit. Stood Wilmot, Byron, Crawford, who Struck yesterday a glorious blow. When Waller could but bleed and fret. Then—then the sacred couple met."
A medal was struck at Oxford to commemorate the queen's arrival, and there she kept her court till April of the next year. In their domestic relations Charles and his queen were an example of affection and amiability worthy of all admiration. Charles was proud of his queen, and loved to lean on her opinions. He had no longer any great favourites or counsellors but her, and with his spirit of attachment to somebody, and his habit of relying on some one's advice, he now concentrated all this trust and regard on the queen, who was too much guided by her passions to be a safe adviser. Clarendon takes a very clear view of this—"The king's affection to the queen was a composition of conscience, generosity, and gratitude, and all those noble affections which raise the passions to the greatest height, inasmuch that he saw with her eyes, and determined with her judgment. Not only did he pay her this adoration, but he desired that all men should know that he was swayed by her; and this was not good for either of them. The queen was a lady of great beauty, excellent wit and humour, and made him a just return of her noblest affections, so that they were the true idea of conjugal attachment in the age in which they lived. . . . . It was her majesty's misfortune, and that of the kingdom, that she had no one about her to advise and inform her of the temper of the people." She discovered this, and bitterly bewailed it when it was too late.
It was imagined that Charles, being now reinforced by a number of French and Walloons who came with the queen, and strengthened by victory, would make a grand attempt on the capital. There was no little alarm there: Essex, who had done nothing through the summer but watch his men melt away from his standard, recommended parliament to come to terms with him, and the lords were greatly of his opinion. Many of them were ready to rim off to the king on the first opportunity—Bedford, Holland, Northumberland, and Clare, father of Denzell Hollis, were strongly suspected, and soon after proved that it was not unjustly. Four nobles had been appointed to raise new forces, but, seeing how things were going, all declined their commissions except lord Kimbolton, now by the death of his father become earl of Manchester. He accepted the command of the eastern association, having Cromwell and three other colonels under him, and soon had a fine force in those counties.
Parliament, listening to neither Essex nor the faint-hearted fears of the peers, refused to open fresh negotiations with the king. They called on the Londoners to invigorate their train-bands, and to put the city into a state of defence; and their call was zealously responded to. Ladies, as well as gentlemen, turned out and handled spades and pickaxes in casting up an intrenchment all round the city. Pym and St. John were sent to the army, and seemed to infuse a new spirit into Essex, pronouncing him sound in the cause. Charles, if he ever thought of attacking the city, seeing the spirit there, turned his attention to the west, and invested the city of Gloucester. Essex was despatched to relieve that city, and made a march much more active and efficient than was his wont. He set out on the 26th of August, and on the night of the tenth day—though he had been harassed on his way by the flying troopers of Rupert and lord Wilmot—that is on the 5th of September, the people of Gloucester saw his signal fires on the top of Presbury Hill, amid the rain and darkness. The king also saw them, fired his tents in the morning, and marched away. From that hour the prospects of Charles grew gloomier.
Essex having relieved Gloucester, and left a good garrison there under the brave governor, colonel Massey, made the best of his way back again, lest the king should outstrip him, and take up his position before London. Charles had not neglected the attempt to cut off his return. At Auborne Chase he was attacked by the flying squadrons of Rupert, and after beating them off, he found the king posted the next day across his way at Newbury. The royal army was posted along the bank of the river which runs through the place, to prevent his passage. Every part where there was a chance of the parliamentary forces attempting a crossing, was strongly defended by breastworks, and muskeeteers lined the houses facing the river. It was supposed that Charles could easily keep the roundheads at bay, and force them to retreat or starve. Essex drew up his forces, however, to great advantage upon an eminence called Bigg's Hill, about half a mile from the town, and Charles was prepared to wait for a chance of taking him at an advantage. But the rashness of the young cavaliers under such men as Digby, Carnarvon, and Jermyn, led to skirmishes with the parliamentarians, and very soon Charles found himself so far involved, that he was obliged to give orders for a general engagement. The royal horse charged that of Essex with a recklessness amounting almost to contempt; but though they threw them into disorder, they found it a different matter with the infantry, consisting of the train-bands and apprentices of London. They received the cavaliers on their pikes, and stood as immovable as a rock, and showed such resolute and steady spirit, that they soon allowed the horse to recover itself, and the whole army fought with desperation till it was dark. The effect was such, that Charles would not risk another day of it. Waller was lying at Windsor with two thousand horse and as many foot, and should he come up as he ought, he would be hemmed in, and placed in imminent peril. But Waller lay perfectly still, and as many thought purposely, leaving the earl of Essex to take care of himself, as the earl had formerly left him at Roundaway Hill. In the morning, therefore, Essex found the king's forces withdrawn and the way open. Charles had retreated again towards Oxford, having deposited his guns and ammunition at Donnington Castle, Chaucer's old residence, which lay within sight, and ordered Rupert to harass the parliament army on its march. Essex made his way to Reading, whence he hurried up to town to complain of the neglect of Waller, and to offer the surrender of his commission. This was not accepted, but the only alternative was adopted, that of withdrawing the command from Waller, which, after much reluctance, was done on the 9th of October.
