FOOTNOTES:
[460] Turner (to whom he spoke) Memoirs 41.
[461] The papers which passed between his sacred Majesty and Mr. Alexander Henderson—three letters of Henderson’s and five of the King’s, in Aiton’s Henderson 633.
[462] Cp. § xiii of the Newcastle propositions with § xvii of the Uxbridge ones. Baillie ii. 377, 379.
[463] Bellièvre, July 15/25 from London: ‘Retablir leur roi non seulement dans le pouvoir qu’ils appellent légitime, mais dans une autorité fort rapprochante de la plus grande qu’eut jamais un roi d’Angleterre.’ Ambassade de Bellièvre 1646.
[464] ‘(Les Ecossais) me promettent autant que les Anglais une chose qui peut être la décision de cette affaire, qu’ils empêcheront que le roi de Gr. Brne. ne soit pressé de prendre le covenant (ib.).’
[465] Mémoire du roi à Mr. de Bellièvre, apporté par Mr. de Montereuil. 19 Sept.
[466] A. Bellièvre, 6 Août. ‘Je suis bien de cet avis, qu’il vaudroit mieux attendre toutes les violences que le parlement pourroit commettre, même celle a déposséder le roi, mais non pas que luy même consentist qu’on ne luy laissait que le nom et la figure du roi, qu’on ne manqueroit pas de luy oster peu de temps après.’
[467] ‘En cas qu’ils se disposent a faire leur devoir, on se relâchera d’icy en beaucoup de choses pour faciliter la conclusion de la paix générale, affin de nous mettre en état de les secourir.’
[468] Henrietta Maria to Charles I, Oct. 9/19, 1646. ‘Cl. Mazarin m’a assuré que la paix générale seroit faite devant Noël, et cela estant, on vous assisteroit puissamment.’
[469] ‘La force d’attendre l’évènement de toutes ces choses horribles avec une tranquillité d’âme sans example.’
[470] The King to the Queen, in Bruce 65, 67.
[471] ‘A proposition which no man but myself has thought on.’ Charles I for William Murray. Clarendon State Papers ii. 267.
[472] The two letters; Clarendon State Papers ii. 265, 267.
[473] His Majesty’s answer to the propositions, in Burnet, Hamiltons 299. As it appears, it was first drawn up towards the middle of November during a second visit of Murray to Newcastle (Letter to the Queen of Nov. 14 in Bruce 75). The earlier drafts, differing in some few points, were also communicated to the Queen.
[474] ‘La paix générale se faisant, comme, Dieu mercy, nous sommes à la veille, la France se declarera en faveur du roy de la Gr. Brne., comme aussi, si dés à present il ne manquoit pour faire declarer en faveur du dit roy, si ce n’est que la France se declarast, LL. MM. y seroient disposés, pourvu que Ton vit evidemment Futilité du restablissement du roi.’ (Mazarin to Bellièvre, Dec. 10.)
[475] Letter of Lanerick, Dec. 17, in Burnet, Hamiltons 306.
[476] So says Montereuil, to whom the King had told it. Jan. 26.
CHAPTER III.
THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMY AT VARIANCE.
It has always been a matter of surprise, both at the time and since, that King Charles attached so much importance to the maintenance of Episcopacy, even more than to the preservation of his military prerogative. In one of his letters to his wife he writes that a King of England, even if he remains in possession of military power, will have but little enjoyment of it, so long as obedience is not preached from the pulpits, and that this can never be obtained from the Presbyterians: for their view was to wrest from the crown its ecclesiastical authority, and place it in the hands of Parliament, and also to introduce the doctrine that the supreme power belongs to the people, that the prince may be called to account and punished by them, and that resistance to him is a lawful thing[477]. To these views and doctrines Charles I would not submit, being every moment conscious that he was contending for right by the grace of God, for the old personal authority of the crown.
Even in the condition of strict imprisonment in which he was kept, he still possessed power, and felt it. The Lower House changed a number of the propositions rejected by him—for instance the abolition of Episcopacy, and the arrangements about the military authority—into ordinances; but laws they could not become without the King’s assent: it was felt to be of some importance to obtain it from him. Moreover there A.D. 1647. were other complications which made the Parliament anxious for its own sake to come to terms with the King.
