FOOTNOTES:
[346] Letter of Montague from the Hague: ‘Elle n’a jamais temoigné apprehension dans les preparatifs de la mort, que pour les affaires de Dieu et de son mari.’
[347] Zuanne Zon, segretario Veneto de Haya, 16 Giugno. ‘La regina vedendo la piega di quelli affari favorevoli alquanto al re marito, non sollicita la mossa di quei ministri.’
[348] The state of the whole kingdom 1642. According to this the King declared that he had as much right to Hull as any lord of a manor to his country house.
[349] The desires and propositions proposed to Sir John Hotham, with Sir John Hotham’s answers. Letter of Mills, July 1642.
[350] Giustiniani mentions, under date of August 22, that the standard had been set up the week before. This is not actually false, as it was at first displayed from the castle, which the King did not approve. The error of Clarendon, who gives August 25, may arise from the various repetitions. The 22nd is beyond a doubt the true date. Cp. ‘True and exact Relation’ in Somers Tracts iv.
[351] ‘Memoirs containing a genealogical and historical account of the house of Stanley’ (Manchester, 1767) contain an abstract of the memoranda of James Lord Stanley, which enlarge on these matters, not without some self-sufficiency.
[352] Letter of Bevill Grenville, in Nugent ii. 195.
[353] Giustiniani: ‘Ambiduc li palatini (Maurice also was present) Roberto in particulare hanno con spavento degli inimici dato nuove prove di valore, et acquistatosi col grido universale gli applausi di tutti quelli che bramano favorevoli successi all’ arme reali.’
[354] Sanderson’s Life of Charles I, 585. ‘They stood the brunt of the battle; most of their men being London prentices, fresh and good firers, did bold service.’
[355] Relation of Edgehill fight, in Carte’s Letters i. 9. Another Royalist account in Spalding ii. 200. Account of the battle as published by order of the Parliament. Rushworth v. 35.
[356] Giustiniani: ‘Professandosi del sangue e delle fortune di Vasalli suoi, ancorchè contumaci, estremamente avaro, clemenza che fratante virtu è la piu predicata di S. M.’
[357] Whitelocke’s Memorials 65.
[358] Dispaccio di Zuanne Zon segretario all’ Haya. October 29, 1642. (Arch. Veneto, Olanda) ‘che s’avessero questi Signori confinanti l’Inghilterra dominata dal parlamento, come havean havuto il re, potria avvenire che in breve spatio se ne chiamasse L’Hollanda pentita. Queste ultime voci commossero grandemente e accrebbero qualche scintilla di generosita gia penetrata nell’ animi del governo.’
[359] Whether Fielding, who surrendered the town, was guilty of treachery or not, I cannot pretend to determine. The Venetian secretary deems him guilty, Clarendon acquits him.
[360] May’s History of the Long Parliament 305.
[361] Challoner’s words just before his execution leave no doubt of this purpose: ‘That if we could make a moderate party here in London, to stand betwixt and in the gap to unite the King and the Parliament, it would be a very acceptable work.’ Waller says: ‘For the propositions of letting in part of the King’s army, or offering violence to the members of this house, I ever disallowed or utterly rejected them.’ Parl. Hist. xii. 322.
[362] Agostino, 24 Giul.: ‘Non havea prodotto buon effetto la morte dei primi nel universal del popolo.’
[363] Journal of Commons, June 6, 1643.
[364] ‘Both armies may be drawn near the one to the other, that if peace is not concluded, it may be ended with the sword.’ Brixhill, July 9, 1643, in Rushworth vi.
[365] ‘On the first division the Yeas were 94, the Noes 68; on the second the Yeas were 70, the Noes 68.’ Journals iii. 167.
[366] D’Ewes, in Sanford 576.
[367] Journal of the Siege of Gloucester, in Warburton ii. 281.
[368] Detailed narrative from the Parliamentary side, in May’s Hist. of the Long Parliament 347: the report in Rushworth v. 293 is based on this: Clarendon’s account agrees with it on the whole very well. Agostini: ‘Fra le dispute resta inviluppata la vittoria che è stata solennizata con fuochi in Oxford, e con ringraziamento nelle chiese qui.’
[369] Instructions to Colonel Cochran. Harleian Misc. vii. 532.
CHAPTER III.
FRESH INTERFERENCE OF THE SCOTS. CAMPAIGN OF 1644.