​The parliamentarians lost five hundred men in the battle, the king three times that number and many officers; but the greatest loss of all was that of the amiable and conscientious lord Falkland, a man on the royalist side as much respected as Hampden was on the parliament side. He had gone with the parliament till he thought they had obtained all that they were justly entitled to, and pressed too hard on the king, when he felt it his duty to support the crown, and had accepted office as secretary of state. He was a man of a most cheerful, cordial, courteous disposition; but from the moment that the war broke out, all his cheerfulness fled. He seemed to feel in himself all the wounds and miseries of his bleeding country. He was constantly an advocate of peace, and was often observed sitting in a state of abstraction, uttering aloud and as unconsciously the words, "Peace! peace!" As the war went on his melancholy increased; he neglected his dress, and became short and hasty in his temper. He declared that "the very agony of the war, and the view of the calamities and desolation which the kingdom did and must endure, took his sleep from him, and would break his heart." Whitelock says that "on the morning of the fight he called for a clean shirt, and being asked the reason of it, answered that if he were slain in the battle, they would not find his body in foul linen. Being dissuaded by his friends against going into the fight, as having no call to it, being no military officer, he said he was weary of the times, and foresaw much misery to his country, and did believe he should be out of it ere night, and could not be persuaded to the contrary, but would enter into the battle, and was there slain." His death was deeply lamented by all parties. Besides him fell the earls of Sunderland and Carnarvon.
When the king's affairs were in the ascendant by the successes in the west, the taking of Bristol, and the defeat of Waller at Roundaway Down, near Devizes, the earls of Bedford, Northumberland, Holland, and Clare deserted the parliament cause. Northumberland, being cautious, retired to Petworth, to see how the other lords who meant to go over to the king should be received. Bedford, Clare, and Holland offered their services to the king, and went to Walingford, where they were suffered to wait a great while, much to their chagrin. They then went to Oxford, whilst Charles was in the west, and were ordered to await his return. The queen and the courtiers, meanwhile, treated them not as valuable and influential allies, whose good reception would certainly bring over many more, but, with consummate folly, as renegades, who had forfeited all respect by taking part with the king's enemies. They followed the king to Gloucester, where they were coolly enough received, and afterwards fought on his side at Newbury; but nothing winning them that estimation which good policy would have granted them at once, as the king's prospects turned, they made their peace with parliament, and went back to London, where, however, they found they had sunk greatly in public opinion, and were not permitted to take their seats in the house of peers or hold office. Their flight had lowered the public estimation of the lords, and their reception at Oxford had seriously injured the king's cause. Whilst the king and queen retained their impolitic resentments, there was no hope of winning over friends from the ranks of their opponents. It was clear that neither time nor trouble had really taught them anything. At the same time we learn from Clarendon that there existed great discord and division in the camp and court at Oxford. Every one was jealous of the slightest promotion or favour shown to another; and the cavaliers, he says, had grown disorderly, and devoted to the plundering of the people, just as the parliamentary army was growing orderly, zealous, and efficient. Insomuch that one side seemed to fight for monarchy with weapons of confusion, and the other to destroy the king and government with all the principles and regularity of monarchy.
This was seen in nothing more than in the management with regard to Scotland. To both parties it was of the highest consequence to have the alliance of the Scots. Charles, on his last visit, had flattered the people, conceded to the notions of the covenanters, and conferred honours on their leaders. But Montrose, who knew the covenanters well, assured the king that he would never get them to fight on his side. They were too much united in interest and opinion with the puritan parliament not to adhere to them. He proposed, therefore, to raise another power in Scotland—that of the nobility and the Highlanders, who should at least divide the country, evade a hazard in an army of covenanters leaving the country, and thus at least save the king from the imminent danger of an invasion in that quarter, the first result of which would be to lose him his ascendancy in the northern counties of England. When the queen landed and came to York, Montrose waited on her, and did all in his power to awaken a sense of danger in Scotland, and offered to raise ten thousand men there, and paralyse the designs of the covenanters. But when these representations were made to Charles, the marquis of Hamilton, now made duke, strongly opposed the advice of Montrose, declared that it was monstrous to set Scots against Scots, and that he would undertake to keep them quiet. He prevailed, and Montrose, disappointed, retired again to Scotland to watch the progress of events. Hamilton went to Scotland, with authority from the king to take the lead in all movements of the royalists.
As was foreseen, the English parliament made overtures to the Scots for assistance, and the Scots were by no means loth, provided they could make advantageous terms. It determined to send a commission to Edinburgh to treat, and the Scots on their part resolved to call a parliament to receive their offers. The time fixed for the reassembling of the Scottish parliament was not yet arrived by a full year, and it was one of the circumstances which the duke of Hamilton had most particularly pledged himself to the king to prevent assembling; yet on the 22nd of June, notwithstanding his remonstrance, it came together, and on the 20th of July the commissioners from the English parliament arrived, and were received by both parliament and general assembly with exultation, and their letters from the parliament of England were read with shouts of triumph—by many, with tears of joy. Their arrival was regarded as a national victory.
The conduct of Hamilton was now suspicious. If he was honest he had misled the king, for he found he had no power to resist the popular feeling in Scotland; but the ​general opinion coincided with that of Montrose, that he was a traitor. The royalists called upon him to summon them to his aid, to assemble them in a large body, mounted and armed, and, supported by them, to forbid the meeting of parliament as illegal. But that, Hamilton assured them, would frighten the people, and load to disturbance. He proposed that the meeting should take place, that all the royalist members should appear in their places, and then he would declare the meeting illegal, and dismiss it. To their astonishment, however, Hamilton did not dismiss it, but allowed it to sit. On this Montrose posted away to England, followed the king to Gloucester, and represented to him the conduct of Hamilton as confirmative of all his former declarations of his perfidy. After the battle of Newbury, Charles listened more at leisure to these representations. He was so far convinced, that he thought of ordering the earl of Newcastle to send for Hamilton and his brother lord Lanark, and to confine them at York. But at that moment the two brothers, probably aware of the proceedings of Montrose, appeared themselves at Oxford, where Charles ordered the council to examine into the charges against them. Lanark managed to escape from custody, and hastened direct to London and to the parliament, which received him most cordially, a pretty strong proof of mutual understanding. This satisfied Charles of Hamilton's complicity, and he sent him in custody to the castle of Bristol, thence to Exeter, and thence to Pendennis, in Cornwall.
