CHARLES I.
{1637.} The grievances under which the English labored when considered
in themselves, without regard to the constitution, scarcely deserve the
name; nor were they either burdensome on the people's properties, or
anywise shocking to the natural humanity of mankind. Even the imposition
of ship money, independent of the consequences, was a great and evident
advantage to the public, by the judicious use which the king made of the
money levied by that expedient. And though it was justly apprehended,
that such precedents, if patiently submitted to, would end in a total
disuse of parliaments, and in the establishment of arbitrary authority,
Charles dreaded no opposition from the people, who are not commonly much
affected with consequences, and require some striking motive to engage
them in a resistance of established government. All ecclesiastical
affairs were settled by law and uninterrupted precedent; and the church
was become a considerable barrier to the power, both legal and illegal,
of the crown. Peace too, industry, commerce, opulence; nay, even justice
and lenity of administration, notwithstanding some very few exceptions;
all these were enjoyed by the people; and every other blessing of
government, except liberty, or rather the present exercise of liberty
and its proper security.[*] It seemed probable, therefore, that affairs
might long have continued on the same footing in England, had it not
been for the neighborhood of Scotland; a country more turbulent, and
less disposed to submission and obedience. It was thence the commotions
first arose; and is therefore time for us to return thither, and to give
an account of the state of affairs in that kingdom.
* Clarendon, p. 74, 75. May, p. 18. Warwick, p. 62.
Though the pacific, and not unskilful government of James, and the great
authority which he had acquired, had much allayed the feuds among
the great families, and had established law and order throughout the
kingdom, the Scottish nobility were still possessed of the chief power
and influence over the people. Their property was extensive; their
hereditary jurisdictions and the feudal tenures increased their
authority; and the attachment of the gentry to the heads of families
established a kind of voluntary servitude under the chieftains. Besides
that long absence had much loosened the King's connections with the
nobility, who resided chiefly at their country seats, they were in
general, at this time, though from slight causes, much disgusted with
the court. Charles, from the natural piety or superstition of his
temper, was extremely attached to the ecclesiastics; and as it is
natural for men to persuade themselves that their interest coincides
with their inclination, he had established it as a fixed maxim of
policy, to increase the power and authority of that order. The prelates,
he thought, established regularity and discipline among the clergy; the
clergy inculcated obedience and loyalty among the people; and as that
rank of men had no separate authority and no dependence but on the
crown, the royal power, it would seem, might with the greater safety be
intrusted in their hands. Many of the prelates, therefore, were raised
to the chief dignities of the state;[*] Spotswood, archbishop of
St. Andrews, was created chancellor: nine of the bishops were privy
councillors: the bishop of Ross aspired to the office of treasurer:
some of the prelates possessed places in the exchequer: and it was even
endeavored to revive the first institution of the college of justice,
and to share equally between the clergy and laity the whole judicial
authority.[**]
* Rush. vol. ii. p. 386. May, p. 29.
** Guthry's Memoirs, p. 14 Burnet's Mem. p. 29, 30.
These advantages, possessed by the church, and which the bishops did not
always enjoy with suitable modesty, disgusted the haughty nobility, who,
deeming themselves much superior in rank and quality to this new
order of men, were displeased to find themselves inferior in power and
influence. Interest joined itself to ambition, and begat a jealousy lest
the episcopal sees, which at the reformation had been pillaged by the
nobles, should again be enriched at the expense of that order. By a most
useful and beneficial law, the impropriations had already been ravished
from the great men: competent salaries had been assigned to the
impoverished clergy from the tithes of each parish: and what remained,
the proprietor of the land was empowered to purchase at a low
valuation.[*] The king likewise, warranted by ancient law and practice,
had declared for a general resumption of all crown lands alienated by
his predecessors; and though he took no step towards the execution of
this project, the very pretension to such power had excited jealousy and
discontent.[**]
Notwithstanding the tender regard which Charles bore to the whole
church, he had been able in Scotland to acquire only the affection of
the superior rank among the clergy. The ministers in general equalled,
if not exceeded, the nobility in their prejudices against the court,
against the prelates, and against episcopal authority.[***] Though the
establishment of the hierarchy might seem advantageous to the inferior
clergy, both as it erected dignities to which all of them might aspire,
and as it bestowed a lustre on the whole body, and allured men of family
into it, these views had no influence on the Scottish ecclesiastics. In
the present disposition of men's minds, there was another circumstance
which drew consideration, and counterbalanced power and riches, the
usual foundations of distinction among men; and that was the fervor of
piety, and the rhetoric, however barbarous, of religious lectures and
discourses. Checked by the prelates in the license of preaching,
the clergy regarded episcopal jurisdiction both as a tyranny and a
usurpation, and maintained a parity among ecclesiastics to be a divine
privilege, which no human law could alter or infringe. While such ideas
prevailed, the most moderate exercise of authority would have given
disgust; much more, that extensive power which the king's indulgence
encouraged the prelates to assume. The jurisdiction of presbyteries,
synods, and other democratical courts, was in a manner abolished by
the bishops; and the general assembly itself had not been summoned for
several years.[****] A new oath was arbitrarily imposed on intrants,
by which they swore to observe the articles of Perth, and submit to
the liturgy and canons. And in a word, the whole system of church
government, during a course of thirty years, had been changed by means
of the innovations introduced by James and Charles.