We must again turn our attention to the affairs of Scotland, and the internal struggles there. In the autumn of 1641 the King had made his comprehensive concessions to the Scots, in order to obtain their neutrality in his contest with the English Parliament. He thought he had personally made sure of the leading Covenanters, whom his concessions chiefly benefited. They had promised to live and die for him, in matters of temporal authority, and not to interfere in ecclesiastical disputes, in spite of their sympathies in favour of uniformity, except when he himself desired it[370]. For as he attributed his previous misfortunes to the alliance of the Scots and the English, he calculated on being strong enough, by satisfying the former, to resist the latter. Hence came his unyielding demeanour at the end of the year 1641, his departure from the capital, whereby he thought to secure a retreat into Scotland in case of necessity, and even the resolution to take up arms. Hamilton, who had been restored to favour, and for a long time had occupied his seat in the English Upper House, was one of the lords who assembled round the King at York, and strengthened him in his A.D. 1643. unconciliatory attitude. He then hastened into Scotland to exert his newly recovered influence there for the maintenance of a good understanding with the King. He was never weary of reminding men like Argyle and Loudon that they themselves and the Scots in general were pledged to the King, that he had fallen into all his difficulties through them, and that it would redound to their everlasting honour if they rescued him from them. It appears that their representations were not altogether fruitless. The two other leaders at least assented to his wish that the Queen should come to Scotland. The Privy Council, which conducted the government there, had been for a long time more favourable to the King than to the Parliament.
Had the Scottish aristocracy, like the English, sided en masse with the King, the monarchy would have been established throughout Great Britain on the old basis.
But the religious difficulty had made this impossible: for the difference between the English and Scottish nobility lay in the fact that the latter had abolished Episcopacy, while the former wished to maintain it, at least in England. Some Scots, for instance the Hamiltons, would have agreed to this, but by no means all. The Presbyterian clergy, on the contrary, were of the opinion, and expressed it with public authority in the General Assembly, that Episcopacy must be rooted out in England also, if the work of God was to be finished. Moreover the ruling grandees were afraid that the King would revoke all his concessions, as soon as he again obtained power[371]; they feared in that case to see their enemies exalted, for the old schism of the nobility was still in full operation. Argyle’s party could not go on long with the Hamiltons, when these drew together again.
It is intelligible that in this condition of the public mind every event in England should react on Scotland. The first encounter of the two parties took place at a sitting of the Privy Council in December 1642. The question was, whether A.D. 1643. of two opposing declarations made by the King and the English Parliament, which had been communicated together at the sitting, only the first, that of the King, or both alike should be printed. Hamilton and Lanerick observed that they owed duty to the King, but none to Parliament, and that the question was whether they would obey him or not. Argyle and Balmerino would not hear of commands and obedience in this tone, which would be reverting to the state of things in the old episcopal times. At this moment the Hamilton party was still the stronger: eleven members against nine determined that the King’s declaration should be printed, and not that of the Parliament[372].
In the state of parties this resolution of course created a great sensation. It implied a leaning towards the King’s cause on the part of the Scottish government, which was highly offensive to the earnest Covenanters. It was a trumpet-blast, says Baillie, which awoke us all.
The gentry of Fife, the most zealously Presbyterian association among the laity, flocked up to urge a repeal of the resolution; and similar petitions poured in from other counties, which were supported by many of the presbyteries. In pursuance of an act of Parliament, a new committee, called conservators of the peace, had just then been called into existence, and most of its members were Covenanters: in concert with them and the church commission, the Privy Council was obliged to declare that its publication of the King’s declaration implied no agreement with it: and the Parliamentary declaration had now to be printed also.
The matter was not ended yet: the fear gained ground that this resolution was only the first step to a greater scheme; that it would be proposed to arm for the King; that all the violent Royalists, the old Bonders, would be called upon to destroy the good patriots, their opponents[373].
The zealous Presbyterians spoke in a tone from which the A.D. 1643. King’s friends gathered that they would probably side with the Parliament against the King. To counteract this the Hamiltons put in circulation a petition in which they expressed their strong desire for ecclesiastical uniformity with England, but with the double limitation, first that they had no right to force on a neighbouring kingdom any forms of worship, on which only the legal authority could decide, and next that the league with England did not set the Scots free from the duty which bound them to their hereditary king[374]. Instead of quieting opposition, this petition only made it more vehement. For the Church valued the advancement of religion far more highly than any political interest, and thought itself justified by treaty in establishing ecclesiastical uniformity at any price, and even imposing it on the King. The petition was denounced in sermons, and signing it declared to be a crime: the church commission caused a counter declaration containing very violent language to be read from the pulpits.
There was a feeling throughout the country as though the outbreak of a new war was at hand: in February 1643 the noise of drums was believed to have been heard, and contending armies seen, in the air[375]. ‘Our neighbours’ houses are on fire,’ says Baillie, ‘and we already perceive in our own the smell of the burning.’
Immediately afterwards, through the influence of Argyle’s adherents and the Church, a deputation waited on the King, to urge him immediately to summon a Scottish Parliament, and to make an attempt at mediation between him and the English Parliament.
