alifornia :ional ility Arthur Ghipton, Buxton. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND. VOL. I. .A_^.^V *^i C. K. OGDEN HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND. FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT, TO THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES THE SECOND. By WILLIAM GODWIN. TO ATTEND TO THE NEGLECTED, AND TO RE>rEJIBER THE FORGOTTEN. BURKE. VOLUME THE FIRST. CONTAINING THE CIVIL WAR. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1S24. LONDON : PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR, SHOE-LANE. ^15 UK PREFACE. CUM TABULIS ANIMUM CENSORIS SUMET IIONESTI. IIOR. There is no part of the history of this island which has been so inadequately treated, as the characters and acts of those leaders, who had for the most part the direction of the public affairs of England from l640 to 16'60. The men who figured during the Interregnum, were, immediately after the Restoration, spoken of with horror, and their memoirs were composed after the manner of the Newgate Calendar. What was begun from party-rage, has been continued from indolence. No re- search has been exercised ; no public mea- sures have been traced to their right authors ; even the succession of judges, public officers, and statesmen, has been left in impenetrable confusion*. It is the object of the present * One instance, out of hundreds that might be selected, occurs in Dugdale, a plodding and laborious collector of records and dates : vi PRE FACE. work to remedy this defect, to restore the just tone of historical relation on the subject, to attend to the neglected, to remember the for- gotten, and to distribute an impartial award on all that was planned and achieved during this eventful period. If there be any semblance of truth in the dictum of Warburton, that, " when Crom- wel subdued his country, the spirit of liberty was at its heifrht, and its interests were con- ducted and supported by a set of the great- est geniuses for government that the world ever saw embarked together in one common That author in a Look entitled Origines Juridiciales, to which is ap- pended a copious table of the succession of judges and public officers, when he comes to this period, interrupts his detail, and leaving one extensive blank, inscribes on the page, Dominante perdhel- LIONE JUSTITIUM, in Other words. Murder being triumphant, there was a suspension of order and law. As if that period was not adorned with able men and enlightened ministers of justice, or as if its judges and public functionaries did not form the subject of as laudable cu- riosity, as their predecessors and successors in office. In like manner the compilers of peerages, when they touch upon such persons of ele- vated birth as took part in the opposition to king Charles or in the affairs of the Commonwealth, pass them over with all imaginable celerity, believing that the heirs of their titles would blush to be told, that their progenitors ranked among the advocates of the rights of mankind. PREFACE. vii cause*/' it follows that, till the interval in which they flourished has been adequately developed, and their proceedings have been related in the language of sobriety and justice, the character of our countrymen can never be fully understood, and the history of England can never be written. To fill up this chasm in our annals, has been the pur- pose of the present undertaking. The book I here publish is the production of my mature life ; and I wish the principle upon which it is formed to be thoroughly understood. It relates to a great and inter- esting topic, a series of transactions perhaps not to be surpassed in importance by any thing that has occurred on the theatre of the world. I have no desire to be thouirht to look upon such transactions with indifference. I have no desire to be regarded as having no sentiments or emotions, when any thing sin- gularly good or singularly evil passes under mv review. I wish to be considered as feelino- as well as thinking. If to treat good and evil * Notes to the Essay on Man, Epistle I\', verse 283. VIU PREFACE. as thinjis havinsf no essential ditTerence, be impartiality, such impartiality I disavow. I will inform my readers what impartiality I aim at, and consider as commendable. Its essence consists in a fair and severe examina- tion of evidence, and the not suffering any respect of persons, or approbation of a cause, to lead the writer to misapprehend or mis- represent the nature of facts. If I have failed in this, I desire to be considered as guilty of a breach of the genuine duties of an historian ; or, to speak in plainer terms, of what I owe to my own character, and to the best interests of the human race. If I have not failed in this, I claim to obtain a verdict of Not guilty. I have endeavoured to write with sobriety and a collected mind. I have endeavoured to guard myself against mere declamation, and that form of language in which passion prevails to the obscuring of judgment. I have spoken no otherwise of men and things, than I should wish to speak in the presence of an omniscient judge. I have been anxious to pronounce on all in the atmosphere of a true discrimination, and in the temper of an PREFACE. IX honest and undebauched sense of moral right. It is at this time almost universally granted, and will more fully appear in the following pages, that the opponents of Charles the First fought for liberty, and that they had no alternative. I proceed upon these two posi- tions. Let them be granted me; and I fear no charge of false colouring in what follows. If the events of which I treat had preceded the Universal Deluge, or passed in the remo- test island of the South Sea, that ought to make me sober, deliberate and just in my decisions: it ought not to make me indifferent to human rights, improvement or happiness. The nearness or remoteness of the scene in respect of place or time, is a consideration of comparatively inferior magnitude: I wish to be wholly unaffected by the remembrance, that the events took place about a century pre- vious to my birth, and occurred on the very soil where my book is written. With respect to the materials of my history I have not much to remark. I trust it will not be found, that I have neglected any ac- PRKF ACl.. cessible means of information, or that I have been wanting in industry, and the careful sifting and examination of authorities. My most copious source of knowledge and cer- tainty has been of a very obvious kind, the Journals of the Two Houses of Parliament. I was at first astonished to find that this source had been so little explored : but afterwards I perceived the cause. The Journals of the Commons were not put in print till 1742 ; nor those of the Lords till 1767 ; too late to allow of their being incessantly consulted by Hume and our most considerable historians. I am much deceived, if there will not be found a great degree of novelty in the following pages. Yet I do not even fear to be charged with betraying a love of singularity . The prin- cipal sources of my novelty are, first, patient industry and investigation, and secondly, a de- termination to look at the facts themselves, undisturbed by the glosses of party-vvriters. I cannot close these few pages of introduc- tion without acknowledging niyself indebted for many valuable hints to the late work of my friend, Mr, George Brodie, entitled PREFACE. xi A History of the British Empire from the Ac- cession of Charles I. to the Restoration. February 10, 1824. Upon a revisal of my printed sheets, I feel dissatisfied with the Second and Tenth Chapters of the ensuing volume, as not being sufficiently calculated to carry on the atten- tion of the reader. The Second contains matters of dry and minute information, but which seemed necessary at the root and setting ofFof the narrative which follows. The state- ments of the Tenth Chapter I should not have despaired of rendering agreeable without sub- tracting from what is essential in its contents, if I had had the opportunity of rewiiting that portion of my History. Other defects in the volume I leave to the sagacity of my readers. ERRATA. Page 87, line 29. for 1638, read 1628 90, line \.for These, read There 348, line 7. for he, read the CONTENTS. Page. Introduction. CHAPTER I. Founders of the commonwealth. — Coke. — Selden. — Hamp- den. — Pym 7 CHAPTER II. Beginnings of the commonwealth. — First examples of a power to appoint to offices, civil and military, exercised by the parliament. — Committee of safety. — Army raised under the earl of Essex. — Campaign of IGt'J. — Negociations at Oxford , 18 CHAPTER III. Proceedings on the subject of religion. — Difference of opinions respecting church-government. — Abolition of the votes of the bishops. — Bill for the abolishing episcopacy passes the two houses. — Stage-plays suppressed. — Monu- ments of idolatry destroyed. — Case of lord Strafford. . . 41 CHAPTER IV. Campaign of 1643. — OtHcers. — Essex. — Hampden. — Waller. Skippon. — Fairfax. — Cromwel. — Death of Hampden. — Charles denounces the two houses not a free parliament. — Waller defeated. — Bristol surrenders to the king. . . 07 XIV CONTl^NTS. CHAPTER V. Parliament prc|iarcs for the defence of London. — Declaration of the kingv — Fluctuations of the house of lords. — Mo- mentary irresolution of tlie commons. — Succeeded by firmness. — King marches against Gloucester. — The cause is saved 119 CHAPTER \ r. Siege of Gloucester. — Raised by Essex. — Battle of Newbury. — Battle of Horncastle. — The armies go into winter-quarters. 145 CHAPTER VII. State of Scotland. — Negociations with the English malcon- tents and the parliament. — IMotives of the king's journey thither. — Hampden and Fiennes sent to Edinburgh. — The incident. — Embassy of \'ane to the parliament of Scotland. — Solemn league and covenant. — Assembly of divines. — The covenant ratified in England 160 CHAPTER VIII. Elements of the king's army. — Character of Rupert. — Of the manjuis of Hertford. — Discountenance shewn to the fiigi- tive lords, Holland, Bedford, and Clare, at O.xford. — Cha- racters of the brother-earls, Warwick and Holland. — The fugitives return and submit to the parliament. — A new great-seal made for the service of the parliament. — Courts of justice restored. — Embassy to Holland. — Fiennes con- demned to death for the surrender of Bristol. — Pardoned. 18'2 CHAPTER IX. State of Ireland. — Administration of Strafford. — Projects for bringing over an army of Irish to support the king. — Com- missions of sir Phelira O'Neile and others. — Insurrection. — INIassacre. — Spread of the rebellion in different parts of Ireland 213 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER X. Proceedings in Great Britain on the subject of the Irish re- bellion. — King proposes to take the command in Ireland. — Catholic supreme government at Kilkenny. — Negociations of Antrim and Montrose. — Cessation of arms in Ireland. — Charles obtains reinforcements from that country, . , 245 CHAPTER XI. Preparations of the Scots to assist the forces of the English parliament. — Antrim and Montrose at Oxford. — Imprison- ment of the duke of Hamilton. — Anti-parliament at Ox- ford. — Changes introduced in the university' of Cambridge. 285 CHAPTER XII. Commencement of the campaign of 1644. — Scots enter En- gland. — Siege of York. — Marches of the king. — Fight at Cropredy Bridge. — Battle of JNIarston Moor. — Retreat of Rupert. — Newcastle goes into voluntary exile. — Surrender of York. — Queen retires into France 313 CHAPTER XIII. Character of the independents. — Constitution and character of the assembly of di\ ines. — Five systems or conceptions with regard to church-government : Popery, diocesan episcopacy, presbyterianism, independency, and Eras- tianism. — Character of the independent clergy. — Contro- versies. — Milton. — Question of toleration debated. — Ne- gociation of the king with the independents 333 CHAPTER XI\ . Dissentions among the parliamentiirj' officers. — Essex marches for the west. — Exploits of Blake in the defence of Lime. — King marches against Essex. — Character of the inhabit- ants of Cornwal. — Charles tries to corrupt the fidelity of Essex. — Essex's troops lay down their arms 36 J Xvi COXTEKTS. CHAPTER XV. Second battle of Newbury. — Manchester and Cromwel. — Skeldon Crawford. — Cromwel prefers a charge against tlie latter. — Enquiry into the aftair at Bennington Castle. — Recrimination bet^veen Manchester and Cromwel. — HoUis. — Cromwel accused as an incendiary. — Essex and Waller. — Circumstances favourable to the royal cause. — Self- denying ordinance. — Passes the commons. — Is rejected by the lords. — New model of the army. — Fairfax, and Cromwel. — Second self-denying ordinance, retrospective only in its provisions 375 CHAPTER XVI. Treaty of Uxbridge. — Trial and execution of Macmahon, Macguire, Carew, and the Hothams. — Attainder of Laud. 414 CHAPTER XVII. Beginning o^ the campaign of 1645. — Dissoluteness of the king's forces. — The clubmen. — Siege of Taunton, de- fended by Blake. — Exploits of Montrose. — His barbarities. 434 CHAPTER XVIII. Hopes with which Charles took the field. — Inactivit}' of the Scots under Leven. — Leicester stormed by the king's forces. — Character of Fairfax's army. — Ireton. — King defeated in the decisive battle of Naseby 457 CHAPTER XIX. Charles at Ragland Castle. — Siege of Taunton raised. — Battle of Langport. — Surrender of Bridg%vater. — Hereford besieged by the Scots. — Inflexibility of the king. — Proceeds north- ward as far as Doncaster. — Montrose victorious at Kilsyth. — Glasgow and Edinburgh submit to him. — Bristol surren- ders to the parliament — Montrose defeated. — King and Rupert at Newark. — Mutinous proceedings. — Charles win- ters at Oxford 470 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND. INTRODUCTION. 1 HE History of the Commonwealth of Enofland introduc T10\ constitutes a chapter in the records of mankind, ^*— v— -^ totally unlike any thinof that can elsewhere be ^'^^i of this - Historj'. tound. How nations and races of men are to be so governed as may be most conducive to the im- provement and happiness of all, is one of the most interesting questions that can be offered to our consideration. What are the advantages or dis- advantages that result from placing the reins of power and the guidance of the state ostensibly in a single hand, in a race of kings, is a problem which every friend of man would wish to have thoroughly examined. In ancient history we have various examples of republics established on the firmest foundation, and which seemed in several respects eminently to do credit to that form of government. In modern times the republican ad- VOL. I. B r 2 IIISTOUY 01- THE COMMONWEAL 1 11. iNTitoiMJc- ministration of a state has been chiefly confined *_.^^,_^ to governments with a small territory; the Com- monwealth of England is the memorable experi- ment in which that scheme of affairs has been tried upon a great nation. Twopartics The War between the king and the parliament among the •■ , . , p •■ ■, opposcrs of had now continued tor more than two years, when prerogative. ^ nicmorable difference began to manifest itself among the leaders of the anti-royalist party. It seemed unavoidable that some change should take place in the constitution of the government. Such is the consequence annexed to civil broils, which cannot be expected to terminate but in the ac- quisition of some ascendancy to one of the par- ties. The kino- and those of his friends who were entirely with him, held, that it was proper to lay aside the use of parliaments. Charles, as will more fully appear in the sequel, never made a concession to the popular cause, but with a re- serve in his own mind, the secret imputation of some defect in the mode in which the proceeding originated, in consequence of which the conces- sion was in its own nature null, and at a conve- nient season might so be declared ^. Those per- sons, such as Hampden and Pym, who first en- gaged in an open resistance to the king's claims, required that the power of the sword should be taken out of his hands, and that the regulation of ' Clarendon's Tlistoiy uf the Rebellion, Vol. I, p. 430. TION. •> HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. the army, and the superintendence of all forts and iN-xnonua castles, should be in the parliament. This assump- tion stands in the front of all the propositions for peace that were at any time offered by them. So long- as the struggle between the authority of the king and of the legislative assembly contin\icd to be in any degree in balance, here was a ques- tion powerful enough to animate the zeal of their respective adherents. But, before the close of the year 1G44, it became sufHciently evident that the party which had borne arms against the sove- reign, would have the power to mould all affairs at their pleasure. The question therefore forced it- self upon consideration, How was this to be done 1 Were the opponents of the prince to rest contented with the demands which had preceded the war, or were they to require something more? A war between the king and the nation, or its Rise of the representatives, necessarily led men to a scrutiny into the first principles of government. The ad- mission of one man, either hereditarily, or for life only, into the place of chief of a country, is an evidence of the infirmity of man. Nature has set up no difference between a king and other men ; a king therefore is purely the creation of our own hands. The immense distance which is thus interposed between him and every other member of the community is a matter of no in- considerable note. Human infirmity may render the existence of the ofHce advantageous to general li 2 republicans. 4 HISTORY or TIIR COAIMONWEArTU. iNTnonuc. interest ; but tliat it does so, is a reflection calcu- TIO\. ' . . ' *>.— ,^^„>^ lated to humble our vanity. Ideas like these unavoidably obtruded them- selves into the minds of men eno-aofed in a lono- and somewhat doubtful resistance as^ainst the in- croachments and excesses of kingly power : and the res alt could not be otherwise, than that some men of a more cautious and unadventurino- clia- racter, would be desirous as far as possible of re- tainino- the elements of the old irovernment, while others, more speculative and daring, would be anxious to seize so favourable an opportunity for reducing the state of their country to such a con- dition, as seemed in their eyes most agreeable to the simple dictates of reason. The more mode- rate and timid party allowed that the king must be limited, in a way in which none of his prede- cessors had ever been limited : the bolder and the more adventurous set were ready to allege, If the king must be an officer such as has never yet ex- isted in England, why should we not go a step farther, set him aside altogether, and try an ex- periment which seems to us to promise conse- quences infinitely more beneficial ? DiflTcrence Thus far all was speculation merely ; but it did b"twecii'the ^ot rest hcrc. The misfortune was, that those parties. ^yj-^^ desircd the preservation of the kingly office, and that Charles Stuart should still fill the En- glish throne, were obliged to look to the indivi- dual, and to desire that he should not be too far HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 5 humbled. The two parties which had cnirasrcd isTnonuc- ill the war ao-ainst the kine:, but which now at "^ .. ; least appeared to have very ditlerent views, were known among their contemporaries by the names of Presbyterians and Independents. If the king were entirely put down in the field, if he became a prisoner in the hands of his adversaries, this might seem to give an undue advantage to the independent or republican party. The presby- terians were desirous of treatintr with him, and that while he yet retained to a certain degree the symbols and outward shew of the station to which he had been destined by his birtli. They were ac- cused of not being eager to put a speedy termina- tion to the war ; and the charge thus made against them, could not be altogether without foundation. Such was the precise state of the feelings of Spiritofthe the two parties about the close of the year 1G44 ; ,vork"'"^ and it is of the republicans or commonwealths-men that it is the purpose of this work specially to treat. They were a set of men new in this coun- try ; and they may be considered as having be- come extinct at the Revolution in 1G88. It will not be the object of these pages to treat them, as has so often been done, with indiscriminate con- tumely. They were many of them, men of libe- ral minds, and bountifully endowed with the trea- sures of intellect. That their enterprise termi- nated in miscarriage is certain; and a falling- party is seldom spoken of with sobriety or mode- ration by the party that is victorious. Tin ir en- 6 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. iNTRODuc. terprise miMit be injudicious : the Eiifrlish intel- '^ — v^ Icct and moral feeling^ were probably not suffici- ently ripe for a republican government : it may be, that a republican government w^ould at no time be a desirable acquisition for the people of this country. But the men may be worthy of our admiration, whose cause has not prospered ; and the tragic termination of a tale will often not on that account render the tale less instructive, or less interesting to a sound and judicious observer. But the present work calls itself a History ; and the authorwill not knowingly suffer it in any respect to forfeit that appellation. " Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice," is a text that shall be for ever before his eyes. Neither royalist, nor presbyterian, nor republican, shall be described by him as pure or corrupt, till his character and his actions shall have been carefully scrutinised. Rise and The republican party in Eno-land dates its ori- I'cpubii. gin from the early campaigns of the civil war, and did not become wholly extinct till the Revo- lution in 1688. But, as a party having an im- portant influence in political aff'airs, their extinc- tion may be referred to the period of the Restora- tion. Their indications of life afterwards were feeble and fitful, like the final flashes and struof- gles of an expiring flame. Their title to a di- stinct consideration in history seems to close with the Restoration, and the investigations of these pages shall pursue them no farther. cans CHAPTER 1. FOUNDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. COKE. SELDEN. HAMPDEN. PYM, England was eminently fertile in political genius c n a p. in the period which immediately preceded the ^ ] / civil war. One of the profoundest characters of this time was sir Edward Coke, and the pecu- liarities of his mind seem never to have been suf- ficiently appreciated. Selden was the wonder and admiration of all his contemporaries. And Hampden and Pym, the former of these particu- larly, were fully entitled to rank with these illus- trious personages. Sir Edward Coke seems to be universally ad- Chamcicrof mitted to be the great oracle of the laws of En- coke. '**'^ ofland. He rose throuQfh the various stations of speaker of the house of commons, solicitor gene- ral, attorney general, chief justice of the common pleas, and chief justice of the king's bench, by merit only, without employing, in the progress of his elevation, as he himself expressed it, " either prayers or pence." It was his saying, when the duties of that hioh office were not so well ascer- taincd as they have since been, that " n judge S HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. sliould neither take nor give a bribe." Sir Ed- ward Coke had the honour to be the first great lawyer, who set himself in opposition to the enor- mous prerogatives then claimed by the crow^n. Having in 1G15 and IGIG thwarted king James in his unlimited pretensions three several times, he was in the latter of these years removed from the place of chief justice of the king's bench, lord chancellor Ellesmere affirming to him on the oc- casion that he was too popular for a judged In the parliament of 1621 he took a spirited part in the debates against arbitrary imprisonment ; and when that assembly was dissolved, he was com- mitted to the Tower, his papers and securities seized, and a suit was commenced against him by the crown for a pretended debt of thirty thousand pounds. But tlie last great act of sir Edward ^ Roger Coke, Detection, sub anno. It is commonly believed that lord Bacon wrote a cruel and insulting letter to him at the period of his dismission, and this letter has repeatedly been print- ed. But the sentiments of it are none of them Bacon's. The writer commends sir Edward Coke for his opposition to the court ; "We thank you heartily for standing stoutly in the common- wealth's behalf; and in this we pray for your prosperity :" so would not lord Bacon. The letter-writer says : " If at length by means of our good endeavours and yours, you recover the favour that you have lost, give God the glory." Lord Bacon certainly was not the man, who would have endeavoured, or have pretended to endea- vour, the restoration of sir Edward Coke to his office. His ani- mosity to the great lawyer was vehement, but undisguised. The letter in question was probably a malicious lampoon, composed by HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 9 Coke's life was the framinq; the Petition of Rio-ht, which was endued with tlie form of a law in the parliament of 1G28. The purpose of this mea- sure was, to forbid the imposing any gift, loan, benevolence, or tax, to the king, without the au- thority of parliament, to declare that no subject shall be detained in prison without having the power to claim his deliverance by due course of law, to abolish the arbitrary billeting of soldiers, and to condemn the proceeding against any of the subjects of the realm by martial law during a time of peace. Sir Edward Coke was fourscore years of age at the time of passing this law, and he lived six years longer. It is impossible to re- view these proceedings, without feeling that the liberties of Englishmen are perhaps to no man so deeply indebted as to sir Edward Coke. one of the courtiers of the day. It was first printed in the Second Part of the Cabala, published in 1634; and the mistake which lias since prevailed, seems to have arisen from the accidentally repeating the running-title, " Sir Francis Bacon to Sir Edward Coke," from the preceding page. It is without a signature in this collection, and was not printed as Bacon's till it was inserted in the collection of Robert Stephens in 1702 [Letters of Sir Francis Bacon, 4to]. Wilson [Life of James the First] gives an extract of it in 1653, with this introduction : " While Sir Edward was under this cloud, all his faults were ripped up, either by his enemies, or his well-wishers, who advise him to be humbled for this visitation." Wilson there- fore had no sus|>icion that the letter was the composition of Bacon. The subject of this note is of importance to the character of lord Bacon, but of none to that of sir Edward Coke. of Selden. 10 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. Jolni Seltleii has been frequently mentioned as tlie most learned man that this country ever pro- ciiaracter duced. He early rendered himself obnoxious to the court, by his History of Tithes published in 1G18. He was imprisoned, with other advocates of the public cause, in 1G21, and ao-ain in 1G29. The description given of him by Clarendon is such, that it would be in vain to attempt any thing- more complete. " Mr. Selden was a person, whom no character can flatter, or transmit in any ex- pressions equal to his merit and virtue. He was of so stupendous learning in all kinds and in all lanouaiies, that a man would have thouo'ht he had been entirely conversant among books, and had never spent an hour but in reading and wri- ting ; yet his humanity, courtesy and affability were such, that he would have been thought to have been bred in the best courts. His style in writing is harsh and sometimes obscure ; but in his conversation he was the most clear discourser, and had the best faculty in making hard things easy, and presenting them to the understanding, of any man that hath been known. Mr. Hyde [the writer of this character] was wont to say, that he valued himself upon nothing more, than upon having had Mr. Selden's acquaintance from the time he was very young ^." Selden survived to '' Life of Clarendon by Himself, p. 10, Sec also liis character by Ben Jonson: Underwoods, No. 31. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. ) | lCo4, but passed the last years of his life princi- pally in retirement. John Hampden was one of the most extraordi- ciiaimtcr nar}'- men in the records of mankind. The first jen. ^"^^' thing related of him does not tend to impress us with so high an idea of the rank of his mind, as must be excited in every impartial observer by his subsequent conduct. In the summer of 1G37 he embarked, with Pym, Cromwel, sir Arthur Haselrig-, and one or two more of the patriots of the day, with the intention of spending the re- mainder of his life in New EuQ-land ^. A much *^ Chalmers, Annals of the United Colonies, p. 160. Hume says, that nanipden " resolved to fly to the other extremity of the globe, where he and his friends might enjoy lectures and dis- courses of any length or form which pleased them." If by this ob- servation he means, that Hampden was entirely in earnest in his religious creed, and that one of the motives of his meditated emi- gration might be, that he and his friends might escape from the perpetual obtrusion of such a parish priesthood as shall presently be described (see the following Chapter), and the endless droning repetition of the Book of Homilies, and from a country where epi- scopal tyranny reigned without limits, and toleration was as yet un- known, it is probable that Hampden was worthy of the censure here pronounced against him. Further on Hume says, "The prevalence of the prcsbytorian sect in the parliament discovered itself from the beginning, by in- sensible, but decisive symptoms. Marshal and Burgess, two pu- ritanical clergymen, were chosen to jireach before them, and en- tertained them with discouRes seven hours in Icnirth." The an- swer to this reflection is simple. The most considerable of the par- liament sermons were printed, and T believe ihere is scarcely out v\ them thai would occupy more than one hour in the delivery. 12 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. inioiior deoree of discernment to that wliicli he •afterwards displayed, ought to have shewn liim, tliat tlie posture of affairs at home was rapidly ad- vancinor to that condition, which the constitution of his mind most peculiarly fitted him to grapple with. It is indeed seldom that it can be the duty of a good citizen to go into voluntary banishment from his country. The sfovernment of kino- Charles however in- terfered in the form of an embargo, and prevented the execution of his purpose. Hampden imme- diately chose his part. From this moment he dismissed the thought of a solitary and retired existence, and became a citizen after the purest model. He was in point of family and property one of the first men in his county ; but, till now, he had been but little known out of that narrow circle. Of all the grievances of which the peo- ple at this time complained, that which produced the most striking effect was the arbitrary imposi- tion of ship-money. Hampden's estate was as- sessed to this tax in the amount of twenty shil- lings. He refused to pay the sum demanded ; and accordingly the question came to be solemnly ar- gued before the judges of England. The argument occupied aspace of twelve days : and a decision was finally given against Hampden, cightof the judges pronouncing for the crown, and four against it. But, as Clarendon observes, " the judgment that was given against him, infinitely more advanced him, HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 13 than it did the service for which it was given. He was rather of reputation in his own country, than of public discourse or fame in the kingdom, before the business of ship-money : but then he grew the argument of all tongues, every man en- quiring who and what he was, that durst," at the risque of the vengeance of a court, distinguished for its unrelenting and vindictive character, " sup- port the liberty and property of the kingdom'*." Yet all this was nothing, if he had not posses- sed qualities, the most singularly adapted to the arduous situation in which he stood. He pos- sessed judgment ; all men came to learn from him, and it could not be discerned that he learn- ed from any one. He was modest ; he was free from the least taint of overbearing and arrogance ; he commonly spoke last, and what he said was of such a nature that it could not be mended. He won the confidence of all ; and every man trusted him. His courage was of the firmest sort, equally consummate in council and the field. All men's eyes were fixed upon him ; he was popular and agreeable in all the intercourses of life ; he was endowed with a most discerning spirit, and the greatest insinuation and address to bring about whatever he desired. What crowned the rest, was the prevailing opinion of him as a just man, and that " his affections seemed to be so publicly •' Ilistorv of the Rcl)tllioii, \'nl. II, i» 265. 14 HISTORY Ol' THE COMMONWEALTH. pl-uided, that no corrupt and private ends could bias tliem*"." He was, as Clarendon observes, " possessed with the most absolute spirit of popu- larity, and the most absolute faculties to govern the people, of any man I ever knew*^." Indeed all the above features of character are extracted from the noble historian, being only separated from the tinge of party, and the personal animo- sity, which misguided his pen. When the long parliament met in November 1G40, every one looked to him, as " their patrice pater, and tlie pilot that must steer the vessel through the tempests and rocks which threatened it^" The firm and decisive proceedings indeed with which that assembly commenced, afford no equivocal testimony to the genius by which they must have been directed. Soon after its meeting, Strafford and Laud were committed by it to pri- son, and several of the king's other ministers fled. A negociation was then opened for an agreement between the contending parties, and Charles en- tertained a proposition for appointing Pym chan- cellor of the exchequer, Hampden tutor to the prince of Wales, and the other popular leaders to the principal offices of governments. This ne- gociation failed. It would be an enquiry, rather curious than useful, to settle what sort of charac- •^ History of the Rebellion, \'ul. TT, p. 2(35, '2(iG. ^ Ibid. e Wliitlocke, p. 41. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 15 tcr Cliarles the second, who was now little more than ten years of age, would have been, if the cares of Hampden had been directed to the un- folding and guiding his dispositions. The nomi- nation however may tend to instruct us in the sentiments of the great English patriot ; he seems to have preferred the task of forming a future king, to the more immediate exercise of any of the great functions of government. Meanwhile the unhappy and misjudging sove- reign dismissed the thought of moderate mea- sures, and proceeded in that rash course which led to his final catastrophe. The most ill-advised of all his actions was his accusing: and demand- ing the five members, with Hampden at their head, to be delivered up to him by the house of commons in the fulness of its popularity and power. From this moment, as Clarendon says, the temper of the man seemed to be " much al- tered'' f he saw what he had to expect, and what sort of an enemy he had to deal with ; and he chose his part with the same characteristic firm- ness and decision, which he had displayed, when four or five years before he was interrupted in his intended voyage to New England. Of Pym it seems enough to say, that he divided Character with Hampden the cares of conducting on this "' ^'■'"' memorable occasion the cause of the people of '' \nl, III, p. QOO. l(j HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. Engkiul, and that neitlier appeared in the par- liamentary proceedings to be before or after the other. He must have been a man of high quali- ties, who was the match, and in a manner the equal, of such a one as Hampden is handed down to us. He combined in his own person the most accurate research, and the most perfect talent for the arranging and conducting of business, with an intellect, not subdued by the fulness in which he possessed the knowledge of precedents and approved practice, but of the highest courage and the utmost firmness that were to be found even in those extraordinary times. His eloquence was manly, yet impressive. On the last day of Straf- ford's trial, he made " in half an hour one of the most eloquent, wise and free speeches," says an ear-witness, " that we ever heard, or I think shall ever hear. I believe the king [he was present] never heard a lecture of so free language against liis idolised prerogative*." Hampden and Pym were both lost to the pub- lic cause in the year 1643, Hampden having died in June, and Pym in December ^. There is no ' Baillie, Letters, Vol. I, p. 291. ^ It is perhaps scarcely worth observing, that the death of Pym is dated in the May of this year by Baker's Chronicle, 1660, and, which is more extraordinary, in Whitlocke's Memorials, a book purporting to be a sort of daily journal of events, and which was first published in 1082. The date in the text is supported by Pym's Funeral Sermon, and the Parliamentary Journals. HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 17 consideration in human affairs of irreater maoni- tude than death ; it is little indeed of himself that an illustrious man leaves behind him, particular- ly if his vocation has been public life. England and the common cause must now look to other guides and other counsels. The immediate successors of these men were Names of Vane, St. John, and Cromwel. cesioi"'^' Next after the men, who, b}^ their extraordinary Peers en- talents, and intellectual energies, so greatly con- ufe^wai" tributed to produce that state of things which k?ng"'"^^ makes the subject of the present history, should be placed those of the prime nobility of the land, who, from the beginning of the civil war, took part against the king. Among these were, Alger- non Percy earl of Northumberland, Robert Deve- reux earl of Essex, Robert Rich earl of Warwick, Henry Rich earl of Holland his brother, William Russell carl of Bedford, Edward Montacru earl of Manchester, Philip Herbert earl of Pembroke, Basil Fielding earl of Denbigh, William Cecil earl ot'Salisbury, John Hollisearl of Clare, Henry Grey earl of Stamford, William Fiennes viscount Say, Robert Greville lord Brooke, John Roberts lord Roberts, and Philip Wharton lord Whartou. vol . I IS CHAPTER II. BEGINNINGS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. FIllST EXAMPLES OF A POU'EIl TO APPOINT TO OF- FICES, CIVIL AND MILITARY, EXERCISED BY THE PARLIAMENT. COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. ARMY RAISED UNDER THE EARL OF ESSEX. CAMPAIGN OF 1642. NEGOCIATIONS AT OX- FORD. CHAP. The term, the Commonwealth, may be consider- ed in two senses. It may be understood spe- culatively, as referring to the proceedings of those men who absolutely desired to abolish kingship in England ; and their ascendancy began to dis- play itself in the close of the year 1644. Or it may be referred in a looser interpretation, to that state of things in which the legislature assumed to itself the right of fixing on the persons who should fill situations of great public trust. In the former sense a republican proceeding was ground- ed on the reception of certain principles respect- ing the elements of government ; in the latter it was rendered unavoidable by the temporary se- paration and hostility which occurred between the king and the parliament. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 19 The proceeding of the king in demanding to chap. have the five leaders of the house of commons ^ j delivered into his hands, had all the effects of a ici-'. declaration of war. In the followino: week Charles withdrew from his capital, never to return to it January lo. but a prisoner. The preparations for hostilities on both sides rendered the military appointments on the part of the parliament first necessary ; and they were accordingly made. The affair of the Nomina- five members occurred early in January 1642 ; and lorjs ueu- iu the following month the two houses of the le- ~es.''" gislature prepared an ordinance for settling the militia of the kingdom, in which they inserted the names of thirty-six lords, and three commoners, who were to exercise the functions of lords lieu- tenant in the different counties'^. The ordinance passed into a law on the fifth of March '* ; but it was not carried fully into execution till some months later. On the fourth of July following the parliament Committee appointed a conmiittee of fifteen persons ; the earls " ''^^^' of Northumberland, Essex, Pembroke, and Hol- land, and viscount Say, for the lords ; and Hamp- den, Pym, Hollis, Marten, Fiennes, Pierrepoint, Glyn, sir William Waller, sir Philip Stapleton, and sir John Merrick, for the commons ; " to take into consideration whatever might concern the safety of the kingdom, the defence of the par- liament, the preservation of tlie peace of the •* Joiirnalsof Coinnions, Fell. 10, II. '' Journals. c 2 20 IIISTOllY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. kingdom, and the opposing any force wliicli might be raised against the parliament : this conmiit- 1642. tee to meet wlien and where they pleased *^." These persons, however narrow were their pow- ers, were an executive government : and ac- cordingly we find from time to time a power delegated to them, to dispose of arms •*, to send out ammunition % to issue money for the use of the army^, to consider how many ships should be called in^, and to take care that an admiral might be appointed for the station of Ireland ''. Simple was the frame of this executive ; and the members who constituted it, received no inaugu- ration, had no attendants given them, and were even assigned no stated place of meeting. No- thing was done but what was wholly indispen- sible. The vicissitudes of public affairs might render its existence fugitive and ephemeral ; and its creators were resolute to do nothing that should unnecessarily afford to its members a temptation to protract that existence. Organiza- In the foUowing week it was voted that an army ar'^my? '*" should bc raiscd for the public defence, that the General of ^^^l of Esscx, SOU to the unfortunatc nobleman ncers. ^ who was beheaded by queen Elizabeth, should be captain general of this army, and that the earl of Bedford should be general of the horse '. Upon ' Journals. *" Journals of Commons, July 19. " Ibid. July 22. •" Ibid. Sep, 10. « Ibid. July 23 '' Ibid. August 23. ' Journals, July 12, 14. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 21 these there of course followed all other appoint- ments which were required for a military equip- ment. 1612. These appointments appear to have origina- ted with the commander in chief. Sir John Merrick was nominated major-general, or in the language of those times, serjeant major-general, of the "army ^, and John Mordaunt earl of Peterbo- rough general of the ordnance '. Twenty regi- ments of foot were formed ; and their colonels r\M „m- were, the earl of Essex, the earl of Peterborough, "'^'' Henry Grey earl of Stamford, William Fiennes viscount Say, Edward Montagu viscount Mande- ville, better known as baron Kimbolton, son to the earl of Manchester "*, John Carey viscount Roch- ford, sometimes styled baron Hunsdon, son to the earl of Dover, Oliver St. John viscount St. John, son to the earl of Bolingbroke ", Robert Greville lord Brooke ", John Roberts lord Roberts, and Philip Wharton lord Wharton, together with John Hampden, Denzil Hollis, sir John Merrick, sir Henry Cholmeley, sir William Constable, sir Wil- ■' List of the Army raised under the Command of Robert Earl of Essex, 1642. ' The earl of Peterborough died in 1642 ; I suppose not, as it stands in the genealogies, before he was nominated to the above office. "■ Succeeded as earl of Manchester 9 November 1642. " Viscount St. John was killed at the battle f.f Edgchill. " Lord Brooke wd^ killed 2 March 1613. 22 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAT, liam Fairtax, Charles Essex, Thomas Grantham, ^^' , Thomas Ballard, and William Bampfield. The ]6i2. complement of these regiments was probably one thousand men each. There were at the same time raised seventy-five troops of horse, consisting of sixty men each, the chief commanders of which also bore the appella- tion of colonel. These troops appear to have been raised at the expence of their respective colonels. Among them occur the names of the following persons, who are more or less distinguished in the subsequent history : the earls of Essex, Bed- ford, Peterborough, and Stamford, viscounts Say and St. John, with Basil Fielding viscount Field- ing, sometimes styled baron Newnham, son to the carl of Denbigh?, lord Brooke, lord Wharton, Wil- liam Willoughby lord Willoughby of Parham, Ferdinando Hastings lord Hastings, son to the carl of Huntingdon, and Thomas Grey lord Grey of Groby, son to the earl of Stamford : together with sir William Balfour, sir William Waller, sir Arthur Haselrig, sir Walter Earl, sir Faithful For- tescue, Nathaniel, Francis and John Fiennes, sons to viscount Say, Oliver Cromwel, Valentine Wan- ton, Henry Ireton, Arthur Goodwin, John Dal- bier, Adrian Scroop, Thomas Hatcher, John Ho- tham, and Edward Berry. The cavalry there- fore amounted to four thousand five hundred P Succeeded as earl of Denbigh 3 April 1G43. 10 4 'J. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 23 men ^K Thus before a sword was drawn on either side, the parliament had assumed to itself the nomination of the lords lieutenant within the different counties, carrying along with it an ex- tensive jurisdiction, the constituting a temporary executive government, and the entire marshalling and appointment of the anny which was raised to support their pretensions against the king"". It is proper to observe that Essex, the com- mander of the parliamentary army, had been ap- pointed lord chamberlain of the household, at the ■' The remainder of the colonels of horse is, sir Robert Pie, sir William Wray, sir John Saunders, John Alured, Edwin Sandys, John Hammond, Thomas Hammond, Alexander Pym, Anthony Mildmay, Henry Mildmay, James Temple, Thomas Temple, Ar- thur Evelyn, Robert Vivers, Hercules Langrishe, William Pretty twice, James Sheffield, John Guntcr, Robert Burrel, lYancis Dow- et, John Bird, Matthew Draper, Dimock, Horatio Carey, John Ncal, Edward Ayscough, George Thompson, Francis Thompson, Edward Keighly, Alexander Douglas, Thomas Lidcot, John Fle- ming, Richard Grenville, Thomas Terril, John Hale, William Bal- four, George Austin, Edward Wingate, Edward Baynton, Ch. Chi- chester, Walter Long, Edmund West, William Anselm, Robert Kirle, and Simon lludgeley. "■ As early as March in the present year, the earl of Warwick was named by the two houses to the command of the fleet. But this was a measure of indisi>cnsible precaution, and was intended to prevent tlic introduction of foreign forces, to fight the internal quarrels of the English nation. In case of a war also, the posses- sion of the fleet must afford a material advantage to the party to which it fell, for transporting men and arms from one part of the kingdom to another. 24 HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. time the plan was conceived of forniino- a popular administration early in 1G41, and that he vvasdis- i64'2. missed from this office soon after the kinor's arri- val at York in the March of the following- year. Treasurer In the montli of August sir Gilbert Gerard, treasurer of mcmbcr for Middlcscx, was by ordinance ap- ^ °''^^' pointed treasurer of the army, and sir Henry Vane treasurer of the navy * ; two appointments which at this time seem to have been absolutely required for the orderly conduct of the affairs of the parlia- ment. Sir Henry Vane, in conjunction with an- other person, had been named by the king joint- treasurer of the navy, some years before *. Temper of But ouc of the characteristics of that set of men, ^it^par la ^^ -yyliosc cxertious at this period England is in- debted for its liberties, was the sober and contem- plative posture of thought which they uniformly displayed. They seemed never by any unfore- seen occurrence to have been surprised into a step, which they had not previously meditated, or of w^hich they had afterward reason to repent. They had no wild and inconsiderate spirit of in- novation among them. They had no purpose of hastily disturbing any thing, which they found established, and which, free from the fear of any alarming evil, might be suffered to go on without their interference. They meddled therefore with ' Journals, Aug. 8, 10. « Clarendon, Vol. I, p. 188. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 2.5 tliose particulars which were indispensiblc to the accomplishment of their ends, and they left every thing else as it stood. A striking example of the wariness and sobriety, Jiuiiciai es- which went hand in hand with the firmness of ment. ' their measures, is to be found in their conduct with relation to the judicial establishment of the kingdom. The proceeding of the Judges in the si.ip-mo- case of ship-money seemed to be a sort of com- pendium and abstract of all the grievances of which a free people, as such, could have to com- plain : the treatment therefore which the judges were to receive from the legislature, may serve as a criterion of the moderation of the great leaders of the parliamentary party. When Hampden and others resisted the pay- i«:n. ment of this imposition, the king, with that want thc^juages of consideration which fatally characterised too ?"[''*' ''"^' many of his measures, addressed a letter to the twelve judges, demanding their opinion upon the legality of his proceeding ; and, having obtained a favourable answer, he caused their attestation to be solemnly enrolled, as a warning to all de- faulters. This was in February 1637. Their answer purported, tliat they " were of opinion, the king might by law compel payment of the money assessed, and that in the assessment he was the sole judge of the danger to be pro- vided njiainst, and ^vhcn and how it was to be 2(] HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. prevented and avoided "." This Clarendon justly denominates, "judgment of law, grounded upon 1637. matter of fact, of which there was neither enquiry nor proof, nor any reason given but what included the estates of all the standers-by''/' And what fur- ther aggravated the proceeding was, that the judges were thus induced to give a premature decision in a question, which was in its own nature matter of trial, and might come, as it afterwards did come, to be solemnly argued before them. Conduct of For the time however this measure of the king ampicn. g^^j^-^g^ ^q producc its cffcct. Hampdcu, and se- veral other of the most distinguished leaders of the opposition to the court, appear to have been struck with the irregularity of the proceeding, and somewhat hastily to have concluded, that this attestation of the judges laid the whole property and privileges of the kingdom at the feet of the king, and that there no longer remained any hope for the public cause. Accordingly they resolved to travel in search of independence to the wilds of America. They were stopped. This was found in the sequel a most fortunate event for the pub- lic liberty. Hampden, being refused the permis- sion of withdrawing from the contest, resolved to Trial of enter into it with an undaunted spirit. He caus- Hampden. ^^ ^|^g qucstion to be argued with all the delibe- " Rushwuilh, \'ol. H, 1'. 351,3o5. ' Vol. I, p. 70. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 27 ration which was due to its magnitude and its consequences. He retained counsel of no ordi- nary ability (St. John and Holbourn ^^) ; and the ioT)7. point was kept day after day before the public eye. This proved an affair of a very different nature, from that of a letter privately addressed by the king to the judges, with their answer, neither of which became known to the public but in consequence of their being enrolled. In the private investigation two of the judges, Huttonand Croke, are known to have dissented from their bre- thren ; though, agreeably to the usual form, their names are signed with the rest to the decision. When the case came to be publicly argued, the i638. • • f i.1 A -1 • r i Decision of opmion 01 these two gamed an accession oi two the judges. more, Davenport and Denham. The sentence in fonn, was delivered in favour of ship-money. The sentence against it, was emphatically pronounced by a great majority of the people of the realm from one end to the other. Judgment was given in the exchequer-chamber, 12 June 1G38 ^." It was not till December 1G40, more than one \gao. month from the meeting of the Long Parliament, nJy con- that the house of commons came to a vote deter- '''•'"^""'• mining the illegality of ship-money, and con- demning both the extra-judicial opinion of the " This man afterwards went over to the kinij's side. He died February lG-18. " Rushworth, Vol. H, p. OOn. Franklin, i>. 60R. 28 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. judges delivered in 1G37, and the judgment given against Hampden in the exchequer in 1 638 y. Cer- i&io. tain enquiries were at tlie same time directed to be made respecting any circumstances of aggrava- tion or otherwise, which might attach to the dif- Namcs of fcrcnt judgcs implicated in this business ^ Tho 'U»ig«^-'- j^j^i^^js Qf tije judges in both cases were as follow : Bramston, Croke, Berkeley, and Crawley, for the king's bench ; Finch, Ilutton, Vernon, and Jones, for the common pleas ; and of the exchequer, Davenport, Denham, Trevor and Weston. Of these there appear to have died in the interval, Hutton, Jones, Denham, and I suppose Vernon ; and Croke was excused on account of his known Finch, lord disscut from his brethren. Finch, who had no- peached! toriously been most active for the court in the af- fair, was impeached on the twenty-first of Decem- six judges bcr ; and on the next day the other six were re- hccinhai. q^jjj.g^ |.Q py^ jj^ security, in the amount of ten thousand pounds each, to abide the judgment of 1641. parliament ^. On the twelfth of February follow- B^crkeiey iHg, sir Robcrt Berkeley, being for some reason imimsoned. ggig^^g^j from the TCst, was impcachcd, and or- dered into custody'': and the manner of his ar- rest was so conducted as to produce a consider- able impression. He was taken from off the bench by the usher of the black rod, to the great Journabj Dectmbcr 7. ' Ibid. Ibid. "^ Ibid. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 29 terror of his brethren then sitting in Westminster Hall, and of all his profession'*. In the month of July articles of impeachment were exhibited by hhi. the commons at the bar of the house of lords impcadicr against Berkeley, Crawley, and the three barons of the exchequer : and it deserves to be mention- ed that the articles against Finch were carried up to the house of lords by lord Falkland, and those against the three barons by Mr. Edward Hyde, afterwards earl of Clarendon*^, both of whom rank- ed themselves a few months afterwards amon<>- the adherents of the king. No further proceedings were had against sir John Bramston, chief justice of the king's bench, who had been required with the rest to put in security to abide the judgment of parliament. Finch no sooner heard that his impeachment was determined on, than he tied to the continent**. i642. The year 1642 opened with events of the most decisive cast. Tlie kini>- made his demand of the five members. This proceeding had the most un- favourable etfect on his cause. It involved, if not complied with, a complete breach between the executive and the legislature. It produced a ve- hement sensation in the citizens of London, whom '' VVhitlocke, Feb. 13. Rushwortli, Vol. I\', p. 188. *-■ Journals of Lords, July G. Uiishworth, \'ol. I\'^, p. 318 to 344. ** Journals of Lords, Dec. 22, IGIO. 30 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. it united, almost as one man, aoainst the kinp^. He found liimself compelled to withdraw from the i64'2. mctro})olis ; he embarked his queen for the conti- nent ; and himself proceeded for York with his Juiisc followers. About the same time another of the prisoned, judgcs, Mallet of the king's bench, fell under the displeasure of the house of lords, for being privy to the preparing a petition at the general assizes of the county of Kent against the parlia- mentary ordinance of the militia. He was in con- sequence committed by them for a time a prisoner to the Tower '^. In the month of August Charles set up his standard at Nottingham ; and all things appeared unequivocally advancing towards the actual com- mencement of hostilities. Difficulties All tlicse circumstauces contributed to render o"'"'juj|ciai it extremely difficult, for the legislature to keep proceed- yp |.|^g ordinary forms of judicial proceedings. Judges ap- There had indeed been several judges appointed, pouitcd subsequently to the determination in the exche- since the >■ J case of quer in the question of ship-money ; and these iiey. were therefore exempt from the censure of parlia- ment in that business. Croke was now dead : sir John Bankes of Corfe Castle, had been made chief justice of the common pleas ; Reeve and Foster inferior judges in that court ; Mallet and Bacon puisne judges of the king's bench; and Page ^ Journals of Lords March 1^. Clarendon, Vol, L p. 48G. HlSTOilV Ol" THE COMMOiNVVEALlil. 32 and Hendon barons of the exchequer ^ Yet, in the great defection of lords and gentry, which now took place, some of these might be expected to le^i. go over to the king ; and, if the parliament should remit their displeasure towards any of the of- fenders in the case of ship-money, it was far from certain that they would not pursue the same line of conduct. Some notion of the state of things in that re- Attempted spect may be formed, from an attempt that was 'inem^of made a few days before the battle of Edgehill, f„7eTs.""'' upon a commission of oi/er et terminer^ to attaint the earl of Essex and many other persons in the parliamentary army, of high treason. This pro- ceeding appears to have taken place at Kenil- worths. Sir Robert Heath, who had been chief justice of the court of common pleas eight years before, but who had been removed to make room for Finch when the imposition of ship-money was resolved on'', probably because he was not thought competent to the direction of so arduous an affair, was the person fixed upon to take the lead in this business. Bramston therefore, though without unkindness on the part of the king, was removed from his office, and sir Robert Heath appoint- ed chief justice of the king's bench in his room'. ' Dugdale, Origines Jiiridiciales. -' Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 42. •' Utibhworlh, Vol. II, p. 253. ' Clarendon, uhi supia. This same man, according to Dugdale, 32 HISTORY or Tiir. commonwealth. CHAP. Wliat other lawyers assisted in the transaction we ^ ^'^ , are not told ; nor does it appear what was the is- iG.^a. sue of the business. It was most likely rendered abortive. But the king's party were not thus dis- Triaiof couraoed. John Lilburne, a name conspicuous in Lilluirnc at - , . pi • - I Oxfoni. the subsequent history oi these times, was taken prisoner at Brentford, when the king, immediately after the battle of Edoehill, pushed on for London, and filled the metropolis with alarm ; and he, to- gether with others in a similar condition, was brought before the same judge Heath to be tried for hio-h treason in bearing arms against the king. Lilburne shewed on this occasion the undaunted spirit which has given celebrity to his name'' ; and the judge amiably told him, that he would give him the utmost privilege of the law, that it was his right to plead for himself, and say what he could, and that he should experience no interrup- tion'. The parliament however seasonably inter- posed with a declaration, that if Lilburne or his fellow-prisoners should sustain any injury under form of law, the like punishment should be inflict- ed upon such prisoners as were taken of the king's He obtains party. Lilbumc soon after obtained his liberty'". his libertv. was made a puisne judge in the beginning of the year. His name accordingly occurs as one of the judges in the Journals of tlie House of Lords. ^ Clarendon, \ ol. HI, [>. 501. ^ Lawes Funerall, an Epistle, by Lilburne. '" Journals of Lords, Dec. 17. Clarendon, ubi <:upra. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 33 The first campaign of the war ended witliout either party obtaining a decisive advantage. In the beginning of the contest no great military abi- ~i&v^ lity was displayed. Where parties shock with .n-r/ofthc each other in a state, and each are anxious to gain ^^'^!^,[ 11^]^^^ supporters, there are several other thino-s that have T''"" V-^ ... . . ~ t''C parua- weight in the nomination of an officer, distinct "^'^'^ from the merit and abstract fitness of the indivi- dual. The king was obliged to favour and put forward many persons in consideration of their rank and extensive possessions, who were not in other respects the best qualified for the situations assigned them. The parliament in like manner was restrained from the exercise of the freedom of its choice by the necessities of its position. The house of lords was in every period of the con- tention less firm in resistance to monarchical in- croachments, than the house of commons. Ma- nagement and a certain temporising were required in the parliamentary leaders to carry the essential point, — tliat the king should have two houses of the legislature to resist his arbitrary proceedings. There is in the nature of thin2:s a certain leanins: and undue partiality in an hereditary aristocracy towards the chief magistrate, when a choice is to be made between him and the body of the nation. We have accordingly seen that, in the original appointment of the officers of the parliamentary arm}', they were to a considerable extent taken from amouix the nobility. D 34 HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. Considerations of this sort had determined the appointment even of their commander in chief, 1642. the earl of Essex. He was the most popular of of Essex**^ the nobility. He was loved for his father's sake, and loved for his own. His carriage was uncom- monly prepossessing and gracious, the joint pro- duce of a lofty spirit and a kind heart. He made himself acceptable to the meanest soldier in the army ; and, after the manner of a camp, which has a strange sort of good humour and familiarity mixed with its despotism, the private soldiers gave him as a mark of their kindness the nick- name of Old Robin ". He had another advantage, upon which too great a stress was laid at this pe- riod ; he had studied the art of war in the Ne- therlands. But Essex was not a man qualified to take the lead in perilous times. He would not under any circumstances have proved a military genius. In addition to this, he wanted a clear and decisive spirit. He thought too much of personal consi- derations, of what was suited to his own character and dignity. He was full of romance, and had a high sense of honour according to the principles of ancient chivalry ; but he was not a patriot. He had therefore, in the trust that was imposed upon him, a nice game to play, Avhich he did not fully understand. He did not desire the unlimited suc- " Whitlocke, p. 6.3. HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEALTH. 35 cess of the cause in vvliich he was engaged. He entertained some distrust of the leadino- men in the house of commons. He apprehended they khi might go further in their prosperity, than he and his brother-peers would approve. The king, it was thus he reasoned, should be checked ; but he must be preserved. Essex had no aversion to the splendour and magnificence of a court. What issue then was it, that he required to the contest? He did not wish that Charles should have all power in his hands, and should dictate the terms upon which peace was to be made. Neither, on the other hand, did he desire for the opposers of the court-principles an entire superiority. In fact he was unable to draw the line, and decide for himself what it was he aimed at; and his con- duct was accordingly full of instability and un- certainty. Twice in the course of the first campaign, ac- Oversights cording to Whitlocke, a cool and able observer, byTilm"*^'* Essex lost the opportunity to put an end to the war. The battle of Edgehill concluded without i.aficriiic any decisive advantage to either side : but the i'^j'!'!i|ni parliamentary troops kept possession of the field of battle ', and, the day after, they were joined by two fresh regiments under Hampden and Hollis, and a body of horse under lord Willoughby. These three earnestly advised the general to pursue the king, and renew the attack, which if he had done, " it might have gone far to put an issue to the bu- 1) 2 3G HISTORY OF THE COMiMON WEALTH. sincsss." But Essex consulted with colonel Dal- hier and the old soldiers of fortune, who under- »«4'-' stood nothinir of the zeal with which the g^reat patriots fought for their country, and were govern- ed by notions of routine, that tended more to the preserving the lives of their followers, than to the gaining of victories; and, swayed by their advice, he withdrew his army towards Coventry, leaving the king free to pursue his march either towards 2. at Oxford or the metropolis. The second instance Brentford. • i • i t-< i i i • i in which bssex neglected the opportunity that was oftered him, was when Charles shortly after advanced aoainst London on the side of Brent- ford. The parliamentary army was drawn up at Turnham Green ; and Essex ordered two regi- . ments, one of them Hampden's, to take a circuit, and attack the royal army in the rear, while the main body should engage the king in front: but the detachment had not marched more than a mile, before the general, again influenced by the sol- diers of fortune, countermanded his orders, and directed it to return. The king was finally per- mitted to retreat unmolested, thouoh "some of Charles's party afterwards confessed, that they had not at that time bullet enough to have maintained Hght for a quarter of an hour, and would in all probability have been totally broken, and that this was the cause of their retreat i\" \\ hitlucke, p. (34. P Il)i(l. ji, 06. HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 37 This indecisive issue of the campaign seemed to render an appearance of negociation and mu- tual concession necessary to both parties. In ci- i<;j.t. vil contention, which had now scarcely occurred tTonsduVing in England for one hundred and fifty years, the ^'*-' ''■'"*'^''- body of the people on either side, who would be required to fight, or to defray the cost of the war, would expect to be satisfied tliat, in neither their fortunes nor their persons, they were made a wanton sacrifice, and that the party that called for their cooperation would be contented with a reasonable compromise. But neither side was yet suflficiently subdued for a sincere agreement. The parliamentary leaders were most of them men of a firm and undaunted spirit ; and the kino- was too dearly wedded to the exercise of preroga- tive in its amplest construction, ever to make a concession without a secret reserve, through the means of which it might afterwards be declared null. He was in reality a strange compound of that Jesuitry, which still presents one meaning to the plain ear of an unsophisticated man, while another is uppermost in the speaker's mind, with a pride and obstinacy which shrunk as by impulse from the adoption of almost any propositions which he regarded as diminishing his prerogative and power. This of course gave to his conduct an appearance of incongruity ; and we must add to this, if we would compare and explain the language of his hasty speeches, his private letters, 38 HISTORY or the commonwealth. and his public declarations, that it happened to liini, to the lull extent in which it is liable to oc- iGi;;. cur to persons in his eminent station, that he perpetually made his own, and set his name to, papers prepared by persons whose conceptions and views were diflerent from his, and which he adopted merely because he thought the adoption necessary for political purposes. Thus . a vast multitude of his declarations were digested by Hyde [Clarendon], who was by education a lawyer, and who had very lately ceased to adhere to the patriotic party : it would therefore be absurd to consider these papers as containing a representa- tion of his genuine sentiments. Ncgocia- The negociation accordingly, which took place ford.'' at Oxford in the beginning of the year 1G43, was wholly unsubstantial. The king had made a pro- mise to the queen, when she sailed for Holland in February 1G42 to purchase arms and ammuni- tion, from whence she returned in the following year, and joined the king in July, that he "would never make any peace but by her interposition and mediation, that the kingdom might receive that blessing only from her*i." Clarendon as- sures us that, if Northumberland had been re- appointed to the office of lord high admiral, the 1 est would have been easy, and peace have been made *i : by which he can only mean that that no- ' Claicndon, Life, \'ul. I, p. 80. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 39 bleman and his friends would then have abetted the terms laid down by the kin^^. But Charles could not be prevailed upon to do even this. iJis. The thing therefore which it is most to our Judj^cs re , , n r • coinincnd- purpose to notice in this mere lorm oi a negocia- cd by tiic tion at Oxford, is the clause in the petition of i'^""^^"^"^ both houses of parliament presented by their com- missioners in the commencement of the business, in which they besought the king to fill the seats of the judges with the following persons : sir John Bramston to be chief justice of the king's bench, and sir Francis Bacon to continue a puisne judge of that court, witLthe addition of serjeant Rolle, and Serjeant Atkins ; sir John Bankes to con- tinue chief justice of the common pleas, and sir Edmund Reeve, and sir Robert Foster, to conti- nue puisne judges, with the addition of serjeant Pheasant ; and the court of exchequer to be en- tirely renewed, Mr. serjeant Wild to be chief baron, and Mr. serjeant Cresvvcl, with Mr. Sa- muel Browne, and Mr. John Puleston, inferior barons. They added a recommendation of Len- thal, speaker of the house of commons, to the ap- pointment of master of the rolls ; and they signi- fied their desire, that these, and all other judges for time to come, might hold their places by let- ters patent, (jianfidiii se bent gessaint ^ From this recommendation we may collect, ' Jounialb of Lords, Jan. 30. 40 HISTORY OF THE COMMOxWVEALTH. first, tliat the parliament was not inclined to in- troduce any alterations under this head that did 101:?. not appear to them to be imperatively called for : in addition to which we may learn from the omis- sions, who were the judges that had fallen under their particular displeasure, and from the added names, who were the rising characters in the pro- fession that they were most disposed to favour. Four of the names in the above list were of per- sons already seated on the bench, and a fifth, sir John Bramston, had, as we have seen, been dis- placed by the king from temporary considera- tions only. Add to which in this last case, they acknowledged no appointment as authentic, that had been made by the king since the spring of 1G42. 41 III. CHAPTER III. PROCEEDINGS ON THE SUBJECT OF RELIGION. DIFFERENCE OF OPINIONS RESPECTING CHURCH- GOVERNMENT. ABOLITION OF THE VOTES OF THE BISHOPS. BILL FOR THE ABOLISHING EPISCOPACV PASSES THE TM'O HOUSES.^ STAGE- PLAVS SUPPRESSED. MONUMENTS OF IDOLA- TRY DESTROYED. CASE OF LORD STRAFFORD. One of the questions which particularly occu- chap pied the mind of the leaders in the Long Parlia- ment, was that of our church-establishment ; and upon this subject they were somewhat less tem- porising and uncertain than upon many others. Religion with them was a serious consideration, a topic which they were disposed to treat with good faith and in earnest. They were sincere patriots to the best of their judgment, anxious to promote the substantial welfare of their fellow- creatures. They knew that there can be no real liberty, and no good political government, with- out morality ; and they believed that the morality of the various members of the conununity inti- mately depended upon their religious creed, and tiiient. 42 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. upon the cliaractcr and conduct of the ministers of the national religion. The Reformation in Enijland dates its com- iiiforim- mencement from the year 1532. It was conduct- giand'l ^" t)d in all its early operations by that capricious and arbitrary monarch, Henry the Eighth ; and, in no long time after his death, the old religion was called back again by his daughter, queen Mary Tudor. Various causes contributed to ren- der the progress of the Reformation in this country particularly fluctuating and uncertain ; and the early reformers here were greatly divided among themselves, on the con- Ou the contiucnt the Reformation shewed itself in two forms. In Sweden, in Denmark, and in some parts of Germany, where the authority of the prince was most considerable, its principles were mitigated, and the policy of its conductors appears to have been, to banish the more glar- ing corruptions of the church of Rome, but to pre- serve the hierarchy and the forms of religious worship as nearly as might be the same. This mode of proceeding seemed best to accord with monarchical government. The church served to give lustre to the throne ; and its methodical forms and solemnities rendered it a more apt and pliant machine in the hands of the civil power. In Holland, in Switzerland, and in Geneva, the pro- cess had been somewhat different. The refor- mers there, not being obliged to consult the incli- IIISTOUY OF THE COiMMON WEALTH. 48 nations of a potentate reigning among them, were less disposed to imitate the institutions of the church of Rome, and thought it more reasonable to consult the primitive pattern and the simplicity of the Gospel. The consequence was the esta- blishment of a parity among their clergy, no one or more of the members of the hierarchy assum- ing a dominion over the rest, or living in splen- dour and magnificence, while the majority of their brethren could command little more than the bare means of subsistence. The reformers in France, not having; the benefit or disadvantao;e of an alii- ance with the state, proceeded on the same prin- ciples. And this mode of church-government and religious worship was also established in Scotland. It may not be foreign to the question of the ivtsbyte- comparative value of these two kinds of religious of churcii- establishment, to quote the sentiments of an au- e°''^"'' thor, well known not to have been the slave of religious impressions ^ " The proper performance of every service," says he, " seems to require that its j)ay or recom- pence should be, as exactly as possible, propor- tioned to the nature of the service. If any service is very much under-paid, it is very apt to sutler by the meanness and incapacity of the greater part of those who are employed in it. If it is very much over-paid, it is apt to suffer perhaps still ■* Smith's WculUi (j» Natiun'^, LJuuk V, Cliai'. i. nicnt. 44 IIISTOIIY OF THE COM.MONWEALTII. more, by tlieir negligence and idleness. A man of a large revenue, whatever may be his profes- sion, thinks he ought to live like other men of large revenues ; and to spend a great part of his time in festivity, in vanity, and in dissipation. But in a clergyman this train of life not only con- sumes the time which ought to be employed in the duties of his function, but in the eyes of the common people destroys almost entirely that sanc- tity of character which can alone enable him to perform those duties with proper weight and au- thority. " Where the church-benefices are all nearly equal, none of them can be very great, and this mediocrity of benefice, though it may no doubt be carried too far, has however some very agree- able effects. Nothing but the most exemplary morals can give dignity to a man of small fortune. The vices of levity and vanity necessarily render him ridiculous, and are besides almost as ruinous to him, as they are to the common people. In his own conduct therefore he is obliged to follow that system of morals which the common people respect the most. He gains tlieir esteem and af- fection by that plan of life, which his own interest and situation would lead him to follow. The common people look upon him with that kindness, with which we naturally regard one who ap- proaches somewhat to our ovvn condition, but who we think ought to be in a higher. Their kind- HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 45 ness naturally provokes his kindness. He be- comes careful to instruct them, and attentive to assist and relieve them. He does not even de- spise the prejudices of people who are disposed to be so favourable to him, and never treats them w^ith those contemptuous and arrogant airs which we so often meet with in the proud dignitaries of opulent and well endowed churches. The Pres- byterian clergy accordingly have more influence over the minds of the common people, than per- haps the clergy of any other established church. It is accordingly in Presbyterian countries only, that we ever find the common people converted without persecution, completely and almost to a man, to the established church." These sentiments, if well considered, will per- haps convince us that there is nothing fanatical or sordid in the principle of the church-establish- ments of Scotland, Holland, and the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland. The most zealous of the first reformers in En- Puritans, gland probably entertained no great decree of good will to the institution of prelacy. There existed in the time of Edward the Sixth a dispo- sition to carry the spirit of the Reformation into a considerably greater effect than had been per- mitted under Henry the Eighth. But what com- pleted the establishment of an anti-prelatical party in England, was the persecution carried on by queen Mary, which drove the ablest and the most 4G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. fervent of the Protestants to take rcfu. '_, tion was presented to tlie commons, the king sent 1641. for both houses of parliament to attend him at houses of Whitehall, and addressed them with a speech. KnV'fw "to The principal points of this speech were, that he Whitciuiii. ^^^g ^^^ enemy to reform in the church, and ap- proved of frequent parliaments, but that he would never consent that the bishops' voices in parlia- ment should be taken away, or that the power of inforcing frequent meetings of parliament should in any case be vested in sheriffs and other subor- dinate officers P. This sort of interference on the part of the kino- p. 203,) says that it was "pretended to be signed by several hun- dred ministers," and adds a strange story, that "the course was, to prepare a petition very modest and dutiful for the form, and for the matter not very unreasonable; and that, when a multitude of hands was procured, the petition itself was cut off, and a new one framed suitable to the design in hand, and annexed to the long list of names already collected." But Neal very properly observes, " This is a charge of a very high nature, and ought to be well sup- ported : if it had been true, why did they not complain to the com- mittee which the house of commons appointed to enquire into the ir- regular methods of procuring hands to petitions [Journals,Nov.l8.].? His lordship answers, that they were prevailed with to sit still and pass it bj/; for which we have only his lordship's word. Nothing of the kmd is to be found in Rushworth, Whitlocke, or any disinterested writer of the times." If Clarendon's representation were just, it would follow that the people of England, clergy and laity, were of the prelatical party, and that the presbyterians and reformers were scarcely any where to be found. '' Journals, .Tan. 25. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 57 perhaps in no instance ever produced tlie effect chap, - TIT he intended. The partisans of the people were ^^ ' , sometimes much irritated at the impropriety of his i64i. noticing and commenting upon measures which were then depending in parliament. The best that could occur was, when they seemed not to remark the sentiments he delivered, and went on just as if the interference had not taken place. This happened at present in the question of church-ofovernment. On the next day that parliament sat, subsequent Petitions to that on which the king's speech was delivered, comiikra- the commons named a day on which the ministers' '^*""' petition and the remonstrance should be taken into consideration, and together with them the pe- titions from the counties concerning episcopacy "J. The London petition was also appointed for the same debate ■■. On the ninth of February the whole subject was Question of referred to a committee of thirty, afterwards en- reservra^^ larged to forty-four, "to prepare heads out of these petitions for the consideration of the house ; the house," as the vote goes on to state, "reserving to itself the main point of episcopacy, to take it into their consideration in due time*." This lanffuaofe serves in a considerable degree to explain the state of parties in this respect at the time the vote was passed. If the prelatical «< Journals, Jan. 25. ' Ibid. Feb. :>. ^ Fbiil. Feb. o, 07. 58 HISTORY or hie commonwealth. CHAP, party, as Clarendon would have us believe, com- V ___j prehended almost the entire house, the expressions 1641. employed would certainly have been very ditier- ent. The friends of the bishops would not have failed to use the occasion, to obtain from the house some declaration in favour of their order. The case would have been the same, even if the advo- cates of mitigated episcopacy had possessed a de- cisive superiority. We may fairly infer from the language used, that the prcsbyterians, or other levellers in church-government, were at least a very powerful party. To say, " We reserve the main point of episcopacy for future considera- tion," is to say in other words, we are not yet de- cided to maintain episcopacy. Resoiu- Upon the report of the committee the house of coimwn?'^ connnons came to three resolutions : first, that the legislative and judicial power of bishops in the house of peers, is a great hindrance to the dis- charge of their spiritual function, prejudicial to the commonwealth and fit to be taken away by a bill * : secondly, they came to the same decision as to bishops or other clergymen being in the com- mission of the peace, or having judicial power in any civil court" : and thirdly, they passed a si- milar condemnation on their having employment formed into as privy counsellors, or in any temporal office ^. A bill was brought in upon these resolutions, and ' Joiirnalb, Mar. 10. " IbiJ. Mar. 11. " Ibid. Mar. -n. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 59 having passed through the regular forms, was sent chap. III. up to the house of lords on the first of May. In the upper house it was not received with i64i. entire favour. It was read a first and a second time, u.^ lords. and referred to a committee as usual : but, when it came out of the committee, the lords passed va- rious resolutions on the subject, expressive of their consent to the rest of the bill, but refusing to take away the bishops' votes in parliament. Two con- ferences took place between the two houses on this question : but the lords refused to recede ; and after the third reading, it was voted by them that this bill do not pass^. The vote had no sooner been adopted in the Bill for . . abolisliing house of lords to maintain the bishops' voices in bishop, parliament, than a bill was brought into the com- mons for the utter abolishing and taking away of archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, and " Lords' Journals, May 13, 52, 24, 25, 27 ; June 4, 8. The cha- racter of Clarendon as an historian has not generally heen under- stood. He says expressly upon this incident : " The house of lords could not be prevailed with so nuich as to commit the bill; acoun- tenance they frequently give to bills they never intend to pass : but at the second reading it, they utterly cast it out." Vol. I, p. 237. If the noble author said this in the face of the facts, I leave it to my readers to bestow on his conduct an appropriate epithet. H, writing in exile, and without the proper documents, he conceived the matter thus, because thus he would have wished it, we may in- fer what value is to be given to his statements in many other in- stances. Clarendon's assertion in this case stands uncontradicted by any of our historians. (50 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH, c II A P. tlieir officers, out of the church of Eno-land >. This III . V ' ; bill was drawn up by St. John^, the best lawyer, 1C41. Seldcn perhaps excepted, and one of the men of higliest talents, among the friends of liberty. Procedings Tlic liistory of this bill, as given by Clarendon, on the biil. . 1 1 /• • TT IS extremely worthy oi our attention, lie says, " The utterly rejecting it at its first introduction was pressed by very many ; but it was at last read ; and, no question being put upon the first reading, it was laid by, and not called upon for a long time after^. At length, when every body ex- pected something else, they called in a morning for this bill, that had so long before been brought in, and gave it a second reading, and resolved that it should be committed to a committee of the whole house the next day. " It was a very long debate the next morning who should be put in the chair. They who wish- ed well to the bill having resolved to put Mr. Hyde [Clarendon] in the chair, that he might not give them trouble by frequent speaking, and so too much obstruct the expediting the bill ; and in conclusion it was so commanded. However, the chairman gave some stop to their haste : for, be- sides that at the end of his report every day to the house, before the question was put, he always enlarged himself against every one of the votes, and so spent them much time, he did frequently "^ Journals, May 27. ' Clarendon, \'ol. I, p. 238. " Ibid. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. Gl report two or three votes directly contrary to each chap. other ; so that, after near twenty days spent in < __j that manner, they found themselves very little ad- ig4i. vanced towards a conclusion, and that they must review all they had done. At length, other oc- currences intervening, they were forced to discon- tinue their beloved bill, and let it rest ; sir Arthur Haselriof declarino; in the house, that he would never hereafter put an enemy into the chair **." It is scarcely worth observing that the bill against episcopacy was read twice on the day of its introduction*^, except for the sake of illus- trating the accuracy of our historian. The com- mittee on the bill sat on the eleventh of June*', exactly fifteen days after. Here we have an instructive example of the character of a lawyer, full charged with all the pitiful tricks of his profession, and drawn with his own hand. At the most memorable crisis of the history of our country, and in the midst of a circle, says Warburton*^, of " the greatest geniuses for government the world ever saw embarked to- gether in one common cause," we perceive how the future historian of the period employed him- self. I do not love Clarendon ; but I could al- most find in my heart to compassionate the despi- cable fio;ure he makes. '• p. 275, 276. *■ Joiirnuls, iilii supra. '' Joiinuil--. * Notes on the Essay cm Man, Ep. IV, verse 283. Ill 1641. Q2 lirSTOIlY OF TIIR COMMONWEALTH. c H A P. The historian takes great pains to persuade us, that nobody approved of the bill, that every body scouted it. In that case all his craft was a gra- tuitous exhibition, merely to shew how he excelled in the character. Would not any man who re- vered episcopacy, or who was capable of feeling in the smallest degree the deep sentiment and the vast importance of all that was now at stake, have been anxious that the question should be tried upon its intrinsic merits ? He was certain of suc- cess, as he assures us, by the direct method (it is clear the bill would not at this time have passed the house of lords) ; but he had an invincible in- stinct impelling him to prefer the low, the indi- rect, and the dishonest : and it is a fitting- retri- bution for such conduct, that five-and-twenty years afterwards, in old age and retirement, he felt no shame to record it. It may not be improper to consider a little how it was that the bill could thus be defeated. On the first day the preamble was voted ^ : on the se- cond it was resolved, that the taking away the se- veral offices of archbishops, bishops, chancellors, and commissaries, should be one clause of the bills : on the third a similar resolution was made against deans, archdeacons, prebendaries, and canons, only reserving a competent maintenance for such ' Journals, June 11. * Ibid. June 12. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. g3 as should not be found personally delinquent'*. On the subsequent days various questions arose respecting the maintenance to be allotted for the i648. support of a fit number of preaching ministers for the service of the cathedrals, and the appointment of certain commissioners to exercise such ecclesi- astical power as might be necessary, and which on the removal of bishops should not otherwise be provided for ' ; and a sub-committee was named to report to the principal committee on these points ^. On the seventeenth of July a new form of church- government was voted in the committee of the whole house, that every shire in England should be a several diocess (Yorkshire being allowed three), that there should be a presbytery of twelve divines in each shire, with a president in each in the nature of a bishop, that these presidents, as- sisted by some of the presbytery, should have power to ordain, suspend, deprive, and excommu- nicate, that the presidents should be incapable of being translated from one diocess to another, and lastly, that a diocesan synod should be held once in a year, and a national synod once in three years '. It deserves to be mentioned, that on this occa- Conduct of sion the celebrated Usher, archbishop of Armagh u^iUr on^ in Ireland, offered a scheme for consideration, as ^<^*"^J<^*^ an expedient for reconciling the two systems of •* Ibid. June 15. ' Ibid July 10. ^ Ibid. July 2, 6, 16. ' Wliitlocke, p. 40. Sanderson, [>. 422. (34 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, prcsbyterianism and episcopacy, reducing episco- V '^ , pacy to the form of synod ical government which 1641. he supposed to have prevailed in the primitive church ". Now^ let us compare all this with the assertions of Clarendon, that the bill for abolishing bishops was slighted at its first appearance, that it was scarcely permitted to be read, that nobody laid any stress upon it, and that it was only brought in for the purpose of operating as a rebuke upon the house of lords. Would the author and the supporters of the bill have taken so much pains on the subject, would they have digested and passed a completely new system of church-govern- ment, and would the house have employed twenty days in revising and perfecting the measure, not- withstanding every disingenuous artifice that was used to defeat it, if nothing serious had been in- tended by it ? I infer that the party in favour of presbyterian government was at this time very strong in the house of commons, and that they were disposed to be contented with no less than the extirpation of bishops. We shall see nothing in the sequel tending to prove that this conclusion is erroneous". ■" Whitlocke, ubi supra. " It is curious that Neal gravely quotes Clarendon, as an autho- rity to prove that, at the first sitting down of the parliament, there were not above two or three members of boih houses who were for the utter subversion of episcopacy. JS'cal, Vol. I, p. 710, Quarto HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. C)r> es a to The circumstance which suspended for the pre- sent the progress of the bill against episcopacy, was the king's proposed journey into Scotland. ic4i. This journey is first mentioned in the journals of roakfs parliament on the twenty-third of June ; but it did ^^oalL not commence till the tenth of August. The lead- ers of the measures in agitation, liad constantly felt a repugnance to it ; but, finding that it must take place, they endeavoured in the mean time to ripen those proceedings which were most urgent. They diligently applied themselves to the means for disbanding the English and Scottish armies that were now on foot. They passed two acts for abolishing^ the high-commission-court and the star- chamber, to which the king, after having for two days expressed an unavailing reluctance, annexed the royal assent". The bill for the confirmation of the treaty between the two kingdoms, was only passed on the very day that the king began his journey P. Six days before, an impeachment of Thirteen high crimes and misdemeanours was carried up pcadi«i.'"' to the house of lords against thirteen bishops, for their share in the canons and benevolence voted by the late convocation i. The popular leaders seem to have been at some loss as to the most effectual edition. " I have shewn from lord Clarendon, that holii houses of parliament were almost to a man," &c. " Journals of Lords, July 3, 5. Kushworth, \'ol. IV, p. 306, 307. P Ibid. Aug. 10. '' Ibid. Aug. 4. VOL. I. F gg HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. ciiA r. method of taking- oii" the weight ot" the bishops in ^ ^^^' the house of peers. At one time they resolved to 1G41. amercethe parties concerned in the obnoxious pro- ceed ino-s of the convocation to the amount of two hundred thousand pounds'" ; but it was finally re- solved to adopt the measure of an impeachment. Kmg takes Nouc of tlicsc procccdiugs could liavc been pala- two houses, table to the king ; and it therefore strikes us as sa- vouring of the simplicity of ancient manners that, just before Charles set out for Scotland, he sent a message by the solicitor general to the house of commons, in which among other things he ob- serves, that when, two days before, he had bade the lords farewel, his intent was to both houses ; and if he were not so understood, the solicitor-ge- neral was commanded to declare such to have been the kinp:'s meaninsf^ Impeach- The impeachment thus brought in against the ulL'teen bi- bishops was finally quashed. The parliament, in feS.'^'^' consideration of the king's absence, adjourned themselves for six weeks*; and when they re- sumed their sittings, and the answer of the thir- teen bishops to the impeachment of the commons was called for, instead of putting in a direct an- swer, they offered a plea and demurrer, which the Journals of Commons, Apr. 27. Rushvvorth, Vol. IV, p. 235. Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 7. " Journals of the Commons, Aug. 9. ' Journals, Sep. 9. HISTORY UF THE CUABEON WEALTH. (jy lords entertained". The commons resented tliis cii a i*. proceeding, and the business was of consequence ^^^' dropped. lo,,. Tlie church however gained notliing hy this Archbi- miscarriage ; and the mortal blow came from a Ss^^' quarter in which it was least to have been ex- pected. Williams, bish(3p of Lincoln, who had been appointed keeper of the great seal upon the dismission of lord chancellor Bacon, had had much of the ear and the favour of James the First. Upon the accession of Charles, Laud became the favou- rite churchman ; and he set himself, with the un- sparing animosity which was one of his charac- teristics, to accomplish the ruin of the man whom he dreaded as a rival. Upon the most frivolous pretences Williams was sentenced by the star- chamber to be suspended from his bishopric, to be fined ten thousand pounds to the king, and to be imprisoned in the Tower diu-ing pleasure. The fine was levied in the most unmerciful manner, by putting up all the bishop's goods and posses- sions to sale.'^ When the victims of Laud and the star-chamber were delivered from their perse- cutions upon the meeting of the Long Parliament, Williams was brouglit out in triumph from his confinement, being claimed by the house of lords as one of its members. Whatever were the defects " .loumals, Nov. 12. " Ilarkcf, Life of Williams, Part TI, p. I'iS. I, O 1' *^ 68 ursTORY or the coimmonwealtii. CHAP, of the character of this conspicuous churchman, V _^ they were not at least similar to those of his per- 1641. secutor ; and, Laud being now the subject of po- pular odium, -and the cause of episcopacy suffer- ing on his account, Williams seems to have de- voted himself very sincerely to support, as far as he could, his unfortunate persecutor". Williams, in consequence, was raised by the king to be arch- bishop of York. King re- Cliarlcs rctumcd from Scotland with feelino-s Sco'tLid!" of the most inveterate hostility to the leaders in the English parliament. The rebellion in Ireland had occurred in his absence ; and the king formed the idea of raising an army, nominally for the pur- pose of quelling this rebellion, but which should be really employed to subdue the parliament. From their partisans in Scotland the house of commons well understood the measures which Charles had concerted for his return, and gave directions to Essex, whom the king had appointed comman- der-in-chief of the forces South of Trent, to place a suitable ouard for the protection of parliament y. The king insisted upon it that this guard should be dismissed ; and, in his answer to an address on the subject, has these words : "We do engage unto you solemnly the word of a king, that the security of all and every one of you from vio- " History of the Troubles and Tryal of Laud. y Journals of Lords, Oct. 20. Clarendon, Vol. I, 299, 323. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 69 lence, is and ever shall be our care, as much as c h a p. the preservation of us and our children ^^.'^ Un- ^ ^\^^ fortunately this answer was delivered the day be- i64i. fore that in which the king so memorably violated the privilege of parliament, by coming down in person to the house of commons to seize the five members. In the midst of the agitation of these proceed- Protesta- ings the bishops were regarded by the people at bishops. large with peculiar ill-will ; and Williams, having been insulted on his passage to the house of lords, courageously threw himself into the midst of the crowd to seize one of the most active of liis as- sailants. He was repelled'^. Full of indignation at the treatment he received, he retired to his house, and prepared a protestation, stating that he and his brethren were prevented by violence from at- tending their duty in the house of lords, and de- claring all laws, votes and resolutions, that should pass during the period of their constrained ab- sence, to be null and void'*. The authority of Williams with his brethren was at this time great ; and he immediately obtained the signature of eleven other bishops to the protestation. It was then submitted to the king, who declared his ap- probation of it, and ordered it to be delivered by the lord keeper to the house of lords *^. ' Rubhworth, Vol. IV, p. 471. * Ibid. p. 463. ^ Journals of Lords, December 30. *■ Clarendon, \ol. I, p. 3.')0, 3:)). 70 IlIS'l'OUY or THE COMMONWEALTH. Nothiiip^ could be more unfortunate for the cause of episcopacy than this proceeding-; and Williams, 16-1]. thoup;h a man of considerable reputation, certainly shewed himself very little of a politician in setting it on foot. As to Charles, it had always been his disposition, both in Scotland and here, to seek for nullities by which to set aside measures that he inwardly disliked. Nothing could be more apt for this purpose than the present protestation, which, if it were valid, would vitiate and under- mine all proceedings in the two houses of parlia- ment, till the bishops should think proper to re- sume their seats. But the apparent strength of the measure served only to render it impotent. The bishops must have been extremely short- sighted, not to have seen that they were treading on the edge of a precipice. They had hitherto had a majority of the house of lords in their favour ; but that majority was in opposition to the sense of the commons, and of the nation ; and they them- selves constituted a material part of that majority. The house of lords was astonished and irritated at their presumption ; their friends became alien- ated ; their enemies emboldened. It was instantly voted that the protestation should be communi- cated to the commons; and along with the com- munication, the lords expressed their sense of the paper, as containing matters of high and danger- ous import. The next day the commons brought ,,caciicd ^,p Q|-j imi3eachment of hioh treason aoainst the and sent to ' _ ^ _ f' ^ _ the Tower, individuals who had signed the protestation, and Twelve bi- shops iin IllSTOllV OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 7 1 they were ininiediately committed to the Tower chap. of London'*. " ^^^• The leaders of the popular cause saw their i64i. time. Immediately after the re-meeting of par- awaytiil'^br liament in October, a bill had been brought into '^'^''''''''• the house of commons to disable persons in holy orders from exercising temporal jurisdiction or authority''. This bill was substantially the same with that which had been rejected by the lords four or five months before ; and, after havingr been read a first time in the upper house, it was passed over without further notice. Instantly on the present occasion it was proposed that a mes- sage should be sent to the house of lords, to sig- nify that, whereas the commons had sent up a bill to take away the votes of the bishops in par- liament, and as they conceived that owing to va- rious pressing businesses the lords had not yet taken it into consideration, they desired that it might be forwarded with all expedition ^. The upper house yet felt some hesitation on the sub- i642. ject; but on the fourth and fifth of February fol- passed by lowing they read the bill a second and a third time ; and, a few days after, it received the royal Feb, u. assent. There were two motives which animated the friends of liberty in both houses of parliament, in ' Journal of L, Dcr. ;>(). ' .loiirnals ' >ct. '21. .Idiiriials, Dec. 31. 72 HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, their proceedings on the subject of church-govern- ^ "^' J ment at this time. The first and principal un- 1642. doubtedlv was a sincere zeal in the cause of reli- gion, a strong disapprobation of prelacy, and of tfte prelatical proceedings in the reigns of Eliza- beth, James the First, and Charles the First, and a firm persuasion that the church of England as it then stood, was in urgent need of an extensive Conibina- rcform. A second motive, which came in aid of EngHsh the first, was tlie cordial sympathy and the inti- maicJn?''' v(\2Xq correspondence which the great parliamen tents. ^^^^ leaders here kept up with the heads of the Scottish nation. A determined and firmly com- pacted resistance to the arbitrary measures of Charles began with that people ; and from them the English leaders had learned energy, confi- dence and resolution. But the Scots, a solemn and sedate nation, were at this time almost unani- mously inspired with the fervent zeal of presby- terianism. They believed, and they averred, that a synodical government, under a parity of clergy and elders, was of divine institution. They were persuaded that a church otherwise constituted was hardly in any way deserving to be called a Chris- tian church ; and they were smitten with an earn- est passion to introduce, wherever it might be possible, a system of church-government conform- able to their own. Presbyterianism rested on two points, the horror of sects and schisms, and the love of republican equality in ecclesiastical mat- HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 73 ters. On the whole, the friends of liberty in En- gland could not hope for the cordial co-operation of their northern neighbours, unless they also I642. were found to be in principle presbyterians. Early in the year 1641 we find the house of Votesofthc 1 .• • n .-I p commons in commons voting a resolution, approving ot the at- favour of fection of their brethren of Scotland, in their de- Z^,^''"^' sire of a confofmity in church-government be- tween the two nations, and promising, as they had already taken ecclesiastical reform into con- sideration, so to proceed in it in due time s. It cannot be doubted that a wish to secure the good- will of the Scots had some share in causing the bill for abolishing bishops to be brought in. and in the severity with which the English house of commons proceeded against that order, on all oc- casions that offered themselves. It was not till Deciara- nearly twelve months afterwards, that the two two housed houses agreed upon a declaration, tliat they in- |j",*J,3'of tended a due and necessary reformation of the 'I'^i"'^*- government and liturgy of the church, taking away nothing either in the one or the other, but what should be evil and justly offensive, or at least unnecessary and burthensome. It is in this de- claration that we find them first expressing their purpose, speedily to have consultation with godly and learned divines for effecting the intended re- form''. Shortly after a bill was brought into par- Bill for a synod. P Journals, May 17, Win. " Il'ifl. April 7, n, ir.i?. 74 iiisTuiiv or THE common \vi:Ai;rii, 1642. passes the lords. Both houses of parliament declare a- gainst epi- scopacy. liament for calling- an assembly of divines, to be consulted with for the settling- the government and liturgy of the church, and for vindicating its doc- trine from aspersions and false interpretations '. In this bill the commons named two clergymen for each county, omitting Durham, and two for each of the universities respectively, which, including one for each of the Welsh counties, one for Jer- sey, one for Guernsey, and four for the metropo- lis, mounted the number to one hundred ^ to which the lords added fourteen more'. The bill j)assed both houses in less than four weeks from the day of its introduction ■". The king quitted his capital in January, and held his court at York in the March folio wino-. He set up his standard at Nottingham in August, and every thing was apparently hastening on both sides to open hostilities. It is in this situation that we find the next considerable measure on the subject of ecclesiastical affairs. In Septem- ber the two houses of parliament concurred in an answer to the declaration of the general assembly of the church of Scotland respecting church-go- vernment ". passage. In this answer occurs the following: ' Journals of the Commons, May 9. Lords, May 20. ^ Journals of the Commons, April 20, 21, 23, 25. ' Lords, May QO. "• Ibid. June 3, 4. " Journals of llic Commons, Sop. 1. L'irds, Sep. 9. HISTORY OF THE COMiMONWEALTH 75 "The main cause wliich has hitlierto deprived chap. us of the advantages which we nHo;ht otherwise v_!/!_> have by a more close union with tlie church of lovi- Scotland and other reformed churches, is the go- vernment by bishops. " Upon which and many other reasons we de- clare, that this government by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and commissaries, deans and chapters, archdeacons and other ecclesiastical of- ficers, is evil, and that we are resolved that the same shall be taken away'*." Shortly after the close of the first campaign of Bill for that the civil war, certain propositions were prepared, camcd^ to be submitted to the king, as the foundation of paXSent. a firm and lasting peace. These propositions ori- ginated in the house of lords p. One of them was, that the king would be pleased to give his assent to certain bills therein named, and amonjT them to a bill for the utter abolishing and taking away the government by bishops and their officers out of the church of England. A bill to this effect was brought into the house of conuuons on the thirtieth of December, and passed the lords on the twenty-sixth of January following 1. o Journals of the Lords, Sep. 10. '' Journals, Dec. 9, It, Ki, 17, 19, 20. '• From the above simple narrative cxtrarUd from the Journals, everyone mayjudge of the fidelity and fairness of Clarendon's stale- nient, who says, " By various arlifices, and especially by concluding obstinakly thai no propositions should be sent l Ibid. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 83 1G43. mass. This was built upon the doctrine of tran- chap. substantiation, or, as it was called in the Lutheran . "^• churches, consubstantiation, according to which the body and blood of Christ are verily and in- deed taken and received in the sacrament of the Lord s supper. The ever ready inference from this position in the mind of the Catholic was, that the mass is a sacrifice, and that, as Christ was once sacrificed on the cross for the sins of mankind, so this sacrifice is repeated and re- newed whenever the communion is solemnized. The puritans detested the ceremonies practised on these occasions as idolatry ; and, whenever either priest or people bowed or kneeled before the sacred elements, believino; them to be nothinof less than integral parts of the human nature of the Saviour, their adversaries pronounced this to be nothing less than blasphemy and a mortal sin. They were in consequence eager to banish all those mummeries and that ostentation, which in their opinion desecrated the rites of Christian re- ligion. The name and the form of an altar in the celebration was odious in their eyes. The pecu- liar vestments, the consecrated candles, and the incense burned before the host, excited their ab- horrence. Many of these were retained in the episcopal church of England, and more were re- stored by the zeal or superstition of Laud^. All y Rushworlh, Vol. 11, p. 77, '207, '273. (; 2 examined. 84 TITSTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, these were now comprohcuded under the name III. . of monuments of idolatry, and condemned in the ordinance that was passed. 1G43. Tlie parliamentary ordinance on the subject of the measure imagcs and relicts of idolatry is not less in oppo- sition to our present modes of thinking, than that which related to theatrical exhibitions. At this distance of time we can look back with entire in- difference to the question ; and, considering- the objects which the zeal of our ancestors destroyed, merely as so many records of the skill, the taste, and the character of preceding ages, our senti- ments would rather dictate to us an earnestness for their careful preservation. But we cannot do justice to the deeds of for- mer times, if we do not in some degree remove ourselves from the circumstances in which we stand, and substitute those by which the real ac- tors were surrounded. The statue of Jupiter was a very different thing at the first superseding of the pagan religion, from what it is now. To us it is a monument of art, and nothing more. But at that time it was connected with errors, as yet perhaps imperfectly exploded. To us it can be productive of no mischief; but at that time it may be, in obedience to the new tone and revolution of the human mind, it was necessary it should be removed. Whenever the imaoination becomes filled with the conceptions of past times, nothing can be more natural than that we should regret HISTORY OV THE COALMO.WVCALTll. 85 the absence of the features by which tlicy were distiniruished, and wish ahnost that we could be- come the fresh witnesses of their scenery and their js-is. superstitions. It is under such impressions that the chiklren of fancy have sometimes lamented that " the age of chivalry is gone." But this is contrary to the sound order of liuman affairs. " The former things have passed away ; all things are become new." Great changes cannot take place in the minds of generations of men, without a corresponding change in their external symbols. There must be a harmony between the inner and the outward condition of human beings ; and the progress of the one must keep pace with the progress of the other. The most skilful leaders in the period of which we treat, meditated an important innova- tion ; they designed to introduce a more simple and a severer tone of religious profession, and a more manly spirit in the ordinary conduct of life; and to this end it was necessary that much which had become supertiuous should be removed. We judge them now with a certain harshness, because all their labours in the ultimate result became to a great degree nugatory. But we ought notwithstanding to do justice to the steadi- ness and sagacity with which their intentions were prosecuted. Kdiffious The Protestantism of Charles the First and y:p^V'^ t h.irlcs the archbishop Laud, if indeed it is to be called Pro- i ir-^t ami * II- Ari.-lil)islK>i) testantism, is of a kind that has lonjr since pe- i.mu.i. 86 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. I'islicd from the face of the earth. The former, before he came to the crown, expressed, in a let- 16-13. ter to pope Gregory the Fifteenth, his admiration of his ancestors, the kings of this island, who had " so often exposed their estates and lives for the exaltation of the holy chair," and " intreated his holiness to believe that he had always been very far from encouraging novelties, or being a parti- san against the Catholic Apostolic Roman reli- gion, and that he would employ himself in time to come to have but one religion and one faith, seeing that they all believed in Jesus Christ ^." And Laud on his trial confessed that he had been offered a cardinal's hat, but added that he had refused it, feeling that " something dwelt in him, which would not suffer him to accept the offer, till Rome was otherwise than now it was*." He further owned, that he had " often wished for a reconciliation between the churches of England and Rome in a just and christian way, and had long endeavoured to effect it **." It is not therefore to be wondered at that the parliamentary leaders of 1640 desired greatly to vary the constitution of the church of Enoland from the model which Charles and the archbishop approved. Ca,cof loni The cxccution of the earl of Strafford, thouo-h, StraHord. . , _ ' to ' strictly speaking, it scarcely enters into the plan of this history, is an event too memorable to be ' Birch, Enquiry concerning Glamorgan, p. 286, 287, 288. =• Trial of LaiKl, rublishcd by Authority, p. 5d8. " Ibid. p. 5j loll. presence and councils for ever," he vv^ould have considered these as annulled the moment the sword was drawn. The prince, who contemplated the bringing the army to overawe the parliament before it had sat two months, and who negociated afterwards to bring over an army of Irish Catho- lics, such as were the Irish Catholics of those days, to settle the difference between himself and his peo- ple, certainly would not have scrupled the employ- ing of Strafford. What would have been the va- riation in the result, we have no means of know- ing. There was undoubtedly no man in the ser- vice of the king, who for talents or energy could enter into the slightest competition with Strafford. Hampden, and Pym, and their allies, judged they did wisely, and acted like true patriots, by remov- ing this obstacle before the contention began. A proviso was inserted in the act of attainder of the case of Strafford, that " no judges or other magistrates should adjudge any thing to be trea- son, in any other manner than they would have adjudged if this act had never been made."' This has been used as an argument to prove that the prosecutors of Strafford were conscious of the in- justice they committed. It proves no such thing. It rather serves to illustrate the clearness of their conceptions, and the equability of their temper. Undoubtedly the prosecutors of Strafford were HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 93 firmly averse to this proceeding- being drawn into a precedent. Undoubtedly they were strongly persuaded that in all ordinary cases the letter of ig4i the law should be observed, and no man be con- demned unless that were ao;ainst him. For myself, I entertain an almost invincible ab- horrence to the taking' away the life of man, after a set form, and in cool blood, in any case what- ever. The very circumstance that you have the man in your power, and that he stands defence- less before you to be disposed of at your discre- tion, is the strongest of all persuasives that you should give him his life. To fetter a man's limbs, and in that condition to shed his blood like the beasts who serve us for food, is a thought to which, at first sight, we are astonished the human heart can ever be reconciled. The strongest case that can be made in its favour, is where, as in this business of Straflord, the public cause, and the fa- vourable issue of that cause, seem to demand it. The earl of Strafford was executed on the twelfth lie is exe- of May. Charles undoubtedly was willing to do conduct of much to save him; and he appears to have re- 4^^^""^ '"" *^" garded it as one of the greatest faults with which he could reproach himself, that he had ever given his assent to the bill of attainder''. It has not however ordinarily been observed that the king- came down to the house of lords, and passed se- occa- sion. •" Speech on llic Scaftold, 30 January 104'.'. 94 IIISTOl'vY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, vera! bills in person, the day after Strailbrd's \, J^ , death'. On the first of May he made a speech 1G4I. to his parliament on the subject of his minister, in which among other expressions he said : " To sa- tisfy my people I would do great matters : but this of conscience, no fear, no respect whatever shall ever make me go against it*^:" on the tenth the act of attainder received the royal assent by commission : on the twelfth Straiibrd suffered : and the next day, when his blood was hardly yet cold, Charles voluntarily came down to meet and to face those who had extorted from him his un- willing fiat. Conduct of The conduct of Hollis on this occasion ought to be mentioned, as tending to illustrate the cha- racter of one of the conspicuous parliamentary leaders of this period. It is thus related by Bur- net from Hollis's lips. " The earl of Strafford had married his sister : so, though in the parliament he was one of the hottest men of the party, yet when that matter was before them, he always withdrew. When the bill of attainder was pass- ed, the king sent for him, to know what he could do to save the earl of Straflbrd. Hollis answered that, if the king pleased, since the execution of the law was in him, he might legally grant him a reprieve, which must be good in law; but he would not advise it. That which he proposed * Journals of Lords, ^ Kushworth, Vol. IV, p. 239. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 9 n was, that lord Strafford should send liim a peti- tion for a short respite, to settle his affairs, and to prepare for death ; npon which he advised tlie icTT king to come next day with the petition in his hands, and lay it before the two houses, with a speech which he drew for the king; and Hollis said to him, he would try his interest among his friends to get them to consent to it. He prepared a great many by assuring them that, if they would save lord Strafford, he would become wholly theirs in consequence of his first princi- ples ; and that he might do them much more ser- vice by being preserved, than he could do if made an example upon such new and doubtful points. In this he had wrought on so many, that he be- lieved, if the king's party had struck into it, he might have saved him '." But the c^ueen defeat- ed this, by substituting a mean and pitiful letter, written with the king's own hand, and delivered to the house of lords by the prince of Wales in person, being then just eleven years of age "". All this scarcely deserves a comment. Hollis was a patriot ; but of that stamp, wlio considered his country much, but the man who had married his sister more. Though " in the parliament lie was hot," he concerted clandestinely with the king how their purposes might be defeated. But ' Burnet, Own Time, Book I. "' Journals of Lord?, May 1 1. 96 HISTORY or Tin: commonwealth. what is most worthy of notice, is his undertaking that if Strafford, condemned to death for high 1G41. treason, were spared by the parliament, he " would become wholly theirs in consequence of his first principles," and be eminently serviceable to the cause of them by whom he had been condemned. 97 CHAPTER IV. CAMPAIGN OF 1G43. OFFICERS. ESSEX. HAMPDEN. WALLER. SKIPPON. FAIRFAX. CROMWEL. DEATH OF HAxMPDEN. CHARLES DENOUNCES THE TWO HOUSES NOT A FREE PARLIAMENT. WALLER DEFEATED. BRISTOL SURRENDERS TO THE KING. The campaign of 1G43 was commenced by the chap parliamentary army under the same auspices as ^^ that of the preceding year. The men wlio con- i,,ij, suited with sincerity and zeal for the public cause were reduced to o^reat difficulties on this point. "''.•'"' "'""' It was but too certain that Essex and his confi- j,,,,; y, dential connections fought with views of their ^=*'''^''- own, and were in the utmost degree averse to the pushing the war to an extremity. Their military proceedings had a double meaning : they seemed to fight for victory, when in reality their object was compromise. Beside every other objection which might be h^ iKmi- made to this policy, it was obviously pregnant ^]'J"^y_ with much danger to the common cause. ^V hen two parties contend in the field, one in serious VOL. I. H Com- mciiccincnt Clous ten- 98 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CH A.i'. earnest, and the other as in a school of war, with ^^ ' weapons muffled, and with a caution not to strike IG43. too home, they are not on equal terms, and there is great reason to fear, that, while the latter is preluding, shaking the dart, and yet afraid to hit, the different purpose and temper of the other may take his adversary by surprise, and give the finish- ing blow at a time when it was least appre- hended. Beside which, men who do not contend in earnest, can have little warmth and fervour in what they undertake, and are more than half pre- pared to betray the cause, in the vindication of which they have engaged their services. Hampden The most ardcut of the leaders in the parlia- fortiiicom! mentary councils, had their eyes fully open to this mand. ^^jj^ ^^^ \yQx^ anxious to apply an adequate re- medy. The strongest and the most effectual was to supersede Essex, and substitute in his room a man in whose intentions and abilities they might fully confide. There was one person upon whom rumour and public opinion fixed, as alone all- sufliicient for this purpose, Hampden^. Of his su- perlative talents all men were persuaded. Little as there is of this great man now upon record, we . are not qualified to say in what manner he had acquired so consummate a character. We only know that he possessed " the most absolute spirit Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, art. Hampden. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 99 of popularity •*," and that men of all classes had an undoubted persuasion that he would prove equal to whatever he thought proper to under- 16437 take. It is true that, till within the last few months, he had never been a soldier, " nor the division of a battle knew, more than a spinster." This pre- judice had had its weight in the commencement of the war, nor was it yet worn out. They sought for old soldiers, and men that had been drilled in the Netherlands. But these were found wanting in the trial. They were too much the slaves of routine, and thought more of preserving the lives of those who fought under them, than of acquir- ing ascendancy for the public cause. In Hamp- den, his infinite sagacity, his forward spirit to di- scern and seize upon all opportunities, the vigi- lance and composure of his soul, the faith and re- liance that followed him from all sorts of men, and his skill in moulding the spirits of men, and directing their movements, would have much more than counterbalanced these artificial aids. It is singular enough that Hampden was the Hamixien first cousin, and no doubt the intimate friend, of ^."J^.q ■"'""' Cromwel, who afterwards ran the same career as i'^'"'-'^- was now chalked out for Hampden, with com- plete success, but not with the same unblemished reputation as it may well be believed would have '' Clarcndcn, \'<<\. U, i>. JoG. II 2 foin- IQQ HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEALTH. CHAP, attended upon the first of England's patriots. ^^ ^ ^ • J Cromwel wanted many of the advantages of 1G4;}. Hampden in the outset, and we have no reason to believe snrpassed him in the faculty which the latter possessed in so remarkable a degree, ot adapting' himself to whatever situation he was placed in, and winding up his faculties to the en- tire discharge of its duties. We may readily credit that Cromwel would never have thought of being tutor to the prince of Wales. The as- cendancy that Cromwel assumed over the minds of men seems to have been better adapted to the moulding them to his purposes, than to the rais- inof them to all that is excellent of which their nature was capable. On the other hand, Hamp- den was probably inferior to no one in the ele- ments that constitute a soldier; at the same time that he was the first statesman, and the first coun- sellor of his age, distinguished by the polish and insinuation of his address, and the unequivocal- ness of his integrity, and we may presume was a perfect gentleman and an excellent scholar. The pro- But the idea of making Hampden commander in criSeiUnio chief in the room of Essex, was not carried into efl'ect. effect. The house of lords was never more than half in earnest in the measures that were now at issue ; and it was necessary to make great, and even danoerous sacrifices, to retain so much as the appearance of their concurrence. Essex was highly popular ; and the loftiness of his notions, HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 1q| and the scrupulousness of his honour*^, combined with manners in the utmost degree cordial and easy, gave him an extraordinary ascendancy among ig'is. those of his own rank, as well as with all such as regarded the claims of birth and fortune with par- ticular complacency. Not destitute of talents, yet the talents of Essex were not such as to give um- brage and alarm to those with whom he was con- nected : he served rather as a central mark round which for those of his own party to rally, than as a man of imperial mind, to whom they were bound to submit, and by whom they must im- plicitly be guided. Essex in a word was not a leader that could be discarded, but at the ex- pence of imminent hazard. We are not sufficiently in the secret of the councils of this period, to know whether it was Hampden or his friends that put a bar on the half- formed project in his favour. As he was the per- son of most discernment among them, it was proba- bly he that required they should proceed no further. Hampden, we may well believe, was a man not to shrink from the performance of a duty, because it was arduous. He felt what he was capable of achieving, if all circumstances were favourable to the execution of the task he should undertake. But he would not sacrifice the practicable to the splendid. Ambition, we are entitled to say, had no charms for him when it involved the risk of '" This tertn is to be understood with great limitations. Sec tlir next Chapter. UNIA 102 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. a great public good ; and even among things be- neficial to the public he was instructed to prefer 1613. the less excellent that was within his reach, to that which was superior in intrinsic value, but which could hardly be hoped to be attained. Waller. TIic projcct of Superseding the earl of Essex in the command being judged too hazardous, the next idea that suggested itself was that of setting up another general, whose reputation and cha- racter mio-ht balance that of the commander in chief, who might perhaps hereafter, if a suitable occasion occurred, be substituted in his place, but who at all events, by dividing the military as- cendancy with Essex, might shew the aristocracy that there was another force at work, capable of balancing the authority they were desirous to en- gross. It was not judged congruous, that Hamp- den, who had hitherto, more than any other in- dividual, directed the counsels of the parliament, and upon whom " the eyes of all men were fixed, as their palrice pater, and the pilot that must steer the vessel through the tempests and rocks which threatened it "^j" should be placed in this tenta- tive and experimental situation. The individual that was fixed on for the purpose, was sir Wil- liam Waller ^, of whom we shall have occasion to speak at large in the sequel. St-itc of the These ideas however were by no means allowed ory !!rmy" ^o interfere with the preparations for opening the *> Clarendon, WA, U, p. 26b. "^ Ibirl p. 278. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 103 campaign with effect on the part of Essex ; and so diligent was the committee appointed by par- liament for the conduct of the war, that an army, i(h:3. more numerous and better accoutred than that of the preceding year, with all necessary accom- modations and appendages, was ready to march under this commander, the very day on which the April 15. negociations at Oxford had closed ^. One improvement which had taken place in skippon. this army during the winter, was the nomination of Skippon, a soldier eminently distinguished for integrity, courage and spirit, to the office of Ser- jeant major-general, in the room of sir John Mer- rick, who was himself appointed general of the ordnance instead of the earl of Peterboroujyh, de- ceased ^. Some degree of dissention and difference of Hampden opinion appeared however in this army at the 'sTcJ^ofOjT- commencement of the campaign. Hampden, and '^''"'• those persons who were most in earnest in the cause, recommended tliat they should proceed im- mediately to the siege of Oxford, where the king and his court were. Clarendon himself confes- ses, that if this measure had been adopted, it would have been attended with eminent success ^ Oxford was not tolerably fortified, nor the garri- son supplied with provisions : add to which, the town was crowded with nobility and ladies, who •' Ibid. p. 2'i». *■ England's Wortliics, art. Skippon. Cla- rendon, \ol. U, p. 230, f Clarendon, \"ol. H, p. 'J;tr.. J 04 HISTORY OF THE COMMONVVEAl/rU. were so impatient of alarm, that every attem})t at resistance would have encountered the greatest 1G43. disadvantaoe, Essex however decided af^ainst this enterprise, Heading in which determination he was supported by tlie old soldiers, and accordingly formed the siege of Reading. This place was defended by a garri- Aprii 27. son of four thousand men ; but, after a siege of ten days, the place was surrendered upon terms, the garrison being permitted to march away with their sick and wounded, only giving up their arms. The besieging army had sufl'ered consi- derably, from the earliness of the season, and the inclemency of the weather, the more especially as they consisted, to a great extent, of raw recruits s. Critical si- Now liowcvcr the question again occurred, of tuation of , , . •. . ^ . ■, the royal- tiic parliamentary army marchmg straight against Oxford. If they had incurred some disadvan- tages in the interval, they had also acquired new courage and boldness from their recent success. Clarendon again assures us, that if Essex had made a shew at this time, of advancing with his whole body in that direction, he verily believes that Oxford and all the other garrisons in those parts would have been quitted to him ^. The king had already deliberated respecting a retreat into the north, to join the forces under the earl of Newcastle and the queen, who had landed in Yorkshire*'; an enterprise that, if successful, which i" H'id. l^■J2?. " Ibid. p. 213. VbtS. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 1Q5 was by no means certain, would nevertheless have changed the whole face of the war, in favour of his adversaries. But Essex wasted his time 1643. in the neit^hbourhood of Reading ; and the alarm which had been conceived by the king and the officers of the royal army, had time to subside. In the mean time other generals were forming in different parts of the kingdom, in proportion as these were made the theatre of the war. One person who was looked to, as likely to WaUcr. prove eminent in the military service of the par- liament, was sir William Waller. He was of an ancient family, and had pretensions to the fief of Winchester Castle, and the office of hereditary chief-butler of Enoland '. He had devoted his early years to the study of the art of war, and had served with credit in the armies of the German princes confederated against the emperor'. Wal- ler was a member of the committee of safety, and had raised a troop of horse for the parliament in the beofinnins: of the war. He himself tells us that his first connections were among the Inde- pendents ^. All these circumstances seemed to point him out as particularly adapted to their pur- pose, to those persons who looked furthest to- wards the issue of the war, and were most resolv- ed against temporising and half-faced measures. ' Wood, Alhcnei' Oxonienscb, art. WalJer. '' \'iiulitalion \>\ Hinii-clt", p. 9. J Of, • HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. The first separate employment lie obtained had been merely to lead a detachment of the earl of 1643^ Essex's army ; and, before the end of the year 1G42, he took Portsmouth'. From thence he proceeded again with unabated success against Winchester, Chichester and Hereford™ ; and hav- ing, by a night-march in which he was equally dextrous and successful, reached the Severn, he crossed the river in certain flat-bottomed boats which he had appointed to meet him, and took prisoners or dispersed the whole of a little army that the royalists had marched against Glouces- ter". By these exploits he gained great reputa- tion both with the parliament and the city, and during that period was distinguished among his admirers by the nickname of William the Con- queror". Having completed these various achieve- ments, he again marched back to the principal army, and joined the earl of Essex at the siege of Reading p. His subsequent exploits hoAvever did not answer to these beginnings; and his military reputation was speedily eclipsed by the achieve- ments of more illustrious competitors. 1642. When Charles had seen his consort embark for fax"^* ' the continent in February 1642, he proceeded by ' Clarendon, Vol. I, p. 711, et seqq. Vol. II, p. 10. " Riishworlh, Vol. V, p. 92, 100, 2G3. " Clarcntlun, \'ol. II, p. 156. « Ibid. p. 278. ^ Ibid. p. 157. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 1()7 slow stages to York. The first hostility whicli took place was at Hull, where sir John Hothain, having been appointed governor by the parlia- 164?. ment, though he received the duke of York and the prince-elector into the garrison as visitors, yet refused the next day [April 23] admission to the king and his train i. Charles removed soon after to the south ; but, before the close of the year, he appointed Cavendish, earl of Newcastle, to the command of the four northern counties'", while the executive government for the parliament de- volved the conduct of the war in these parts upon lord Fairfax, one of the representatives for the county of York**, A very active war of posts took place between these two commanders ^ ; and sir sir Thomas Thomas Fairfax, appointed general of the horse ■'"'^''^• under his father ", began to form himself to that ig43. military skill whicli was afterwards so etfectually Parliament displayed in the progress of the war. In the fe,Jed at month of June 1G43 however, the campaign in C/ooT*'" this quarter took an unfavourable turn ior the ^""^'30. parliament: Newcastle gave a great defeat to the parliamentary army at Atherton Moor"; while in the mean time he had opened a correspondence "> Ilushworth, Vol. IV, p. 567. ■" Life of the Duke of Newcastle by his Duchess, p. VI. " Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 112. ' Fairfax, Memorial;-. " Life of Newcastle, p. ^.S. " lliiil. i>. :iO. Rushudrlh, \ul.\', p. '.'70. log HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. witli llotliam, who agreed to shut out the Fair- faxes, of whom he was jealous, from the town of Hull ^. This coincidence of the treachery of Ho- tham, and the defeat at Atherton Moor, threatened to bring the war to a termination in that quarter. But the parliament gained intelligence in time of the infidelity of their officer, and the plot was de- feated. Hotham was thrown into chains, and af- terwards with his son suffered death for the breach Lord Fair- of his engagements ; and lord Fairfax was ap- ptTssessioT pointed to succeed him in the government of the juW 3"' town y. Thus the remains of the parliamentary army in the north were saved ; and the king's forces were kept within limits. No man made a more advantao^eous figrure in the field in the sub- sequent scenes of the war than sir Thomas Fair- fax ^. >= Whitlocke, p. 70. Rushworth, p. 275. " Journals, July 11. J- It is sufficiently memorable that, soon after the king's arrival at York, and when symptoms began to display themselves of his assembling a military guard round his person, sir Thomas Fairfa.\ was intrusted by a meeting of gentlemen of the county to present a petition to Charles, intreating him to yield to the expostulations of the parliament. The king it seems determined to refuse re- ceiving the petition ; and sir Thomas, in the ardour of youth and patriotic zeal, was judged to urge it upon the attention of the so- vereign with undue importunity. " He pressed with that instance and intention, in the presence of eighty or a hundred thousand people of the county, till at last he tendered the petition on the pommel of the king's saddle (Sprigge, p. 8)." There is a tradition, that Charles, otlcndcd with the perseverance of the young man, suddenly turned his horse, and with a shock of the breast of the HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. loy Croiiiwi-l. Another officer who became conspicuous in an early period of the contest, was Oliver Cromwel. He was of a considerable family, and was the re- ~ig42. lation and friend of Hampden ^. He had shewn himself of no small weight as a member of the house of commons ; and, being zealously devoted to the cause in which that house was embarked, the war had no sooner commenced than he was found in the list of those who, each of them, un- dertook to raise a troop of horse for tlie parlia- ment at his own charo-e ^ Before the kinir set up his standard at Nottingham, he was fortunate enough to succeed, in conjunction with Valentine Wauton, his brother-in-law, and member for the county of Huntingdon, in stopping the plate of the university of Cambridge, which was on the point of being sent to the king, to be melted down for the support of the war ^. His next enterprise was to seize the person of Thomas Conisby, high sheriff of the county of Herts, who had come to St. Albans on the market-day for the purpose of animal overthrew his petitioner in tlie dirt. The scene of this in- cident was Heworth Moor, near York, June 3, 1642. It is thus wc find character in the most casual events, and lessons in every thing we meet. .'u /• . „^* Noble, House of Cromwel. Memoirs of Cromwel, Ijy Oliver Cromwel, his Descendant. * List of Essex's Army, 164?. May, Book III, p. 79. Perfect Politician, p. 3. This book was published before the Restoration. See Rennet's Register, p. TQ. ^ Journals of Commons, Aug. 18, 1642. no HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. Marcli. proclaiming the earl of Essex and his followers traitors ^. ic43~ In the beginning of 1643, he increased his troop of horse to a thousand ^ ; and soon after, having received intelligence of a meeting of gentlemen of the king's party at Lowestoft in Sutlblk, for the purpose of concerting means for making a stand in that quarter, he came upon them by surprise, and made the whole body, consisting of about thirty persons of opulence and distinction, his prisoners*^. The project they had formed was thus defeated in its commencement. The earl of Newcastle had in the beginning of the war placed a garrison at Newark on Trent, thereby holding Nottinghamshire and a part of Lincolnshire in check ; and in the spring of the year Cromwel marched against this place, and distinguished himself more than once by his gal- lant successes in that quarter ^ Not long after, lord Willoughby, on the part of the parliament, made a desperate assault on Gainsborough, which he took, making the garrison his prisoners s. This was subsequent to the success of the earl of New- castle at Atherton Moor, and therefore that noble- man immediately marched to the south to coun- teract the progress of the enemy on that side. July 30. Cromwel advanced to relieve lord Willoughby, ^ Perfect Politician, p. 4. May, Book IH, p. »0. ^ Ibid. ' May, Book HI, p. 81, 82. " Rushwurth, \ ol. \', p. 278. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. j j | defeated the first division of Newcastle's arm3% chap. and killed tlieir commander; but this nobleman, v^^' coming up in full force soon after, changed the 1643. fortune of the war, and Cromwel was oblifred to retreat in his turn. Newcastle took possession, first of Gainsborough, and then of Lincoln**. Such was the state of hostilities in different Essex quarters, when Essex was at length roused from iroxford- his inactivity near Reading, by the murmurs that '''"'"^• rose on every side, and advanced towards Oxford. Jma-. He fixed his head-quarters at Thame, ten miles from that city: but the body of his forces, dis- couraged by delay, and broken with sickness, lay dispersed at some distance from their general. A treacherous advice of this was conveyed to prince Rupert, nephew of Charles, and brother to the elector palatine, who immediately planned a night expedition, in which, making a circuit June 17. of the enemy, he fell upon two regiments, quar- tered at Wycombe, thirty miles from London, which he cut to pieces, or made prisoners '. In- telligence however being speedily conveyed, Es- sex set out with a sufficient force to intercept the prince in his return. The parties encountered each other at Chalgrave ; but Rupert got off with his booty, and Hampden, who had joined in the Dlmu or pursuit as a volunteer, was killed ''. Thus pc- "'"'" ''"' rished this illustrious leader in an obscure skir- *' Ibid. p. 270, 2R0. ' Cbrciulon, \'ol. U, p. 'JdJ. •^ June la. Hanipclni expired on llu- 'Mtli. llusliworth, \\>]. V, 1 12 HISTORY OF TTIF. COMMONWEALTH. misli, brouL;lit on by the misconduct of his oene- ral, and tlie treachery of one of liis hrotliers of Kj-j.i. tlie war'. So variable is the destiny of human af- fairs ; and so perpetually do the mightiest events hang upon the most insignificant or unworthiest causes. Never was a great leader cut oil at a season apparently more unfortunate. If the cause in which Hampden was engaged could have de- pended on one man, it would have been buried in the grave of its most consummate advocate and supporter. His death, Clarendon says, occa- sioned " as great a consternation to his friends, as if their whole army had been defeated and cut off;" while at the same time, he adds, it was in reality " a great deliverance to the nation "\" The minutest circumstances which belong to such an event have been found to be interestino-. One of the prisoners taken by Rupert, made the first report of it to his captors. He said, that he saw Hampden ride off the field while the action p. 274. Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, art. Hampden. Clarendon says, he died "within three wcclvs:" a slight trait, but that indi- cates the inveteracy of the writer. ' The name of the traitor was Hurry. «" Vol. II, p. 264, 267. By " the nation" Clarendon means "the king." Meanwhile it is unavoidable to ask. What was he delivered from? The royalists in the sequel were completely subdued, and the kins; ended his life on the scaffold. — Without however beinir able completely to explain the author's meaning, we may safely pronounce his phrase to import the highest testimony of the talents of Hampden, and of the profound estimation in which they were held by his own party. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 113 was still going on, a thing he had never done be- chap. fore, with his head hanging down, and his hands ^, ' , resting on the neck of his horse, from which cir- \6a-s. cumstances the rclater confidently inferred that he was wounded ". It is of much importance to the history of these times to be acquainted with every particular which can be ascertained of the character of this memo- rable man. The most invaluable hints are to be derived from the contemporary historian, who had so many opportunities of knowing him. Claren- don describes him as what he calls "one of the root-and-branch men**," and classes him in that respect with Fiennes and sir Henry Vane ; adding- at the same time, " Mr. Pym was not of that mind, nor Mr. Hollis." This has been usually in- terpreted to mean an entire hostility to the episco- pal order ; but it may extend something further. The peculiar animosity of the historian to Hamp- den is no equivocal indication. He says, " with- out question, when he first drew the sword, he threw away the scabbard p,*' and probably the dis- simulation he is so eager to impute to this di- stinguished patriot has no other meaning. Lord Falkland, he affirms, was led on in all the early " Clarendon, Vol. U, p. 264. " Vol. I, p. 233, 23-t. Clarendon again nses in part the same ex- pression, when he describes Hampden as one of those " who de- sired still to strike at the root." \'()1. II, p. 23R. V \'ol. II, p. 260. VOL. J. I 114 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. proceedings of the Long Parliament by '' the great opinion he entertained of the uprightness and in- 1643. tegrity of Hampden i," and such at the time we may presume to liave been the judgment of Cla- rendon. It was only when the great leader con- ceived certain things to be necessary to the wel- fare of his country in M'hich these men were not prepared to co-operate with him, that the histo- rian changed his stile of speaking respecting him. Meanwhile it may be accounted fortunate, that Hampden s great plans did not die with him. He left behind him successors, no one of them equal to himself, but who had sat under his instructions, who had studied in his school, and who were in this respect worthy of our admiration, that they were not mere pupils and copiers after so consum- mate a master, but had each of them a vein of excellence, and a well of talent, that was pecu- liarly his own. Charles dc- It is worthy of notice, that in two days after two hou'se.H the skirmish in which Hampden received his pariiamem. i^iortal wouud, the king issued a proclamation, declaring that the present assembly at Westminster was not a free parliament, and that whatever came from them in the name of the two houses he would no lonofer receive in that character ^ This was certainly an act of the most untemporising and decisive nature. As long as this declaration was adhered to, there could be no issue to the war 1 Vul Tl, i> 3:,o. ' Lords' Journals, June •26. HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 1 J5 but in the absolute conquest and putting down of chap. cue party or the other ^ ^^ ^^• One of the grounds alleged for a proceeding i>s4s. of so absolute a nature, was the impeachment of menroHhe high treason against the queen which had been ''"^''"* voted in the preceding month'. Hollis states this impeachment as one of the first steps by which the independent party manifested the superiority they had gained over the presbyterian ". And yet the impeachment was carried up to the house of lords by the hands of Pym. In pursuance of the plan already described, the Waiierscnt parliamentary council seem now to have particu- weJt!'"' larly turned their attention to the fitting out sir William Waller, with a small, but well-appointed army, for the west of England, where the royalists had recently gained some important advantao-es. But the success of this plan was by no means cor- respondent to the expectations that had been formed. Though in the celerity of iiis move- ments Waller displayed an extraordinary merit, he seems to have erred in too great confidence in himself, and too great contempt of the enemy. He fought a drawn battle near Bath on the fifth July 5. of July, and had a second engagement near Dc- July 13. vizes one week later, in which, through the for- * It 13 somewhat curious that Clarendon, who is conimonlv very copious in inserting important state-papers at length, notices this out of its place, and only in a very imperfect and cursory way. Vol. II, J). yOl. ' Journals, May 13. " Memoirs, p. 7. 1 2 IK] HISTORY OF THL COMMONWEALTH. CHAP IV. 1643. is unsuc- cessful. Sun-ender of Bristol. July 26. tune ot" war, the gallantry of the enemy, and the diligence of the king in sending timely rein- forcements, his whole army was dispersed ^. In- deed one of the most striking defects of this officer was, that, owing probably to his utter want of disci- pline, the army which he led out from the metro- polis in the most admirable condition, he was in a few weeks under the necessity of coming back to recruit, and his soldiers after a month's service thought only of hastening to revisit their native home. An event followed close upon this, which greatly increased the alarm and terror of the parliamen- tary party. This was no other than the surrender of Bristol on the twenty-sixth of July to prince Rupert. The place was well provided, and ca- pable of considerable resistance ; but it was lost through the infirmity of spirit of its governor. Nathaniel Fiennes, son of lord Say, and who, as well as his father, was a member of the committee of safety, was one of the most highly gifted of the party which at present predominated in the parliament ; and he was looked up to by all that were engaged with him, as possessing in an emi- nent degree subtlety of mind and vast treasures of intellect. He was among the ablest of their counsellors. But, not contented with the consi- deration he obtained on this account, he aspired " Rush worth, Vol. V, p. '284, 285. Whitlocke, p. 70. Claren- don, Vol. II, p. 282, 290. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. II7 to the reputation of a soldier. The impetuous Rupert assaulted the city on three sides, but with no extraordinary success : the attack was gallant; 1643. the defence was no less resolute : unhappily the governor, confounded and dismayed with all that was passing around him, before the close of the day, demanded a parley, and agreed to eva- cuate the place *. All this would have been comparatively of little Condition importance, but for the condition of Essex's army, anny.^"' It had suffered considerably from sickness during the siege of Reading. The siege however had been short; and, if proper measures had been adopted, the mischief would have been transient. Mean- while their general retained them in perpetual in- activity; and it could not be, but that under such circumstances their spirit should decline. The only actions which occurred, were when the king's forces beat up their quarters, choosing their own time and manner for the attack, which was therefore generally successful. It is probable too, that, as the most effective members of the com- mittee of safety did not feel cordially towards Es- sex, those expedients which might best have re- cruited his army, and repaired its losses, were not on their part sufficiently attended to. In a word, the gradually increasing alienation of the general to the cause in which he was engaged, and " Rusliworth, Vol. \', p. 28J. Clarendon, Vol. IT, p. QW, ct scqq. 118 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. perhaps the perception of that alienation on the part of his employers, had reduced the principal 1643. army of the parliament to a condition, in which they were incapable of rendering any substantial service, or of opposin*^ an effectual check to the successes of the enemy y. ^ Clarendon, \'ol. II, p. '267, 292. 119 CHAPTER V PARLIAMENT PUEPARES FOR 1 HE DEl-ENTCE OFLOX DON. DECLARATION OF THE KING. FLUCTU- ATIONS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. MOMEN- TARY IRRESOLUTIONS OF THE COMAIONS. SUCCEEDED BY FIRMNESS. KING MARCHES AGAINST GLOUCESTER. THE CAUSE IS SAVED. But, as has been several times observed, they were men of no narrow talents, who at this time guided the counsels of the parliament. They had i643 just lost by death the individual who had been always looked up to as the soul of their under- takings. This calamity had been rapidly suc- ceeded by an unheard-of train of disasters. Yet they lost none of their presence of mind, and none of those resources which depend on that endow- ment. There was one expedient which lay obviously Embassy * 1 • 1 1 from the before them. The contention in which they were English , . -1111 ••14 parliament engaged was in a considerable degree similar to toUupar- that in which the Scottish nation had been in- ^^l^^^l^ volved a short time before, and in Avhich that northern people had wrested from the unwilling 120 HISTORY OF TllK COMMONWEALTH. hands of the monarcli, all the points for which the struggle had been made. Scotland could not 1643. look with indifference upon what was going on in the southern part of the island. In the pre- tensions of the presbyterians here they could not but deeply sympathise ; nor could they be with- out apprehension for the consequences to all which they had themselves so lately and with difficulty acquired, if Charles should be able to lay the En- glish nation prostrate at his feet. The Scots had accordingly from the beginning shewed a strong leaning to the side of parliament. But the lead- ers in the southern part of the island proceeded with deliberation and wariness. They had on all occasions manifested a desire to keep well with the Scots, and to secure the good wishes of the predominant party in the northern king- dom. But they went no further. They reserved the Scottish power as a resource in case of neces- sity, and seem to have been anxious, if possible, to secure the victory at home without the actual interference of the neighbour nation. The am- biguous proceedings of false brethren among themselves, of men who, while they embarked in the cause of liberty, still cast a longing and a wistful eye to the party of their opponents, to- gether with an accumulation of several most un- expected misfortunes, at length obliged them to lay aside the pride and the delicacy with which they had hitherto acted. All these circumstances ren- IIISTOJIY OF THE COiMMON WEALTH. 121 dered an embassy to Scotland particularly ad- visable ; the Scottish nation was at this time emi- nently warlike, and might easily be brought into 1643. action ; and, if their forces were marched to coope- rate with the armies of the English parliament, it was obvious that this would greatly contribute to chano;e the face of the war. The idea of such an embassy was brouoht for- ward in the life-time of Hampden'^; and on the twentieth of July the commissioners set out from London ^. They were four ; and the man princi- pally confided in among them was Vane. He in- vanc. deed was the individual best qualified to succeed Hampden as a counsellor, in the arduous struggle in which the nation was at this time engaged. In subtlety of intellect, and dexterity of negocia- tion he was inferior to none, and the known dis- interestedness of his character, and his superiority to the vulgar temptations of gain, gave him the greatest authority. When he obtained under the new government the appointment of treasurer of the navy, he found that the fees of his office amount- ed to little less than thirty thousand pounds per arimnn ; but he liberally surrendered his patent, which he had for life from Charles the First, to * Journals of Commons, May 1, 30, June 17. Hampden is stated to have been originally one of the commissioners, Journals, July 17. This however seems to be in contradiction witii Journals, June 17. '' Journals, .luly \9. 122 HISTORY OF THE COMlMOxWVKALTII. the parliament, stipulating only for a salary oi two thousand pounds to the deputy who executed 1643. the ordinary routine of the business *". He was no less superior to the allurements of ambition ; and it may perhaps be ascribed to the entire absence of such views, that another person ^ in the sequel, fitted better for the rude intercourse, and the sordid dispositions of the mass of mankind, got the start of him in the political race. St. John. On the same day on which Vane set out for Scotland, St. John was named to be added as a member to the committee of government, com- monly called the committee for the safety of the kingdom *". This body had at first had its num- bers irregularly increased by vote of either house of parliament*^; but, inconveniences having been found to arise from that circumstance^ it was set- tled by agreement of both houses in the begin- ning of the present year, that the connnittee should be again reduced to the precise individuals who were first named upon it s. It is made, somewhat ludicrously, a matter of charge by the king, in his ill-judged proclamation of the twentieth of June, that "resolutions and directions which concerned the property and liberty of the subject, were •^ Collins, Peerage, art. Earl of Darlington. '' Cromwel. * Journals. ' Journals of Commons, July 8, 16, 19, Sep. 8, 12, 13. Lords, Sep. 8, Oct. 19. Year 1642. ^ Journals, Feb. 23, 21. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 123 transacted and concluded by a few persons, under chap. the name of a close committee, without reporting ^ ^" the same to, or having them confirmed by, the 1643. two houses'':" in other words, that the parliament had originated a body of men, so qualified and privileged as to be able to discharge the functions of an executive government. The addition of St. John to this committee, on the very day that Vane set out for Scotland, naturally suggests the idea, that he was selected as a person upon whom Vane could peculiarly depend. • Oliver St. John was by no means an inconsi- derable individual among that constellation of ta- lents, which at this time presided over the pro- ceedings of the parliament. He has already. been mentioned as the leading counsel who pleaded the cause of Hampden in the great question of ship-money. At the time when the idea had been entertained of Charles's forming a popular administration in the beginning of the year 1G4], though the design failed, there remained of it the single fragment, that St. John was appointed to the office of solicitor-general. Tht^ appointment of course neither made, nor was intended to make, any alteration in his political conduct. He still went on in concert with Hampden, Pym, and the rest, under whose standard he had marshalled himself from the first. A short time after the pe- Joiiriials ot Loids, .'iinc 26. 224 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. riod at which we are now arrived, the king re- voked the patent of solicitor which had been 1643. granted to St. John, and conferred the office upon sir Thomas Gardiner, formerly recorder of Lon- don, but who was now under a parliamentary im- peachment'. The authenticity of this appoint- ment however was not admitted by the parlia- ment; and St. John continued to bear his former style for several years. This has sometimes been made matter of accusation against him, that he retained his office, while he acted in opposition to the court : but it is difficult to say with what propriety. One of the questions at issue between the king and the parliament was, who should have the nomination to such offices as were ne- cessary to the public service. A bill had early been brought into parliament, to prevent peers hereafter to be made from sitting in the house of lords ^ ; and the power of the king to displace public officers, and appoint others in their room, was resisted by his opponents. It would there- fore have been a useless sacrifice to personal de- licacy in St. John, to have set himself against the sense of the party with whom he acted, and to have relinquished his office. ' Glyn, one of the original members of the committee of safety, was chosen recorder of London in the room of sir Thomas Gardiner in the present year. '' Journals of Commons, May 14, 1642. The bill was sent down from the lords. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. |2o Tlie steps which were taking to call in the c n a p. Scots, by no means relaxed the attention of the ^^ ^ committee of parliament that had the direction of lew. affairs, to the measures which were necessary for pre^piitions the defence of the seat of government, and for f *^'-' p**"- maintaining: a firm resistance aoainst the victo- rious enemy. On the twenty-second of July, the earls of Pembroke and Bolingbroke, the earl of Manchester, late lord Kimbolton, but who had succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father, and lord Howard of Escricke, were ap- pointed to command the recruits of horse that should be raised, each in four counties respec- tively '. It was also resolved to replace Essex s army in the most vigorous condition. Another measure which was adopted at this Waiier ap. time, forcibly reminds us of the annals of ancient conduct the Rome. The defeat of sir William Waller near tfndon.''' Devizes had been the immediate occasion of the awful situation in which the parliament stood ; and that oreneral on his return to London was met by a procession of the train-bands and militia, and received, as Clarendon says, " as if he had brought the king prisoner with him'"." On the ' Journals. The last of these was the man who hy liis evidence in 1083 took away the lives of lord Russcl and Algernon Sidney. Hereafter I shall call him lord Howard simjjly. ■" Vol. II, p. 32'2. It was thus the Roman senate thanked the general who lost the battle of Canna*, that he '* had not despaired of the commonwealth." 126 HISTORY OF THE COMMON VVEALTIf. CHAP, twenty-seventh of July, he was introduced into V ' , tlie house of commons, and the speaker by order 1643. of the house returned him thanks for his " great and good services, and his continually approving his good afli'ections to religion and the common- wealth "." It was at the same time voted, that he should be recommended to the lord general, as a fit person to command in chief the forces which were immediately to be raised for the defence of the capital. This was certainly a choice not in the highest degree eligible. But it is the misfortune of those who are concerned in conducting human afl'airs, that, however pure and capacious their own con- ceptions may be, they must accommodate them- selves to the circumstances with which they are environed, and use the instruments that are within their reach. " I have not given the best laws to my countrymen," said Solon to one who question- ed him, '' but the best the Athenians were able to bear." When the constancy of both houses of parliament was so fearfully shaken, that was not a time for the members of the committee of safety to venture on fearful innovations. They were reduced to draw the utmost profit they M^ere able from the infidelity of Essex, and the imbecility of sir William Waller. "London," says May in his History of the Par- ° Journals. IITSTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 127 liament", " was at this time unfortified ; nor could she, if the enemy, then master of the field, had come upon her, have opposed any walls, but such igas. as those old Sparta used, the hearts of her cou- tionsofthe rageous citizens. But now was begun the large "'^'™p** '** intrenchment, which encompassed not only the city, but the suburbs on every side, containing about twelve miles in circuit. That great work was by many hands completed in a short time; it being then the practice for thousands to go out every day to dig, all professions, trades, and occupations taking their turns ; not the inferior tradesmen only, but gentlemen of the best qua- lity, knights, and ladies, for the encouragement of others, resorted to the works daily, not as spectators, but assisters, carrying themselves spades, mattocks, and other suitable implements: so that it became a pleasant spectacle at London, to see them froinc" out in such order and numbers, with drums beating before them ; which put life into the drooping people, being taken for a happy omen, that in so low a condition they yet seemed not to despair." There is a very extraordinary letter of the earl Utter of of Essex inserted in the Journals of the House of home of Lords, of the date of the ninth of July v, in which he says that his "army being neither recruited with horses, nor saddles, nor arms, he could not move " Book HI, i>. f>l. •' JouriKils, July 11. lord ]2y HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, but with his whole force, which must be by slow ,^^ ' ^ marches, and with infinite injury to the peaceable 1643. inhabitants." He therefore desires that, " if it were thought fit, tliey would send to his majesty to have peace, with the settling- of religion, the laws, and the liberties of the subject, and bring- ing to just trial those chief delinquents who have caused all this mischief to the kingdom ; and that, if this do not produce a treaty, his majesty may be desired to absent himself from the scene of contention, and both armies may be drawn up near the one to the other, that, if peace be not concluded, it might be ended by the sword." The same day that this letter was received, it was resolved in the house of lords, " after a seri- ous debate, that the parliament shall not offer to the king propositions or a petition, till he shall have recalled the proclamation wherein he de- clares this parliament to be no free parliament^." A few days previous to that proclamation the house of lords had actually voted, " that some- thing be considered of, to be sent to the lord general, and by him presented to the king, for effecting a happy peace and reconcilement between the king and the parliament •" ;" whicli vote the appearance of this proclamation necessa- rily rendered abortive. '' Ibid. ^ Journals ot" Lords, Juno \7 . HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 129 Events however in rapid succession were daily increasing the party in the house of lords that was favourable to such overtures as Essex recom- ig43. mended. It has been already mentioned that on a petition to the twenty-second of July, four peers were ap- ^"^ '"^* pointed to command the recruits of horse that should be raised, each in four counties respec- tively : but of the peers that were nominated the earl of Manchester only accepted the commis- sion '. And on the second of August the house of lords revived their vote of several weeks be- fore, that " a committee might be appointed to consider of some propositions fit to be presented to the king for settling the present distractions ^'' The committee accordingly prepared a petition to that effect, which on the fifth was sent down to the house of commons for their concurrence. The same evening an uncommonly long and ear- PeUtionde- nest debate took place in the commons on the tommons/ subject ; and, it being put to the vote whether the propositions from the lords should be taken into further consideration, it was carried in the affirmative, 94 to G5. The pacific party even ventured upon a division whether that further consideration should not be pursued without ad- journment or delay, and it was carried against them only by a majority of two ". ' Journals of Lords, same date. ' Journal^.. " Journals of Commons, Avii^. ."). Clarendon, \'ol. U, i>. 