* King's Declaration, p. 7. Franklyn, p, 611.
** King's Declaration, p. 6.
*** Burnet's Mem., p. 29, 30.
**** May, p. 29.
The people, under the influence of the nobility and clergy, could not
fail to partake of the discontents which prevailed among these two
orders; and where real grounds of complaint were wanting, they greedily
laid hold of imaginary ones. The same horror against Popery with which
the English Puritans were possessed, was observable among the
populace in Scotland; and among these, as being more uncultivated
and uncivilized, seemed rather to be inflamed into a higher degree of
ferocity. The genius of religion which prevailed in the court and among
the prelates, was of an opposite nature; and having some affinity to the
Romish worship, led them to mollify, as much as possible, these severe
prejudices, and to speak of the Catholics in more charitable language,
and with more reconciling expressions. From this foundation a panic
fear of Popery was easily raised; and every new ceremony or ornament
introduced into divine service, was part of that great mystery of
iniquity, which, from the encouragement of the king and the bishops, was
to overspread the nation.[*] The few innovations which James had made,
were considered as preparatives to this grand design; and the
further alterations attempted by Charles, were represented as a plain
declaration of his intentions. Through the whole course of this reign,
nothing had more fatal influence, in both kingdoms, than this groundless
apprehension, which with so much industry was propagated, and with so
much credulity was embraced, by all ranks of men.
* Burnet's Mem. p. 29, 30, 31.
Amidst these dangerous complaints and terrors of religious innovation,
the civil and ecclesiastical liberties of the nation were imagined, and
with some reason, not to be altogether free from invasion.
The establishment of the high commission by James, without any authority
of law, seemed a considerable encroachment of the crown, and erected
the most dangerous and arbitrary of all courts, by a method equally
dangerous and arbitrary. All the steps towards the settlement of
Episcopacy had indeed been taken with consent of parliament: the
articles of Perth were confirmed in 1621: in 1633, the king had obtained
a general ratification of every ecclesiastical establishment: but these
laws had less authority with the nation, as they were known to have
passed contrary to the sentiments even of those who voted for them,
and were in reality extorted by the authority and importunity of
the sovereign. The means, however, which both James and Charles had
employed, in order to influence the parliament, were entirely regular,
and no reasonable pretence had been afforded for representing these laws
as null or invalid.
But there prevailed among the greater part of the nation another
principle, of the most important and most dangerous nature; and which,
if admitted, destroyed entirely the validity of all such statutes. The
ecclesiastical authority was supposed totally independent of the civil;
and no act of parliament, nothing but the consent of the church itself,
was represented as sufficient ground for the introduction of any change
in religious worship or discipline. And though James had obtained the
vote of assemblies for receiving Episcopacy and his new rites; it must
be confessed, that such irregularities had prevailed in constituting
these ecclesiastical courts, and such violence in conducting them, that
there were some grounds for denying the authority of all their acts.
Charles, sensible that an extorted consent, attended with such invidious
circumstances, would rather be prejudicial to his measures, had wholly
laid aside the use of assemblies, and was resolved, in conjunction with
the bishops, to govern the church by an authority to which he thought
himself fully entitled, and which he believed inherent in the crown.
The king's great aim was to complete the work so happily begun by his
father; to establish discipline upon a regular system of canons,
to introduce a liturgy into public worship, and to render the
ecclesiastical government of all his kingdoms regular and uniform.
Some views of policy might move him to this undertaking; but his chief
motives were derived from principles of zeal and conscience.
The canons for establishing ecclesiastical jurisdiction were promulgated
in 1635; and were received by the nation, though without much appearing
opposition, yet with great inward apprehension and discontent. Men felt
displeasure at seeing the royal authority highly exalted by them, and
represented as absolute and uncontrollable. They saw these speculative
principles reduced to practice, and a whole body of ecclesiastical laws
established without any previous consent either of church or state.[*]
* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 106.
They dreaded lest, by a parity of reason, like arbitrary authority, from
like pretences and principles, would be assumed in civil matters: they
remarked, that the delicate boundaries which separate church and state
were already passed, and many civil ordinances established by the
canons, under color of ecclesiastical institutions: and they were apt
to deride the negligence with which these important edicts had been
compiled, when they found that the new liturgy or service-book was every
where, under severe penalties, enjoined by them, though it had not yet
been composed or published.[*] It was, however, soon expected; and in
the reception of it, as the people are always most affected by what is
external and exposed to the senses, it was apprehended that the chief
difficulty would consist.