The King rejected both suggestions, saying that he would abide by the arrangement already made for triennial parliaments, and that he would not allow his subjects in one kingdom to interfere in his differences with the other. Still he aimed at quieting the agitation of the Scots by his representations and by convincing them of his good intentions. He told them that, so far from attacking parliamentary rights and the Protestant religion, he was defending both, the former against a faction which had expelled A.D. 1643. most of the members of both Houses, and the latter against Anabaptist sectaries. The Hamiltons were still confident that, if only all the King’s adherents who were now with him came back at the right moment, they would have a majority in the next Assemblies. Hamilton and Montrose went to meet the Queen on her arrival in the north of England. Montrose represented to her that the interference of the Scots on behalf of the English Parliament was as good as decided, and that its evil consequences could only be averted by organising, under royal authority, an attack on the Covenanters in Scotland itself. Hamilton declared that Scotland could be held to its allegiance without bloodshed: was he really persuaded of this, or, as was said at the time, was he unable to come to an agreement with Montrose as to the command of a Royalist army?
Meanwhile the three leading commissions,—the conservators of the peace, the church commissioners, and a third for taxation,—united, not without the previous sanction of the Privy Council, for care was taken whenever possible to maintain legal forms: on being apprised of the King’s refusal to summon a parliament, they proceeded to take counsel how this might be met, and formed a determination which was the completion of their earlier steps tending towards the independence of the Estates. Relying on some rather dubious precedents of earlier times, they held that they had the power to summon an Assembly of the Estates without the King, which they designated a Convention. Hamilton declared this to be a breach of their agreement with the King: the crown advocate, Thomas Hope, contested the legality of the measure: it was however accepted, and that before the King’s friends arrived from England, ‘since the importance of the matter in question so required’: the writs were at once issued under the Great Seal, which had already in Scotland been removed from the King’s personal disposal.
Just at this time the proposal was made at Westminster to enter into a new alliance with the Scots: messages relating to an embassy to be despatched for this purpose were exchanged between the two Houses[376]. Long before this, Pym, A.D. 1643. who always maintained a good understanding with Argyle, had been heard to assert confidently that the Scots were ready to come to the help of Parliament. After all that had passed it might be assumed that there was an agreement between the leaders of the parties in the two countries.
Among the deputies who went to Scotland for the purpose of forming a new alliance, the most active and important was Henry Vane the younger, not exactly a man of strict Presbyterian principles: indeed most of the leading men were not at heart devoted to them, though at this time, more than at any other, they mounted Presbyterian colours. On June 12 an assembly of persons spiritual and temporal was convoked at Westminster, to reorganise the constitution of the Church and public worship on principles opposed to those of the bishops, and the Scots were invited to take part in it. Nothing could have afforded greater satisfaction to their religious pride, or offered a more lively incentive to their ecclesiastical ambition[377].
The Convention of the Scottish Estates met on June 22, at Edinburgh, side by side with the Committees which had summoned it. The Hamiltons had obtained the subsequent recognition of the Convention by the King, on condition that it confined its attention to certain points only, relating mainly to pecuniary differences between the two countries. The first question which the Assembly had to determine was whether or not it would acknowledge this limitation,—a point of immense constitutional importance, as it involved the maintenance or abandonment of its personal dependence on the King. The Hamiltons tried to show that the Assembly would be null and void if it overstepped the prescribed limits[378]. On the other side it was maintained that the authority of the Great Seal sufficed for subjects. On a division the Assembly by a large majority declared that it formed a free Convention. From among the gentry only a single member declared for the Hamiltons; but they found more A.D. 1643. support among the nobility, eighteen of whom maintained the view that the Assembly was altogether bound by the King’s writ: even these however did not venture on a direct protest, but contented themselves with expressing their disapproval and staying away from the sittings.
Thus it came to pass that in spite of all concessions there was again in existence in Scotland an Assembly opposed to the royal will, having unlimited claims, which it held to be grounded in right, and formed on purpose to proceed to the very measure which the King had sought to obviate by his compliance, a new alliance with England. We need not assert positively that at the time when these promises were made to the King there was any intention of violating them: only they were not so precise as to close every loophole. Obedience and loyalty were not the feelings which swayed men’s minds: altered relations had brought other sentiments.
Special considerations were urged in support of the general intention. The war between the two parties in England, it was observed, threatened the Scottish frontiers, and nothing could secure their territorial interests but a new advance into England: this could not be done in alliance with the King, because he was too poor, but might well be done in league with the Parliament: neutrality at any rate could not be maintained. Moreover the advantages gained at this moment by the royal army in England were watched with considerable apprehension, since the King was still surrounded by the men against whom the Scots had from the first contended, and if he again became master, he would be sure to find a pretext for revoking all that he had granted to the Scots, and avenging himself on those who had deprived him of the possession of power[379].
