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

by Leopold von Ranke

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.