The Presbyterian majority proceeded to execute its great long-prepared and decisive scheme for putting down the Independents. It was this purpose which was originally at the bottom of their connexion with the Scots, in conformity to the interests of both parties. The Scots agreed so easily to quit England, in order to remove the pretext on which the retention of an army in England was justified. To disband the army would be the ruin of the entire party which relied upon it. For the same reason the city lent the money requisite to content the Scots and induce them to depart. The agreement by which the King was delivered into the hands of the English Parliament was intended to serve also as a reason for disbanding the army, now that all that quarrel was terminated[478]. Under the additional influence of various petitions which came in from all parts of the country against burdening it any longer with the cost of a standing army which was no more wanted, the Lower House at the beginning of March 1647 passed several comprehensive resolutions about the further destination of the army.
Now that England was at peace it was time to put an end to the truce in Ireland, and prosecute the war there with all vigour. For this purpose it was deemed advisable to send to Ireland seven regiments of foot and four of horse, 11,400 men in all, all of whom were to be taken from the standing army under General Fairfax. In England only so many troops were to be retained as were necessary for garrisoning the fortified places. County by county the fortresses were enumerated which were to be kept or to be razed: by far the greater part were doomed to demolition. The numbers of the army being thus considerably reduced, care was further taken for securing their absolute obedience. On March 8 a resolution was passed that no member of the Lower House should hold a command in these garrisons or A.D. 1647. in the army, and that no higher military rank than colonel should be suffered to exist under the General-in-Chief: a majority of 136 votes against 108 further decided that the officers of the army should one and all accept the Covenant, and conform to the church system established by Parliament[479].
It is obvious that if these resolutions were carried out the Independentism of the army would no longer be dangerous,—for this very reason it was inevitable that resistance should be offered to them.
How long and strenuously had Parliament contended with the King for the right to control the army. It is a sort of irony of success that now it was as far as possible from being master of the very army which had been formed under its eyes.
On March 21 the officers of all ranks had assembled in Thomas Fairfax’s head-quarters at Saffron-Walden: when the demand was laid before them to enter for service in Ireland, they gave it to be understood that they could not do so until satisfactory answers were given to several questions, especially who was to command in Ireland, how the army was to be ensured its arrears for past service, its pay for the future, and an indemnity for all previous acts. In reply the Parliament resolved to set apart for the army a considerable sum (£60,000 a month), and it seemed as if this would have an influence on the decision of the officers. Hereupon several captains showed themselves inclined to enter on the new service, but the rest, all the colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors present, a great number of captains and some lieutenants adhered to their resolutions of the previous day.
It is known from the German wars what a tendency to independence prevailed generally in the armies of that age. The English army did not scruple to make known its views in the manner then usual in political bodies. A petition was despatched to Parliament in which it disclaimed every sort of obligation except to do England service, and insisted in the name of all, that before the army was disbanded every A.D. 1647. officer’s claims should be settled and an indemnity granted for every unlawful act done on service[480]. The petition breathes a haughty consciousness of strength, and is a manifesto of independence. Parliament was highly offended, and did not delay to express its disapproval, offering forgiveness to all who receded from the petition, but declaring all who continued to urge it enemies of the public peace and of the state. Nevertheless it did not hesitate to proceed with the affair. The Common Council of the city proving willing to grant a new loan, it was possible to provide abundant pay for the two armies, both that which was to stay at home and that destined for Ireland, especially for the latter. Indeed a new commission which was sent to Saffron-Walden met with great opposition. The majority of the officers desired above all things to stay with their generals, and to be charged en masse with the expedition to Ireland: but there were some who gave ear to the requests of the commissioners. The Parliament named General Skippon, who enjoyed the confidence of the army, as field-marshal for Ireland, and after some hesitation he accepted the appointment. Gradually no small number of officers declared themselves ready to go to Ireland, seventeen from the cavalry, eighty-seven from nine separate regiments of foot, seven from the dragoons; these were mostly subalterns, but some few were colonels, and there were several captains. They hoped to be able to send a considerable army to Ireland, about 5000 infantry[481].