31'.). VOL. I. K 130 HISTORY or THK (OIMMONWEALTH. It is impossible to conceive a more aAvful crisis than this, relative to all the points for which the 1643. Long- Parliament had lately, and a majority of Perilous si- , r> t" i i i i /• '• i i i tuationof the people or bngland had tor a considerable cause.' "^ time, been contending. The king would certainly not be induced by a representation under these circumstances, to revoke his proclamation of the twentieth of June. He had shewn himself the most obstinate man alive ; and it is not likely that he would suddenly have become flexible now. Such a petition from the two houses of parliament at the present moment would have been a sional for the last deo:ree of confusion and distraction ; and it would only be necessary on the part of Charles to elude their importunity, to have all opposition prostrate at his feet. King's de- Clareudon boasts of a Declaration published by clarationon . . the surren- the king, the day after he received assurance of toi. the taking of Bristol, which he says, " was read by all men, and was magnified as a most gra- cious and undeniable instance of his clemency and justice, that he was so far from being elated with his good successes, and power almost to have what he would, that he renewed all those pro- mises and protestations for the religion, laws, and liberties of the kingdom, and the privileges of parliament"," that he had issued in the period of his greatest adversity. But it is only neces- " Clarendon, Vol. 11, p. 317, 1G43 lIISruRV Ul' THE COMMONWEALTH. loi sary to read tlie declaration, to perceive the fal- laciousness of this comment. In the course of it he speaks of himself as the most faultless of men, and his cause as the most just of causes, and qualifies his adversaries as " those who have neither reverence to God, nor affection to men ^." He calls upon his good sub- jects to " abhor the men whose malice and sub- tlety have engendered those miserable, bloody distempers, which have disquieted this poor kingdom >." Through the whole paper there is not one word of amnesty or oblivion. He says indeed that " whosoever have been misled by those whose hearts from the beginning have de- signed all this mischief, and shall redeem their past crimes by their present services and loyalty, in the apprehending or opposing such as shall continue to bear arms against us, shall have cause to magnify our mercy, and to repent the tres- passes they have committed against so just and so gracious a sovereign ^." And what tyrant ever failed to say as much ? He renews all his former protestations, tliut he is " far from the least thought of invading the liberty and property of the subject, or violating the just privileges of parliament, which he ac- knowledges to be an essential part of the good Ibiil, \,. 3u;}. ' Il)i(l. p. 302, 303. ' Ibid. p. 30.- K 2 132 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. laws of the realm.*" And what is there in this .'' With the sitting parliament he had re- 1G43. fused all further communication. What he re- quires is unconditional submission, and that the people of England shall yield themselves to his sovereignty. He is contented to co-operate with a parliament: and what a parliament? Yes : when he has driven all the illustrious champions of freedom into exile, or shut them up in duno;-eons, when he has restored all those re- negades, who preferred the smiles of a court, and the cause of him who fifteen years before had laid aside the use of parliaments, he may safely trust himself with such a parliament. He would have used it as an engine to throw down all the defences which had lately been set up for the subject, and to surrender a despotic power into his hands for ever. Such is the sum of this gracious declaration. Methinks I see him in his triumphal entrance into London, surrounded by all his minions and myrmidons : "his horse's hoofs wet with his coun- try's blood.' We may judge from the peaceful entrance of the son, hereafter to be recorded, what would have been the triumphal entrance of the father. Charles the Second entered in the twelfth year (so called) of his reign, and when the wounds of the civil war had lono- been healed * Ibid. p. .303, 304. This Declaration is only to be found in Clarendon. The king's manifestoes arc usually found in the Jour- nals of the Lords. But that house was now in a state of too great agitation, to attend to this punctilio. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 133 and forgotten. He had passed through an ordeal chap. of adversity and privations in a private station, ^ ' y which might well have purged him of the passions 1643. which are almost infallibly generated by the pos- session of power. His resentments were politic resentments merely ; like the wrath of a judge — to prevent the recurrence of similar offences. He had received no personal injury, and was hailed with the applauses and servile adulation of nearly a united people. But Charles the First had felt, and remembered. All was recent ; and he still smarted with his calamities. His followers and himself compared the affronts put upon him, to the insults offered by the Jews to our Saviour ; and he would have been certain not to have left the balance imperfectly settled. Dryden, impelled by the podi-'i qukUibct amlcmVi potestas, says of one of the sons of Charles the First, For sure he comes of a forgiving kind '' : and this very son justified the encomium, by ad- mitting his brother's child, the duke of Mon- mouth, his prisoner, into his presence, and then sending him immediately to tlie scaflbld. I find two passions principally concerned in instigating the conduct of Charles the First : — first, an over-weening egotism and pride ; and secondly, religious bigotry •" : egotism and pride, '' Absalom and Achitophel, vcr. '191. •^ Charles's bigotry, if wo may Judge from his letter to pope Gregory W, ;iud uilici iiulicalions, was more negative than aftir- 134 HISTORY OF TIIK COMMONWEALTH. inspiring a total indifference to the suff"erino;s of others ; and bigotry, too often representing those 1643. sufferings in fascinating colours, as conducive to the glory of God. Add to which, the passion of egotism and pride never fails to engender a deop and bitter spirit of retaliation of those injuries, by which this sentiment is irritated and awakened. The picture here given is correct and just, or it is otherwise. If the former, it could not have been omitted here ; as without it the crisis to which the fortunes of England were now exposed could not be completely understood. Proceed- It was in these circumstances that the vote of don. the lords was brouoht down to the house ot com- mons for their concurrence, for " the appointment of a committee to consider of some propositions fit to be presented to the king for settling the pre- sent distractions." There was even a strong party in the lower house in favour of this measure. It was only decided by a majority of two, that the overture should not be put to the vote without delay ; and it was carried by a majority of twenty- nine, that it should be taken into further conside- Aug. 5. ration. This happened on a Saturday. The intermediate day, on which the parliament did not sit, was improved for the advancement of inativc. lie ajtprovcd of any chiirch-estaMislmient that was fa- vourable to his own inerogative ; Lmt lie haled the puritans. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 135 the public cause. The war was in part a war of chap. relio'ion, the abuses which archbishop Laud had , ' , introduced, and the earnest desire to establish a lois. more simple and operative form of church-govern- ment, having- made a deep impression in the ge- neral mind ; and the clergy in their pulpits thought themselves authorised on this occasion, to set be- fore their hearers the calamity and mischief which were instantly impending*^. Pennington, the lord mayor, also held a court of common council, in which a petition to the house of commons was prepared, deprecating the measure which the other house had espoused. On Monday the petition was brought up by the lord mayor attended by a great concourse of the citizens ; and these, as was but natural on so mo- mentous an occasion, expressed by their voices and gestures how deeply they were interested in the success of their demand *". The lords imme- diately came to a vote, declaring that the coming down of the people in this manner was a breach of the privileges of parliament. They desired a conference with the house of commons, to demand their concurrence in suppressing these tumults, declaring at the same time that they had adjourn- ed their house till the next morning, and that, if the tumults were not at an end by that time. ■> Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 320. ' Ibid. K.ishworth, Vol. V, p. 350. 13G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, they would adjourn to a further period ^. The (^ ' , house of commons made an order, that it be re- 10J3. commended to the lord mayor to take some course to prevent disturbance ; and the lord mayor set forth a proclamation, and took precautions ac- Commons cordiuglyS, But in the mean time it was voted in measures of the commons by a majority, 88 to 81, to reject deience. ^^ motiou for scudiug propositious to the king. To this they added another resolution, that the lords be requested not to desert the defence of the kingdom ''. In unison with these proceedings on the part of those who supported the public cause, and com- mensurate with the urgency of the case, were the preparations made for the protection of the me- tropolis. A commission was voted to sir William Waller to raise ten regiments of horse, and ten of foot, for that purpose ' ; and the earl of Manches- ter, as commander of the six associated counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge, Hunting- don, and Hertford, was authorised to raise in them a body of ten thousand men ^. This nobleman, together with viscount Say, have the honour to be the only members of the house of lords, whose names are specified in the king's proclamation of the twentieth of June, as being among the per- sons who composed the committee of safety. — It f Journals, Aug. 7. ^ Rushvvorth, Vol. V, p. 357. '' Journals, Aug. 7. ' Journals, Aug. 8. ^ Ibid. Aug. 9. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. I37 deserves to be stated, that, two days after the re- jection of the petition for peace, Mr. Hollis ob- tained permission to pass beyond seas, with his 1643. lady, his children, his servants, and his house- hold stuff, though this permission was revoked on the day following ^ Such was the situation of affairs, when the king ^ ,s pro- and his military council entered upon the impor- ^^^^'^ ,^*Jjf* tant deliberation, what was to be their conduct at ^^""''i - . -IT march to this momentous period. It was proposed by some, London. that they should march immediately for London, where every thing was said to be in confusion, where the earl of Essex's army hovered, baffled, weakened and dismayed, and where it was hoped, that, either by an insurrection of the citizens who adhered to the royal party, as such there will al- ways be, in a case of civil dissention, by treaty, or by victory, an immediate end might be put to the contest™. But the admirable conduct of the parliamentary The propo- leaders awed the victorious royalists. Their eyes dvVd."'^*' were every where ; their vigilance equally em- ployed in every direction. Bands and regiments of armed men seemed to spring up, as if out of the earth. The fervour and determination of the adherents of the parliament was so intense, as to assume in a great degree the features of gaiety ' Ibid. Aug. 9, 10. '" Clarcmlon, \ol. H, p.^l-'j. Warwick, p. 261. 138 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. and liilarity. The sentiments of the adverse party, arising from an implicit veneration for mo- 1643. narchical institutions, or bent to take a prey, could not enter into rivalship with the emotions of men, and in some measure of women, engrossed in the cause of their religion, and fighting for every thing that elevates the human heart, and makes life worth the possessing. They shrank abashed from the comparison. Such is the law of our nature ; and it decided upon the proceeding to be adopted. The king marched away, and sat down before the walls of Gloucester". But one of the most masterly strokes which was made at this period, was the soothing the per- turbed spirits and conciliating the good will of the earl of Essex. He had certainly deserved ill of those who had intrusted him with the conduct of their interests. He had himself been neglect- ed in his turn. The consequence of this was, that he began to entertain, what under a regular government would be called, treasonable designs Defection agaiust liis employers. The earl of Northumber- J™?s^from land, the first nobleman in the kingdom, the earl the cause of ^f Bedford, the second officer in the army, being- the parha- ' J ' to ment. general of the horse under the earl of Essex ", with the earls of Holland and Clare, had for some time entered into cabals the most deadly to the party " Ibid. " Clarendon says he had resigned this appointment. V'ol.II, p. 331. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 139 in which they appeared to be engaged ; and Es- sex, commander in cliief for the parliament, serv- ed them admirably as a centre from which their i643. machinations should take a beofinninof, and round which they should move p. Northumberland, Es- sex and Holland were three of the oriofinal mem- bers of the committee of safety. But they were grown weary of the war. They had been, most of them, discountenanced at court, or they had seen no hopes of mounting in that sphere to the scope of their ambition. Their ambition or their vanity had led them therefore to throw them- selves into the opposite party. At length they saw their mistake. They saw things going further than they intended. They saw a spirit rising in the nation, which their habits did not enable them to comprehend, and Avhicli they felt themselves incompetent to control. It became evident that talents and the real worth of a man in such a scene of things would raise him to his due con- sideration and influence, and that high birth and a copious rent-roll would avail but little in the comparison. These prospects it was not agree- able to them to contemplate ; and things having unexpectedly taken a seemingly decisive turn in favour of the king-, they were eager to close with the royalists before it was too late, and while it •^ Clarendon, Vol. U, \>. 373. 140 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. was possible for them to make themselves a merit by actively putting- tlie last hand to the triumph 1643. of Charles. Such were the considerations that produced the vote of Saturday, August the fifth, that proposi- tions should be immediately tendered to the king. They hoped to force the house of commons to agree with them ; and they had almost carried their point, at least as far as an immediate divi- sion of numbers could decide. Cabals of But tlic boldncss of their project exceeded these E^sex.' ^ limits. They knew that it was possible they should miscarry in the first instance. When Pen- nington and the citizens presented their petition on the Monday, the lords immediately voted that the coming down of the people was a breach of the privileges of parliament. Under colour of the tumults, they adjourned their house to the next day, and signified to the commons, that in case tranquillity was not fully restored, they should determine on a further adjournment. " The de- sign was for as many members of both houses as were of one mind to have gone to the earl of Es- sex, and there, under the security of their own army, to have protested against the violence which was offered, and to have declared their want of freedom ; by means of which they made no doubt to have drawn both houses to consent to an agree- ment, or to have entered upon such a treaty them- HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 14] selves with the king- 1," as should have answered chap. their purpose. A plot more decisively striking ^ ' / at the root of all that had hitherto been done, le-is. could not have been devised. Such was the danger for which the politics of rroceed- the parliamentary leaders were called upon to iiousc"of ^ administer a remedy. Clarendon observes, that '^°°""''"*- the first thing now attended to was the formation and equipment of the armies of the earl of Man- chester and sir William Waller, "that Essex might see, they had another earl to trust to, and more generals at their devotion ^" A variety of yotes were then adopted for the purpose of reno- vatinof and recruiting' the forces under the com- mander in chief. They determined, that the most effectual means should be adopted for paying and clothino- these forces, and that a declaration should be forthwith prepared, vindicating Essex from all reflections and imputations that might have been cast upon him. They resolved, that " his army should be recruited, in the first place, by all pos- sible means ^ ;" and for this purpose they framed an ordinance directing the proper officers to im- press all soldiers, gunners, and others, as they should think fit *. And finally, on the third of August, they appointed a committee, consisting of St. John, Strode and Crewe, to whom was 1 Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 3^3. ' H'id. p. 3'2'2. " Journals of Commons, July 31, Aug. 1. ' Ibid. July 31, Aur. 1, 4. Commis- sioners sent 142 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. afterwards, upon a division, added Pym, which was directed " to repair without delay to the lord- 1643, general, to acquaint him with the votes of the house upon his propositions, to satisfy him as to Essex!^^ any scruples and doubts he might entertain, and to assure his excellency and his army of all ima- ginable encouragement"." The earl of Essex then lay with his forces at Kingston, ten miles from London, so that the communication was attended with no difficulty ". The commissioners expatiated upon the high re- spect the house of commons had never ceased to entertain for him, and the deep sense they had of his services, as well as of the hazards, danger and losses to which he had been exposed in his present employment y. They warned him how doubtful it was in what manner the king would regard any thing that he could now do in atone- ment for the decisive part he had taken on their side in the commencement of the war ^. Thev ob- served that even in the gracious and benign pro- clamation, such it was called, of the twentieth of June, his name had been particularly inserted, too-ether with those of the earls of Manchester, Warwick and Stamford, the lord Say, and twelve commoners, as persons, " who were the principal authors of the present calamities, who had sacri- " Journals. " Clarendon, \ ol, II, p. 317. " Ibid. p. 3i22. •■ Ibid. p. 323. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 143 ficed the peace and prosperity of tlieir country to tlieir pride, malice and ambition, and against whom the king was determined to proceed as 1643 against persons guilty of high treason." They probably reminded the earl, how ambiguous in all events would be the character of the man who cast off his original engagements, to go over to the adversary, and how glorious it would be to stand or fall with the party, who had so solemnly and repeatedly vowed to live and die with him. Whatever was the cause of the change, certain it is that Essex now became sensibly weaned from his inclination to desert and betray his em- ployers **. This alteration entirely baffled the project which had been formed by the discon- tented members of both houses of parliament of throwing themselves upon the protection of Es- sex's army. They scarcely dared trust their new associate, and were even afraid that he might discover to the stronger party the intrigues which had been carrying on''. The earls of Bedford, Earls of Holland and Clare therefore, a miserable rem- liour.ui' nant of the conspirators, stole oft' unperceived to |'i"!,prVth'o the king's quarters ; and the earl of Northumber- p-'"-ii-'»ment. land retired with leave to his house at Petworth in Sussex, there to remain till he should see whe- " Ibid. Clarendun imputes the change in Essex to "infusions poured into him by lord Say and Mr. Pym." This was one of the last of Pym's piihlic services. ^ ll'id J44 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. tlicr he could make a secure peace with the par- liamentary party, in which if he failed he deter- 1643. mined to follow the others to the general rende- vous at Oxford ^. *= Clarendon, Vol. 11, p. 3'24. Lords' .Tournals, Aug. 1; lie was however present when the propositions of peace were voted on the day following. 14G CHAPTER VI. SIEGE OF GLOUCESTER. RAISED BY ESSEX. BATTLE OF NEWBURY. BATTLE OF HORN- CASTLE. THE ARMIES GO INTO WINTER- QUARTERS. The king's march against Gloucester was the c ii a r. first decisive evidence that was afforded of tlie ^ ' ^ change in public affairs. It may not be unsea- i64:j. sonable to relieve the momentous character of the hes'^cgcd.*^'^ present narrative with Clarendon's account of ^"S"*^ ^°- what passed, as soon as the king had " ranged his whole army on a fair hill, on the tenth of August, in the clear view of the city ^." The king sent in a summons proffering a free pardon without exception, in case of submission, and requiring an answer within two hours. " Within less than the time prescribed, together with the trumpeter returned two citizens from the town, with lean, pale, sharp, and bad visages, indeed so strange and unusual, and in such garb and carriasre, that at once made the most severe countenances merry, and the most chearful hearts ' Clarrndoii, Vol. IT, p. 315. vol.. I. L ]4G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. sad. The men, witlioiit any circumstances of duty or good manners, in a pert, shrill, undis- 1G43. mayed accent, said, they liad brought an answer from the godly city of Gloucester to the king, which was as follows. ' We, the inhabitants, ma- gistrates, officers and soldiers, within this garri- son of Gloucester, do keep this city, according to our oaths and alleiriance, for the use of his ma- jesty and his royal posterity, and do accordingly conceive ourselves wholly bound to obey the com- mands of his majesty signified by both houses of parliament, and are resolved, by God's help, to keep this city accordingly **.' ' The king, we are told, received this answer without any signs of choler or indignation, only wondering at their great confidence, and from what hope of relief it should proceed, and using these words before the messengers, " Waller is extinct ; and Essex cannot come *^." Massey. Glouccstcr was defended by colonel Edward Massey, an officer of distinguished merit, and '' An objection has freq>iently been urged of the base hypocrisy of the parliament in taking up arms in the name of tlie king, to fight against his person. Hut this objection has small foundation. The style of the English govern mer.t (a free government certainly) had for centuries been to transact all business in the name of the king. To have done otherwise upon this occasion, would have been / in a manner equivalent to the declaring themselves a republic. " May, Book HI, p. 9c;. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. ]47 wlio, like Waller, had learned the rudiments of chap. his profession in foreign service. Clarendon tells ^ ' , a strange story of him, that, being sounded by a lou. private friend, a royalist, as to how his inclina- tion stood tow^ards his employers, he returned in writing a severe answer, but accompanied it with a verbal message, importing that, if prince Ru- pert came before the town, he Avould not fail to defend it to the utmost, whereas, if the king came with his army, he would make no resistance •*. None of the actions of colonel Massey partook in tlie least of this wavering and treachery ; and it is probable that, though Clarendon might be- lieve it, the story is not true. If it were, it would imply a consummate hypocrisy in Massey, to draw the king from the capital in so perilous a crisis, and no less folly in Charles and his advi- sers, to be led away by so senseless a tale. The defence of the city was conducted with itsdofence. great courage and resolution ; the governor per- forming all the parts of a vigilant commander ; and the garrison making many sharp and bold sallies with signal eftect. The discipline was ex- cellent ; insomuch that, -after the disastrous sur- render of Bristol, and in the midst of every ima- ginable discouragement, not one oflicer, nor above three common soldiers deserted the town throuo'h the whole duration of the sieq-e*'. Mas- " \(.l. II, I- :;i 1, • !•■ .'til. I. 2 148 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, sey was punctual in his communications to his «,__^^__^ employers, informing them of all the disadvan- 1648. tao-es under which he laboured, and fixing- a period beyond which it would be impossible for him to hold out^. Expulsion An incident, every way worthy of notice, oc- Marten. currcd at this time. Henry Marten, whose father, sir Henry Marten, had been judge of the court of admiralty, was an eminent leader in the parlia- mentary party, and had been one of the original members of the committee of safety. This man was as much distinguished for an active dispo- sition and an undaunted temper, as for his wit and good humour. By these latter qualities he gained him.self friends wherever he appeared, as by the former he seemed to be an important ac- quisition to the party with which he embarked. He was a free liver and a liberal speaker in the midst of these times of solemnity and precision ; and however strict was the restraint put on other men, every thing appeared to be forgiven to Henry Marten. But the period of which we are now treating was more than usually perilous ; and Marten, who did not always accommodate himself to times and places, ventured in this .instance too far. A debate now occurred respecting an allesfcd libel. Marten defended the writer, and in the course of his speech said, that it was cer- f Ibid. p. 343, HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. J 49 tainly better, in the case of a nation and its p-o- chap. vernment, that one family sliould be destroyed v ^'^j than many. A member of the house interrupted 1643. him, and insisted that he should explain what fa- mily he meant: to which Marten bluntly rejoined. The king- and his children. For these words he was expelled the house and sent to the Tower ; and, thougli he was soon relieved from confine- ment s, he was not restored to his seat till after an interval of two years and four months. His ex- pulsion took place on the sixteenth of August, It is proper in this place to give his character as drawn by Aubrey. " He was a great and faithful lover of his country, and never got a farthing by the parliament. His speeches in the house were not long, but wondrous poignant, pertinent and witty. He was of an incomparable wit for repartees ; not at all covetous; humble, not at all arrogant, as most of them were ; a great observer of justice, and did always in the house take the part of the op- pressed''." Parliament was at this time indefatio-able in Manii of the business of recruiting and revivifying the ar- my of Essex. The commander and the leading statesmen were upon terms of the utmost harmony and confidence; and he had only to signify what he desired to be sure of promptly obtaining it. Three times in the beginning of August was a ^ Joumals of Commons, Sep. "2 '■ Aubnv, Letters and Livc<, \'ol. H, [>. l.i.i, i.)n. Essex. 150 HISTORY OF T[IK COMMONWEALTH. committee of the house of commons sent to his army, that tlicy might observe upon actual inspec- 164J. tion what was wanted, and the operation and ef- fect of the orders that liad been given '. Essex himself was repeatedly in London, that he might solicit with all the necessary parties the interests of his army ''. The consequence was fully an- swerable to the diligence that was employed. The troops which on the thirty-first of July Essex would not endure to have called an army ', were filled up : the soldiers were paid, and clothed, and full of spirits and courage. On the twenty- second of August a general rendevous was aj)- pointed on Hounslow Heath'", from whence they removed to Colnebrooke ". Essex's first march was to Aylesbury ". The royalists would not be- lieve that he was coming. They laid their ac- count in a champaign country of near thirty miles in length that he would have to traverse, which the king's troops had eaten bare, and where, il he attempted the expedition, the royal horse would perpetually infest his march, and finally destroy his army **. Lord Wilmot was posted at Banbury with a considerable body of cavalry, to retire before Essex, if he advanced, and to throw ' Journals of Coninioiis, Aug. 3, 15, 16. " Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 291. ' Clarendon, Vol. II, \<. 317. '" Journals of Commons, Aug. 19. " May, Book III, ji. 102. ° Clarcnflon, Vol. II, p. 313, HISTORY OF THE COMMOXWKAI.TIl. I5I every impediment in his wayi*. Prince Rupert chap. hovered on the hills near Gloucester with the rest v_^^] ; of the horse, to complete whatever Wilmot mi^ht i^^^s. have left unfinished p. The parliamentary gene- u^raS* ral however, with a force of eight thousand foot, and four thousand horse, steadily pursued his march; he did not suffer himself to be interrupted by the slight skirmishes which were incessantly attempted : the discipline and steadiness of his army was an unfailing resource to him : he reached Gloucester: the royalists raised the siege in confusion on the third of September "i : and the cause was saved. Still his business was but half accomplished, e Having relieved and supplied the garrison of Gloucester, he had to make his way back to the metropolis, in the face of the superior cavalry of the king's army. He was desirous of avoiding a battle. He first marched to Tewkesbury, where he lay five days, and made demonstrations as if he liad intended to proceed northward to Wor- cester ^ But, by a forced march during the night, he reached Cirencester, obtaining the double advantage of passing unmolested through an open country, and of surprising a convoy of provisions wdiich lay in that town^. From Circn- P Ibid. p. 311. ■i Ibid. Whillockc, p. 72. Ru^lnvorth, \'ol. V, p. ','P'J. ' Ibid. Miy, Book IH. i< 1<"'. ■isex s re- ' treat. 152 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP. VI. 1G43. Battle of Newbury, September 20. cester he proposed proceeding by easy stages tliroiigli an inclosed country to Newbury ; but prince Rupert found means to molest him in the passage ; and, when he reached Newbury, he discovered to his great surprise that the king with his army had been there two hours before him ^ An action was now unavoidable, and Essex prepared for it in a soldier-like manner. His horse was several times broken by the king's ; but his infantry maintained themselves in firm array. They presented an invincible rampart of pikes against the furious shock of prince Rupert and his followers. The militia of London parti- cularly, though drawn but a few days before from their ordinary occupations, being animated with an unconquerable zeal for the cause in which they were engaged, displayed a firmness which w^ould have done honour to the most hardy vete- rans. Night parted the combatants ; but the ad- vantage was on the whole with the army of the parliament, who gained possession of the town of Newbury, and, the enemy not coming to battle again the next morning, continued their march towards London". At Reading, St. John, with one other com- moner, and one member of the house of lords, ' Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 310. " Ibid. p. 347. May, Book III, p. 108, vt bcqq. Whitlocke, p. 73. In this battle lord Falkland was killed. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 153 were appointed to meet the lord-general, to con- gratulate him on his success, to acquaint him with the high sense both houses of parliament i643- entertained of his services, to see the state of the army, and to consider what further might be done to improve this opportunity for the advan- tage of the commonwealth^*'. And on the third day following, Essex having arrived in London, both Essex's re- houses of parliament in a body, with their respec- London." live speakers at their head, repaired to him at Essex House, the more emphatically to express their approbation and acknowledgments'^. The history of the campaign in the north was Transac- very similar to this. Lord Fairfax, and sir Thomas „ortj,. Fairfax his son, as we have seen, were defeated by Newcastle at Atherton Moor ; and the conse- quence was an almost total dispersion of their ar- my. As many as kept together, were too happy in finding the gates of Hull open to receive them. Newcastle in the mean time, despising this wreck of an enemy, pushed on to the soutli, and pre- sently captured Gainsborough and Lincoln. His orders were, to make his way with all practicable speed into Essex, and to block up London on that side y. If he had done so, and the king had at the same time advanced on the south and west of the metropolis, there seemed to be an end " Juurnals, Sep. 23. " Ibid. Scj.. 26. * Fairfa.x's Memorials, p. "'0. Clarendon, \'(il. U, y. .''OO, 154 IlISIORY OF THE COINIMONWEALTII. \r,l:i. Retreat ol' Kcwcastlc. Siege of Hull. March of the eai 1 of IMaiichcb- ter. of the war. But the king-, as we have seen, marched oft", and sat down before Gloucester. The earl of Newcastle, equally witli the army in which the king commanded in person, was led away by other considerations than those of a zeal for the success of the party in which he was en- gaged. This nobleman was all his life a lover of his pomp and his ease ; he was personally brave ; but he abhorred the fatigues of a warlike occu- pation, and could not endure to be second to, or to be liable to be controled by the superior au- thority of, another. Above all, he had contracted a jealousy of prince Rupert, the king's nephew. He believed that, if he once came within the vor- tex of the principal army, his glories would be eclipsed, and his authority decline into nothing. Influenced by these views, he listened with pleasure to a message from the gentlemen of Yorkshire adhering to the royal party, who in- treated him not to desert that part of tlic kingdom, and earnestly recommended to him, that he should come without delay, and enter upon the siege of Hull. He accordingly commenced the siege on the second of September. The earl of Manchester, as commander in chief of the forces of the six associated counties, set out for the relief of the north, nearly at the same time that the earl of Essex marched to raise the siege of Gloucester. His first exploit was the HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 155 taking of Lynn on the sixteenth of September '-. He next bent his course for LincohLshire, which had lately been the scene of Newcastle's successes. I643. Here he expected to be joined by Willoughby and Cromwel, who had gained considerable repu- tation in that quarter, previously to the inroad of the forces of Newcastle. At this juncture, and while Manchester was yet expected, the two par- liamentary officers last mentioned, passed over the Humber, to concert with lord Fairfax the best mea- sures that could be adopted for the common cause*: and the horse commanded by sir Thomas Fairfax, being judged to be of no use in Hull while the siege continued, was ordered by the governor across the river the same day, in company with his illustrious visitors on their return. The earl of Manchester from London, and these Uattic of officers with their troops, speedily formed a junc- tion in the heart of Lincolnshire, and the very next day, October the eleventh, a battle was fought at Horncastle or Bolingbroke, the advantage in which was decidedly with the parliamentarians. The commanders whom Newcastle had left with part of his army for the protection of Lincoln and his other conquests on that side, eager to acquire for themselves military renown, entered nishly into a combat, the event of which disappointed ' Ru&liworth, \ol. \', p. 283. ' Ibid. \>. 280. 15G \64C Resent- ments of £ssex. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. their expectations. Cromwel in particular dis- played great courage on this occasion, had his horse killed under him, and was otherwise in much danger ^. The very same day lord Fairfax conducted a sally from the town of Hull with so much success, that Newcastle found it expedient immediately to raise the siege, and dispose his forces into winter-quarters ^. Notwithstanding these successes however, there were not wanting sparks of discontent, which it required all the vigilance of the parliamentary statesmen to extinguish. Essex, as we have seen, in the beginning of August had shewn no un- equivocal symptoms of an inclination to betray the service in which he was engaged, and to force the leaders in the cause of liberty to conclude a ruinous peace. > These leaders had found it neces- sary to soothe his discontents, to flatter his self- importance, and to fit him out effectually to en- counter the enemy. At the same time they pur- posed to shew him that their whole dependence was not upon the commander-in-chief; and with this view they organised two armies under Man- chester and Waller, to act against the enemy in other directions. Essex had submitted to some limitations upon his authority in silence ; but, to shew his sense of the proceeding, he had sent up '" llushworth, Vol. V, p. 282. '"Ibid. p. 281. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 157 the commission for Waller with a blank tor the name, desiring the two houses to complete it at their discretion '^ i(i43. Being- now returned however from his expedi- tion in triumph, having raised the siege of Glou- cester, and given a check to the enemy's forces at Newbury, and being accordingly received on his arrival with every mark of distinction the par- liament could bestow, he felt himself as placed on a different footing. On the seventh of Octo- ber ^ he desired leave of the two houses, to " de- liver up his commission, and to go beyond seas, in reo-ard of the commission to sir William Waller, which was inconsistent with his, and of the many discourao-ements he had received in his office of general." In this proceedino- Essex took advantage of his They are masters. They could not with decency, scarcely with safety, dismiss a servant who had recently performed such meritorious services, and whom they had so emphatically complimented at his re- turn. They therefore the same day voted tliat Waller should on all occasions receive his orders through the lord general, and not immediately from the two houses of parliament. Waller, be- ing present in the commons, declared his readi- ness to o-ive up the commission objected to, and place himself under Essex's command : and a •' JoiirnaU of Cmununs Aut;. 'iO. " Journals of Lords. 158 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. committee of botli houses was appointed, to " re- pair to the lord general, and advise with him 1643. what course was fittest to be taken for the settlino- this business in a way which should be most con- ducive to the safety of the kingdom *^." Mcmhcrsof But tliouoh the parliamentary party had risen tlie two • 1 • Ti 1 I J t J houKcs with incredible advantage, and in a short time, duced! '^' from the disastrous condition in which tliey had been placed by the defeat of Waller in Wiltshire, and by the surrender of Bristol, it was impossible such a peril should be surmounted without the intervention of grievous circumstances, calculated to remind the persons interested how near they had stood to utter destruction. Each house of par- liament was at this time memorably thinned of its numbers. Thirty-five peers had signed a declara- tion in favour of the kings party, at York, in June 1G42, previously to the commencement of hostilitiess . Some of these afterwards returned to the standard of the parliament : but it could not be but that, in the prolongation of the war, and the vicissitudes of fortune, many members of both houses should fall otf from the cause of li- berty, some with a vain hope of sheltering their private interests under a form of neutrality, and others, deficient in the vigour of a steady oppo- sition, being influenced by the wish of placino- themselves under the known and long; established Joiirnalv f Clarendon, W.l. 1. p. CJi>, tJJO. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 159 protection of the name of the king. The disasters of the present July furnished the signal for a still more extensive desertion. On the twenty-second io4f. of September, the house of lords, with an appear- ance of magnanimity, finding their numbers tliin, commenced tlie practice of putting down, at the head of each day's journal, the names of the peers present. On that day the numbers amounted to ten; the earls of Bolingbroke, Lincoln, Stam- ford and Denbigh, viscount Say, and barons Grey, Wharton, Howard, Hunsden and Dacre. On subsequent days they fluctuated : on the filth of October reaching to five only : from which time the amount went on, gradually indeed, but slowly increasing. On the same twenty-second of Sep- tember, the earls of Stamford and Lincoln were added to the committee of safety, to fill the place of those eminent members of that body who had deserted ''. '' Juurnuls. 1(J(1 CHAPTER VII. STATE OF SCOTLAXD. NEGOCIATIONS WITH THE ENGLISH MALCONTENTS AND THE PARLIA- MENT. MOTIVES OF THE KING's JOURNEV THITHER. HAMPDEN AND FIENNES SENT TO EDINBURGH. THE INCIDENT. EMBASSY OF VANE TO THE PARLIAMENT OF SCOTLAND. SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT. ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES. THE COVENANT RATIFIED IN ENGLAND. CHAP. At an early period of that critical season, in V, I which it seemed not improbable that the standard 1643. of liberty would be laid prostrate at the foot of a Embassy of , . p • i i Vane and monarch whose appetite tor prerogative and des- Scodand. potism could never be satisfied, sir Henry Vane, as has been mentioned, with three others, set out as commissioners from the parliament, to secure, if it might be in time, a friendly and effectual aid from the Scottish nation, in the contest which was now raging in the south. Struggles Presbyterianism was at this time the univer- against^" sal rcUgious pcrsuasion of the Scots. Charles the episcopacy. Y\\^\,^ influenced perhaps principally by the idea that episcopacy was more favourable to the pie- HISTORY OF THF C'OMMi )N WRAITH. IGl nary exercise of regal authority, had made two unsuccessful attempts to force that form of church- government, and a liturgy, upon his native king- dom ; and these attempts had only served to con- firm their already powerful aversion to both. Twice the Scots had resisted in arms the medi- i64o. tated incroachmcnts of the sovereign ; and the second time, in 1G40, they had invaded the northern English county of Northumberland, and, nicy get ^ . jiosscssion the kinofs forces having: retreated before them, of Newcas- had taken possession of the strong town of New- castle. It was not credible that the Scottish army had CabaU of advanced thus tar, without having received some andscot- encouraofement from their southern neisfhbours. If the Scots were vehemently inflamed by the disingenuous treatment they had experienced from the king, a spirit of discontent had long spread itself widely among the English. The same despotical humour in the sovereign had excited nearly equal alarm in both nations; and, if the question of episcopacy were the main subject which roused the Scots in arms, a great portion of the English nation were animated with equal dislike to the institution, at least as it then flou- rished among us. No doubt private cabals had been in active operation between the leaders in both nations ; and the rout at Newburn, which August 2r. put the Scots in possession of Newcastle, was ge- nerally believed to be in part tlie oflect of those vol.. [. .M 1G2 iirsroKv oi iiii. commonwealth. CHAP, cabals. But, in adflition to what actually passed V '^_j on the side of the English, lord Saville had forQ-ed iGK). a letter of dansferous import, which he sent into Saville's oil • • forgeiy. bcotlaud ^, annexing to it the pretended signa- tures of the earls of Bedford ^ Essex, and War- wick, tog-ether with those of viscount Say, and the lords Brooke and Kimbolton ; and this letter was supposed to have had a considerable effect in de- terminino- the Scots on the invasion of Enoland. The king's In tlic cvcnt of this expedition Charles saw purposes ,. i/"!- • 1- 111 • 1-1 bafHed. Jiimseli disappointed in all those projects which he had been maturing- for years, and delivered, as one might almost say, bound hand and foot into the hands of an English parliament, which he had always found sufficiently retrograde to his desires. He must have been more or less than man, if these circumstances had not deeply irri- He pur- tated him. It seems to have been one of the peach the scheiiies of liiiiisclf and the earl of Strafford, to leaders' for havc opciicd the Long Parliament with an im- the^cabaiT peaclimeiit against those who had treasonably in- vited the Scots to the invasion of England*^. But, while Charles and his minister were digesting their plans, and arranging their evidence, the parliamentary leaders defeated the whole scheme Nov. II. by impeaching Strafford himself. * Burnet, Own Time, Book I. The letter at length is to be found in Oldmixon. '' This earl of Bedford died, May i), 16-11. •■ Rushworth, Trial of Strafford, p. 1. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 163 A treaty of pacification between the two nations cii \r. . . VII had been begun at Rippon in the county of York ; v j and Charles, who felt himself in the hands of a 16mo. party which he had not previously favoured, ap- Rippon. pointed sixteen popular noblemen, including five out of the six whose names had been used by lord Saviile, to necfociate with eio^ht commissioners on thepart of the invaders'*. The article most imme- diately pressing, was that of the subsistence of the Scottish army, who, as their leaders phrased it, "could notthink, as their affairs stood, of returning home%" and who, being now quartered at large in the countiesof Northumberland and Durham, must either provide for themselves by pillage, or be sup- ported by a fixed allowance from the English. The opposition lords, anticipating the great civil strug- gle- which was likely to commence immediately upon the meeting of their own parliament, were not displeased that the Scottish forces, whom they considered as their allies, should be cantoned in the north of England ; and it was presently stipulated that eight hundred and fitly pounds per dian should be levied for their subsistence upon these counties, as long as the treaty should continued This preliminary adjusted, the farther adjoumca d, rt 1 i T 1 T"! to London. iscussions were transterred to London. 1 he rout at Ncwburn had occurred on the twenty- '' Rush\vorlll,^'ol.^r,l). IW'?. ' Uushworlli,\"ol. I\ , I'. 115. ' Ibid. 11. 47. M -1 164 HISTORY OF nil:: commonweali'ii. GHAP. eiolith of AuiTust ; the conferences at Rippon had V __j not been opened till the first of October S; and 1640. the bepinnino- of November was the time fixed for the meeting' of the English parliament, when the presence of the lords commissioners appointed to conduct the negociation would be necessary in the metropolis. It was no small point gained to the friends of liberty in England, that by this ar- rangement they would have a committee of the Scottish leaders always on the spot, with whom to concert their measures. The principal of these were the earl of Dumferline and lord Loudon''. e Rushworth, Vol. HI, p. 1286. Guthry, Memoirs, p. 87. '' It is proper in this place to take notice of a circumstance which had occurred early in the present year (1(340), as it places in a strong light the arbitrary character and policy of Charles. Loudon, who was at this time in London, being sent up as a commissioner from the covenanters to negociate with the sovereign, was by the king's au- thority committed to the Tower, on the allegation of a treasonable letter to the French king, which he, in common with other cove- nanters, had subscribed, but not sent. While he was in confine- ment, a warrant was directed under the king's hand to the lieute- nant of the Tower, commanding him to cause his prisoner's head to be struck off the next morning; and it was only by the intrea- ties and remonstrances of the marquis of Hamilton, that Charles was prevailed on to revoke his order. Birch, Enquiry concerning Glamorgan, Appendix. Burnet, in his Memoirs of Hamilton, which passed under the revisal of Charles II, says, p. 161, "There were some ill instruments about the king, who advised him to pro- ceed capitally against Loudon, wAtcA is believed went very fur ; but the marquis opposed this vigorously, assuring the king, that if that were done, Scotland was for ever lost." The inuendo in this pas- sage, is explained by an authentic document in Birch. IIISTOllY OF THE CUMiMONWEALTll. 1(55 The chief articles insisted on by tlie Scottish chap. coniniissioners were, that the acts of their parlia- >^"|; ment of the preceding summer, which had been icio. censured by the king-, should be ratified, that the ti.e'scCts'"*^ national fortresses should be placed in their hands, that a certain uuniber of those by whom their measures had been resisted should be pro- ceeded against as incendiaries, and that the Scot- tish nation should be indemnified for the heavy charges and losses they had sustained by the war". The Encrlish commissioners, who were i64i. desirous by all means to conciliate the good will of the Scots, called on their deputies in an early sitting to state the amount of their losses. The answer returned carried the sum to the extent of five hundred and fourteen thousand pounds ^. The commissioners added however, that the Scots had sustained this mischief in the common cause, and would have cheerfully supported the whole expence, were it not that it greatly exceeded their ability: they therefore expected nothing more than a proportionable compensation for such losses as they were unable to meet of themselves '. Ac- Brotherly cordingly three hundred thousand pounds were vmeTbythe voted by parliament, as a "fit proportion for the p-""''-"^"'^"' friendly assistance afforded, and the losses sus- tained, by our brethren of Scotland '"." ' Riishworth, Vol. IV, p. .^(il, vt sc<(q. "^ Sanderson, p. ;557. ' Iliid. p. 358. "' .lournals oC Commons, Feb. 3. 1G(J IIISTOIIY Ol THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAT. This point bein^^ udjustcd, neither party were 1^ ^ J in a hurry to complete the neg-ociation, since, as 1641. long- as the treat}^ was in discussion, a fair pre- tence was aliordedfor keeping- the Scots' commit- tee in London, and thus for improving- the inter- course of the malcontent parties in cither king- dom. But in June 1G41 the king signified his intention of visiting his northern metropolis ; and Grand in coiisequeiice the treaty was com})leted on the nisiicd. seventh of August ", it being held particularly de- sirable under these circumstances, that both ar- mies should be immediately disbanded. Kingmakcs Thc jouriiey of Charles into Scotland is in re- u)s!odami. Jility to be regarded as the preparation of a civil His mo- war ; as, in case of that event, he conceived it might be of the utmost importance to prevent his havino- to encounter thc malcontents of both na- tions at once. From the first meeting of the Long- Parliament he had contemplated its dispersion, hoping in the mean time to derive from the peremptoriness of its proceedings arguments to persuade the more moderate part of the nation, to acquiesce in the measures of the court, and yield Plot in the the reins into his hands. Early in the year he my. had countersigned, to signify his approbation of it, a petition to be presented by the officers of the English army, condemning the proceedings which were taking place in London, and offering- " Uiishwortli, \iA. IV, ]>. 3(52, ot scqq. lu.sKmv OF iiii: common WKAi;iii. j(,7 to "wait upon the king in person 'V for tlie pur- chap. pose of suppressing- these insolencies and tumults. ^^^' This project had proved abortive. It was how- ifj4i. ever sufficiently clear that Charles meditated the dispersion of the parliament by force ; and his proposed journey to Scotland was therefore an object of much jealousy. He had no sooner set liampdon out, than the parliament appointed a committee ncsscn'tto of four persons, with Hampden and Fiennes at ^'-^'"''"'■s'' their head, to proceed to Ediuburoh, there to treat with such commissioners as might be ap- pointed by the Scottish parliament, and to send from time to time information to the parliament in London of their proceedings p. The Scottish legislative assembly met, pursu- Kinj,' a.i- ant to its adjournment, on the fifteenth of July 'i ; Scottish and on the nineteenth of AuQ-ust the kinjr address- ''""^ '»'^^"i- ed them in a speech from the throne ^ His pur- pose was to conciliate. His Scottish subjects had indeed little more to ask. Episcopacy and a liturgy were now out of the question there ; they had carried a law for triennial parliaments ; and in other respects had placed their rights on the clearest footing. North of the Tweed the king had lost all the points that were nearest his heart, and could not hope, at least for the present, " Clarendon, Vol. I, }>. 246, 247. '' .Toiinmls of Commons, Aug. 17. Iliish\vorth,\'ol. I\', p.oT."), 370. 'I Ciiilirv, p. 0.-,, f Ivu^liwortli, \'. l(jy HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. to recover them. His next aim was to play a more prosperous ^ame in the southern part of the is- 1641. hmd ; and he could desire nothing better of the Scots, tlian that they miglit be prevailed with quietly to look on and see a question tried in En- gland, in the issue of which all their recent ac- quisitions would in reality be at stake. It must have been a memorable spectacle to see Charles and those who attended him in his progress openly courting the presbyterians, while Hamp- den and Fiennes, much abler statesmen, proceed- ed without noise and observation, but probably more securely, towards their object. Characters The most Considerable public characters at this ers. time in Scotland were the marquis of Hamilton, and the earls of Aroyle and Montrose. Hamil- ton was a professed courtier, and in peaceable times would have made a brilliant figure in the train of his sovereign. But he was subtle by na- ture, and timid in his disposition. He appears to have been infected with the spirit at that time prevalent in his country, and devoted in his heart to the presbyterian system^: at the same time that he endeavoured to reconcile this predilection with a sincere attachment to the king. This gave to his conduct a fluctuating and enigmatical ap- ' This appears with suflicirnt evidence from Guthry's Memoirs; and it is still more fully proved hy the deep interest taken in his behalf" in BaillieV Letters, yjrtssf/n. HISTORY OF THE COMiMON WEALTH. ] G9 pearance ; and, if his own countrymen under- en at. stood him, the king at least was deceived. Ar- ^ ^, gyle on the other hand was a man of fixed tem- i643. per, and steady to his principles : tlie presbyte- rians relied on him, and placed their hopes to a great degree in his conduct and resolution. Mon- trose had commenced his course in the same ca- reer as Argyle ; but he was of a turbulent temper and unbounded ambition. He saw that, in the party in which he had first engaged, he had no chance of outstripping his rival ; and therefore, about two years before the period we are treating, made clandestine overtures to the court, which were accepted. His secret correspondences and intrigues were however detected ; and, when Charles arrived in Scotland, he had already been thrown into prison by the prevailing party *. All these circumstances were productive of a ch.-irk ics sinoular train of events. Charles directed his at- I'^y^ '^o"" ~ to tnc prci- tentions to the ostensible leaders, and was desirous byi<-rians. to secure to himself their good will and support. They were authorised, according to tlielate regula- tions of the Scottish parliament, to dispose among themselves, to a great degree, of the chief oflBces of state ". Montrose, as is so often the fortune of a Montrose court, being unseen, was forgotten. But he re- uickTng! ' Wishart, Chapter I. Rushworth, Vol \',f». 92G. Outhry, p. 94. " Burnet, Mmioirs of I!;iiniltoii, p. l>n, uvj. R\ishwi..rth, \'ol. I\', p. ■Mi). 170 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, solved not to be forgotten. He made some com- V _^ munications to Charles, which appear greatly to Jtiii. have roused the attention of the monarch. We are even told that a secret interview was effected^. Montrose, so lately a leader among the presbyte- rians, was in possession of many of their designs. He convinced the king, that Hamilton, his seem- ing friend, was no less dangerous to him, than Argyle, his avowed adversary. It is said that Montrose, with a ferocity characteristic of the times, offered Charles to have them both assassi- nated^. But the king seems to have thought this too dangerous a course, and chose, as the milder alternative, to have them arrested, and proceeded against for treasonable correspondence The inci- ^^'^^ tlic leaders of the English army. Be this 'Jf"^- as it will, the two noblemen p'ot intimation in Oct. li'. . ' . " . time of the cabal that was going on against them, and withdrew themselves suddenly to a seat of Hamilton's, twelve miles from Edinburgh ^. The king, irritated with their retreat, demanded that they should be sequestered from their seats in parliament ; but his influence was too little, to enable him to carry such a measure ; and after an interval of two or tliree weeks it was voted that they should be recalled to their legislative duties >. It was just at this time that the Popish " Clarendon, Vol. \, y. 2TO. "" Guthry, p. 100. Baillic, Letters, Vol. T, i>. 331. " liu^hworth, \u\. H', p. 381. Oit. 28. lilSTORV OF THE COMMON WEAU 11. 171 rebellion broke out in Ireland, of which we shall hereafter have occasion to speak. The transac- tion respecting Hamilton and Argyle received ig4i. from the Scottish politicians the enigmatical name of the Incident. Meanwhile the king was at once awed by the ci.arics bc- firmness he found in the Scottish parliament, and condied to terrified by the overwhelming intelligence which leriariead- reached him from Ireland. Whatever secret in- ^"• trigues he was carrying on in that country, the events announced were far from being such as he wished them to prove. Thus circumstanced, he recollected the original purpose of his journey to Edinburgh, and retraced his steps. He had been hitherto not unaccustomed to be inconsiderate and therefore mutable in his measures ; and he afforded a remarkable example of it in the pre- sent instance. He bestowed on Loudon the title of earl, who was appointed to the office of chan- cellor, and conferred on Argyle that of marquis, Nov. 15. and on Alexander Leslie, who had commanded the Scottish armies against him, the title of earl of Le- ven. Montrose was at the same time set at liberty, and a reconciliation of all parties seemingly eject- ed ^. The purpose of Charles was to leave his northern kingdom in the most friendly disposition towards him, that his utmost forbearance and con- descension should be able to accomplish. The suc- ' (iuilij-y, I'. 10:). 172 HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEALTH. CHAP, cess of his exertions for that purpose was however VII y^ '_^j inconsiderable. The Scottish nation saw too well 1C41. how deeply their cause was involved with that of the parliament of England, to be drawn aside from the line of a just policy by the smiles and fair words of the king. But, though Charles resolved to carry himself Nov. 25. smoothly towards his Scottish subjects, he return- ed to London in a very different temper towards the party who sought to control his career in the Returns to south. He canic home full of the discoveries he .id"l?ro- l^^d made of the measures which had been adopt- '^^^^^ , ed bv the leaders of the parliament here, to ex- against the J ^ ' five mem- cite tlic Scots to tlic iiivasiou of Enirland. What bers. , . . , . those discoveries were, we are not precisely in- formed. They could not relate merely, or chiefly, to the letter lord Saville had forged, and of which the king had at one time nearly gained posses- sion % since that letter had the signature of peers only, and Charles's proceedings on his return were principally directed against members of the house of commons. Be that as it will, we may be sure, that while Charles was busy in Edin- burgh, Hampden and Fiennes were not idle, and that whatever information he received, or projects he meditated, they were prepared to anticipate and defeat them. Accordingly, when the king commenced in so rash and extraordinary a man- * Burnet, Own Time, Book I. HISTORY or THE commonwealth. 173 ner his proceedings against the five members, a chap. principal charge against whom was, " that tliey ^ __^ had traitorously invited and encouraged a foreign i64i. power to invade his majesty's kingdom of En- srland ^," the mischief, wliich he had intended to bring down upon tlieir heads, they contrived to turn all upon his own. The Scottish parliament was dissolved on the committee nineteenth of November; but, before they had J^iJ^i^'p^^ial closed their deliberations, they appointed a com- ^'J|'Jj^" mittee to proceed to London, to complete the ar- ticles of the treaty between the two countries, and to concert such measures as might be necessary for the relief of the Protestant interest in Ireland *". These commissioners no sooner saw the extremi- j^^^ ties wliich were rapidly hastening on, the de- Jf"- '•^- . i- '' . Offer their mand of the five members, and the king's retreat mediation. from the metropolis, than they hastened to ofter tlieir mediation to both parties, to compose the dirterences which unhappily threatened daily to become wider **. This overture was by the king it is .lecUn- decisively rejected** ; he saw that the Scots, who p^,^i'J, were presbyterians and patriots, would prove very ill instruments for forwarding his purposes. Nor were the English parliamentary leaders Motive; of seriously disposed to invite their interposition : I„'e„u'r)!''' war was now inevitable ; they well understood i*^*'^'*^""*- ^ Journals of Lords, Jiin. 3, XCA'l. "" Rushworth, A'ol. IV, p. 38.'.. Gutliry, p. 1U7. '^ Riivhwuith, Vol. I\'. p. 4O0. 174 HISTORY OF THE COMMOxN WEALTH. CHAP, the desio-ns of the kins^, and felt how unsafe it VII. ° r . . v_^^,^ was to tamper with their situation. Charles was 1642. in all haste to get the power of the sword into his own hands, and had at this very crisis attempted by an enterprising stroke to seize the persons of the leaders of the party that opposed him. This was no time for mediation ; all trifling in- volved the danger of giving a fatal advantage to the royalists. The English patriots had prepared themselves for the conjuncture, and were resolved at least to encounter with a manful spirit the perils that awaited them. The Scots did not view the situation with equal apprehension and seriousness ; and their interference, with the vain hope of con- ciliation, could only embroil matters, and increase the advantage of him whose fixed determination was to disperse the parliament. Add to which, the parliamentary leaders were inclined, with a commendable independence of spirit, as far as might be, to put down their ad- versaries by their own proper exertions. They reserved the Scots, as a party whose good will they were desirous to cultivate, but whose actual interposition was to be demanded only in case of the utmost necessity. A farther reason for this line of policy, was that the Scots had views of their own. which were not exactly consonant to those of many of the English Religious leaders. The Scots were rigid presbyterians ; system of i l l . i n n ^ \ the Scots, they had set up that torm of church-government HISTORY 01' TllK COMMONWEAL! 11. I75 in its amplest mode in their own country ; and the object now that they held nearest to their hearts, was to see its model in undiminished ex- 1642. cellence imparted to the neiohbour kinrrdom. But the most enlightened of the parliamentary statesmen were by no means partial to this narrow and exclusive system of religion. They were not averse to a mitigated presbyterianism under the name of a national church ; but they were devoted to the principle of intellectual freedom. The Scots demanded a rigorous suppression of sects and schisms ; they avowedly maintained presby- terianism to be of divine institution, and reo-ard- ed toleration with the utmost horror, as the di- rect parent of every kind of blasphemy and li- centiousness. On the other hand the EnMisli leaders we speak of held it for a sacred maxim, that every man was to be protected in worship- ping God according to the dictates of his con- science. An additional circumstance which rendered the Prcshytc- alliance of the Scots a matter of peculiar delicacy hr,hri2- and deliberation, was the actual state of parties in the English parliament. The most consum- mate statesmen were found amonn^ those who were devoted to the cause of religious liberty : but there was a party in the two houses, which had hitherto shewn itself superior in numbers to that of these statesmen, that was as bigoted to the strictest principles of presbyterianism as tlie Scots par- liament. 17G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, themselves. Hollis was to be recrarded as the VII <. '_, licad of this party. Glyn, the recorder of London, 1612. and Maynard were among^ its ablest supporters. Waller and Massey in the army, sir Philip Stapleton and sir John Clotworthj^ ranged them- selves under the same banners. The celebrated l^rynne, and Clement Walker, his inseparable brother *^, were flaming presbyterians. The most eminent of the parliamentary nobility, particu- larly Northumberland, Essex and Manchester, belonged to this body. The London clergy, and the metropolis itself, were almost entirely pres- byterian. Upon the whole there was great rea- son to apprehend that this party, backed by the Scots, and supported with a Scottish army, would be strong enough to overpower the advocates of free conscience, and set up a tyranny, not less to be deplored than that of Laud and his hierarchy which had proved one of the main occasions of bringing on the war. It is a striking evidence of the ability and energy of the statesmen we are speaking of, that they succeeded in foiling so powerful an alliance as was here marshalled against them. 1643. But, whatever danger and delicacy attended VancTnd" ^^^ calUug iu of tlic Scots as brothers of the war, SlelJiarik- ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ scvcrc ncccssity which rendered this mcnt of measure unavoidable, t)ccurred in the summer of Scotland. ' Wood, Atlienae Oxonienscs, art. Clement Walker. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 177 1643. The defeat of Waller, the surrender of chap. Bristol, the irresolute and fluctuating mind of ^ y Essex, and the plain indications of apostacy which ig4;5. discovered themselves in various quarters, all to- gether, produced a situation that was not to be trifled with. The English, who had lately been coy and reserved in their overtures to their neigh- bours in the north, found it requisite to change their system of policy. The Scots on the other hand had looked forward to the period of such an application, and were thoroughly disposed to re- gard it with an eye of favour. It is a striking circumstance in this transaction, Are t^vcnty that Vane, who seems to have been considered at n,''aki,',g ti.e this time as the main and most active leader in ^o-v^^s*^- the affairs of the parliament, was obliged, together with the other commissioners, to proceed for Scotland by sea, probably in consequence of the defeat of lord Fairfax, and the temporary ascen- dancy of the earl of Newcastle in the north of Enoland. He was dismissed in London on the twentieth of July, and did not reach Edinburgh before the ninth of August following ^ Tims for twenty days he was perhaps out of the reach of any intelligence respecting the affairs of the com- monwealth. This was the most critical period in the whole history of the war, the period in which there was for tlie moment the greatest appearance f Journals, July 1.1. Uiishwoitli, Vol. V, y. \00 VOL. I. N J78 uisroKY or iiir. coMMoNWEM/ni. CHAP, that Charles would oain decisively the advantage ^'"' , over the parliament, and be able ert'ectually to ex- 164:5. tinguish the cause of liberty in this country. Vane sailed to negociate an aid tor the English leo-islature enoao-ed in hostilities ao;ainst their prince; and it was not certain, that the first news that would reach him when he entered the har- bour of Leith, might not be that he had no con- stituents to represent. During this suspense he seems to have preserved all his serenity. He did not believe that, judged as the cause of Charles had been, and condemned, by the most sober and enlightened portion of the people of Eng- land, it would be possible to put down the spirit of liberty. He persuaded himself that, even if the cavaliers gained possession of the metropolis, and dispersed the parliament, their triumph would be short. And we may be very sure that he was sustained through all by the verdict of his con- science, and the holy zeal he entertained for a cause, which, as he believed, comprised in it every thing that was valuable to the existence of man. Solemn '^'^^ ncgociatiou was not attended with much league and difficulty. With a commcndablc firmness and zeal covenant. •' the Scots determined to support the English par- liament, and to maintain the common cause by force of arms, undismayed by the perilous situ- ation in which affairs in England then stood. There were difficulties which opposed themselves HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 179 in the way of this conclusion : but the character chap. of Vane, and the high respect which attended , ^_^ him, did mucli for the removal of these difficul- 1643. ties. The spirit of presbyterianism in church- government had long- constituted the main obstacle to a more close union of counsels between the two nations. Under the auspices of Vane a middle way was found out and pursued in tliis matter ; and the fruit of the compromise now entered into was the Solemn League and Covenant. By this instrument it was stipulated that "the Protestant relioion should be sustained in Scotland accord inof- to the forms already established," while '' the re- formation in Enoland should be effected aoreeably to the word of God, and the example of the best reformed churches s." The Scottish negociators did not doubt that their church entirely answered this description ; while the English were satisfied that they were not bound by this agreement to any thing that was not in consent with the dictates of their own consciences. Both parties were con- tented to gain for themselves at present the best terms that they could, and trusted to the course of events to clear up to their satisfaction what was now left equivocal. The Solemn League and Covenant was voted Aug. 17. on the same day by the legislature, and the as- sembly of the church, at Edinburgh ''. The Scot- ^ Journals of Lords, Sep. 18. '■ Burnet, Memoirs of Hamilton, p. '239. X 2 180 CHAP. VII. if;i:5. Convention of estates in Scotland. Covenant adopted and sub- scribed ill London. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEAl/m. tisli parliament luul sat in 1G41, and by the tri- ennial act they would meet again in the third year, whether they were formally summoned by the king to do so, or not. But the prevailing- party in Scotland were desirous that a meeting of the legislature should be held in the present year. They accordingly applied to Charles to grant their desires, but he refused. They then had recourse to an ancient provision, by which it had not been unusual, in case of the king's being a minor, to call together that body, w^ithout the interyention of the royal authority, the meeting in that case being called, not a parliament, but a convention '. Charles was at length obliged to give an imper- fect sanction to this measure '^. He had offered various bribes, one of them that every third office of state through the island should be filled by a Scotsman, to the party in power, to prevail on them to espouse his cause, or at least to engage that they would observe a strict neutrality '. But in vain : the general sense and feeling of the na- tion led to the adoption of measures the most ad- verse to the wishes of the king. Few difficulties attended the adoption of that enofao'ement in EnMand, which Vane had con- ducted through the necessary authorities in the northern kingdom. That the proceedings might be conducted with all practicable similarity, this Burnet, p. '2U}. Outhry, p. 130. '' Burnet, p. '231. ' IMd. p 23G. nisTOHV or thf, (ommonweai/ih. Igl iiistniinent was referred by the two houses of par- liament to an assembly of divines, which had com- menced its sittings on the first of the precedino- ~imZ July'", being called together by an act of the legi^- otcUvS lature, to be consulted with by the parliament for "'.^^''^''t- the purpose of settling the government and form of worship of the church of England. The assembly consisted of one hundred and twenty-one indivi- duals of the clergy ; and, as in Scotland, a number of lay-assessors were joined with them, consisting of ten peers, and twenty members of the house of commons. All these persons were named by the ordinance of the two houses of parliament which gave birth to the assembly". The public taking of the covenant by the lords and commons was solemnised on the twenty-fifth of September, each member attesting his adherence to it, first by oath, and then by subscribing his name °. Vane did not himself return to London till the twenty-sixth of October p. The most immediate result of the concert thus Army of entered into between Scotland and England, was f.^^^^^ .,„j the raising and marshalling an army of twenty "y^V"'.'*;'- , thousand men on the part of the former, to co- ofti.epar- • 11^ /> 1 1 • rrft liamcnt. operate with the forces of the parliament. This reinforcement crossed the Tweed on the nine- teenth of Januar}'^ following i. "' Riishworlh, \i.l. V, ]>. 339. "Journals of Lords, June 1,'. ° -Founials of Commons, Sep. QQ. Whillockr, p. 7 I. ■^ JoiirnaN of Commons. "i Riishwutli, \ nl. \', |>. 606. 182 CHAPTER VllI ELEMENTS OF THE KINg's ARMY. CHARACTER OF RUPERT. OF THE MARQUIS OF HERTFORD. DISCOUNTENANCE SHEWN TO THE FUGITIVE LORDS; HOLLAND, BEDFORD AND CLARE, AT OXFORD. CHARACTERS OF THE BROTHER- EARLS, WARWICK AND HOLLAND. THE FUGI- TIVES RETURN AND SUBMIT TO THE PARLIA- MENT. A NEW GREAT-SEAL MADE FOR THE SERVICE OF THE PARLIAMENT. COURTS OF JUSTICE RESTORED. EMBASSY TO HOLLAND. FIENNES CONDEMNED TO DEATH FOR THE SUR- RENDER OF BRISTOL. PARDONED. CHAP. The tide of fortune had set so strongly in favour V ^^^'' , of the kino; immediatelv after the surrender of 1643. Bristol, as would infallibly have reduced hearts ofX'^"'' less devoted, and minds less energetic, than those a!mV ^^ many who guided the resistance against him, to despair. This was however a very short tri- umph to the royalists ; and it soon became visible that they had nothing of a substantial and perma- nent nature to sustain them. Prosperity is a con- dition peculiarly dangerous to those who have no HISTORY OF J'HK co.mmo.\ui:ai;iii. ly3 intrinsic g^rcatness of mind, and no true p;enerosity c u a p. VIII of feeling-. The most eminent persons who com- v ^^^ manded under the standard of Charles, thoui^ht 1643, more of their private gratification, and attended more to the whispers of their ambition, than to the interests of the sovereio:n. One of the most striking difterences between contrasted the character of the royalist and of the common- Tn'm of the wealth s army, lay in this, the great progressive ra'''a'"p"«- improvement which displayed itself in the latter. England had enjoyed a long period of peace ; and, when the civil war broke out, there was not per- haps one man of great military skill to be found in her borders. The soldiery were not less raw than their generals, with this variation, that, as the royalists marched in the name of the king, were led to the field under the first, and many of the most respected, nobility of the land, and had the old institutions of the kingdom in their favour, they at first exhibited a more regular and im- posing appearance ; while the parliamentarians had nothing to bear them out, but a conscientious and deep sense of religion, and the love of liberty and their country. But then the royalists scarcely improved in any thing ; they had for the most part nothing of public spirit; and in point of mo- rality and discipline were continually on the de- cline. The body of the parliamentary armies per- petually advanced in every thing that is of most importance to the character and success of a sol- 184 HISTORY OF riiK ( ommonweaj.tii. ciiy\r. dier; and tlieir smaller exploits were a hot-bed V "^j which ripened minds the most admirably adapted 164a. for command, Fairfax, Cromwel, and many others to wliom our attention will be called in the course of this history. Noble com- Thc Original commanders under Charles were the king. ""^ noblcmen of great weight in tlieir country, and of very honourable and popular qualities. They loved the pomp and station to which they were born ; they were attached to their king : but they had no passion for military renown, and could not endure the privations and perseverance which are requisite to the forming a great warlike leader. Charles seems to have thought, as a remedy for this, of calling over a certain portion of talent from the continent ; but his experiment was not suc- Rnpcrtaiid ccssfid. Hc had two nephews, Rupert and Mau- rice, sons ot his sister the queen oi oonemia, who were anxious to distinguish themselves in his service ; and the former of them especially was not deficient in ability. But they were too young and too presumptuous. Rupert was twenty-three, and Maurice twenty-two years of age, at the l)reaking out of the civil war. They thought contemptuously of the officers of the English army, and particularly of those in highest place. They were much to seek in that knowledge of the world, which is so eminently required in persons who are fo mix wifh otliers, and in those professions and pursuits, where a man can do nothing, unless he HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 185 can carry other men, hand and lieart, alon<^ with chap. • \ 1 1 1 him in the achievements he undertakes. Tliey v __j were also inflated with a sense of their royal birth 1643. and near relationship to the king. Immediately on his arrival Rupert had the appointment con- ferred on him of general of the horse in the royal army ; and unluckily there was a clause in his commission, exempting him from receiving any orders but from Charles himself^. It is surprising in how many ways all this was Eaii of . . . ,1 . 1 • 1 T^ , Newcastle. injurious to the cause m which Kupert was en- gaged. We have seen how the character and manners of this officer operated upon the chival- rous and high-spirited earl of Newcastle, who marched back to the north, when his sovereign re- quired his services in the south, chiefly moved to this by his fear of the mortifications he would ex- perience, if once he came into contact with Ru- pert. But the consequences of the impracticable temper of the prince were still more important in the sequel. The original commander in chief of the royal Marquis of 1 1 (• 1 • 1 I 11 1 • 1 /• Hcilford. army, the earl or Liiulsey, was killed m tlic nrst })attle that had been fought, at Edgchill. After liim, there was no person of more consideration that marched beneath the standard of Charles, than the marquis of Hertford. Tliis nobleman w. This nobleman was therefore ofi'ended, that he was not consulted, nor even so much as named, in the articles of capitulation ^ In another point he determined to be beforehand, and publicly de- ' II.kI. Vol. II. y. C71. '' |>. J>o6. • Jbul. p. 211 . ' Il'i'l. I' •'<"f'. 1S8 HISTOHV OF THE COMMONWEALTH. c II A 1'. claretl that he should bestow the o-overnment of VIII. . >. _i the place upon sir Ralph Hopton, an officer who 1643. had greatly distinguished himself in the wars. Rupert, by whose prowess and enterprise the city seemed to be reduced, considered this as an invasion of his rights, and, not venturing to favour any other competitor, desired the king to assign the government of Bristol to himselfs. The dispute finally appeared to be adjusted by making Rupert nominally governor, and IIoj)ton lieutenant-governor with an absolute possession of the functions ^ : but the ill blood had by this time risen so high, that Charles thought it expe- dient to remove Hertford entirely from the mili- tary department, under the pretence of keeping him more immediately about his person '. To shew that no disfavour or unkindness was intend- ed in this, the earl of Pembroke, who had gone with the parliament, was at this time removed from the chancellorship of the university of Ox- ford, and the marquis of Hertford chosen in his room^. Great bickerings and discontents how- ever remained in the army ; and the removal of Hertford, who was admired for his integrity, and beloved for his gentleness, left an unpleasant re- collection behind, which was of much disservice to the king. '-' ibid. j). j06. '' p. o08. ' p. 311. ^ Collins, recragCj art. Duke of Somerset. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALl 11. Jgg It happened uiitbrtunately tliat this jealousy c h a p. and debate occurred at the very period when tlie ^ _^ success of Charles appeared to be about wholly to 1643. • 1 1 c ^ 1 • rni i c- L'nfavour- extinofuish that 01 the parliament. 