The liturgy which the king, from his own authority, imposed on Scotland,
was copied from that of England: but, lest a servile imitation might
shock the pride of his ancient kingdom, a few alterations, in order to
save appearances, were made in it; and in that shape it was transmitted
to the bishops at Edinburgh.[**] But the Scots had universally
entertained a notion, that, though riches and worldly glory had been
shared out to them with a sparing hand, they could boast of spiritual
treasures more abundant and more genuine than were enjoyed by any
nation under heaven. Even their southern neighbors, they thought, though
separated from Rome, still retained a great tincture of the primitive
pollution; and their liturgy was represented as a species of mass,
though with some less show and embroidery.[***] Great prejudices,
therefore, were entertained against it, even considered in itself; much
more when regarded as a preparative, which was soon to introduce into
Scotland all the abominations of Popery. And as the very few alterations
which distinguished the new liturgy from the English, seemed to approach
nearer to the doctrine of the real presence, this circumstance was
deemed an undoubted confirmation of every suspicion with which the
people were possessed.[****]
* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 105.
** King's Decl. p. 18. May, p. 32.
*** King's Decl. p. 20.
**** Burnet's Mem. p. *8*1. Rush. vol. ii. p. 396. May, p.
31.
Easter-day was, by proclamation, appointed for the first reading of
the service in Edinburgh: but in order to judge more surely of men's
dispositions, the council delayed the matter till the twenty-third of
July; and they even gave notice, the Sunday before, of their intention
to commence the use of the new liturgy. As no considerable symptoms
of discontent appeared, they thought that they might safely proceed in
their purpose; and accordingly, in the cathedral church of St. Giles,
the dean of Edinburgh, arrayed in his surplice, began the service;
the bishop himself and many of the privy council being present. But
no sooner had the dean opened the book than a multitude of the meanest
sort, most of them women, clapping their hands, cursing, and crying out,
"A pope, a pope! Antichrist! stone him!" raised such a tumult that it
was impossible to proceed with the service. The bishop, mounting the
pulpit in order to appease the populace, had a stool thrown at him; the
council was insulted: and it was with difficulty that the magistrates
were able, partly by authority, partly by force, to expel the rabble,
and to shut the doors against them. The tumult, however, still continued
without: stones were thrown at the doors and windows: and when the
service was ended, the bishop, going home, was attacked, and narrowly
escaped from the hands of the enraged multitude. In the afternoon, the
privy seal, because he carried the bishop in his coach, was so pelted
with stones, and hooted at with execrations, and pressed upon by the
eager populace, that if his servants with drawn swords had not kept them
off, the bishop's life had been exposed to the utmost danger.[*]
Though it was violently suspected that the low populace, who alone
appeared, had been instigated by some of higher condition, yet no proof
of it could be produced; and every one spake with disapprobation of
the licentiousness of the giddy multitude.[**] It was not thought safe,
however, to hazard a new insult by any new attempt to read the liturgy;
and the people seemed for the time to be appeased and satisfied. But it
being known that the king still persevered in his intentions of imposing
that mode of worship, men fortified themselves still further in their
prejudices against it; and great multitudes resorted to Edinburgh, in
order to oppose the introduction of so hated a novelty.[***]
* King's Decl. p. 22. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 108. Rush, vol.
ii. p. 387.
** King's Decl. p. 23, 24, 25. Rush. vol. ii. p. 388.
*** King's Decl. p. 26, 30. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 109.
It was not long before they broke, out in the most violent disorder.
The bishop of Galloway was attacked in the streets, and chased into
the chamber where the privy council was sitting. The council itself
was besieged and violently attacked: the town council met with the same
fate: and nothing could have saved the lives of all of them, but their
application to some popular lords, who protected them, and dispersed the
multitude. In this sedition, the actors were of some better condition
than in the former; though nobody of rank seemed as yet to countenance
them.[*]
All men, however, began to unice and to encourage each other in
opposition to the religious innovations introduced into the kingdom.
Petitions to the council were signed and presented by persons of the
highest quality: the women took part, and, as was usual, with violence:
the clergy every where loudly declaimed against Popery and the liturgy,
which they represented as the same: the pulpits resounded with vehement
invectives against Antichrist: and the populace, who first opposed the
service, was often compared to Balaam's ass, an animal in itself stupid
and senseless, but whose mouth had been opened by the Lord, to the
admiration of the whole world. In short, fanaticism mingling with
faction, private interest with the spirit of liberty, symptoms appeared
on all hands of the most dangerous insurrection and disorder.
* King's Decl. p. 35, 36 etc. Rush. vol. ii. p. 404.
