[508] Walker, The mystery of the two yuntos, in Maseres i 337.
[509] Rushworth i. 957: ‘To gratify such as shall make any discovery of the authors or presses of malignant and abusive sheets.’
CHAPTER V.
THE SO-CALLED SECOND CIVIL WAR.
We have not lost sight of the chief disputes which had caused the breach between the King and Parliament, concerning which, as the King did not give way, nothing had been decided by all these acts of violence. The positive character of the opposition now coming to light, and the evident usurpation by the oligarchy in Parliament, operated instead to give the King’s name once more a footing with the people. The contest hitherto had been waged against the lawfulness and extent of the royal authority: but in the encounter of selfish factions men began to discover that a chief power, supreme but not unlimited, not directly dependent on a change in the majority, and personally comprising all general interests, was politically an advantage. The King had innumerable adherents in the capital: there was not a county in which associations in his favour, as the phrase was, ‘for the liberation of the King and Parliament,’ had not been formed. Though the Royalists also were busy, the movement derived its character chiefly from the fact that the Presbyterians found the turn which affairs had taken, and the predominance of their hated opponents, quite unendurable. The Commissioners of the Scots, who saw themselves no longer admitted to any committees, and their despatches and memorials, as well as the terms of the last treaty of union, unnoticed, were most excited of all. They already noted the intention to exclude their countrymen from Ireland: it was obvious that the victory of the Independents was a defeat for the Presbyterians in general, and especially for the Scots.
Under these circumstances what the King had expected A.D. 1648. came to pass. The Scottish Commissioners gave up imposing on him the strict law of the Covenant in respect to religion. Before he had been subjected to all the restraints which made him completely a prisoner, they had appeared in the Isle of Wight, and concluded a secret treaty, based on the proposals formerly made by him in his Newcastle answer, and then so stubbornly rejected by the Scots. The King therein undertook to recognise the League and Covenant between England and Scotland; for the maintenance of the position hereby accorded to the Scots was the chief aim of the Commissioners. He had also to admit several other limitations, which related to old disputes between the two countries, and favoured exclusively the Scottish interest; but the principal point for him was that he was not compelled unconditionally to accept the Presbyterian Church system. As he had proposed, it was only to be temporarily adopted, for a period of three years, and the permanent arrangement to be reserved for subsequent determination in Parliament: no one was to be compelled to accept the Covenant. The Scots, on their side, promised to take up arms, if it could not be secured in any other way, for the prerogative of the crown, understanding thereby its rights in relation to the military power, free nomination to dignities and high posts of trust, control of the Great Seal, a veto on Parliament: the present assembly to be brought to an end speedily, and personal dealings with a full Parliament, in honour, safety, and freedom, to be procured for the King[510]. It is noteworthy that they guaranteed to the King the very rights which were denied him in the four bills: they contemplated the union of the two kingdoms on a basis much more advantageous for the crown. The three commissioners, Loudon, Lauderdale, and Lanerick, pledged themselves to do all in their power to get Scotland to carry out the points here promised, which, in their view, would be done: and to risk their property and even their lives for the cause.
A.D. 1648.
It was an arrangement very like that which Charles I and his Scottish friends had contemplated in 1641, before his journey to Scotland, and again in 1644, at the time of the Uxbridge negotiations: the concessions which the Scottish commissioners then refused they now decided to admit, in prospect of the danger threatening them from the opposite party: for the restoration of a monarchy, limited indeed, but endowed with suitable rights in connexion with the national interests of Scotland, they were now ready to involve their native land in war.
Lord Holland was concerned this time also, since the agreement was on the principles for which he had contended for several years: he received from the Queen, in the name of the Prince of Wales, a commission as general of an army which was to liberate the King from his imprisonment, and restore the freedom of Parliament. Many old officers of the royal army gathered about him. The young Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Peterborough, with their brothers, were ready to stake their lives and fortunes in the cause. The Scottish commission was in close communication with Marmaduke Langdale and Philip Musgrave, who enjoyed great influence, the one in Yorkshire, the other in Cumberland: they too received in the name of the Prince of Wales royal commissions with very extensive powers.
The main question was then whether the Scottish Parliament would sanction the proceedings of the commissioners and give its consent to the war. In the Church commission, which was as little as ever inclined to give up the unconditional establishment of the Covenant in England, it found no approval: on the contrary, the King’s promises were declared unsatisfactory, because his preference for Episcopacy and his dislike to the Covenant were everywhere visible in them. But the Church commission had now to learn that the nation no longer depended entirely upon it. The general feeling was that the agreement so solemnly made had been broken on the side of England: they were ashamed of the surrender of the King, which had given the nation an evil name throughout the world: the growing strength of the Independents left nothing to be expected but an increasing A.D. 1648. disregard of Scottish interests. In many places also a natural sympathy was awakened for their hereditary King. Thus it came to pass that the elections to the new Parliament went in favour of the agreement effected with the King. The leaders of the rival parties were Argyle, who now as ever held to the strict Church view, and Hamilton, who represented the moderates: this time Hamilton and his friends gained a complete superiority over Argyle. The committees also of the Parliament, which met in March, were chosen in the same interest. They had still a hard battle to fight with the Church commission, which still maintained that the King must be bound by oath to establish the Presbyterian system in all the three kingdoms, and that the repression of the malignants in England ought to be aimed at, not alliance with them[511]. It is remarkable that the threatened supremacy of the Independents did not more strongly arouse the religious apprehensions of the Church party: but their view was limited by old antipathies that were directed to other quarters. But the committees, the Parliament, and the people, comprehended the full danger that threatened the Commonwealth, and approved the agreement with the King. In conformity with their decisions some very precise demands were at once addressed to England. They were to the effect that the King should be allowed to treat with Parliament in freedom, safety, and honour, and that for this purpose, in order that it might be possible for all honest members of Parliament to take part without danger in these dealings, the army under Lord Fairfax should be disbanded. It is obvious that an affirmative answer was not to be thought of, nor was any such expected in Scotland. At the same time a resolution had been passed for assuming an attitude of defence and preparing for war; and this was done immediately throughout the country[512]. Hamilton, thanks to the activity of his party, was enabled to take more decided steps than properly A.D. 1648. suited his hesitating nature: he received the chief command. The most celebrated of the old generals, such as the Lesleys, adhered to Argyle; but Hamilton gained others, like Middleton, who had lately made himself a reputation in the Highlands: he was named Lieutenant-General of the infantry, Baillie of the cavalry: the highest post under Hamilton was accepted by the Earl of Callander, who after the Pacification of Berwick had espoused the royal interests. In this manner were the officers named and levies raised: the dependents of Argyle remained virtually excluded from the new army; the Church party resisted vainly at every step. It was the first time that Royalist proclivities gained an advantage over the strict Church tendencies. Under the impulse of the latter the Scots had contributed most towards breaking the independent power of the King: now the moderates had again the advantage, and it seemed as if this would lead to a restoration of his power.
Marmaduke Langdale commenced hostilities by surprising Berwick (end of April): he hoped from thence to rouse the north of England. He at once summoned the governor of Holy Island, who was reported to dislike the imprisonment of the King and the violation of all the laws by Parliament[513], and the Royalist gentry of Northumberland and Durham to declare for the King: many of them actually came over and entered the King’s service. In like manner Philip Musgrave one evening seized Carlisle: he was expected by the Royalists, and the other side did not venture to move. All Westmoreland and Cumberland were filled with warlike bustle: out of Yorkshire and the County Palatine came new levies of horse.