The commissioners sent to Scotland were Henry Vane the younger, Armyn, Hatcher, Darley, and Marshall, with Nye, an independent. The Scots proposed to invade England on condition that the parliament adopted the covenant, and engaged to establish uniformity of religion in both countries, "according to the pattern of the most reformed church," which, of course, meant presbyterianism. But the commissioners knew that this was impossible, for though a considerable number of the people were presbyterian in doctrine, many more were independent, and just as sturdy in their faith, to say nothing of the large section of the population which held conscientiously to both episcopacy and Catholicism. Vane himself was a stanch independent, and he was at the same time one of the most adroit of diplomatists. He consented that the kirk should be preserved in its purity and freedom, and that the church of England should be reformed "according to the word of God." As the Scots could not object to reformation according to the word of God, and "the example of the first reformed churches," which they applied especially to their own, they were obliged to be content with that vague language. Vane also obtained the introduction of the word league, also giving the alliance a political as well as a religious character. It was concluded to send a deputation with the commissioners to London, to see the solemn "League and Covenant" signed by the two houses of parliament, at the head of which went Alexander Henderson, the well known moderator of the assembly. Whilst they were on their journey, the ministers in Scotland readily proclaimed from their pulpits that now the Lord Jesus had taken the field against antichrist, that Judah would soon be enslaved if Israel was led away captive, and that the cause of Meroz would fall on all who did not come to the help of the Lord against the mighty.
On the 25th of September, the very day that Essex arrived in London after the battle of Newbury, and received the thanks of parliament, the two houses met with the Westminster divines in the church of St. Margaret, where, after various sermons, addresses, and blessings, the two houses signed the league and covenant, and their example was followed by the Scotch commissioners and the divines. It was then ordered to be subscribed in every parish by all persons throughout the country.
It was agreed that the estates of Scotland should send an army of twenty-one thousand men into England, headed by the old earl of Leven. That they should receive thirty-one thousand pounds a month, and one hundred thousand pounds of it in advance, and another sum at the conclusion of peace. Sixty thousand pounds were soon remitted, the levies began, and in a few months Leslie mustered his army at Harlaw.
The union of the Scots with the parliament was an alarming blow to the royalists. If they had found it difficult to cope with parliament alone, how were they to withstand them and the Scots? To strengthen himself against this formidable coalition, Charles turned his attention to Ireland. There the army had actually grown to fifty thousand men. As the restorers of the English influence, these were to be paid out of the estates of the revolted Irish, and numbers of both English and Scotch had flocked over. A large body of Scotch had landed under the command of general Monro, eager to revenge the massacre of their presbyterian brothers in Ulster. The natives had been driven back, and the invaders were busy parcelling out the evacuated lauds. Two million and a half of acres had been promised by the English parliament as the reward of the victors.
THE PURITAN CAMP.
This was not accomplished without exciting the notice of the parliament, who sent over commissioners to endeavour to win over the protestants in Ormond's army, but in vain. In the month of November Ormond shipped five regiments to the king. These were sent to Chester, to garrison that town under lord Byron; but they were rather marauders than soldiers; they had been raised by the parliament, and fought against it for the king; and they were as loose in discipline as in principles. In about six weeks after their arrival, they were visited by Sir Thomas Fairfax, at Nantwich, when fifteen thousand of them threw down their arms, amongst them the afterwards notorious general Monk. Nor was this the only mischief occasioned to the royal cause by these Irish troops. Their arrival disgusted the royal forces under Newcastle in the north, who declared that they would not fight with catholics and Irish rebels.
Whilst the Scotch were mustering to enter England, the marquis of Newcastle was bearing hard on the parliament forces in Yorkshire. He had cleared the country of them except Hull, which he was besieging; and Lincolnshire was also so overrun with his forces, that lord Fairfax, governor of Hull, was obliged to send his son, Sir Thomas, across the Humber, to the help of the earl of Manchester. Fairfax united with Cromwell near Boston, and at Winceby-on-the-wolds, about five miles from Horncastle, the united army under Manchester came to a battle with the troops of Newcastle, and completely routed them, thus clearing nearly all Lincolnshire of them. Cromwell had a horse killed under him, and Sir Ingram Hopton, of Newcastle's army, was killed. The battle was won by Cromwell and Fairfax's cavalry.
The close of this year was saddened to the parliament by the death of Pym. It was, indeed, a serious loss, following that of Hampden. No man had contributed so much to give firmness to the conduct of the commons, and clearness to the objects at which it aimed. His mind was formed on the old classic model of patriotic devotion. He had no desire to pull down the crown or the church, but he would have the one restrained within the limits of real service to the country, and the other to those of its spiritual benefit. Therefore he recommended sternly resistance to the royal power, preferring civil war to perpetual slavery, and the exemption of bishops and clergymen from all civil offices. Seeing from the first the ends that he would attain, guided by the most solemn and perspicuous principles, he never swerved from them under the pressure of flattery or difficulty, and he would not let the state swerve. His eloquence and address, but far more his unselfish zeal, enabled him to draw the commons and intimidate the lords. He boldly told the peers that they must join in the salvation of the country, or see it saved without them, and take the consequences in the esteem or the contempt of the people. They would have fared better had they profited by his warning. Pym was the Aristides of the time: he sought no advantage to himself, he derived nothing from his exertion or his prominent position, but the satisfaction of seeing his country saved by his labours. He derived no influence from his wealth or rank, for he had none of either; his whole prestige was intellectual and moral; he wore himself out for the public good, and died as poor as he commenced, the only grant which he received from the state being an honourable burial in Westminster Abbey. The sycophants of royalty, on the return of monarchy, cast out his remains from that miscellaneous charnel-house of kings, patriots poets, sycophants, and kept mistresses; but there was a monument which they dared not touch, in which his memory lives, the heart of the nation, for there is no man to whom posterity owes, and will owe, more of the glory, the freedom, and the daily comforts of Englishmen. Wherever we go, we walk over his tomb, for it embraces every foot of English ground, and out of it springs perpetually the ennobling and enfranchising consciousness of what, as a nation, we are and must be.