The primate, a man of wisdom and prudence, who was all along averse to
the introduction of the liturgy, represented to the king the state of
the nation: the earl of Traquaire, the treasurer, set out for London,
in order to lay the matter more fully before him: every circumstance,
whether the condition of England or of Scotland were considered, should
have engaged him to desist from so hazardous an attempt: yet was Charles
inflexible. In his whole conduct of this affair, there appear no marks
of the good sense with which he was endowed: a lively instance of that
species of character so frequently to be met with; where there are found
parts and judgment in every discourse and opinion; in many actions,
indiscretion and imprudence. Men's views of things are the result
of their understanding alone: their conduct is regulated by their
understanding, their temper, and their passions.
{1638.} To so violent a combination of a whole kingdom, Charles had
nothing to oppose but a proclamation; in which he pardoned all past
offences, and exhorted the people to be more obedient for the future,
and to submit peaceably to the use of the liturgy. This proclamation was
instantly encountered with a public protestation, presented by the earl
of Hume and Lindesey: and this was the first time that men of quality
had appeared in any violent act of opposition.[*] But this proved a
crisis. The insurrection, which had been advancing by a gradual and slow
progress, now blazed up at once. No disorder, however, attended it. On
the contrary, a new order immediately took place. Four "tables," as
they were called, were formed in Edinburgh. One consisted of nobility,
another of gentry, a third of ministers, a fourth of burgesses. The
table of gentry was divided into many subordinate tables, according
to their different counties. In the hands of the four tables the whole
authority of the kingdom was placed. Orders were issued by them, and
every where obeyed with the utmost regularity.[**] And among the first
acts of their government was the production of the "Covenant."
This famous covenant consisted first of a renunciation of Popery,
formerly signed by James in his youth, and composed of many invectives,
fitted to inflame the minds of men against their fellow-creatures, whom
Heaven has enjoined them to cherish and to love. There followed a
bond of union, by which the subscribers obliged themselves to resist
religious innovations, and to defend each other against all opposition
whatsoever: and all this, for the greater glory of God, and the greater
honor and advantage of their king and country.[***] The people,
without distinction of rank or condition, of age or sex, flocked to the
subscription of this covenant: few in their judgment disapproved of
it; and still fewer durst openly condemn it. The king's ministers
and counsellors themselves were most of them seized by the general
contagion. And none but rebels to God, and traitors to their country, it
was thought, would withdraw themselves from so salutary and so pious a
combination.
* King's Decl. p. 47, 48, etc. Guthry, p. 28. May, p. 37.
** Clarendon, vol. i. p. 111. Rush. vol. ii. p. 734.
*** King's Decl. p. 57, 58. Rush. vol. ii. p. 734. May, p.
38.
The treacherous, the cruel, the unrelenting Philip, accompanied with all
the terrors of a Spanish inquisition, was scarcely, during the preceding
century, opposed in the Low Countries with more determined fury, than
was now, by the Scots, the mild, the humane Charles, attended with his
inoffensive liturgy.
The king began to apprehend the consequences. He sent the marquis of
Hamilton, as commissioner, with authority to treat with the Covenanters.
He required the covenant to be renounced and recalled: and he thought,
that on his part he had made very satisfactory concessions, when he
offered to suspend the canons and the liturgy, till in a fair and legal
way they could be received; and so to model the high commission, that
it should no longer give offence to his subjects.[*] Such general
declarations could not well give content to any, much less to those
who carried so much higher their pretensions. The Covenanters found
themselves seconded by the zeal of the whole nation. Above sixty
thousand people were assembled in a tumultuous manner in Edinburgh and
the neighborhood. Charles possessed no regular forces in either of his
kingdoms. And the discontents in England, though secret, were believed
so violent, that the king, it was thought, would find it very difficult
to employ in such a cause the power of that kingdom. The more,
therefore, the popular leaders in Scotland considered their situation,
the less apprehension did they entertain of royal power, and the
more rigorously did they insist on entire satisfaction. In answer to
Hamilton's demand of renouncing the covenant, they plainly told him that
they would sooner renounce their baptism.[**] And the clergy invited the
commissioner himself to subscribe it, by informing him "with what
peace and comfort it had filled the hearts of all God's people; what
resolutions and beginnings of reformation of manners were sensibly
perceived in all parts of the nation, above any measure they had ever
before found or could have expected; how great glory the Lord had
received thereby; and what confidence they had that God would make
Scotland a blessed kingdom."[***]
Hamilton returned to London; made another fruitless journey, with new
concessions, to Edinburgh; returned again to London; and was immediately
sent back with still more satisfactory concessions. The king was now
willing entirely to abolish the canons, the liturgy, and the high
commission court. He was even resolved to limit extremely the power of
the bishops, and was content if on any terms he could retain that
order in the church of Scotland.[****] And to insure all these gracious
offers, he gave Hamilton authority to summon first an assembly, then
a parliament, where every national grievance might be redressed and
remedied.