Thus all motives alike,—religious, territorial, and even pecuniary interests, fear of the immediate success of the royal arms and the effects of this in the future, the hatred and jealousy of faction,—combined to urge the Scots to accept the A.D. 1643. English proposals. They acted in this, even from their own point of view, without thorough foresight: there were other powers in England besides the King and Parliament by which their political and religious independence might be endangered. They were not quite blind to this fact, but as usual only the nearest and most direct interests came fully within their horizon.
Never perhaps were the plenipotentiaries sent to ask for assistance expected with greater eagerness by those who were to grant the help than the English on this occasion by the Scots: the General Assembly, which had just met, regarded it as a grievance that they were kept waiting. At last came the news that they had landed at Leith (Aug. 6), for, as was to be expected, they had made the journey by sea. They were received with the same forms as the Scottish commissioners in London: they were to communicate not directly with the two Assemblies, but with a commission appointed from these for the purpose. On August 9 they produced their instructions, which were to the effect that the two nations should jointly take up arms against a Popish and prelatical faction, and not lay them down until the faction was disarmed and subjected to the authority of Parliament in both nations, the army of the Scots to be paid out of the revenues of the malignants under the control of Parliament. It was especially urged that otherwise the good beginnings of a new church organisation in England must necessarily be interrupted through the strength of the enemy: against this danger the English Parliament desired the prayers of the General Assembly, and above all their co-operation by effective means.
It was evident from the negotiations that the English cared most for the political, the Scots for the religious connexion. The English gave way to most of the demands of the Scots, seeing clearly that without this nothing would be attainable; and especially on the following point. The Scots would not allow what the King had said, as to his being chiefly opposed by the separatist sects, to be applied to them, and rejected every allusion to those sects. One such allusion might originally have been found in the words which were approved A.D. 1643. in the treaty, that the parties pledged themselves to a reformation of the Church of England according to the Word of God: for a great deal might be deduced from these words. The Scots however anticipated any explanation of this kind, by insisting on its being expressly added that the reformation should be made on the model of the best reformed Churches, and that the Churches in the three kingdoms should be brought into the closest connexion and uniformity in respect of doctrine, discipline, and public worship. Nothing in fact was to be expected but the extension of the Scottish system to the other two kingdoms. The abolition of the prelacy in all its branches, and the punishment of all malignants, were expressly stipulated. Thereupon they promised[380] to defend the privileges of Parliament and the liberties of the realms, unanimously and heartily, with body and goods, in every place, reserving however the rightful authority of the King. The Scots felt the danger of the alliance into which they were again entering. Just at this time arrived the news of the fall of Bristol, which made a profound impression: it was, says Baillie[381], a great act of faith, a high courage, unexampled sympathy, that our people endangered its own peace, and ventured life and all to save a nation which in every man’s eyes was already lost. We cannot doubt that religious conviction had much to do with this. When the moderator in the General Assembly produced the draft of the Covenant between the two nations, worthy, wise, and aged men were seen to burst into tears of religious satisfaction and joy. The draft was again read, and every one invited to express his opinion upon it. Though here and there dissentient views were uttered, they were stated with so much reservation, that the adoption of the Covenant may be regarded as unanimous. The religious zealots saw with delight that the great neighbouring kingdom would accept their church system, and greeted as a A.D. 1643. good omen the coincidence that the abolition of Episcopacy in England was now decided on the same day of the month on which, four years before, the same thing had been done in Scotland. It was a momentous step, to advance from a system of defence to one of proselytising, and if it failed, would bring on their heads all the vicissitudes of the war: but the Scots took it boldly. The Convention, like the Assembly, adopted the New Covenant, and before it separated published a proclamation by which every man between the ages of sixteen and sixty was required to hold himself ready to appear in the field fully armed, within twenty-four hours after the summons thereto should be issued.
After the English Parliament, which in this matter was guided by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, had accepted the Covenant with few and insignificant alterations, the oath to maintain it was solemnly taken in the church at Edinburgh by the committee of the General Assembly and the Convention, and by the English deputies. This was on a Friday: the next Sunday the Covenant was recommended to the people from the pulpits, and signed and sworn to by all. Similar scenes took place in London. On September 25 the Covenant was read from the pulpit of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, the numerous congregation raising their hands in token of assent. Then the parchment roll on which it was inscribed was signed first by the members of the Assembly of Divines and the Scottish Commissioners, and then, after blessing had been pronounced, by the members of the two Houses of Parliament: this was repeated in the churches of the capital and of the counties in the power of the Parliament[382]. It was the first act in which the union of the two kingdoms took effect. What the King and his bishops had failed to accomplish was thus achieved by John Pym and the Presbyterian preachers.