1 he earl 01 able cflbcis fir Essex had entered into a traitorous engagement "ontion^s. "^ with Northumberland, Holland, Bedford and Clare, to desert the cause in which they were en- gaged. But Essex was brother-in-law to Hert- ford ; and the discountenance now thrown upon the marquis first made the parliamentary general waver in the path he was choosing '. He was then won over by the persuasiveness and assidui- ties of the parliamentary leaders, and finally, with a recruited army and renewed courage, took the field, raised the siege of Gloucester, and by the battle of Newbury secured and effected his return to the capital. These were the first proceedings that gave a new turn to the face of affairs. In the mean while the great desertion of the Discounte parliament took place. The earl of Northumber- shewn toti.e land retired to his country-seat in Sussex ; and lofa"'^' the earls of Holland, Bedford and Clare threw themselves into the king's quarters, Northum- berland soon repented, and returned to his former station. This was a moment that demanded the utmost forbearance, good humour and condescen- sion on the royal part ; and in no instance did the folly and obstinacy of the court shew itself so ' Cbrcndon, \ol. H, p. :V23. 190 HISTOKY OF THK COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, conspicuously. One of the main characteristics ^"'- of the unfortunate Charles was that he never did 164:^. any thing- in a gracious manner ; and the cour- tiers that attended him were raised into a flame at the very thought, that the persons who had for a considerable time acted against them, and now came over when the cause of the parliament ap- peared desperate, should share in honours, emolu- ments, and favour, equally with them who had borne the brunt of the day *". All was selfishness and narrowness of soul in the royal camp. If these earls had been well received and counte- nanced, it would have been a signal for all who were tired of the parliament, or wanted firmness of mind to adhere to the public cause through good and evil events, that upon a shew of repent- ance they might be assured of forgiveness. As it was, they were feelingly taught that there was no hope for them but in an unaltered constancy ; and from this time the parliament experienced no de- sertions. Earls of It may be worth while in this place to iritro- andTioK tluce the opposite characters of two brothers, the land. earls of Warwick and Holland, sons of the unfor- tunate wedlock of Robert lord Rich, with the ce- lebrated Penelope sister of queen Elizabeth's earl of Essex. They were therefore first cousins to the present commander of the parliamentary army. '" Clarendon, \'ol. II, p. 328, 329. HISTOIIY OF THE COMMONVVEAMIl. 19 j Their dispositions and early fortune are thus spi- chap. ritedly described by the contemporary historian ^ __y of James the First ". i648. " They were two emulous corrivals in the pub- lic affections, the one's brownness beinsf account- ed a lovely sweetness transcending most men, the other's features and pleasant aspect equalling the most beautiful women ; the younger, having the full dimensions of a courtier, laid out the stock of his fortune upon that soil, which after some years patience came up with increase ; but the elder, though he had all those endowments of body and fortune that give splendour to a court, yet could not so stoop to observances, and used it but as a recreation." Their subsequent fortunes corresponded with character this beginning. Holland was eminently a fa- wick/' vourite with king James and with the queen of Charles the First, and was considered as the nwst elegant and accomplished ornament of the court ; while Warwick after a short experiment grew tired of the fopperies of the presence-chamber. He first ennfao^ed in the then reionino- passion of adventuring and generous spirits, the planting of colonies in the western world " : but he soon found a field for his activity nearer home. He was a " Wilson, p. 1612. " Wilson, p. 1(3'3. lliiU-lunson, History of Massacluisel's Bay, \'ol. I, y. Gi. 192 HISTORY OF TUK C'O:\IM0NWEALTII. CHAP, man of a free spirit and a lively wit, with all V J those qualities which form the pleasure of society, 16^3. and most certainly attach other men to the indi- vidual who is endowed with them. Amono^ the parties whose contention preceded the civil wars, Warwick united himself with the puritans, and is represented as having prayed with their preach- ers, at the same time that he occasionally made a jest of their formality and demureness i*. Be that as it will, certain it is that he did not forfeit their confidence ; and, though his language and demeanour were not formed in their school, they gave him all credit for the sincerity with which he extended his protection towards them. The particular qualities of Warwick, his known aliena- tion from the court, the flexibility of his temper, and his singular aptness for gaining the affections of men, especially in the ordinary and middling classes of society, added to his eminent talents and abundant wealth, quickly pointed him out to the parliament as a proper person to secure the service of the fleet; and in March 1642 he was appointed to the command, a trust which he willingly accepted. In this office he gave en- tire satisfaction to his employers ; and when in the June of the following year the king revoked the earl of Northumberland's appointment of lord P Clarendon, \'ol. II, p. 210. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 193 high admiral, Warwick was immediately fixed on chap. by his party to fill the office which had thus be- ^ come vacant. 1643. Holland was of a disposition exceedingly differ- Character ent from that of his elder brother. He had been the confidential friend of Villicrs duke of Buckino;- ham, and was now upon terms of the most per- fect intimacy with the accomplished Lucy countess of Carlisle ^. They were the handsomest indivi- duals in the court of Charles the First, and were greatly caressed by both king and queen, till some of those sources of coolness interposed which naturally arise within that sphere. A parti- cular animosity was bred between Holland and Straflford : Strafford was well qualified to be the minister of a despot ; but he had few of those en- dowments which conciliate love, and least of all among the fair-spoken fiutterers of a drawing- room. Holland shrunk from the unbendin"- se- verity of the minister ; and Strafford felt a mortal antipathy to the superficial and gaudy levity of Holland. Clarendon says'", that Strafford once upon some occasion was so exasperated against the other, as to allow himself to say, that " the king would do well to cut off" his head ;" an ex- •i Clarendon, Vol. I, p. 296. Waller, in a complimentary copy of verses, designates Venus as being — the bright Carlisle of the Court of Heaven. Her character by sir Toby Mathews is a very remarkable composi- tion. See Waller'-. Works, by Fenton. ' \'ol.I, p. 150. VOL. I. O 194 lIIblORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP. VI 11. 16-13. lie deserts the court. pression not likely to be forgiven. It is also instructive in more ways than one. From this time Holland soug-ht new courses, and got into great familiarity with his kinsman, the earl of Essex. It was lady Carlisle that secretly gave notice to the five members, so as to enable them to withdraw a few minutes before Charles en- tered the house of commons to arrest them * ; and Holland was the first person who conveyed to the opposition intelligence of the design to bring up the army to disperse the parliament ^ From this period he declared openly for the op- position, and was much trusted by them ; till, after the surrender of Bristol, he became alarmed for his own safety, and thought tliat it would be His cabafs. bcst for him to make his peace in time. He be- lieved that, in conjunction with Northumberland and Essex, he should be able to compel the par- liament to submit; and he did not doubt that by that merit he should finally establish himself at court upon a more prosperous footing than ever. The project for this purpose having failed, he considered the attempt as a suflicient expiation for his former errors : and brinoino: with him as he did the earls of Bedford and Clare, and expect- ing to be followed by Northumberland and others, he felt a confidence that he should be well received at Oxford, and that the sun of royal favour would shine upon him as brightly as before. * Echard, sub anno. ' Clarendon, Vol. T, p. 289, 29^. HISTORY OF Till-: COMMONWEALTH. | 9 j In all this he was disappointed. Charles, as c n a p. we have said, discovered the stiffness and repul- v _^ siveness of character for which he was remarkable ; 1643. and the adherents of the court could not endure the king at the thou<^ht, that a repentant offender should be received with the same orrace as themselves, who had served their master alike in g-ood and in evil fortune. To prove his sincerity, Holland went to the army, and fouo;ht in person for the king- in the battle of Newbury". But all would not do- He found himself shunned by the courtiers, and isJisap discountenanced by Charles. He was shocked by what he saw of the poverty of tlie court ^^'j and soon perceived that the affairs of the parliament were recoverinir from the low ebb at which he left them. Finally he resolved that his future conduct should be determined by one particular issue. At the commencement of the war Charles had sent his dismission of Essex from the office of lord chamberlain, and of Holland from that of jrroom of the stole. This latter office had Ikjw- ever remained vacant to the present time ; and Holland thouoht, that the least remuneration that could be yielded him for his services now done and attempted, was his restoration to that post. He conceived himself to have secured that point by his secret correspondence with Oxford before he took his decisive step : but Clinrles, after hav- " ("lureriHoii, \ r.l II, y. :<6','. " Tl)i'l. ^>^<^. 2 lOG HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP. VIII. 1643. Returns to the parlia- ment. Is imitated by the earls of Bedford and Clare. Northum- berland in- dicted for high trea- son by the king. ing- kept the question some time in suspence, finally bestowed the appointment upon the mar- quis of Hertford, as a compensation for his loss of the office of general of the west ^. Lord Holland had gone to the king with a full resolution to expiate his past offences : he inferred from the double experiment he had tried, that the court was his proper element : he bitterly felt, that the last step he had taken was irrevocable, and that, if he went back to the parliament, it would however be impossible for him to recover their confidence. But all these considerations were too weak to hold him in the king's quarters ; the treatment he received appeared to him in- tolerable. He returned towards the capital ^ ; and, after a short quarantine, was admitted to assume in appearance his former station. The earls of Bedford and Clare, as they had accom- panied him in his desertion, so did they imitate him in his return; and Charles had finally the happiness to find that neither his court nor his army contained one person that had ever drawn his sword on the other side ^ To make the breach more irreparable, a com- mission was at this time opened by sir Robert Heath, the royalist chief justice of the king's bench, sir John Bankes, chief justice of the com- " Clarendon, Vol. IT, p. 363, 366. y Journals of Lords, Nov. 6. ' Hurry is certainly an exception. See p. il2. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 197 mon pleas, and two other judges, at Salisbury, chap. at which an indictment of high treason was pre- v '^j ferred against the earls of Northumberland, Pern- leis. broke and Salisbury, together with divers mem- bers of the house of commons ; but they could not prevail upon the grand jury to find the bills ^ The parliament, having recovered from the se- Trial of vere blow they had experienced in the defeat of Berkeley. Waller and the surrender of Bristol, proceeded to adopt more decisive measures in certain points where they had hitherto temporised. The courts of law, and the administration of justice, civil and criminal, particularly demanded their atten- tion. In the first place they proceeded to a con- clusion on the charge against judge Berkeley in the question of ship-money. He was brought up for trial on the eighth of September ; and, having confessed the substance of the charge, and pleaded certain extenuating circumstances, judgment was pronounced against him on the twelfth, that he should be fined in the sum of twenty thousand pounds, that he should be dismissed from his of- fice, and made incapable liereafter to hold any place in the state, and that he should be im- prisoned in the Tower during the pleasure of the house of lords that had iuds^ed him ^. In the fol- of otiicr ^ ^ _ judges. lowing month baron Trevor received judgment to pay a fine of six thousand pounds for the same offence '^ ; and shortly after baron Henden was * Whitlooke, p. 7H. ^ JournHls of Lords. "■ Ibiil Oct. 19, '20. J 98 HISTORY Ol THE COMMONWEALTH. c H A P. amerced in the sum of two thousand pounds by the vj^"^ liouse of lords, under the denomination of the 1643. twentietli part of his estate 'K Baron Henden died early in the following- year*". Judge Berke- ley's fine was afterwards reduced to ten thousand pounds, and himself set at liberty. Lord Much stress was laid by the royalists upon the Littleton tjscape of Littlctou, lord keeper of the great seal, and the conveying away the great seal itself; and the most vigilant manoeuvres were employed for that purpose. This circumstance took place in May 1642, just before the commencement of the war ^; but Littleton, like the majority of the fugi- tives who had for a time adhered to the parlia- ment, was ill received at court. He was asked on his arrival at York whether he had not argued and voted for the ordinance of the militia, which he pusillanimously denied ; but, a reference to the journals of parliament being obtained, the charge was found to be true s. He had delivered the seal to a messenger sent to him by the king, be- fore he left London ; and Charles never after re- stored it to his possession ^. By this contrivance the parliament suffered two inconveniences. The great seal never attended their sittings, as by law they affirmed it ought to do ; nor had they even '' Ibid. Dec. 6. " His death is mentioned in the .Journals of Feb. 2L ' Journals of Lords, May 23, 1642. « Ibid. June 14, 16 12. '' Ibid. Sep. 6, Id-l.'. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. J 99 that advantage respecting it, that should arise chap. from its being in the custody of a responsible of- v>I!"_^ ficer. The king was in etfect his own lord 1643. keeper. The house of commons, in consideration of the Great seal many embarrassments which resulted from this riamcnr"^ situation of things, resolved in the May of the present year, that a great seal of England should be forthwith made, to attend the parliament for dispatch of the affairs of the kingdom '. But in this resolution the lords did not concur; and it therefore remained without present effect. In the following July the commons gave directions for the making a great seal ^ ; and in September the seal was brought, and directed to be sealed up, and delivered into the custody of the speaker, not to be made use of, till further orders '. In Oc- tober the lords signified their concurrence in the measure of the commons " ; and on the tenth of November an ordinance was passed, and connuis- sioners appointed for the keeping the seal ". The commissioners were the earls of Bolingbroke and Commis- Kent for the peers, together with Oliver St. John, the great solicitor-general, Serjeant Wild, Samuel Browne, ^^^^^ted. and Edmund Prideaux. At the same time Master of Lenthal, the speaker, was formally appointed by the two houses to the office of master of the Journals of Commons, May 15. '' Ibid. July .5. ' Ibid. Sep. 'JR. '" .Founialsnf Lords, Oct. 11. " Journals of Lords. 200 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, rolls ", Pym to be lieutenant of the ordnance p, V I T I V ' J and Selden keeper of the records in the Tower ^. 1643. To give the greater solemnity to the former of these appointments, it was ordered that the commis- sioners of the great seal should take the oaths of office, en plein parUnncut, both houses of the le- gislature being assembled and united together for that purpose "■. Judicial The next care of those who had the admini- suspendeT stratiou of govcmment under the parliament, was for a time £qj. ^j^g rcstoratiou of the ordinary course of civil by the par- '' liament. and Criminal justice. From the time that the king withdrew from the capital, there had been a contention on this subject between him and the opposite party, extremely injurious to the regular administration of law. By a sort of construction sufficiently familiar to the English governm^ent, wherever the king resides, that is held to be the seat of government, both political and civil. On the other hand, the place where the parliament sits, during the period of its assembly, has at least an equal claim to that denomination ; and Charles had legally deprived himself of the power of terminating or removing its sittings, otherwise than with its own consent '*. Add to which, the great depository of ancient records and docu- ments was in the metropolis. It was natural for ° Ibid. Nov. 8. P Ibid. Nov. 7. -J Ibid. Oct. 31. "■ Journals, Dec. 16. ' It was Whillockc who drew tlie act for that purpose. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 201 both parties to feel very earnest in this question, chap, VIII Ifthekinof could draw after him the courts of law, this would not only give a striking- sacred- i643 ness to the quarter in which he dwelt, but would plaee to a considerable degree all the property and laws of the kingdom under the disposal of his advisers and confidents. Charles had ac- cordino-ly scarcely arrived at York in the spring of the year 1 642, before he sent orders to the lord keeper Littleton to adjourn by proclamation the next term from Westminster to York. Little- ton however had not yet left the parliament ; and the house of lords, having received some intima- tion of what was intended, forbade the lord keeper from taking any of the necessary steps for the accomplishment of this purpose ^ The struggle was regularly kept up between the kino- and the parliament as to the adjournment of the terms. On the fourth of October he issued from Shrewsbury a proclamation for adjourning the early part of the Michaelmas term"; and on the fifteenth of November, shortly after the atiair of Brentford, a further proclamation from Oat- lands adjourning the remainder, in consideration of the present distractions of the kingdom ". These proclamations were called in and declared null by the two houses of parliament^. Upon the occa- • Journiils of Lords, May 17, 16V2. " Husbands, [>. O'ii. ' Juiimal'- uf Lords, Nov. J3, l(j4'i. 202 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, sion of Hilary term and Easter term of 1643 a ^^^"' , similar operation took place : the king ordered a 1643. removal of part of the term in each instance to Oxford ; and the parliament forbade any attention to be paid to the mandate. In the question of the Lent assizes for the same year, the king and the parliament changed positions. The parlia- ment considered the metropolis as the proper scene for the observation of the terms, and re- garded w^hatever was done in that behalf as safe under their protection ; but they issued an ordi- nance suspending the circuits of the judges, till the restoration of peace ^* . The king on the con- trary regarded any attempt at the administration of justice as nugatory in the capital, that being the head-quarters of the enemy ; but he pro- nounced it inexpedient, to disappoint his subjects in their expectation of the periodical administra- tion by the circuit of the judges *. Matters how- ever gradually became worse, as the war raged more generally ; and it is the observation of Whitlocke, about August 1G43, that "the courts of justice were not yet open, and there was no practice for the lawyers y. " Judicial The king was not at first very successful in -^t Oxford^'' drawing the judges to follow his progress. They were by the constitution of England attendant on " Journals of Commons, Feb. 15, 28, 1643. "^ Husbands, p. 923. Kushworth, V'ol. \', p. U4. > Whitlocke, p. 71. mSTOIlY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 203 the house of lords ; and they probably thought c ii a p. the payment of their salaries would be more se- <_^^_^ cure from the parliament, than from the king. 1643. The first law-officer that joined him was the lord keeper. The next was sir Robert Heath, one of the puisne judges of the court of king's bench. Charles was anxious to render him a useful in- strument for his purposes ; and accordingly, having sent to Bramston, who still remained at London, to discharge him from the appointment of lord chief justice of that court % he named Heath for his successor ^. This done, he made haste, a few days before the battle of Edgehill, to commence proceedings before this officer to at- taint the earl of Essex and others of high treason ''. The same judge Heath, a short time after, sat upon the trial of Lilburnc, taken prisoner in arms at the action of Brentford ; and his life was only saved by the parliament's menace of retaliation upon the prisoners in their hands. The next of the judges that joined the king was Foster, about the end of the year "^ ; and at the treaty of Oxford in the beginning of 1643, Bankes, chief justice of the common pleas, appears to have been in regular attendance upon Charles '' : but we may conclude, that neither of these last was con- ' Journals of Lords, Oct. 17, 1(342. " Dugdale, Origines Juridiciales. •• Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 12. ' .Journals of Commons, May iJ, KtKi ' Whillnckc, j.. 68. 204 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, sidered as having taken part against the parlia- V J nicnt, since tlie names of botli were included in 1643. the recommendations of the petition of the two houses then presented, for renovating and re- storing the course of justice. The names of the iudo^es at the breakino- out of tlie civil war, were Bramston, Heath, Mallet and Bacon for the king's bench, Bankes, Berkeley, Reeve and Foster for the common pleas, and Davenport, Trevor, Page and Henden, barons of the exchequer. Bramston, as we have seen, was displaced by the king ; and Heath, Bankes and Foster were attendant on the court at Oxford. These three were parties to the attempt made at this time at Charles's instigation, to convict North- umberland and others of hioh treason. Mallet had twice incurred the displeasure of parliament; the first time by being privy to a petition against the ordinance of the militia, which was prepared at the spring-assizes for the county of Kent in 1642 ^ ; and again, at the summer-assizes for Sur- rey, as Clarendon says ^, for refusing to read of- ficially the directions of the parliament for mar- shalling the militia, but, as appears from the journals, for adjourning the assizes, and preparing to repair to the king ^ : he was therefore a prisoner in the Tower of London. Berkeley had been de- prived of his office by the judicial sentence of the * Journals of Lords, Mar. 28. ' \\il. I, p. 70L - .Toiirnals of Lords, Aug. 5.' HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 205 house of lords; and Henden was Ivinir at tlie chap. ^ n VIII. point of deatli. Of Davenport and Page nothing- *s_^^^.«^ can be traced, except tliat, though nominally re- ^^'*^' taining their places, they appear to have wholly withdrawn themselves from the duties apper- taining to them. The only three therefore that remained under the direction of the parliament, after what the lawyers call the long vacation in 1643, were. Bacon for the king's bench, Reeve for the common pleas, and Trevor for the ex- chequer. The parliament however now thought it high Writs is- time, that the people ot bngland should have the court of benefit of the due administration of the laws. The '^ '''"*^^''^" war had already lasted through two campaigns, and might not improbably continue two years lonofer. No sooner therefore were the new com- missioners of the great seal authentically installed into their office, than above five hundred writs were immediately sealed by them, " so desirous were people to have the due course of justice proceed •*."' At the same time the three judges that Coumof have been mentioned, presided in their several opened, courts, for the trial of causes, and the discharge of the other functions committed to them. A bold attempt was at this time made, to over- Kmy^ sendi turn whatever the parliament had set forward for sengers to *' Whitlocke, p. 70. OQC, HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, this purpose. Tlie king's several proclamations "VIII V __j for the adjournment of the term had been ren- 1643. dered fruitless, for want of the requisite legal form Westmiii- r- 1 • ^ • i • rni • i ster for tiie 01 iiaviug tlie writs read in court. 1 he judges mciu'of the at Oxford therefore, who were ready to enter **"""■ upon business, could not, it was alleged, in this case open the courts there ; which otherwise they would not have scrupled to do, notwithstanding the ordinances of the two houses to the contrary, believing, as they said, that this interference was an assumption, and that the question was entirely out of the jurisdiction of the houses. Messengers therefore were at this time severally sent from Oxford, with instructions to find an opportunity of delivering the king's writs of adjournment into the hands of the judges. Two of the messengers effected their purpose, and delivered the writs in the customary form to Reeve and Trevor, who immediately ordered the bearers to be taken into custody. These daring emissaries were tried by a court martial as spies, and, having received sentence of death, one of them was executed in ter- rorem to future ofienders in the same kind, and the other was reprieved '. Warwick Another step taken by the parliament at this admiVai.'^' time, in which they assumed the full and entire functions of a government, was an ordinance in- ' Clarendon, \"()1. H, pi. 107, 408. Riibhwortli, Vol. V, p.3(J9, 370. IIISTOJIY OF HIE COMMON WEALTH, 207 vesting the earl of Warwick with the office of chap. lord high admiral ^. ^ '^j The parliament was not less attentive to the 1643. viofilant administration of their interests on the continent, than they had been at home. In Fe- Embassy to bruary 1642 the queen had sailed for Holland, with the purpose, by pawning- her jewels, and whatever other means, of procuring arms and am- munition to assist her hus!)and in a warlike re- sistance to the demands of the parliament. To- wards the autumn of that year the committee of safety nominated Walter Strickland agent for the parliament to the republic of the United Pro- vinces •. This was before the sword had actually been drawn by either party in England. He was accompanied by a manly declaration addressed by the two houses of parliament to the states ge- neral, accusing the prince of Orange of secretly cherishing and aiding their adversaries. The parliament observed, that they could not believe that this was done by any authority from the states general, considering the great help they had re- ceived from this kingdom when heretofore they lay under the heavy oppression of their princes, and how conducible the friendship of this nation (concurring witli the wisdom, valour and industry of their own people) had been to the greatness •^ Journals of Lords, Dec. 7. ' .Imirnuls of Commons, Auij. W, lOl'i. 208 iirsTORY or the common wf.altii. CHAP, and power which they now enjoyed : neither v^ ' J could they think, that the states would be forward 1643. to make that nation slaves, which had been use- ful and assistant in making them freemen. They added, that the question between the king and them was not, whether he should enjoy the same prerogative and power as his predecessors, but whether that prerogative and power should be employed to the people's defence or to their ruin. And they protested, that they had no other de- sign but not to be destroyed, and to preserve their religion, themselves, and the other reformed churches of Christendom, from the massacres and extirpations, with which the principles of the Po- pish religion threatened both, and which were begun to be acted in Ireland. Finally they pre- dicted, that if any more ordnance, armour or warlike stores were suffered to be brought over to strengthen the enemies of the parliament, theSe enemies, as soon as they should have prevailed here, would use that strength to the destruction of those from whom they received it '". — The mis- sion of Strickland belongs to the preceding year. TiiaiofFi- In the close of the year 1643 a circumstance occurred, which is of some importance as tending to illustrate the spirit of party, as it shewed itself amonof those who were orioinallv enp;ao^ed in the same cause of resistance to the despotism of "" Journals of Lords, Aug. 22. ennes. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 209 Charles the First. This was tlie trial of Na- chap. thaniel Fiennes for his conduct in the surrender v^^^ of Bristol. 1C43. Among the earliest adversaries to the admini- Friendship stration and policy of Charles, WQre lord viscount say and"^ ' Say, and lord Brooke. They were both men of ^'''"'''^" ability and virtue. They appear to have been bound to each other by the united ties of political and religious principles, and of personal affection. In the year 1635 they procured from the earl of Warwick an assignment of part of a large tract of land in Connecticut, and sent over a deputy to begin a settlement in that country, and pre- pare a retreat for themselves and their friends. Here they caused a town to be built, to which in memory of their friendship they gave the name of Saybrook". Afterwards they relinquished their purpose of emigrating, and recognised the voice of their duty as calling them to defend the liber- ties of their native country. Lord Brooke fell an early victim in the cause of freedom in the March of the present year. Lord Say, and Nathaniel Fiennes, his favourite Attack of son, were two of the original members of the com- waike" on mittee of safety. By degrees, as the parties of lndhfs''i the presbyterians and independents diverged from each other, they adhered to the independents. This made tlicni many enemies. They were more IS son. " Hutchinson, History of Massachuset's Bay, \'ol. I, p. 61. V(H,. I. I- 21U HISTORY OF IHE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, explicit and decisive in the declaration of their v_^^_^ sentiments than many others ; and their abilities, 1643. particularly those of the son, rendered them for- midable. There were equivocal circumstances, not in point of sincerity, but with respect to soldier- ship, in the surrender of Bristol by the son, which were eagerly laid hold of by those who wished ill both to the son and the father. Clement Walker, a liot-headed and violent member of the presbyterian faction, was proved to have said, that lord Say was " a base, beggarly lord, and that his sons were cowards, and he would bastinado them wherever' he could find them"." Lord Say and his son, confident of their own integrity and zeal for the public cause, instead of passing by this scurrility as unworthy of their notice, brought the matter before the house of lords, and caused the man to be sent to the Tower v. This deter- mined him to retaliate to the utmost of his power ; and he exhibited formal articles of accusation be- fore the house of commons respecting the sur- render of Bristol. Proceed- Nathaniel Fiennes had, as early as the fifth of trial. Auo-ust, made a laro-e defence of himself in this affair in his place in parliament, and had pressed for a formal enquiry into the business i. At length the wounded pride of the ex-governor, and " Journals of the Lords, Oct 2. p Ibid. Oct. 7. 1 Cobbet, State Trials, Vol. IV, p. '233. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 211 the resentment of Walker, brought the question to c ii a p. a more serious issue, than any other party made . J j a shew to desire. A council of war was held at 1643. St. Albans on the fourteenth of December, Cle- ment Walker, and the celebrated Prynne, being- the prosecutors ; and tlie trial lasted till the twenty-third. The pleadings against Fiennes were wholly conducted by Prynne. It is difficult to form a iud foment of the exact merits of the case, since no witnesses appear to have been examined in court. The party accused demurred to thi.5, and alleged " that no paper-deposition ought to be allowed in cases of life and death, but the witnesses should be all present, and testify viva voce ; else the' testimony ought not to be re- ceived"":" but this objection was overruled. But what is worse, we do not possess even these paper-depositions ; what is called the trial of Fiennes consisting merely of the charges, the an- swer of the defendant, and the reply of the pro- secutor ^ Upon general grounds of reasoning however, it appears certain that Bristol, or at least the castle, might have held out somewhat longer ; ' Ibid. p. 211. • It ought to be oI)Scrvcd, that very many of what are called the trials in this and similar compilations, are merely party pamphlets drawn up for the purposes of the moment by the prosecutor or the defendant, or some friend of the one or the other, and afterwards reprinted in these collections as if altogether authentic. The pre- sent is the er pa/it narrative of Prvnm . i> 2 212 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, VIII. 164y. Fiennes is condemn- ed. thoiioh it seems no less certain that the earl of Essex, the commander in chief, could not at that time have relieved it, as lie afterwards relieved Gloucester. It would no doubt have been diffi- cult, and of dangerous consequence, to acquit Fiennes, and so to countenance the delivering- up of cities and castles to the enemy, without holding them out to the last extremity. Thus this highly gifted and virtuous man fell a victim to the spirit of party, and to his own generous and imprudent eagerness in challenging an investiga- tion into his conduct. Most undoubtedly he ought not to have been a soldier. He was capi- and pardon- tally couvictcd by the council of war, and soon after received his pardon from the commander in chief. He was unable however to encounter the disgrace that had fallen on him, and speedily re- tired to the continent. After a lapse of two years, he returned to his native country, and resumed his seat in the house of commons. ed 213 CHAPTER IX. STATE OF IRELAND. AUMIXISTRATIOX OF STRAF- FORD. PROJECTS FOR BRINGING OVER AN ARMY OF IRISH TO SUPPORT THE KING. COM- MISSIONS OF SIR PHELIM oVeILE AND OTHERS. INSURRECTION. MASSACRE. SPREAD OF THE REBELLION IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF IRE- LAND. If the parliament were successful in procuring chap. for themselves an auxiliary army from Scotland, i, ' ' ; it would be unjust to impute to the king- any want Forecast of forecast and activity in the endeavour to in- of the'^kiiig. crease his resources for carrying on the war, and for bringing it to the conclusion he desired. Be- side the expectations he founded upon the friendly professions of foreign powers, he looked parti- cularly with earnest and sanguine confidence to the hope of strengthening his forces from the neioflibourino; kinodom of Ireland. This was an idea that had oftered itself to him in various forms from the earliest period of the contest. The affairs of Ireland have not yet been men- Ireland, tioned, that, by drawing them together in a com- preliensive view, the reader might the better com- 2i4 lilSTORV OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, prelicnd the way in wliich transactions tliere ope- IX. rated upon what was going on in England. Torwani- The history of tlie commencement of the war king to re- bctwecn Charles and his parliament has been lit- sorttoaiim. ^j^ undcrstood, the royalist historians having treated this portion of the subject rather like a party-pleading in a court of justice, than a simple development of facts, and shewing themselves inclined to defend the morality of the king at the expence of his understanding. But Charles was by no means of so thoughtless and improvident a character, as he has often been represented to be. He bore at all times sufficiently in his mind the ultima ratio reginn. One of his most rooted pas- sions was the love of power, or what he called prerogative. He considered himself as born to be a monarch, and resolved, as far as in him lay, that the most precious jewels of his diadem should never be lost throuo-h his carelessness or indif- ference. He knew the advantao^c the executive magistrate possessed in having conferred on him the power of the sword, and was by no means disposed to be backward to appeal to it in sup- port of his claims. Twice he had marched an army against the Scots, expecting in that way to settle his disputed rights. And from the com- mencement of the Long Parliament, he had not been so unreflecting, as not to consider that their claims might be greater than he might feel inclined to grant; and he had calculated in that case how HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 215 their incroachments might be most effectually frustrated. It was in. this view that the army- petition had originated early in 1041 , in which the petitioners desired that they might be permitted to " wait on the king to suppress the insolencies" that were going on in the capital ^. In February 1642 the queen sailed for Holland for the express purpose of procuring arms and ammunition to be transported to this country ; and, before she went, the king gave her his promise, that he would never make any peace, but by her interposition and mediation '\ Under these circumstances it is idle to dispute, as so many writers from consider- ations of party have done, who began the war ^. =» See p. 167. i- See p. 38. " Great surprise has been felt, that the king so easily yielded his assent to the act, declaring that the parliament should not be dissolved, prorogued, or adjourned, without tlieir own concur- rence. But it is not sufficiently considered that he never in his heart intended to admit their authority. He studied curious di- stinctions and niceties by which their acts might be proved to be in- valid : but, more than all, he relied on the effects to be produced by forcible means. He contemplated bringing the army from the north to subdue their arrogance : he repaired with five hundred attendants to the doors of the house of commons to seize five of its members [that these members should have received an opportune notice, and have timely disappeared, did not enter into his calcu- lation]. He could not for a moment comprehend how a simple body of gowned senators could sustain themselves against the armed followers of a king. He had no idea but of waiting his time, till he might disperse them with the greatest shew of justice and public approbation. lie therefore made no account of any conces- 216 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. The policy of James with respect to Ireland had been, to send over numerous colonies from State of Great Britain, with the alleged purpose of re- claiming the wild inhabitants, and improving the neglected soil, so as to render that country a valuable appendage to the empire. This had for a series of years had the effect to give an appear- ance of peace and tranquillity to Ireland, which had been almost without example. But the real state of the people was not so favourable as it seemed. Beside all other prejudices, the natives of the island were Catholics, and the settlers Protestants, for the most part puritans and pres- byterians ; so that, for this and other reasons, it was hopeless to attempt to bring the two parties to a cordial understanding. This was made worse by a vexatious and incessant inquisition into the ti- tles by which estates were held, in which no length of possession was admitted to constitute right, but any ilaw that might be found in the original patent placed the property again at the disposal of the crown, and accordingly it was given anew to such persons as were most favoured at court *^. sion to an assembly of men whose measures he regarded with un- mingled disapprobation and hostility. lie did not advert to the great advantage he gave them by passing this act, which imparted to them, in any state short of absolute violence and anarchy, a permanent legal authority. '' Carte, Life of Ormond, \'ol. I, p, ^26, ct seqq. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 217 The stem and unconciliatini^ administration of chap. • IX Strafford had lately aggravated all these evils. >, ' , Such was the state of Ireland a short time pre- Admini- vious to the commencement of the civil war. strartbrd. Strafford was the only able, we might almost say the only zealous minister, at that time in the service of the sovereio-n. At the beoinnino- however he saw nothing the king had to contend with but the resistance of the Scots ; and he placed an entire re- liance on the devotedness and cheerful cooperation of the Eno;lish nation ^. All his efforts therefore were directed against the former. In Charles's i639. first expedition against the Scots Strafford set apart a detachment of five hundred men from the Irish army to assist him ^. When the king i64o. resolved on a second expedition in the year fol- an'anT^yof lowing, it was determined to raise an entirely i^o^cs^^" new army of eight thousand Irish Catholics to co- operate Vv'ith the English forces in that objects. Strafford was called over by Charles to assist him Comcs to with his counsels in what was intended to be this ^"s'""''- vigorous enterprise, and cjuitted Ireland, as it proved for ever, on the fourth of April 1640''. But, before his departure, he had taken effectual measures for raising the proposed Irish army, ' Strafford's Letters, Vol. H, \^. 235, 297. f ll.ul. \"ul. H, p. 255, 2(31. •^ Il.id. |.. 3. 107, 108. Ibid. p. 106. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 210 rickfergus ready for a descent upon Scot] and, being chap. rendered useless for that end, it seemed alike the ^ '^j dictate of economy and policy that it should be ^ i^^"- immediately disbanded. But Charles looked with to which an eye of partiality to a military power which p,opo!es to had been created at his bidding, and naturally ^S^y enquired whether it might not yet be rendered subservient to his purposes. If he had no use for them in Scotland, it is very certain that he looked with an uneasy anticipation to the parliament which was now assembling in London, and, from the hour of its meeting, had entertained projects for its dispersion. One of the most considerable points of evidence in the trial of Strafford, was a paper of minutes of the privy council of May 1640, from which it appeared that he had saidj " Your majesty has an army in Ireland, that you may employ to reduce this kingdom to obedi- ence*"." Accordingly this army became early an j^.j, especial subject of jealousy to the Long Parlia- ^,•^.''^"1^ ment, who repeatedly petitioned the king to dis- solve it ; while on the other hand it was one of the objects of the army plot, that the Irish forces should not be disbanded, until those of the Scots were disbanded also ". At lenoth the kinsx sio-ni- ■" Whitlockc, J). 43. The question, whether or no the words " tliis kmgdom" meant England, might be admitted as special pleading, but can never be sustained in historical enquiry. The point is perfectly clear. " UM!>hworth, \'()l. \IU, y. 7-10. tine niea- biires ol tlie king 220 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. ficd his consent to tlie prayer of the parliament on this head". The disbanding however pro- \(S'ii. cceded at a very slow rate; and it was not till the following September that one half of the army was said to be dispersed, while the re- mainder continued in their quarters at Carrick- fero-us I'. Claudes- It was one of the fatal errors of Charles's sy- bi.res of stem of policy, that he often employed different agents on the same subject, of whom the one had not only no concert with, but even no knowledge of the proceedings of, the other. This is feelingly lamented by Clarendon during his exile in Jersey, with respect to this very business. " I must tell you," says he, writing to sir Edward Nicholas, " I care not how little I say in that business of Ireland, since those strange powers and instruc- tions given to your favourite Glamorgan, which appear to me so inexcusable to justice, piety and prudence. And I fear there is much in that transaction of Ireland, both before and since, that you and I were never thought wise enough to be advised with in. Oh, Mr. secretary, those stratagems have given me more sad hours, than all the misfortunes in war which have befallen the king, and look like the effects of God's anger towards us *!." " May 10. Ibid. p. 756. •' Carte, p. 10.5, 132. '' Claremlon, State-Papers, \'ol. IF, p. 337. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 221 Charles, beinor driven from his first shifts and chap, • • IX evasions as to the disbanding the Catholic army, ^ ' ' j entered into a negociation with the minister of imi. the king of Spain for allowing four thousand, for tmnJ whether of the disbanded or remaining army, to be four "hou- enlisted for the service of that prince in Flanders ^ ?^n'ijf"^'» r into Han- But to this the parliament objected". They con- '^'^^^■ sidered that these forces would lie scarcely less conveniently for the invasion of England in Flanders than they did now in Ireland, if the Spanish government should concur in that object, and that they would acquire there the advantage of additional discipline. Even if they were bo)ta Jide taken into the Spanish service, the parliament retained the old Protestant prejudice, that the Spanish service was a thing they ought not to countenance, or contribute in any way to strengthen. Soldiers thus yielded to the Spa- ' niard would be employed against the Palatinate, or in some other mode, to oppress the cause of the reformed religion, or to crush the rising in- dependence of Portugal. What they wished for wa.s a simple disbanding, wliich should return the soldiers of Strafford once more to the cultiva- tion of their fields ^ At the same time that this discussion was going Plan for , . CI • • 1 ^^^ i brinfjing an on in relation to opain, it appears that Charles irisiiarmy ^ Journals, Aug. Q, 'i\. '" Ibid. Aug. V'H. ' Sir Benj;iiniii Ruilyard's Speech, ruisliwurlh, \"oi. I\'. p. 381. 222 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, was sendino- secret instructions to the earls of IX ... V ' , Ormond and Antrim, requiring- that those eight 1641. thousand men raised by Stratiord should be kept against the from disbaudiug, and that, if possible, twelve parHamont. thousaud morc should be raised for the invasion of England. The answer, which the king re- ceived at York in his journey to Scotland, was, that these instructions came too late, as the army of Carrickfergus was now wholly dispersed. But this did not cool Charles's earnestness. He returned a pressing message, that these forces should be got together again, and more levied, that the Irish parliament, consisting for the most part of Catholics, should be prompted to declare for the king against the parliament of England, and the whole kingdom set in motion for his ser- vice, and that, if the lord-justices would not join in the work, their persons should be secured, to- gether with all those that should oppose the un- dertakinof ". Earl of Antrim appears to have been a man of weak and restless character, and by no means to be relied on. But Charles was not very nice in the choice of his instruments, and does not appear to have possessed the discrimination which should have guided him in that choice. He had, as has been stated, had one able minister. He had already " See Antrim's Information, in Appendix to Clarendon's His- tory of the Irish Uebellion. Antrim. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 223 obtruded Antrim upon Strafford ^^ ; and, subse- quently to this period, he wrote to Orniond, pressing him that he " would unite in a strict and 1641. entire correspondence with Antrim, and contribute all in his power to further him in the services he had undertaken ^." Charles had now arrived at a desperate pass, ntniingsof and his journey to Scotland was meant as a last whii tiio preliminary to the dispersino- the parliament, and of"he'iris^ii settling the nation under his single authority. P^'^i''""eiu. He was prone, as has been said, to employ va- rious and discordant instruments for accomplishing the same end. We are now come to the instance in which he most signally miscarried. He had engaged himself in various consulta- iie counte- tions with certain members of the committee, ubenTon.'' which had been sent over to England by the Irish parliament for the purpose of assisting in the prosecution of Strafford. The members of this committee were most of them Catholics, and were afterwards principal actors in the Irish rebellion y. The general body of the committee left London " Letters, Vol. IF, p. 322. T scarcely recollect a more vigorous piece of comic ])ainting, than Strafford's account of a dialogue be- tween him and the carl of Antrim : Letters, Vo\. II, p. ;]00, and following. Indeed Strafford's Letters are throughout worth studying as models of clear and energetic composition. " March 12, 1G44. Carte, Vol. II, Appcndi.x, No. X. ' Kushworth, \'ol. \', p. 3 19. Their names are given in Tem- ple, History of the Iri-^h Rebellion, p. 12, and in llushworth, Vol. IV, p. 222. 224 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. for Dublin about the time that Charles set out on his journey to Scotland. One of their members, 1641. lord Dillon of Costelo, attended the king to Edin- burgh to receive his last instructions, and then proceeded for Ireland in the beginning- of Oc- tober ^. It was probably by the hands of this nobleman, that Charles transmitted to Ireland his commissions to sir Phelim ONeile and others, which were speedily productive of such disastrous consequences. Sir Phelim We liavc sccu what were the instructions the corniest ^ king sent to the earl of Antrim, himself a Catho- "°"' lie, the object of them being to place the powers of government in the hands of the Irish parlia- ment, the majority of which were Catholics, in opposition to the lord-justices and the small hand- ful of Protestants, by whom they were at present exercised. The lord-justices themselves, Parsons and Borlase, were adherents of the puritan party. Charles was aware, that the great mass of the population of Ireland, and a large portion of her nobility and gentry, adhered to the ancient reli- gion, and that, if he wished for an ample mili- tary aid to his designs from that country, it was from this quarter that it must be derived. Ac- cordingly, in the commission from the crown, published by sir Phelim O'Neile by way of pro- clamation on the fourth of November 1641, the '■ lluihworth, \ol. V, )-. 3-19. HISTORY OF THE CO.M.MOXWEALTH. 225 king throws himself entirely into the hands of the Catholics. He complains that the usurpations of the English parliament [Hazelrig's bill for regu- i64i lating the militia had been already brought in, and it was proposed that the lords lieutenants of counties should be named with the approbation of parliament : Hume says, " The sovereign autho- rity was now in reality transferred to the parlia- ment."] had obliged him to withdraw himself from that country ; and, being sensible that the storm which now involved Enoland mioht extend to the kingdom of Ireland, he therefore gives full power to his Catholic subjects in that country, to assemble and consult together with all diligence, to use all politic ways to possess themselves, for the king's use and safety, of all forts, castles, and places of strength, except such as belonged to his loving subjects the Scots [whom he then thought himself on the point to bring over to his side], and to arrest and seize the goods, estates and persons of all the Englisii Protestants within that king- dom. This commission is dated from Edinburgh, the first of October 1G41, and is sealed with the great seal of Scotland ^. * Rushworlh, \'ol. I\', p. 400. A great deal of argument lias been used, but, as it would seem, to little solid purpose, to prova this commission a forgery. The consequences of the Irish rebel- lion were so atrocious and sanguinary, that every friend to the memory of Cliarles has been anxious to repel the charge of his having had any conrern in its origin. And .--o incps>ant iia* been vor.. f. Q 226 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP. But the use the Catholics of Ireland made of TV V _^ Charles's commission, was very difl'erent from 1G41. that which the king intended. He knew that he Ui'e'ki!^!'^ wanted soldiers to fight his battles. He was well the industry of the royalists on this head, from the hour of tlie Restoration of his son, that their hibours have been crowned with a success altogctlier surprising. It has been pretended tliat sir Phelim O'Neile tore off the impression of the great seal from some grant or patent which fell into his hands, and artfully affixed it to his own document ; and Carte in his greal zeal affirms that the very patent from which the seal had been torn was found about an hundred years afterwards at Charlemont, with an indorsement stat- ing the i and priests, cj '1 228 HISTORY OF THE (.OMMOXWEALTH, CHAP, tlie Catholic bore to tlie puritan party. lie con- ., ' _ J ceived therefore tliat in a body of twenty or forty 1041. thousand Irish he should acquire a machine per- fectly adapted and tractable to his purposes. All as was afterwards attested by the confession of many." Rut in rither c;ise how came the impression to be that of tlie great seal of Scotland ? There is a further evidence of considerable value on the subject, Xo be found in Morricc's Life of the Earl of Orrery, prefixed to the collection of the Orrerj' State Letters. Sir William St. Leger, lord president of Munster in the beginning of the Irish rebellion, says this writer, " hearing that the lord Muskerry was marching with an army of three thousand men towards Limerick, thought good to oppose him with the best forces he could summon together, which amounted to no more than one thousand five hundred or thereabouts, most of them raw and unexperienced men. Muskerry appeared, and drew up his men in battalia, which St. Leger per- ceiving, prepared for a battle; for he was a man of great valour, conduct and loyally. But, while he was ordering his men for the battle, there came a trumpet from Muskerry, with one Walsh, a lawyer. St. Leger sent out to know the meaning of the trumpet's coming, who declared he came to speak with the lord president about a business of very great consequence to the kingdom. St. Leger gave immediate notice to the trumpet, and to the person who was with him, that they might approach. As soon as they came near enough to be heard, Walsh told the lord president he must speak with him alone. The president and the other noblemen, seeing Walsh, and knowing him, began by expressing great won- der, that a person of his parts and education should be gviilty of such madness, as to join with rebels. But Walsh replied, they were no rebels, as he would soon convince them, if he niight speak with the lord president in private. This was at length ad- mitted, and he then told that lord, that his lordship ought to take heed of fighting against tlinn, fur lord Mu.'.kerrv had a commis- HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 229 his subsequent conduct proves this; nor was he chap. ever wholly undeceived on the subject. ,^ [^' But the Irish Catholics were of a very diti'erent i*;-!!. frame of mind from what Charles looked for. Zu^or'ih^ Irish. sion from the king for what he did, and by virtue of that commis- sion had raised men to assist the king in all extremities, and that, if he might have a safe conduct, he would bring the commission to him under the great seal, and shew it to him at his house the next mornmg. " The lord jtresident was mightily surprised at this message, and, having assured Walsh that he should have a safe conduct if he brought the commission, dismissed him. The other lords much doubted of the return of Walsh, but thought the message to be rather a blind to amuse them, while Miiskerry should continue his march. They agreed however to wait. They desired the lord president diligently to peruse the commission, if any were brought, as it must certainly be a cheat. The next morning Walsh ap- peared with a trumpet, and was immediately conducted to the lord president's house. Tliis being done, W'alsh produced a large parchment, wherein was a very formal commission, for tlie lord Muskerry to raise four thousand men, and the broad seal affixed to it. St. Leger, having read it over, dismissed Walsh, and returned to the lords^ declaring to them, that Muskern*- had really a com- mission for what he did, and that he would dismiss his men, and stir no more in the business, saying that he would die before he would be a rebel. It seems the lord president took this matter so much to heart, that he never lield up his head afterwards, but within a short time died, and lord Inchiquin was appointed presi- dent in his room." The biographer adds, " Only lord Broghil [afterwards earl of Orrery] declared he could not but think it a cheat, as afterwards he found it." But we are left wholly in the dark as to how lord Broghil made the discovery. Considerably to the same purpose is Borlase's account of the death of sir William St. Leger [Hi^-tory of the Irish Rebellion, 230 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. They were deeply impressed with a sense of in- tolerable grievances. No government was ever 16 ii. worse conducted than the Irish, almost from the hour that the English set foot in the country. It p. 88]. "Well understanding the difference then in England be- twixt his majesty and the parliament, and what were the designs of some, putting fair glosses on the rebellion of Ireland, which his soul apprehended as one of the most detestable insurrections of the world : these things so troubled his spirit, that, being discouraged in the desperate undertakings necessity and the honour of his nation put him daily upon, so deep an impression was fixed in his mind, as, the distemper of his body increasing, he wasted away, and died at his house at Downrallie, four miles from Cork, 1612." It is not a little memorable, that sir John Temple, in his History of the Irish Rebellion, printed in 1646, passes over sir Phelim's commission in total silence. If he had believed it to be a forgery, he, who praises " the tender hand, and the great indulgence of king Charles, our sovereign that now reigneth, to his subjects of Ire- land," p. 12, 13, would hardly have failed to declare it to be such. As it is, he proceeds in his narrative as if he had never heard of it, which is impossible. It was not a tale, for a public officer, who had received his appointment from the king, to name respecting a monarch who might be restored. Finally, the question must after all be asked. How came it that the Irish rebellion broke out, after forty years' peace, in the October that immediately preceded the January in which the king demanded the five members, and the February in which the queen em- barked for the continent, to procure, by tlie sale of her jewels, arms and ammunition to maintain the war against the parliament? The insurgents, particularly in Ulster, appear very early to have laid aside the king's commission, partly because their objects were very difterent from his, and partly because they judged thcm- i>elves sufficiently powerful to stand alone. HISTORY or Tlii: COMMONWEALTH. 231 was a half-civilised nation undertakino; to domi- neer over a people of savages. And yet neither were the Irish altogether savages. They had a le^i. tradition of asres of refinement and learning- which had existed in their island. They were proud and generous. They were easily susceptible of being led by governors and lords, whose instru- ment should be kindness, and who would adapt themselves to their prejudices; but they would not be driven like cattle. Whoever should skil- fully seek to obtain their attachment and love would be sure of success. But they could not endure the voke of a master, who should assume to buy and sell them without in the smallest de- gree consulting their inclinations. They were as ferocious and unmitigable in their resentments, as they were warm and affectionate in their fide- lity. In addition to all other considerations in the Spiritoftiic mi T-> I'isli Ca- present case, came in that of religion. The En- thoik rcU- glish despised the Irish too much to endeavour to convert them ; and the Irish detested Protest- antism the more because it was the religion of the oppressor. The fierce and unlettered Irish entertained Popery in its grossest and its rudest form, not softened and refined, as it was in some countries on the continent, by the gradual pro- gress of knowledge and civilisation. They were entirely under the direction of their priests, and the minds of these priests were enflamed and ex- 232 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. asperated by seeing all the revenues of the church engrossed by ecclesiastics of a hostile religion, itiii. while they were exposed to every privation, and had nothing to maintain the vital heat within them, but the fierce animosity with which they regarded the usurpers of their possessions. It is a terrible state of things when vast emoluments, originally destined for the support of devotion and morality in the great mass of a nation, are grasped by a handful of men, who are felt to have no principles or sentiments in common with the people among whom they dwell. Projects of It was of the Irish nation thus circumstanced, the Irish. . that Charles was rash enouirh to imaoine that he could make a passive implement to reduce the in- habitants of the master-island to the despotism he loved. But they received the powers with which he invested them, with other thoughts than those which reigned in the mind of the prince by whom they were imparted. These powers directed them to raise and muster a military force, and to seize the strong places of the country into their own hands. They were then, as Charles supposed, to be transported in formidable and overwhelm- ing bodies into England. Rut the Catholic leaders did not carry on their conceptions to this point. At all events they resolved first to make sure work at home. They determined at once to expel the English, and to make their country a Catholic country with a i)urely Catholic system HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 033 of property and administration, as the people were c h a p. already Catholic. This would be a work that i, ', would require some time to place on a substantial ion. basis, and upon that they purposed that their ef- forts for the present should be exclusively em- ployed. When every Englishman should have been expelled from their island, they would then condescend to acknowledg-e the kino; of Great Britain for their king, and would perhaps con- sider whether, in return for his present bounty, they could serve him against a people of a dif- ferent faith from their own. Their plans were undoubtedly conceived with ' I'^ir pre- considerable energy and skill. The persons who wielded the powers of the English government in Ireland were weak and supine. They paid no attention to the various neo-ociations that were Qfoinor on between Charles and the Catholics, and perhaps scarcely knew that they existed. They relied upon the security of a forty years' peace. Thus the Catholic leaders had every facility for carrying on their correspondence from one end of the island to the other, uninterrupted and with- ont observation. It was determined that on one and the same day the Catholics should rise, and seize every place of strength into their hands. The Catholic army of eioht thousand men that had been raised by Stralford, and was yet scarcely dispersed, afforded them considerable advantage. Tlie additional recruits which had been mus;tcrcd bv Irish go- Termncut. 234 HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEALTH. Antrim and others, were a further reinforcement to tliem. Many Irish officers, inured to military 1G41. discipline, came, or were sent over to them, from the continent. Meanwhile their main strength consisted, in their abhorrence of an intruded and foreign faith, their deep sense of the many iniqui- tous vexations that had been practised upon them, and the inextin<2:uishable love of national inde- pcndence. informfi- But tlic cxplosiou of all thcsc scntiments was tioiisrccciv- -i i t i i i • ed hy the tcmble. It was concerted that the insurrection sliould break out on the same day in Dublin and in the north of Ireland, the conspirators likewise feeling confident that the seeds of rebellion were sufficiently sown in the west and the south. So early as March in the present year Charles had directed the secretary of state to write to the loixi- justices to inform them, that " of late there had passed from Spain an unspeakable number of Irish churchmen for Ireland and England, and some good old soldiers under the pretence of asking leave to raise men for the king of Spain ^." Sir William Cole wrote to them from the north of Ireland on the eleventh of October, to give them notice of the irrcat resort made to sir Phelim O'Neile and lord Macguire by several suspected persons, fit instruments for mischief; also that '' Clarendon, State Papers, \ol U, p. 131. Ruslnvorth, Vol. IV, p. 408. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 235 Macouire had of late spent mucli time in journeys into Leinster, and in writino- letters, and scndinir dispatches abroad*^. But these advertisements do ig4i, not seem to have gained much attention. On the r>i'biin preserved twenty-second of October, the lord-justices re- ceived precise information from one of the ac- complices, that every thing was prepared for the surprise of the castle of Dublin the next day; and this intelligence first roused them to appre- hend some of the conspirators, to remove their own residence into the castle, and to make such preparations for defence as the urgency of the moment allowed **. The castle contained ten thou- sand stand of arms*^. The conspirators had wholly- relied upon the effect of surprise ; and, even with this inadequate preparation their enterprise was defeated. Thus far their system was precisely coincident with that of Antrim. The commencement of the insurrection bore a inburrec- very different aspect in the province of Ulster, tc"" '" *" Sir Phelim O'Neile began with the surprise of the castle of Charlemont, under the disguise of a visit of hospitality. This occurred on the same day on which the lord-justices had received in- formation of the intended seizure of the castle of Dublin ^. The whole project was so well orga- ' Temple, Irish Rebellion, p. 17. Riisluvortli, \'ol. 1\', p. i08. ** Tcniplc, p. 18, 19, 20, '21. ' Ibid. p. '2(3. ' Carle, Vol. I, p. l?^. llie head uf tliirl V tliou- ^allU men. 23(J HISIORY Ol THr COMMONWEALTH. r I! \ p. iiised, tliat, in the course of a week, tlic entire pro- V ' ' , vince of Ulster, together witli the counties of 1641. Longford in Leinster, and Leitrim in Connaught, was in the hands of tlie insurgents, with the ex- ception of a few strong places which were still O'Ndio ;it preserved from their impetuosity. O'Neile found himself at the head of a body of thirty thousand men, whom he armed partly from Newry and other places which fell into his hands, the rest having scarcely any other weapons than reli- gious zeal and the fervour of national indepen- dence p. Moderate Tlic iusurgcuts began with the language of of"thc'in'^ moderation, even comparatively of humanity. ^urgtntv They resolved to possess the strong places ; they resolved to be lords of the soil. They considered the English as interlopers from whom they had sustained multiplied and protracted injuries : in conformity with the royal commission, they pro- fessed to look with more amicable sentiments on the Scots. They were anxious, as far as possible, to shed no drop of blood ''. ExpniMon But thcsc scutimcnts of comparative forbear- giishlii ui' ance were of short duration. The idea entertain- ed by some of the most sober among them, was that tlu'v would act towards the Eno-Hsh, as the fi Kubli\vorth,\ul.l\', p.4U). Temple, p. 16. Carte, \'ol. I,p. 175. '' Relalion of Lord Macguirc, apud Borlase, Appendix, No. 2. Carte, p. 1 Co. kter. HrSTOJlY or THE COMMOXVNEAJ.TH. 037 Spaniards had behaved themselves towards tlie ( 11 a i\ Moors, conduct tliem out of the territory, and for- ^ '" ^' ^ bid them on pain of death to return'. But tliis \o-n. project implied a situation in the hio^hest degree perilous and critical. They beo-an with disarm- ing the colonists, and leading them in herds out of the province. They determined at first to suf- fer them to carry with them such portable things of value as they might desire to remove. This produced the first disputes. The unlettered Irish w^ere armed with offensive weapons, particidarly clubs and skeins (daggers) ; the English were un- able to resist. It was like the lion and the inferior animals. Whatever the king of beasts claimed, he obtained, and even punished those who had tlie presumption to murmur at his demands. Vio- lence led on to violence. The priests in parti- cular whetted the fury of their lay adherents, and goaded them to ferocity against the heretics. The Irish first stripped the victims of their valu- niii.in.nu ables, and then of their clothes. They hurried u.ef.i^'. ^ them along like droves of cattle. If any were weaker or more infirm than the rest, they left them to perish by the road-side ''. The weather soon became uncommonly severe. It is one of the characteristics of bloodshed and cruelty, that the first step is viewed even by the perpetrator ' Borla«e, p. '?.'>. Temple, p. iVo. '' 'IVinple, p. 84, HR. Bmla-^o, p. .'10. Carle, ^■|)1 I. p 17.'.. 238 HISTORY OF THE COMiMONWEALTII. CHAP, with uncontrolable repugnance; but the first step leads to another and another, till the oftender even revels in his own enormity. Nakedness, snch are the prejudices of artifi- cial society, inspires a feeling- of contempt. That we can treat as we please our unarmed victims, is in some minds a motive to inflict a cruelty and brutality that cannot be retaliated. All society is a sort of discipline that imposes chains upon the wanton impulses of many a wild and lawless spi- rit; and the Irish insuro;ents now soujrht ven- geance for the long restraint of moral and juridi- cal law they had suffered. It was delightful to such souls to say, Now I can do as I please ; no one will forbid ; nay, my companions, and even my spiritual guides, will applaud me. Women and children were often made the preferable vic- tims of assassination ; women and children were often employed as the assassins '. The imagina- tion refuses to unfold and contemplate scenes so diabolical. Some of the unfortunate English threw themselves on the mercy of those who had once been their guests and familiars. They had rea- son to repent their confidence "". Some fled to de- fensible places. They were invited to surrender under the most specious promises ; and no sooner were these promises relied on, than tortures and • Ibid. ■" Tenipk', p. 40, 4 1. Iliishwortli, Vol. IV, p. 41G. HISTORY OF THE LOMMOXWEALTII. 239 murder were without distinction inflicted on those who had felt prompted to trust in them ". Where- ever the English obstinately defended themselves ig4i. in their fortresses, they evinced their superiority; at Lisburne the Protestants boasted that the num- ber they killed of the assailants amounted to three times the number of their ofarrison *'. These in- stances furnished a new stimulus to the ferocity of sir Phelim and his captains. They converted such an event into a signal, to assassinate pri- soners whose lives had hitherto been spared, or to spread death and desolation every where among- the surroundins: villaoes. The detail of murder by the club and the dagger speedily became too tedious to satiate their thirst for destruction. Drowning appeared a more expeditious resource. Drowning. At Portnadown one hundred and eighty persons were in one day goaded from a breach in the bridge into the stream, and shot at by the assail- ants as they rose to the surface p. These execu- tions were repeated again and again. The forced moderation which distinor-uished the Scots from the English was speedily laid aside. Forty thou- sand persons, and by some computations five times that number, are said to have perished in this un- disting^uishins: massacre i. " Temple, p. 40, 41. Rushworth, Vol. IV. p. 416. " Leland, Book V, Chapter iii. P Temple, p. 134. Leland, ubi supra. ' Clarendon, Vol. I, p. 199. 240 HIS TORY UI TIIK ( OMMUXWEALTII. c 11 A P. What happened in Ulster did not serve to check (^ ' '_ ^ the spirit ot" revolt iu other parts of the kingdom. KMi. On the contrary it operated to render the Catho- of tiie'ca-^ lies dcspcratc, and to convince them that they had InhJr pans, "ow no other resource than at once to make a common cause of their religion and their indepen- dence. Those who had committed these ferocious excesses would never give way, and this is said to have been one of O'Neile's motives for exciting and encouraging them*"; and the Catholics whose residence was distant from the bloody scene, had better (thus they reasoned) unite with the perpe- trators, and wade through blood and murder to the noblest ends. Lords and Ouc of tlic most Critical questions at this mo- fr'tiieraie. "lent as to the state of Ireland, was relative to the lords and gentlemen of the Pale. This was the denomination that was given to the landholders of the counties round the metropolis, such as Dublin, Meath, Lowth, and Kildare^ The pro- prietors in these counties were all of English de- scent. But the distribution of the soil was now of old standing ; a great part of it in the hands of the descendants of the first EnQ-lish settlers. As far as that went, they might be expected to enlist themselves in the cause of government. In process of time however they had assimilated themselves in many respects to the pure Irish ; ^ I ;irlr, p. U(j. » May, Rook II, p. 11. Temple, p. :5(i. HISTORY ()!• THE COMMONWRAI/m. 241 and, more than all, they had continued stedfast to c ii a p. the ancient religion, a circumstance which had v ' , given them a common interest and feeling with ifi4i. the Irish. It was a delicate point therefore for the go- Treated by vernors of Ireland, to consider how they were to menf wiu" treat the lords and gentry of the Pale. They must 'ZT^uT avoid giving them groundless cause of oifence ; ^"H'"^'""- and they must not trust them too implicitly. It is a question not now entirely settled, how far the lords of the Pale were implicated in the ori- ginal conspiracy, and how far they were driven into the hostile party by the ungracious treatment they experienced from the government. Shortly after the commencement of the rebellion, the lords of the Pale applied to the castle for arms, to be employed in their own defence, and to repel the incursions of the enemy. The government had recourse to the middle way of delivering arms to them in a slender and sparing degree*; and these they soon after endeavoured to recal ". The day for the reassembling of the parliament had been fixed for the seventeenth of November ; and the Irish par- lord justices, fearing the promiscuous resort to the pr™ogued. capital, which might be produced by the meeting of the parliament, and the keeping of the Michael- mas term, issued a proclamation to put oft' both ' Templp, p. 60. " lliid. Part II, p. 1\. VOL. r. 11 242 HJ6TORV Ul" I HE COMiVIUNWEALTH. CHAP, the one and the other to the beginning of the year ^^ , ' ' , Tlie lords of the Pale vehemently complained of 1641. the prorogation ; and the governors at length re- days, ceded so far from their determination, as to allow the parliament to sit for two days at the appointed time y. The two houses accordingly issued a pro- testation against the rebels, and appointed certain members of their body to resort to the insurgents of Ulster, to enquire into the cause of their arm- ing, and to offer them terms from the governors of Ireland ^. Progress of While tlicsc things were going on at, and in the neighbourhood of Dublin, O'Neile found him- self strong enough to detach a body of four thou- sand men against the Scottish settlements in the north of Ulster, at the same time that he advanced with the main body of his forces to the south *, He reduced Dundalk, which had been the northern frontier of the English in the wars of Tyrone, in the beginning of November ; from thence pro- ceeded with the same success to Ardee, and after- wards threatened Drogheda, a place of the high- est importance on the banks of the Boyne, about twenty-six miles from Dublin '^. Encouraged by the success of the northern insurgents, and feel- the insur gents. " Ibid. p. 4. Borlase, p. 3^, 33. '>' Temple, Part IT, p. 6. Boilase, ubi supra. ^ Temple, Part II, p. 7, 8. ^ Temple, p. 44, 4.5. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 243 ing their cause to be the cause of the main popu- chap. lation of Ireland, the inhabitants of Wicklow rose ^^ j in arms on the twelfth, and those of Wexford, ic4i. Carlow, and several counties in Connaught, im- mediately after ^. Towards the end of November the lord justices detached a body of six hundred foot and a troop of horse to reinforce the garrison of Drogheda*^. But the rebels fell upon them by surprise on their march, at Julian's Town, dis- comfited them almost without a contest, and near- ly cut them to pieces **. This miscarriage at so critical a moment had the most important effects ; and it was doubted whether the insurgents, leav- ing: Droofheda in their rear, would not immediate- ly push on for the capital •'. The extraordinary success of O'Neile, and the Defection spread of the rebellion on every side, produced a of the Paie. decisive eifect upon the lords of the Pale. The English at Dublin had remained almost wholly on the defensive. The contaoion of the Catholic cause became hourly more general and extensive. This seemed to be the moment to dislodge the English from their strong hold in the metropolis. The land -owners of the Pale felt their hearts beat hiofh for the success of their brethren, heirs to the soil of the island, and partakers with them of the same religious creed. They requested a meeting '• Ihid. i>. (■)(), (31. *= Temple, Part II, p. 15. •' Ibid. p. Ki. Rorlasp, p. .">7. ' Temple, Part IT. p. 18. u -2 244 HISTORY OF TFIE COMMONWEALTH. with the leaders of the insurrection, and demand- ed of them an explanation of the objects they had 1641. in view. This explanation led to an entire agree- ment and confederacy ^ of the pro- Munstcr as yet had remained for the most part Munster. tranquil. But the Catholics of the south could no longer resist the sentiment which pervaded the general population of every other part of the island. They embraced the same cause, and pro- ceeded with the same steps ; only that, though their conduct was attended with some acts of atrocity, it was by no means so flagitious, deso- lating and execrable, as that of the first movers of the insurrection. The defection in Munster oc- curred in the middle of December s. f Ibid. p. 19, 20. f Ibid. p. 35, 30. 245 CHAPTER X. PROCEEDIXGS IX GREAT BRITAIX OK THE SUB- JECT OF THE IRISH REBELLION. KING PRO- POSES TO TAKE THE COMMAND IN IRELAND. CATHOLIC SUPREME GOVERNMENT AT KILKEN- NY. NEGOCIATIONS OF ANTRIM AND MON- TROSE. CESSATION OF ARMS IN IRELAND. CHARLES OBTAINS REINFORCEMENTS FROM THAT COUNTRY. The earliest information transmitted to the jro- vernment at home, of the state of affairs in Ire- land, was contained in a letter from lord Chiches- ter to the king, dated Belfast, October 24, which reached its destination on the twentv-eisfhth ^. In transmitted '' ^ to Scotland. this letter it was stated, that certain Irish septs, of good quality, and of the Romish persuasion, had risen, and taken by force Charlemont, Dun- gannon, Tonrages, and Newry, towns of good con- sequence, and were advancing against Belfast^. * Rushworth, Vol. IV, p. 107. '• Brodic, from the Scottish Acts, and Balfour's Diurnal ; Vol. Ill, p. 216. See also Laing, \'ol. Ill, p. '207. 24() IIISTURV OK THE COMMONWEALTH. Charles the same day came down to the Scot- tish parliament, and caused the letter to be read 1641. in that assembly. He then stated, that, if, as he trusted, this should prove a small matter, he should have no occasion to apply to the Scottish nation for assistance to repel the insurgents, but that, if it turned out otherwise, he relied upon their prompt and effectual support *". He added, that he was satisfied that the malcontent Irish could expect no aid from foreign states*^, and that he had already dispatched proper persons to learn the certainty of these commotions : he had at the same time forwarded the information he had re- ceived to the parliament of England **. Proceed- The Scottisli parliament immediately appointed ings on the . . . , ^, . , , subject. a committee to enquire into the arlair, and to make a report in two hours **. Their report was adopted by the legislature, and imported, that, till the state of the business should be more fully known, no particular course could be adopted towards sup- pressing the insurrection, that, Ireland being a dependency of the crown and kingdom of Eng- land, the Scottish parliament would be cautious of prematurely interfering in the matter, but that, if their assistance were called for, they felt the utmost willingness to aflord it, and that the Scot- tish troops in that case lay full as opportunely for action in Ireland as the troops of England. The "^ J bid. «' llusli worth, vbi uipiu. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 247 next day a committee was appointed to enquire what boats and other vessels lay in readiness on the western coast of Scotland, and what number i64i. of men might by their means be transported to the disturbed country. The answer returned on the thirtieth was that there were sufficient for immediately conveying four or five thousand men*'. It was on the same day on which the subject of the Irish commotions was opened to the Scot- tish parliament, that the vote was adopted for recalling Hamilton and Argyle to the discharge of their parliamentary duties ^. In the beginning of November more precise ac- counts reached Scotland of the alarmintr and tre- mendous nature of the rebellion ; and the parlia- ment then came to a resolution to offer an aid of three thousand stand of arms, and an army of ten thousand men, for the relief of Ireland s. A reo^i- ment of fifteen hundred men, that happened to remain undisbanded, was with the king's consent immediately dispatched to Ulster ''. On the twenty-fifth of October the lord justices imciii- dispatched letters from Dublin, to the king at feaThes Edinburgh, and to Sidney earl of Leicester, then ^"s'-'*"'^- residing in London, who had been named to suc- ceed Strafibrd as lord lieutenant, but who had never proceeded to the country wliich he was ap- '■ Rushworth, and Brodie, 7ibi supra. ' See above, p. 170. " Hrodic. Lairig. '' Clarendon, Wil. 1, ji. iioi 248 HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEALTH. CHAP. X. 1641 Nov. I. Proceed- ings. pointed to govern. The intelligence reached the metropolis on Sunday ; and, tlie house of lords having previously adjourned to the afternoon of Monday, Leicester attended by all the privy coun- sellors then in town, came down to the house of commons in the morning, and communicated to them the dispatches he had received*. The com- mons immediately voted a supply of fifty thou- sand pounds for the relief of Ireland, and, on the second day after, a levy of six thousand foot and two thousand horse to serve in that country'. Leave was the same day given to bring in a bill for pressing of soldiers for this service, and a commis- sion was given out for raising volunteers K It was also recommended that the lord lieutenant should repair to his government with all convenient speed '. Twenty thousand pounds were remitted without delay"". The letter which Charles by his secretary of king to the state addressed to the house of lords in London, parliament, ^^g ^^^ cxactly in accord with the language he appears to have held to the parliament of Scot- land. In it the king recommended to the two houses the care of these affairs, and professed to expect their advice respecting the course fittest to be pursued for reducing the kingdom of Ireland". Letters from the ' Journals. ' Journals, Nov. 1, 3. " Journals of Lords, Nov. 1. ^ Journals, Nov. 3, 4. "' May, Book II, j.. 1.3. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 249 On the same day a letter was received on the sub- ject from the king by the speaker of the house of commons. The former of these dispatches is le^i. stated to be of the date of the twenty-eighth, and the latter of the thirtietli of October ". The letters are probably lost. Clarendon adds, that the king s dispatch purported, that he was satisfied that what had occurred was no rash insurrection, but a formed rebellion, which must be prosecuted by a sharp war, and that he committed the manage- ment of the war entirely to the care and wisdom of the two houses p. We may perhaps be allowed to doubt whether Charles in this letter spoke in so unqualified terms of the Irish commotions as his apologist has thought proper to put down for him. It has been suggested, that his meaning in refer- ring the prosecution of the war to the care of the parliament probably was, that he might involve that assembly in a business which should engross its attention, its troops, and resources *J. On the eleventh of November the second dis- Further patches of the lord justices arrived in London, ings. announcing more fully the extent of the rebellion, and requiring an aid from England often thousand men, at the same time statino; that as laro^e a rein- forcement from Scotland would be requisite. This communication seems to have made a deej) im- " Journals. p Clarendon, \ ol. I, )'. 301. p Uing, \nl. 1[I, j.. •ii\, r Journals. 250 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. pression on the house of commons. They voted the same day, that the six thousand men before 1641. agreed-to be raised, should be made ten thousand, and that the assistance of ten thousand from ihe northern kinjrdom should be desired, under such restrictions as parliament might think fit to pre- scribe ^ The next day they determined to raise two hundred thousand pounds for this purpose and others connected with it*. There was how- ever a certain caution observed, and a delicacy that appeared necessary in the business, as far as the Scottish nation was concerned. It seemed inconofruous, that Ireland should in a manner be thrown into the hands of the Scottish forces, while these forces should be paid, as was proposed, from the revenues of Eng-land. Beside which Ireland was construed to belong to England in sovereign- ty*. It was therefore at first resolved, that the as- sistance of only one thousand Scots should for the present be desired*^; and afterwards it was deter- mined that four thousand more should be demand- ed for the immediate expedition ^. On the twenty-fifth the king arrived from Scot- land in London ; and on the second of December he came down to the house of lords, and in his ' Ibid. ' Rushworth, \'ol. 1\", p. 407. " Journals of Commons, Nov 5, 12. " Ibid. Nov. ];3. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 251 speech professed shortly to recal to the attention of parliament the business of Ireland y. On the tenth of December the first conference i64i took place between a committee from the king and the two houses of parliament, and the commis- sioners sent up from Scotland to negociate the transport of ten thousand soldiers of that nation to the north of Ireland. The deputies from the house of commons stated, that their powers ex- tended only to the treating for five thousand men ; in reply to which the Scottish commissioners said, that their instructions were to treat for the larger number, and that, if that were not accepted, they must write back to Scotland for further direction ^. The difiiculty thus started gave occasion to a sin- gular manoeuvre. The house of commons imme- diately voted new powers to treat for ten thousand Scots ; and the king professed that, as soon as ten thousand were agreed on by the two houses of parliament, he would with great forwardness and satisfaction grant a commission for that number *. But the lords demurred. The house of commons had at first scrupled the allowing the Scots to be- come more powerful than the English in Ireland; but the urgency of the case put an end to tlieir hesitation. The lords now took up the question, where the commons had left it. They desired to ^ Journals of Lords. ' Journals, Dec. U. » Ibid. o^O HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH, c H A P. know what assurance the house of commons would ^ ' , give that, if the present going of ten thousand 1641. Scots were agreed to, ten thousand English should speedily follow. To this suggestion the commons answered, that it was not the practice of parlia- ment for one house to capitulate with the other, and that, so long as the bill for pressing soldiers was delayed in the house of lords, they could give no engagement for the speedy sending away of the English succours'*. To understand this pro- ceeding, we must recollect the superior influence which the king possessed in the upper house, which was scarcely put an end to by the secession of lords which took place a few months after on the approach of the civil war. Charles Charlcs howcvcr did not entirely rely on the o?rbiii de- interposition of the lords to delay the forwarding pending in Qf succours for Ireland. He had recourse on the parliament. fourteenth to a very extraordinary measure, which effectually interrupted for the present the pro- gress of the business. This was no other than the coming down, and addressing a speech to both houses of parliament on the present posture of the aff'air. In this speech he vehemently com- plained of their slow progress in the business of Ireland, so contrary to his earnest desire. He added, that he might take up their time in express- ing his detestation of rebellions in general, and ^ Ibul. Dec. 21. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 253 of this ill particular. [Charles could not help even on this occasion avowing: his hatred to the genus, more than to the present example.] But i64i. he added, that deeds were more powerful than declarations ; and, as there was a clause in the bill now depending before the house of lords for the pressing of soldiers, which infringed upon his ancient prerogative of raising men by his single authority, it was necessary for the saving of time that he should say, that if the bill were offered to him for his consent, he could not pass it, unless a reservation were inserted in it, that this act was not to be considered as determining the general question*^. Such an interference of the king with a busi- ness depending in parliament, immediately united both houses in resisting so dangerous a precedent. They presented a remonstrance to the throne, in which they represented what Charles had done as a violation of their ancient and undoubted rights, desired him, in time to come, not thus to break in on their privileges, and besought him to declare who were the persons by whose misinfor- mation and evil counsel he had been induced to such a step, that they might be brought to con- dign punishment ''. [The pressing bill passed the house of lords on the eighth, and received ' Journals (jf Lords. ' Journals, Dec. 16. 254 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. the royal assent without alteration on the four- teenth of February following.] 1641. The conduct of the king in this particular seems to have produced a feeling in the house of com- mons, the very opposite of that by which his pro- ceeding had been dictated. The same day on which he had urged his objection to the pressing bill in its present form, they voted that two hun- dred thousand pounds more should be raised, be- ing in the whole four hundred thousand pounds, for suppressing the rebellion in Ireland, and for other purposes connected with that question^. The lord justices and council wrote from Dub- lin in the close of the preceding month, giving great thanks to the parliament for their care in the speedy sending over provisions and money ^; and, when they found that the commons had voted to accept the ten thousand auxiliaries from Scot- land, these beginnings filled them with sanguine hopes of an eifectual relief. It was now generally believed in Ireland, that considerable forces would in a short time be transported for the defence of the northern- parts of that kingdom ; and this was reo^arded as a commencement that could not fail to lead to the happiest results s. On the twenty-third the house of commons, " Journals of Commons, Dec. 14. ' Rushworth, Vol. IV, p. 413. » Temple, Part II, p. 83. HISTORY UF THE COlVIMONWEALTH. 255 sensible of the delays tliat were likely to attend the arrangement respecting the full number of the Scottish auxiliaries, determined to take two thou- i64i. sand five hundred of them, which were under- stood to be ready, into immediate pay**. In the mean time they exerted themselves to send over the succours from England as fast as they could be prepared : sir Simon Harcourt's regiment of eleven hundred men was landed at Dublin on the last day of December*; and the earl of Lei- cester's, consisting of fifteen hundred foot, and four hundred horse, very shortly after. One of the officers in this last reinforcement was the cele- brated Monk ^. On the twenty-ninth of December the king Further in- sent a message to the two houses, ofi'ering to raise oTtJ^/J^k^n ten thousand English volunteers for the service of Ireland ', in place of the ten thousand men which it had been intended to raise by means of the pressing bill, that bill being at present at a stand. This offer was not accepted. If it had taken effect, its operation would have been to have drawn together a large body of military, of- ficered by the king, and moving entirely under his direction. A memorable circumstance that occurred at '■ Journals. ' Temple, Part II, p. 5'2. ^ Fob. 20. Carte, \ol. I, p. 282. Borlase, p. 52, states this re- inforcement at tive regiments. ' Journals. 250 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. this time, was, that, it liaving been noticed that the kino- put forth no proclamation declaring the 1641. Irish insurgents to be rebels and traitors", apro- cianfadon" clamation in due form was prepared four days Ss':^''''' after, but with this singular direction annexed, ^Hntcd"' "^^ that no more than forty copies were to be printed, and even these were not to be published till the king's pleasure should be further signified re- specting it". In excuse for this Charles after- wards alleged that the lord justices of Ireland had asked for only twenty copies, and that in signing more he had therefore gone beyond what was de- sired of him ". It may not be altogether foreign to the purpose, to compare the late period and thriftiness of this proclamation, with an anecdote related by Wood, strikingly illustrative of the king's feelings on the subject of Ireland. A manuscript copy was found, after the battle of Naseby, of sir Edward Walker's Discourses of the events of the civil war, in which, amonof several corrections in the kino's own hand- writing, it was observed that in one place where the writer had occasion to speak of these insur- gents, and had stiled them "rebels," the king had drawn his pen through the word "rebels," " Dec. 29. Rushworth, \'ol. IV, p. 466. " Ibid. p. 472, 473. ° Answer to the Declaration and Remonstrdnce of ]\Iay 19, 1642 ; apud Husbands, p. 247. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 257 and had substituted the term " Irish" in its stead p. Ill reality Charles felt an unconquerable repug- nance to the classino- the Catholics of Ireland i64i. with the men who in Eno^land and Scotland had sought to curtail his prerogatives. The Catholics, however he might disapprove of much of their con- duct, he still regarded as his friends ; he expect- ed that they would furnish an army to support his claims in this country ; but the contraveners of his authority here he was unintermittedly anxious to put down by every means in his power. But the proceeding which most effectually in- ig42. terrupted the measures that were requisite for tiu- iwe quelling the Irish rebellion, was the king's pro- '"'^"""^"' secution and demand of the five members, whose presence was supposed most indispensible to the o'uidino; the counsels of the house of commons. This was in reality the commencement and first step of the civil war in England ; and Ireland of necessity from this time became a subordinate con- sideration with the parliament. The policy of the parliament of England, so far impolicy as it respects Ireland, is not entitled to much com- ranccofthe mendation. The main principle by which it was ^.j'rfijment. actuated, was an abhorrence of Popery. The ascendancy of the ancient religion in our own country, was of too recent a date to allow of its being regarded with indifference. Add to which, ^ Athenai Oxonienses, \'')1. IT, Fasti, p 17. Sprigg, p. 45. VOL. 1. S 258 IIISTOllV Ul THE COMMONWEALTH. tlic enormities which had marked the commence- ment of the Irish rebellion, were well calculated 1642 to revive all the horror of that religion, which had had so wide a sway in the preceding century. Ac- cordingly, one of the early votes of the house of commons in reference to the insurrection, was that they would never consent to a toleration of the Popish religion in Ireland, or in any other part of the British dominions^*. The parliament- ary leaders hated the Irish Catholics, as much as they feared them. They wished to exterminate the creed of that numerous sect. But, we may believe, they were not so ignorant as to suppose that that was an end easily to be consummated. They were at the same time aware, that a hasty pacification in Ireland, would tend to fill the ranks of Charles with soldiers from that country for the war that was approaching at home. Severity of At au early period the house of commons had tlieir pro- . . i i i • i i i i r» i i • ceedings. petitioned the king, that he would torbear to alie- nate any of the forfeited and escheated lands in [reland, which might accrue to the crown in con- sequence of the rebellion *■. And in February the two houses adopted certain resolutions, importing, that it was evident that many millions of acres in Ireland would become confiscate in consequence of the rebellion, and that two millions and a half of those acres, to be equally taken out of the four 1 Journals, Dec. 8, 1041. '■ Dec. 1. Rushwortli, Vo].IV,p. 438. HISTORY or TIIK COMMONWKALTII. O^j) provinces, would be sufHcient to cover the ad- chap, vances which certain worthy and well disposed >. . "^ j persons appeared willing to make for the purpose i642. of reducino' the rebels to their due obedience. They therefore proposed that this number of acres should be allotted to the adventurers who mioht come forward for so laudable a purpose ^ The sum which the adventurers suggested to be raised by this expedient, was one million. This was what Charles called, " disposing of the bear's skin, before the bear was dead^"' The consequence of this measure however was, supplies that for some time the forces in Ireland were com- forcemenis petently supplied ". The siege of Drogheda, JJ'"J.'° ^'*'' which had been defended with great resolution during the winter, was raised in March ; and Ardee and Dundalk, which had been taken by the northern insurgents in their progress to- wards Dublin, were recovered ^. The battle of Kilrush was ofained by Ormond, lieutenant o-ene- * Journals, Feb. lo, 18. ' Journals of Commons, Dec. 2. This expression occurs in the report of the king's fretful and ungracious interruptions, when he received the grand remonstrance and petition of the house of com- mons. It is sufficiently rcniarkal)le that the reporter appointed for the occasion was sir Ralph Ilopton, who in the war that foUowr d was perhaps the most gallant and effective soldier in the king's army. " Borlase, p. 92. " Borlase, p. GG, dl . Carte, Vol. I, p. ^38.J. s 2 2(50 mSTOllY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. c H A P. ral of the English forces, in the following month y. ,^_^ , The lords of the Pale at this time made certain iG^2. overtures to the castle, which the government, in- fluenced it is said by the anticipation of extensive confiscations, thought proper to resist ''■. Various reinforcements, both in men and money, arrived. Viscount Lisle and Algernon Sidney, sons of the lord lieutenant, now appeared in the field ^. Monro and his Scottish forces to the amount of two thou- sand five hundred were stationed at Carrickfer- gus^. Supplies were conveyed to Connaught; and several regiments, and a considerable sum of money, were forwarded to St. Leger in Munster*^. Charles ^^ *^^ pcriod whcu the war actually broke out proposes to bctwccn the king and the parliament in England land in per- drcw near, Charles shewed himself desirous, if it could be done with suflficient security, of passing over to Ireland, and dealing with the afl'airs of that country in person. The advantages to accrue to him from such a mode of proceeding were ob- vious. He would immediately have one army under his command ; and, by the assistance of Or- mond and other abettors he had there, he did not doubt to be able to mould them to his purpose, y Borlase, p. 74. Carte, p. 314. ' Carte, Ormond Papers, No. G3, 04, G8. Life of Ormond, p. 5:91, et seqq. Borlase, p. 06. * Borlase, p. 77. Collins, Memoirs of the Sidneys, prefixed to the Sidney Papers, p. 148. '' Carte, p. 309. ' Borlase, p. 83. HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEALTH. 261 ■whatever that purpose might be. Besides, being in Ireland, he would have infinite facilities for treating with the insurgents. He might conclude 1^42 with them a cessation of arms ; and this would enable him to bring over the greater part of the English army there, to fight his battles at home. But, more than this ; he miglit conclude a peace with the Catholics. This was a thought which occupied a first place in his mind. Ireland had always been a copious nursery for soldiers. The Irish officers who had served abroad were highly esteemed ; and he did not doubt, probably in many instances with the consent of the govern- ments by which they were retained, of being able to call them home to his standard. This was the only clear and triumphant way that occurred to him, of speedily settling his differences with his discontented subjects in Great Britain. The king had several times already suggested to the parliament his good inclinations to the un- dertaking in person the conduct of the war in Ire- land ^. But on the eighth of April he sent an ex- press message to the two houses, declaring his firm purpose with all convenient speed to go into Ireland, to chastise those wicked and detestable rebels, odious to God and all good men. He further assured the parliament, that he would earnestly pursue this design, not declining any hazard of •* Hubbnnds, y. 75, 86, 105. 2(J2 IIISTOIIY OF lllE COMMONWEALTH. his pcM'sou in pertorniiiig- tlic duty whicli he owed to the defence of God's true religion, and that he i64i?. would never consent to a toleration of the adhe- rents of Popery in that country^. — It should be remembered that Charles had departed from Lon- don, and been a wanderer throuo;h England, from the commencement of the present year. The message was dated from York. His pur- The two houses, in answer to this communica- {ioscti by' tion, complained that the king had deserted the menr''''^ usual coursc of liis predecessors, in that, instead of consulting his great council, the parliament, he had at once declared his resolution of pass- ing into Ireland. They spoke of the prosperous success that had already attended the commence- ment of the campaign, which, they said, would be wholly interrupted, by the encouragement which the rebels would derive from the king's presence in that country. They therefore peremptorily re- fused their consent to any levy of soldiers to be made for that purpose, or to the payment of any army there, but such as should be employed under their direction : and they resolved, that whoever should attempt to raise such forces, should be held an enemy to the state, and be liable to the censure of parliamentf. It may seem natural to ask, why, if Charles conceived it to be so much to his advantage to '' Journals ol" the Lords, Apr. 11. ' .louriiHls, Apr. 11, 15. IllS'l'OKV or THE COMMONWEALTH. 2G3 pass into Ireland, did he allow his taking- that step to depend upon the consent of parliament? The answer to this question is easy. It was under igk'. any circumstances a step that a prudent man might well hesitate to take. There was a memo- rable example in pointy in the records of English history. Richard the Second repaired to Ireland to subdue the rebels of his time; and, when he came home, he found he had no England to go- vern. The period of which we now treat was in an extraordinary degree critical. Charles knew, we will say, that he first set the Irish Ca-. tholics in motion. His object in going would unquestionably be to tamper with that party. But the friends of the Catholic faith in England were exceedingly few. The puritans, and the genuine episcopalians of this kingdom, agreed in this, a horror of Popery. The story of the Gun- powder Treason was not old ; the blood which had been shed in the Irish atrocities, was still streaming. How many friends would Charles have found, when he came back ? What transactions and events mioht occur in his absence ? If he could have gone with the consent or con- nivance of the parliament, this for a time would have lulled suspicion, and palsied the exertions of his adversaries. But how would matters have stood, the parliament being even at the moment prepared to marshal and discipline their armies,, the king absent, and, beside this, engaged in an paign. 0(34 HIS TORY i)l THE tUMMON WEALTH. afi'uir wliicli mifrlit ibr ever have destroyed his cliaracter for Protestantism, with all the sincere 1642. adherents of that faith ? We shall see how deeply his prospects were injured, when eighteen months afterwards he sanctioned the Irish cessation. — No ; there was scarcely any price Charles would not have paid to purchase an army of Irish auxiliaries; but even he could not consent to purchase help, at the risk of findino- no formidable combination of men at home to cooperate with which the help was to be applied. Successes Tlic Campaign in Ireland had by this time as- ffU^^n'tiie sumed in several respects a favourable aspect. .^n;lV'""" '^^^^ insurgents, though fervent to a degree of fury when the purpose was offence, had never been able to encounter the English in the field with success ; and, though they had taken many towns unprepared, or had deprived their defenders of the will to resist by a shew of liberal conditions which were never observed, were altogether in- competent to the conduct of a regular siege. The appearance of Monro with his Scottish auxiliaries, added to the Protestant forces previously station- ed in Ulster, produced so great a sensation, that the chieftains, who had been drawn thither from the continent in the hope of rendering their Ca- tholic countrymen independent and prosperous, held a council in June, in which the idea appears to have been agitated, whether or not they should quit a scene, where the whole face of af- HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEAL'l H. 265 fairs seemed to threaten them with a disastrous issue ^ But these advantages were fuo^itive and tran- 1642. 1 • T^ 1 1 1 Thwaited sitory. As the contest in iingland became every by the pro- day more imminent, it was impossible that the klnyan^i parliament should not look with more keenness to Jf hol^^'J!"* the preparations which were to decide the quar- rel at home, than to such as might have for their object to restore the tranquillity of the neighbour- ing island ; and they occasionally took advan- tage of the situation of affairs in that country, to proceed in arming themselves for the domestic contest. Mutual recriminations occurred upon this head. The king was accused of seizing and converting to his own use the clothing and sup- plies intended for the army in Ireland, of de- nying commissions to the armament intended to reinforce them, and of withdrawing the ships that were destined to intercept the aids the Ca- tholics expected from the continent^. And Charles on his part vehemently exclaimed against a vote of the house of commons of the thirtieth of July, requiring the treasurers appointed to receive the subscriptions of the adventurers for Ireland, to fur- nish one hundred thousand pounds from that fund, 'Carte, Vol. I, p. 311. » Rushworth, Vol. IV, p. 775. Journals ot Lords, Sep. 16. Clarendon, \'nl. II, p ;lj. 266 HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEAL III. CHAP, by way of loan, to the committee for the safety ' , of Enolaiul ^. 1G42. All these circumstances produced a most im- Progrcss , , towards portant change as to the general aspect ot the Ca- rcaumiic^ tliolic cause. Supplies from England for the sup- Kdand"' P^""^ ^^ ^^^^ government originating from hence, were withheld ; and the sea was left free for the admission of such aid to the insurgents, whether in arms, ammunition, artillery, or veteran sol- diers, as might be obtained from the continent. Exertions were therefore made to give an air of regularity and permanency to the Catholic govern- ment in that country. The excesses and enormi- ties, which had characterised the commencement of the rebellion, were discountenanced ; the ori- ginal leaders of the insurrection were neglected : the policy which now prevailed, aimed at placing the principal authority in hands unsullied with blood, and to set at their head persons of an ele- vated class and of unquestionable respectability*. The first steps pursued for that purpose ori^-i- Synod of nated with the church. The Catholic archbishop enny. ^^ Armagh summoned a meeting of the clergy within his jurisdiction ; and this was followed by May 10. a general synod of the Catholic clergy of Ireland, held at Kilkenny ^. It was here ordained, that '' Rushworth, nbi supra. ' LelancI, Book V, Chapter v. Carte, Vol. I, p. 349. ^ Lcland, ubi supro. Borlasc, Appendix, No. VII. HISTORY OF TIIF, C(JMMON WEALTH. 2G7 there should be a provincial council, composed of clergy and laity, for each of the four provinces, and a general council, or legislature, for the go- ig42. vernment of the whole kingdom. It was also de- creed, that ambassadors should be commissioned to tlie courts of France and Spain, as well as to the emperor and the pope. The general assembly General as- sat at Kilkenny in October. It consisted of lords, Ki'i'keni?y. prelates, and deputies from the several counties and principal towns of Ireland. They entitled themselves, " the lords spiritual and temporal, and the rest of the general assembly." They pro- vided for the administration of justice. They or- dained, that in each county there should be a coun- t3'^-council consisting of twelve persons, to whom were referred the duties of inferior magistracy and the cognisance of minor suits and offences, and in each province a provincial council, to receive all appeals, and act as judges of assize. Finally, Supreme they appointed a supreme council of the con- Kiikc'nny. federated Catholics, to consist of twenty-four per- sons, twelve always to be resident, to whom the entire executive power was to be confided '. The supreme council was installed at Kilkenny on the fourteenth of November, somewhat more than a year from the breaking out of the insurrection. It was of great importance to Charles, with a Ormond view to the negociations he meditated with the by ^'ui'" king ' Il>i(l. Nr.. \TII. 2G8 HISTORY OF THE CuIMMONWEALTH. 1642. to com- mand the Protestant forces in Ireland. CHAP. Catholic body, that the Protestant government ^* still subsisting at Dublin, should be placed in the hands of persons in whom he could confide. The individual who for many reasons appeared to him best fitted for his purpose, was Ormond. This nobleman, though himself a Protestant, had all his nearest kinsmen and allies among the ad- herents to the Catholic cause "". He appears to have been engaged with Antrim, previously to the rebellion, in a scheme dictated by the king, for surprising the castle of Dublin, changing the government there, and organising a Catholic army to serve against the parliament in Eng- land". He was however a man of fair charac- ter and generally popular; and he had been greatly shocked at the enormities and cruelties committed by the Irish in the commencement of the rebellion. One of the first acts of the king, after receiving^ intellii^fence of the insurrection, was to send him a commission, constituting him lieutenant-general of the forces in Ireland ". The next point with the king, after that of throwing as much power as possible into the hands of Ormond, was to prevent the earl of Leicester, the lord lieutenant, from going over to that coun- try. He had no connection with the Catholics, and no inclination to their cause ; and was besides Earl of Leicester. " Carte, Vol. I, p. 333. " Sec above, p. 222. " Temple, Part II, p. 12. Carte, Ormond Papers, No. 31. HISTORY OF rilK COMMONWEALTH. 269 a man of too hiffh a character at home, to be in c ii a p. . . X. any way fitted for an instrument in those plans ^ '^j which Charles had in contemplation. " It pleased i642. the kinof therefore to defer the sendino- Leicester to to over into Ireland" in the beo-innino; of the rebel- to to lion, " till such supplies were provided, as were necessary for the prosecuting the war •'." Early in the present year, Charles lent his authority to a difference which arose between Leicester and Ormond, by granting a warrant under his signet, empowering the latter, during the absence of the lord-lieutenant, to dispose of all appointments in the army of Ireland, as vacancies should occur ^. This was secret for a time : but, in the following autumn, the king publicly conferred on Ormond the title of marquis, together with a commission to hold the office of lieutenant-general, no longer in subordination to the lord-lieutenant, but by im- mediate authority from the sovereign "■. In the mean time Leicester grew impatient of Heispre- the situation of holding an office nominally, of hfrjournU which he was forbidden to exercise the power : ^" i^^'^"'!- and the seeming incroachments of Ormond in- creased his discontent. When Charles withdrew from the capital in January, he commanded Lei- P These are Leicester's words Collins, Memoirs of the Sidneys, prefixed to the Sidney Letters, p. 138. ■) May 11. Carte, Ormond Papers, No 82. ' Carte, \ol. I, p. 334. 270 lllslOKV OF IlIE COMMONWEALTH. 1C42. Alarms conceived by the i)ar- liaiiieiit re- specting Charles's dealings with ihc rebels. cester to attend the parliament, to solicit the pro- mised supplies for Ireland ^ These, in conse- quence of the approaching contest at home, were on various pretences delayed. At leng'th he ob- tained an assurance of 55,000/. ; and, being thus furnished, he repaired by command, to the king- then at York, to receive his final instructions '. This happened in July. His dismission however was still delayed ; and Charles carried him along in his suite from York to Nottingham. From hence Leicester wrote a letter, to be communi- cated to the parliament, representing the disagree- ableness of his situation " ; and, shortly after, with the king's approbation followed his letter to Lon- don, that he might fully ascertain with what means he was to enter on the duties of his office ^. Finally, he repaired to Chester with the inten- tion of passing into Ireland. But from hence he was again called away, suddenly and with much urgency, to attend the king now at Oxford, who kept him there during nearly the whole of the year 1G43. Ireland was now become to the parliament a subordinate consideration. They were sensible that the Protestant ascendancy could not be re- stored there, while England was distracted with internal contentions and civil war. In one re- ' Collins, ubi supra. " Sep. 9. Vide Journals, Sep. l(i. ' Ibid. ** Collins, ubi supra. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEAI/IH. 271 spect however their anxieties concerning that country were in no wise diminished. They were aware of Charles's projects for increasing the army ic42 with which he fought against English liberty, by reinforcements to be obtained from Ireland ; and they were anxiously bent to -defeat his expecta- tions in tliat quarter. He had placed the go- verning power on the part of the Protestant in- terest there in the hands of Ormond, a determined royalist, and who had been already engaged in negociation with the Catholics. Ormond was to be feared, as one well disposed to strengthen the arms of the king in this country, and as a conve- nient instrument on his part to form a treaty and alliance with the leaders of the insurrection. The committee of safety therefore sent over its emis- saries to confirm the Protestants in the army of Ormond in their aversion to all conciliation with the insurgents, and to warn the puritans, who were a numerous party in that army, of the danger in which they stood that their principles and pre- dilections would be betrayed by their com- mander^. Further than this, the parliament sent over in the autumn two of its members, Good- win and Reynolds, as a committee to examine into the state of affairs there, and to co-operate with the puritan lord justices y. After four months' ic^s residence however, Ormond found himself stronor •" Carte, \'ol. I, )>. X\i',. > .iduinals of C'omnKins, *<(i.. 7, U>. Q9. 272 HISTORY or the commonwealth. enouoh to send them back to Enoland in tlie fol- lowing- February^. This blow was followed up 1G43. by the dismission of Parsons, one of the lord jus- tices, and substituting sir Henry Titchborne in his room, in April ''. And, shortly after, Parsons, sir John Temple, master of the rolls, and two other considerable officers of state, were commit- ted to prison upon the allegation of certain crimes, which were no further prosecuted''. NcfTocia- It has already been seen that the correspond- tiR-'king ence between the king and the Catholics of Ire- iVisli ca- ^^^^^ ^^^^ subsisted from the very commencement thoiics. of the rebellion. Lord Dillon of Costelo had at- tended Charles into Scotland, and from thence passed over into Ireland in the beginning of Oc- tober, 1641 *^. He returned again to England, ac- companied by lord Taaife, another Catholic peer, his relation, furnished with a letter from the Ca- tholics of Longford, and other instructions, in De- cember. But their journey was intercepted at Ware, and they were themselves committed to the Tower by order of parliamenf^. After four months' confinement they made their escape, and immediately resorted to tlie king, then at York ^. Other overtures from the confederated Catholics ^ Borlase, p. 104. * Ibid. 121. '' Ibid. p. 123. Husbands, p. 341. "^ See above, p. 224. ** Journals of Commons, Dec. 24. Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 159, 160. Rushwortb, Vol. V, p. 349. '^ Clarendon, p. IGO. IirSTOliY OF TIIK COMMONWEALTH. 273 to the court passed through the hands of Cale, a chap. doctor of the Sorbonne, and of the earl of Castle- .^ ^' haven ^. le^^^ The transaction however did not assume a re- gular form, till, towards the close of the year 1642, a short petition was transmitted from the confede- rated Catholics at Kilkenny to the king, profess- ing their duty and allegiance, and requesting that he would appoint certain persons to hear their propositions and offers '. This petition was further inforced by the recommendation of the earls of Ormond and Clanricard. On the eleventh of January 1G43 a commission was issued to Or- mond, conformably to the prayer of the petition ; and in March lords Clanricard and Roscommon, with other commissioners from the king, met the deputies of the Catholics at Trim, for the purpose of opening a negociation between the hostile par- ties ''. Lords Dillon and Taaffe were dispatched at this time by the confederates to the king at Oxford, and the latter of the two returned with all speed to Kilkenny before Whitsuntide'. Rut another negociation of more immediate im- Ncgocia- portance was gomg on at the same time from the trim ami north of Ireland. The scene of this negociation ^^'""™'''- was Yorkshire; and the express occasion was the arrival of the queen in those parts, on her return •■ Borlase, p. l"'. 111 s Borlase, p. 11'2. '' lliiil. p. 111. ' Kiisliwurth, \"<.l. V , y. 3M. \Ol.. J. T 274 CHAP X. 1643. March. Projected descent of the Irish Catholics in Scotland. Adventures of Antrim. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. from her embass}^ and transactions in Holland. Two extraordinary men, both of them already mentioned, found themselves together at hercoun. at York, the earl of Montrose, and the earl of Antrim '*^. They resembled each other in the restlessness of their nature, and their turn for ad- venture and enterprise. They differed exceed- ingly in other particulars. Antrim was formed in the habits of a courtier: he was light and in- constant ; for ever proposing and beginning un- dertakings of the greatest moment, but rarely conducting any one to a conclusion. Montrose also had been subject to change ; but his changes were brought about by some powerful stimulus administered to the depth of his passions. He had the temper of the commander of a gang of pirates ; remorseless in his revenge, familiar with cruelty, and not to be driven back from his enter- prises by perils the most desperate. Between these men the idea was first conceived of a de- scent of the Irish Catholics upon the coasts of Scotland. Antrim, as we have seen, had bc^en engaged in a project with Ormond, dictated by the king, for overturning the government at Dublin, previously to the Irish insurrection. That project came to nothing. Antrim's own account of the matter was: "The fools, liking the business, would not Baillie, Vol. I, p. 304. Husbands, p, '^50. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 075 expect our time or manner of ordering the work, chap. but fell upon it without us '." He therefore seems ^^ ^' ^ to have thought that he could not do better than i64j. go among the rebels in person. The greatest part of his estate lay in the province of Ulster ; and accordingly he mixed with the first insur- gents in the midst of whom his property lay '". In the height of his career in their service, he was seized by the vigilant Monro ", and sent a pri- Aprii,ic42. soncr to Dublin, from whence he contrived to make his escape. Presently after, he passed over to Carlisle, and thence proceeded to York, where he met the queen, with Montrose, and several other Scottish conspirators". The plan here form- ed was, that Montrose and his coadjutors should rouse up the royalists in different parts of Scot- land, while Antrim should neo^ociate at once with the Catholics of Ireland, and with Monro who had lately held him in durance. Monro, with his army of Scots, which had been augmented to ten thousand men p, was to be bribed with pro- fuse offers of money and rank, to make a descent upon England 1, while the old Catholic associates ' Clarendon, Trisli Hehellion, p. 37."). '" Clarendon, Vol, II, p. 608. Life of Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 129. " Carte, Vol. I, p. 310. Husbands, p. 250, 204, Q60. " Baillie, Vol. I, p. 3G4. Husbands, libi supra. P Levcn, the commander in chief, had come over to Ireland in the preceding August, htit u short time after returned to Scotland. '' Baillie, \'ol. I, p 3G.'5. T 2 270 IIISTOHV or THE commowvraltii. ol" Aiiliim were to disembark in powerful numbers upon Scotland to co-operate with the royalists 1G4J. tllere^ All this was projected, while the king yet pretended to be on good terms with the pre- vailinsT party north of the Tweed, and was ac- tually proposing- to them, that a third part of the general council of the empire should be filled with natives of North Britain, and that the north- ern counties of Encrland should be united to the kingdom of Scotland ^. But matters were far from ripe for so mighty an undertaking ; and the whole met with the fate most frequently attendant on such extravagant projects. Montrose and his co- adjutors experienced a cold and doubtful recep- tion ; and Antrim, in the very act of attempting ' to land in Ulster, fell into the hands of his old enemy Monro, who instead of listening to his in- sidious proposals, afforded him no other treatment than that which belongs to an escaped conspira- tor who is brought back to his prison. Upon the person of Antrim however were found a variety of documents which fully developed the dark and sanguinary plan the conspirators had formed *. Concur- It is not to be believed, that these negociations charksin ofthc quccu wcrc carried on without the privity of Charles ; and in that case we are presented these mea- sures. -■ Ibid. ° Burnet, Memoirs of Hamilton, p. 236. Own Time, Book I. ' Baillie, Vol. T, p. 364, 365. Husbands, p. 'ir>0, 251. HISIURY Ur THE COMMUxN WEALTH. 277 with a proceedin<^ of his, in some respects more aggravated than the commissions given to ONeile and the original insurgents ; since, wlien the com- 1643. missions were granted, we may fairly consider the king as unacquainted with the real disposi- tions of the parties. But now, that he had had too fatal proofs of their character, he shewed him- self nevertheless willing to bring over the barb'a- rous hordes so deeply embrued in enormities and murder, that by their means he might curb the discontented spirits of the metropolitan isle. In the mean time negociations were incessantly consuita- going on between Ormond and the supreme coun- *^JtJ!!n cil at Kilkenny, for a general cessation of hostili- ties in Ireland. The Catholics, who had been at first eager in expressing their duty and attach- ment to the king, now began to hesitate. Vague professions of loyalty had naturally suggested themselves, and had served to grace their mani- festoes and declarations. But, when the question advanced towards a serious decision, they could not avoid considerinir whether by ao-reeino- to a cessation they should not quit the vantage ground they now possessed, and might never recover. The Protestant strength in Ireland was daily de- clining. The king had no inclination to prose- cute the war ; and in fact neither king nor parlia- ment was in a situation to send such supplies as it might require. They might hope in no long time to drive the English usurpers out of the 278 HISTORY ()l- THE COMMONWEALTH. island, and make the country all their own. At tlie same time many of the confederates could not 1643. but feel somewhat ashamed at the idea of depart- ing from all their professions of attachment to the sovereign, and asseverations that they had nothing to complain of but the intolerance and tyranny of the puritan dispensers of his authority. Add to which, it was plainly their interest to support the royal cause, as they would have every thing to fear, if the parliament should once reduce the king into subjection to their will ". Cessation Mucli controvcrsv arose respecting the terms of anns *^ . . . . agreed on to bc asscutcd to. The CatlioHcs at first insisted and the Ca- ou a frcc parliament: but this Ormond absolutely vern'ment. ^efused ; as, in the state of the population of Ire- land, it would have been little less than an ab- solute surrender of Dublin and all its dependen- cies into the hands of the enemy ^^'. On the other hand Ormond demanded a supply, to be raised in the kingdom of Ireland for the maintenance of the king's forts and garrisons in that country *. The Irish in reply alleged that nothing could be more unreasonable that they should assess them- selves to support troops, the ver}'^ purpose of whose subsistence it was to be employed against them- selves. At length, all difficulties were got over; the Irish receded from their demand of a free par- liament to be immediately assembled, and agreed " Carte, \'ol. T, p. 435. " Ibid. p. 436. " Ibid. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 279 to grant an aid to the government, of thirty thou- sand pounds. A treaty of cessation for a year was signed at Sigginstown in the county of Kil- ic43. dare on the fifteenth of September y. Ormond had hitherto been the faithful instru- Ormond ment of Charles's politics in Ireland, and was now iTeTiunam. rewarded with the highest magistracy in that king- dom. To that end Leicester was discharixcd from the appointment he had hitherto held, in Novem- ber; and the individual upon whose cooperation the king could most securely rely, shortly after succeeded to the office ^. But a more consider- Kngii^ii 11 ,. 1-1 /-ui • regiments able object upon whicli Charles was intent, was transported to obtain a reinforcement in his war against the ilnd to'^al- parliament, fi'om those troops which had been so admirably trained to encounter all the hardships of war, in their struggles against the Irish. He depended upon them as his principal recruit, to enable him to take the field in the ensuino- cam- paign "■. He therefore gave directions to Ormond accordingly. Five regiments were shipped from Dublin, and five others from the province of Munster, about the month of November^. The former of these were ordered to rendevous at Chester, and the latter to shape their course for '' Ibid. p. 450, 451. ' Ibid. p. 476. » Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 456. '' Birch, IiHjiiiry concerning Glamorgan, p. 4. Clarendon, ibid. sist the king. 280 IIISTOKY or THE CO ALMON WEALTH. tlie port of Bristol. The devotion, we are told, mid artection of most of the principal officers were 161,). cheerfully inclined to the assistance of Charles ; but the disposition of the private soldiers, if suf- fered to clmse their own destination, might tend as much to his particular disservice *^. The cause in which they had been formed to military habits, had been against the Catholics, against those blood-thirsty Irish, who had perpetrated a thou- sand cruelties and horrors upon the Protestants ; and it had been currently rumoured among them, that the king was but too much implicated with the Catholics. They were now called home, to fight for the abettor of Irish atrocities, against the liberties of their country, and the zealous sup- porters and confessors of the reformed religion. Such were the sentiments of the o-reat mass of the forces imported from Ireland. Tiieir sue- Lord Byrou, the governor of Chester, was order- tcrprises." ed to make suitable preparations for the reception of those regiments, which were destined to dis- embark in that quarter. They were accustomed to active service, and inured to hardships ; and this officer immediately led them against one strong place after another, in the county of Ches- ter, with invariable success*^. They defeated an advanced post of the forces of sir William •^ Clarendon^ Vol. n, p. 439. Borlase,p. 138. Whitlocke, p. 77. '' Clarendon, \'ol.n, p. 1.56. Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 299, ct seqq. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 0^1 Brereton. They spread terror every where around chap. them. At lenirth the parliament found it neces- v * . sary to order sir Thomas Fairfax, exhausted as he kjh. had been by the fatigues of a most active cam- defeated by paign, to march against these formidable inva- Fairfax.'"** ders in the month of January. He found them en- camped before Nantwich, the only place in the county which could resist their impetuosity. He attacked them with that gallantry and skill which distinguished all his operations. The battle was sharp, but of short duration. Both wings of lord Byron's forces gave way at once, and retreating towards Acton church, were there " caught as in a trap." Two hundred of the enemy were killed, with the loss of only fifty men on the side of the parliament ; the rest threw down their arms. Five colonels, many other officers, fifteen hundred private soldiers, and one hundred and twenty women, " many of whom had long knives, with which they are said to have done mischief,"' were the prize of that day. Sandford, the most boast- ful and ferocious of the new comers, was amontr the slain. Monk was a prisoner*^. The gene- rality of the privates, it is obvious to suppose, en- listed themselves in the parliamentary army. •^ Ilushworth, \'ol. \', [>. 30'2. Wliitlockc, p. 76, 70, 8'i, ob- serves, that several of the Irish rebels were with this body ; and the rircuinstance of the women strongly corroborates this state- JlKllt. 282 lllbTORY OF THE COMxMONVVEALTIl. The cessation in Ireland, with its obvious mo- tives, the desire of withdrawing the English 164-3. forces from the war in tliat country to fight tia'Sli- against the champions of liberty and patriotism gland" ^"" ^t home, and which, no one doubted, was designed to be followed by a large reinforcement of Irish rebels to be engaged in the same field, had a sti-ong effect upon men of all parties in England, and was much more disadvantageous to the royal cause, than all the assistance which could be drawn from that source would prove beneficial. Even lord Holland said, that, after he had heard of the cessation in Ireland, his conscience would not give him leave to stay any longer at Oxford^. And sir Edward Deering, another deserter from the royal quarters, upon his examination alleged, that, seeing so many papists and Irish rebels in the king's army, and the king's counsels wholly governed by the Popish party, he could not allow himself to stay longer among them, but came to throw himself upon the mercy of the parliament, and to compound for his delinquency s. Many of the earl of Newcastle's soldiers in the north, upon the news of the Irish cessation, threw down their arms, and demanded a composition *". And Whitlocke himself remarks, that "it was observed, the Irish coming over hither, never did the king- any considerable service, but were cut ofi", some Whitlocke, p 77. •-' Ibid. p. 81 ^ Ibid. p. 77. HISTORY OF THE COMiNlON WEALTH. 283 in one place, and some in another, the vengeance chap. of God still following upon blood-thirsty men '." v^_ ' , There is one further incident that properly con- 1643. eludes the history of Irish affairs during the year testaUon." 1643. In the month of July the king, being at Oxford, took occasion, when he was receiving the sacrament at Christ Church from the hands of archbishop Usher, to make the following protesta- tion. It was at this time that he was earnestly engaged in pressing the cessation of arms for the kingdom of Ireland, the operation of which was to be twofold ; first, to allow the Catholics for one year free and unmolested possession of all the ad- vantages they had obtained by the rebellion, and secondly, to bring over, first the English Pro- testant forces, and secondly a powerful reinforce- ment of Irish Catholics, to fight the battles of the kino: aofainst the En<2:lish parliament. But what Charles principally desired at this time was a peace with the Catholics of Ireland, one proposed condition of which was the suspension, if not the total repeal, of the penal laws against their reli- gion*^. The protestation ran thus : " The king being to receive the sacrament, ris- inir from his knees, and makino- a sig-n to the arch- bishop for a short pause, said : ' My lord, I espy here many resolved Protestants, who may declare to the world the resolution I now make. I have, ' Ibid. i>. 83. '' Carte, \ol. H; .\ii['(mli\-, Xo. 15. ojsi.i HISTORY OF THE COM AlOxN WEALTH. to tlie utmost of my power, prepared my soul to become a wortliy receiver : and may I so receive 1613. comfort by the blessed sacrament, as 1 intend the establishment of the true reformed Protestant re- lio;ion, as it stood in its beauty in the happy days of queen Elizabetli, without any connivance at Popery. I bless God, that, in the midst of these public distractions, I have still liberty to commu- nicate. And may this sacrament be my damna- tion, if my heart do not join with my lips in this protestation '.*"' ' King Charles's Works; Speeches, No. 50. Rushworth, Vol: V, p. 316. Rapui conjectures, that by Popery Charles perhaps did not mean the Catholic religion. 285 CHAPTER XI. PREPARATIONS -OF THE SCOTS TO ASSIST THE FORCES OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT. AN- TRIM AND MONTROSE AT OXFORD. lAIPRISOX- MENT OF THE DUKE OF HAMILTON. ANTI- PARLIAMENT AT OXFORD. CHANGES INTRO- DUCED IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. The preparations of the Scots to co-operate witli the forces of the Englisli parliament, were of the most unequivocal nature. The covenant was voted "G43. in the convention at Edinburph on the seven teenth of August ; and the next day a proclama- tion was issued for all the subjects of that king- dom, between sixteen and sixty years of age, to hold themselves in readiness to appear in arms for the defence of the true Protestant reformed religion '^ On the day following the particulars of the assistance desired by the two houses of parliament in England from their brethren of Scotland were delivered in to the convention by the English commissioners^. The treaty was fi- nally concluded on the twenty-ninth of November ; tions in Scotland. Rusli\v(,rllt, \'nl. V, p. AHl. '■ IIm.1. p. 4>r>. 286 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, and the principal articles were, that Scotland «s_^^,^ should provide an army of eighteen thousand 1643. foot and three thousand horse, that the English parliament should pay thirty thousand pounds monthly towards the expence of this army, and that they should advance the sum of one hundred thousand pounds to enable it to commence its march *^. As it was well understood that the treaty in these terms would finally be concluded, great preparations were made for equipping and setting forth these forces, before all the formalities were gone through ; and the earl of Leven, the principal Scottish commander in Ulster, was re- called to take the lead of the forces which were now to commence their march into England'^. Conduct of f\^Q marquis, or as he is hereafter stiled the tlie tuikc of '■ ^ Hamilton, dukc of Hamilton, himself an artful and subtle politician, seems to have been overreached on this occasion. He saw the violent and uncon- trolable character of the Scottish covenanters ; and he deemed it vain to set himself in direct hostility to them. Nor indeed was his inclina- tion altogether in opposition to theirs. He had a leaning, as has been said, to the presbyterian party, but with a strong personal attachment to the king. He was naturally an enemy to tem- <= Ibid. '' Clarendon. Vol. II, p. 139. Lcvcn therefore must have pass- ed a second tune into Irehind. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 287 pestuous counsels. He was formed by temper ^"y- and by habit for the character of a courtier ; and v_^^^_^ he believed that by pliant and temporising mea- ^^'*^- sures he should be able ultimately to win over the rutrscd and half-civilised enthusiasts with whom he had to deal. He did not see how he could prevent the meeting- of the Scottish conven- tion ; and he advised the king to give way, to what it was perhaps impossible for him effectually to prohibit. He knew that there was still a strong party in Scotland attached to the royal authority; and he believed that with their concurrence he should be able to outvote the more rigid reform- ers. He adopted another, and a more perilous course. He and some of his brother-royalists se- cretly stimulated the enthusiastical party to stickle for extreme conditions. They insisted on the co- venant : the majority of the leaders in the En- glish parliament were averse to presbytery. They insisted on a committee to be selected from the parliament of both kingdoms, to whom was to be intrusted the conduct of the war : it was imagined that the pride of the English nation would never subscribe to this stipulation. The friends of Ha- milton were completely outwitted in all these points. Vane and his fellow commissioners with few variations subscribed to whatever was de- manded of them ; and the conclusion of the treaty scarcely experienced the smallest impodimont '". •■ Clarendon, Vol. TI, p. 382, 333. 288 in^Tdin' OF rill'. (■()M;\lox^^■EAI/m. It was a most perplexing situation in vvliicli Hamilton was placed. He loved his country, 1G13. and sympatliised with its reformers. He could ities^r "ot endure the thought, that they should again ^vlnch iio^ jj^ exposed to that prelacy and liturgy which they «''^- so cordially detested. At the same time he could not forget, that he was the trusted minister of his sovereign, and that once on a trying occasion, when lie was absurdly accused of meditating to assassinate the king, Charles had caused him to pass the whole night alone with him in his bed- chamber ^ He was distracted between contending duties. He could not betray his country, which had the strongest claims upon his assistance ; he could not betray his king, whom, in addition to every inducement of loyalty, he regarded as his confidential friend. Above all, he deprecated the idea, that the Scottish nation should draw out its armies to assist Charles's English opponents : and even this, with all his efforts, he could not pre- vent; nay, by his too nicely balancing his duties, he had become obnoxious to the charge of having secretly abetted their invasion. Antrim and Thc iuvasiou was au occurrence that incited oXiT^ ' Charles to the adoption of preventive measures ; and the same persons were now present with him at Oxford, that in the spring had attended upon the queen at York. The king had long since fixed the object of his preferences, and determined his ^ Burnet, Mcmoiis of Hamilton, p. 1?, 13. HISTORY OF THE COMMoXVVKALTH. OSi) choice as to tlic means by wliicli it was to be ob- cii a i». tained. lie thought no measures were to be re- ^ 1 __/ jected, tliat would enable him to discomfit the ig43. parties who souo^ht to abridge his prerogatives. He had sanctioned the project tor inundating his native kingdom of Scotland with the hordes of undisciplined Irish Catholics, when as yet the Scots had entered into no hostile measures against him, and while he was courting their alliance with the most lavish and alluring: otiers of favour. He could not therefore hesitate at present in re- suming schemes, which he had adopted when no such pressing occasion seemed to call for ex- tremities. Montrose had no sooner witnessed the proceed- Piojectofa ings of the Scottish convention, than he hastened buj'." to the south, and joined the king who was en gaged in the siege of Gloucester s. The siege was soon dissolved by the arrival of Essex and his army; and Charles, with iAIontrose in his train, shortly after returned to his winter-quarters at Oxford. In no long time Antrim, who had once more escaped out of the custody of Monro, also appeared there. Here each of them, in con- cert with the other, pressed their former project. They were both actuated with the most violent hatred to Argyle : Montrose, a young nobleman of the most aspirino; ambition, because Argyle '^ Clareiuloii, Vol. IF, p. 4atJ. VOL. 1. L 290 lirslOItV (JF 11 IK COMMUNUKALTII. liad tlieii the chief government ot" Scotland s ; and Antrim, because the Argyle family liad, fifty 1G4;}. years before, possessed themselves of a large ter- ritory in the south-west of Scotland, to which his family had pretensions'*. Montrose believed that, if he could once shew himself in Scotland, he should collect about him vast numbers, who were friendly to the king, and adverse to the ruling party ; but what he wished for was a small, but resolute body to support him in the outset. Two thousand men were as much as he required for that purpose. Antrim, who had per- petually vaunted how much he could do, but had never fulfilled any of his promises to Charles or his friends, was too happy to be once again trust- ed. He engaged to bring over this body of men from the Catholics of Ulster '. Charles paid his supporters in such coin as he possessed : he made Antrim a marquis in January ^, and Montrose in the May following'. Hamilton While tlicsc tliiuos were in agitation, news was Oxford. brought that the duke of Hamilton, having failed in all his undertakino;s to the kino- in Scotland, was hastening to Oxford, that he might explain his miscarriage, and clear himself from any as- » Ibid. p. 607. *" Clarendon, Life, p. 129. Burnet, Own Time, Book I. ' Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 608, 609. '' Peerage of Ireland. ' Collins, Peerage, art. E4rl Graham. IIISTOIIV i)V IIIE COMMONWEALTH. 201 persions that might be thrown on liis conduct, chai*. Montrose feared Hamilton, who had been greatly ^_]^ ; a favourite with both Charles and his queen, and ig43. felt that he was no match for the duke within the element of a court. He therefore exerted his ut- most rhetoric to convince the kinir, that Hamil- ton's failure was not owing to the weakness and irresolution of his character, but to absolute treachery, and added that he could not under- take for the success of any of his plans, if they were conmiunicated to a man who was not to be trusted. Hamilton in fact was at all times the enemy of extreme and desperate measures, in which Montrose principally delighted. The lat- ter therefore conjured Charles to be upon his guard against the insinuations of so dangerous a leader. He believed the kintr entertained no doubt of his own good faith and zealous coopera- tion ; and he warned him not so much as to give a private hearing to one by whom the royal in- terests had been so signally betrayed "\ Charles is thrown listened to the representations of Montrose ; and Hamilton, with his brother, the earl of Lanerick, secretary of state for Scotland, were taken into custody in December, as soon bs they arrived in Oxford ". Lanerick escaped ; and Hamilton was sent prisoner to Pendennis Castle in Cornwal, where he remained till the conclusion of the war. ■" Clareiulun. \\j\. II, |.. \:,9. " Iliiil. p. 4(31. u 2 into prison. of Lane- rick, 29'2 HiSToKY UV nil. LU.\JM().\\\l'Ai;>ll. There was still some mystery tliut liiing upon the coiuUict of Hamilton. If his good faith to )64.<5. the king- was entire, the same can hardly be be- of'thTiari lieved of his brother. Lanerick, availing himself of his office of secretary of state, affixed the royal signet to the proclamation of the eighteenth of August, calling upon all his countrymen to arm, preparatory to their invasion of England. Con- scious, as lie probably was, of the unfaithfulness of his proceeding, it seems strange that he should have become the companion of Hamilton in his journey from Edinburgh to Oxford. This must either be attributed to the unblushing craft of a courtier, who, while he covertly pursues his own course, imaofines that no beholder will detect him in his windings ; or to another cause, not less fre- quently operating, but less impressive in the nar- ration, the weakness of the mind of man, and that, while he baffled and circumvented the ob- servation of his brother, he could not resist that brother, when he said to him. Come with me, that we may together assert the honourableness of our proceedings, to our common master ! Arrived at Oxford however, the heart of Lanerick failed him. He was soon after found in the parliament quarters; and, proceeding thence to Scotland, became for some time one of the most trusted agents of the predominant party". " Clarendon, Vol. II, y. 7J7, 738. Burnet, Mtmoirs of Hainil- HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTIF 293 As lie passed near London, he was taken into custody, probably with his own concurrence, and examined by the committee of safety, concerning i6'43. the commissions sent out of Scotland into Ireland, he being- secretary of state for Scotland, prior to the rebellion in that country ''. His examination would be a most valuable historical document : but the parliament did not think it right to heap disgrace on a man, who promised to devote him- self for the future to their service i ; and they certainly judged the guilt of the king as to the ton, p. 27 1. Yet it is curious to observe in what manner tlic elia- racter of Lancrick is subsccjuently described by Clarendon. " lie was not inferior in wisdom and parts of understanding to the wisest man of that nation, and was very much esteemed by those who did not hke the complying and insinuating nature of his bro- ther, lie was a man of great honour, courage and sincerity in his nature, and (which was a rare virtue in the men of that time) was still the same man he pretended to be." \'oi. Ill, p. 278. He cannot flatter, he 1 An honest mind, and plain. He must speak truth : An they will take it, so; if not, he is plain. This kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends, Than twenty silly, ducking observants. That stretch their duties nicely. Shakespkar; Lear. Hamilton, with his subtle loyalty and aflection to his master, often appeared like a knave ; while Lanerick, who stuck at no- thing, was thought sincere, in the emphasis of his professions to the covenanters, and sincere again, when he recanted them all. '' Journals of Commons, Feb. 1, Hilt. ■' .lournalb of Lords, Jan. 22. 294 iiiSTOiJY oi rni". common wkaltu. coinmencemcnt of the Irisli rebellion, too tho- roughly believed among their partisans, to want 161;). any additional proof. Death of One of the most considerable events in the close of the year 1G43, was the death of Pym. Scarcely any man was more conspicuous than he in the bejiinninti of the Longf Parliament. "He was at that time," says Clarendon, " the most popular man that ever lived. He had a very comely and ^rave way of expressing himself, with great vo- lubility of words, natural and proper, and under- stood the temper and atiections of the kingdom as well as any man '^." His reputation and the greatness of his influence caused various charges of foul dealing and corruption to be brought against him ^ : but, when he died, he was found, notwithstanding his opportunities to enrich him- self, and the simplicity of his living, not to have left enough to pay his debts. Ten thousand pounds therefore were voted by parliament for that purpose ; and he was interred in Westminster Abbey at the public expence *. King con- But what occasioucd the greatest anxiety to got'rid"o/° Charles's mind, was the question how by one menu^"^''" mastcr-strokc to get rid of the opposition of the parliament at Westminster. If this could be ef- ' Vol. II, p. 462,463. * Journals of Commons, Sep. 9 and 18. ' Ibid. Dec. 11 ; Feb. l:?, 1644. HISTORY OF THE COxMxMONWEvXLTH. 295 fected in any way wliicli by the general mind chat. should be felt to be legal, he would have done as », , much, it might be more, to establish his ascend- 1643. ancy over every thing that was hostile to his views, tlian could be eti'ected by twenty victories in the field of battle, lie had been advised by some, that it would be excellent for this pur- pose, to publish a proclamation declaring the parliament dissolved. It was their opinion, that the act for the continuance of the parliament was void from the beginning, as it was not in the power of the king to bar himself from the power of dissolving it, which was an essential part of his sovereignty. Upon this point he consulted Hyde, then chancellor of the exchequer, who dis- suaded him from the measure. He said, the king could not imaofine that his forbiddino;' them to meet any more at Westminster, would occasion one man the less to meet there ; and that, as it would confirm the assertions of the two houses as to his intentions (for, on the same principle that he denied the validity of that act, he might set aside all the other acts made in this parliament, some of which were very precious to the people of England), so it might bring them an accession of members, who, having severed themselves from them upon the guilt of their actions, might upon this point again return to them and be reconciled ". " Clarendon, Life, \'ol. F, p. 86, 87. vjQG iilVroUV Oi lllK LIJMM(J.N HEALTH. Another expedient that was sug^^csted, was Tor tlie kino; to issue a proclamation, summoning 1613. all those members of both houses of parliament, who had withdrawn, or been driven, from their seats at Westminster, to meet on a certain day at Oxford. It would then, it was said, become evident, that the people of England were subju- gated, and the kintr kept out of his revenues, and exiled from his established seat of government, by a mere handful of those persons, who truly constituted the great council of the nation. Charles, who had shewn himself favourable to the idea of a proclamation for dissolving the par- liament", felt some reluctance to this latter ex- pedient, lie was apprehensive that, when these persons were assembled with the usual forms of a legislative assembly, they might adopt measures which he should regard as inadmissible, and par- ticularly that they might press for the conclusion of a pacification between the contending parties, upon terms that he should by no means approve. It was answered to this objection, that it could not be supposed that two houses of parliament, composed exclusively of his own partisans, could do any thing troublesome or oftensive to him ; and, even if they were so inclined, they must feel themselves under the closest constraint, as at any rate they would be but half a parliament, the re- " J bid. lll.STORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 297 muindcr sitting at Westminster, and tlie import- ance of those at Oxford singly depending on their entire concurrence with the sovereiirn. It was i643. added that, as to peace, there could be no appre- hension on that score, since, in any proposals made by the two houses at Oxford to the two houses at Westminster, the latter would only look to the quarter from which they emanated, and would reject the most reasonable, or even the most abject overtures, rather than recognise this rival authority. The result therefore would be, that the two houses at Oxford would resent the disdain with which they would be sure to be treated, and thus proposals, the most auspiciously begun, would only terminate in an increase of animosity between the parties -"'. Charles was satisfied by the^se arguments ; and, on the twenty- rrodama- second of December, appointed the twenty-second ingthc of January following for the meeting of the Zt'o"''^ members of the two houses at Oxford : at the ^o"'*^ 'o ' assemble at same time ofl'ering a free pardon without excep- Oxford. tion to all such members of both houses as should without delay obey this summons y. One of the first objects attended to by the i6'i4. members of parliament assembled at Oxford, was of peace to make certain overtures of peace to the adverse oXrdpar- party. Accordingly, a few days after they liad ''"'"*^"'* commenced their sitting, a letter was dispatched Clarrnd-.ii, \(il. |[. ].. Hi. 111. ' Hnshworth, \'<'I \', p. 550. 298 HISTORY OF lUK COMMONWEALTH. by them to the earl of Essex, signed by the prince of Wales, now nearly fourteen years of age, and 7644~ the duke of York, aged ten, with forty-three lords, and one hundred and eighteen commoners ^. In this letter, after certain compliments to the cha- racter of the person to whom it was addressed, the writers speak of their having received such unquestionable demonstrations of the deep and princely sense which possessed the royal heart in relation to the miseries and calamities of his poor subjects in this unnatural war, and of his most entire and passionate wish to redeem them from that deplorable condition by all ways possible, consistent with his honour, and the future safety of the kingdom, that it would be impious to ques- tion the sincerity of these demonstrations. They therefore desired the earl to represent the king's disposition on the subject, and their most sincere and earnest desire of peace, to those by whom he was trusted, that some persons might be appointed on either part, and a place agreed on, for com- mencing a negociation ^ Essex sent this letter to the two houses at Westminster. Rujoctcd. It was apparent that no effect could arise from this overture. If the parliament allowed them- selves to be treated or applied to in any other manner than as the parliament of England, they abandoned the ground on which their authority ' Rushworth, Vol. h, p. 566, 573. * Ibid. p. 566. IIISTOKY or JIIE COMMONUKALTII. 209 rested. They could not iiegociatc efiectually, if chap. tliey had not a character recognised by law ; and, v, ' if tlie negociations were broken off, how were they i644. to recover the ground upon which they had stood ? The two houses therefore resolved to take no no- tice of this letter''; and Essex returned an answer to the king's commander in chief by whom it was communicated, observing that it was wholly nugatory, inasmuch as it was not addressed to the two houses of parliament, for the maintenance of whose privileges he, and those who acted with him, were resolved to spill the last drop of their blood *^. A second attempt was made by a letter from the king's commander to Essex, desiring a safe-conduct to and from Westminster for two per- sons, to be sent by the king concerning a treaty of peace *^ : but this also was refused. Lastly, a letter was addressed by Charles to the lords and commons of parliament assembled at Westminster, by the advice of the lords and commons of parlia- ment assembled at Oxford *". Thus ended this impotent overture. The meeting of lords and commons which was Money held at Oxford, did not assume to call themselves Iokikrs*im. a parliament, and therefore they were considerably a\7tiiorit -of crippled in their functions. But they would have ^''^ ""»>- r • 1 • PI • p 1-11 parliaiiicnt. tailed in one of the objects for which tliey were '■ Journals, Jan. 00. ' Journals of Lords, Feb. 1. '' IJu-Iiworlli, \<.l. \', J) :,6n. - .rournal-. Marcli 0. 300 HISTORY OF TIIF. (OMMONWEALTII. called too-ether, if tlicy had not furnished the king with some facilities for raising money to defray ^6447 the expences of the war. It was therefore ap- pointed, that the members of the house of com- mons should bring in the names of all the gen- tlemen of estate, and other persons who were re- puted to be rich, in their several districts, and what sum of money each might be well able to supply the king with by way of loan in the pre- sent exigency. Letters were then written, sub- scribed by the speakers of the two houses, inviting the persons to whom they were addressed, to fur- nish the specified sums ; and the king made a grant of certain forests, parks, and other lands, to certain persons in trust, for security to the lenders. By this means nearly one hundred thousand pounds were raised. The parliament at West- minster had laid an excise upon certain commodi- ties according to an assigned tariff': the lords and commons at Oxford judged this to be a suitable pattern, and accordingly nominated commissioners of their own to superintend the collection of this tax ^ They also lent their authority to the im- pressing of men, and encouragement of volunteers, to fill the royal armies^. On the sixteenth of April the king prorogued this anomalous assem- bly ^. ' Clarendon, Vol. II, \). 45'.', 15,'). ' Rushworlh, Vol. V,p. 601. HiSTuHY (jr nir commonwealth. 301 Oil the day on which Charles had appointed his lords and commons to meet at Oxford, the commons at Westminster ordered their house to be 1044. called over. There were two hundred and eighty holfuy'" members present, exclusively of one hundred ^'"''■"'" '■ J mons at more employed in the service of parliament in ^^'«^^""in- their several counties''. On that day they ex- pelled fifty-two members of their body, for non- attendance, and being- in the king's quarters'. The number of the lords who met on the same day was twenty-two '^. Eleven were for dificrent reasons held to be excused ^. A very important transaction which took place Heforma- , , 1 • 1 i 1 • 1 -1 tion of tlie at the period at whicli we are now arrived, was university the purification of the university of Cambridge, bridge" It has been seen that one of the great objects of the reformers of this period, was a change in the spirit of the national religion. They had con- ceived a deep moral aversion to the splendour and wealth of the established church, copied and perpetuated as it had been from the example of the church of Rome. They believed that the best and most exalted principles of the Christian reli- gion could never be made habitually to pervade the great mass of the people, while the heads of the church and a large portion of the dignified clergy, lived in alHuence and ease, and the means of luxury, and of an imposing show of pomp '' Whillockc, p. UO. ' Jounials. *■ Journals 302 IIISIUKY ur IHE COMMONWEALTH. and indulgence, were placed in their hands. By a fortunate concurrence of circumstances, (such loM^. they esteemed it,) hardly at any time to be ex- pected, and not likely to be repeated, a great por- tion of the people of England were at this time deeply impressed with the feelings of moral duty and of the beauty of that simplicity which the au- thor of the Christian religion inculcated, and pre- ferred that creed which operated in philanthro- pical sentiments and well-governed habits of con- duct, to the ceremonies and ostentation that won so much the reo-ard of their ancestors. It was the duty of those who took the lead in these mo- mentous times, so to modify the forms of religion amono- us, and to establish such a character and disposition in the clergy, as might bid fairest to perpetuate all the good principles which were now in fashion. It was apparent that the constitution of the universities, those great seats of education for the higher orders, and for the clergy in particular, stood forward a most powerful obstacle to the purposes which in these respects the reformers had in view. It is characteristic of all establish- ments which have existed for any length of time, that they are strenuously in opposition to all in- novation and chanjre. If man were an animal exempt from gross follies and error, and if past ages were always as wise as those which come after, establishments could do nothing but oood. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. ;j03 But, since it is one of the great attributes of our c h a i*. species to be susceptible of improvement, and , ^ ' , capable of experiencing the most beneficial \6u. changes, for tliis reason what are vulgarly called venerable establishments will often range them- selves in opposition to the best interests of the community. A long perpetuated establishment for education by the necessity of things is a praiser of the past. The old give lessons to the young ; and these old, in colleges and universities, are shut out from any extensive observation, while successive generations within their walls are wholly confined to the repeating what they learned from the ge- neration before. Thus the presidents and pro- fessors merely continue what the nurse began, and the instructions infused into the stripling are converted into shackles to restrain the years of maturity. But, if this imperfection is incident to all esta- Passive blishments, it acted with particular force at the rdgnin"g''* present time. The most influential men in our jl^e E'"gii"i. universities were not so obtuse of mind as not to ""'^'^'^'I'es. see, that, if the prerogatives gradually and im- perceptibly accumulated by the monarch were brought into contest with the increasinir strenoth of mind of the community at large, their interests would be deeply involved in the struggle. The king of England in ordinary times held the power of the sword ; but the church possessed exten- 304 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, .sively the means of persuasion, and of mould- , ^^ , ino- tlic iudtrments of the community : an alliance 1644. between these two would therefore greatly tend to streno-then tlie hands of each ; and it was cul- tivated perhaps more actively at the present mo- ment by the latter than by the former. Her leaders, particularly during- the reigns of James and Charles, had shewn themselves ever ready to inculcate the sacrcdness of the royal character, and the unlimited obedience that was due to it from every Christian. They expatiated abundantly upon the enormous guilt of those who attempted in any way to check the royal prerogative, traced the origin of such attempts to infernal suggestion, and held up all that were concerned in them to the execration of true believers. Had it not been, that the hierarchy of the established church had at this time lost its hold upon a great part of the community, and particularly upon a large pro- portion of its most pious and exemplary charac- ters, these weapons of their spiritual warfare might have proved altogether irresistible. To remove the intluence of doctrines, so per- nicious to the political interests of mankind, as well as, in the eyes of the parliamentary leaders, so injurious to the moral sentiments and character of the community, it became absolutely necessary to purge the universities. Oxford was in the liands of the royal party, and was the present seat of the court ; l)ut Cambridge was in that part HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 305 of the kingdom where the parliament possessed chap. beyond question the military superiority. ^ "^^ The first instance in which the university of i644. Cambridge forced itself into notice in the present university'' contest, was when they attempted in August 1G42 hndg^' to send the university plate to the kins', to be ^o'<^dtobc "A c3' sent to the coined into money to enable him to carry on the '<^ing- war. Cromwel was one of the representatives for the town of Cambridge in this parliament, and he had just received a commission to raise a troop of horse against the king. One of his first exploits was an endeavour to defeat the measure now adopted by the university. We are assured by the ecclesiastical writers, that Cromwel was out- witted in this, and baffled of his prize, by means of which his character as a subtle, active man was somewhat brought into question ' : but we find by the journals, that the house of commons voted him an indemnity for what he effected in this trans- action •". The truth probably is, that a great part of the plate was stopped ; but that a portion of it reached its destination. Cromwel is said by the royalist writers to have conducted himself with some ruggedness on this occasion ". Shortly after this, Cambridge was made a gar- ' Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, Part I, p. 109. Life of Barwick. » August 18, 1612. See further, Journals, June 10, 1613. " Walker, Part II, p. 146, VOL. I. X 30G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 161K Cambridge made a gar- rison for ilie parliament. Founda- tion and re- venues of the univer- sity con- firmed. rison for the parliament, chiefly under the super- intendence of Cromwel ". That his soldiers were not debauched and licentious, is proved to us by the most indubitable testimony ; but it must have been sufficiently vexatious in this seat of learning, that many of them were quartered upon the uni- versity ; and we may be sure, from the detesta- tion they had imbibed of idolatry and ceremonial observances, that they were unwelcome guests to many of the older members of that body. They frequently vented the fervour of their zeal in the demolishing of images and painted windows ; and they expressed, in a way sufficiently unequivocal, their dislike of the habits and costume of the more elevated members of the establishment. Add to which, those of the Cambridge clergy, who felt themselves stimulated by their political partiali- ties to give vent in an unseasonable and offensive manner to the lively interest they took in the royal cause, experienced more serious effects from the displeasure of the parliament and its adherents. Several of them were taken into custody, and were occasionally treated with that contumelious severity which is so apt to form one of the fea- tures of civil broils. At length, in the beginning of the present year, the parliament set itself seriously to introduce " Lifeof Banvick. Walker, Part I, p. 109. lirSTOllY OF THE COxMMONVVEALTH. 