* Rush, vol. ii. p. 137, etc.
** King's Decl. p. 87.
*** King's Decl. p. 88. Rush, vol. ii. p. 751.
**** King's Decl. p. 137. Rush, vol. ii. p. 762.
These successive concessions of the king, which yet came still short
of the rising demands of the malecontents, discovered his own weakness,
encouraged their insolence, and gave no satisfaction. The offer,
however, of an assembly and a parliament, in which they expected to be
entirely masters, was willingly embraced by the Covenanters.
Charles, perceiving what advantage his enemies had reaped from their
covenant, resolved to have a covenant on his side; and he ordered one
to be drawn up for that purpose. It consisted of the same violent
renunciation of Popery above mentioned; which, though the king did not
approve of it, he thought it safest to adopt, in order to remove all the
suspicions entertained against him. As the Covenanters, in their bond
of mutual defence against all opposition, had been careful not to
except the king, Charles had formed a bond, which was annexed to
this renunciation, and which expressed the duty and loyalty of the
subscribers to his majesty.[*] But the Covenanters, perceiving that this
new covenant was only meant to weaken and divide them, received it with
the utmost scorn and detestation. And without delay they proceeded
to model the future assembly, from which such great achievments were
expected.[**]
The genius of that religion which prevailed in Scotland, and which every
day was secretly gaining ground in England, was far front inculcating
deference and submission to the ecclesiastics, merely as such; or
rather, by nourishing in every individual the highest raptures and
ecstasies of devotion, it consecrated, in a manner, every individual,
and in his own eyes bestowed a character on him much superior to what
forms and ceremonious institutions could alone confer. The clergy of
Scotland, though such tumult was excited about religious worship and
discipline, were both poor and in small numbers; nor are they in general
to be considered, at least in the beginning, as the ringleaders of the
sedition which was raised on their account. On the contrary, the
laity, apprehending, from several instances which occurred, a spirit of
moderation in that order, resolved to domineer entirely in the assembly
which was summoned, and to hurry on the ecclesiastics by the same
furious zeal with which they were themselves transported.[***]
* King's Decl. p. 140, etc.
** Rush. vol. ii. p. 772.
*** King's Decl. p. 188, 189. Rush. voL ii. p. 761.
It had been usual, before the establishment of prelacy, for each
presbytery to send to the assembly, besides two or three ministers,
one lay commissioner;[*] and, as all the boroughs and universities sent
likewise commissioners, the lay members in that ecclesiastical court
nearly equalled the ecclesiastics. Not only this institution, which
James, apprehensive of zeal in the laity, had abolished, was now revived
by the Covenanters; they also introduced an innovation, which served
still further to reduce the clergy to subjection. By an edict of the
tables, whose authority was supreme, an elder from each parish was
ordered to attend the presbytery, and to give his vote in the choice
both of the commissioners and ministers who should be deputed to the
assembly. As it is not usual for the ministers, who are put in the list
of candidates, to claim a vote, all the elections by that means fell
into the hands of the laity: the most furious of all ranks were chosen:
and the more to overawe the clergy, a new device was fallen upon, of
choosing to every commissioner four or five lay assessors, who, though
they could have no vote, might yet interpose with their advice and
authority in the assembly.[**]
The assembly met at Glasgow; and, besides a great concourse of the
people, all the nobility and gentry of any family or interest were
present, either as members, assessors, or spectators; and it was
apparent that the resolutions taken by the Covenanters could here meet
with no manner of opposition. A firm determination had been entered into
of utterly abolishing episcopacy; and as a preparative to it, there was
laid before the presbytery of Edinburgh, and solemnly read in all the
churches of the kingdom, an accusation against the bishops, as guilty,
all of them, of heresy, simony, bribery, perjury, cheating, incest,
adultery, fornication, common swearing, drunkenness, gaming, breach
of the Sabbath, and every other crime that had occurred to the
accusers.[***] The bishops sent a protest, declining the authority of
the assembly: the commissioner, too, protested against the court, as
illegally constituted and elected; and, in his majesty's name, dissolved
it. This measure was foreseen, and little regarded. The court still
continued to sit, and to finish their business.[****]
* A presbytery in Scotland is an inferior ecclesiastical
court, the same that was afterwards called a classis in
England, and is composed of the clergy of the neighboring
parishes, to the number commonly of between twelve and
twenty.
** King's Decl. p. 190, 191, 290. Guthry, p. 39, etc.
*** King's Decl. p. 218. Rush. vol. ii p. 787.
**** May, p. 44.
All the acts of assembly, since the accession of James to the crown
of England, were, upon pretty reasonable grounds, declared null and
invalid. The acts of parliament which affected ecclesiastical affairs
were supposed, on that very account, to have no manner of authority. And
thus episcopacy, the high commission, the articles of Perth, the canons,
and the liturgy, were abolished and declared unlawful; and the whole
fabric which Jamas and Charles, in a long course of years, had been
rearing with so much care and policy, fell at once to the ground.