Then however it was shown that in this army the privates were not so absolutely dependent on their officers as in the German armies. The religious impulse which had drawn every man into the ranks produced a feeling of individual rights, and of spontaneity of action, which destroyed the dependence of military subordination. A distinguished colonel, who with several of his officers was gained over for service in Ireland, was unable to bring one of his men with him. In other regiments and companies a certain number A.D. 1647. of them followed, but always far less than half. Manifestations now appeared not merely of disobedience but of hostility. Every man had taken up arms for the sake of the sect to which he belonged: he would not lay them down with the prospect that this sect would thereupon be oppressed. Moreover far-reaching political tendencies also prevailed. In an address which the military representatives elected by the separate companies—those Agitators who had yet a great part to play—presented to their most celebrated generals, Fairfax, Cromwell, and Skippon, they mentioned besides the satisfaction of their own claims, the security of the rights and liberties of the subject. They spoke very offensively of the leaders of the Presbyterian party in Parliament, describing them as men who, having been raised above their proper sphere of subordinate service, had acquired a taste for sovereign power, and took pleasure in a tyrannical exercise of it—expressions which amounted to a declaration of open hostility.
It was now that the leaders of the moderate party in Parliament, and some personages outside it, turned their eyes again upon the King. Union with him, whereby the measures adopted by them against their opponents would have obtained the sanction of a higher authority, would have been of infinite value to them. Parliament, which was bound by previous resolutions, could not officially consent to the proposals contained in the King’s last answer from Newcastle; but in secret they found numerous supporters. When Bellièvre returned from Newcastle to London, he observed an inclination, quite unexpected by him, to make terms with the King on this basis. Holland, Warwick, Manchester, and the two ladies who had so much influence in the Presbyterian party, the Countesses of Carlisle and Devonshire, declared themselves satisfied with the King’s last concessions in respect to the militia and the Irish war, as well as with the introduction of Presbyterianism for three years. They only asked for one thing more—that the King should declare himself ready to recognise the arrangements made by Parliament under the Great Seal, which seemed to them absolutely necessary for their personal safety: but after that he might return to London to meet the Parliament, in order to make a definite A.D. 1647. reconciliation; and they thought that they could promise him a good reception in the city. The Royalists, who had come to London in numbers from the places captured by the army, maintained there a tone of feeling favourable to the King, which reacted on Parliament. Bellièvre was convinced that this result would soon and easily be realised. An important weight was thrown into the same scale by the Earl of Northumberland, who had for a long time sided with the Independents, from dislike to the Scots, but now returned to his old Presbyterian friends. Bellièvre most urgently recommended the attempt both to the King, with whom he had found means to keep up his communication, and to the Queen, and to the French court.
The course taken by France was once more decided by general politics. Seeing that the Spaniards and their allies—for peace had not long been concluded—exhibited themselves as opponents of King Charles and friends of the Independents, it appeared advantageous to effect as a counterpoise a connection with the King and the moderate Parliamentarians[482].
Queen Henrietta Maria, to whom the proposals were again communicated, was annoyed that everything issued under the Great Seal should be legalised in the lump; no one knew, she said, what might not be included. She had no objection to the Lords seeking advantage and safety for themselves, but she required in that case a general amnesty, so that she might not see her own adherents excluded[483].
This was also the point of view of the King, who was very unwilling to concede anything until he should be again a free man; then, he said, he would grant to his Parliament everything which could be given consistently with honour and a good conscience[484]. He wished to ascertain definitely A.D. 1647. from the Lords what he had to expect from them. The Queen urged the Earl of Northumberland to promise that he would declare for the King in case Parliament was not to be gained. And so things went on, with much expenditure of words, without any agreement being arrived at, though on the whole all had the same intention.