At the opening of 1644 Charles had devised a scheme for undermining the authority of the parliament, which was by issuing a proclamation for its extinction. Clarendon, who was now the lord chancellor, very wisely assured him that the members of the parliament sitting at Westminster would pay no heed to his proclamation, and that a better measure would be to summon parliament to meet at Oxford. That would give every member of both houses, who were at all inclined to again recognise the royal authority, the opportunity to join him; and, on the other hand, a parliament assembling by call and authority of the king at his court, would stamp the other as illegal and rebellious. The advice was adopted, and at the summons forty-three peers and one-hundred and eighteen commoners assembled at Oxford. These, however, consisted of such as had already seceded from the parliamentary party, and the king claimed as the full number of his parliament at Oxford, eighty-three lords, and one hundred and seventy-five commons. According to Whitelock, there met at Westminster twenty-two lords only, and eleven more were excused on different accounts, making thirty-three; of the commons there were more than two hundred and eighty. The king, in his parliament, promised all those privileges which he had so pertinaciously denied to all his past parliaments, and a letter, subscribed by all the members of both houses, was addressed to the earl of Essex, requesting him to inform "those by whom he was trusted," that they were desirous to receive commissioners, to endeavour to come to a peaceable accommodation on all matters in dispute. Essex returned the letter, refusing to forward a paper which did not acknowledge the authority of the body addressed. The point was conceded, and Charles himself then forwarded him a letter addressed to the lords and commons of parliament assembled at Westminster in his own name, soliciting, by advice of the lords and commons of parliament assembled at Oxford, the appointment of such commissioners "for settling the rights of the crown and parliament, the laws of the land, and the liberties and property of the subject."
In this letter appeared a remarkable sentence, no other than a recommendation of toleration on religious subjects, the first mention of such topic, as Dr. Lingard has observed. in the history of England This was, we may feel assured. ​introduced not from any conviction in the royal mind, or in those of his advisers, of the Christianity of such a principle, for neither his church nor any other, except the independents, had for a long time posterior any idea of such a thing. All the other parties, the church, the catholics, as exemplified in Ireland, wherein they had the power, the Scotch presbyterians, and the English puritans, had yet so ill-read the Gospels, that they were rampant to insist on the supremacy of their own creed, and the rigorous suppression of all others. Nor were Charles and his advisers the first to name the new word "toleration." It had been stated in the preceding autumn in the assembly of divines at Westminster by Sedden, Whitelock, and others, of the independent persuasion, and as violently resisted by the presbyterians. Selden, who was a far more profound scholar than the generality of the ministers, continually contradicted their gloomy and persecuting doctrines from the original Greek and Hebrew of the Scriptures. "Perhaps," he would say, "in your little pocket Bibles with gilt leaves, the translation may be thus, but the Greek, or the Hebrew, signifies thus and thus," says Whitelock, and so would totally silence them. But he could not silence them long or altogether. "Toleration!" they exclaimed. "Toleration would make the kingdom a Chaos, a Babel, another Amsterdam, a Sodom, an Egypt, a Babylon. Toleration is the grand work of the devil, his masterpiece, and chief engine to uphold his tottering kingdom. It is the most compendious, ready way to destroy all religion, lay all waste, and bring in all evil. As original sin is the fundamental sin, having the seed and spawn of all sin in it," so they declared that "toleration had all errors in it, and all evils." And they petitioned parliament against the smallest admission of it. "We detest and abhor," they said, "this much endeavoured toleration. Our bowels are stirred within us, and we could even drown ourselves in tears when we call to mind how long and sharp a travail this kingdom hath been in for many years together in bring forth that blessed fruit of a pure and perfect reformation; and now, at last, after all our pains, and dolours, and expectations, this real and thorough reformation is in danger of being strangled in the birth by a lawless toleration that strives to be brought forth before it."
Such were the notions of "the liberty of the gospel" at that time of day. But the independents were beginning to let light in on that head, and Charles, who saw that they were a strong party, thought he should catch them by this feeler, or at least throw discord into the camp of his enemies. But it did not succeed. The parliament of Westminster took exception to the phrase in the king's letter of "the members of both houses meeting in a full and free convention of parliament," &c., as implying that theirs was not such a full convention. They denounced the whole scheme as popish and Jesuitical, to beguile them into renouncing their own authority, and called on the king to join his legitimate parliament. There was no possibility of peace, and the Oxford parliament proceeded to proclaim the Scots, who had entered England contrary to the pacification, and all who countenanced them guilty of high treason.
The Scots passed the Tweed on the 16th of January, 1644. The winter was very severe, and the march of the army was dreadful They made their way, however, to Newcastle, where the marquis of Newcastle had just forestalled them, by getting possession of it. They then went on to Sunderland. Newcastle came out and offered them battle, but the Scots, though suffering from the weather and want of provisions, having posted themselves in a strong position, determined to wait for the arrival of parliamentary forces to their aid. The defeat of lord Byron at Nantwich; with his Irish regiments, permitted Sir Thomas Fairfax and lord Fairfax, his father, to draw towards them, and these generals having also defeated the royalists under lord Bellasis, the son of lord Falconberg, at Leeds, Newcastle betook himself to York, where he was followed by both the Fairfaxes and the Scots.