{1639.} The covenant, likewise, was ordered to be signed by every one,
under pain of excommunication.[*]
The independency of the ecclesiastical upon the civil power, was the
old Presbyterian principle, which had been zealously adopted at the
reformation, and which, though James and Charles had obliged the church
publicly to disclaim it, had secretly been adhered to by all ranks of
people. It was commonly asked whether Christ or the king were superior;
and as the answer seemed obvious, it was inferred, that the assembly,
being Christ's council, was superior in all spiritual matters to the
parliament, which was only the king's. But as the Covenanters were
sensible that this consequence, though it seemed to them irrefragable,
would not be assented to by the king, it became necessary to maintain
their religious tenets by military force, and not to trust entirely to
supernatural assistance, of which, however, they held themselves well
assured. They cast their eyes on all sides, abroad and at home, whence
ever they could expect any aid or support.
After France and Holland had entered into a league against Spain, and
framed a treaty of partition, by which they were to conquer and to
divide between them the Low Country provinces, England was invited to
preserve a neutrality between the contending parties, while the French
and Dutch should attack the maritime towns of Flanders. But the king
replied to D'Estrades, the French ambassador, who opened the proposal,
that he had a squadron ready, and would cross the seas, if necessary,
with an army of fifteen thousand men, in order to prevent these
projected conquests.[**] This answer, which proves that Charles though
he expressed his mind with an imprudent candor, had at last acquired
a just idea of national interest irritated Cardinal Richelieu; and, in
revenge, that politic and enterprising minister carefully fomented the
first commotions in Scotland, and secretly supplied the Covenanters with
money and arms, in order to encourage them in their opposition against
their sovereign.
* King's Decl. p. 317.
** Mem. D'Estrades, vol. i.
But the chief resource of the Scottish malecontents was in themselves,
and in their own vigor and abilities. No regular established
commonwealth could take juster measures, or execute them with greater
promptitude, than did this tumultuous combination, inflamed with bigotry
for religious trifles, and faction without a reasonable object. The
whole kingdom was in a manner engaged, and the men of greatest abilities
soon acquired the ascendant, which their family interest enabled them to
maintain. The earl of Argyle, though he long seemed to temporize, had
at last embraced the covenant; and he became the chief leader of that
party; a man equally supple and inflexible, cautious and determined,
and entirely qualified to make a figure during a factious and turbulent
period. The earls of Rothes, Cassils, Montrose, Lothian, the lords
Lindesey, Louden, Yester, Balmerino, distinguished themselves in that
party. Many Scotch officers had acquired reputation in the German wars,
particularly under Gustavus; and these were invited over to assist their
country in her present necessity. The command was intrusted to Lesley, a
soldier of experience and abilities. Forces were regularly enlisted and
disciplined. Arms were commissioned and imported from foreign countries.
A few castles which belonged to the king, being unprovided with
victuals, ammunition, and garrisons, were soon seized. And the whole
country, except a small part, where the marquis of Huntley still adhered
to the king, being in the hands of the Covenanters, was in a very little
time put in a tolerable posture of defence.[*]
The fortifications of Leith were begun and carried on with great
rapidity. Besides the inferior sort, and those who labored for pay,
incredible numbers of volunteers, even noblemen and gentlemen, put their
hand to the work, and deemed the most abject employment to be dignified
by the sanctity of the cause. Women, too, of rank and condition,
forgetting the delicacy of their sex and the decorum of their character
were intermingled with the lowest rabble, and carried on their shoulders
the rubbish requisite for completing the fortifications.[**]
* May, p. 49.
** Guthry's Memoirs, p. 46.
We must not omit another auxiliary of the Covenanters and no
inconsiderable one; a prophetess, who was much followed and admired by
all ranks of people. Her name Michelson, a woman full of whimseys partly
hysterical, partly religious; and inflamed with a zealous concern for
the ecclesiastical discipline of the Presbyterians. She spoke at certain
times only, and had often interruptions of days and weeks: but when she
began to renew her ecstasies, warning of the happy event was conveyed
over the whole country; thousands crowded about her house; and every
word which she uttered was received with veneration, as the most
sacred oracles. The covenant was her perpetual theme. The true, genuine
covenant, she said, was ratified in heaven: the king's covenant was an
invention of Satan: when she spoke of Christ, she usually gave him the
name of the Covenanting Jesus. Rollo, a popular preacher, and zealous
Covenanter, was her great favorite, and paid her, on his part, no less
veneration. Being desired by the spectators to pray with her, and
speak to her, he answered, "that he durst not; and that it would be
ill manners in him to speak while his master, Christ, was speaking in
her."[*]
* King's Declaration at large, p. 227. Burnet's Memoirs of
Hamilton.