The Upper House resolved that it would be well for the King to come to Oatlands, so as to be nearer Parliament; but as some difficulties might be expected to be raised, it was suggested that he should escape by flight from his detention at Holmby, and come to the city. He might merely alight at the Lord Mayor’s, appear in Parliament under the escort of that portion of the citizens which was devoted to him, and thence repair to Whitehall. The Countesses of Carlisle and Devonshire recommended this plan, though they could not suggest the proper means for executing it: not only Warwick and Holland and many English Presbyterians, but also some Scots were in favour of it. Bellièvre undertook to arrange it with the King[485].
While the Parliamentary leaders were thus pursuing more eagerly than ever the idea of an accommodation with the King, they made at the same time earnest preparations for either keeping the army in obedience, or getting rid of it altogether. In reply to the complaints of the troops Parliament agreed to concessions in respect to indemnity and security for arrears, but insisted on the army being disbanded. On May 25 it issued an order prescribing the mode in which this should take place in the different regiments, fixing the place and the day, and the direction in which those were to move who would take service in Ireland. Commencement was to be made on June 1 with Fairfax’s regiment: the commissioners of Parliament, among them the A.D. 1647. Earl of Warwick, set out with the money required for completing it.
Once more there was a great opportunity for the Presbyterian schemes: removal of the Independent opposition, reconciliation with the King, and alliance with France, seemed all attainable in the immediate future. But, as has been said, this danger stimulated all the strength of the Independents, thus threatened, and in itself so powerful. The time was come when they must decide whether to yield to the majority of Parliament, or to offer resistance. Should the generals and colonels, who not unjustly asserted that they had done most in the war with the King, obey an authority formed on the basis of their victory, but established with no legal warranty, and in itself unconsolidated, if it issued orders which were ruinous to them? Should the soldiers too surrender the religious independence for which they had taken up arms, for a system no less oppressive to them than the old one, and submit to a new yoke? With these considerations of personal interest was united a dislike to a close connexion with the Scots, and to their influence, which threatened to make England dependent on foreign counsels. As matters stood then it may well be maintained that for the future and the greatness of England, both in the British Islands and in the world at large, more was to be expected from the continued freedom of the army and its further victories, than from the treaties and alliances of the Presbyterians.
That all this was fully considered we cannot suppose: but hostilities and oppositions are at once personal and ideal: the contending factions were maintaining at the same time their own private cause and one of public importance.
The disbanding could not be accomplished at once. A petition in the name of the soldiery proposed a general assembly: the officers thought it impossible to refuse such a meeting, because it could not well be prevented, and would be all the more dangerous if held without the officers: while assenting to the petition, they at the same time requested the general to press Parliament to revise the order for disbanding, and also to postpone the operation of it. What if it should be still persisted in? On the appointed day, A.D. 1647. June 12, the commissioners appointed to execute it in Fairfax’s regiment arrived at head-quarters. In order to avoid an immediate conflict the regiment determined to move off: the major took possession of the colours and led the troops, as if it were done on his own account, to the appointed place of meeting. The same feelings prevailed in the other regiments and their commanders: of all the colonels perhaps only six did not concur.
With this evasive disobedience was joined an act of the most arbitrary character. The army could not and would not let the King go to London: for then, in one way or another, the scheme already projected would have been executed, and through the newly-awakened sympathies of the Londoners a royalist combination might have been completed. The powerless King formed a subject of jealousy between the different parties. Parliament had been unwilling to leave him in the hands of the Scots: the army resolved to withdraw him from the influence of Parliament.
On June 2, 1647, King Charles I had already retired to rest at Holmby, when a couple of squadrons of Cromwellian horse appeared before the house, under a cornet named Joyce, who, though without any producible warrant[486], appeared with so much authority that the audience which he demanded to have immediately could not be refused to him. He then informed the King that the army, fearing that Parliament would carry him off and raise other troops in his name, requested him to follow him. As the commissioners could offer no resistance, the King assented, only expressing the supposition that he would be treated with the respect due to him, and would not be oppressed in his conscience. Next morning he had this confirmed by the assembled soldiers, and then for the first time asked for the cornet’s warrant. He said that his warrant was the men behind him: the King replied laughing, that it was a warrant which needed no spelling. ‘But what would you do, if I did not follow you? You A.D. 1647. would not, I think, lay hands on me; for I am your King: no one is above me, save God alone[487].’