The alliance of the two countries was the work above all of John Pym. With him had originated, or at any rate had found conscious expression, the idea of giving life to the opposition in England by means of an understanding with A.D. 1643. the Scots. He above all men had contrived the coincidence, which at the outset decided everything, between the first Scottish invasion and the election of a thorough opposition Parliament. It may be true, as has been said, that he took no such keen interest as others in uprooting the bishops on grounds of doctrine: but this was the object which united Scottish and English Puritans, and these again with the daily increasing Independents. He adopted it as a great political necessity, and held to it firmly, although the English revolution was thus led far beyond its original aim. His views were directed not to the restoration of equilibrium between the Crown and Parliament, but to the establishment of the completed preponderance of the Parliamentary power, and this implied the subjection of the spiritual element also. The alliance of the Puritan and Parliamentary ideas both answered this purpose and supplied the means for carrying it out. Parliament was connected with the disaffection of the city through religious ideas. John Pym was the originator of the tactics which called upon the masses at the decisive moments of parliamentary contests; he knew how to back the aspirations of the faction which he led by the regular recurrence of tumultuous popular demonstrations in the great capital. On his connexion with London he based his audacious resolve to deprive royalty, in which the power of the conqueror was perpetuated, of the arms which constituted its splendour and greatness. In order to obtain power to bring into the field for this purpose a popular army, without being dependent on the voluntary assent of every single man, he adopted the decisive means of taxing the necessaries of life: for he was a financier by profession, and was the first to introduce excise into England. In other political measures he derived encouragement and example from the Scots, with whose chief leaders he always maintained close relations. This was indispensable for both parties, not only as against the King and his declared adherents, but also against the moderate party which desired a peaceful solution. When Pym and his friends again had to fear the superior power of the King they did not hesitate once more to call in the Scots, though some objection was felt to them on A.D. 1643. account of their exclusive Presbyterianism; and Argyle, who could not endure friendly relations between the King and the country, because this would raise his own immediate rivals to importance, came forward to meet him, in order by this means to overcome them. Argyle and Pym joined hands across a wide expanse. While everything was being prepared for carrying out the New Covenant, John Pym died (Dec. 6, 1643), worn out by the fearful efforts of the war, by the exciting alternations of danger and success, of defeat and victory. He possessed talents created for times of revolution, capable at once of shaking and destroying existing institutions and of establishing new ones, as resolute in passing great measures as in devising small means: audacious in his projects, but practical in executing them, at once active and unyielding, bold and prudent, systematic and pliant, full of thought for his friends, devoid of all consideration for those against whose rights he was battling. In Pym there is something both of Sieyès and of Mirabeau: he is one of the greatest revolutionary leaders known to history. Characters like his stand midway between the present, which they shatter for ever, and the future, which however generally develops itself on principles different from those which they have laid down. The parliamentary and religious system of John Pym failed to establish itself, but its influence is nevertheless immeasurable: it consists in the opposition offered to the combination in royalty of spiritual and political tendencies, in the crown being brought back into the track of parliamentary government, in the preparation made for the fusion of the English and Scottish nationalities. Pym before his death had prepared everything for a new advance in the great contest. By his activity a considerable payment had been made to the Scots on account of the original cost of arming and of the subsidies (£31,000 monthly) which had been promised to them, so that the levies there were progressing satisfactorily. The Scots had promised to take the field with 18,000 foot soldiers and 3000 cavalry, and were now ready in spite of the hard winter to cross the border. Meanwhile two new armies had been raised in England besides that of Essex, one under Waller, for which new levies in Sussex and Kent were A.D. 1643. appointed, and the other under Kimbolton (Mandeville), who now since the death of his father appears as Lord Manchester, in the associated eastern counties.
The King had but one possible resource in the world to oppose to these accessions of strength to his enemies. He might have done what he was always given credit for wishing to do, namely, make a league with the Irish rebels, who fully recognised his prerogative in respect to England and were willing to maintain it. But this was impossible after the Irish massacre: the King would have raised against him the entire Anglo-Saxon and Protestant element, on which after all his crown as it was depended. At least he could never venture publicly to concede to the supreme council of the Irish full religious liberty, although personally he would have been inclined to do so. A few regiments came to his assistance from Ireland, but they were Protestants, no longer required there after the truce that had been agreed on. They were distributed among the different royal corps, and proved very useful: among other things they were present when Prince Rupert raised the siege of Newark, a step absolutely necessary for the maintenance of communications between Oxford and York: but this was very little in comparison with the aid afforded to the other side by the Scots.
The King was not without some sources of assistance in Scotland itself. He had long hesitated between Hamilton and Montrose, but was also induced by the course of events to give the preference to the latter. Hamilton, whom the court accused of treason, when he came to Oxford to defend himself, was arrested and imprisoned: the King assented, though unwillingly, and without being convinced of his guilt; for some of his firmest adherents openly threatened that otherwise they would quit him[383]. While Hamilton was expiating his dubious politics in a castle in Cornwall, Montrose, who had also come to Oxford, was made Lieutenant-General of the King’s forces which had been, or hereafter should be, levied in Scotland. There was still, as we know, a Royalist party in Scotland, not only in the north, where here and there men A.D. 1644. deemed it an honour to be classed among the malignants, but also in the central counties. Montrose was fully determined to unite these round his standard.