Charles had agreed to reduce episcopal authority so much, that it
would no longer have been of any service to support the crown; and
this sacrifice of his own interests he was willing to make, in order to
attain public peace and tranquillity. But he could not consent entirely
to abolish an order which he thought as essential to the being of a
Christian church, as his Scottish subjects deemed it incompatible
with that sacred institution. This narrowness of mind, if we would be
impartial, we must either blame or excuse equally on both sides; and
thereby anticipate, by a little reflection, that judgment which time, by
introducing new subjects of controversy, will undoubtedly render quite
familiar to posterity.
So great was Charles's aversion to violent and sanguinary measures, and
so strong his affection to his native kingdom that it is probable the
contest in his breast would be nearly equal between these laudable
passions and his attachment to the hierarchy. The latter affection,
however, prevailed for the time, and made him hasten those military
preparations which he had projected for subduing the refractory spirit
of the Scottish nation. By regular economy, he had not only paid all the
debts contracted during the Spanish and French wars, but had amassed
a sum of two hundred thousand pounds, which he reserved for any sudden
exigency. The queen had great interest with the Catholics, both from the
sympathy of religion, and from the favors and indulgences which she had
been able to procure to them. She now employed her credit, and persuaded
them that it was reasonable to give large contributions, as a mark of
their duty to the king, during this urgent necessity.[*] A considerable
supply was obtained by this means; to the great scandal of the Puritans,
who were offended at seeing the king on such good terms with the
Papists, and repined that others should give what they themselves were
disposed to refuse him.
Charles's fleet was formidable and well supplied. Having put five
thousand land forces on board, he intrusted it to the marquis of
Hamilton, who had orders to sail to the Frith of Forth, and to cause a
diversion in the forces of the malecontents. An army was levied of near
twenty thousand foot, and above three thousand horse; and was put under
the command of the earl of Arundel, a nobleman of great family, but
celebrated neither for military nor political abilities. The earl of
Essex, a man of strict honor, and extremely popular, especially among
the soldiery, was appointed lieutenant-general: the earl of Holland was
general of the horse. The king himself joined the army, and he summoned
all the peers of England to attend him. The whole had the appearance
of a splendid court, rather than of a military armament; and in this
situation, carrying more show than real force with it, the camp arrived
at Berwick.[**]
The Scottish army was as numerous as that of the king, but inferior
in cavalry. The officers had more reputation and experience; and the
soldiers, though undisciplined and ill armed, were animated, as well by
the national aversion to England, and the dread of becoming a province
to their old enemy, as by an unsurmountable fervor of religion. The
pulpits had extremely assisted the officers in levying recruits, and had
thundered out anathemas against all those "who went not out to assist
the Lord against the mighty."[***] Yet so prudent were the leaders of
the malecontents, that they immediately sent submissive messages to the
king, and craved to be admitted to a treaty.
* Rush. vol. iii. p. 1329. Franklyn, p. 767.
** Clarendon, vol. i p. 115, 116, 117.
*** Burnet's Memoirs of Hamilton.
Charles knew that the force of the Covenanters was considerable, their
spirits high, their zeal furious; and that, as they were not yet daunted
by any ill success, no reasonable terms could be expected from them.
With regard therefore to a treaty, great difficulties occurred on both
sides. Should he submit to the pretensions of the malecontents, (besides
that the prelacy must be sacrificed to their religious prejudices,) such
a check would be given to royal authority, which had very lately, and
with much difficulty, been thoroughly established in Scotland, that
he must expect ever after to retain in that kingdom no more than the
appearance of majesty. The great men, having proved by so sensible a
trial the impotence of law and prerogative, would return to their former
licentiousness: the preachers would retain their innate arrogance: and
the people, unprotected by justice, would recognize no other authority
than that which they found to domineer over them. England also, it was
much to be feared, would imitate so bad an example; and having already
a strong propensity towards republican and Puritanical factions, would
expect, by the same seditious practices, to attain the same indulgence.
To advance so far, without bringing the rebels to a total submission,
at least to reasonable concessions, was to promise them, in all future
time, an impunity for rebellion.
On the other hand, Charles considered that Scotland was never before,
under any of his ancestors, so united and so animated in its own
defence; yet had often been able to foil or elude the force of England,
combined heartily in one cause, and inured by long practice to the use
of arms. How much greater difficulty should he find, at present, to
subdue by violence a people inflamed with religious prejudices; while he
could only oppose to them a nation enervated by long peace, and lukewarm
in his service; or, what was more to be dreaded, many of them engaged in
the same party with the rebels?[*]
* Rush. vol. iii. p. 936.
