Above all there was known to be a royalist feeling in the army, which was still in quarters in the North. It was jealous of the superior care bestowed by Parliament on the Scottish troops: besides, it was unwilling to suffer the royal power to be abased, or to pass under the authority of the dominant faction in the Lower House. The Queen asserted later[243] that the impulse did not come from the court, but that the offers made were voluntary. The first to come forward were officers who had seats in Parliament, such as Captain Ashburnham, who sat for Ludgershall, Wilmot who sat for Tamworth, and especially Henry Percy, member for Northumberland. They considered that the army had grounds of complaint against the Lower House, and not against the King, who even in A.D. 1641. these times found means to supply the wants of the soldiers, and they resolved to offer him their services. This was in March, when the great questions under discussion were inflaming the spirits of all. They calculated that if they could make sure of the Tower, and the army were to advance on London, Parliament would be obliged to accept the conditions that they might propose. These were three:—that Episcopacy should be maintained, that the crown should be endowed with an income equivalent to its former one, and that the army in Ireland should not be disbanded before the Scottish army had dispersed. Thus their scheme aimed not at the restoration of a non-parliamentary government, but at the combination of the parliamentary constitution with a strong monarchy and the old episcopal institutions. So at least their words implied. The Queen states that the majority of officers in the army were agreed on this. Among the leaders we find her personal friends: they had bound themselves together by formal oaths.
In Scotland a similar movement had been observed still earlier among those who had signed the Covenant. In the old castle of Merchiston is still pointed out a well-preserved room of that date, among the ornaments of which are conspicuous a crown and the cypher of Charles I. Here often assembled round Lord Napier a party of friends who felt themselves at variance with the anti-monarchical tendencies which the movement in Scotland had developed. Once in the last Scottish Parliament words had been dropped to the effect that they had no further need of the King, that they might depose him and introduce a new order of things. It is true that these men had from aristocratic esprit de corps opposed the earlier attempts of Charles I, but from the same feelings, obviously, they would not endure the domination of any party which might obtain the upper hand in the Committee of the Estates. In the young James Graham, Earl of Montrose, jealousy against Argyle, the most powerful member of the Committee, was united with a loyalty inherited from his ancestors, and now again called to life, to which he at times gave utterance in vigorous stanzas. Beside him was old Napier, who might be regarded as his second father, a A.D. 1641. man of insight and resolution. Others joined these two, amongst them some of the chief nobles of the country, Home, Athol, Mar: so early as August 1640 these and others united after the Scottish fashion in a bond ‘to oppose the particular practices of a few, from which the country was suffering,’ with reservation of the Covenant, and to rescue from them the religion, the liberty, and the laws of the realm[244].
In the beginning of the year 1641 Montrose and Napier entered into direct communication with King Charles. They urged him to recognise the abolition of Episcopacy which had actually taken place in Scotland, and the constitution of the three estates—for they liked the bishops and their authority as little as did the other nobles—and then to come to Scotland and hold a Parliament in person. Among the attendants of Charles they found no longer any support in Hamilton, who had reconciled himself to the Scottish commissioners; but Traquair, Robert Spottiswood, and the Clerk Register Hay, were zealous in their favour. Traquair, when the commissioners continued to threaten, had sworn to mingle heaven, earth, and hell together before he would yield. The eyes of the two parties were turned to the next Parliament: each expected then to overpower its enemies, and give the vacated offices to its friends. Montrose and Napier calculated on gaining the support of the King, who allowed his presence to be looked for. The commissioners were in great agitation on the subject[245].
Although in Ireland, after the removal of Strafford, there had arisen a violent storm of indignation against his administration, and against the Privy Council which had supported him, yet by no means all were carried away by it. Among other facts we find that the Upper House postponed to a distant date the discussion of the grievances and complaints raised by the Lower House, and allowed the Chancellor, who had been accused by the Commons, to continue his duties as their speaker. Moreover there was the army which Strafford A.D. 1641. had raised: it had been recruited from among the hardiest natives of the Catholic faith, but still there were many Protestant veterans among them, and the officers were exclusively Protestant. In the Irish army the same spirit prevailed as in the English: it would not abandon the interests of the crown, and it would not allow itself to be disbanded.
