A history of England principally in the seventeenth century, Volume 2 (of 6)

by Leopold von Ranke

Her fear lest they should be separated had contributed mainly, as we have seen, to their joint resolve to quit London. There was however in this no despondency: the court merely wished to save itself from being coerced by the immediate pressure of the mob: the plan of taking up arms and threatening the city itself was connected with this removal.

Parliament was greatly disturbed by the news that the officers and armed men who had been dispersed from Westminster had reassembled at Windsor. Digby told them that the King had retired from the city in order to avoid being trampled on. He himself appeared in the field at the head of a small body of men with his friend Lunsford, and was suspected of intending to seize Kingston-on-Thames. It may safely be assumed that this suspicion was well founded. Some months later the Queen frankly told a French agent that the purpose of herself and the King had been to seize, from Windsor, a strong place in the neighbourhood, but that this had become impossible when the Parliament placed troops between that point and the castle[315]. These were the militia of Surrey and Bucks, who were immediately despatched, and dispersed the royal troops before they had fairly assembled. Lunsford was brought back a prisoner: the subtle Digby escaped.

From Kingston, where there was a considerable magazine, the King would have been able to communicate with Portsmouth and Hull, as well as with the Tower. The attention of the Queen was especially directed towards Hull, where there was a great store of arms, enough, as was supposed, for an army of sixteen thousand men: but the project of making an immediate attempt upon that town was frustrated, as far as we can see, by the opposition of members of the Privy Council, A.D. 1642. who feared by such a step to provoke the Parliament to arms, with which they still wished to maintain a tolerable understanding[316].

The Queen was of an entirely different opinion: she held that the only way to arrive at an accommodation was first to come to a distinct breach; that only when the King had definitely opposed himself to Parliament would he find the means for resistance.

If however the court had no strong places at its command, the Queen could not stay in the country. She did not feel safe in any of the country houses and badly fortified castles which were at her disposal: she was afraid of falling some day into the hands of Parliament, a prospect which seemed to her both disgraceful and dangerous. The idea of her leaving the country for some time, which had often been thought of before, was now again mooted: there was a further reason, as she said, in the fact that her presence irritated Parliament against the King. Still a regard for her own safety and for the King’s negotiations was by no means the only reason for her departure: when the Queen fled, as undoubtedly she did, before enemies who were too strong to be faced, she hoped at the same time to be able to provide the means requisite for their overthrow. She resolved to conduct her daughter to the house of her future father-in-law, who would be greatly obliged thereby, for he had already through his ambassadors expressed a wish that this should be done, and would afford her support. She had jewels with her, including some left by Queen Elizabeth, and intended to sell them, or pawn them as security for the loan she hoped to raise: and she thought that with the arms to be purchased with the proceeds, or with the money in cash, her husband would be in a position to declare war if necessary. He promised her not to depart without her knowledge from the resolutions which they had adopted together, and especially to make no further concessions to Parliament. Prince Rupert of the Palatinate had already come to Dover with the purpose of taking arms in his uncle’s cause. He was told A.D. 1642. that the time was not yet come, and accompanied the Queen to Holland: but at Dover men spoke without any reserve of the probabilities of war within a short time[317].

All hope of an accommodation was not yet given up: the negotiations had not been altogether broken off by the King’s departure from the capital: on both sides they still thought it possible to avoid extremities.

On one of the most important questions there had been some approximation. The King had at last agreed to what the Lords, after the violent transformation of their house, had by a majority accepted: he prevailed upon himself to sanction the exclusion of the bishops from their temporal offices, and especially from Parliament. He had two motives for this; first, that otherwise the departure of his Queen would not have been permitted; secondly, that he saw no other means of saving the existence of the bishops in their spiritual character, the episcopal church government, which the opposition intended to destroy. He regarded Episcopacy as a divine institution which he durst not overthrow: but he held it to be allowable to surrender under the pressure of circumstances, he hoped not for ever, the temporal authority which had been committed to the bishops.

Even on the other great dispute, which was now prominent, concerning the chief control of the military power, the King had shown some signs of giving way. When towards the end of January he was urged to entrust the fortresses, as well as the command of the militia, only to persons whom the two Houses of Parliament should have recommended to him, he answered with much emphasis that the appointment of military commanders was one of the jewels of the crown that could not be parted with: but he added that he wished to know the names of the men in whom Parliament had confidence, as well as the extent of the power which they thought to confer, and the length of time for which it should be held. Such concessions were scarcely expected, and awakened in A.D. 1642. the country a lively hope that all might even yet be amicably settled[318]. What was the point at which this hope broke down?

Immediately after the King’s return from Dover to Greenwich the list of persons recommended, as well as details of the power intended for them, and its duration, were laid before him. In the names he found not much to object to: about the extent of power he raised some legal difficulties, which however might very well have been removed: but he was only the more resolute in his resistance to the terms suggested as to its duration. Parliament claimed exclusively for itself the right of revoking the appointments, as well as authority to punish any disobedience to its ordinance[319]. The King however had never intended to go so far. He might very likely have been persuaded to temporary compliance: as the scheme stood, it implied his renunciation for ever of all military authority. To this Charles I would not assent, declaring in the most emphatic language that he could not entrust to others the power placed in his hands by God, through the laws, for the defence of his people, at all events without being able at any moment to resume it. All now depended on whether Parliament would be content with this limitation.

There were not wanting some in the assembly who would have been satisfied with this, as the control of the army had always been a right of the crown. But what security would there have been in appointing military commanders whose powers might be taken from them by the King at any moment. The debate filled many with gloom and fear of misfortune[320]. Whatever they might do, whether they remained quiet, or regulated the militia under the authority of the two Houses, matters had come to a crisis, ‘to a desperate pass.’ In the Lower House the determination to adhere to A.D. 1642. their purpose, and consideration of their own danger prevailed. They first resolved that the King’s answer must be regarded as a positive refusal, and then agreed upon a new memorial, in which he was told plainly, that unless he declared himself ready to satisfy Parliament on this point, and that at once, through the members who presented the memorial, they had determined to take control of the militia under the authority of the two Houses, and the words were added, ‘for the rescue of the King himself and of his kingdom.’