The King had been transferred without difficulty from the custody of the Scots to that of Parliament; for therein, as he said at the time, he changed only his place, and not his condition: he now with a certain appearance of free-will followed the stronger power. He had as yet no knowledge of the plan of flight to London: the letter in which Bellièvre informed him of it is dated on that very 2nd of June: it was still doubtful whether he would even come to terms with the Presbyterians. Meanwhile he felt daily and hourly the pressure of their treatment: the Independents, from their principles, were more tolerant gaolers.
This falling into the hands of the army, in which fundamentally anti-monarchical principles were dominant, was a decisive event in Charles I’s history. Who gave instructions for carrying him off? Who was the leader in the matter? Parliament at the time, like all its contemporaries and posterity, had no doubt that Cromwell was the soul of it all. Just at this time the purpose of arresting him had again been formed, but he had gone to the army at the right moment. Even now he remained entirely in the background. The order executed by Joyce proceeded not from him, but from a committee of the soldiers.
The King was immediately conducted to the neighbourhood of Newmarket, where the announced general meeting of the troops took place. His presence, which secured the army against the formation of a threatening combination, doubtless also contributed to its assuming a haughtier attitude, and openly avowing aggressive purposes. The army declared the resolution for disbanding it to be the work of evil-minded men, whose object was simply to separate officers and men, and then to ill-use both at their pleasure: it required, besides the removal of remaining grievances, security against this danger, which would last so long as those men were of consideration and influence in Parliament, and security too of a kind with A.D. 1647. which the great council of the army, consisting of the generals and two officers and two privates from each regiment, should be satisfied.
What was now only intimated, was directly announced a few days later[488]. The army demanded that Parliament should be cleared of the persons displeasing to it: they mentioned eleven by name, including Hollis, Stapleton, Clotworthy, and William Waller, who had acted against the army and the rights of the subject, and therefore ought not to sit in Parliament. With this they united still more comprehensive intentions. They condemned the perpetual Parliament, and required, though not immediately, new elections and periodical meetings of Parliament. In their memorials, which were said to be composed by Ireton, appear ideas of the most extensive import, at present only in distant perspective, but which were soon to be further developed.
Parliament, having the capital mainly on its side, still thought itself capable of resistance. The city troops were strengthened, and a guard formed for Parliament: reformed officers were taken into their service. A resolution passed at an earlier date, forbidding the army to approach within twenty-five miles of the capital, was called to remembrance, and the old committee of safety re-established.
We know however how narrow was the majority which gave Parliament its present Presbyterian character. All depended on party, the assembly as a whole had no proper esprit de corps. Instead of opposing the now advancing army with firmness, the majority in Parliament, in consequence of its approach, were doubtful and pliant. They revoked the commissions given for preparations, and recalled the expressions which had most offended the army: as moreover the eleven accused members thought it best to depart (they received leave of absence for six months), the Independent interest was now the stronger: Parliament consequently annulled the elections to the committee on the city militia, by which the Independents had been excluded, and assented to the King’s following the army.
A.D. 1647.
A firmer temper was exhibited in the city, where the Presbyterianism of the citizens was kept in constant excitement by the preachers, who saw in the predominance of the Independents a danger to the faith and to the safety of their souls, so that now the offers which the King again issued appeared very acceptable. Moreover the old royalist interest reappeared in all its strength: an association was planned, in which citizens, militia, sailors, and students united, so as to conclude peace on the basis of his last intimations through personal communication with him: it was declared the cause at once of God and of the King, in which no neutrality was admissible.
Although this pledge was rejected in Parliament, and it was even declared high treason to sign it, the only immediate effect was to inflame still more the zeal of the citizens: as they observed that the change of opinion in Parliament resulted from the influence of the army, they thought that they also had a right to maintain their views in opposition. On Monday, July 26, the Common Council proceeded to the House of Lords, and obtained, by the aid of a tumultuous mob, the repeal of the last resolution, as well as of another relating to the city militia. Thence the mob turned to the Lower House: it consisted of lads from the workshops, sailors, and discharged soldiers: they came into the chamber with their hats on, and in violent haste demanded a division on the same proposals. The Commons kept them at bay for some time, hoping for aid from the Mayor or the Sheriffs: the former did not stir, the Sheriffs appeared with some halberdiers, who however declined to interfere. Late in the evening the Commons resolved to follow the example of the Lords. The mob allowed no one to quit the House until the clerk had legalised what had been done with the ancient forms[489].