Charles was lying at Oxford with a force of ten thousand men; Waller and Essex, with the parliamentary army, endeavoured to invest him in that city, but as they were marching down upon him from two different quarters, he issued from the city with seven thousand men, and made his way to Worcester. As these two generals detested each other, and could not act in concert, Essex turned his march towards the west of England, where prince Maurice lay, and Waller gave chase to the king. Charles, by a feint of marching on Shrewsbury, induced Waller to proceed in that direction, and then suddenly altering his course at Bewdley, regained Oxford, and after beating up the parliamentary quarters in Buckinghamshire, encountered and worsted Waller at Copredy Bridge, and then marched westward after Essex.
Whilst these manœuvres were in progress, the earl of Manchester, having as his lieutenant-general Oliver Cromwell, marched northward to co-operate with Leslie and the Fairfaxes at York against Newcastle. Charles, who saw the imminent danger of Newcastle, and the loss of all the north if he were defeated, sent word to prince Rupert to hasten to his assistance. Rupert had been gallantly fighting ill Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire, and everywhere victorious. He had compelled the parliamentary army to raise the siege of Newark, had taken Stockport, Bolton, and Liverpool, and raised the siege of Latham House, which had been nobly defended for eighteen weeks by the countess of Derby. On receiving the king's command, he mustered what forces he could, and reached York on the 1st of July. The parliamentary generals, at his approach, raised the siege, and withdrew to Marston Moor, about four miles from the city. Rupert had about twenty thousand men, with which he had committed dreadful ravages on the Lancashire hills; he had now relieved the marquis, and might have defended the city with success, but he was always ready to fight, and Newcastle having six thousand men, altogether twenty-six thousand, he persuaded him to turn out with him and chastise the round-heads. The English and Scotch had about the same number. So little did the parliamentarians expect a battle, that they were in the act of drawing off their forces to a greater distance, when Rupert attacked their rear with his cavalry. On this they turned, and arranged themselves in front of a large ditch or drain, and the royalists posted themselves opposite. The Scotch and English occupied a large rye field on a rising ground, bounded by this ditch, and they placed their troops in alternate divisions, so that there should be no jealousy between them. It was not till five ​o'clock in the afternoon that the two armies had arranged themselves for the fight, and then they stood solemnly gazing on each other for two hours, each loth to undertake the disadvantage of crossing the ditch first. Newcastle, who did not want to fight, had retired to his carriage in ill-humour, and all began to think that there would be no battle till the morrow, when Rupert, who was posted on the right wing with his cavalry, another body of cavalry covering the Hank of the infantry on the left, made one of his sudden and desperate charges. Like all these exploits of his, it was so impetuous, that it bore the parliamentary cavalry on their left wing clear away before it, and the officers and their horse were speedily in full flight, pursued by the fiery Rupert, who, as was his wont, forgot all but the fugitives before him, and with three thousand cavalry galloped after them for some miles. The royalist infantry followed up the effect by attacking that of the parliament with such fury, that the latter was thrown into confusion, and the three generals, Manchester, lord Fairfax, and Leslie, believing all lost, fled with the rest, in the direction of Tadcaster and Cawood Castle. Cromwell, who commanded the right wing of the parliamentary army, was thus left to fight or flee, as might happen, but nothing daunted, he attacked the royalist cavalry with such vigour, that he completely routed them, and then turned again to oppose the horse of Rupert, who were just returning from the chase, to find the rest of their troops in flight. These and a body of pikemen, called "white coats," fought desperately. The cavalry, on exhausting their charges, flung their pistols at each other's heads, and then fell to with their swords. At length the victory remained with Cromwell, Rupert drew off, and Cromwell remained all night on the field. He sent messages after the fugitive generals to recall them, but Leslie was already in bed at Leeds when the news reached him, when ha exclaimed, "Would to God I had died on the place!" Cromwell won wondrous renown by this action, he kept the field all night with his troopers, who were worn out by the tremendous exertions of the day, and were in expectation every moment of a fresh attack from Rupert, who might have collected a large body of troops together to overwhelm him. But he had lost the battle by his incurable rashness, after having induced the unwilling Newcastle to risk the engagement, and he made his retreat into Lancashire, and thence into the western counties.
Four thousand one hundred and fifty bodies of the slain were buried on the moor; the greater part of the arms, ammunition, and baggage of the royalists fell into the hands of Cromwell, with about a hundred colours and standards, including that of Rupert himself, and the arras of the Palatinate. Newcastle evacuated York and retired to the continent, accompanied by the lords Falconberg and Widderington, and about eighty gentlemen, who believed the royal cause was totally ruined. This bloodiest battle of the war was fought on the 2nd of July, and on the morning of the 4th the parliamentary forces were again in muster, and sate down under the walls of York. On the 7th, being Sunday, they held a public thanksgiving for their victory, and on the 11th being ready to take the city by escalade, Glenham, the governor, came to terms, on condition that the garrison should be allowed to march out with all the honours of war, and retire to Skipton. On the 16th they evacuated the city, and the parliamentarians entered, and marched directly to the cathedral, to return thanks for their victory. The battle of Marston Moor had indeed utterly destroyed the king's power in the north. Newcastle only stood out; but this the Scots invested, and readily reduced, taking up their quarters there for the present.
In the west, matters for awhile wore a better aspect for the king. Essex, on the escape of the king from Oxford, directed his course west. The royalists were strong in Devon, Cornwall, and Somersetshire; but to effectually compete with them, Waller should have united his forces with the commander-in-chief. He was too much in rivalry with him to do that. The king set off after Essex, to support his forces in the western counties, and Essex, his if unaware of the royal army following him, continued to march on. The queen, who had been confined of a daughter at Exeter, on the approach of Essex requested of him a safe conduct to Bath, on pretence of drinking the waters, whence she proposed to get to Falmouth, and thence back to France. Essex ironically replied that he would grant her an escort to London, where she could consult her own physicians, but where he knew that she was proclaimed guilty of high treason. Henrietta Maria, however, made her way to Falmouth without his courtesy, and thence in a Dutch vessel, accompanied by ten other ships, she reached France, though closely pursued by the English admiral, who came near enough to discharge several shots at the vessel.