It is astonishing that the King, in spite of all the hostility exhibited toward him by the English Parliament—of which he regarded the renewed alliance with the Scots as one of the greatest proofs—did not even now take the step of declaring it dissolved. His reason was that this would have been to retract a concession solemnly made, and so to give occasion for doubt as to the validity of all the other statutes passed by this Parliament, many of which his own adherents would not surrender. As always, when between opposing and irreconcilable views, Charles I adopted a middle course. He declared that, in consequence of the tumults that had taken place in the previous July, the Parliament at Westminster was no longer a free Parliament, and summoned to Oxford all who had been expelled or who had fled from Westminster, in order to form out of them an assembly which should represent a free Parliament. There were 83 of the Lords, 175 of the Commons, a far greater number than remained at Westminster. On January 22, 1643/4, the King opened the sittings at Oxford.
Declaration was at once made here, in a form corresponding to ancient custom, that the proceedings of the Scots were to be treated as a declaration of war, and their invasion of English territory as an actual commencement of war and a breach of the treaty, and consequently that all Englishmen who should favour or assist their expedition were traitors and enemies of the country[384]. The Parliament at Westminster itself was in this case. After the Chancellor of the Exchequer had produced his budget, votes were taken for the necessary subsidies and for new taxes: and here, as in Edinburgh and London, recourse was had to the excise. The declaration was repeated with special emphasis that the King had taken up arms only in defence, for the maintenance of the Protestant religion, the laws of the land and the privileges of Parliament. If Charles I meant nothing more than to assert the nullity of A.D. 1644. the Parliament at Westminster, without pronouncing its dissolution and rescinding the acts by virtue of which it had sat so long, he had attained his end, but he could expect to produce no further result. The question which of the two Parliaments was to be deemed the rightful one, must be decided by the sword.
The King could only reckon on his old adherents and the forces already raised, when in the spring of 1644 this double storm began to break over him.
We will direct our attention first to the King’s campaign against the Parliamentary army under Essex and Waller, and then to the events consequent on the Scottish invasion.
The first began with gloomy forebodings—so much so that the Queen, then near her confinement, hastened to quit Oxford and resort to Exeter, as a place where she would be safer—and at great disadvantage.
The King was only able to bring into the field 10,000 men to encounter the two armies which were set in motion under Essex and Waller at the beginning of May, each of which was about 10,000 strong. Prince Rupert had recommended that the infantry should be distributed in the fortified places in front—Reading, Abingdon, Wallingford, Oxford, Banbury; and that the cavalry should join the troops in the western counties, so that while one of the Parliamentary armies was occupied with the siege of those places, they might be a match for the other in the open field[385]. The council of war however which surrounded the King, and in which some members of the Privy Council, Digby and Colepepper, took part, could not resolve on this course, preferring to abandon some of the fortresses and unite their garrisons with the field force, in the hope that the latter would succeed in compelling the two Parliamentary armies, whose commanders it was well known did not agree, to fight separately from each other. The Royal troops abandoned first Reading and then Abingdon, and moved on Oxford to wait for their opportunity. The immediate consequences however were not what was expected. Both the Parliamentary generals advanced towards Oxford, A.D. 1644. and though they were not altogether on good terms, co-operated effectually with one another. While Waller forced the passage of the Isis, Essex could not be kept beyond the Cherwell: both marched on the city, which was all the less ready for resistance because it was not provisioned for receiving so large a garrison. The report was spread abroad that the King was already a prisoner: the Parliament issued a decree relating to this possibility—we learn that even in the King’s own neighbourhood it was regarded as unavoidable. He was urged to treat in time with Essex, for otherwise he would become his prisoner. The King replied that it was possible this might happen, but at least he would not survive it[386]. He was determined, whatever might be the consequences, to try the fortune of war once more in the open field.
After taking the most urgent precautions for the defence of Oxford, he moved from thence with most part of his troops. He succeeded in fact in passing between the two hostile armies, which still remained separate: on June 6, four days after he started, he arrived with a few followers at Worcester, by way of Burford and Evesham.
What he had originally expected now took place: the two hostile armies separated. Essex would not be prevented from advancing into the western counties, where he hoped for great successes: the King had only Waller to deal with.