307 that change into the university of Cambridge, which the circumstances of the times demanded at their hands. As a first step, an order was is- i644. sued by the two houses, declaring that, whereas doubts had been suggested, upon the ordinance for the sequestration of the estates of delinquents, whether the estates of the different bodies in that university came within the operation of the ordi- nance, the meaning of parliament was that these estates and revenues should be in no wise seques- trable, but that the sequestrations should fall merely upon the individual who had been pro- nounced delinquent, and that no longer than du- ring the time that he would otherwise have re- ceived or enjoyed those revenues p. Having thus recognised and declared the soli- Eariof dity of the fabric of the university, the parlia- appohnJ/ ment next proceeded to the consideration of the Ihe'^refoJm. amendments tliey were desirous of introducing into its present condition. That every thing which regarded it might be conducted with as much mildness and urbanity as the nature of the case would bear, they placed the affair entirely under the direction of the earl of Manchester. He was a man of a gentle and generous nature, and a true lover of his country. His temper withal was so excellent, that the harshness of the contest now at issue, and the rough part he was called upon •* Journals of Commons, Jan. 3; of Lords, Jan. 6. X 2 308 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. to act in it, had scarcely power to obscure the marks of his original disposition ; insomuch that \6Ai. he was never guilty of rudeness towards those ao-ainst whom it was necessary for him to pro- ceed ; and he performed all good offices towards his old friends of the court, and others, which the strictness of the times, and the nature of the employments in which he was engaged, would allow him to exert ^. A fitter person could not be found for the office ; and accident seemed to point him out for the business, as he was local military commander, or, in the language of the times, Serjeant major-general to the seven associated counties of Norfolk, Suftblk, Cambridge, Essex, Huntingdon, Hertford and Lincoln "". An ordi- nance was therefore made, conferring on him an extensive authority. He was empowered to appoint committees, who were entitled to call before them all provosts, masters, fellows and students of the university, and to hear complaints against such as were scandalous in their lives, ill- affected to the parliament, fomenters of the pre- sent unnatural war, or who had deserted the or- dinary places of their residence, and to examine witnesses in support of these complaints. The committees were to make their report to the Ser- jeant major-general, who had power to eject such as he should judge unfit for their offices, and ■1 Clarendon, Vol. 11, p. Qll. "" Journals of Lords, Jan. 6. HISTORY or THE COMiMONWEALTH. 309 to put in their places persons whom he should chap. nominate, and who should be approved by the >^_1 " ; assembly of divines sitting at Westminster ^ 1644. Manchester, being invested with these powers. His pro- arrived at Cambridge in the middle of Februar3\ ^^^ "^^' Speedily after, he issued his warrants to the dif- ferent colleges and halls in the university, forth- with to send to him their statutes, with the names of their members, and to certify to him who were present, and who absent, with the express time of their discontinuance. Two days later, he sent to the officers of the different colleges, requiring them to appear before him on the tenth of March, to answer such enquiries as should be made by himself, or commissioners appointed by him *. The thirteenth of March was the day destined Changes for the first great alteration to be introduced into "'*"^"*^^- the discipline of the university. The number of the colleges was sixteen ; and of these the heads of six were allowed, and gave their consent, to retain their former stations. Ten new heads of colleges were appointed ; and these appear to have been selected with great propriety and judg- ment. Two of them were Benjamin Whichcote and Ralph Cudworth, men of unquestionable literary eminence, both of them, but particularly the latter, qualified to do honour to any seminary • Ibid. Jan. 22. • Walker, Siiftcrings of the Clergy, Tart I, i-. 112. 310 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. for education in the world. Another was Thomas Young, the preceptor and friend of Milton. The 1644. remainder, though their names are not so familiar ' to our ears, were men of great learning, high re- spectability, and unblemished life ". A few days later, sixty-five fellows were ejected from the dif- ferent colleges, and their places filled by others, nominated by Manchester, and approved by the assembly of divines ^\ The ordinance of parlia- ment empowered the serjeant major-general, to dispose of a fifth part of all the estates or reve- nues he should sequester, for the benefit of the relatives of the persons ejected ^. Reflecuons. Undoubtedly this revolution involved in its operation a considerable portion of calamity. But it seldom happens that any considerable reform is free from that blemish. The reformation of the preceding century, when the Popish religion was thrown down in this kingdom, and Protestantism erected in its room, was liable to the same objec- tion. Many of the ejected clergy were deprived of their profession and their means of subsistence ; and a multitude of monks, nuns and friars were turned out vagabonds through the land. It would be a senseless illiberality to doubt that there were among these many excellent and exemplary per- sons ; and, if it were otherwise, destitution and " Neal, History of the Puritans, Book III, Chap. iii. ™ Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, Part I, p. 112. * Journals of Lords, Jan. 6. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 311 starving are not tlie punishments that equity would award against those who offended. The thing to be desired in all cases is, that the pre- i644.. sent holder should not suffer by the change, and that the revenues should be appropriated to other purposes only as lives fell in in the ordinary course of mortality. But reformation in certain cases seems to re- quire, that the change which is contemplated should be executed at once. The revolution from Popery to Protestantism could scarcely have been effected by the tedious process of waiting for the decease of the present holders. Nor could the abolition of episcopacy in England, especially amidst the tumultuous and urgent scenes of a civil war, have been operated in that way. Much of the calamity attendant on the refor- mation in the sixteenth century might have been avoided, if the business had been undertaken in a more moderate temper. Immense revenues were confiscated at that time, which never re- turned to the church. Out of these no doubt suf- ficient provision might have been made for those who suffered by the change. But this mode of proceeding had no affinity with the violent temper of Henry the Eighth. The rapaciousness of his own disposition, and the sordid mind of his cour- tiers, scarcely allowed that the smallest trifle should escape from their grasp. There was not the same opportunity for a liberal 312 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. and generous procedure in the case we are here considering. The same living in the church, and i64i. tlic same stipend in the university, could not be appropriated entire to two parties, the person who was ejected from the situation, and the per- son nominated in his room. The revenues of the episcopal sees might have done something ; but they were not adequate to all purposes. There must have been some sufferers ; men who from opulence were reduced to a narrow income, and men, it is to be feared, who from a narrow income were reduced to want. The ecclesiastical revo- lution was conducted with considerable sobriety, and with much attention to the general welfare of the community ; but there were still cases in abundance to excite our deepest sympathy, and to fill us with poignant regret. 313 CHAPTER XII. COMMENCEMENT OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1644. SCOTS ENTER ENGLAND. SIEGE OF YORK. MARCHES OF THE KING. FIGHT AT CROP- REDY BRIDGE. BATTLE OF MARSTON MOOR. RETREAT OF RUPERT. — NEWCASTLE GOES INTO VOLUNTARY EXILE. SURRENDER OF YORK. QUEEN RETIRES INTO FRANCE. The preparations for the campaign were on chap, both sides such, as might be expected from ^ j parties who anticipated that the coming- summer \%\\. would decide on the pretensions of either. The tionsfor the parliament determined to form two armies of '^•'•"H'^'g". ten thousand men each, under Essex and Waller, for the midland counties, and the west*. The king was not more than ten thousand strong at Oxford '*. But he had a force of fourteen thousand in the north under Newcastle *". And both par- ties had numerous flying bands, and garrisons. * Whitlocke, p. 8a. Journals of Commons, Feb. 1 ; of Lor(l!>, Mar. 25. Sir Eilwartl Walker's Discourses, p. \1. Riishworth, Vol. V, p. 6j3, 051. ^ Walker, p. 8. ' Rvishworih. \u\. \\ p. Gt5. 314 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, in various parts of the kingdom, from which rein- ^ ^ ' J forcements might be drawn as occasion should re- 1644. quire. The parliament had the advantage of a certain portion of military genius rising up in their camps, particularly sir Thomas Fairfax and Cromwel ; while we may mention, as a specimen of the rest, that the king appointed Ruthven, a Scot, now created earl of Brentford, his com- mander in chief, of whom Clarendon says ^, " he was much decayed in his parts, which had never been vigorous, being now dozed with the custom of immoderate drinking. He was illiterate to the greatest degree that can be imagined, and very deaf; a man of few words, but who usually de- livered that as his opinion which he foresaw would be grateful to the king." The parliament had a decided superiority over the royal party in the facilities of raising money ; and they were perpetually improving their ascendancy in weight of character and popularity. The new feature of the campaign was the accession of foreign forces : the Scottish army of twenty-one thousand were excellent soldiers under experienced commanders; and the kin": considered Ireland as an inexhaust- ible hive of auxiliaries to his cause. Operations In thc moutli of Novcmbcr Charles detached Hopton, with a force levied from Bristol and some neighbouring garrisons, to interrupt Waller in his ^ Vol. II, p. 481. of Waller. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 315 marcli for the west. Hopton advanced to Salis- chap. bury, and from thence to Winchester ^ : and, this i ' i measure of precaution having been taken thus 1644. early, before Waller's preparations were com- pleted, the king's forces were enabled to proceed further, and to take Arundel by surprise^. Waller remained on the defensive till he was properly reinforced ; but he no sooner found himself strong enough, than, marching by night from his head- quarters at Farnham, he surprised, and took or destroyed, a regiment of the enemy at Alton; and, having done this, proceeded with great celerity to Arundel, which he brought to surrender on the sixth of Januarys. Charles, hearing of these disasters, sent Brentford, his commander in chief, with a reinforcement to Hopton, and raised his numbers to an equality with those of the enemy ; and towards the end of March both parties en- gaged in battle at Alresford, where the king's forces were totally defeated, and Waller, proceed- ing to Winchester, which had been their head- quarters, and not being able to take the castle, gave up the city to be plundered by his soldiers ^. The march of the Scots into England was con- Sfots enter Engbnd. ' Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 467, 468. ' Ihid. p. 170. * Ibid. p. 473. Desniaizcaux, Life of Cllil!ing^vorth, p. 314. Here the celebrated Chilliiigworlh was taken prisoner, who, owing to the hardships of the season, and the severities of military vicissitude, died in a fortniglit after. •^ Clarendon, Vol. 11. p. 47 I. Whitluckc, p. 85. 310 TllSTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, sidcred by the leading men among them as a sort V, ]_^ of crusade for the purpose of settling pure Christi- 1644. anity, or in other words, according to their inter- pretation, the presbytcrian system, in the southern division of the island. They therefore suffered no time to be lost from the execution of so holy a purpose. On the nineteenth of January, in the midst of the severities of winter, the earl of Leven crossed the Tweed at Berwick, which had some months before been garrisoned for the parliament'. He was attended by Argyle and sir William Ar- mine, under the denomination of the committee of both kingdoms marching with the Scots. This early proceeding was chiefly instigated by the hope of being able to surprise the town of New- castle, before it could be put in a posture to resist. But in this the Scots were disappointed. The earl of Newcastle arrived at this fortress the day before it was summoned by Leven''; and the Scots, leaving six regiments before the place, crossed the Tyne, and entered Sunderland on the fourth of March. The English army, to the num- ber of fourteen thousand, hung upon their march'. Engage- Under these circumstances the parliament or- Sdb*"' dered the ever active sir Thomas Fairfax, with lord Fairfax, his father, to fall upon colonel Bel- lasis, whom Newcastle had left with three or four * Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 606. ■* Ibid. p. 613. ' Ibid, p. 615. Life of Newcastle, p. 42, IIISTOIIY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 317 thousand men for the protection of Yorkshire"". In this service they were eminently successful. The two parties encountered each other at Selby ig^4 on the eleventh of April. Bellasis was entirely defeated in the action, himself and his ordnance were taken, and his entire forces made prisoners or dispersed". The consequences of this victory were import- Siegoof ant. Newcastle, immediately upon the receipt of this intelligence, evacuated Durham, and fell back upon York, closely pursued by the Scots, who a few days later were joined by the Fairfaxes, where they formed in concert the siege of that city". In the enumeration of the forces prepared by Army the parliament for the campaign of 1G44 we have Manchester omitted the troops which were raised under Man- ^v'Ji Chester, and his lieutenant general, Cromwel, for the associated counties in the eastern quarter of England. These amounted to fourteen thousand, which appear to have been ready to take the field in the preceding December i*. They were a favour- ite corps with the leaders of the parliament, and had experienced much of their encouragement. They had first been embodied in the autumn ; and their exploits, particularly the battle of llorncastle, materially contributed to the giving a more favour- "' Rushworth, p. 616. " Ibid. p. 61». " Life of Newcastle, p. 41. Rushworth, p. 620. P See tlie (jnliiiance tespecting them. Jouniuls of the Lords, Muv ta, Itil 1. 313 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. able aspect to the close of the year. Those lead- ing- statesmen especially, who regarded Essex, the 1644. commander in chief, with a doubtful judgment and a secret dislike, looked to the forces here spoken of, as the object of their most cherished hopes'!, assists in The body under Manchester was now ordered yIX.^^'' ""^ ^y the parliament to proceed northward, and join the Scots and the Fairfaxes in the siege of York. It had ofrown into a custom for some members of the house of commons, generally two, to be de- puted to accompany each of their armies, as a com- mittee of parliament, to assist the military con- ductors with their advice, and to be the confidential medium of communication with the legislature respecting their wants and desires. In the pre- sent instance sir Henry Vane accompanied the army of Manchester''. Eminent It givcs an additional quickness to our feelings FeTd ir*" in the midst of these warlike proceedings, to look Mir"'^*'*^ into the camp of the parliamentarians, to draw Chester. back the canvass of their tents, and contemplate the soldier and the statesman, busied as they were in anticipating the future, in providing for all oc- casions, and endeavouring to place the mass of yet unformed events under the guidance of human prudence and intellect. In this camp, which was now traversing Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, Clarendon, Vol. H, p. 477. "■ Ibid. p. 478. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 319 and proceeding to York, we might see among chap. others Manchester, deficient neither in the qua- >. ' j lities of a gentleman nor the valour of a soldier, i644. the most well tempered and courteous of mankind, firm in purpose, yet ever gentle and conciliating in his manners ; Cromwel, the future guide and oppressor of the commonwealth, daring every thing, and accomplishing whatever he dared to desire ; and Vane, ever profound in thought, and sagacious in purpose, desiring the true advantage and happiness of all within the sphere of his in- fluence, and embracing in his capacious mind all the elements of public safety and substantial im- provement. These men, now so cordially united, were in no long time to be shaken asunder, each actuated with different sentiments, each pursuing an object which the other two regarded with fixed disapprobation. The army of Manchester being joined to those June 3. of Leven and Fairfax, the leaguer of York was now complete^. Meanwhile the fate of this city appeared to Charles of the most vital importance to his concerns. If York were surrendered, and still more if the army of Newcastle were beaten and dispersed, there was nothing to hinder the English and Scots, now engaged in the north, from pouring down their forces upon Oxford, and the southern and western divisions of the island, ' Rushwortli, \'ol. \', p. G'2,'. 320 CHAP. XII. Rupert undertakes to raise tlie siege. June 14. Measures of Kssex and Waller. HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. and cooperating with the armies of Essex and Waller ; in which case it was impossible for the royal interests to hope to make head against them. In this extremity Charles thought proper to have recourse to prince Rupert, who had been engaged during the spring of the year in some successful diversions in Cheshire and Lancashire. The original plan of the campaign had been, that, after Rupert had accomplished his purposes in these parts, he should join the king at Oxford, in which case they did not doubt with their united forces to make a brilliant figure in the centre of the king- dom, and perhaps to give a new turn to the aspect of the war*. But all these plans were deranged, first by the success of the enemy at Selby, and still more by the serious appearance that the siege of York now assumed, in which city Newcastle wrote to the king that he could not hold out more than six weeks or two months without being re- lieved ", Charles therefore wrote to Rupert, in the most peremptory style, directing him, that, all other enterprises laid aside, he should im- mediately march to the relief of York, the siege of which being raised, and the besieging armies beaten, and not otherwise, there might be hope for the success of the royal cause ^. Such was the situation of the armies in the north, while those of Essex and Waller were quar- ' Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 470. " Ibid. p. 478. * Memoirs of Evelyn, Royal Correspondence, p. 87. iiivrouv OF Tin: cu.mmu.nu i.Ai.rir. 321 tered in the different districts of tlic counties lying between Oxford and London. Under tjiese cir- cumstances tlie military counsels of the parliament, ich which were now administered by the committee of both kingdoms, consisting of seven lords, four- teen commoners, and four deputies from Scot- land"', underwent some alteration. Tlie march for the west was postponed for the present; and it was resolved that, if Charles posted his army in or near Oxford, the parliamentary generals should narrow his out-quarters, and then, each on his own side respectively, undertake the siege of the city. This plan was comincnced under favourable auspices. The kinof of his own motion abandoned Readino- and the general withdrew the royal forces out of Abinofdon without his consent or knowledo-e'' . Charles therefore was reduced to quarter his army to the north of Oxford ; and, as Waller had actu- " The lords were, the earls of Northimiborlaiul, Esbcx, Warwick and Manchester, viscount Say, and the barons Wharton and Roberts; the commoners, Waller, Croniwol, \'aijc, and his father, the old sir Henry, St. John, Ilasehig, sir Gilbert Gerard, sir Philip Staplcton, sir William Arminc, Glyn (recorder of Tondon), Pierre- point, Samuel Browne, Wallop and Crewe; and the Scuts deputies, the earl of Loudon, lord chancellor, lord INIaitland, Johnston of Wariston, and Roiicrt Barclay. Ii is ubvioii^ that a great number of the English commissioners were engaged in various scenes of active service; and it was therefore ordained that any six ot them, provided it included one lord and two c.onnu(in(M<, should be com- petent to transact with the Scots dcputiis residing in Lumlou. Jour- nals ol" the Lords, I'eb. T) and Hi. ^ Wiilkir. p. in, 1 1, I:,. C'larondun, \'ul. H, p. 4t5j. \t)l .1. V 322 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, ally crossed the Isis, and Essex the Charwel, it XII. . . V _^ seemed likely that the king's forces would soon 1644. be driven in, and that he would be reduced to confine himself within the walls of the city. Such was the disastrous situation of Charles in the begfinnino- of June y. Charles Prcsscd in as he was on all sides, a project fVom'^* started itself, which was boldly conceived, and SwlTds the carried into execution with becoming spirit and north. alacrity. A body of foot with cannon was ordered out at the south entrance of the city, as if for Abingdon, for the purpose of drawing Waller's attention on that side ; and then the king, with all the cavalry, and two thousand five hundred chosen foot, quitted Oxford in silence at the north gate as soon as night set in on the third of June, and, marching between the two armies of the enemy, arrived at Hanborough by day-break of the fourth, and in the afternoon halted for a short time at Burford ^. Thus the king proceeded by quick marches to Worcester, and from Worcester to Bewdley*. Waller pur- The mcasurcs of Charles, thus adopted and Sng. '^ proceeded in, wholly disconcerted the plan lately formed for the conduct of the parliamentary armies. It was taken for granted that the king's march 1 Clarendon, Vol. IT, p. 487, 488. Walker, p. 18, 19, 20. " Walker, p. 19, 20. Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 488. * It was from Tickenhall near Bcwdley, that Charles wrote to Rupert, ordering him to proceed immediately for York. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 323 had for its object prince Rupert who was now at chap. Liverpool ; and Waller with his accustomed cele- ^^_1^^_^ rity, threw himself between Charles's army and 1644. Shrewsbury **. In the mean time, Essex, who had the greater ordnance and the heavier carriaf^es, felt it impossible to keep up with the quick marches of the king, and conceived Waller per- fectly competent to this business. Essex there- fore determined to set out for the affairs of the west, and left his colleague to watch over and harass the motions of Charles '". The king, find- ciiarics re , 1 1 • 1 • • 1 • r 1 turns on his ing thus that his object in the separation 01 the steps. two armies was attained, hastened back by as quick marches as he had advanced, and reached Oxford on the seventeenth day from that on which he had quitted it ^. From Oxford the king drew a reinforcement, ^>^m\v ..r 11 -n 1 • 1 • 1 1 • 1 1 • • Croprcdy and the artillery which it had not suited him in bridge. his late march to carry along with him''; and, finding that Essex was now at a distance, and that Waller, as soon as he heard of the kings return, was marching in pursuit of him, Charles felt himself not indisposed to try the fortune of war with the army of the latter. In a few days the armies faced each other at Cropredy Bridge, Waller being on the west, and the king on the east side of tlie Charwel. The bridge was *> Walker, p. 24. •^ Walker, p. 21. Clarendon, \'ol. 11, p. 489, 490. '' Walker, p. 25. Clarendon, \'ol. U, p. 493. V 2 324 IIISTDKY OF THE COMMONWEAITII. ^•narded by a detachment of the king's troops ; but Waller, discerning an interval, of which he 1644. thought advantage might be taken, between the body of Charles's army and the rear, forced the troops that guarded the bridge, that he might throw himself into the space he observed between June 29. thcsc divisions of the king's forces. This ma- nceuvre of the parliamentary general brought on a battle ; and Charles's troops had the better in the action*^ . Though the conflict was by no means of a decisive nature, Waller's forces were so far crippled, and his numbers, many of them being enlisted only for a limited service, so much re- duced, that the king felt himself at liberty to follow Essex's army, which had marched for the west. Proposal Many of Charles's followers were by this time king should exceedingly weary of the war. They had not T'^Iinst engaged in it out of principle, and were for ever London. full of cabals and disscntions. Each man pursued his private ends ; and, now that it became suf- ficiently visible that the struggle would draw out into length, and under the most favourable aspect . be full of hardships and difficulties, it was secretly suggested among the officers of the army, that, at this period when the parliamentary generals were at a distance, the king should by all means be pressed to advance towards London, and throw himself upon the generosity of the city, and of "= Walker, p. 31 el scqq. Clarendon, \'ol. IT, p. 198. HlSTOllY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 325 those members of the two houses that were least chap. alienated from him, observing that they did not ^ \ ' ^ doubt such an overture would be attended with i644. the happiest consequences. Charles felt the ut- most horror at the idea of such a proposal, and contrived to get rid of it in the best manner he could ^ While the kino- was to a certain deo-ree success- sicpe of . . York ful in the centre of the kino-dom, his affairs looked raised, with a much less favourable aspect in the north. The garrison of York was nearly reduced to the last extremity, while the approved discipline of the Scottish forces, and the gallantry and skill of the English leaders of the troops employed in the siege, seemed to promise them the utmost success. It was this view of the case, that led Charles to send those instructions to Rupert which have been already mentioned. The prince entered on the service that was recommended to him with the utmost alacrity ; and, being joined by Newcastle's cavalry on the way, and having collected recruits from various quarters on his march, he approach- ed York on the last day of June with a body of twenty thousand men^. The allied leaders felt that it was in vain to press the siege under these circumstances, and, having drawn off their forces, ranged themselves in battle-array the day follow- ' Walker, p. 2H. Clarendon, \'ol. H, \<. 19(). c Rii^hwurlh, \'ol. V, p. 6:>\, 32G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAR in^'-, on Marston Moor on the banks of the Ouse, v^_^^_^ five or six miles south-west of the city, expecting 1611. the prince to approach the object of contention on tliat side. But in this they were disappointed. He crossed the river a few miles nearer to its source, entered York with a small party of horse, and encamped the main body of his army on the eastern bank of the river''. Rupert and The circuuistance now occurred, the avoiding of which had caused Newcastle materially to de- range the plan of the last campaign ; Rupert and this jealous leader were brought into contact. Rupert was rough and overbearing in his man- ners, conscious of the royal blood that flowed in his veins, and satisfied that the military profes- sion was that in which he was well qualified to excel. Newcastle was a man of much ceremony, and endowed with the highest degree of good breeding : he was courteous, well behaved, and obliging to all ; but then on the other hand he could not endure that others should in any point fail in the respect he thought due to him'. These commanders no sooner met, than they differed. Newcastle Ncwcastlc obscrvcd to the prince that he ought opposes the |-f) j^g ^gi[ couteutcd with the effect his appear- risking a r i battle. ance had already produced. The enemy had raised the siege of York ; and that was much. He hinted something of differences which had '■ Ibid. p. 631, 632. * Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 507. HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 327 arisen between the Scots and Enp:lish commanders c h a p. . XII of the army of the parliament. He was sure that, if ^_ ' , left to themselves, these misunderstandings would 1644. ripen into the most disastrous consequences. It might have been worth while to fight, rather than that York should fall. But, now that the siege was at an end, the desired good had been obtained without costing one drop of blood. Under these circumstances the proceeding that Charles's in- terest required from the prince was, that he should throw a fresh supply of men and provisions into York, and then march away to assist his royal uncle near Oxford, where his presence and aid were so much wanted. Rupert pleaded on the other hand the positive Rupert in- orders of the king. He appears not to have shewn these orders ; and Newcastle seems not to have believed in their existence. He was of opinion too, that his followers, most of them raw recruits, would run away from him, if kept in inaction, and that the best way to make them soldiers, was to make them fight. But most of all, he longed to be engaged in some brilliant exploit. He was not contented to baffle the parliament forces, unless he could at the same time disperse and annihilate them. To these lofty and hero-like suggestions of Rupert Newcastle could only answer, that he was ready and willing to obey the prince in all thintrs, no less than if the king- had been there in person. Some of the earl's friends advised him sists. 32S HISTORY OF Tlir. C().M.MOX\M„\i;riI. ( H A p. not to appear in the battle, sinee, as tliey observed, V \^j bis command was taken from bim ; to wbicb be K.ii. answered tbat, bappen wliat would, be would not sbun to fiu'bt, for be bad no otber ambition tban to live and die a loyal subject'^. Battle of Tbe allied army drew off from York towards ^loui. Tadcaster, tbat tbey migbt intercept tbe prince's progress in a soutbern direction. News bowever was immediately brougbt tbem tbat Rupert was advancincr towards, and seemed resolved to attack tbem. Tbey tberefore countermanded tbe march, recalled tbe troops wbicb formed tbeir van, and arranged tbemselves on tbeir part in order of battle. Tbe engagement took place on tbe second of July. Tbe armies consisted of about twenty- five thousand men eacb. Mancbester and Crom- wel led tbe right of tbe combined forces, and sir Thomas Fairfax tbe left, while lord Fairfax and tbe Scottish general commanded in tbe centre. Rupert was opposed to Cromwel. Tbe ordnance began to play at three in tbe afternoon ; every thing was ready for general action by five ; but tbe battle did not actually commence till seven in tbe evening. All was closed by ten at night. During these three hours both parties fought with determined bravery. Cromwel and sir Thomas Fairfax were botlr severely wounded. But Crom- wel defeated Rupert; while Fairfax was routed •* Life of Newcastle, p. \1 . re- treats. HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. ;j29 by the enemy. The parliamentary generals ex- cii.ai'. celled in the art of rallying their force.s. Rupert's v^__ __y on the contrary, so far as they consisted of raw re- ion. emits, when once dispersed, could hardly be brouoht together asrain. In fine the forces of the vi. torv de- parliament were triumphant in every quarter : the uie plriL whole ordnance of the enemy was taken, four thou- "^*^"'' sand men were killed, and fifteen hundred made prisoners; while the parliamentary party did not acknowledge more than three hundred slain on their side •. This was much the most decisive battle that had Rtipcrf been fouo-ht from the commencement of the war and the consequences still more plainly proved its transcendant importance. Rupert immediately Ncwcn.stic retired towards Chester ; and Newcastle took his departure for the continent "'. The princely warrior, only twenty-four years of age, now felt for the first time that he was liable to the common lot of man, and was accessible like others to calamity and dis- grace. The earl piqued himself upon being able to say, that if his advice had been taken, nothing like this would have happened. Both parties, ac- cording to Clarendon", were impatient to with- draw from the scene, each being desirous of throw- ing on the other the responsibility of the future. Accordingly, the next morning each sent to the tlie conti- nent. ' IlHsliworlli, \ol. V, J). Go'-', ft scqq. '" Clarendon, \ol. 11, p. .''O:). " Ibnl. y. ly'*(. 330 HISTORY or Tin: commonwealth. C H A p. XII. 1644. Surrender of York. Newcastle taken by storm. otlicr almost at the same moment a messenger, announcing- the resolution immediately to with- draw from the scene"; and each, in spite of the information received from the other party, pro- ceeded to carry his purpose into execution. New- castle remained abroad, in obscurity, and with a narrow and precarious income, for sixteen years, till the period of the Restoration. Thus the whole north of England became com- pletely subject to the parliament, while scarcely a garrison remained there that acknowledged the' command and directions of the king. York surren- dered a fortnight after the battle i* ; and the town of Newcastle was stormed by the Scots about three months later ^. Charles had lost nearly one half of the kingdom of England, if we speak of the measure- ment of length only, and had to contend with a predominant and prosperous part of the nation for the remainder. Nothing but a very decisive victory, or train of victories, could ever restore him to the dominions he had inherited from his ancestors, unless it were through the means of treaty and concession between him and his ad- versaries, or, which was infinitely less feasible, of a secret plot and conspiracy that should in some unexpected way deprive those adversaries of the " Il)id. p. 505. tibi SKpra. 1 Riishworth, p. 650. P Rubhworth, Vol. V, p. 638. Clarendon, HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 331 fruits of their heroic perseverance and resolution, en a p. and their hard-earned triumphs. ^ ' j Another circumstance that serves strongly to I644. mark the era at which we are arrived, is what t?rerinto^ happened in relation to the queen. At the time Frame, that Charles prorogued his mock-parliament, or meetino- of members of the two houses assembled at Oxford, the queen also left the place. She was far advanced in her pregnancy, and therefore re- solved to take up her residence for the present at Exeter, as being a city that seemed more removed from the tumults and alarms of war^ Here she lay in on the sixteenth of June. Essex, who had marched into the west, was at Chard, less than thirty miles from Exeter, in the end of this month ; and hither the queen sent him a message, desiring from him a safe-conduct to Bath or Bristol for the recovery of her health. To which he returned for answer, that, if she pleased, he would not only give her a safe-conduct, but accompany her him- self, to London, where she might have the best advice and means for the recovery of her health ; but for those other places he could say nothing without the direction of parliament^ It is painful to see the effect of civil broils as displayed in such instances as this ; and we cannot but wonder at this style of reply from a commander so noted for ' Riishworth, Vol. V, p 66S. Clarendon, Vol. II. i>. 178. ' Riishworth, !>. f n i ot presby- tion had been thorouohlv disousted with the epi- tcrianscnti- V , "^ 1 1 . . iiicnfsin tlie scopal government ot the church, as administered beginning by Laud and his compeers, men of a haughty and Pariiamem. insolent temper, wedded to pomp and splendour, detesting the puritans, looking with comparative fiivour uj)on the principles and system of the church of Rome, servile to the court, advocates on all occasions of passive obedience in matters of civil policy, thoroughly imbued with an intolerant 334 IlISTOllV OF THE COAIMUN WEALTH. CHAP. Spirit, and ever ready, when the question was of \i 1 1 . ^ ' '_j suppressing obnoxious tenets, to employ the most 1C44. odious severities, in the sliape of heavy fines, tedious and strait imprisonment, the scourge, the knife, and the pillory. It seems certain, whatever some historians may have alleged to the contrary, that a great majority of the nation was at the meeting- of the Lone: Parliament hostile to the in- stitution of bishops^. There were no doubt many pious and excellent men, among those who filled conspicuous stations in the hierarchy. There was a considerable portion of the nobility, gentry and others, who looked with partial regard upon the ecclesiastical system of their fathers. But that is mere human nature ; and in cases of this sort it can scarcely be otherwise. The active and operant part of the community, the vigour and energy of the living principle in the body politic, was almost exclusively on the other side. Spirit of tiio But the mind of man had at this time only ar- Esystem. ''ivcd at a certain stage of its graduated progress. The church of England was a vast and compli- cated body, all of whose oflficers and ministers were arranged in an ascending scale, and closely knit and compacted, one with the other. The dis- content party disapproved of the number of the steps, and the extensive emoluments and power of its superior members. But for the most part See above, Chapter III. HISTORY OF llIK COMMONWEALTH. 335 they only conceived the plan of a system of greater c 11 a p. plainness and simplicity. They proposed to sub- v_^^_^ stitute for the episcopal church now in being, a ic-it. presbyterian church. The episcopal church had a hatred of sects; the presbyterians did not come behind her in that particular. The episcopal church was intolerant ; so were the presbyterians. Both of them regarded with horror the idea of a free press, and that every man should be permitted to publish and support by his writings whatever positions his caprice or his conviction might dic- tate to him. In fact human beings can scarcely be instructed in any other way than by experience, concerning the innocence of error ; I mean in that sense, that the dissemination of opinions and arguments, where all are free to maintain, to examine, and to refute, can scarcely be injurious to the community. Untaught by practice and the course of human affairs, they can scarcely imagine a race of intel- lectual creatures, " like an eagle, muing her mighty youth, and unsealing her long-abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance^." They for themselves rather resemble that " noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, that flutter about, amazed at the track of the royal bird, and prognosticate in their envious gabble' acalamitous multiplication of " sects and schisms^." '■ Milton, Aroopagitira. ;j30 IIISTOIIY or Tlir. COM.MOWVF.AT.TH. CHAP. Still however, amono; the o-reat geniuses and xin. ... . V ' ' ; profound politicians of this memorable period, ifiM. there were a few, who could look with a steady uiX"nu)iv eye into the future, could measure the limbs and eni.jri.teiied n^^i^dQ^ gf tlic liuuian miud, and could see what purlKiiiR'n- ' la.ykaikrs. jy^r^y^ j^ ^ statc of liberty could do and sustain, and what were likely to be the results of all he could suffer and all he could eflect. They viewed controversy and intellectual contention as the road to substantial peace and genuine vigour. They saw that liberty of disquisition was the whole some element in which intellect refines, that to weigh and discern truth from falshood the scales which are employed in the trial must be freely poized, and that there can be no real conscience and no pure religion, where religion and conscience are not permitted to act without restraint. Rcii-inns But what is scarcely less worthy of notice, there huiepti!-"' was at this time a sect of Christians, penetrated dcnis. ^,y\t\\ tlic fcrvours of thc most earnest zeal, the In- dependents, who maintained nearly the same tenets on this subject with the party last mentioned. They were led to the conclusions they adopted, by somewhat of a different process. Like the presbyterians, they cordially disapproved of the pomp and hierarchy of thc church of England. But they went further. They equally disapproved of the synods, provincial and general, the classes and incorporations of presbytery, a system scarcely less complicated, though infiniteJy less dazzling, HISTORY OF THE COiMMONWEALTH. 337 than that of diocesan episcopacy. They held, that chap. a church was a body of Cliristians assembled in v ' j one place appropriated for their worship, and that ic-is. every such body was complete in itself, that they had a right to draw up the rules by which they thought proper to be regukited, and that no man not a member of their assembly, and no body of men, was entitled to interfere with their proceed- ings*^. Demanding toleration on these grounds, they felt that they were equally bound to concede and assert it for others ; and they preferred to see a number of churches with different sentiments and institutes within the same political commu- nity, to the idea of remedying the evil, and ex- terminating error, by means of exclusive regulations and the menaces and severities of punishment. The whole question of church-government in Assembly England had been referred by the parliament to how consti- the examination of an assembly of divines, to be called together from every part of the realm ^. But in all this the great statesmen who sat at the helm of affairs, had proceeded with admirable caution. The convocation of the church of Enoland, and the general assembly of the kirk of Scotland, were bodies recognised by law, endowed with peculiar privileges and functions, and enabled to act from "^ Apologetical Narration of the Independents. ■^ For an account of the first bill to that eflect, see page 74. VOL. I. Z 338 HISTORY OF THF. COMMONWEALTH. ciiAr. themselves, throusih whose deliberations and de- v^__ ^^ crees the church might occasionally become for- 1C43. midable to the state. Not so the assembly of di- vines we are here considering-. The parliament assumed the express nomination of the members of whom the assembly should consist ; their func- tions were confined to counsel and advice ; and they were to deliberate only upon such matters and things as were proposed to them by either or both houses of parliament. The number of clergy summoned to this assembly, according to the ordi- nance which passed into a law on the twelfth of June 1643 *^, was one hundred and twenty, to which were added (or more properly premised, since their names in the ordinance take the precedence of those of the clergy) ten peers, and twenty mem- bers of the house of commons. The commoners were of course some of the ablest members of that house. The two houses further joined one person and another to the assembly from time to time at their discretion. Character Of the cliaractcr and endowments of the mem- of its mem- , n t • i i • • i i i bers. bers 01 this assembly it is necessary we should form a distinct idea ; and we shall be in some danger of being misled on the subject, if we build ^our apprehensions respecting it upon what we see passing in modern times. For the last hun- * Journals of Lords. Husbands, sub emlem tempore. iiTSTOiiY OF rrrr. ('ommonwealtti. 339 dred and sixty years all ecclesiastical preferment chap. has been limited to the episcopal clergy, and most ^^^^' of the advantages of a professional education have ic-is. been restricted to that party ; while the presbyte- rians or dissenters among us, are comparatively insignificant in number, and have few of those op- portunities of improvement which fall to the lot of their more favoured rivals. There is little that presents itself to awaken their ambition ; and neither rank nor honours nor fortune are made to attend on their progress. Not so at the period of which we are treating. The English clergy were at this time nearly equally divided, or perhaps the preponderance lay with the adversaries of the es- tablished system. The one party as well as the other, might be considered as being in the road to many church-preferments. Meanwhile the latter, however numerous, possessed the advantages of a persecuted party, discountenanced by the court, and j)ursued by innumerable vexations and op- pressions. Theirs would be the virtues and the energies of adversity. They earnestly sought to excel and eclipse their opponents in every thing that was commendable. The episcopalians on the other hand engrossed for the most part the highest stations of the church, and therefore had strong temptations to become luxurious and dissipated. We can scarcely be erroneous in saying, under all these circumstances, that the greater weight z 12 340 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. C H A P. XIII. Tlie majo- rity presby- tcriaiu. Certain episcopal clergy named as members. Ten or twelve di- vines of the indepen- dent party. of character and autliority was at this time with the reforming' clergy. Much attention seems to have been paid to the composition of the assembly. A powerful ma- jority of its clergy consisted of persons, who in their judgment condemned the structure of the church established, and were disposed to adopt for their pattern the presbyterian model of Scot- land. A certain number of members were taken from the episcopal clergy : Brownrigg bishop of Exeter, Prideaux of Worcester, and Westfield of Bristol,, together with the celebrated Usher, lord primate of Ireland, upon whom, since his being driven into exile by the rebellion in that countiy, Charles had bestowed the bishopric of Carlisle. With these were Morley afterwards bishop of Winchester, Sanderson of Lincoln, Hac- ket of Litchfield, Hammond the most eminent of the king's chaplains, and several other distin- guished episcopalians. Lastly, there were ten or twelve clergy of the party known by the name of independents ^ The place of their meeting was Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster; and their first session occurred on the first day of July 1643. Few of the episcopal clergy named in the ordinance ever attended the assembly, and ' Builjie, \'ol. I, ji. 401. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 341 those who did, withdrew after a small number of chap. . . XIII. sittings. V. . 7 There was something that seemed to demand a 1643. . . , . . Political peculiarly delicate and dexterous management in conduct of the questions that were submitted to the dclibera- oHhe'^ind"- tionof this assembly; and the geniuses whose au- S^Jment" thority was greatest in the conduct of the affair, were admirably qualified for the task they had un- dertaken. An overwhelming majority of the mem- bers of the assembly adhered to the presbyterian system ; and, what added inexpressibly to their obvious advantages, the Scottish nation and go- vernment were fanatically devoted to that sy- stem. The alliance of the Scots was to be pur- chased at almost any price by the English parlia- ment, particularly under the complicated misfor- tunes which beset their cause in the autumn of 1643. But the Scots pressed with appalling vehemence for uniformity of church government between the two nations. This, entire, unqualified and complete, was the price of their friendship ; and they regarded with a sacred and fearful horror the idea of any lukewarmness and double-dealing in a matter of such incalculable importance. One would think that nothin": could be able to support itself against these two considerations, the majority of the clergy at home, and the im- perious demand of the neighbour nation. But there were men who had the courage to look at all this, and yet determined to proceed. The chief 342 IllSroKY OF THE COMMON WEALllI. CHAP, of them were Vane, Cromvvel, St. Jolin, Seidell ^^^ audWhitlockc. There were two questions involved iG-!:5. in the eontcntion, that they deemed worthy of wilici? u"cy their utmost etlbrts ; freedom from ecclesiastical coutcncieci. ..^bj^^gatiou ; and tlie freedom of the press, rive stages This topic will be best understood, if we ryiifcinS call to mind the five different steps of gradual «um?'' descent and diminished authority, of church- government, as it has been practised in different 1. ropery, agcs and countries professing Christianity. The highest and most perfect is that of the Roman Catholic reliofion, as it was at the time that its power was most uncontrolable. This is a system of unmingled and absolute despotism, teaching men what they shall speak and think upon sub- jects of religion, allowing no variation or diver- ging from the established standard, shutting up from the laity the books in wliich the origin and laws of Christianity are recorded, promulgating an inde.v e.vpurgatoriu.^ of all other books, calling in the aid of the faggot, the stake, and the auto da fe to inforce its decrees, and binding the whole with the awful and tremendous sanction of auri- cular confession. Popery also had the additional resource of binding all Christendom together as one man ; and it had the advantage over all other forms of Christianity, in the masterly and costly way in wdiich it addressed itself to the eyes, the ears, and the nostrils of its disciples. 2. Diocesan j-j^^ sccoud fomi of cluirch-eovemment, par- HISTORY 01' lliE COMMONWEALTH. 343 taking of many of the advantages of the Roman chat. Catholic system, is that of diocesan episco- v^ " , pacy. It aims, though at a distance, and with a le-ij. diminislied flight, at the same splendour; it accu- mulates its emoluments and its honours in some- what of a similar manner. It issues its canons and decrees ; it fulminates its excommunications. Like the church of Rome, it is rigorous and un- temporising. It denounces schism as perhaps the greatest of all otiences. And it punishes all deviation from its rules, at least it did in the times of which we are treating, in somewhat of the same manner as the church of Rome, with this difference, that where the pope and the inqui- sition burned its victims alive, the church of En- gland confined itself to the lash, the slitting of noses, or the cutting off of ears. Next comes the presbyterian system, not less 3. Pre;,hy exclusive and intolerant^ and impressed with no less horror of the blasphemy and perniciousness of sects, than the former. Its chief distinctions are, the comparative moderation of its emolu- ments, and the plainness of its garb. The clergy of the church of Scotland were habited with some- thing of the same unambitious sadness, as we see in paintings of the fathers of the inquisition. But this is in certain respects a disadvantage. He that lords it over me, and woidd persuade me that he is not of the same ignoble kind as myself, ought perhaps to be clad in robes, and covered with tcnanism. 344 HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, ermines and gold. It is some mitigation of my ^^"' sulVerings. 1 should be glad to be deluded and iG-13. dazzled to the last. It seems natural that human beings should prefer, like the widow of Benares, to die amidst the clangour of trumpets and the soft breathing of recorders, to the perishing by the deformed and withering blow of undisguised cruelty. 4. indepen. The systcm of the independents has been already described. Its generous spirit of tolera- tion, and fearlessness of sects, come in beautiful contrast with the systems already described. It demands no other liberty for itself, than it is will- ing to yield to all others. s.Erasiian- j^^^ ^ ^^ ^j^-g gystem did uot o-o far enouo^h to ism. J o o satisfy the master-spirits of the age of the com- monwealth. They detected a latent error, and saw a seed of despotism and oppression even in the simple creed of this sect. The doctrine on the subject which obtained their approbation, received its name from Thomas Erastus, a Ger- man physician of the sixteenth century, contem- porary with Luther. The work in which he de- livered his theory and reasonings on the subject is entitled De E.vcommunicatione Ecclesiastica. The independents taught, that a church was a body of Christians assembled in one place appro- priated for their worsliip, and that every such body was complete in itself, that they had a right to draw up the maxims by which they HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 345 thought proper to be regulated, and that no man chap. not a member of their assembly, and no body of ^ ' ., men, was entitled to interfere with their proceed- i643. ings. But the Erastians proceeded on another principle. They held that religion is an affair between man and his creator, in which no other man or society of men was entitled to interpose. " Who art thou that judgest another?" says St. Paul. " To his own master he standeth or falleth." Proceeding on this ground, they maintained that every man calling himself a Christian, has a right to make resort to any Christian place of worship, and partake in all its ordinances. Simple as this idea is, it strikes at the root of all priestcraft, and usurpation of one man over the conscience of another. Excommunication, or " the power of the keys," as it has been called, is the great en- gine of ecclesiastical tyranny. Those who claim to exercise this power, are hereby enabled to in- trude themselves into the most sacred and private concerns of every one who holds Christian wor- ship and the ordinances of Christianity to be part of his duty. They enquire into his life, and find perhaps that his conduct and actions do not square with their ideas of rectitude. They examine him as to his creed, and discover that it does not tally with their private interpretation of scripture. They undertake to reduce his confession to what they receive for truth, and to prescribe to him penances and mortification. They require of him sj)iritual 346 lUSTOin Ol lllE CO.M.MON WEALTH. c IF \ p obedience. If lie fails in any of these tilings, they ^^^^- sluit him out from the commemoration of the merits ^^!^ of Christ at first, or excommunicate him after- wards. Tl^ey refuse him the consolations of the religion he embraces, and hold him up to his brother professors as no better than " a heathen man and a publican." They take from him by tlieir arbitrary and lawless decree that character, wliicli makes him respectable among his fellows, and sustains him in self-reverence which is the root of all virtue. It was " the power of the keys" carried to its utmost extent, that enabled the popes of former times to j)lace whole realms under an interdict, and to dissolve the obligation of subjects to the government under which they livedo. Uir'En"tu '^^^^ question however between the inde- ;ms and the pendcnts and the Erastians was not of that sort, ntk'pcil- ' _ deiHs. which should oblige them to stand in hostility to s A sketch of the speeches ofScldcn and Whitlockc in fiivourof Erastianism may be found in Whitlockc, p. Itj9, ITO. " A party was formed by Selden, and a few statesmen and tem- perate divines, who proposed to restore to the magistrate the coer- cive power wljich the church had assumed, and to reduce the pas- toral functions to exhortation and prayer.'' Laing, History of Scotland, \'ol. Ill, p. ^280. " Erastians : for the most part lawyers, that could not endure to hear of any thunderbolts of excommunication but what were heated in their own forge;" in other words, that were not controled by some known rule of law. Perinchief, p. 32. HISTORY 01' THE COMMONWEALTH. 347 each other in a national assembly either in churcli c 11 a p, or state. It does not become of paramount im- ^' ' , portance, unless in so far as exconnnunication igm. shall connect itself with a national establishment. The independents claimed the right of admitting or excluding members, each man for his own little churcli. The Erastians condemned this ; but they did not consider it as a proper subject of legis- lative interference. They condemned it in mora- lity ; but they did not regard it as a topic of civil prohibition and punishment. The Erastians there- fore and the independents concurred amicably to- gether, both in the assembly of divines and the nation at large, in checking and limiting the ca- reer of the presbytcrians : and the force of both of them conjoined, though they were at first apparently insignificant in point of numbers, was able in no lon<2: time to o;ive birth to the most im- portant changes. The character of the independent clergy in the cimracter assembly of divines has been delivered to us by pciuiLut the pens of two of the most considerable of their adversaries ; and therefore we are at no loss for authentic materials of judgment respecting them. Clarendon says of them '', " The independents were more learned and rational than the presby- tcrians ; and, though they had not so great con- gregations of the common people, yet they infected, " \nl. Ill, I'. 11-.. clergy. 348 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP. XIII. 1G13. Controver- sies. Thomas Edwards. and were followed by, the most substantial and wealthy citizens, as well as by others of better condition." And Baillie, one of the deputies from Scotland, sent to watch over the interests of pres- byterianism in the assembly, relates of them', that " truly they speak much, and exceedingly well." And elsewhere'', "Truly, if he cause were good, the men have plenty of learning, wit, eloquence, and, above all, boldness and stiffness, to make it out." As to the main points in consideration, they vehemently and tenaciously pleaded for a free press, and a general toleration, two points most alien to the temper of the church of Scotland, as it then stood. The first publication I find on the subject of the controversy between the presbyterians and inde- pendents is entitled, " Reasons against the Inde- pendent Government of Particular Congregations : as also, against the Toleration of such Churches to be erected in this Kingdome : together with an Answer to such Reasons as are commonly alledged for a Toleration." By Thomas Edwards, minister of Christ-church, London. This produc- tion bears the date of 1 64 1 . There was somethino- daring and comparatively generous, in a presby- terian writing against the toleration of all churches but his own, when presbyterianism itself stood as ' Vol. I, p. 401. p. 436. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 349 yet in a doubtful and critical situation, whether chap, • XIII it should not be put down by a stronger arm, and ^^ 'j when her adherents, including this author, were i643. just escaped from the persecutions of the epis- copalians, and returned from exile in a foreign land. On the twentieth of November four deputies Deputies from the general assembly of the church of Scot- kirk of land, Henderson, Rutherford, Gillespie, and ^'"'^""'^• Baillie, were introduced to the assembly of divines at Westminster '. They are stated to have come up as commissioners from the national church of the northern kingdom, to treat for uniformity in the scheme of church establishment'". About two months after their arrival Thomas im4. Goodwin and Philip Nye, two of the leaders of carNa^ra- the independents, produced an Apologetical Nar- inXpe„V-^ ration addressed to the Two Houses of Parlia- '^"''^* ment, in the name of their brethren, and signed by themselves and three other members of the assembly". Copies of this paper were distri- buted to the assembly generally, and to the two houses of parliament. As the drift of this com- position was to justify their peculiar mode of forming churches, by their own spontaneous act, and without concurrence with the state, and to demonstrate the reasonableness of a toleration of ' Buillie, \'(.l. I, p. 398. "' Ilml. p. 400. •• Il)kl. p. r.'L). Wood, art. Nye. Mil. 350 HISTORY or Tiir. commonwealth. CHAP, sucli churches, as well as of every other mode of Christian worship, it gave some alarm and great oft'ence to the presbyterians. It was answered by Edwards, Baillie, one of the Scottish deputies, doctor Adam Steuart, also a Scottish divine, and several others. Tviiiton. But what gives peculiar lustre and interest to aV.Tnisci- this controversy, is that Milton took a part in it. piiiiL' of j|. -g ^ sino-ular coincidence, that at this very pe- iJlVDICO. O J X riod lie published his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, being stimulated to undertake the dis- cussion by the circumstance of his difference with his wife, who, at the time when the king's affairs appeared to be going on most prosperously in the former year, retired to the house of her father, a royalist, and refused to return. Whatever were the merits of Milton's argument, who professed to restore the rules in that particular, to the true meaning of scripture, and the ideas of the first re- formers, and whose notions were two years after sustained by Selden, in a treatise, called U.vor Ilebraica^, we may be sure that his book was ill received by the majority. Men in general are averse to any thing that looks towards change in the fundamental institutions of society, and would unavoidably contemplate with horror and distaste whatever had a seeming tendency to diminish the sacredness of marriage. The assembly of divines " Miltoni Defensio Secunda. lirSTURY or THE eOMMOXWEALTII. 301 t]ioup;lit proper to visit Milton's production witli ciiat. their censure, and had influence enougli to cause / '_ j liim to be "summoned before the house of lords; ig44. but that house," we are told, " whether approving- his doctrine, or not favouring his accusers, dis- missed the complaint 1'/' ** Wood, \'ol. T, Fasti, art. Milton. 1 do not however find any trace of the affair in the Journals. Milton himself says (Dedi- cation to the Parliament, prefixed to Tetrachordon), " I do not yet find that ought hath issued by your appointment, that might give the least interruption or disrepute either to the author, or to the book. \Vhich he who will be better advised then to call your ne- glect, or connivence at a thing imagined so perilous, can attribute to nothing more justly, then to the deep and quiet streame of your direct and calme deliberations; that gave not way either to the fervent rashncsse, or the immaterial gravity, of those who ceased not to exasperate without cause." All therefore that we can be certain of is, that it was preached against by Herbert Palmer, one of the assembly, and presbyterian Master of Queen's College, Cambridge, in a sermon before the two houses of parliament, August 13, in which he expressed himself of it, as " a wicked book, de- serving to be burned j'* and that Caryl, another member of the as- sembly, in the exercise of his function as licencer of the press to an answer to Milton, jironounccd of his doctrine that it was "an- swered, and with good reason confuted by his opponent, to the pre- servation of the marriage-bond, and the honour of that estate, against the sad breaches and dangerous abuses which were at pre- sent attempted." Since writing the above, I find in the Journals of the Lords, December ','8, 1G44, a complaint by the wardens of the Stationers' Company, of the "frequent printing of scandalous books, particu- larly by Hczekiah Woodward and John Milton." The lords in consequence referred the complaint to tlie examination of judges Reeve and Bacon; but it does not appear lluit the name of Milton w;is further mrntiDUid in ilu^ business. XIII. 352 HISTORY OF THE COMIMONWEALTir. CHAP. Within a short time after the appearance of tlie Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Milton published a treatise, expressly in application to the great question upon which the attention of the public was at this time fixed. The title of his performance isArcopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenced Printing, to the Parlament of England. It would not be easy to discover, in the whole stream and succession of literary productions any thing more cogent and forcible than this tract. It may be that the elo- quence of the author in some degree flowed from resentment of the treatment which had been be- stowed upon his late work ; though he had too great elevation of mind directly to advert to the circumstance. It is observable, that though the former treatise was addressed to the parliament with the assembly, by the appellations of " Re- nowned Parlament, Select Assembly ! " this is presented to the former onl3^ The Speech con- fines its object to the question of licencing, in other words, to the right of every mature man to present his meditations to the public through the medium of the press, without "appearing in print like a puny with his guardian, and, having scaped the ferula of a schoolmaster, next to come under the fescue of an Imprimatur ;" for such was the miserable con- dition of Enjxlish literature at the time that Milton produced this treatise. The other question, of the oflences that might be committed through the HISTORY OF THE COMM(JNWEALTH. 353 medium of the press, and the punishment that chap. XIII. was afterwards to be awarded to them, did not >. ' > come within the scope of the author's enquiry. i644. Tlie crisis produced by the debates in the Powerful assembly of divines was one of the most moment- renceofthe ous that could occur in the history of any country. naUon. The presbyterians infinitely outnumbered their opponents in the assembly : a great majority of the citizens of London were presbyterian : and the party was now fearfully and formidably rein- forced by the general consent of the Scottish nation. The Scottish parliament and general as- sembly had entered into the recently concluded alliance, solely or principally from their devoted love to presbyterianism. They had sent up their commissioners (the commissioners of the Scottish parliament arrived on the fifth of February), to watch that the league should be executed in the strictest construction which their party put upon it, by establishing an entire uniformity of church- government. A Scots army of more than twenty thousand men had entered Enorland in the com- mencement of the year ; and one of the Scottish divines sent up on the occasion very frankly ac- knowledges : " We purpose not to meddle in haste with a point of so high consequence, till it please God to advance our army, M'hich we expect will much assist our arguments^." ■' Baillie, Vol. I, p. lO.'. \0L. I. 2 A ;354 Hisruuv or nir. C(j.\i.M()N\\eai.tii. CHAP. The presbyterianism of all these parties was XIII rigid. They held the necessity of a presbytery, 1644. cong^rej^ational, provincial and synodical, and as- agninst scrtcd tliis systcm in all its parts to be of divine toleratiun. . . . rpi pn i • i • i r> i institution. 1 hey were nllecl with ideas oi the beauty of religious uniformity. Truth was one; and God could only be suitably worshipped in truth. Latitudinarianism of principle was inti- mately connected with impurity of conduct. Christians were edified by a consent in one uni- versally admitted creed ; but were perniciously acted upon and distracted by a variety of dis- cordant beliefs. It was easy to discountenance and prevent the growth of error, if the under- taking were entered upon in time. An impreg- nable barrier should be opposed ; and then the nascent and imperfect inclination to wander would be checked in the beoinnino-. What on the other hand could be more audacious towards God, and offensive to all good men, than the coexistence of a variety of sects ? There was nothing so ex- travagant and monstrous in opinion, that had not at some time been adopted by one sect or another^ till our common Christianity was ren- dered a scorn and contempt in the eyes of its ad- versaries. The mind of man was prone to absur- dity, and sought out many inventions ; and, if not afli'ectionately admonished, and wholsomely restrained, would run wild in inconceivable fol- lies. Popery itself, in the eyes of a presbyterian leration. HISrORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 355 of this period, was less to be deplored, than a c h a p. labyrinth of sects and schisms, in which reason ^^^^' , was deserted, piety trodden under foot, and every 1644. kind of scandal obtruded on the observation of the holy and pure of heart. Such were the ideas of the presbyterians. But Character a variety of circumstances were unfavourable to iviendsof theestablislimentof their project. England never *"'*^ abounded more in men of bold and independent thought than at this period ; and, what was worse for the projectors in question, a great portion of these men were serious and conscientious, full of piety towards God, impressed with a deep sense of duty, and a strong conviction of what belonged to them as reasonable beings each man account- able for his own actions. Scotland was at this time comparatively a nation of children ; England of full-grown men, each individual in the most honourable selise a priest and a prophet for him- self. The parliamentary armies in particular were full of such men. They had originally em- barked in the cause of liberty in opposition to the usurpations of the king and the hierarchy. Could such men submit to the issue that they were to be priest-ridden by a set of church-governors, ditlerent indeed in habit, but acting on principles considerably similar to those against which they had first risen ? Could they be contented to be told. You must think as the established national church thinks; you must pray and worship God 2 A 2 35G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, as the national synod and parliament shall ap "V T T T ^J_^^^ point? Or, if in your hearts you think other- 1644. wise, you must in outward form demean your- selves, as if the creed of each was formed to one imperious and prescribed pattern 1 No ; each man was prepared to shed his blood in opposition to such tyranny. Had they fought against the king and the priest whom their hearts abjured ; and was the issue of all to be, that they must submit to a legal uniformity ? The terrors of fine, imprisonment and pillory, the threats that, if they worshipped otherwise than in the mode prescribed by law, their places of worship should be shut up, and they themselves dragged before a magistrate to answer for their conduct as a crime, had originally put arms in their hands. They had fought for liberty, and perhaps most of all, for the liberty of obeying their own con- sciences, and consulting foremost the judge that every freeman feels as presiding in his own bosom. Classes of The carclcss and imitative set of men that we which thev 1 1 i • • i • mi were coml Call liistoriaus, havc misrepresented all this. They "^^^^ ' have considered it as a struoo-le between two sects, the presbyterians and independents, and have ne- cessarily led their readers to the enquiry which of these two sects was the worthiest. It is true that, at the times of which we are treating, the parties were called by these two names. But this was purely accidental. The presbyterians indeed HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 357 were one : but the independents, considered as chap. X.III a political party were many, united only in their y ^ ' , love of intellectual liberty, and their zeal for to- i644. leration. It happened, that there was a certain small number of clergy in the assembly of di- vines, who pleaded for the independent govern- ment of particular churches, and that these men were exemplary in their lives, and of distin- guished ability. But the party of the inde- pendents, in this limited sense of the word was always small. A number of sects however, and sets of men embracing different religious opi- nions, enlisted themselves in the political party of the independents. Erastians, anabaptists, mil- lenarians, fifth-monarchy men, individuals who even in these times did not borrow their creed from the country in which they were born, but thought like citizens of the universe, and sects the very names of which have perished, all em- barked in the sacred cause against presbyterian usurpation, and a compulsory uniformity of reli- gious worship and belief. The dissentions that arose out of this question Momen were ardent and bitter. Jbach party was tlio- of the roughly in earnest, and profoundly persuaded *i"*^''"°" that public virtue and public welfare were in- separably connected with the side they espoused. We in these times can with difficulty enter into the questions with which at that period every lieart was pervaded. We are accustomed to tole- tous nature 3o8 HISTORY OF THK COMMONWEALTH. (HAP. ration, and are become almost insensible to the v,__^___^ excellence of so invaluable a gift. We are for 1644. the most part cured of that passion for uniformity in faith and ceremonies, with which our ancestors were so deeply imbued. Schism was then a term pregnant with nameless horrors; and it was se- riously debated whether schism were not the sin which " never could be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come." Christ, when he took his last farewel of his disciples, said, "I am with you alweiys," in spirit, " even to the end of time." To separate ourselves therefore from the Catholic church, the spiritual body of Christ, amounted to much the same thing as to renounce the redeemer. All these sentiments were height- ened by the opportune application of a meta- phor — it was to tear the body of Christ, and to " crucify the Lord afresh." Political It has been said by some historians that the twoparUes. "^ar wliich broke out between the king and the parliament was originally a war of religion. And so in some degree it was. The party in opposi- tion to the court was deeply impressed with the dcoenerate character and the abuses of the church of England, though at the same time they were equally bent to contend against the civil usurpa- tions of the crown, and the disuse of parliaments. In like manner the contention that now broke out between the presbyterians and independents was in a great degree a question of religion. The HISTORY or THE COM.MONWEALTH. 359 independents were inflexibly bent not to submit ^^,^j^" to those who sought to " bind free conscience in ^ — ^. > secular chains •■." But there was beside this a '^'*'*' political question involved in their struggle. Most of the nobility, and of the men of great wealth, who had engaged on the parliamentary side, were presbyteriuns. They were tired of the war, and anxious for a compromise. They also shewed on various occasions an alarm, lest the king should be brought too low. They did not desire an entire victory. What they wished for, was an accommodation between the crown and the aristocracy, in which each of them might secure certain favourite objects, and be enabled to dictate to the nation. The presbyterians stood in awe of the independents, who had looked deeper into the questions now in agitation, and who abhorred the idea of a half-faced and patch- work termination. The presbyterians feared, that if the king were wholly conquered, the more liberal notions of the independents might gain the ascendancy, and overwhelm their cautious and self-seeking measures. Charles seems for the moment to have enter- ^'egoc'a- Uon of the tained views very different from theirs. The pres- •'•ng ^'''' byterians had stirred up the war against him, and pendentb. he had resolved never to forgive them. It was the presbyterians that had put all the mortifica- ' Milton, Sonnet 16. 3(JQ HISTORY OF THE COMxMON WEALTH. c HA P. tions upon liim that lie had experienced in Scot- vj^"^" land. The presbyterians of England had sub- let, jected him to a multitude of affronts and insults, before the independents had been almost so much as heard of. These latter appeared to him com- paratively a mighty innocent sort of people. They asked only a toleration, not an establishment. He had besides imbibed the same notion as his father, that without bishops in England there could be no king. He thought episcopacy and indepen- dency might be reconciled ; but with the presby- terians there was no hope for his favourite mode of church-government. Add to which, Charles never felt so perfectly himself, as when he was engaged in an intrigue. It was a conception flattering to the subtlety of which he conceived himself master, that he should get into a negoci- ation with Mr. St. John and Sir Henry Vane. These leaders humoured the overture, that they might be the better acquainted with the king's designs ; but they took care to communicate every thing that passed to the speaker, to a committee of the house of commons, to which they belonged, and to the Scots' commissioners, that their conduct might be free from suspicion. But Essex, not knowing this, and getting some hint of the matter, laid a complaint against these two as traitors to the cause, before the house of lords. They were of course most honourably acquitted^ " Journal^;, Jan. 17. Baillicj V^ol. I, p. 426. 361 CHAPTER XIV. dissections among the parli amenta ky offi- cers. essex marches for the avest. ex- ploits of blake ix the defence of lime. king marches against essex. character of the inhabitants of cornwal. charles tries to corrupt the fidelity of essex. Essex's troops lay down their arms. Let us turn from these civil broils to the military cha p. XIV, conduct of aftairs. It might have been thought, ^1^ ' , after the battle of Marston Moor, and the king's ^ 1644. losing at one blow the northern half of his king- the pariia^ dom, that the war might be terminated in the ml^s,"' r^i '"^' present campaign. But it proved otherwise. For ^J'J^^,^^* this there were various causes. None of the lead- ing parliamentary generals, neither Essex, nor Manchester, nor Waller, had those qualities, by which circumstances and events are controled, and which lead aflfairs triumphantly on to the issue desired. The first two did not seriously wish that conclusion to the war, which was the purpose of the ablest and most consummate of the parliamentary statesmen. And, what crowned anl()l!^p\'hr the mischief, and wore a fearful aspect for the tommand- 362 nisiujiv ui" lUE commun wealth. CHAP, niiblic cause, there were g^reat dissentions and XIV . V ' J heart-burnings between the different individuals 1644. to whom was confided on the part of the public the service of the field. Discontent In the Spring of the year the army which the kin"- commanded in person, had been annoyed by the cooperating forces of Essex and Waller, and had been placed in a situation of much peril. It was however the plan which had been formed for the campaign, that after a time these armies should divide, one being thought sufficient to hold the king in check, and the other destined to relieve the garrisons in the west. Waller was named by the committee of the two kingdoms for this latter service. But the proposed plan did not suit the humour of Essex. He was like a spoiled child. He was looked upon with a dis- trustful eye by some of the great parliamentary leaders ; and on his part he was perpetually ap- prehensive that he was not treated with sufficient deference and respect. He was the most popular and one of the highest noblemen in the kingdom; and he could not bear that the authority of any other man in the field should be brought into competition with his. We have seen some in- stances of this in the former campaign. We have just seen him precipitately making enemies of two of the persons of most considerable weight in Hemarchcs the parliamentary deliberations. uitothe jjg j^Q^y suddenly formed the determination IIl.'iTUllV Ul THE CCJMMON WEALTH. 3G3 that he would take upon him the march into the west. He wrote to the committee of the two kingdoms on the sixth of June, simply to announce ^G'H. tliat such was his purpose^. To this an answer somewhat peremptory was returned, confirming the appointment of Waller for that expedition, and requiring Essex to return to his station in Oxfordshire '\ This letter found the general al- ready advanced in his march as far as Blandford in Dorsetshire. From hence he replied, stating that their " directions had been contrary to the discipline of war and to reason, and that if he should now return, it would be a great encourage- ment to the enemy in all respects*^," and subscribed his letter, " Your innocent, though suspected ser- vant." The rejoinder to this from the committee was couched in somewhat strong terms. They ob- served, that in this and other letters the general had used many expressions, which might well liave been forborne, and which they did not question he now wished had not been written. They however consented under the circumstances to his proceeding in his march ; and added, that they expected that such directions as he should from time to time receive from the two houses, or * JoiiriiaU ot'CoimnuiiN, June 10. '" Ibid. June I'l. *^ Walker, i). 22. Clartnilon, \'ol. II, p. l'>". Hn.shworth^ Vol. \', p. 083. 3(34 iiiSToiiY ur ihe commonwealth. CHAP, from tliis committee, would for the future be ob- v^ ' served''. Here the controversy ended. 1644. One of the objects that most engaged the atten- Biakein " tiou of the parliamentary statesmen at this time, ofYime."'