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

by Leopold von Ranke

The Parliament, finding that there were so many in the city who were calculated on for a conspiracy in favour of the King, adopted new precautions. We must, said Pym, unite the good more closely, and have a means of separating them from the bad. He proposed an oath, in which the cause of religion was again identified with that of Parliament, and the King’s army was directly stigmatised as Popish. Every man was to declare that he was convinced in his conscience that the forces raised by Parliament were engaged in the defence of a just cause, of the true Protestant religion, and of the liberty of the subject, and to promise that he would support and defend all others who had sworn the oath, in everything they might do with this object[363]. The two Houses agreed that this oath should be administered in the army and among the people. While the King was rising in strength and his party growing powerful, it seemed necessary to consolidate afresh the Parliamentary faction.

But what a prospect was this for the nation: how long was it to fight and ruin itself?

A very singular idea occurred to the Earl of Essex, General of the Parliamentary army, who felt a sympathy with the people greater than corresponded to his party position. The King, he thought, might go away for a while, A.D. 1643. then the two armies might advance to meet one another at a place to be agreed on beforehand; and they might once more try to conclude peace, and if that proved impossible, decide the controversy with the sword. For the quarrel was altogether within the nation, the two sides having different ideas of the English constitution: and a battle would be like the judgment of God between them[364].

In August 1643 it is plain that even in Parliament the two parties were very nearly equal in strength. The Lords accepted a scheme by which the armies were to be disbanded, the two great questions of religion and the militia settled in parliamentary fashion, and the members who had been excluded from either House for their Royalist sentiments or for desertion were to be restored. This last point warranted a hope that the great disputed questions themselves might still be settled in a way not altogether hostile to the crown. Even the King’s suite saw in it a step towards a return to grounds of recognised legality. The Lords invited the concurrence of the Commons: on August 5, a Saturday, the question was debated whether these proposals should be taken into consideration; and even here the desire for peace was so keen, that it was decided in the affirmative by a considerable majority; and by a very narrow majority in a thinner house it was further agreed that it should be done immediately. One article of the scheme was at once agreed to, and then further deliberation was adjourned till the Monday. Had the counsels of Parliament been guided entirely by the free votes of its members, it is probable that those who were called the violent party would have suffered a defeat[365].

But their confederates were still entirely masters of the city. The idea had before been suggested of collecting a second army in opposition to Essex, and placing William Waller at its head, to carry on the war more energetically than hitherto. The Lords’ proposals redoubled the agitation A.D. 1643. in men’s minds. A petition was signed to the effect that they were destructive to religion, law, and freedom, and only calculated to cool the ardour of those who would otherwise have been ready to aid with their persons and their substance. On Sunday the old zeal was rekindled by fiery sermons. On Monday, as often in decisive moments, crowded masses of people appeared before Parliament to declare their wish for war. The unpopular names were greeted with threatening outcry. Amid this tumult the resolution passed on Saturday was again discussed. The question whether to take into consideration the proposals of the Lords was put afresh; the first division gave a majority of two votes for so doing: but meanwhile other members had come in, a new division was taken, and the motion was now rejected by a majority of seven. The concurrence of the Commons, for which the Lords had asked, was not merely refused, but the Lords were invited to join with the Commons in measures of defence[366].

The Lords felt mortified and injured. They declared the assemblage of mobs in the vicinity of the two Houses to be a breach of the privileges of Parliament. Northumberland and Holland, who now themselves desired a compromise and peace, repaired to head-quarters in order to induce Essex to move his troops nearer to the capital, to keep the mob in check, and re-establish the freedom of parliamentary debate. Essex inclined rather to the side of the Lords, having been offended by the resolutions in the city in favour of Waller: but this circumstance furnished the other party with the means of winning him back. When Pym and some other leading members paid him a visit, to assure him that Waller should remain dependent on him, Essex once again, as hitherto, chose to give way to the majority: Pym and his friends maintained the superiority, but, as one sees, with great difficulty.

Meanwhile Charles I had directed his arms against Gloucester. The great importance of this town for the pacification, in a Royalist sense, of the entire west of England, may be inferred from the King’s having determined to besiege it A.D. 1643. on hearing that Massey the governor, who had served under one of the Royalist generals, was inclined to change sides, in defiance of the advice of most of his counsellors, and especially of the Queen, who would best have liked a direct attack on London. The King must soon have become conscious that he had deceived himself: in reply to his summons he received the correct answer from the Parliamentary point of view, that he would be obeyed when his commands were conveyed through the two Houses of Parliament. The two delegates who brought this message spoke in a rude and curt tone, and when they left, within a few paces of the King put on their caps, which bore orange cockades, the colours of Essex[367]. Bad as the fortifications of Gloucester were, the citizens made a good stand behind them. The Londoners had never taken so much interest in the fate of any other city: some closed their shops until the news of its relief should arrive. The troops which Essex led forth on this errand were far too numerous and too full of warlike zeal for the King to resist: they repelled partial attacks without difficulty, and on September 8 Essex entered Gloucester.

It was generally assumed at the time that if the King, instead of staying before Gloucester, had marched directly on his divided capital, he would have made himself master of it. I do not think however that this is at all certain: London had been fortified on all sides; the ruling party in Parliament, the magistrates, the Common Council, were most closely leagued together. At least the King must first have come to an understanding with Essex, or else the expectations of the Royalists would probably have been disappointed in London also.

By Rupert’s advice the King threw himself in the way of the returning army at Newbury, in order to prevent a junction between it and the forces which had meanwhile been collected by Waller. The Prince’s cavalry gave fresh proof of their surpassing courage in repeated and at length successful attacks on the enemy’s horse, who however on this A.D. 1643. occasion fought better than before: but their onset was completely broken on the rampart of pikes of the Parliamentary infantry; and this time Essex and Skippon had placed their artillery with great skill at the points where it would be most effective. The battle consisted of a series of assaults upon an enemy arrested on his march, who had taken up a strong position and was prepared to defend it. The next day Essex expected to be obliged to cut his way through the Royalist army, but it had retired during the night: he was able to advance unopposed over the battle-field[368], and continued his march to London. The day cost the King some of his best men, such as Lord Falkland, probably the only one of his contemporaries in whose praise both parties concurred.

Essex had relieved a town and defeated an attack on his army, but he had not yet established the superiority of the Parliamentary party. Exulting in having refuted every slander which ignorant persons had uttered against him, and probably hoping that this was done once for all (a hope which is never fulfilled), Essex, in spite of the advantages which had been gained, declared in the Common Council that, in his opinion, peace was necessary.