He would not let himself be shut up in Worcester, as Waller attempted, holding it to be essentially dishonourable for a King to be besieged, and moved farther northwards. While Waller followed in the same direction, the King succeeded in turning back, so that what was then taking place in the German war between Torstenson and Gallas, that sometimes one, sometimes the other was in advance, was repeated on a smaller scale in England. On June 16 we find the King on the heights of Camden, then at Witney near Oxford, where important reinforcements hastened to meet him. Surrounded by a pretty considerable army he could think of advancing on London, where a bold stroke A.D. 1644. would revive the dormant Royalist sympathies: the message had actually been drawn up which in that case was to be sent to Parliament. Waller, who had followed in his track, came up, and an action took place at Cropredy Bridge, in which the King obtained the advantage. Waller’s losses were not very severe, but he had lost his field guns and his most experienced artillery officer, and deemed it well to avoid another conflict. The King also found it advisable to give his troops rest and refreshment: then he moved back towards Evesham, in order not to bring the enemy again upon Oxford by returning thither, and so endanger it afresh.
Meanwhile Essex had made successful progress in his march westward: he had compelled the Royalist troops to raise the sieges of Lyme and Plymouth, and had advanced into Cornwall. Quite contrary to his expectation he there met with determined resistance and outspoken Royalist sentiments. After the King had refreshed and strengthened his troops in their quarters, he resolved after some hesitation to go to the aid of his adherents in that district. His chief motive was that his wife would now be endangered at Exeter by the proximity of the enemy. Strengthened by Prince Maurice and Lord Hopton, Charles I appeared with a very superior force in the rear of Essex, who was now in painful difficulties. He had neither provisions to maintain his troops, nor money to pay them: the inhabitants rose against him in all directions[387], he could obtain no answer, much less any help from Parliament, for he had long ago lost the favour of the leading men there. At this moment, the King, with the assent of the officers of his army, offered him terms. Essex however was a man of the Parliamentary majority, to whose principles he held firmly, though now personally ill-used. He rejected every offer, remaining convinced that the royal will expressed with the assent of the two Houses was the only thing binding on him. Still he had no inclination to fight against the King in person, which besides would then in the condition of his army have been ruinous. He A.D. 1644. resolved to escape to Plymouth with his chief companions in arms. The Parliamentary cavalry cut their way through the Royal troops, the infantry capitulated, the artillery and arms fell into the King’s hands.
The campaign of 1644 was the best success achieved by King Charles I. The French ambassador, who met him at Evesham and had a long audience on horseback, cannot praise him sufficiently: he is full, he reports, of judgment and sagacity, never lets himself be led to any precipitate action through his dangerous position, orders everything himself, both great and small, never signs anything that he has not read, and on horseback or on foot is ever at the head of his troops[388].
Meanwhile the campaign in the North had taken quite a different course. At the end of February the Scots crossed the Tyne: the manner in which they effected the passage did not altogether excite the admiration of veterans; the soldiers lacked discipline, and the officers experience[389]. They would with difficulty have held their ground against the Marquis of Newcastle had they encountered him in the open field, but they declined to quit their position, which was rendered unassailable by ditches, hedges, and marsh. The reason for this was that they could confidently reckon on seeing the troops of the Parliament approach in a short time from the other side.
By the express orders of the recently formed committee of the two kingdoms, Thomas Fairfax and his father Ferdinand Lord Fairfax moved towards them, the former issuing from Lancashire, the latter from Hull. Colonel Bellasis, who tried to prevent their junction, was surprised at Selby, defeated and taken prisoner,—a success in itself of no immediate importance, yet one for which Parliament was right to order a thanksgiving, for the Marquis of Newcastle was thereby compelled to retreat in order to cover York. The Scots could now advance from their position, and on April 20, Lesley Earl of Leven, joined the two Fairfaxes at Tadcaster. A.D. 1644. And as the levies of the united counties now appeared under Lord Manchester on the northern border of their own district, the three corps were able to undertake the formal investment of York, so that on June 16 an assault was made on the ramparts.
York was the second city of the kingdom, the place where the Royalist party had first made head: the whole of the North depended on it. The King durst not leave it without assistance: he requested his nephew Prince Rupert to abandon every other scheme and proceed immediately to the relief of York. If York fell, his crown was as good as lost: the only hope he had of retaining it lay in relieving York and defeating the rebel army which was besieging it. He conjured him by his duty and affection to accomplish this work without delay[390].
The prince was then at the zenith of his military fame. After his fortunate exploit at Newark he had gone to the assistance of the chivalrous Countess of Derby, who defended her castle of Lathom House, the walls of which she had herself made defensible, first against Thomas Fairfax and then against the more vehement attacks of Rigby; and had compelled the besiegers to relinquish their undertaking. They moved to Bolton, one of the chief seats of English Puritanism, and this place also was captured by Rupert. Then he advanced upon Liverpool, which fell into his hands without resistance. Now he was summoned by the King’s letter to the most important operation with which he could ever be entrusted, for on its result the issue of the war mainly depended.
With a force which had been regarded as insignificant, but which had now grown, through all the additions that had been made to it, to 8,000 horse and 10,000 foot-soldiers, Rupert at the end of June crossed the hills which separate Lancashire and Yorkshire: his arrival and name immediately produced a great effect. The united army of the English and Scots quitted its lines before York, and took up a position to bar his advance: but he avoided it, and entered York as a deliverer.