Essex advanced to Lyme Regis, where he relieved Robert Blake, afterwards the celebrated admiral, who was there closely besieged by prince Maurice; and still proceeding, took Taunton, Tiverton, Weymouth, and Bridport. This was something like victory, but meantime, all men were wondering at his apparent unconsciousness that the royalist forces were inclosing him, and that with the exception of about two thousand horse under Middleton, which kept at a distance and never united with him, he was wholly unsupported by Waller's troops. In this manner he advanced into Cornwall, where prince Maurice joined his forces with those of the king to cut off his return. At this crisis many began to suspect that he meant to go over to the king's party, but in this they misjudged him, for at this time Charles made overtures to him, but in vain. He received a. letter from the king, promising him if he would join him in endeavouring to bring the parliament to terms, he would guarantee both the liberties and religion of the people; and another from eighty-four of the king's principal officers, protesting that if the king should attempt to depart from his engagements, they would take up arms against him. Essex sent the letter to the parliament, proving his faith to them; but it would still have been better if he could have proved to them also his military ability. But near Liskeard, he suffered himself to be hemmed in by different divisions of the royal army, and his supplies to be cut off by allowing the little port of Foy or Fowie to fall into the hands of the kings generals. Sir Jacob Astley and Sir Richard Grenville. He was now attacked by Charles on the one hand, and colonel Goring on the other. Essex sent pressing demands to parliament for succour and provisions, but none came; ​and on the last of October, in the night, Essex's horse, under Sir William Balfour, by a successful manoeuvre, passed the enemy, and made their way back to London. Essex, with lord Roberts and many of his officers, escaped in a boat to Plymouth, and major-general Skippon, with the fort, capitulated, leaving to the king their arms and artillery.
This was a most ignominious termination of Essex's movement westward, which he had undertaken and continued, spite of the remonstrance of the parliament. He had no right to expect anything but the most severe censure; but he retired to his house, and demanded an investigation, charging his failure to the neglect of Waller. The parliament, however, instead of reproaching him, thanked him for the fidelity which he had shown when tempted by the king, and for his many past services.
But there was an eye which had long been casting a scrutinising glance over the proceedings of the aristocratic generals, to whom was intrusted the care of the commonwealth, and a mind which was at war with their slow notions and their blind meanderings in aimless confusion. These were the eye and the mind of Oliver Cromwell. His clear perception seized at once on the general view of things; and by an unending instinct, flew lightning like to the spot of necessary action. But it was in vain that he endeavoured to move the heavy spirit of his superior, the earl of Manchester, and hence they came more and more to disputes. Cromwell was insubordinate because it was impossible that fire could be subordinate to earth. In vain he pointed out what ought to be done, and he grew impatient and irritated at what was not done. That irritation and impatience became the greater as he turned his eyes on what Essex, Waller, and the rest of the parliamentary generals were doing. It seemed to him that they were asleep, paralysed, when a few bold strokes would bring the war to a close.
Charles having broken up Essex's army in Cornwall, and put Essex himself to flight, made a hasty march back again to Oxford to avoid being himself in turn cooped up in the narrow west. Already the parliament was mustering its forces for that purpose. Essex and Waller, the old slow-worm generals, were again set at the head of troops, and the victorious forces of Marston Moor, wider Manchester and Cromwell, were summoned to join them, the enemy being quelled northwards. They endeavoured to stop the king in his attempt to reach Oxford, and encountered him again near the old ground of battle at Newbury. Charles was attacked in two places at once, Show on the eastern, and at Speen on the western side of the town. The earl of Essex was ill, or, as many believed, pretended to be so; at all events, the command fell to Manchester. On the 26th of October, this first brush took place, and the next morning being Sunday, the attack was renewed more vigorously. The soldiers of Manchester, or rather of Cromwell, went into the fight singing psalms, as was their wont. The battle was fiercely contested, and it was not till ten o'clock at night that Charles retreated towards Wallingford. It was full moonlight, and Cromwell prepared to pursue him, but was withheld by Manchester. Again and again did Cromwell insist on the necessity of following and completing the rout of the royal army. "The next morning," says Ludlow, "we drew together and followed the enemy with our horse, which was the greatest body that I saw together during the war, amounting at least to seven thousand horse and dragoons; but they had got so much ground, that we could never recover sight of them, and did not expect to see any more in a body that year; neither had we, as I suppose, if encouragement had not been given privately by some of our party."
In other and plain words, there were strong suspicions that the aristocratic generals did not want to press the king too close. This became apparent ten days after. The king, on retreating, had done exactly as he did before at this same Newbury; he had thrown all his artillery into the castle of Donnington, and now he came back again to fetch it, nobody attempting to hinder him, as nobody had attempted to reduce Donnington and secure the artillery. So extraordinary was the conduct of the parliamentary generals, that though Charles passed through their lines both in going and returning from Donnington, and even offered them battle, no one stirred. The generals dispersed their army into winter quarters, and both parliament and public loudly complained of the affair of Newbury. The parliament set on foot an inquiry into the causes of the strange neglect of public duty, and they soon saw one powerful cause in the jealousies and contentions of the generals. Each and all laid the fault on the others. It was time that a new organisation was introduced, and Cromwell saw that beyond the mere incapacity of the commanders, there were aristocratic prejudices that stood in the way of any effectual termination of the war. The aristocrat, however intellectually endowed, stands no comparison in the great field of military action, as in many others, with the men who rise from the people, not perhaps or exclusively from the poor, but from the educated classes of commoners. Cromwell, Marlborough, Wellington, Bonaparte, all rose from the ranks of mere gentry, and had to push their fortunes. The greenhouse plant can never compete with the oak, which has sprung from the clefts of the rock and battled with all the tempests. There may be grace in the one, but there are vigour and robust spurt which belong to the other, and which give them the mastery.
