In this war there was hardly any respectable military quality exhibited besides courage. The Royalists used to rush upon the enemy opposed to them, without any other design than to cut down as many as possible, and when any part of the army was successful, it never returned to the field while a single enemy remained to be pursued; the consequence of which was, that one wing was sometimes victorious, while the remainder was completely beaten. The Parliamentary troops, though animated by an enthusiastic feeling of religion, were somewhat steadier, but nevertheless had no extensive or combined plan of military operations. The first appearance of a superior kind of discipline was exhibited in a regiment of horse commanded by Oliver Cromwell, a gentleman of small fortune, who had been a brewer, but was destined, by great talent, and address, joined to an unrelenting disposition, to rise to supreme authority. Cromwell, though himself inexperienced in military affairs, showed from the very first a power of drilling and managing troops, which no other man in either army seemed to possess. Hence his regiment soon became famous for its exploits.
SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT
The Royal successes of 1643 distressed alike the English Parliament and the Scottish nation, who now began to fear the loss of all the political meliorations they had wrested from the king. The two Parliaments therefore entered, in July, into a Solemn League and Covenant, for prosecuting the war in concert, with the view of ultimately settling both church and state in a manner consistent with the liberties of the people. In terms of this bond, the Scots raised an army of twenty-one thousand men, who entered England in January 1644; and on the 1st of July, in company with a large body of English forces, overthrew the king’s northern army on Long Marston Moor.
The defeat was severely felt by the king. He gained a victory over Waller at Copredy Bridge, and caused Essex’s army to capitulate in Cornwall (September 1); but in consequence of a second fight at Newbury (October 27), in which he suffered a defeat, he was left at the end of the campaign with greatly diminished resources. A new negotiation was commenced at Uxbridge; but the terms asked by the Parliament were so exorbitant, as to show no sincere desire of ending the war.
In truth, though the Presbyterian party were perhaps anxious for peace, there was another party, now fast rising into importance, who were actuated by no such wishes. These were the Independents, a body of men who wished to see a republic established in the state, and all formalties whatever removed from the national religion. Among the leaders of the party was Oliver Cromwell, whose mind seems to have already become inspired with lofty views of personal aggrandizement. This extraordinary man had sufficient address to carry a famous act called the Self-Denying Ordinance, which ostensibly aimed at depriving all members of the legislature of commands in the army, but had the effect only of displacing a few noblemen who were obnoxious to his designs. He also carried an act for modeling the army anew, in which process he took care that all who might be expected to oppose his views should be excluded. It was this party more particularly that prevented any accommodation taking place between the king and his subjects.
CONCLUSION OF THE CIVIL WAR.
The English campaign of 1645 ended in the complete overthrow of the king. Throughout the war, his enemies had been continually improving in discipline, in conduct, and in that enthusiasm which animated them so largely; while the Royalists had become, out of a mere principle of opposition, so extremely licentious, as to be rather a terror to their friends than to their enemies. The new-modeling of the Parliamentary army, which took place early in 1645, had also added much to the effectiveness of the troops, who were now nominally commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax, but in reality by Oliver Cromwell, who bore the rank of lieutenant-general. The consequence was that, in a pitched battle at Naseby (June 14), the king was so completely beaten, that he and his party could no longer keep the field. He had no resource but to retire into Oxford, a town zealously affected to his cause, and well fortified.
He endeavored, from this forlorn position, to renew the negotiations for a peace; but every attempt of that kind was frustrated by the Independents, who, though a minority in the House of Commons, possessed great power through the army, and, as already mentioned, were desirous of effecting greater changes in church and state than those for which the war was originally undertaken. Dreading the influence of this body, Charles retired privately from Oxford (May 1646) on the approach of the Parliamentary forces, and put himself under the protection of the Scottish army at Newark.
As the views of the Scotch throughout the war had been steadily confined to the security of the Presbyterian religion, along with the safety of the king’s person and the establishment of a limited monarchy, they received him with great respect at their camp, and entered into negotiations for effecting their grand object. If Charles would have acceded to their views, he might have immediately resumed a great part of his former power; and the agitations of many subsequent years, as well as his own life, might have been spared. But this was forbidden, not only by his strong prepossession in favor of the Episcopal forms of worship, but also by his conviction, that the Episcopal form of church government was alone compatible with the existence of monarchy. He therefore disagreed with the Presbyterians on the very point which they considered the most vital and important.
From the time when Charles first threw himself into the Scottish camp, the English Parliament had made repeated and strenuous demands for the surrender of his person into their hands. The Scots, however, though acting partly as a mercenary army, asserted their right, as an independent nation under the authority of the king, to retain and protect him. At length, despairing of inducing him to sanction the Presbyterian forms, and tempted by the sum of £400,000, which was given to them as a compensation for their arrears of pay, they consented to deliver up their monarch, but certainly without any apprehension of his life being in danger, and, indeed, to a party quite different from that by which he afterwards suffered. The Scottish army then retired (January 1647) to their native country, and were there disbanded.