^'' was the relief of Lime, besieged by prince Mau- rice '". This town was by its situation of con- siderable importance, standing on the sea-coast, and connecting, as it did, the west of England with the more central parts and the heart of the island ^ Many of the most valuable characters engaged in the cause of the parliament, spirits highly anxious for the success of that cause, drew their birth from the western counties^. Their inHuence and authority had been great; but a change of fortune had recently taken place, and the royal party was at this time lord of the ascend- ant there. For this reason Lime was a point of particular interest ; and it soon became more so by the extraordinary and obstinate defence made by its little garrison of eleven hundred men**, against all the force that could be brought against it. The soul of that defence was Blake ', a man who, on a subsequent occasion in similar circum- stances, said to his besiegers ; " As we neither fear your menaces, nor accept your proffers, so '' June 19. Rushworth, uhl supra. * Rubhworlh, \ol. V'. p. 670, 677, ct scqq, f Ibid. p. 670. e Ludlow, Vol. I, p. 112. '■ Rushworth, \ol. \', p. 630. ' Ibid, p, 679, 680. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 3G5 we wish vou for time to come to desist from chap, XIV your overtures to us, who are resolved to the last ^ ' j drop of our blood to maintain the quarrel in which i644. we are eno-ao-ed, and doubt not but that the same God who hath hitherto protected us, will ere long bless us with an issue answerable to the justice of our cause — however that shall be, to him alone we stand or fall'^."' It would perhaps be invidious to compare the defence Blake made for Lime, with the defence made by Fiennes for Bristol twelve months before. It is indeed sufficiently memorable, that Blake was numbered among the defenders of Bristol, and being trusted with a little fort on the line, he had refused to give it up after the governor had signed the articles of surrender, for which prince Rupert threatened to hang him'. The committee of the two kingdoms had been Essex pro- cecds to the anxious for the relief of Lime, and had ordered relief of Essex to send a strong party of horse and dra- ^^ ^**^^* goons for that purpose™ ; but it had not been their intention that he should march his whole army thither. Indeed the original plan had been for Waller to proceed in that direction with his forces, which consisted in a great degree of gentlemen from that part of England, who hoped by this ■^ Whitlockc, p. 121. ' Clarendon, A'ol. TIT, p. 602. "' Journals, June 10. 3GG HISTORY ur THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, employment to have been enabled to secure the ,^__^ country, and render the public a service". In the 1644. June 15. Reduces ^\'eylnouth. mean while Warwick, lord admiral, had sailed with a similar commission, and had thrown suc- cours into Lime''. There must no doubt have been a peculiar congeniality between the frank sincerity of this nobleman, and the daring- and resolute spirit of Blake. Upon the rumour of the march of Essex, and before he had approached the place, Maurice raised the siege, and drew off his forces p. Lime being thus relieved, the earl of Warwick went ashore, and wondered much how a place of little strength, more than the mere courage of its defenders supplied, and situated low under a hill, could have held out so long, against so many fierce assaults, and the enemy being so numerous; and yet in the whole siege the town lost not above one hundred and twenty men, while the loss of the assailants amounted to two thousand^. Blake was no sooner freed from the siege which had restrained him, than, in conjunction with Sir Robert Pye, a gentleman of the county, he surprised Taunton, a post which in the follow- ing campaign proved of the utmost importance to the parliamentary caused Lime beinsf relieved, Essex marched agfainst " Ludlow, Vol I, p. 112. ° Ruslnvortli, Vol. V, p. G80. P Ibid. p. 682. "i Whitlockc, p. 90, 91. ' Ibid. p. 93. him. HISTORY or TllK CO-M-MONWEAI/IH. 3G7 Weymouth, which was surrendered to him on his ciiaiv summons. Tliere were found in it one hundred v ^^ , pieces of ordnance, and arms of all sorts in abun- 1644. dance ^ For some time indeed his march seemed to be attended with every deorree of success ; his demeanour, wherever he came, was popular and eno-ao;ing ; and in the eastern parts of Devonshire in particular he was offered ample recruits to streno-then his forces*. Maurice retreated before him; and Essex pursued, with a design to force the prince to a genereil action. But here the tide of fortune turned against tlie King parliamentary general. He was already beyond jrureuirof" Exeter, when he received the unexpected intelli- gence of the defeat and dispersion of Waller's army. The king was now free to chuse in what direction he should think proper to march ; and he was induced, partly by consideration for the critical situation of his queen, to select the pur- suit of Essex as the object he should propose to himself. He accordingly began his march on the twelfth of July, and took up his quarters at Bath on the fifteenth, at Ilchester on the twentieth, and at Exeter on the twenty -sixth". The first idea that offered itself to the mind of Essex, when he heard of these events, was that • Ru5.hworth, \'ol. V, |i. 083. Whitlockc, p. 92. * Whitlocke, y. 9.'). Sir Edw. Walker, [>. ','(j. " Walker, p. 37, 39, 40, 47. 3G8 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, he would return upon his steps, and face the XIV. . • . V ) royal army, either in Somersetshire or on the 1644. borders of Devon. But he was dissuaded from this salutary counsel, chiefly by lord Roberts, who had large estates in Cornwal, and assured the general that it would be easy for him, by the great concurrence and support he would receive, to arrest the king's march at the passes which led into that county, from whence he might after- wards advance, himself being amply reinforced and the enemy disheartened and dismayed, and annoy Charles most successfully in his retreat^. Character Evcnts liowcvcr tumcd out the very reverse of of theinha- ^yhat was hcrc predicted. No part of the kino-'s bitants ot . Cornwal. domiuious was found so universally well affected to Charles and his cause. The principle of this is explained by Walker in such a manner, that, allowing for one or two words expressive of the feelings of his party, it can scarcely be amended. " The gentry of this country,'' says he, " retain their old possessions, their old tenants, and expect from them their ancient reverence and obedience. And, give me leave to say, if many of the nobility and gentry of this unhappy kingdom had not fallen from the lustre, virtue, and honour of their ancestors, and by their luxury been necessitated to manumise their villains, but had paid that * Ibid. p. 48. Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 512. Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 690. Ludlow, V.,1. I, p. 126. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. M'/J awful reverence to the majesty and greatness of chap. their sovereign as they ought, they might liave ex- ^ ' J_y pected the same proportionably from their inferiors 1644. and tenants; and, instead of having them their companions, or rather masters (as they now are), they might have had them their servants ; and then 1 believe this war, which, under pretence of reli- gion and liberties, is to introduce heresy in doc- trine, parity in conditions, and to destroy the king, nobility and gentry, in probability had not been ^."' The king therefore here had the same advantage, that his opponents possessed through the rest of the kingdom in the exactness of his intelligence, and the zeal of the whole population for the suc- cess of his arms>'. Essex crossed the Tamar about the middle of July^, sir Richard Grenville having preceded him with a detachment of Mau- rice's army, in the vain hope that he could prevent the parliamentary forces from entering the county. Grenville however retreated before Essex, from the Callington road, which he was pursuing, to Launceston, and from Launceston to Truro*. The earl proceeded to Liskeard and Bodmin, at * \Nalkcr, p. 50. The principle of the war is here admirably developed. It is to he observed that Walker's narrative was drawn up under llic king's own eye, and that Charles condescended in many instances to interline it with his pen. y Ibid. ' Walker, p. 40. Rnshworth by mistake says the 26th. Vol.V, p. 691. » Walker, p. 4y. VOL. I. 'In 370 HISTORY OF THE COMMON WEALTH. CHAP. XIV. 1614 Clinrlesaiiil IMaiiricf imile tlu'ir forces. Essex at Lestwitli- iel. King tries to corrupt tlie fidelity of Essex. uliicli places his army was quartered, when the kino- reached Laiiiiceston on the first of August'^. The next day Charles and Maurice united their forces ; and at the same period Essex fixed his head quarters at Lestwithiel*^. The king in the mean time sent orders to Grenville to advance, and hem in Essex's army on the other side''. The parliamentary general naturally expected, that, when Charles marched against him to the west, his employers would send Waller or some other leader with an adequate force to relieve him, and attack the king's army in the rear. But in this, from whatever cause, he was disappointed. One motive, it may be, was the deadly animo- sity entertained by these chiefs against each other, affording small prospect that they would cooperate to a prosperous issue. The parliament however did sendMiddleton, with about two thousand five hun- dred horse; but he did not reach his destination till after the fate of Essex's expedition was decided*^. Matters being thus far advanced, the king thouo'ht this a suitable time to make trial of the integrity of the parliamentary general. He wrote Essex a letter with his own hand. He told him, that the season was now arrived, when he had it in his power to redeem his country and tlie crown, and to confer the highest obligation on his king. ^ Walker, |.. 49. ' Ibid. p. 50. '' Ibi-i. p. 51. " Walker, p. 64,(i.">. Rusluvortli, \'ul. V, p. 691, 697. HISTORY OF THE CO.MMONWEALTII. 371 He proposed a frank negociation, and that they chap. should join their two armies without delay. He concluded with his favourite phrase, " engaging- 1644 the vvord of a kinof," that he would confer both on him and his army the most unequivocal marks of his esteem, and forever remain his faithful friend^. The letter was dated on the sixth of Aujjust. It would certainly have proved an alarming event for the public cause, if Essex had listened to this insidious proposal. The writer however had not taken due mea- sure of Essex's mind. Twelve months before, this nobleman had hesitated as to the principle of the conduct he should adopt. But then he was in a very different position. He had a ma- jority, or at least a great portion, of the house of lords acting in concert with him. He had the support of several leading members of the house of commons. The king was apparently engaged in a prosperous career ; and it was doubtful whether his party might not ultimately prevail over the party of the people. In this situation it had occurred to Essex, whether it might not be a splendid and elevated action, in concert with his f Walker, p. .">?. Rusliworth, p. 691. The leUcr in Clarendon, Vol. II, i>. 517, is unlike this in every respect, and is therefore a pure invention of the historian. This is the more singular, as the substance of his narrative in this place is plainly taken from Walker, where tlio stdrv i> rchtod at Iar2;r. 2 h '1 372 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. friends to interfere between the two, to mitigate the pretensions of each party, and lay down in a 1644. moderate and reasonable way, or what he might judge to be so, the law to both. But circum- stances were now of a very diiierent hue. An honourable political leader does not act, but in con- junction with his coadjutors and nearest allies. That would have appeared to him a dictatorship assumed for his country's good : this had all the air of an interested invitation to duplicity and treason. The very difficulties into which he was His offers drivcn forbade him to lower his spirit and tone. are refused, jjg auswercd that it was not in the commission under which he acted to enter into a treaty, and that the best advice he could give to the king was to go to his parliaments. The letter itself was immediately forwarded by Essex to the speaker of the house of lords'' . Essex's ar- Charlcs having made his experiment of the my is^sur- greneral, next turned himself to the soldiers of the rounded. & parliamentary army, to try how far they could be seduced from their duty ; but with no better suc- cess'. He was more fortunate in his project of narrowing the enemy's quarters by stationing in the most effectual manner the different corps of his own army, and at length reduced Essex to the confined space between the river of Fowey <>' Walker, p. 56, til. " Journals, Aug. 14. * Walker, p. 62, (33. HISTORY OF THE COMMOxN WEALTH. 373 and that of St. Blase, at the same time cutting oif c h a p. the means of supplying him with provisions by ^ ' "_. sea. The last attempt of the royalists was on the 1644. twenty-fifth of August to blow up Essex's maga- zine. This was very near taking effect ^. The general wrote one more letter to the par- -^"g- 27. 1 lament, giving an account of this attempt, and concluding, " If succour comes not speedily, we shall be put to great extremity. If we were in a country where we could force the enemy to fight, it would be some comfort ; but this place consists so much of passes, that he who can subsist longest, must have the l)etter of it ; which is a great grief to me, who have the command of so many gallant men . At length, the state of the army being wholly His cavalry desperate, it was determined that the horse, in ""p^^" the night between the thirtieth and thirty-first of August, should attempt to make their way be- tween two divisions of the king's army, in which they succeeded beyond all expectation, and di- rected their course for London"'. Essex waited Hewith- ^ , . . , , draws him- to see the success 01 this experiment, and then self by sea. embarked by sea for Plymouth on the first of Sep- tember". It was necessary that his army should surrender upon terms ; but there were several rea- ^ Ibid. p. 68. Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 698. .Journals ot Com- )nons, Sep. '2. ' Rushworth, ubi supra. "" Walker, p. 70. " Walktr, p. 76. Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 698. 374 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, sons wliv lie did not cliuse to be a party to tliat "VTA' v__ ' transaction. He had many enemies among those 164-4. who adliered to his side of the question : he had given them grounds for ill construction, by his conduct in the autumn of last year, and in other particulars ; and he felt great objection to the exposing himself to the importunities and ex- postulations of his relatives and former connec- Thcin- tions in the king's army. He therefore left to down their Skippou, ouc of the most gallant officers in the parliament's service, the negociation of the terms of surrender, which finally were, that Essex's forces should lay dow^n their arms, the officers ex- cepted, and that they should be convoyed to the nearest posts of their friends ". Thus the king obtained what he stood extremely in need of; and the parliament, having preserved the men, lost what they could easily repair. " WalktT, p. 78, 70. Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 705, 706. arms. 375 CHAPTER XV. SECOND BATTLE OF NEWBURY. MANCHESTER AND CROMWEL. SKELDON CRAWFORD. CROMWEL PREFERS A CHARGE AGAINST THE LATTER. — ENQUIRY INTO THE AFFAIR AT DENNINGTON CASTLE. RECRIMINATION BE- TWEEN MANCHESTER AND CROMWEL. HOL- LIS. CROMWEL ACCUSED AS AN INCENDIARY. ESSEX AND WALLER. CIRCUMSTANCES FA- VOURABLE TO THE ROYAL CAUSE. SELF- DENYING ORDINANCE. PASSES THE COMMONS. IS REJECTED BY THE LORDS. NEM' MODEL OF THE ARMY. FAIRFAX AND CROMWEL. SECOND SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE, RETRO- SPECTIVE ONLY IN ITS PROVISIONS. Essex landed at Plymouth, where he remained chap. two days, and then proceeded by sea to Ports- ^ ^ mouth ^. From Plymouth he wrote to the com- ig-i4. mittee of both kingdoms an account of his dis- aster, to which they returned an immediate an- swer, assuring him that the parliament's good af- fections to his person, and opinion of his fidelity » Walker, p. 80, 370 IIISTOKY OV THE COMMONWEALTH. CH A P. and merit were no wise lessened by this reverse, XV. E and that they resolved not to be wanting in their 164-1. l)est endeavours for repairing the loss they had sscx s army Sustained, and placing such a force under his command, as might best conduce to the success- ful termination of the war ^. Tliey accordingly Essex at gavc ordcrs for the army of Essex, horse and foot, moutVi. to be reassembled in the neighbourhood of Ports- mouth and Southampton, and amply supplied with every thing that might fit them for imme- Waiier and diatc scrvice. Waller, who had been recruited, Manchester , , . „ ^ • n ^ ordered to and was on the pomt ot marching lor the west, aisis iini. ^^^g directed to cooperate with Essex, and Man- chester was commanded from the associated coun- ties to the same point, that all together they might annoy Charles in his march from Cornwal to Ox- ford, and, if possible, force him to a battle with their united forces. Charles ex- The king, who seems to have had a ofenius bet- posed to r 1 r ^ difficulties, tcr httcd for war, than for the policy of a civilised government, conducted his march with some de- gree of forecast and skill. His army had been victorious in Cornwal ; but it was through a se- ries of harassing endeavours and hard service : and he found them reduced in numbers, and in want of every equipment and necessary. The Cornish, who had zealously assisted him to expel the invader, were indisposed to follow him be- ^' Journals of Lords, Sep, 7. IIISTOIIY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 377 yoncl their own limits. It was therefore requisite chap. to return slowly through Devonshire and Dorset- ^ "_, shire, that he might collect such assistance as his i644. friends had agreed to supply ^. The king was also desirous to raise the siege, or relieve the garri- sons, of Basing House, and the castles of Den- nington and Banbury, before he retired into winter-quarters ^. All this in some degree he effected. The consequence of this however was to give Second bat- time for the three armies of the parliament to unite, bury. ' ^^" with the purpose of intercepting Charles in his proposed retreat into Oxford. He was now forced October 27. into a battle near Newbury, on the same spot where lord Falkland had fallen in the September of the year before. But the exertions of the par- liament were not crowned with a success propor- tioned to their assiduity. The king, though with inferior numbers, came off with nearly equal suc- cess*^: and, which was worse, having lodged his King re- cannon after the battle in Dennington Castle, annkr^ which overlooks the town of Newbury, he re- turned twelve days after, and carried them off in the face of the enemy without interruption ^. '^ Walker, p. 82, 87. Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 540. '' Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 541, 542. ' Walker, p. Ill, 11?, 113, 114. Tlushworth, Vol. \', p. 721, ct seqq. f Walker, p. IIR, 119. Kiishwurtli, Vol. \', p. 730, 731. 378 1644. Dissentions among the parlia- iiiciitary officers. Manches- ter and Cromwcl. IllSTOKY Ol- T\\\l COMMONWEALTH. Much of Charles's success in these later marches and enterprises, was owing to the ill blood which existed between the parliamentary officers. To explain this it is necessary the narrative should go backward. Waller had originally been set up as a counterpoise to Essex, and there had never existed any cordiality between them. It was believed by many that it was owing to the indisposition of Waller that he had not sooner marched to the relief of the army in Cornwal ; and Essex at least we may be sure was of that opinion. The disputes between the presbyterians and the independents had by this time found their way into the armies. Essex, as being of the privileged class, was a presbyterian ; and Waller had lately veered to the same party. The refuge of the independents therefore was in the army of Manchester. Manchester indeed, like Essex, was himself an adherent of the presbyterians. But Cromwel, his lieutenant-general, was the main stay and supporter of the partisans of liberty of conscience. And the respective character and dispositions of these two men secured to Cromwel the undisputed ascendancy. Manchester was a man who had always been greatly loved and esteemed ; he had abilities adequate to all the ordinary concerns and transactions of life ; but he did not possess that proud confidence in his own lights and decisions, IIISTOllY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 370 which, in its purest and most elevated form, is chap. incident only to the special and singularly-gifted ^ _ ^ " j favourites of nature ; he felt perhaps at all times i644. less in his element, in leading, than being led. Cromwel on the other hand was precisely the man to be the immediate second to such a com- mander. He was not formed to hesitate and be irre- solute in his determinations. He did not feel those clouds of the soul, which assimilate the indivi- dual that is subject to them, to a man whose vi- sion is obscured, and who only guesses at and gropes out his way. He was firm of spirit, and relied on his own resources. At the same time he appears to have had a temper and a self- mastery which could adapt itself to all occasions. His manner, at least where such manner was re- quisite, was bland and conciliating. He could guide the man who was placed in a rank above him, without mortifying him, and dictate the measures he desired to see adopted, without pa- rade or insolence. The army therefore of Man- chester was the head-quarters of the independents; and the men who disdained the yoke of ecclesi- astical tyranny, and who desired to worship with free and unshackled spirits, were eager to place themselves under the banner of Cromwel ". Tliis had been the case perhaps, from the time skcuion p , . , . Craw ford. wlicn the army ot the associated counties was " Biiillic, V.jI. n, i>. 10, HO. 3JS0 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. formed, in tlie autumn of 1643. But the har- mony of these two officers was broken by the ap- 1644. pointment of a third in the beginning of the pre- sent year. The name of this man was Skeldon CraAvford ^ and his office major-general of Man- chester's army '. He was a Scot, and a zealous presbyterian. Manchester, as has been already said, was of the same persuasion : and it was therefore no difficult matter for his major-general to undertake to open his eyes, and shew him how insensibly Cromwel was leading him from the mark that his judgment approved. He also ex- postulated with his commander upon the sacred obligation of the covenant, and the perilous con- sequences that might at this time arise from giv- ing umbrage to the Scots. In a word, Crawford wormed Cromwel out of the influence he had hitherto possessed with Manchester, and placed himself in his room '. — The first instance in which we hear of this Crawford relates to his absurd vanity in springing a mine at the siege of York, without giving any previous information either to Leven or Fairfax, in consequence of which the stratao;em whotlv failed, with the loss of three hundred men to the besiegers ''. He asperses The name of Crawford is rendered in some de- Croiuwei. ^^^ mcmorablc from the circumstance of his '' Ibid. p. 49. ' Ibid. p. 60. ^ Baillic, Vol. II, p. 2y. Kubhworth, p. 631. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 381 being the true and original authority for fastening chap. on Cromvvel the imputation of cowardice. The ^ j accusation is given at large in Hollis's Memoirs ', 1644. and turns on the assertion that Cromwel with his body of horse stood still without making any charge, while the battle of Marston Moor was deciding, and that, when they did advance, Crom- wel was no lonofcr amono; them. It was impossible that this man and Cromwel Recrimina- should serve too-etlier ; nor was the latter of a disposition to temporise, when he was openly at- tacked with calumny and malignity. He brought an express accusation against the new major- general, and demanded a council of war. This was early in September*". On the thirteenth Manchester, Cromwel and Crawford were all of them in London ; Cromwel to urge his complaint; and the other two to procure the acquittal of the accused ". It is characteristic of Cromwel, that at the very Ciomwei , ,. ,. , ,. ,|.' moves the moment that tins question, so interesting to lum- parliament self, was at issue, he on the same thirteenth of [oierXn?^ September moved and carried a vote in the house of commons;, that the committee of lords and com- mons appointed to treat with the commissioners from Scotland, and the committee of the as- sembly, should take into consideration the dif- ferences in opinion of the members of the as- ' p. Ij. '" Baillie, \ ol. U, jj. 61. " Ibid. p. 57, 01. 382 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. sembly in point of church-government, and en- deavour a union if it were possible ; and, in case ig'44. that could not be done, that they should essay to find out some methods by which tender con- sciences, who could not in all things submit to the common rule which might be established, might be borne with, consistently with scripture, and the public peace, that so the proceedings of the assembly might not be so much retarded ". Letter from It dcscrvcs to be noticcd that the committee of m'utee'of both kingdouis, on the tenth of September, ad- dom.'toThe ^rcsscd a letter to each of their principal com- coinmand- mauders, recommcndino' to their most serious ers. ' _ o consideration, that upon contemplation of the common interest every man would lay aside his private views, and heartily and unanimously join in all counsels and endeavours for the public ser- Their ad- vice P. This letter however did not prevent but lectcd. ""^^ that in three days afterwards, as we have seen, Manchester and the two next in command under him repaired to the capital upon the question of private differences which had broken out in his army. The labour of common friends to produce a reconciliation amono- them was vain i. What was the issue of the contest at this time between Cromwel and Crawford I have not discovered. " Baillic, p. 57, 01. Journals of Commons. ^ Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 719. '' Baillie, p. 01. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 383 At the time of the battle which took place at chap. Newbury, Essex was absent in London, as was ^ ' j alleoed, from indisposition. A committee of the 1644. , 1 . Sickness two houses, one peer and two commoners, was of Essex, accordingly appointed to wait on him, to express their concern for his sickness, and the interest that the parliament took in his welfare "■. The popularity of Essex (and it was a p-reat Causes of 1 . \ p T TT • theatten. popularity) was 01 a peculiar sort. He was a sin- uon that gular favourite with the nobility ; for he was of hi'Jil/'''" as high and gallant a spirit (according to his no- tions of a gallant character) as ever existed. He was a favourite with the citizen and the private soldier; for there was not a man in the island more condescending, more aft'able, and that knew better how to put those of a rank below him at their ease in his presence. At the same time he never lost his influence and authority ; and the discipline and propriety of conduct of his troops were admirable. He had played fast and loose with the duties of his station, and the fidelity he owed to those by whom he had been placed in an office of trust. But, by a strange coincidence, this, which would have ruined any other man, was conducive to credit and consideration with him. That which from another would have been re- garded as the bare performance of what could not be dispensed with, from him was scarcely ex- Jdiirnuls, Oct. ','(j. Whitlockt', p. 108. 384 1644. Affair of Denning- ton Castle investi- gated. Journals. Croinwcl accuses Man- chester. HISTORY OV THE COMMONWEALTH. pected, and therefore was viewed witli admiration and gratitude. In autumn 1643 he balanced be- tween his employers, and the king against whom he was commissioned to fight ; and it was almost impossible to foresee in what way the doubtful contention would end. In autumn 1644, driven into a corner of the island, with no power for his army, burning as they were with a fervent mili- tary spirit, either to fight or to escape, he was courted by the king with every imaginable arti- fice, to betray his tru.st ; and he refused. If he had yielded, he would have been infamous, as long as history had recorded his name. But, be- cause he continued true to the most sacred obli- gations, because, when he had run headlong into wilful disaster, he refused to extricate himself by a dishonourable concession, he was almost wor- shipped as a God ; and the people of England thought they could never sufficiently celebrate him as the model of an immaculate character. The house of commons was greatly dissatisfied with the aff"air at Dennington Castle, and on Sa- turday, the twenty-third of November, made an order that on the following Monday Waller and Cromwel, two of the principal ofiicers who were members of that house, should declare their whole knowledge and information respecting the late proceedings of the conjoined armies. What was the sum of Waller's declaration does not appear : but Cromwel seems to have taken hold of the HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 3^5 occasion thus afforded him, to make an express charofe aofainst the commander under whom lie served. He alleored "that Manchester had alwavs ig44. been backward to enorao;ements in battle, and against ending the war by the sword, and had been the advocate of such a peace to which a victory in the field would have been an obstacle : tliat, since the taking of York, (as if he thought the king was now low enough, and the parlia- ment too high) he had declined and shifted off" whatever tended to further advantage upon the enemy, and especially at Bennington Castle : that, before his conjunction with the other armies, he had drawn his army into, and detained it in, such situations as were favourable to the enemy's designs, against many commands of the com- mittee of both kingdoms, and with contempt and vilifying of those commands ; and since, some- times aofainst the council of war, and sometimes deluding the council, had neglected one oppor- tunity with pretence of another, and that again of a third, and at last persuading them that it was better not to fiirht at all ^/' Whitlocke observes, that, in the affair of Ben- nington Castle, Cromwel seemed (but cautiously enough) to lay more blame upon the officers of Essex's army than upon any other. He adds, ' Rushworth, Vol. V, p. 732. Clarendun, as usual, has added to this narrative a multitude of forgeries, \ul. H, p. 3(J]. VOL. r. 2 r 3SG HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, tliat Cromwers narrative gave great satisfaction XV. minates. to the assembly to which it was addressed ^ i«ii. The day after that in which Cromwel entered terrccri-' into thcsc explanations, Manchester signified to the house of lords, that he had lately been in employment in the armies, and that certain pro- ceedinofs of those armies had elsewhere been made a subject of censure : he therefore begged the house would appoint a day on which he might give an account of those transactions. The next day but one was accordingly fixed ". The narrative of the earl of Manchester con- sisted principally of recrimination, accusing Crom- wel, by his tardiness and disaffection, of being more than any other person the cause that the kino- had carried off his ordnance from Denning;- ton Castle without molestation ^. Not contented however with thus defending himself, Manchester added a separate statement of certain speeches of Cromwel, of deep concern to the peerage of En- gland, and to the good understanding subsisting between Eno-land and Scotland ". The sum of these speeches appears to have been, that it would never be well with England till the earl of Man- chester was made plain Mr, Montagu ; that the Scots had crossed the Tweed for no other purpose than to establish presbyterianism, and that in that Whitlocke, p. UG. " Journals. " llushworth, p. 733. * Journals of Lords, Nov. 28. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 3y7 cause he would as soon draw his sword ao-ainst them, as against the king ; and lastly, that it was his purpose to form an army of sectaries, which i644. might dictate to both king and parliament such conditions as they should think proper y. Man- chester delivered both these narratives in writincr to the house on the second of December ^. Matters were plainly now come to extremities between the two parties. Essex attended the house of lords on the day appointed for Man- chester's narrative, for the first time since his re- turn from Cornwal ; and he continued to do so during the following days •'^. There is reason to think that the narrative itself came from the pen of Hollis ''; and it is easy to conceive how so ac- tive and bitter a partisan would heighten the tale, and rake together scandals, to fasten on the mild and exemplary temper of Manchester. No party pen in any age ever went beyond the fury and rancour of that of Hollis. He had the honour to be the first to record, as Crawford was the first to invent, the story of Cromwel's cowardice. He says he heard it several times from Crawford's own lips*=; a proof how he loved the tale, and what agreement of spirit he felt between himself and the author. Skeldon Crawford and Denzil Hollis fabricated between them the accusation to which " Hollis, p. 18. Baillifc, Vol. II, p. 70. ' Journals. VToiiriials. •'Hollis. MMd p. l.""). 2 ( 2 33^ HISTORY OF T[IE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, they persuaded the amiable Manchester on this yj^'__^ occasion to annex his signature. What portion iiji-i. of truth there was in it, it is impossible fully to pronounce. It is probable it was not without foundation, however it might be exaggerated by the colouring they bestowed on it. Manchester would never have been induced to adopt it, if he had not been persuaded that, if not true in the precise form of words, it was at least construc- tively agreeable to the truth. In the mean time it is very certain, that Cromwel lost nothing in the opinion of the public at large through the attempts that were now made to blacken and de- stroy his character. The narrative of Cromwel was by the house of commons referred to a committee, who were di- rected to send for papers and examine witnesses as to the whole merits of the question ^. In the followinof week the lords communicated to them the justification of Manchester, and his accusa- tion of his second in command. Immediately the house appointed a committee, of which Hol- lis and several of his friends, together with some leaders of the independent party, were members, to enquire whether it were not a breach of privi- lege, and contrary to the fundamental constitu- tion of the two houses, that an accusation against one of their members should be orijrinated in the Joiinials, Nov. 25. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 389 house of lords *^. But the proorress of both these chap. . . XV committees was interrupted by the introduction v,_^^l> of measures of a stronger kind, which seemed to igh. render tlie further enquiries of the committees unnecessary. Wliile these thinp^s were Q-oins- on in the two Cromwd ^ o o accused as houses of parliament, another consultation was an incen- held under the auspices of Essex, and within his scois. house, by Essex himself, and Hollis, with two leaders of the presbyterian party (sir John Mey- rick, and sir Philip Stapleton), and several, offi- cers of the army and others, to whom were joined the commissioners on the part of the Scot- tish parliament. The object of this consultation was respecting- the expediency of proceeding against Cromwel as an incendiary between the two nations of England and Scotland. One evening very late, Whitlocke and Maynard, as two able and impartial English lawyers, were sent for to be present at this consultation. It was particularly provided for in the solemn league and covenant, that all persons who should be found to be incendiaries, contrary to the cove- nant, and dividing one of the kingdoms from the other, should be brought to trial and receive con- dign punishment, according to the degree of their otiences, and as the judicatories of each kingdom respectively should find convenient. '■ Il.iil. Dec. 1. 390 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. Ilollis, and one or two others, spoke earnestly to the ([uestion, and quoted words of Cromwel 164-1. shewino- him to be an incendiary, deelarino- that they would willingly, each for himself, and all conjointly, be upon the accusation against him. But M hitlocke and Maynard, though they allow- ed of the term incendiary, which however they observed was not of frequent occurrence in our law-books, yet declared that they did not know any passages or words of Cromwel, that might suffice to fasten that accusation upon him. They added that it would be of injurious consequence, that the commander in chief of the armies of the parliament, or the commissioners from Scotland, should enter up an acclisation of that kind, and afterwards fail in establishing it ; and they in- treated the persons who had done them the ho- nour of consulting them, to consider, that Crom- wel was a man of quick and subtle parts, possess- ing great favour and interest in the house of com- mons, and not wanting in friends in the house of peers, nor among the officers and soldiers of 'iiic accu- the armies of the parliament. In fine, after a sation dis- , , . . • i i i missed. gravc debate, it was determined to lay tlie ques- tion aside, and proceed no further for the pre- sent^. Summary Sucli was tlic pcrilous statc iu which the armies of tlie state „ , , , i i r- oftiiepar- ot tlic commonwealtli wcrc placcd, so lar as re- liamentary jirmies. — e Whitlocfce, jt. 116, 117. lUbTORY OF THE COM.MONWK ALTII. 301 lated to their principal officers. Essex was found en a p. deficient in several of the principal qualities of a ,, ^ ' j commander, and was no less notoriously unwill- i64-i. ing to prosecute the advantages of his employers as far as they might be carried. Essex however was exemplary in discipline*' ; he was eminently popular in his manners, and at the same time full of all that punctilious honour and humanity which he considered as closely connected with his high birth. He knew how to be indulgent, where indulgence was becoming ; and at the same time he knew how to make himself feared as vi^ell as loved. Waller, who had in the preceding year been set up as his rival, was enterprising and active ; but his discipline was so notoriously relaxed, that his soldiers were a disgrace ta the name, and a pest to the district in which they were stationed, and from mere laxity and want of system were accustomed to melt away and cease to be an incorporated army after the lapse of one or two months '. Of Manchester cnouoh has been said. It seemed certain that the war could never be brought to a prosperous termination, so long as the conduct of it should remain in the present hands. Every thing called upon the lovers of their Risourccs , . , . , , f, , , . of ihu king. country, and the smcere adherents ot the parlia- '' Walker, p. 26. Clarendon, \u\. II, p. lOJ. ' Walker, p. '26, 6t. Clareiulon, nhi supra. 3y2 1611. Sinister views of Es- sex and IVIan- chestcr. HISTORY Ol- THE COMMONWEALTH. mentary cause, for a strong measure. Nothing- less than a complete renovation of the military system of the commonwealth could promise a fa- vourable and speedy issue to tlie contest. The prospects of the king indeed had been consider- ably obscured by the events of this year's cam- paign in the north. His facilities for raising money were decisively inferior to those of the parliament ; and the zeal of his followers could enter into no comparison with the zeal of those enofao-ed on the other side, who fouMit for all they held dear in civil liberty, and valuable in re- lio-ion. But the king: had his advantag-es. Con- siderable ability had been displayed in his cam- paign in the midland counties and in the west. He reofarded the Irish Catholics as an inexhaust- ible hive of recruits to his diminished force ; and he looked to the powerful diversion which Mon- trose promised to effect in Scotland. The queen was at this time busy in the endeavour to send him over large supplies from the continent. But what was of greatest moment was, the doubt whether the parliamentary generals themselves were not in some demee fiohting- his battles. Both Essex and Manchester were strongly reported to have expressed their fears, lest the king should be brought too low to give plausibility and effect to such a compromise as they desired. This was indeed a perilous circumstance. Generals who declined fighting, or who, when engaged, were HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 393 fearful tliat their victory might prove more com- chap. plete than they desired, were ill servants to the ^ ' ' j friends of liberty. The coldness of the principal i644. officers must inevitably communicate a chill in some way to their followers. The gamester who has determined not suddenly to win the stake, can scarcely conduct his schemes so perfectly, but that a skilful antagonist may unexpectedly seize some opening, and drive him to an irretrievable loss. The game too of these leaders wore a double face. They were still considering whether they could not make terms with the enemy, very ditterent from those which would be approved by their constituents in the house of commons. Es- sex had refused to enter into correspondence with the king, when shut up by himself, and at a di- stance from all his confidential connections, in Cornwal. But he had shewn that he had no in- superable objection to negociate, if supported by a majority of the house of lords, and a respect- able minority of the commons. And, since the contests had orrown so bitter and irreconcileable between the presbyterians and independents, strengthened by personal animosities, and built on the great principles of religious unity on one side, and integrity of conscience on the other, perhaps neither party, but certainly not the party of the noble and the opulent, would have scru- pled to supersede in an urgent case the ordinary forms of proceeding, and so to have baffled a com- 394 HISTORY or the commonwealth. petitor they detested, of his supposed perverse and iuicpiitous purposes. Thus the army, which 164-}. the parliament placed under the direction of those in whom they confided, might be made an instru- ment to defeat the ends for which they had been enrolled and kept up, and to restore the king-. The spirit indeed which had been raised in fa- vour of the best principles of civil and religious liberty, was so grounded in a certain portion of the community, as perhaps to be in no danger of being speedily routed and overcome : but it was the duty of those who had taken that spirit and its ends under their protection, to secure to it the speediest and the most unquestionable victory. A remedy The men to whom we are indebted for the scheme that was now carried into execution, ap- pear to have been Cromwel, St. John, and Vane. It was opened in the house of commons on the ninth of December. On that day the house re- solved itself into a committee, to consider of the sad condition of the kingdom, in reference to the intolerable burthens of the war, and the little prospect there was of its being speedily brought to a conclusion. In this committee there was a general silence for a good space of time, when Cromwel rose to address them. Among other things, he especially recommended to their pru- dence, not to insist upon a complaint as to the oversight of any commander in chief upon any occasion whatsoever. He observed, that he was proposed. IIISTOIIY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 395 himself conscious of oversights, and well knew chap. that they could scarcely be avoided in military <, ' ' , affairs. Therefore, waving a strict inquiry into i644. the cause of these things, he exhorted the com- mittee to apply itself to some general remedy, which, without in any way countenancing the particular censure of individuals, might best in future shut out those evils under which they were at present suffering •*. Another member followed Cromwel in the same train of observations. He remarked, that their victories, so gallantly gotten, and in which they had so eminently experienced the favour of heaven, had been of no avail ; that a summer's triuniph had proved but a winter's story, and the game, however it seemed won in autumn, was to be played over again in the spring. The fault he conceived to lie, in the forces of the parlia- ment being under several commanders, and the little correspondence and good understanding which subsisted among the chieftains. A third member then rose, and proposed a re- Siif deny. solution, which was supported by Vane and others, that no member of either house of parliament should during the war have or execute any office or command, civil or military ; and that an ordi- nance sliould be brought in for that purpose'. iiitt ordi- 'j nance. '' Rushworth, Vol. VI, p. y, 4. ' Il)ul. The second speech is \\\ IJiishworlli anonymous. The name ut Uu; ihinl speaker is Zumh TaU-. The account uliuli is given nl liiis m.iiur in Clarendon, is extctd- ;J9G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAT. This ordinance afterwards obtained the name of V _^ the self-denying' ordinance. 1644. Tliere were many obvious arguments in favour ingly different from what is here related. lie says, that " tlic indepen- dent party knew not how to projiose to the parliament the great alterations they intended. In the end, they resolved to pursue the method in which they had heen hitherto so successful, and to prepare and ripen things in the church. They agreed therefore in the two houses that they would have a solemn fast-day, in which they would seek God, and desire his assistance to load them out of their perplexities. [This fast was really appointed for the eighteenth of December, nine days later than that upon which the motion had been made for bringing in the self-denying ordinance. See the Journals of both Houses.] " When the fast-day came," proceeds Clarendon, " (which was ob- served ibr eight or ten hours together in the churches,) the preachers, let their texts be what they would, told the parliament plainly, that there was as great pride, as great ambition, as many prix'ate ends, and as little zeal and affection for the public among them, as they had ever imputed to the court, and that, while they pretended, at the public cost, and out of the purses of the poor people, to make a general reformation, their chief care was to grow great and rich themselves. " When the two houses met together, the next day after these devout animadversions, there was another spirit appeared in the faces of many of them. Sir Ilcnry Vane told them [What, the two houses?], that, if ever God had appeared to them, it was in the ex- ercise of yesterday, and that what they had felt and heard could proceed only from the spirit of God. He told them that the sug- gestions of yesterday, none of which had ever entered into his spirit before, had raised in him other reflections than he had previously en- tertained. — When sir Henry Vane had sat down, Cromwel rose, and proceeded in a similar strain." Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 564, ctseqq. Now Clarendon well knew that ther6 was not a word of truth in all this detail. He intended it on y fur nuMimiery, and a burlesque HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 397 of this measure. It was alleged against it by Whitlocke, that among the Greeks and Romans the greatest offices, both of war and peace, were io44. Arjjuinenls upon the debates of the times. And it is thus that history is too frequently written. It is time that the character of Clarendon as an historian should be understood. The following story, which occurs in (Marcndon's Life, p. 69, will materially contribute to that purpose. " His majesty one day, speaking with the lord Falkland very graciously concerning Mr. Hyde, said he had such a peculiar style, tliat he should know any thing written by him, if it were brought to him by a stranger, among a multitude of writings by other men. The lord Falkland answered. He doubted his majesty could hardly do that ; because he himself, who had so long conversation and friendship with him, was often deceived ; and often met with things written by him, of which he could never have suspected him. To which the king replied. He would lay him an angel, that let the ar- gument be wliat it would, he should never bring him a sheet of paper of his writing, but he would discover it to be his. The lord Falkland told him it should be a wager; but neither the one nor the other ever mentioned it to Mr. Hyde. Some days after, the lord Falkland brought several packets which he had just received from London, to the king, before he had opened them, as he used to do; and, after he had read his several letters of intelligence, he took out the prints of Diurnals of speeches, and the like, and among the rest there were two speeches, the one made by the lord Pem- broke for an accommodation, and the oilier by the lord Brooke against it. " The king was very much pleased with reading the speeches, and said. He did not think that Pembroke could speak so long to- gether; though every word he said was so much his own, that no- body else could make it. And so after he had pleased himself with reading the speeches over again, and then passed to other papers, the lord Falkland whispered in his ear, desiring he would pay him tlie angel; which his majesty in the instant apprehending, blushed, iti Its vour. 398 HISTORY Ob' THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAT, conferred upon their senators'". But this state- ment is somewhat fallacious. In Sparta no one XV 1644. and, putting his hand into his pocket, gave it to him. The king was very merry upon it, and would often afterwards call upon Mr. Hyde for a [forged] speecji or a letter, which he prepared upon several occasions ; and the king always commanded thcin to be printed. And he [Clarendon] was often \('ont to say many years after, that he would be very glad he could make a collection of all those papers, which he could never do, though he got many of them." Clarendon has also named Nathaniel Fiennes and Henry Marten among those " who spoke more and warmer in favour of the self- denying ordinance than those spoke who opposed it (p. G05)," though Fiennes was at that time in a state of voluntary banishment on the continent, and Marten was an expelled member of parlia- ment, and was not restored till two years after. By the way, the counting Marten, as Clarendon does here, among the independents, shews how much they mistake who consider independents as a name for fanatical enthusiasts. Yet Clarendon, such as he is, is one of our principal authorities for the history of the times in which he lived. He was, as the thing is vulgarly understood, a man of honour and integrity ; and, like other eminent forgers, he made a great parade of his principles of morality and religion. He is perhaps a good deal to be relied on for the things which passed under his own inspection ; for the rest his information was neither ample nor accurate, and he was not always very scrupulous what he said respecting them. He under- took, as he says, " a difficult work, to write the history of the civil wars, with the approbation of the king, and for his vindication." Vol. II, p. 627. I should myself be particularly disposed to depend upon him, when he betrays things, which he very often does, dis- advantageous to the party he has undertaken to vindicate. It must not pass unnoticed that Hume has inserted Clarendon's forged debate on the self-denying ordinance in his History. ■" Whitlockc, p. IIP, 120. \ HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 399 could be a senator (the senate consisted of only chap. twenty-eight persons) till he had completed his ^^ ' , sixtieth year. We may be sure therefore that the 1644. commanders of their armies were seldom or ever senators. In Athens and Rome the public officers were all chosen by the assemblies of the people. The cases therefore were by no means parallel. The parliament at this time in existence, extended its authority over every department in the state. They exercised the absolute appointment of all public officers. It was an awful responsibility that fell to their lot ; and it may well be sup- posed that they did wisely in placing this check upon the abuse of their authorities. It must not however be disoruised that this i»^ •'"'"e. '^ . . diate ad- measure was adopted less from its direct and vantages. avowed tendency, than from the collateral advan- taores that it was conceived would accrue from it. It offered an uninvidious method of removing from the command of their armies those persons, whom the civil conductors of the war had so much reason to distrust. It would operate to renovate the whole machine, and to infuse new vigour into the military system. Things had gone on too much in a slow and well-worn track, the marches and undertakings of the war being conducted by the old soldiers, and the men of birth, who, though they were now servants of the parliament, had formerly been courtiers. The sweeping clause, which excludeil from command all members of 400 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, eitlier house of parliament must necessarily place ^—1 ^-u ^^^ conduct of the field in the hands of new men, ifi4i. and men who must be stimulated to great achieve- ments by the consideration, that the law under which they obtained their appointments, without going the length of individual censure, yet im- plied a general dissatisfaction with what had already been done. Passes tiic ^\\Q ordinaucc was conducted through the coniinons. house of commons with success. It was opposed by Hollis, and the other heads of the presbyterian party. A motion was made in the committee, that Essex, the commander in chief, should be excepted from the operation of this law ; but it Debated in was dccidcd in the ncQ-ative". It was carried up 111 to the lords on the twenty first; and in that house it linofered for a considerable time. It was felt that this was no ordinary measure, and that a dif- ference between the two houses on so momentous a point might involve the most serious con- sequences". Three times the house of commons " Journals of Commons, Dec. 17. " It was an extremely delicate and somewhat perilous under- taking, to preserve the concord between the two houses during the successive stages of the opposition to king Charles. The commons were continually rising, and the lords subsiding, in character and authority, till the whole terminated in 1649 in the abolition of the lords. Very often in different periods of the contest the lords were obliged sullenly to yield their assent to a measure, which they h;id at first strenuously opposed. This was partly owing to the nature of the two assemblies, and partly to the memorable thinness HISTORY or Tin: COMMONWEALTH. 401 sent up messages, desiring expedition, and repre- senting that any delay in passing the ordinance would be danoferous, mifrht be destructive p. A se- ig44. lect committee was nominated by the lords to con- sider of alterations to be introduced into the ordi- nance*!. The committee consisted often lords; and, what is mostsingular, four of these, Essex, Manches- ter, Warwick, and Denbigh, were persons to whose disadvantage the law would particularly operate. A paper of reasons originated in this committee against the substance of the ordinance. In this paper it was observed that it deprives the peers of that honour, which in all ages had been given them, since they had evermore been principally active, to the effusion of their blood, and the hazard of their estates and fortunes, in rep-ainino- of the house of lords at the time of the most momentous events. There is a very strong passage recorded in the Journals of the Commons, so carlv as December 3, 1G41, somewhat more pointed than we can perceive an occasion that called for it. In it they speak generally of bills that had been sent up to the lords for their concurrence, which much concerned the safety of the kingdom, but which had not yet obtained their consent ; and they add that, the house of commons " being the representative body of the whole nation, and tlie lords but as particular persons, coming to parlia- ment in a particular capacity, if they shall not pass these acts and other measures, then it will be re([uisite for the house of commons, together with such lords .as may more deeply feel the urgency of affairs, to join together in a representation to the throne on the subject." •' .Ian. G, 10, 13. '» Dec. 30. vol.. I. 2 D 402 HISTOUY or THE COMMONWEALTH. and maintaininnthe tundamental laws of the land, and the rights and liberties of the subject; nor iG-i-j. was there ever any battle fought for these ends, wherein the nobility were not employed in places of chiefest trust and command. It was added, that the proposed measure was by no means equal to the lords and commons of England, since, though some of the gentry and commons were excepted as members of parliament, yet that the rest might have liberty to discharge their duty whether in civil offices or the field ; whereas the ordinance was proposed to operate as an uni- versal disqualification of the whole hereditary 1645. nobility of the country. Finally, after repeat- ^^ IS reject- ^^ confereuces between the two houses, the ordi- nance was rejected by the lords on the thirteenth of January. New mocki One of the complaints urged by the house of peers in their paper of reasons against the ordi- nance was, that the tendency of the measure ap- peared to them to be such, that in attempting to put it in force every thing in the armies would be likely to be thrown into the most alarming state of confusion ; and therefore, till the new model of what was proposed to succeed should be produced to them, they were so placed as not to be com- petent fully to judge of the good or evil likely to result. This suggestion was immediately laid hold of by the authors of the measure, and that with such promptitude, that, on the day after the ed of the army. HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 403 delivery of the paper of reasons from the lords, die committee of bodi kingdoms was called upon to report to the commons the new model according- \64i to which the army was to be constituted. It is a memorable and an extremely curious cir- Proposed cumstance, that the project of the new model of miuccof the army was made to originate from the com- kln^d^ms. mittee of both kinodoms. This aro^ues much mastery and skill in the party which was now risino' into the direction of the state. The oriofinal kernel and root of this committee was in the four Scots, who were sent from Edinburgh, principally to take care that the presbyterian discipline should be established in all its rio;our and fulness in the southern kingdom. A great majority of the English members of the committee were originally pres- byterian. Yet the project of the self-denying ordinance and the new model, was conceived by the independents. We must therefore believe that the necessity for a renovation, a revivification of the army, was so evident, as upon this one ques- tion to have brought over many of the presbyte- rians to the side of the independents. What was the precise arrangement for voting in the com- mittee we are not able to ascertain : it is impossible not to suppose that every measure that issued from it, must have hud the concurrence of a ma- jority of the commissioners from Scotland. It must therefore have been of no small import- Marquis of ance on the present occasion, that the marquis of ' ''^' ^" 2 I) 2 404 nrsToiiY or nii: commonwealth. Arp;yle just at this juncture arrived in London, and sat and voted anions: those commissioners ^ 1645. He had for nearly two years past had the princi- pal power in the government of his country. A great intimacy and confidence had commenced Sir Henry betwceu him and Vane, durino^ the residence Vane. . . . of the latter in Edinburgh in the autumn of 1643^ Argyle was a staunch and inilexible ad- herent to presbytery ; in this point he differed from Vane. But there was another point in which they fully agreed ; a repugnance to half mea- sures, an aversion to the conducting the war in an irresolute and temporising spirit, and a de- termination to push the advantages obtained in the field as far as they would go. There were also certain features of character in which the Engrlish and Scottish statesman resembled each other : they were both of a subtle and refining spirit, taking greater pleasure in the ascendancy of intellect in the closet, than of prowess in the field. They were judged by their contemporaries to be men of a depth and mystery of purpose very difficult to be fathomed. Yet they were both of them true patriots, and men of great integrity of sentiment. A genuine frankness upon some very interesting and momentous occasions cannot be affirmed of either ; and we shall not be likely to be erroneous, if we assert of Vane, that he did not •■ Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 628. lllb'lORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 405 at this crisis disclose to his noble friend every thing that was passing in his mind on the subject. — One point that must not be passed unnoticed i645. is, that the Scottish commissioners, previously to the arrival of Argyle, had exerted themselves with intemperate violence and zeal for the destruction of Cromwel ; now they concurred in a measure, in which, as will presently be seen, he was per- sonally advantaged more than any other indi- vidual. The scheme of the new model was laid before officers of the house of commons on the ninth of January ; Ilodd"^ and the names of the principal officers who were "*™«'^- to have command in this army were put to the vote on tlie twenty-first. In each of the parlia- journals, mentary armies there had been three principal, or field, officers, the general who commanded the en- tire army, the lieutenant-general who commanded the horse, and the major-general, or, as he was then styled, the serjeant major-general. It is suf- ficiently singular that at this time when the names of the general, the major-general, and twenty-four colonels were voted, the appointment of lieutenant- general was passed over in silence. Sir Thomas Fairfax was named for commander in chief, and Skippon for his major-general. It cannot reason- ably be doubted that there was a special reason for keeping the name of the officer second in com- mand in reserve ; ;iiul that reason, as appeared in Cromwel 40(5 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. tlic se(|uel, was that the situation was destined for Cromwel'. 164.';. It was undoubtedly a strong measure, that, at the very moment that a law was pressing, to ex- clude all members of either house of parliament from holding offices civil or military, a single ex-- ception, and that of so conspicuous a nature, should have been determined on. But there are emer- gencies of so striking a nature, as to supersede all ' The colonels of regiments, and the other officers, were at first expressly named by vote in the house of commons. But upon further deliberation it was thought proper to refer their nomination to the commander in chief, subject to the approbation or otherwise of the two houses of parliament. The list however, as it was passed by the commons, Jan. 21, and as finally approved on the nomina- tion of Fairfax by the lords, March 18, differs only in one or two names. The final catalogue of colonels is as follows [it is much to be regretted tliat they are given in both instances without their Christian names]. The new model was composed of eleven regi- ments of horse, each to consist of six hundred men, one regiment of dragoons, to contain one thousand men, and twelve regiments of foot, of twelve hundred men each. The colonels of horse were, Fairfax, Middleton, Sheffield, Fleetwood, Rossiter, Vermuyden, Sidney [Algernon], sir Robert Pye, Whalley, Graves and sir Michael Livesey ; of dragoons, Okey; and of foot, Fairfax, Skippon,nolborne, Crawford [this could scarcely be Skeldon Crawford, above spoken of], Barclay, MonUigu, Aldridgc, Pickering, Fortescue, Ingoldsby, Rainsborough and Welden. Among the inferior officers occur the names of Ireton, Desborough, Harrison, Huntington and Hewson. We shall cease to wonder at the list's appearing less brilliant than that of the original army in 1642, when we recollect that all mem- bers of either house of parliament were expressly excluded from it. and Crom- wel. IIIVIORY OF THE (JUMMUN WEALTH. 407 rules. Fairfax was an admirable officer : hut it will be decided by all posterity, as it was decided by their contemporaries, that it was impossible to i645. name a man in the island, of so consummate a ofFalrfalT military genius, so thoroughly qualified to conduct the war with a victorious event, as Cromwel. He was also, whatever some historians have said on the subject, of scarcely less weight in the senate than in the field. Cromwel was besides an ac complished statesman. There was in this respect a striking contrast between him and Fairfax. Fair- fax, richly endowed with those qualities which make a successful commander, was in council as innocent and unsuspecting as a child. He had great coolness of temper, an eye to take in the whole disposition of a field, and to remark all the advantages which its positions afforded, and a temper happily poised between the yielding and severe, so as to command the most ready obedience, and to preserve a perfect discipline. Fairfax was formed for the executive branch of the art military in the largest sense of that term. But in all that related to government and a state, he seemed in- tuitively to feel the desire to be guided. He was not acquainted with the innermost folds of the hu- man character, and was therefore perpetually liable to the chance of being led and misled. He was guided by Cromwel ; he was guided by his wife; and, if he had fallen into hands less qualified for the office, lie would have been guided by them. 408 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 15ut Cromwel saw into tlie hearts of men. He could adapt himself, in a degree at least exceeding 1645. every character of modern times, to the persons with whom he had dealings. He was most at home perhaps with the soldiers of his army : he could pray with them ; he could jest with them : in every thing by which the heart of a man could in a manner be drawn out of his bosom to devote itself to the service of another, he was a consum- mate master. It was not because he was suscep- tible only of the rugged and the coarse, that he was so eminently a favourite with the private soldier. He was the friend of the mercurial and light-hearted Henry Marten. He gained for a time the entire ascendancy over the gentle, the courteous, the well-bred, and the manly earl of Man- chester. He was the sworn brother of sir Henry Vane. He deceived Fairfax ; he deceived Milton. At this time, and instructed as we are by the page of events, every friend of liberty must regret that Cromwel was made the splendid exception to the otherwise unlimited operation of the principle of the self-denying ordinance. It had been better to have suffered a material risk as to the prosper- ous conclusion of the war, than to have employed so dangerous an instrument. But, at the period of which we are treating, and for several years after, not one of the most enlightened friends of liberty distrusted Cromwel. It would have ap- peared scarcely less than suicide to the common^ HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 409 wealth, to have laid aside the man who, above all chap. . . XV others, was best able to render her cause victorious. ^ j The ordinance for the new model passed the i645. liouse of lords on the fifteenth of February", creating an army of twenty-two thousand men : these forces to be principally drafted from the old armies. A second self-denyinp;' ordinance was now Secondseif- .1 1 denying brought in, but of a less extensive character than ordinance. that which had previously been rejected by the lords. The former forbade any member of either house of parliament from bearing any office civil or military during the war. The present did not carry its prospect into the future, but contented itself with merely discharging members of parlia- ment from the offices they now held. Perhaps this variation had a view to Cromwel, as the law thus modified did not expressly forbid the re-appoint- ment of officers so discharged. Exceptions were also voted, as in the first self-denying ordinance, in favour of the commissioners of the great seal, the commissioners of the admiralty and navy, and of the revenue. This ordinance passed into a law on the third of April ^. At lengtli, tardily and unwillingly, the day be- Kesigna- fore the passmg the ordinance, bssex, Manchester Essex and and Denbigh appeared in the house of lords, and chcrilr, resigned their commissions*. On the same day " Journals. " Journals of Lords. * JournaN 410 IlISTOllY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. on which Fairfax was named commander in chief, the house of commons had agreed to refer it to the 1645. committee for tlie armies, to consider of some mark of honour to be set upon Essex, and some further recompence, to remain as an acknowledgement from the parliament, and a testimony to posterity, of his great and faithful services y. Again, when these noblemen resigned their commissions, the house of commons named a committee to take into consideration the services and fortunes of the earls of Essex, Manchester and Denbigh, in such a manner as might express the value the parliament entertained of their faithfulness and industry in the discharge of the trusts reposed in them^. Essex died on the fourteenth of September 1646, and on that occasion every kind of respect was shewn to his memory. On receiving the intelligence of his death, both houses immediately adjourned them- selves to the day following; they ordered that his 5' Journals of Commons, Jan. 21. * Ibid. April 2. It is stated by Clarendon, "that the two houses, on the day following Essex's resignation, went to attend him at Essex House, and to return him their thanks for the great service he had done the kingdom ; which they acknowledged with all the encomiums and flattering attributes they could devise." Vol. II, p. 629. But there is no trace of this in the Journals. Hume also relates, that on this occasion "a pension often thou- sand pounds a year was settled on Essex." But this representation is founded in a mistake. On the twenty-sixth of May 1643, an ordinance passed the two houses, taking notice that, whereas this nobleman had been despoiled of his goods and estates to a great HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 41 J funeral rites should be defrayed at the public ex- chap. pence ; and, when the ceremony took place, both k,^^"^. houses in full assembly attended his remains to i645. the grave. Clarendon pretends, both in the question of the Temper of abolishing of episcopacy, and in this of the self- commons.*" denying ordinance, that the question was carried, in opposition to the sense of a clear majority of the members present, by the subtle wiles and stratagems of what was in reality the weaker party. To state this assertion in plain and unvarnished terms, is to refute it. No one has pretended to talk, particularly in this latter instance of the self- denying ordinance, of tumults, of crowds assembled round the two houses of the legislature, and an at- tempt to overawe them into compliance. The situ- nndofthe ation of the lords indeed was somewhat critical, lo^ds!" The power and authority of the lower house had in reality swallowed up theirs. Yet the commons value at Chartley in the county of Stafford by the troops fighting for the king against the parhamcnt, it was therefore ordained as a conijiensation for his losses, tiiat the yearly sum of ten thousand pounds should be paid him out of the proceeds of the delinquents' estates. And now again, 21 May 1645, an ordinance was brought into the house of commons, stating that this annuity had not been paid as it ought to have been, and therefore directing, in considera- tion of Essex's heroic valour, prudent courage, and unspotted fidelity in his high oflice, that this amount with all arrears accruing upon it, should be now and hereafter fully discharged. This ordi- nance was passed into a law in the following autunui. Journals of Lord-<, September '26, 1645. 4 12 HISTOKY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. observed a certain deference to them : for, havinor anniliiluted in the seat of government the pre- 1645. rogative of the king, they vv^ould have been full loath to part with the countenance of the other branch of the legislature. They therefore at this time voted a declaration, which they ordered to be carried up to the house of peers, that they held themselves obliged, by the fundamental laws of the land, and by their several protestations and covenants, to preserve the rights and privileges of tjie peerage equally with their own, and that they felt the deepest care, and would use every possible exertion, to preserve that good understanding be- tween the houses, which had hitherto so happily prevailed ^ On the other hand, the peers who had hitherto sat in parliament, felt that they had gone too far in the civil contention to be at liberty to retrace their steps ; they knew the vindictive character of the king ; they had seen it exemplified in his treatment of the earls of Bedford, Holland and Clare ; and they resolved to adhere to the party with which they had various claims of merit, rather than to go over to the other by whom they had again and again been designated as traitors. Under these circumstances, the peers probably in successive instances decided against their own in- clinations, for fear of an irreparable breach with " Journals, March -4. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 4)3 the commons : but it cannot reasonably be doubted c h a v. that the latter, particularly from the time that the v_.^___^ violent royalists withdrew themselves, to the pe- 1645. riod at which we are arrived, pronounced their decision on the different questions that arose, agreeably to the sense of the majority of tlie mem- bers present. 414 CHAPTER XVI. TREATY OF UXBRIDGE. TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF MACMAHON, MACGUIRE, CARE\r, AND THE HOTHAMS. ATTAINDER OF LAUD. CHAP. When the two houses of parliament rejected the V , king's overtures for a treaty in the beginning of K^-*^- the year 1G44, because in those overtures they tions "voted wcrc uot acknowledged as a parliament, and the Tfa'safr'* lords and commons assembled at Oxford were and well sDokcn of iu the same style as themselves, it was grounded r j ' peace. howcvcr thouglit ncccssaiy that some method should be adopted for preparing a statement of the grounds upon which a just and safe peace mio-ht be established, so as to secure the rights of the people in both kingdoms, and to cut off occa- sions of future misunderstandino- between the kinir and his subjects. The question was accordingly referred to the committee of both kinodoms; and propositions, twenty-six in number, were drawn up by sir Archibald Johnstone of Wariston% one of the four commissioners of Scotland, a man whose power in the government of the northern ^Baillie,Vol. II, p. 7. HISTORY ()V THE COMMONWEALTH. 415 kingdom at this time was only inferior, if at all chap. inferior, to that of the marquis of Argyle"^. The v ' , propositions met with various delays. Being at i644. length sanctioned by the two houses, Wariston, by whom they had been digested, was sent down to present them to the parliament of Scotland, which met on the fourth of June *^. He was entirely suc- cessful in the subject of his mission, and returned to London, with new instructions, and letters from the parliament, and the general assembly of the church, of Scotland, in the close of the following month''. The propositions were sent to the king Sent to the at the close of the campaign, by the hands of six '"^' commissioners from the parliament, Denbigh and Maynard of the house of lords, and lord Wenman, Pierrepoint, Ilollis and Whitlocke of the commons, with three of the committee for Scotland, and met Charles on his arrival at Oxford on the twenty- third of November*^. The position in which the king stood at this '• Life of Burnet, by his Son. ' Baillie, Vol. IT, p. 21. Rushwortli, Vol. V, p. 933. '' Baillie, Vol. II, p. 51. The parliament of Scotland at this time appointed a new set of commissioners to concert with the committee of the lords and commons of Enj^land, which, when thus united, was called the committee of both kingdoms ; Loudon, Arg\lc, and Balmerino, for the nobles ; Wariston, sir Clxarles Erskine, and George Dundas, for the barons ; and sir John Smith, Hugh Ken- nedy, and Robert Barclay, for the boroughs ; with lord Maitland, supprnmner;u \ . .Journals of Lords, August '20. •^ W hitluckc, p. Ill, 112. Clarendon, \'ol. II, p 533. 4l(j HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. ciiAP. season demands our attention. He was under ^ ^ ' ^ J tlie necessity at all times of pretending- to desire IG44. a treaty. We have seen what was his real dispo- Disi.osi- sition at the period of the negfociations at Oxford tion of ' " Charles ati- at tlic end of 1642, where he held himself obliged verse to . n • n i i • peace. to sliew HI some degree a lair lace to the deputies of the parliament, at the same time that he had bound himself to consent to no terms without the concurrence of the queeil, who was then in Hol- land. He had now tried the fortune of three campaigns ; he had lost the whole north of En- gland ; his resources were narrowed and in a manner exhausted. But his perseverance was not subdued. He begged the queen to believe, that he had " a little more wit, than to place con- fidence in the fidelity of perfidious rebels ^." [On what score did he denominate them perfidious? Unless indeed he referred to the original and mu- tual engagement of king and people, and in- ferred from it that they were bound to unlimited submission.] His sentiments were precisely those expressed by Montrose, who declared " the hor- ror he was in, when he thought of a treaty ; ex- cept indeed the rebels disbanded, and submitted themselves entirely to the king's goodness and pardons." It is remarkable, that in the letter to the queen just quoted, he further protests that he f Charles's Works, Letters, Fcli. IP. s Welwood, Appendix, Number X. IirSTOKY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 417 "esteemed the interest she had in him at a far chap. dearer rate," than to suffer him to yield in the y. \^^' points she apprehended ; thus confessing' he \gu. dared not do that, upon which she had placed her prohibition, and had threatened him respecting it with her severe displeasure. We are here pre- sented with an instructive spectacle, of a resolved despot to his people, who at the same time bows in uxorious submission to his wife. There were various circumstances that confirm- Encoura- ed him in a determined resistance to compromise, disscntions One was the bitter dissentions that existed in the adl^erfaries. opposite party, each general being in a state of high displeasure with his brother general, as well as with many of the officers under his command. The king also placed great reliance upon the growing divisions between the presbyterians and independents. He courted the latter with a de- claration of his reo;ard to the ease of tender con- sciences '' ; and from the former he expected much, as they had repeatedly shewn their un- willingness that he should be reduced too low, both from a fear of what might in that case be effected by the independents, and because the noble and the opulent among them still felt a strong attachment to the person and office of a king-. Charles also entertained sanguine expec- and by the • • •!• 1 1 • r 1\T hopes lie tations trom the military undertakings oi Mon- enuruiined of further ' absibUncc. '■ lliibliwoith, Vol. \', i». G«7. VOL. I. 2 E different from his own. 413 HISTORY or THE COMMONWKALTH. CHAP, trosc in Scotland, from the consequences of an kJ^^ entire peace with the Catholics of Ireland, and 1644. from the promise that was held out to him of a reinforcement often thousand men from the duke of Lorraine '. Disposi- But, at the same time that the king, and a few Swcrs '^ of those who were most closely connected with him, were strenuously bent to try all extremities, and yield nothing to rebels with arms in their hands, there was a formidable party about the throne who were animated with very different sentiments. The Oxford parliament, which ori- ginally consisted of fifty-two lords, and one hun- dred and seventeen commoners, was now re-as- sembled ^. Their numbers were considerably re- duced, and their importance greatly diminished. The history of this, their second session, is en- veloped in much obscurity. Scarcely any re- cords now remain of it. The members however were men that felt a very different interest respect- ing the issue of the contest, from that which was cherished by either king or queen. They sighed for peace. Some of the more respectable members did not wish for so entire a victory on the part of the crown, as Charles proposed. The bulk thought only of their own advantage or their ease. They were tired of the hazards and the sacrifices at- ' Charles's Works, Letters, Jan. 17, 1645. ■^ Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 563. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 419 tendanton civil war. They were impatient to sit chap. down in quiet beside their own hearths. They ^^^ ^ would have been well contented, that something- i644. should be yielded by both parties to the contest, and that some compromise should be suddenly agreed on. In the lano-uage of Clarendon, " ad- vice came from many different hands, that the king should send a message to the houses for peace '.'' In the language of Charles, he " feared to be pressed to make mean overtures, and was anxious to be freed from the place of base and mutinous motions, that is, from his mongrel par- liament "V as he styled it. Having thus referred to the state of mind of Reception the king and his supporters, we shall better un- positions?" derstand the particulars of the reception of the commissioners of the two houses. They were presented to the king, and the earl of Denbigh read to him the propositions for peace. When he had finished, the king asked whether the com- missioners had power to treat? He was answer- ed, that their mission extended no further than to receive his answer in writing. Then, rejoined the king, a letter-carrier might have done as much as you". Two or three days after, they were sum- moned to receive his answer, which was read in their presence, they at the same time remarking- ' Ibid. •" Charles's Works, Letters, March 12, 1645. " Wliitlocke, \). 