Cromwell was at the head of the independents, and these were as adverse to the dominance and intolerance of the presbyterians, as Cromwell was to the slow-going generals. He knew that he should have their support, and he determined to come to a point on the vital question of the arrangement of the war. He had declared plumply, in his vexation, "That there never would be a good time in England till we had done with lords;" and he had horrified the milk-and-water aristocrats, by protesting that "if he met the king in battle, he would fire his pistol at him as he would at another." He was now resolved to have lords out of the army at least, and therefore, on the 25th of November, 1644, he exhibited a charge in the house of commons against the earl of Manchester, asserting that he had shown himself indisposed to finish the war; that since the taking of York he had studiously obstructed the progress of the parliamentary army, as if he thought the king already too low, and the parliament too high, especially at Donnington. That since the junction of the armies he had shown this ​disposition still stronger, and had persuaded the council not to fight at all.
Sir Thomas Fairfax. From an authentic Portrait.
Manchester, eight days after, replied at great length, accusing Cromwell of insubordination, and was supported by major-general Crawford, whom the Scotch presbyterians had got into the army of Manchester, to counteract the influence of Cromwell and the independents. Crawford even dared to charge Cromwell with leaving the field of Newbury from a slight wound. Cromwell, on the 9th of December, leaving such charges to be answered by Marston Moor and his share of Newbury, proposed a measure which at once swept the army of all its dead weights. In the grand committee there was a general silence for a good space of time, one looking on the other, to see who would venture to propose the only real remedy for getting rid of the Essexes and Manchesters out of the army, when Cromwell arose and proposed the celebrated Self-denying Ordinance. It is now time to speak, he said, or for ever hold the tongue. They must save the dying nation by casting off all lingering proceedings, like those of the soldiers of fortune beyond the sea, who so pursued war because it was their trade. "What," he asked, "did the nation say?" That members of both houses had got good places and commands, and by influence in parliament or in the army, meant to keep them by lingering on the war. What he told them to their faces, he assured them was simply what all the world was saying behind their backs. But there was a sure remedy for all that, and for himself, he cared to go no further into the inquiry, but to apply that remedy. It was for every one to deny themselves and their own private interests, and for the public good to do what parliament should command. He told them that he would answer for his own soldiers, not that they idolised him, but because they looked to parliament, and would obey any commands the parliament should lay upon them for the cause.
CROMWELL PROPOSING THE SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE.
The question of the Self-denying Ordinance was vigourously debated for ten days in the commons. Vane seconded the motion of Tate, and another member observed that two summers had passed over, and they were not saved. Their victories, he said, the price of such invaluable blood, seemed to have been put into a bag with holes; the treasure was wasted, the country exhausted, the summer's victory was a mere winter's story, to be resumed in the spring, and the cause of it all was the contention of the commanders. A fast was appointed for imploring a blessing on the new project: the people of London, on the 12th of December, petitioned the house, thanking them for their proceedings, and, after serious debate and opposition, the bill was passed on the 19th. On the 21st it was sent up to the lords, where it was vigorously attacked by Essex, Manchester, and the rest of the lords affected, as a gross insult to, and libel on them, after all their services, and was, in fact, a disqualification of the whole nobility of England. On the 13th of January the lords threw it out. Notwithstanding, the commons went on remodelling the army, fixed its numbers at twenty-one thousand effective men, namely, fourteen thousand foot, six thousand horse, and one thousand dragoons. They then nominated Sir Thomas Fairfax commander-in-chief instead of Essex; Skippon, the old train-band major, was made major-general; the lieutenant-general being left unnamed, the commons, spite of their own ordinance, resolving that Cromwell should hold that post, but avoiding to increase the opposition to the general measure by mentioning him.
On the 28th of January, the commons, having completed the organisation of the army and the appointment of the officers, again sent the ordinance up to the peers, who, seeing that they should be obliged to swallow it, moulded it into a more digestible shape, by insisting that all officers should be nominated by both houses, and that no one should be capable of serving who did not take the solemn League and Covenant within twenty days. But the lords were struck with an apprehension that the commons meant to do without them in the end, and they therefore exercised their rights in opposing the acts of the lower house. They refused to sanction one half of the officers appointed by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had been introduced to the commons on the 18th of February, thanked for his past services, and complimented on his appointment. To remove the suspicion of the peers, the commons assured them by message that they had bound themselves to be as tender of the honours and rights of the peers as they were of their own. This pacified the lords, and yielding to a necessity too strong for them, Essex, Manchester, Denbigh, and the rest resigned their commands, and on the 3rd of April the Self-denying Ordinance was passed by the peers. Sir Thomas Fairfax proceeded to Windsor to remodel the army according to the new act. He did not find this an easy task; many, who were dismissed by the act or for their past conduct, were ​unwilling to be cashiered; others would not serve under the new officers; and Dalbier, who had been one of the worst counsellors of Essex, lay apart with eight troops of horse, as if he contemplated going over to the king. At length, however, he came in, and the work was completed.