A.D. 1644.
The arrival of these tidings filled the King’s camp with joy: it seemed now as if everything would end fortunately. In London men went about with bowed heads: it was thought probable that Rupert would unite with the King for an attack on the united counties, on the possession of which the military operations on the side of the Parliament were mainly based. It was believed that Newcastle, even without Rupert, would be able to maintain himself in Yorkshire, and make head against the united generals, between whom no very good understanding prevailed.
Never in truth would it have been wiser to avoid a decisive battle than at that moment, looking at the relative positions of the two contending forces. But it was of the very nature of the Royalist enthusiasm to thirst for great battles. Prince Rupert in particular thought that nothing had been done so long as the enemy stood before him unconquered. He held that the King’s letter not only empowered, but instructed him to fight: in conjunction with the troops that were in York he thought himself strong enough to win a victory. The Marquis of Newcastle combated the proposal, but Rupert persisted: the Marquis would not, though he disliked it, appear to be overruled; he said that he had no other ambition than to be a loyal subject, and joined the Prince with his brave white-coats, and every man that could be spared from York.
The war had by this time assumed a terrible aspect. The Parliament declared the troops who had come over from Ireland to be traitors, and Essex had those who were taken prisoners executed. Thereupon Rupert hanged on the nearest trees an equal number of those who had fallen into his hands. Often if the Roundheads on one day obtained admission into a country house, on the next it was reduced to ruins by the Cavaliers. A horrible massacre had even now been impending over the Puritans at Bolton: one party wished to avenge, the other to continue it.
Thus all these feelings of hatred and revenge were added to the natural spirit of warfare—they must and would fight.
On July 2, 1644, the two armies met at Long Marston Moor. Each of them numbered about 20,000 men, every one A.D. 1644. of whom had chosen his side and knew what he was fighting for. The battle cry of the one side was ‘God and the King’; for they wished to maintain the ancient constitution under princes ruling by divine right: that of the other was ‘God with us’; for in them religious motives superseded all others, they would have no prince who imposed any restrictions in this respect. The engagement did not actually begin until 7 p.m. At first the battle seemed likely to have a similar result to most of the previous ones. The right wing of the Parliamentary army, led forward to the attack by Thomas Fairfax, was repulsed: then the Royalist cavalry under the command of Goring dashed with redoubled fury on the enemy’s centre, chiefly composed of Scots, and broke it after a vigorous resistance: old Alexander Lesley, who had striven in vain to rally his troops, at last himself took to flight. A very different result awaited the encounter on the left wing, which had some Scots in the reserve, but otherwise was entirely composed of Englishmen, the core of it being the cuirassiers raised by Cromwell in the united counties. ‘Is Cromwell here?’ asked Prince Rupert of a prisoner, for he already recognised him as his most dangerous opponent. Against this cavalry Rupert now led his own men—veterans, crowned with victory, whom no enemy had yet withstood, against newly-formed and untried troops. If we set aside the boastings and the apologies of the rival parties, we shall discern that this was the decisive moment of the war. The Royalists on this day had adopted a change of tactics; in order to give their cavalry more mobility for attacking the Scottish infantry, they had separated the regiments into squadrons, which may have been an advantage against infantry, but was injurious when they were opposed to a compact and coherent mass of horsemen[391]. The attack thus weakened encountered the fierce resistance of the newly-formed Parliamentary cavalry, whose success had a decisive A.D. 1644. effect over the whole battle-field. ‘We drove’, says Cromwell, ‘the entire cavalry of the Prince off the field; God made them as stubble before our sword. Then we attacked their regiments of foot with our cavalry, and overthrew all that we encountered.’ The slaughter was deadly, for Cromwell had forbidden quarter being given. Newcastle’s white-coats fell in their ranks as they stood. The King’s troops sustained an annihilating defeat. The Marquis of Newcastle would not appear before his party as a defeated man, to see the admiration which he had hitherto merited change into scorn or pity: he took ship the next day for Hamburg. The remains of the army gathered round Prince Rupert, who retreated into Lancashire. The capital of the Royalists, the ancient city of York, fell into the hands of the allied generals, who by their union became masters of the North of England. The Scots set forth to occupy Newcastle.
If the royal cause did not even yet seem to be utterly ruined it was because of the great success which Charles I had achieved in Cornwall. He still maintained his ground. On his return towards Oxford, Manchester and Waller met him at Newbury with a superior force: the King was in personal danger and had to quit the battle-field; just afterwards however he succeeded in relieving Deddington, which was besieged by the Parliamentary army.
In November Charles I returned to Oxford. Neither he himself nor his followers had lost courage. The loss of the North was to a certain extent compensated by the possession of the West. Others however thought it impossible that he should make head against the superior forces of Parliament, strengthened by their alliance with the Scots[392].