114. 2 1. 2 420 UTSTom' or tuf. (.ommunwealth. CHAP, tliat it was without address, and asking to whom V ; , tliey should deliver it? To those that sent you, 1644. said the king. You are but the carriers ; and if I send the song of Ilobinhood euid Little John, you must carry it. The commissioners answered, that they had conceived the business they came about was of more consequence than a song ; and so they departed **. Charles however summoned Hollis and Whitlocke to a particular conference, imajxinino' that he mio^ht effect something with them separately, which could not be managed with all the commissioners together i\ Answer re- Thc uurport of Charlcs's message was to say, turned by i • • i • i i ^i the coin- tluit, the propositious being very long, and the matter they contained of great importance, it could not be expected that he could give an immediate and positive answer by those who brought them, and to ask a safe-conduct for the duke of Rich- mond and the earl of Southampton to be the bearers of his reply. This message of course encountered an instant obstacle in the circum- stance of its being without an address ; and the earl of Essex was accordingly directed to write a letter to Rupert, now commander in chief of the king's forces, to signify that, if the safe- conduct were demanded from the lords and com- mons assembled in parliament at Westminster, it ° Ibid. p. 115. Journals of Lords, Dec. 3. ^ Whitlocke, p. 113, 114. inissioiiers. IIISTDRY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 421 would be granted ^. This requisition was at chap. length complied with. The circumstances which ^ ^_ "_, attended this compliance, are thus explained by i644. Charles in a letter to the queen : " As to my call- King ad- . y, •,. • n ^ ^ dresses the ing those at London a parliament, if there had parliament been two, besides myself, of my opinion, I had pJcscrib^dT not done it ; and the argument that prevailed with me was, that the calling did no wise acknow- ledge them to be a parliament ; upon which con- dition and construction I did it, and no other- wise ; and accordingly it is registered in the coun- cil-books, with the council's unanimous approba- tion ••." The communication brought by the two noble- Duke of men above-mentioned, was merely a proposal, that and carrof fit persons should be appointed on either part to ttJTJn L™on'. meet together, and treat upon the propositions '^''"• that had been offered to the king, and upon such explanations and ([ualifications of these proposi- tions as might be found necessary *. Occasion how- ever was taken of their mission to furnish them with instructions as to any secret way by which, being in the head-quarters of the enemy, they might promote the royal interests. They were directed to prolong their stay in London by all 1 Journals of Commons, Dec. 3. ' Charles's Works, Letters, January 2. Clarendon has totally omitted this circumstance, no doubt because he was ashamed of the king's subterfuge, and has substituted in its place a debate, probably forged, in the parliament at Westminster. Clarendon, Vol. II, p. :i60. - Journals, Dec. 17. 422 lllslURY OF THE COxMMONWKALTH. CHAP, means in their power. They were commanded v____y to use their best skill to let the independents 1644. know that the king was willing to take them into his protection, and preserve to them liberty of conscience in matters indifferent, and to reward any services they might render him. They were at the same time directed to alarm the Scottish commissioners about the designs which had been laid by the other party to dissolve and root up monarchy itself, and to remonstrate to them the ill effects that would have upon the objects of which Scotland was in pursuit*. The parliament however was jealous as to what might result from their protracted stay in London, and hurried them away after an interval of ten days, with their con- sent that there should be a treaty, but alleging that it would require some time to resolve con- cerning the instructions and manner of the treaty, and that therefore they would not detain the kino-'s mcssenofers ". Charles re- It must bc acknowledged that the parliament sShjr'"^ assumed something of a republican firmness and commis- severity in the course of these transactions. The sioners in •' thatdia- king had published a proclamation on occasion of the Scottish army advancing into England, de- claring that in so doing they incurred the crimes of treason and rebellion ^^ The parliament, when they prescribed to him the form in which he racier. ' Clarendon Suite Papers, WA. II, p. 170. " Journals, Dec, 19. " Kushworth, \ol. \ , p. 494. HISTORY OF niE COMiMON WEALTH. 423 should desire a safe-conduct for his two noble chap. XVI messengers, also required that in the application ^ ^ \ \ j it should be stated, that they came for the purpose ie44. of brinofino' the kinof's answer to the lords and commons assembled in parliament at Westminster, and to the commissioners of the kingdom of Scot- land'^; thus making England and Scotland joint- parties to the proposed negociation. It was the king's proposal that fit persons should be appoint- ed on either part, to meet together, and discuss the terms of the treaty. But all that followed was chalked out by the committee of both kingdoms, and, having received the sanction of both houses of parliament, was then sent to the king. It was determined that the place appointed for i645. the treaty should be Uxbridge ; and that the nego- appointed ciators should be four on the part of the house of p^ace^of lords, and eight from the commons, with the ten "''^^'y* commissioners for Scotland, to meet sixteen per- sons appointed by the king. The time allotted it is limit- n ^ A \ J.^ 1 • A ed to twen- lor the treaty was twenty days ; the subjects were ty days. to be religion, the militia, and Ireland ^ ; and each of these subjects respectively was to be treated on for three days alternately ''-. The commissioners on the part of the parliament were Northumber- land, Pembroke, Salisbury and Denbigh, and the '' Journals of Commons, Dec. 3. '■ Journals of Lords, Jan. 3. of Commons, Jan. 6. ' Journals of Commons, Jan. 27. 424 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP. XVI. 164.'), It com- mences. Inflexibili ty of the king. commoners lately sent to Oxford, with the addi- tion of Vane, St. John, Crewe and Prideaiix. The temper in which the king entered upon the negociation may best be inferred from a letter of liis to the queen, in which he observes, " I assure tliee that thou needest not doubt the issue of this treaty ; for my commissioners are so well chosen (though I say it), that they will neither be threat- ened nor disputed from the grounds I have given them ; which, upon my word," are such as we had formerly determined on*. Indeed it would be idle to affirm that either party met in a spirit of concession, or with any sanguine hopes that the negociation would end in any thing effectual. The king had fixed his points, from which nothino- but irretrievable defeat could make him recede. We shall see hereafter how imperfect was the effect, when that situation actu- Constancy ^llv occurrcd. Thc parliament were on the other of parlia- *' * . nient. haud by no means disposed to depart from those terms, of ecclesiastical government, and the firm establishment of the nation's rights and liberties, for which they had contended through such a world of difficulties. They knew the character of the king. His favourite topic, when he had to ad- just with parties whose views did not square with his own, was that of nullities, by means of which he could set aside any concessions he had made, * Charles's. Works, Letters, Feb. 15. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 425 in the way of shewing that, from some ori. ' j them, other men could with dithculty believe the 1044. tale. The Irish, amountino: according' to some ac- Forces counts to fifteen hundred, and according to coimnanJ- others only to eleven hundred men ^, formed the nucleus of his force. They were stranj^ers, and had no other home but the camp of their com- mander. Argyle had even found an opportunity to burn the vessels that brought them s ; and thus they derived new energy and courage froni de- spair. Montrose however no sooner shewed him- self in the liighlands, than he was joined by many of his countrymen, so that his army was immediately increased to three thousand men''. Meanwhile lord Elcho was commissioned to com- mand the covenanters at Perth.with six thousand'; and Argyle, with the title of lieutenant of the kinodom ^, marched asjainst the invaders from the west'. Montrose, with his characteristic de- cision, immediately advanced against Elcho, with a part of whose forces he had a secret corre- spondence "\ and, against whom if he were suc- cessful, the town of Perth would be laid at his ^Baillic, V'ul. tl, p. Gl. Spalding, Vol. 11, p. '215. Wishart, Cap. V. Guthry, p. IG'2. Clarendon, Vol. II, p. o]3. 8 Wibhart, ubi supra. . '' Guthry, p. 162. ' Wisliarl, ubi supra. '' SpalilinL', Vol. II, p. 259. ' Wi-^luirl, iil>i wjira '" Daillk-, Vol II, p (U, 44G C IT A P. XVII. 1644. Battle of Tipper. imiir. Scpteni - bcr 1. Argylc advances against IVIontrose. Battle of Aberdeen. Septem- ber 12. Enormities perpe- trated. HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. mercy, from whence he could supply himself with every thino- he wanted. The impetuosity of Montrose and his followers carried the day ; and he entered Perth, where he gained cannon and ammunition, and his soldiers enriched themselves with the plunder of the city ". Meanwhile Argyle was fast coming on ; and Montrose, many of whose highlanders immedi- ately left him to secure their plunder, found it necessary to retire °. He bent his march towards the counties of Aberdeen and Bamtf, where the Gordons were in great strength, who were zeal- ously devoted to the royal cause. As he passed, he threatened Dundee ; but it was too strong for him to make any impression upon it ^. He there- fore proceeded with all expedition for the city of Aberdeen, which appeared to be covered from his attacks by lord Burley, who was posted in the neighbourhood with near three thousand men. They were however raw and undisciplined sol- diers, and were speedily driven into flight by Montrose and his Irish ^. Impelled by the hope of safety, they fled into the town, and victors and vanquished entered Aberdeen together. Here for four days the city was made a prey to the most unrelenting barbarity. Montrose, forgetful of the cruelties he had practised against the inhabi- " Wishart, ubi supra. Spalding, \'ol. II, p. 233. " Wi>hart, Cap. vi. p Ibid. Spalding, \ol. II, p. 231. '' Wishart, Cap. vi. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 447 tants, wlien he luid come tliitlier as a leader for chap. the covenanters five years before ""j now renewed ^ ^t the same calamities, while he was contendino- for 1044. the cause in which they had then suffered. The men were murdered in cold blood, the women violated, and the provident Irish stripped their victims before they assassinated them, that their clothes might not be disfioured with their blood. It was fatal for a woman to be seen weeping for her father or her husband slain, and, if observed, she was instantly killed upon the dead body of the relative she deplored *". On the fifth day Montrose received intelligence Montrose of the approach of Argyle, and found it necessary '" ^*"'^' to evacuate Aberdeen *. He proceeded to the northern division of the county of Bamff, with a sanguine hope that he should there be joined by the marquis of Huntley and his followers, who, no longer ago than the preceding April, had been in arms for the king against the covenanters. But Montrose found his situation such as he could not maintain. He was desirous of crossing the Spey, the most rapid river in Scotland ; but, previously to his approach, the further bank was lined with the forces of Ross, Caithness, Sutherland and Murray to the amount of five thousand men, while Argyle, with the main army at this time in the kingdom, was close in his rear^ The highlanders had left ' Spalding, Vol. I, p. 159, et seqq. " Ibid. Vol. II, p. '237, etseqq. ' Spaldiui^, p. ^\C>. Wixhnrt, Vwy. vii. 448 UISTOIIY OF TIIR COMMONWEALTH. Montrose, laden with the spoil, according- to their custom ; but, with masterly marches, he proceeded 1G44. along- towards the head of the river, being obliged to leave behind him his artillery in a morass, and Penctrafes rcaclicd tlic mountains of Badenoch. From thence i.uo . I »o . j^^ repaired to Athol, where his expedition had commenced, and immediately dispatched Mac- donald, the commander of his Irish auxiliaries, into the highlands, to procure him new recruits". -Withdraws Aroyle however was not far behind him : and north/"' '^ Montrose found it expedient to turn aside into Angus, from whence by rapid marches he once more shewed himself in the country of the Gordons. But here he was wholly disappointed of the rein- forcement on which he relied ^^. Huntley had too keen a recollection of the disgraces and perse- cution he had experienced at the hands of Mon- trose five years before, to allow him to place him- self under the standard of a leader to whom all considerations appeared to be indifferent, except those of personal ambition. Pursued by Mcanwhilc Argyle was unwearied in his desire Argyie. ^^ extinguish a leader of barbarous and lawless men, who had thus come unlooked for to disturb the peace of a country, where a little before every thing had looked tranquillity. He accordingly proceeded in the traces of Montrose to Angus, and from thence across the Dec. At Faivy Castle " Wishart, Cap. vii. Giithrv, p. 1G!3. " Wisharl, ubi $upra. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 4 ilj the two armies faced each other for several days ; cii.v r. x\'i r but Montrose at length found it expedient to de- y' [ j camp \ The arts of Argyle were effectual in I'^it. seducing several of his followers ; and others of them, disheartened by the incredible hardships which threatened them amidst impassable moun- tains and winter snows, asked his leave to retire, a permission which it would have been vain to refuse. He hastened therefore to Athol, the ren- Appear, m dezvous he had appointed for Macdonald and his recruits ; and here once more his forces bore the appearance of an army. Argyle, tired with the incessant activity and stratagems of his enemy, and thinking himself ill seconded by the civil power, at this time resigned his commission as commander of the army, and general Baillie was appointed to succeed him y. Argyle expected to retire from the fatigues of invades the the campaign, to the enjoyments of peace amidst ^('Igvi'J. ** his dependents at his magnificent paternal seat at Inverary : but such was not the intent of his adversary. Montrose had long regarded Argyle with hostile feelings as a rival ; and he felt him- self further irritated by the offer of a large sum which Argyle had lately placed on his head ^. The temper of this royalist leader was by no means " Spalding, V(»l. H, J). 250, «57. Gullirv, i>. 17 1. Wisliart, Cap. vii. " Wishuit, Cap. vii, viii. Gulhry, p. 171, 173. Baillie, Vul. H, p 0;5. ' Wishart, Cup. vii. vol.. J. 2 (r 450 HISTORY OF TH1-: COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, that of pure patriotism : he was animated by sin- v__,^^ cere aflection to a master who had distinguished i64i. Iiiiii by his favour and confidence, and he w^s anxious to secure to himself the name of a hero j but he also felt the intemperance that is peculiarly incident to a new convert, and the spirit of inex- tinguishable revenge against an adversary of whom he thought he had much reason to complain. The entrance into the country of Argyle is full of narrow passes and mountainous defiles ; and the lord of the domain used to boast, that he would rather lose one liundred thousand crowns, than that any mortal should know the path by which an armed force could penetrate into it. But all the obstacles that nature could accumulate to op- pose his march were as nothing to the intrepidity and perseverance of Montrose. Add to this, his coming was unexpected, and his enemy slept in entire security. He crossed, with his Irish and attendant highlanders, the mountain snows, and penetrated into the deepest recesses of Argyle- shire. The chieftain himself, taken utterly by surprise, was obliged to seek his safety by sea in Hisfe- a fishino'-boat. Seven entire weeks, bep-innino- from the thirteenth of December, did Montrose spend in the work of devastation. Every thing was accomplished, that the sanguinary genius of the Irish, the animosities of the highlanders, and the fervour of his own resentments could efibct. The cattle were driven away or destroyed ; the rocities. HISTOUV Ol THE COMMONWEALTIf. 45I villaoes and the granaries were wasted with fire; chap. and all who were capable of bearing- arms were v^^^ put to the sword without mercy. Havino- ac- 1644. complishcd his vengeance, Montrose returned un- opposed towards Lochaber. He ever after was accustomed to boast, that he had never ex- perienced the providence and goodness of God in a more remarkable manner than on this oc- casion ^. Montrose now bent his march towards Inver- 10^5. ness, from whence the earl of Seaforth, with the .ngaLT veteran garrison of that place, reinforced with the ^"''^''"^''^ highlanders of the neighbouring shires, was ad- vancing against him. In the meanwhile Argyle, now freed from the presence of his ferocious in- vader, collected his retainers to the number of three thousand, and followed in his rear. Mon- Returns, trose no sooner understood this, than he reversed his march ; and, leaving the open road, and pur- suing^ the mountain-paths, came by surprise upon Argyle at Inverlochy. Here a fierce engagement Battle of ensued, in which the royalists, as usual, were IvirL"*'''^' completely victorious. Argyle is reproached, that he withdrew from the combat, and viewed the battle from the neighbourino- lake*". * Bishop Guthry says (p. 174) tliat Montrose shed no blood in this expedition. The above account is taken from Wisliart, the friend and biograplier of ."Montrose, Cap. viii. '' Wi^hart, Cap. viii. Culhrv, p. 178. 179. Sp;ilding, W.I. 11, p. «69, '^70. R;iiHi(, \-,,l If. \>. f^;}. 2 (. 2 452 HISTORY OF TlUl COMMONWEALTH. CFiAT. From Inverlochy Montrose proceeded once kJ^^_^ more towards Inverness, which he again sum- ic-45. moned, but in vain. From tlience therefore he ilf'the"'' turned to the west into the county of Murray, county ot -^yi^gp^ jjg ^y^s ioincd, in consequence of his vic- tories and his fame, by the Gordons, and some other clans, who had hitherto kept themselves at a wary distance ^. He proceeded to the districts of Elgin, Cullen and Bamflf, where, by way of overawino; the inhabitants, he once more let loose all the horrors of war ^. He is commended by the Enoflish adherents of Charles for being: " con- scientious in protecting his friends, at the same that he shewed himself terrible to his enemies, at Stone- ^"^ subtlc in taking all neuters for such ^." A havui. memorable instance of his severity at this time has deservedly been selected, where at Stone- haven and Cowie, the people, seeing their towns on the point of being consumed with fire, came out, " men, and women, children at their knees, and children in their arms, crying, howling, and weeping, praying the earl for God s sake to save them from this fire. But they gat no answer^." Invades the Moutrosc now, being reinforced from the north, meditated a descent on the south of Scotland, where he imagined he should find many friends to the royal cause. Baillie in the mean time " Wishart, Cap. ix. '' Spalding, Vol. II, p. 273, et seqq. *-' Clarentlon, StatR Papers, Vol. II, p. 189. ^ Spalding, p. 285. s^outh of Scotland UISTOllY or THE COMMONWEALTH. 4ol} marched against him, having witli him many chap. troops which had been recalled from England / ^ "_/ and Ireland. About the end of March the two 1045. armies faced each other in Angus, and Montrose shewed himself desirous of a battle ; but the cove- nanters were awed by the great reputation he had acquired, and declined its. Soon after Lewis Gordon, instigated as it is said by Huntley, his father, drew off suddenly a considerable part of Montrose's reinforcements, and reduced him to a critical situation ''. He was therefore obliged to give up his intended march towards Edinburgh, and to retire once more into the north. Pre- I'iHa.rcs viously to his retreat however, he determined to '^""''^^• achieve something considerable, and fell down upon Dundee. Here he committed his usual pillage, and had resolved to burn the town*^.- Ho was informed that the enemy's forces, aware of his intended march upon Edinburgh, had fallen back upon the Forth to oppose his passage. But the intellio-ence was untrue. Baillie was close at hand to interrupt his proceedings; and, while his followers were dispersed in the town, intent upon plunder, and many of them plunged in intem- perance and excess, Montrose received information that the enemy was within a mile of the place '. ^' Gulliry, p. 183. Wishart, Cap. i.\. '• Wishart, ubl mpiu. ' Wii-hart, Cap. ix. Giitlirv, p. 183. retreat. 454 ui^rouY c)i' Hit cu.mmonwlaltu. The case seemed to be desperate. It was with the greatest difiiculty that he could call off his 164:^ men from the plunder ; and nothing short of the .kiifui'" coolest and most masterly arrangements on his part, could have saved them from being cut to pieces by the advancing foe. Baillie sent forward a detachment to prevent their retreat into the mountains : but Montrose feigned to proceed along the sea-shore, and, in that direction, reached Aber- brothock ; and then, suddenly turning to the north, made good his retreat, after a toilsome and di- stressing march of sixty miles, in which he was annoyed at every step by the assaults of his pur- suers ^. iiapidity of Montrose now sent lord Gordon, the eldest son of Huntley, but who was one of the invader's most faithful adherents, into the north, to en- deavour to recal the Gordons and others, who had lately deserted him'; while he himself fell down to Cardross in the vicinity of Loch Lomond, partly to divert the attention of the enemy from lord Gordon's motions, and partly to receive lord Aboyne, another son of Huntley, with certain of his friends, who, encouraged by the successes of Montrose, had escaped from Carlisle, and come thus far to join him '". In the mean time the enemy divided his forces, Baillie with the main body remaining about Perthshire and Angus, '' Wishart, ubi iupra. ' Wishart, Cap x. '" Guthry, p. 184. his mo tions. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 455 while Ilun-y, the second in command, who hud chap. already fought on both sides, and betrayed both »^ ' ^^ king and parliament in England, was dispatched 1645. with a body of veterans into Elgin and BamfV- shire to put down lord Gordon ". Montrose had no sooner received the fugitives from Carlisle, than he followed upon the steps of Hurry, anxious that no mischief should happen to his friends in the north. Owing to the rapidity of his marches, he came up with the enemy at Elgin, who with difficulty made good his retreat to Inverness, which place had been appointed for a rendezvous where Hurry was to receive various clans and bodies of forces enabling him to make a stand against the invader". All this happened as the commander of the covenanters had projected, and Hurry returned on his steps at the head of an army of three thousand men. In the mean while Baillie with a mucli larger force was advancing towards the Spey. Montrose found himself much inferior in strength to Hurry ; but he saw that there was no safety for him but in tigliting this p.,„,p^,f body, before the junction of the two commanders. Auldearn. Accordingly an engagement took place on the fourth of May at Auldearn in Nairnshire, and Montrose, having arranged his forces with his usual skill, once more gave an entire defeat to the covenanters °. VVifshart, ubi -supra. " Wi-iliait, Ca| . x. 4,ji] IIISTOllY 01- TlIK COM MUN WEALTH. CHAT. Such was the memorable history of an unin- ^ ' ^ termitted campaign of eight months, from the be- 1645. irinning- of September J 044, to the beginning of ot"tirc'?lm- May 1G45. Montrose undoubtedly displayed sS!"'. during this period a military talent which has never been surpassed. Yet to what did it all amount? The ravages he committed, and the cruelties he inflicted, can scarcely find a parallel in history. He exhibits the memorable spectacle of a chieftain, with only a small band of barbarous Irish on whom he could depend, traversing for a long period a country highly military, in every direction, while all the constituted authorities of the country found themselves unable to put him down. He was joined by various bands of high- landers, but never in any considerable numbers ; and they left him as soon, sometimes because they were loaded with plunder, and sometimes because they were overcome with hardships and fatigues, which none but Montrose and his Irish were com- petent to endure. He never retained a fortress ; he never planted a garrison. His power only fol- lowed his person ; his influence vanished with his presence; and, after multiplied victories, his forces were not more numerous than they had been found in his first engagement. 467 CHAPTER XVIII. HOPES WITH WHICH chaules took the field. — INACTIVITY OF THE SCOTS UNDER LEVEN. LEICESTER STORMED BY THE KING's FORCES. CHARACTER OF FAIRFAx's 3VRMY. IRETON. KING DEFEATED IN THE DECISIVE 13ATTLE OF NASEBY. Upon tlie whole the kin^; commenced the cam- c r; \ r. . will paign of 1G45 not without considerable hopes of C ' j success. At first he and his friends amused them- lo-u. selves with expressing their contempt for the new- oiThc'k*in^'. modelled army, and seemed to imagine that, when the old commanders were dismissed, they should find little that was formidable among the parlia- mentary forces \ But in this they speedily disco- vered their mistake. Charles however had other grounds of reliance, that promised a greater degree of solidity. He naturally supposed that, after the uninterrupted successes of Montrose, the power of the Scottish army in the north of England would be to a great degree neutralised. And this appeared to be the case. He had also a plan, whicii had costhiiu ^ Whitlucko, Ai'iil ;. FMillir, \-..l. II, p. 0], p,-,. 458 ' HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, much pains and reflection, for brino-incr over ten xviii. .... C , _/ thousand of the Irisli Catholics, to assist him in 1645. subduing- the refractoriness of the adherents of the parliament*^. We shall have occasion to recur to this subject in the sequel ; and no doubt several promises had passed on the business. But dif- flculties arose ; and the question was not finally adjusted, till the aid was found too late. Lastly, the queen had entered into a negociation with Charles duke of Lorraine, that he should trans- port himself with ten thousand veteran troops to the assistance of the kino-. This duke of Lorraine was a man of a singular character. He had in so many successive ways ofl'ended the French court, that they at last re- solved to strip him of his dominions ; and tlie^y succeeded in their purpose. But he managed his affairs with such skill, that; even as an exile, we are told he contrived to possess great wealth, and to find himself at the head of a considerable army. His usual residence durinof several years was at Brussels ; and he hired out his forces by an annual contract to the service of the king of Spain *^. What were the precise terms of his negociation with the queen of England does not appear to be any where recorded ; but the subject itself frequently occurs in the letters which passed at this time '' This was the commission of the eavl of Glamorgan, ' Clarendon, Vol. Ill, p. SOP, .^88. Morcri. Henaiilt, HISTORY or THK COMAJ ON WEALTH. 45^ between her and her husband. It is first men- chap. tinned in a letter of tlie date of the sixth of \_^^Jj January ; and three weeks after, the queen writes, i645. ** I received yesterday letters from the duke of Lorraine, who sends me word that, if his service be agreeable to you, he will bring you ten thou- sand men." Then the question occurs of their transportation. It was first proposed that they should sail from Holland : then the king says, Why may not his passage be procured through France, if that by Holland be attended with dif- ficnlty'i? But all these hopes of cooperation from Scotland, from Ireland, and the Netherlands, were defeated by the rapid progress of events in England, and the fatal turn that was given to the prospects of the royal cause. In consequence of the new model of the army, Fairfax and of other causes, the campaign in the heart of coinmand. Enoland beo^an late. Fairfax proceeded to Wind- sor to take the command on the third of April, and continued there till the close of the month ^. Rupert, with a considerable force, lay about Worcester ; and it appeared to be the plan at this time to ef- fect a junction between his army and the king's. To prevent this, Cromwel was ordered with a body " riiarles'9 Works. Letters, Jan. 6, '27. Feb. 19. Mar. '27, 30. Aj.ril 7L ' I|^i-liwurlli, \ ol. Vi, p. 16, '27. .j(jO HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. rn.\r of horse by the committee of both kingdoms on v^^j!^ that particular service. In this undertaking he 164.'; failed. Goring, perhaps as an officer most qualified First sue- ^Q cope with this conmiander, was ordered by the I'CSS of tlic ^'"k''^ l^ii^n from the west. They met at Radcot Bridge forces May 3. wlicrc Cromwcl sustaiucd a repulse *^, and soon after Rupert and the king effected their purposed junction. Fairfax It was thc plan of those who directed the par- mardRsto l}'^)^ri^Qj-itj,ry coiiucils, that Fairfax should march in Taunton, ([^q firgj; instaucc to the relief of Taunton. Thov Aijril -'8, . "^ considered the strength of the royal and parlia- mentary parties in the west as being nearly in equilibrium, and were of opinion that the effectual relief of Taunton would turn the scale in favour of the friends of the commonwealth : and they thought that the Scots' army, which was every day expected to march southward, the forces under Brereton which held Chester besieiicd, and the various parties that Avere scattered through the counties of Stafford, Derby and Nottingham, would sulHciently secure the safety of their cause to the norths. cu-u],'s I^ut all this was speedily reversed. ' The king inariho. t" was contcutcd to send Goring to strenothen his F:.i.far re- partisaus in the west, while he and Rupert with calkd to ^, . 1 1 • , , , . i)'>i<.ge the mam army proceeded without delay in a Oxiord. M.iv 7. '■ . ' Rushwortli, p. 27. Clarendon, Vol. U, p. 019. ^' Rushwortli, \'ul. \T, p. '?.">, 29, '60. , HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 4G1 nortliern direction''. The parliament immediately chap. . , XVI 11. accommodated their proceedings to the plan of the king. They stopped the march of Fairfax, ordering him to send a strong detachment only to the relief of Taunton', and shortly after directed him to form the sieo-e of Oxford*'. n s armv. The parliament, as we have seen, had been par- I'-'off^i ticularly earnest with the Scottish army under Lcvcu' Leven to advance to the south. This army had been considerably reduced in numbers by the events of the preceding year, and repeated drafts had been made from it, to enable the government of that kingdom to cope w ith the formidable liosti- lities of Montrose. At length however they ad- vanced from the neighbourhood of Carlisle, which they were besieging, as far as Rippon. But they no sooner heard of the king's march, who was now advanced as far as Drayton in Shropshire, and understood from a letter of Brereton that this pro- ject had been undertaken in concert with Mon- trose, than they fell back again upon Westmorland, that they might interpose their efforts to prevent its execution'. Baillie, one of the commissioners from the ge- neral assembly of the church of Scotland at this time residing in London, expresses in his Letters •» Walker, p. 125, 126. Clarendon, Vul. H, p. 050. Rush- \vf)rth, p. 29. ' llushworth, p. 27, 30. ''Ibid. p. 33. ' Baillie, Vol. II, p. 103,100. 4(]'2 HISTORY OF THK COMMONWEAl/ni. CHAP, liis exceedino- reirret at the tardiness of the Scottish XVIII . ^J army, and betrays his apprehension, that this con- 1645. duct would prove highly injurious to the presby- terian cause, and throw an undue and dauQ-erous power into the hands of the independents"*. King re- The king learned at Drayton, that the siege of loL'th.*' ^ Chester by Brereton was already raised, that the Scottish army had retrograded its march, and that Fairfax with his troops had sat down before Oxford. This intelligence induced him for the present to postpone his plan of cooperation with Montrose. He marched back to Tutbury, to Ashbv la Zouch, and to Loughborough". He judged that the most effectual way to disturb the proceedings of Fairfax would be to make some spirited attack upon a parliamentary garrison in that part of En- Storm of gland. He fixed on Leicester for that purpose, Leicester. -, , , ^ ■. . , . May 30. and by a vehement and persevering assault it was carried the very same day that the army sat down before it. The garrison to the amount of fifteen hundred men immediately surrendered themselves prisoners ; and the town was given up to all the horrors of a place taken by storm, aggravated by the licentiousness that then prevailed among the kings forces". Siege of The surprise of Leicester, and the kinor's march Oxford ° itisd. "' Ibid. p. 98, 104 . " Walker, p. 127. Rushworth, \'ol. VF, p. 29. " Walker, p. 127, 128. Riishworth, Yo\. NT, p. a'j. C:larendon, Vol 1 1, p. CJ2, (j.)S. HISTORY OF IHE COMjMUWVEALTH. 4(;3 towards Oxford spread great alarm in the parlia- chap. ment quarters. Fairfax was ordered to break up v^ ^ the siege of Oxford, which he had formed about a 1645. fortnight before. Particular apprehension was en- tertained lest the royal army should march against the eastern counties, which were conceived to lie peculiarly exposed to their inroads p. The army of the new model had as yet done ciiaractcr little to earn for itself military reputation. The king'*army. king's forces, however they might be the objects of censure for dissoluteness and licence, had shewn recently, at Leicester, and on other occa- sions, that they were not deficient in courage and perseverance. Scanty as they were in public spirit, they were animated, the officers in particu- lar, with a high sense of honour, and they Avere urged on by their contempt, or, more properly speaking, their hatred, to the principles and man- ners of their antagonists. The army of the new model afforded a strong Character contrast to the riotous demeanour of the royalists. They were most of them of the independent school; and those of the lower and middle orders who were known by that denomination, were generally actuated with a fervent religious enthu- siasm. Averse as they declared themselves to the conformity and intolerance of the presbyterian system, they indulged in all the wild reveries of arniv. ' Riishworth, y. 35, et seq(j. 404 HISTORY OF THE COxMiMONWEALTIL CHAT, an ardent temper; each man felt as if he were ^^^ inspired; each man felt that he was qualified to i(M5. be a teacher to others. They were equally stimu- lated by the love of liberty, and the love of that scheme of relii^ious faith which each man espoused. They respected themselves ; they believed that they were in a state of grace ; and they were in- capable of allowing themselves in any thing un- worthy of the high calling with which God had honoured them. They were vessels of glory, set apart for the purposes of heaven. As they had these feelings and impulses in common among them, so these feelings and impulses served them as a bond of indissoluble union. They advanced into the field chanting the psalms contained in the scriptures, and fought, as they expressed it, with " the sword of the Lord and of Gideon." Mamtii- j'l^Q kinof, havins; succeeded in breakinfr up the side. sieo-e of Oxford, and having spread a general alarm among those of the adverse party, now re- sumed his plan of a march towards the north. He had advanced as far as Daventry before he learned that Fairfax had left the siege ; but he then turned round, and made shew on the sixth of June as if he intended to attack the town of Northampton*!. Fairfax was the next day at Newport Pagnel, and four days after, passed 1 Walker, {>. 1'39. Rushworth, p, 37. Clurcndon, p. 055. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 4G5 Northampton, advancing: towards the kinor-'s forces, ch a p. XVIII. whose head-quarters were at Daventry"". On the >. ^'y eighth Fairfax and his council of officers ad- i645, dressed a letter to the two houses of parliament, expressing their desire that Cromwel might be made general of the horse (or lieutenant-general of the forces) to Fairfax's army ; which was com- plied with^ On the twelfth the king, not appre- hending the enemy's approach so near, was en- gaged in taking the diversion of hunting. The next day he began his march for the north, either judging that Fairfax's army would not follow him, or if they did, that he might fight them to more advantage when he had drawn them further from the metropolis ^ The same day Cromwel joined Fairfax". The van of the kings army was that night at Harborough, and the rear within two miles of Naseby. Ireton was dispatched with a strong party of horse by Fairfax, to fall on the flank of Charles's army if he found opportunity: and accordingly, in the beginning of the night, he made an attack, took some prisoners, and gave "■ Rushworth, p. 40. In his letter of June 9, Charles observes to the queen : " I may (without being much too sanguine) affinii that, since this rebellion, my affairs were never in so fair and hopeful a way." King Charles's Works, Letters, No. 37. * Journals, June 10. ' Rushworth, Vol. \T, p. 40, 41. Whillocke, June 14. Walker, p. 129. " Rushworth, p. 41. VOL. I. 2 n 4GG HISTORY or the comivionwealth. CHAP, an alarm to the whole army. The king-, finding v_^_^ it difficult to bring- off his rear, and that in the iG-15. attempt his whole army might be hazarded, resolved on an engagement for the next morn- ino: *''. ireton. Ircton is onc of the most eminent characters that occurs in the history of the commonwealth. He was of an ancient family in the county of Nottingham " ; and his brother, sir John Ireton, was lord mayor of London under the protectorate of Cromwely. Henry Ireton, of whom we here speak, was one of the seventy-five persons, who, in the commencement of the civil war, undertook each to raise a troop of horse for the service of the parliament^. At this time there existed a perfect league of friendship between him and Cromwel, which was only terminated by his death in 1651. It is somewhat extraordinary, that at the time of the new model he accepted the appointment of captain in the regiment of horse commanded by Algernon Sidney, who was at least seven years younger than himself*. His rise however from this period was exceedingly rapid. He is mentioned as a colonel a short time " fbid. Walker, p. 129. " Hutchinson's Memoirs. 8vo, Vol. I, p. 148, 209, 210. '' Wood, art. Ireton. ^ See above, p. 22. * Journals of Lords, Mar. 18. Ireton was born in 1610. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 467 after''; and, at the period of which we are treat- chap. ing, was, by Cromwel's particular request, nomi- v j nated commissary general of the horse % being the 1045. second in authority under that distinguished com- mander. Whitlocke says of liim*^, " He was ver}?^ active and industrious, and of good abilities. He made much use of his pen, wherein his having been bred a lawyer was a help to him. He was stout in the field, and wary and prudent in his counsel ; and was exceedingly forward as to the business of a commonwealth. No man could pre- vail so much with Cromwel, nor order him so far, as Ireton could." In Charles's army the right wing was com- Battle of manded by Rupert, the centre by the king in person, and the left by sir Marmaduke Langdale. The parliament-army was led, the right by Crom- wel, the centre by Fairfax and Skippon, and the left, at Cromwel's particular request, by Ireton^. The numbers were nearly equal. Rupert and Cromwel fought with similar success. The prince defeated the left wing of the parliament, where Ireton received two wounds, in the face, and the thigh, and was made prisoner ; but in the sequel of the battle he escaped *^. Cromwel had no less the advantage against the left wing of the king^ " Rushworth, Vol. VT, p. 11. " Ibid. p. 42. <* p. 516. ' Rushvvortli, p. VI. f Ibid. p. 43. 2 II 2 4G8 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP. But these two commanders, Cromwel and Rupert, XVIII. , V J conducted themselves differently. Rupert pur- 1645. sued the flying horse of the parliament, and after- wards vainly amused himself with summoning their park of artillery 8. Cromwel followed the chace for a quarter of a mile, but then turned back to the aid of the main body under Fairfax s. Here was the most obstinate fighting. The king at first appeared to have the advantage. Skippon was dangerously wounded in the side, and was desired by Fairfax to quit the field, but refused s. There was this difference observed between the discipline of the king's troops, and those under Fairfax and Cromwel (for the same had not been remarked in the command of Essex and Waller), that, even if the king's troops prevailed in the charge, and routed the enemy, they could not be brought to rally, and make a second charge on the same day ; whereas the adversary, if they pre- vailed, or though they were beaten, presently rallied again, and stood in good order, till they received further commands ''. At length the whole of Charles's main battle gave way, except one body of foot, which stood like a rock, and could ofi^^a^fS ^^^ ^^ moved. Fairfax, perceiving this, ordered his life-guard, which had attacked them before, to repeat the assault, while he himself with his own regiment, should at the same instant fall on ^ Ibid. p. 43. '' Clarendon, Vol. II, p. 658. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 469 their rear, so that they might meet in the middle, chap. This expedient succeeded' Fairfax killed the >. ^'y ensign and seized his colours ; and one of his 1645. soldiers, having taken the flag, boasted of the great service he had performed. His colonel reproved him, and reminded him how many witnesses had seen that it was done by the general himself: but Fairfax replied, Let him retain that honour, I have enough beside ''. The same colonel, seeing the general in the thickest of the fight without his helmet, offered his own, but Fairfax refused it"^. At length, when the infantry of the king's of the king. army was wholly defeated, Charles having still a body of horse entire, endeavoured to lead them again to the attack, exclaiming, One charge more, and we recover the day. But the disadvantage they laboured under was too evident ; and they could by no means be induced to renew the combat'. The king had eight hundred men slain on the field ; the parliament probably as many. But the royalists who were made prisoners were five thousand foot, and three thousand horse. There were also captured the whole of Charles's artillery, eight thousand stand of arms, above one hundred pair of colours, the royal standard, the king's cabinet of letters, his coaches, and the whole spoil of the camp"". ' Rushworth, y. 43. '' VVhitlockc, June 14. ' Rushworth, y 44. "" Ibid. Whitlockc, ubi supra. 470 CHAPTER XIX. CHARLES AT RAGLAND CASTLE. SIEGE OF TAUN- TON RAISED. — BATTLE OF LANGPORT. SUR- RENDER OF BRIDGWATER. HEREFORD BE- SIEGED BY THE SCOTS. INFLEXIBILITY OF THE KING. PROCEEDS NORTHWARD AS FAR AS DONCASTER. MONTROSE VICTORIOUS AT KIL- SYTH. GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH SUBMIT TO HIM. BRISTOL SURRENDERS TO THE PAR- LIAMENT. MONTROSE DEFEATED. KING AND RUPERT AT NEWARK. MUTINOUS PROCEED- INGS. CHARLES WINTERS AT OXFORD. CHAP. Decisive as this victory was, it would not XIX ^__J^ have put a close to the war, but for the untem- 1645. porising conduct of the commanders of the new model. Leicester Four days after the battle, the town of Leicester, cd"^ being summoned by Fairfax, surrendered, the pieces of artillery taken there being no less nu- merous than those which had been won at the battle of Naseby''. King's ca The Icttcrs taken in the king's cabinet on the tcrs! field of battle were immediately made public by * Rushworth, p. 50, 51. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 471 the parliament, and served to impress a deep con- c n a p. viction on all those who had opposed his measures, y. ' y of the perfidioiisness of his character'*. 1545. Charles proceeded after the battle in a northern charies direction. His mind was still fixed upon coope- Honhwid. ration with Montrose. Finding that he could not repose himself in safety at Leicester, he proceeded the same night of the engagement to Ashby la Zouch, and the next day to Lichfield. Sir Mar- maduke Langdale at the same time retreated upon Newark ^. The kincr however soon became convinced, that Fails back ~ upon it would be too hazardous, attended as he was now Waies. with a body of horse only, to attempt to penetrate to the borders of Scotland. He therefore changed his route, fell down upon Bewdley, and from thence upon Hereford. He built with great con- fidence upon the loyalty of the people of Wales to furnish him with a new army. He could not keep out of his thoughts, that it was on this part of the island that he was to expect his hoped-for reinforcements from Ireland to land. It was at Hereford that the king and Rupert parted, having '' Hume is perfectly right in placing his defence of Charles the First upon the sincerity of his dealings. If his professions, his en- gagements, his most solemn asseverations could have been relied on, it would have been possible to treat with him. The vindicators of the proceedings of the Long Parliament may with abundant security join issue with Hiune and the royalists on this question. •^ Walker, p. 152. Ilushworth, p. 44. 472 HISTORY OF THE COiMMONWEALTH. C 1 1 A P. XIX. 1645. Charles at linigland Castle. tlius far continued together ever since the battle. Rupert passed the Severn to Bristol, that he might put that place into a state of defence, it being considered as one of the main supporters of the royal cause**. From Hereford Charles proceeded to Aberga- venny, where he met the commissioners from the six counties of South Wales, and arranged with them the proportion which each should supply, to the amount of five thousand foot, to cooperate with the horse which the king still had under his command^. This arrangement being made, he retired to Ragland-Castle, the seat of the marquis of Worcester, where he remained for three weeks ^; and, as if the genius of the place had conspired with his fates, was lulled asleep with sports and '^ Walker, p. 132. Clarendon, p. 659. • Walker, ubi supra. Clarendon, p. 677. ' Walker, ubi supra. Wood says twelve nights : but I have pre- ferred the authority of Walker, who was at this time in constant attendance on Charles. Dr. Thomas Baily affirms that Charles was at Ragland twice, a month at each time. Conference between King Charles and the Marquis of Worcester, p. 9. This interval of the king's life has become particularly fabulous, from its history having fallen into the hands of an unscrupulous inventor. Dr. Baily represents Charles as applying through him to the marquis for a loan of three hundred pounds, to buy bread for himself and his followers, and tells us that the lender insisted as a preliminary con- dition to the loan, that the king should hold a secret conference with him upon the respective merits of the Catholic and Protestant religion. 'Ibis conference Baily has put in print, entirely to the HISTORY OF THE COMxMONVVEALTH. 473 entertainments s. This brief period of his life chap. seems to have been spent in complete retirement, ^^i^c. with scarcely any thing of the trappings and ^^^ ceremony of a king. The marquis, who was now near seventy ^ or, according to others, eighty years of age', had been the richest subject in England, and was regarded by the parliament with peculiar jealousy, as having in early life be- come a convert to the Roman Catholic religion. He had lent the king at different times during the civil war one hundred thousand pounds, beside maintaining a garrison, and raising and support- ing at two different times two small armies, under the command of his son, the earl of Glamorgan, at his own expence'*. He was at this time of an unwieldy corpulence, but desirous, in every thing he could, of doing honour to his royal guest. In the mean time Goring, having been dis- siege of Taunton patched by Charles for that purpose, had re- raised. newed the sieofe of Taunton, and on the sixth of June wrote to the king, assuring him that he should reduce the place in three weeks, and advantage of the Catholic cause, tr) w'hich the relator soon after decldrcd hhnself a convert. Other stories, of like authenticity, are narrated by the same author in a book, entitled, Witty Apophthegms by King James, Ring Charles, the Marquis of Worcester, &c. &.c. 1638. K Walker, ubi supra. '' Wood, art. Henry Somerset, Marquis of Worcester. ' Sanderson, p. b9o. '' Collins, rccrage, art. Duke of Beaufort. ^74 IIISTOUY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. would then march with a considerable army to his assistance; and intreating that in the interval 1645. he would stand on the defensive, and by no means risk a battle till the junction had been effected. This letter was intercepted by Fairfax, and, having come into his hands the day after the battle of Naseby, served as an index to point out to him in what quarter his assistance was most required'. Taunton was the main point of strength which the parliament possessed in the west ; and Blake and his brave garrison were by no means to be sacrificed to the royalists in the present posture of affairs. Colonel Edward Massey, who had distino^uished himself so much in the defence of Gloucester in 1643, was, in the May of the pre- sent year, appointed by the two houses of par- liament commander in chief of the forces in the west of England"". But he had at this time only three thousand men under him, so that Goring was sufficiently in force, to keep off Massey 's army, and at the same time to pursue the opera- tions of the siege. Fairfax therefore ordered his march in that direction : the news of the great ' Rush worth, p. 49, 51. "' Journals. Clarendon says. Vol. II, p. 629, that Massey was one of the officers, who lost their commands l^y the operation of the self-denying ordinance. But this is not true. He was not elected into parliament till some time afterwards. Journals of Commons, July 9, 1646. men. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH, 475 victory he had obtained, went before him : and chat. he had no sooner reached Blandford on the v ' ^ second of July, than Goring withdrew his forces, 1645. and broke up the siege ". Here the parliamentary general found that he Fairfax en- had a new enemy to encounter, in the form of the hy the dub- clubmen. This kind of irregular force, as has already appeared, first assumed the guise of im- partiality, and even directed their hostilities prin- cipally against the royalists, their purpose being to put down the barbarities and licentiousness of Goring and his followers. But the face of things was now changed. The royalists were no longer formidable as a military force, threatening to give laws to the greater part of the kingdom. They were to a great degree subdued. And their friends saw in the present state of things an opportunity to serve the cause of the king, without abruptly and at once declaring themselves against the par- liament. The first body under this denomina- tion that Fairfax encountered as he approached Blandford, had among them one of the Penrud- docks, a name afterwards eminent among the king:'s friends. Penruddock and another he took into custody ; and having examined them, and admonished them to proceed no farther in this business, they were discharged**. " Rushworth, p. 52, 54. " Rushworth, ]». 52. 47G HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP. Tlie day following Fairfax proceeded from V ' ' ' y Blandford to Dorchester. Here he was waited 1645. on by Mr. Hollis of Dorsetshire and others, the of'the'club- professed leaders of the clubmen, who submitted '"^"' to his inspection the petitions they had drawn up, both to the king and the parliament, and de- manded of him a safe conduct for certain depu- ties by whom they were to be presented. The heads of the petitions were, to desire a renewed treaty of peace, with a cessation of arms till it should be effected, as also that the garrisons of Dorsetshire and Wiltshire should be put into their hands, and that all persons now in arms that de- sired it, should be permitted to retire to their former occupations. In reply to these representa- tions Fairfax answered, that it evidently appeared from the letters of the king and queen taken at Naseby, that the king expected ten thousand men from France, and six thousand from Ireland, to assist him in the prosecution of the war ; that under these circumstances for the parliament to surrender the garrisons of Dorsetshire, three of which were sea-ports, into the hands of the peti- tioners, would be to abandon the trust reposed in them for the good of the kingdom ; and that to. permit the soldiers to disband and return home, would in like manner amount to a surrender of the power now vested in and exercised by the parliament, to prosecute the war to the termina- tion they all of them desired, a fair and equitable HISTORY OF THE COMiMONVVEALTH. 477 peace. He therefore rejected their demands, and chap. warned them to forbear from all assembling- of v , " j the people to a public rendezvous p. 1545. The two armies now faced each other, that of battle of Gorino; occupying the left, and that of Fairfax the right bank of the river Parret. Goring how- ever gradually withdrew before his adversary, and gave demonstrations of a purpose to fall back upon Bridgwater ; but Fairfax forced him into juiy 10, battle at Langport, where Goring was defeated, with the loss of three hundred men killed, and fourteen hundred made prisoners *>. After the battle the defeated commander retired to Barn- staple "■. From Langport Fairfax proceeded against Surrender Bridgwater, which was held to be a very strong watc"''' place, and had been pronounced by its governor impregnable. But the army under Fairfax, Cromwel and Massey came before it, and by their vigorous proceedings soon changed the appear- ance of its fortune. Having summoned the place in vain, they resolved to attempt it by storm. They accordingly took that part of the town wliich was on the right bank of the river, and proceeded to assault the second town, when the governor sounded a parley, and at length agreed to a sur- render on the twenty-third of July, on condition P Ilushworth, p. b'i, 53. ** Uushworth, p. jj, ' Clarendon, p. (37u. 478 HISTORY or THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAT, that the lives of the garrison sliould be spared, ^ , J ai^d that the town should be protected from plun- 1645. der ^ Inactivity The Scots also now put themselves in motion, army. Tlicy had lost tlic graceful opportunity that had been held out to them in the early part of the campaign, when the parliament pressed them so earnestly to advance towards the south. They lost much of their character and popularity with the bulk of the English nation, and by their re- cent tardiness to a considerable deo-ree obliterated the benefit which had been derived from their interposition in the early part of the campaign of 1G44. The independents had never cordially re- spected them ; and the power of the independents, partly owing to their inactivity and apparent want of interest in the English affairs, had greatly in- creased. The battle of Naseby gave a new face to the war. The Scots however ultimately ad- vanced, and did too late what they ought to have done before. They take Carlisle at length surrendered to their arms on ^'^*^' the twenty-eighth of June, and about the same time their main army advanced as far as Notting- ham ; and from thence by a speedy progress to Tamworth, and to Birmingham. They stormed Cannon Frome, a garrison of the king, on the llushworth, p. 56, et seqq. Clarendon, p. 678, 679. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 479 twenty-second of July, and at the close of that chap. month sat down before Hereford '. ^-^ ' > In the same month Pomfret and Scarborough ic45. . , . and besiege were reduced by the detachments the parliament Hereford. II . 1 • ii II Pomfret had sent to besiege them ". and Scar. A particular which likewise belongs to this pe- ^^^Zlfl riod, is a fresh sittino; of the mock parliament at Anti-par. ' o I liament at Oxford. This is so utterly obscure and insigni- Oxford, ficant, that it is barely mentioned by one histo- rian ^. The events which had occurred, and especially Charles /> 1 /> 1 T 11 thinks of the news oi the hght at Langport, and the cap- taking the ture of Bridgwater, at length roused Charles from the supineness into which he seemed to have sunk amidst the shades of Ragland. The ap- proach of the Scots also was sufficiently alarming. The king had waited in the hope to learn some- thing of succours from Ireland or France ; but none came, or for the present were heard of. He had only within his immediate command a body of horse and foot, about two thousand, under the direction of Gerrard, governor of South Wales, and a body of horse under sir Marmaduke Lang- dale ". The promised reinforcements to be col- lected in Wales had almost entirely failed ; and the few that were raised, together with the greater part of the foot under Gerrard, were drained oti^ ' Rusliworth, p. 118, 120, 122. " Ibid. p. 118. * Whillocke, July 1. " Walker, p. 132, 133. 480 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, by Rupert to assist him in the defence of Bris- *^__1J_^ tol y. Cliarles had two or three times entertained 1645. the thought of crossino- the Severn in person, and placing- himself at the head of his western forces, and had even come as far as Chepstow about the last days of July in execution of that purpose y. But the undertaking appeared too desperate, and the king drew off to Cardiff. Royarists It was at this time that he was beset with a re- urge Uie . -IP 1 1 1 • 1 • king to pro- sisticss tide 01 cxpostulators, beseeching him promLrto' tli^t he would at length in good earnest think of ment^*^^'*' P^acc, depart froiTi those inflexible terms in which through good and ill fortune he had hitherto per- sisted, and endeavour to obtain conditions from the parliament, while he had yet some appearance of a military force, and before his adversaries should be in a posture rigidly to prescribe to him whatever terms they pleased. The interest of the kino; and his followers at this time seemed to coincide-. The greater part of them had long been tired of the war. It called on them for great sacrifices, and exposed them to every kind of ad- versity. And now they appeared to have suffi- cient reason to urge Charles, for his own sake, as well as for theirs, to withdraw from a fruitless contest. The commissioners of all the counties, who were the persons of the greatest weight, as well as of the most unquestionable attachment to ' Walker, p. 13^, 133. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 481 the royal cause, were fully of this sentiment, chap. The same views and temper declared themselves ^ 'j on every side. At length even Rupert, the dis- 1615. dainful and imperious Rupert, the young soldier joinsTn the in all the pride of command, who knew nothing S!'*"'*" out of the field, and "little of this great world could discourse, more than pertains to feats of broil and battle," a foreigner, who had no sym- pathies with the people upon whom he sought to impose the despotic yoke of his stiti-necked uncle, even he unbended the pride of his spirit, and wrote a letter to the king, intreating him to yield to the universal sentiment, and to embrace the counsels of sober prudence and genuine wisdom y. Such overtures would perhaps have been at- Soundnesi tended with no success. But they would have vfce.'""'^" been of the most essential service to the royal cause. They would, if refused, have admini- stered energy, and passion, and conviction, to those who followed the standard of the kinof. They would insensibly have won him favour with all those moderate and reasonable men who had been repelled by his inflexibility. And they would have shaken the strength of the parlia- ment, even in its head-quarters. The presbyte- rians were anxious for a composition, as the only practicable method for enfeebling the inde|)end- ents, and baffling projects which they regarded " Clarendon, |». (i7P. vol.. I. 2 1 r 432 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. \vitli horror. In every community there is avast portion of its individuals, who are with great leiT" difficulty rou.sed to contend, and who are eager to return to the indulgences of peace, the mo- ment a reasonable pretence is offered to them to do so. These would immediately have become openly or secretly favourers of the king. The enthusiasts for civil and religious liberty would soon have been left to themselves ; and it is not to be imagined that under these circumstances they would have succeeded in their views. Charles's Ou tlic third of August the king wrote an an- ^^'•'* swer to Rupert, and on the day following a letter to Nicholas on the same subject, both dated from Cardiff^. In both he makes a point of declaring, that no distresses of fortune shall ever make him go beyond the concessions offered in his name at Uxbridge. He confesses to Rupert, that, if he had any other quarrel than the defence of his re- ligion, his crown, and his friends, there were full reason for the advice that was offered him ; that, as a soldier, or a statesman, he could see no probability but of his ruin ; but that God would not suffer rebels and traitors to prosper, or this cause to be overthrown. He therefore intreats the prince in no wise to hearken after treaties, '■ King Charles's Works, Letters, No. 38, 39. There is a copy of the letter to Rupert in the Journals of the Lords (Oct. 30), which has the date of Julv 31. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 4f^3 and adds that the very imao-ination that Rupert chap. was desirous of a treaty would but ruin the cause ^ ' j so much the sooner. He therefore adjures him, 1545. wliatever opinions he had hitherto delivered, for the future to apply his discourse according to the king's resolution and judgment herein expressed. At Cardift" Charles proposed the relief of Here- Gen-ard ford, now besieged by the Scots, and got to- fromhrs gether three or four thousand new recruits for "S"' that purpose. But the king's power was now reduced so low, and those who exercised it in his name were so unpopular, that the concourse which thus took place only served as a signal for them to represent the grievances under which they laboured. To comply with their desires Charles removed Gerrard from the government of South Wales; but his compliance was accompanied with such testimonies of partiality to the individual re- moved, that the complaining party felt themselves offended, more than they were gratified *. At length Charles gave up his project for the Charles relief of Hereford in despair, and dismissed the "onhasfar auxiliaries, whom he repented of having called together. At this extremity he resolved at the head of the horse of Gerrard and Langdale, to en- deavour to force his way to the borders of Scot- land. The successes of Montrose he apprehended as opening to him a sunshine of hope on that side. as Dou- caster. Wulkcr, p. 133, 134. 2 1 2 484 1645. Retraces his steps, and comes to Oxford. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. He succeeded in bis design of passing the Scot- tisli ([uarters unobserved, and made good bis march as far as Welbeck in Nottinghamshire. Here the king was joined by the garrison which had bately surrendered at Pomfret ; he drew some reinforcement out of Newark ; and the gentlemen of Yorkshire seemed to take up his cause with so much zeal, that there was an immediate prospect of his having under him a body of three thousand foot, in addition to the horse that he had brought with him. But this circumstance occasioned a change in his councils. He had originally pro- posed by a rapid march to join Montrose in Scot- land ; it was now suggested that a place of meet- ing with that successful leader should be named in Enoland, rather than that Charles should seek him out in Scotland. The king had already pene- trated as far as Doncaster ''. ]3ut, though the Scots had failed in molesting Charles's march thus far into the north, their general, the earl of Leven, now dispatched Da- vid Leslie, with nearly the whole of his horse, in pursuit of him. He had already reached Rother- ham, ten miles from Doncaster. Poyntz and Rossiter at the same time were advancing with a body of English horse, which with the Scots would amount to ten thousand. The king now felt it impossible to prosecute the design which ^ Walker, p. 134, 135, HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 485 had brouofbt him thus far into the north, and fell chap. XIX. back upon Newark. From thence he proposed ^ \' y to proceed to Oxford. But, as Charles's force i645. consisted entirely of horse, he was enabled by that means to make very rapid marches, and to assail any weak point of the enemy that fell in his way. At Stamford he heard of some forces collectinir for the parliament near Huntingdon, and he accordingly turned aside from his route, and entered that place on the twenty-fourth of August. He however made no stay at Hunting- don, and arrived at Oxford on the twenty-ninth ^. It is now time to turn once again to Montrose, Montrose , . . /> 1 1 • 1 • victorious upon whom the attention oi the royalists at this at Aiford. time was so anxiously fixed. Since the battle of Auldearn in which he defeated Hurry, he had fought another with like success against general Baillie at Aiford on the second of July. These uninterrupted successes at length encouraged him to penetrate further south than he had yet ad- ventured to do. The Scottish parliament met, pursuant to their adjournment, at Stirling on the day of the battle of Aiford, the pestilence then raging at Edinburgh ; and, the contagion still ad- vancing, they removed their sittings on the twenty- fourth to Perth. Hither Montrose proceeded with his army, and gave alarm to the city. He did not however make this the limit of his progress : <^ Walker, p. 135, 136. Whitlocke, Aug. 18, Qj. 4t!(j IllSTOliy Ol' lllK COMMUiN WEALTH lie marched up to the walls of Stirling, and then, crossino; the Forth, conducted his army as far as 16J5. Kilsyth. The covenanters did not think it politic Kilsyth. to allow him to penetrate further into the south, and therefore determined once more on a battle. There seems to have been great dissentions in the array of the government, the command being partly in the military chief, and partly in a com- mittee of the parliament, one party approving one mode of proceeding, and another directing an- other. This circumstance, together with the ter- ror of the name of Montrose ; and, more than all, the energy of his mind, and the resources of his genius, determined the fate of the day. The army of the parliament was seven thousand men ; Montrose's not so many. The battle of Kilsyth however, which was fouo-ht on the fifteenth of August, was of a much more decisive character than those which had preceded ; and the forces which opposed Montrose appear to have been al- most entirely destroyed in the field and the pur- suit''. Glasgow f iig consequences of this victory seemed to and tdui- ... . burgh sub- be dccisivc. The whole kingdom appeared pro- Montrosc. stratc at the feet of the conqueror. He entered Glasgow in triumph ; Edinburgh sent commis- sioners to implore his clemency; and to submit to such terms as he should think proper to pre- ** Wishart, Cap. xi, xii, xiii. Gutlirv, p. V60, el beqr|. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 487 scribe. He was declared by a special commis- chap. XIX. sion from the king' captain-general and deputy- k ^ jj governor of Scotland ; and he issued a proclama- i645. tion for a new parliament to sit at Glasgow in October. Almost all the nobility came in, in sincerity or semblance, to make their submissions to him. Those who would accept no compro- mise, Argyle, the chancellor Loudon, Lanerk, and others, fled to Berwick, there to consult how they might recover the power they had lost^. Their principal resource was to issue their com- Levcn's mands to the Scots army before Hereford, that an caUedhome effectual reinforcement might be sent to them. nanle''^s.°'^' David Leslie with the entire body of the Scottish horse was once more sent out on this expedition. He reached the Tweed on the sixth of Sep- tember ^ On his arrival at Oxford the king heard that He raises Fairfax had set himself down before Bristol ; but Hereford. this seems for a time to have occasioned no alarm. The first project in which Charles engaged was for the relief of Hereford, the besieging army being considerably weakened by the departure of David Leslie and the horses. The king's force consisted * Guthry, p. 19t, et seqq. ' Rushwortli, p. ','31. 1 Clarendon tells the story (Vol. H, p. G?2) as if Leslie had been on his march for Scotland when he overtook the king at Don- caster, and that he had not the slightest expectation of encounter- ing Charles's forces in that (juarter. But the dates alone are a sufficient refutation of that statement. Walker, who was with the king, says, p. 136, he was " sent in pursuit of us." See further, Journal!* o I Lords, Aug. ITi, '.'6. 488 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CTIAr. XIX. l6^5. Bristol siir- reiidiTs to the purlia- niunt. Charles de- feated at Chester. entirely of the cavalry of Langdale and Gerrard. Leven did not wait for Charles's arrival, but up- on hearing of his approach broke up the siege ''. This enterprise being accomplished, the king next proposed to cross the Severn to the assist- ance of Rupert, and while arrangements were making for that purpose, once more went to spend a few days in retirement at Ragland. Here the news reached him of the surrender of Bristol on the eleventh of September'. Thus suddenly and unexpectedly did he lose one of the principal re- maining supports of his falling power. Rupert relied for the vindication of his conduct upon his inadequate means of defence, and the improba- bility of any effectual relief*^. He was perhaps partly influenced by the obstinacy with which Charles had resisted advice, and the impossibility of substantially serving a party so entirely blinded to his real situation. After the receipt of this intelligence, the king remained a week at Hereford, undetermined what should be his next undertakino;-. At lenoth he re- solved once more to resume his march into the north, in tlie hope to form a junction with the victorious Montrose. He directed his course by the rude mountains of North Wales, that he miofht avoid interruption from the enemy, and advanced as far as Chester without molestation'. Here how- '' Wall:cr, p. 136. Riishwortli, p. 123, et seqq. * Walker, p. 137. * Btish worth, p. 69, ct seqq. ' Walker, p. 138, 139. HISTORY OF TEIE COMMONWEALTH. 439 ever it so happened that Charles's forces were chap, hemmed in between two parties, the parliament ^ ^^ troops that besieged Chester, and the followers of 1545. Poyntz, who, as soon as he was informed of the king's route, proceeded by the smoother and shorter way, and in consequence reached the besieged city almost as soon as he. Charles now suffered an essential disaster, having lost six hundred men slain in the fight, and one thousand taken prisoners'". This happened about the end of September. From Chester the king retreated to Denbigh ; and here he received intelligence of the reverse that had fallen on Montrose". This chieftain, by the resources of his genius Precari oils and his unwearied exertions, had maintained him- Montrose! self in Scotland, and proved a perpetual annoyance to the covenanters, for twelve months. At the end of that time he gained a memorable victory, which seemed to put the whole kingdom in his power. But this appearance was deceitful. In the latter part of 1644, and the beginning of 1645, his power extended no further than the spot occupied by his army, and he no sooner removed from one place to another, than the place he had left re- turned to its former condition. If he desired to reoccupy it, he had to go through the same pro- cess as before. He retained no strong fortress ; he planted no garrison. In the battle of Kilsyth "= lUishworth, y. 117. " Walker, p. 141. ness and caution. 4(jQ IIISTOIIV OF THE COMMONWEALTH. cii A P. lie in u manner annihilated the army of the enemy ; ^^^ Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other considerable places 1645. were obliged to submit to the terms he thought proper to prescribe. But all this scarcely forwarded the object he had in view. His troops, never nu- merous, dispersed themselves after every victory, and went home to enjoy the plunder they had ac- quired. He loses his After the battle of Kilsyth the military character SchtT"'' of Montrose seemed to sustain a total change. He had hitherto effected every thing principally by the rapidity of his motions. He came upon the enemy when he was least expected ; he disap- peared and was gone, before they had time to re- collect themselves. But now his usual caution for- sook him : he appeared to think that he no longer stood in need of those stratagems and that vigi- lance, which had hitherto carried him safe through every danger. He was informed of the approach of David Leslie and his horse, and that they had already crossed the Tweed ; he still continued his He is march to the south. At length, with forces greatly dHven'to"'^ rcduccd iu number, he encountered the enemy at flight- Pliiliphaugh in Ettrick Forest, and sustained a total defeat. This happened on the thirteenth of September. He retired to the highlands, and to the north of Scotland, to raise new armies, and meditate new enterprises, which came to nothing**. " Wibhart, Cap. xv, xvi. Guthry, p. 198, et seqq. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 491 In consequence of" this intelli<^ence, and the chap. check his troops had received under tlie walls of ^^ "^ Chester, the king was reduced to a distressing con- ig45. dition. He first conceived the project of wintering n.rmto the in the isle of Anglesea. This was lield to be a ^°""'- place of sufficient defence, and of a capacity to maintain his troops ; it lay also opportunely for those succours which he hourly expected from Ireland, and for enabling him to endeavour the preservation of Chester. Upon the whole however it was judged that Charles yet possessed too con- siderable a footing in the kingdom, to admit of the propriety of his retreating into an insignificant island ; and having changed his purpose, he out- manoeuvred Poyntz, and reached Bridgnorth in his road to Worcester p. At this time the councils of the king were Character almost under the single direction of lord Digby, Dig"by. son to the earl of Bristol, who had succeeded to the office of secretary of state upon the death of lord Falkland in the first battle of Newbury. Digby was held to be a man of splendid abilities ; but there was an inconstancy iu his temper, ever de- lighted with whatever new project suggested itself, that had hitherto caused all his measures to fail of success. He had prompted Charles to Chaties by write a letter to Rupert, instantly upon hearing of dlsmisles^ the surrender of Bristol, revoking all hiscommis- /roiiriii his employ - nienf^. ^ Walker, p. Ill, H?. 492 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 1645. Charles re- moves to Newark. Digby sent to join Montrose. sions, and directing- that without delay he should leave the kingdom i. This was judged by all sober and moderate men to be a precipitate proceeding ; and Rupert, with the gallantry of a soldier, and the pride of conscious tidelity, determined in- stantly to repair to his uncle, and require from him either an open trial, or a direct exculpation from the foul charges which this letter implied. Digby, we are told, shrank from the idea of en- countering the prince, and trying face to face which should be found to have the greatest in- fluence and weiofht with their mutual sovereisrn. He therefore prevailed with the king, to leave Worcester on one side, where prince Maurice was governor, and direct his retreat to Newark, where at least he should be at a greater distance from the storm. Here a rumour was brought, that Montrose had returned once more upon David Leslie, had given him a signal defeat, and was again on the boundary of the two kingdoms. This was enough for Digby. He prompted the king afresh to march to the north, and attempt a junc- tion with this wonderful adventurer. When Charles had advanced as far as Welbeck, he there met the contradiction of the rumour which had been so lightly credited. It was now decided in council that he should proceed no further. The next morning however it was proposed by the ■' Clarenduu, p. 694. HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 493 king in person, that, while he fell back upon chap. Newark, fifteen hundred horse should proceed ,, '__^ under Digby and Langdale toward Scotland. At 1645. Sherborne in Yorkshire they were met by the atsher^*^'^ parliamentarians and defeated on the fifteenth of '^<'''"^- October. In spite of this check however they pro- ceeded, and penetrated as far as Dumfries; but Passes over there, finding- the condition of Montrose to be hopeless, the leaders shipped themselves for the isle of Man, leaving their followers to provide for their safety as they could ; and, in no long time further, Digby passed over to Dublin "". Very shortly after the king's return to Newark, Rupert he received information of the approach of Rupert Newark, and his friends. The prince appears to have rested at Belvoir Castle, ten miles short of New- ark. Charles wrote to him there, in the usual style of an irritated monarch, commanding him to stay where he was, till he heard further. Ru- pert slighted this intimation, and proceeded. Sir Richard Willis, governor of Newark, and general Gerrard, hearing of his approach, went out with an hundred horse two miles, to meet him. Upon his arrival he immediately repaired to the royal presence*. And Charles found him- self compelled to summon a council of war to hear and pronounce upon Rupert's defence ; the ' Walker, j). 142, et sc(i(j. Rushworth, p. 1'2«, 13U, 133, 134. • Wiilkor, p. 1 1."), 110. 494 HISTORY OF thk commonwealth. CHAP, result of vvliich was a mitigated sentence of ac- Y T Y ^^ '^ quittal, declarini^ him not guilty of the least want 1645. of courage and fidelity in the discharge of his trust '. Mutinous But the matter did not end here. A few days IngTat Uiat ^ftcr tliis, the king thought proper to remove sir place. Richard Willis from the government of Newark. Charles intimated this to him, with various com- plimentary circumstances, in the morning. After dinner the princes Rupert and Maurice, with Willis, Gerrard, and about twenty officers of the garrison, came into the presence. Willis com- plained of his removal as a dishonour that was put upon him. Rupert said the measure had been resolved on, because Willis was his friend ; and Gerrard added, that it was a plot of lord Digby, whom he would prove to be a traitor. Charles desired Willis to follow him into his bed- chamber ; but he replied, that the injury he had received was public, and the satisfaction must be so too. The kino- at leng^th found it necessarv to assert himself, and drove them from his presence ". Thus a prince, who could not resolve to part with the smallest atom of the most exaggerated prero- gative, now saw himself, in the decline of his fortune, insulted by those from whom he had ex- pected the utmost devotion to his service. Having proceeded to this extremity, Rupert ' Riisliwortli, p. 84. " Walker, p. 14G, 147, HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 495 and the rest of the mutineers found it necessary chap. to withdraw themselves from Newark. They ap- ^ , plied for passes to go abroad, which were granted. 164.';. Rupert, Maurice and Gerrard had an audience proposes lo of leave «'. From Wiverton, a place not far from ^^^'^ Newark, thev addressed a letter to the two houses "''"*• of parliament, dated 29 October, desiring similar passes, which were readily granted them *. A few days later, the king set out on his last ciiarks march from Newark to Oxford, at the head of Oxford, four or five hundred horse >. Thus slenderly pro- vided, it seems to have been thought proper, that he should proceed as much as possible incognito; and accordingly, before he set out, he caused the hair of his beard to be clipped, that his person might the less easily be recognised ^. At Oxford he passed a melancholy and disconsolate winter. The towns of Devizes and Winchester, and the castles of Basing and Berkeley quickly followed the fate of Bristol ^ > and Chepstow and Mon- mouth fell not long after ^. Hereford was taken by surprise on the eighteenth of December ^. Ox- ford, Worcester, Chester and Newark were now almost all the considerable places that remained to the king. After applying for passports to leave the king- Rupert joins him in that city. " Walkor, p. 147, 148. ^ Journals, Nov. 1. > Walker, p. 1 4H. ' Wagstaft', \'inclication of Charles, 1711.)). yo. ' Riishworth, p. Oo, et scqq. '' Ibid. p. I'.'IV ^ Ibid. p. 134. Walker, p. 1 JU. 496 * 1 HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. CHAP, dom, Rupert appears to have hesitated. He XIX v/_ ' ' J wrote ao-aiii to the parliament from Worcester on 1645. the seventeenth of November, requesting that his passes might allow him the alternative, either to go abroad, or to remain in such part of the king- dom as he might think fit, he engaging not to do any thing to the prejudice of the parliament. But this enlargement of the discretion to be granted him was refused ^. He contrived there- fore, through the mediation of friends, to be ad- mitted to come to the king at Oxford, and after suitable submissions was restored to Charles's favour ^. «" Journals, Nov. 22. * Walker, p. 150. Addition to note (^), page 108. The story is thus told by Carte, Life of Ormond, page 357. " Sir Thomas Fairfax, a man of great courage and military skill, eminent by his quality and interest in his country, and of high honour, attended the king with a petition. Sir Thomas was on his knees when he presented the petition ; and the king, being on horseback, and not liking the matter of it, turned off so angrily and suddenly, that his horse had like to have trampled that gentleman xuider toot, and, notwithstanding all he could do to save himself,* he did not escape being hurt." END OF VOLUME THE FIRST. lOSnON : PRINTED BY RIClIARll TAYLOR, SHOF-t ANK. 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