Whilst these things had been occurring in the field and the parliament, events had occurred also both in England and Scotland, which, not to interrupt the course of the higher transactions, have been deferred. From the month of June, 1643, the synod of divines at Westminster had been at work endeavouring to establish a national system of faith and worship. This Westminster assembly consisted of one hundred and twenty individuals appointed by the lords and commons. They included not only what were called pious, godly, and judicious divines, but thirty laymen, ten lords, and twenty commoners, and with them sate the Scottish commissioners. The Scotch and English presbyterians had a large majority, and endeavoured to fix on this nation their gloomy, ascetic, and persecuting notions; but, as we have Been, they found a small but resolute party of a more liberal faith, the independents, including Vane, Selden, and others, whose bearing and spirit, backed by Cromwell, Whitelock, St. John, and others in parliament, were more than a match for this overbearing intolerance. On the subject of church government, therefore, there could be no agreement. Cromwell demanded from the house of commons an act of toleration, and that a committee should be formed of deputies from both houses and from the assembly to consider it. The subject was long and fiercely debated, the lords Say and Wharton, Sir Henry Vane, and St. John contending for the independence of the church from all bishops, synods, and ruling powers whatever. The only thing agreed upon was, that the English common prayer book should be thrown overboard, and a directory of worship introduced which regulated the order of the service, the administration of the sacrament, the ceremonies of marriage and burial—but left much liberty to the minister in the matter of his sermons. This directory was, by an ordinance of both houses, ordered to be observed both in England and Scotland.
This must have been a grievous spectacle to poor old archbishop Laud, who was still in prison, and in the turmoil of civil war by many totally forgotten. But the puritans of England and the people of Scotland needed only a slight reminder to demand the punishment of the man who, with so high a hand, had trodden down their liberties and their religion. This was given them by the lords, who, insisting on appointing ministers to livings in his gift, called on Laud to collate the vacant benefices to such persons as they should nominate. The king forbade him to obey. At length, in February 1643, the rectory of Chartham, in Kent, became vacant by the death of the incumbent, the lords nominated one person, the king another, and Laud, placed in a dilemma dangerous to his life under his circumstances, endeavoured to excuse himself by remaining passive. But the lords, in the month of April, sent him a peremptory order, and on his still delaying, sent a request to the commons to proceed with his trial. There were fourteen articles of impeachment already hanging over his head, and the commons appointed Prynne, still smarting under the ear-lopping, branding, and cruelties of the archbishop, to collect evidence and co-operate with a committee on the subject.
What an apparition must that earless man, with those livid brand marks on his cheeks, have been as he entered the cell of Laud, and told him that the day of retribution was come. Prynne collected all his papers, even the diary which he had been so long employed in writing, as the defence of his past life, and sought in every quarter for remaining victims and witnesses of his persecutions and cruelties, to bring them up against him. In six months the committee had collected evidence enough to furnish ten new articles of impeachment against him, and on the 4th of March, 1644, more than three years after his commitment, he was called upon to take his trial. He demanded time to consult his papers, and to have them for that purpose restored, to have counsel, and money out of the proceeds of his estate to pay his fees and other necessary expenses. He was not likely to find much more tenderness from his enemies than he had showed to them; the Scotch demanded stern justice upon him, as the greatest enemy which their country had known for ages. Time was given him till the 12th of March, when he was brought to the bar of the house of lords. There, after the once haughty but now humbled summus pontifex had been made to kneel a little, Mr. Serjeant Wild opened the case against him, and went over, at great length, the whole story of his endeavours to introduce absolutism in church and state in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the dreadful cruelties and oppressions which he had inflicted on the king's subjects in the Star-chamber and High Commission Courts.
When he had done, Laud defended himself from a written paper, contending that though he had leaned towards the law, he had never intended to overthrow the laws, and that he had in the church laboured only for the support of the external form of worship, which had been neglected. But the hearers had not forgotten the "Thorough," nor the utter suppression of all forms of religion but his own, the sweeping away utterly of the faith of Scotland, and the substitution of Arminianism and the liturgy.
It was not till the 2nd of September that Laud was called to the bar of the lords to deliver his recapitulation of the arguments in answer to his charges. Mr. Samuel Brown, a member of the commons, and a manager of the trial, replied to them. Laud was then allowed counsel to speak to the parts of law, who took the same course of defence as had been taken in the case of Stratford, declaring that the prisoner's offence did not amount to high treason, and the commons then adopted their plan in Strafford's case, of proceeding by attainder. He was, therefore, on the 2nd of November, brought to the bar of their own house, where Mr. Brown repeated the sum of the evidence produced in the lords, and Laud was called on to reply himself to charges. He demanded time to prepare his answer, and obtained eight days. On the 11th of November he was heard, and Brown in reply; and the commons the same day passed their bill of attainder, finding him fully convicted of the offences charged against him. On the 16th they sent up this bill to the lords; but it was not till the 4th of January, 1645, that the lords also passed the bill, and soon after fixed the day of his execution for the 10th. The last ​effort to save the old man's life was by the production of a pardon which had been prepared at Oxford, as soon as the danger of his conviction was seen, and was signed and sealed by the king. This pardon was read in both houses, but was declared of no effect, the king having no power to pardon crime adjudged by parliament. On the appointed day, the archbishop was beheaded on Tower Hill. The news of his death made a deep impression on Charles. Both he and Strafford had died for the execution of his orders, and for the very same offence against the constitution for which he was now proscribed by parliament. In his eyes they were martyrs, not to his own crimes against the people, but to the lawless power of parliament. He had weakly surrendered the Life of Strafford, but here parliament had proceeded without him; and he felt a deep satisfaction in the belief that God would punish them for this awful sin, and that their cause would dwindle and perish under his divine displeasure.
The fate of Laud has been greatly lamented, and there were many circumstances which caused men to regard his last days with commiseration. He had suffered severely from his confinement and anxiety of mind, and was overwhelmed by age and infirmities. Time had weakened the sense of his crimes, and circumstance? had deprived him of any further power of evil. But, on the other hand, we must bear in mind that he had been a most determined traitor to all freedom of mind, conscience, and person; a fearful violator of the sacred guarantees of domestic life, and of personal feeling and existence, in the horrid places in the star-chamber; and as he was undoubtedly guilty of the highest possible kind of treason against the nation, the example of his punishment was salutary—a stern warning to future high-priests of political and ecclesiastical force.