In the meetings at which the spirit of military and loyal devotion to the throne was displayed, it was deemed possible to bring about a reaction against the tendencies dominant in Parliament. So far as can be ascertained, a project was arranged for liberating Strafford from the Tower, and setting him at the head of an army. The enlistment which had been sanctioned as for a foreign power might serve for the purpose of putting trustworthy troops into that fortress: great offers were made to Balfour, the governor, if he would co-operate. Colonel Goring, governor of Portsmouth, appeared so trustworthy that he was let into the secret of the enlistments. If there were once again a force which should declare for royalty, but in a moderate fashion, it was expected that support would be forthcoming for it in the remotest districts. In every discussion in Parliament the Lords had let it be seen that rebellion was as hateful to them as treason: they would not let themselves be overborne by a popular faction. The Bill of Attainder seemed to them an attempt to rob them of their privilege of being tried by their peers: many other lives, they thought, might be endangered in the same manner. They were fully conscious of the intimate connexion between the privileges they enjoyed and the royal prerogative[246]. Why might not all the strength of the clergy and the efforts of the Catholics be united in favour of a change of this kind?
It was assumed that support for such a movement would be forthcoming from France. The Queen had already let Montague go over, and the Parliament was certainly afraid of hostile interference from that quarter. In order to prevent it at the outset Lord Holland sent word to France that every favour shown to Montague would be an injury to the A.D. 1641. Parliament. Properly speaking, there was no need of these warnings. It may be affirmed with certainty that the Queen, after Richelieu’s first refusal, had never approached him again. We have Montague’s letters, and his purpose seems to have been to go to Rome: he cherished the hope of being raised to the Cardinalate, through the recommendations of the Queen, to which he expected to add French support. It was for this that he intrigued and wrote: at least he never had any communication on political matters with the leading men of the French government. Very probably when the Queen first planned a visit to France there was the idea in the background of seeking help from thence for a reaction against the Parliament; but if the Cardinal refused to allow her to cross over, a plan which was opposed to his policy was little likely to obtain support from him. In England there was some fear of certain transports which were being fitted out on the coast of Normandy, but it was known that they were destined for Portugal. It transpired that one or two captains of French mercenaries had been spoken to about an undertaking to be attempted in England, but this was done privately and without visible results. Nowhere as it seemed had matters advanced very far: every one was still occupied in preparations and hopes, when suddenly all was disclosed. This came to pass through one of the officers who had been most relied on, Colonel Goring, governor of Portsmouth. The Queen states that Wilmot and Goring had quarrelled about the post which each claimed as commander of the troops, and that Jermyn had vainly tried to reconcile them[247]. Goring asserts that he had demanded of the King an express sanction of the undertaking, but that he could not obtain it[248]. Both accounts are perhaps true. The King would probably have assented, had the thing been done without him, but he could not bring himself to resolve to authorise it. Goring however wished to have a retreat: these men, with all their hopes of success, were perpetually haunted by the thought A.D. 1641. that failure would be their utter ruin; and merely to have known a matter of this sort and concealed it might be deadly. Colonel Goring, on whose co-operation the whole scheme was based was induced to make communications to one or two Lords of his acquaintance. From them John Pym received intelligence, and so had a weapon put into his hands just when circumstances made it most useful.
FOOTNOTES:
[234] Sydney Letters ii. 664.
[235] Clarendon, History of the Rebellion 90.
[236] Montereuil reports from Holland’s account, ‘Le comte d’Hollande—voyant que le roi se plaignoit, que la France méprisoit l’Angletene, il avoit jugé àpropos de lui répondre, qu’il sembloit par ce que je lui avois temoigné, qu’on ne désiroit rien tant en costé de France, que d’entretenir une parfaite amitié entre les deux couronnes—à quoi ce roi avoit répondu, qu’il avoit fort agréable ce qu’il luy disoit.’