The power of the Long Parliament was based on its understanding A.D. 1647. with the city and the army: but now the influence of these two allies became antagonistic to each other. By far the greater part of the members, including some of Presbyterian opinions, with the Speakers of the two Houses, fled from the violence of the city to the army head-quarters. Fairfax and Cromwell now did what Essex had avoided doing in a similar case: they welcomed the fugitives. The city on the contrary made itself responsible for guarding the assembly, such as it had become after the return of the eleven members and the departure of so many others. The city, in its official character, ordered the army to advance no further, as it would be a breach of the privileges of London. And in case this should still happen it prepared to defend against the Independents the fortifications which had been erected against the royalist troops. An invitation was sent to the King himself to come to London, where freedom, security, and honourable treatment should be his portion. General Massey, who had made a name by the defence of Gloucester, was with great confidence appointed to defend London. The forts were occupied, and cannon placed on the ramparts: the youths crowded to serve. An Independent demonstration in the streets, in which the Catholics joined, was put down by the superior strength of the Presbyterians, as the city of London was regarded as their chief stronghold: a dangerous war between the armed force and the capital seemed to be impending[490].
Determined to overpower this opposition, which they did not rate very high, the Independent army gathered from all directions on Hounslow Heath. Fairfax issued a manifesto wherein he also, like the King, declared that after the previous tumults and the flight of the two Speakers, there was no longer at Westminster a lawful and free Parliament, it was ipso facto suspended; that all resolutions passed by it were in their nature null and void, and that the army was advancing on A.D. 1647. London to reinstate the Speakers and the fugitive members, in whom it recognised the true Parliament, to restore to the assembly freedom to sit and vote, and to punish the acts of violence that had been committed. The fugitive members, fourteen of them from the House of Lords, about a hundred from the Commons, appeared on Hounslow Heath. They accompanied Fairfax at a review, and rode with him along the front of the regiments. Everywhere they were received with demonstrations of joy, and the cry of ‘Free Parliament!’ Their presence afforded the army not only a pretext, but a justification for its undertaking to advance against the capital.
The army during the last year had been continually recruited afresh and was in excellent condition. Its advance was assisted by the suburb of Southwark, which had contemptuously declined to take part in the measures adopted in the city, and had refused the artillery sent thither. And had it come to a conflict, the Independents within the city, who had been conquered but by no means annihilated, would infallibly have risen to support the attack. Who would be answerable for the bloodshed and confusion which must follow?
Under these circumstances the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, resolved on the afternoon of August 3 to make peaceful terms with the army. They adopted the declaration of the generals—for how could they venture to defend the injustice that had been done, though perpetrated by their own party and with their co-operation—that the army only sought to replace the fugitive members and restore a free Parliament, and declared that they would open their gates with pleasure, both to the members themselves and to two or three regiments as their escort[491]. At the further demand of Fairfax they evacuated the fortifications on the west side of the city. On August 6 Fairfax entered London A.D. 1647. with four regiments and his bodyguard. In the midst of the column appeared the carriages of the two Speakers and the returning members. The soldiers wore laurel branches in their hats: it seemed more like a mere procession than taking victorious possession. In Hyde Park they were received by the Lord Mayor, at Charing Cross by the Common Council: all seemed like the result of a friendly agreement. The members of the two Houses immediately resumed their places, the Speakers their old seats.
The relation of parties was not yet fully defined by this, for many Presbyterians had fled and returned with the rest. Still it is obvious how great an advantage the Independents had won thereby. The army, which should have been disbanded, took up a dominant position (it occupied Southwark and Hammersmith) over against the city, in which the entire strength of its opponents was concentrated.