Should the war be only protracted beyond a campaign, (and who could
expect to finish it in that period?) his treasures would fail him; and
for supply he must have recourse to an English parliament, which,
by fatal experience, he had ever found more ready to encroach on the
prerogatives, than to supply the necessities of the crown. And what if
he receive a defeat from the rebel army? This misfortune was far from
being impossible. They were engaged in a national cause, and strongly
actuated by mistaken principles. His army was retained entirely by pay,
and looked on the quarrel with the same indifference which naturally
belongs to mercenary troops without possessing the discipline by which
such troops are commonly distinguished. And the consequences of a
defeat, while Scotland was enraged and England discontented, were so
dreadful, that no motive should persuade him to hazard it.
It is evident, that Charles had fallen into such a situation, that
whichever side he embraced, his errors must be dangerous. No wonder,
therefore, he was in great perplexity. But he did worse than embrace
the worst side; for, properly speaking, he embraced no side at all. He
concluded a sudden pacification, in which it was stipulated, that he
should withdraw his fleet and army; that within eight and forty hours
the Scots should dismiss their forces; that the king's forts should be
restored to him; his authority be acknowledged; and a general assembly
and a parliament be immediately summoned, in order to compose all
differences.[*] What were the reasons which engaged the king to admit
such strange articles of peace, it is in vain to inquire; for there
scarcely could be any. The causes of that event may admit of a more easy
explication.
* Rush vol. iii. p. 945.
The malecontents had been very industrious in representing to the
English the grievances under which Scotland labored, and the ill
counsels which had been suggested to their sovereign. Their liberties,
they said, were invaded; the prerogatives of the crown extended beyond
all former precedent; illegal courts erected; the hierarchy exalted
at the expense of national privileges; and so many new superstitions
introduced by the haughty, tyrannical prelates, as begat a just
suspicion that a project was seriously formed for the restoration of
Popery. The king's conduct, surely, in Scotland, had been in every
thing, except in establishing the ecclesiastical canons, more legal than
in England; yet was there such a general resemblance in the complaints
of both kingdoms, that the English readily assented to all the
representations of the Scottish malecontents, and believed that nation
to have been driven by oppression into the violent counsels which they
had embraced. So far, therefore, from being willing to second the
king in subduing the free spirit of the Scots, they rather pitied that
unhappy people, who had been pushed to those extremities; and
they thought, that the example of such neighbors, as well as their
assistance, might some time be advantageous to England, and encourage
her to recover, by a vigorous effort, her violated laws and liberties.
The gentry and nobility, who, without attachment to the court, without
command in the army, attended in great numbers the English camp,
greedily seized, and propagated, and gave authority to these sentiments:
a retreat, very little honorable, which the earl of Holland, with
a considerable detachment of the English forces, had made before a
detachment of the Scottish, caused all these humors to blaze up at once:
and the king, whose character was not sufficiently vigorous or decisive,
and who was apt from facility to embrace hasty counsels, suddenly
assented to a measure which was recommended by all about him, and which
favored his natural propension towards the misguided subjects of his
native kingdom.[*]
Charles, having so far advanced in pacific measures, ought, with a
steady resolution, to have prosecuted them, and have submitted to every
tolerable condition demanded by the assembly and parliament; nor should
he have recommenced hostilities, but on account of such enormous and
unexpected pretensions as would have justified his cause, if possible,
to the whole English nation. So far, indeed, he adopted this plan, that
he agreed, not only to confirm his former concessions, of abrogating the
canons, the liturgy, the high commission, and the articles of Perth,
but also to abolish the order itself of bishops, for which he had so
zealously contended.[**] But this concession was gained by the utmost
violence which he could impose on his disposition and prejudices: he
even secretly retained an intention of seizing favorable opportunities,
in order to: recover the ground which he had lost.[***] And one step
farther he could not prevail with himself to advance. The assembly, when
it met, paid no deference to the king's prepossessions, but gave full
indulgence to their own. They voted episcopacy to be unlawful in
the church of Scotland: he was willing to allow it contrary to the
constitutions of that church. They stigmatized the liturgy and canons
as Popish: he agreed simply to abolish them. They denominated the high
commission, tyranny: he was content to set it aside.[****]
* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 122, 123. May, p. 46.
** Rush. vol. iii. p. 946.
*** Burnet's Memoirs, p. 154 Rush. vol. iii. p. 951.
**** Rush. vol. iii. p. 958, etc.
The parliament, which sat after the assembly, advanced pretensions which
tended to diminish the civil power of the monarch; and, what probably
affected Charles still more, they were proceeding to ratify the acts
of assembly, when, by the king's instructions,[*] Traquaire, the
commissioner, prorogued them. And on account of these claims, which
might have been foreseen, was the war renewed; with great advantages on
the side of the Covenanters and disadvantages on that of the king.
No sooner had Charles concluded the pacification without conditions
than the necessity of his affairs and his want of money obliged him to
disband his army; and as the soldiers had been held together solely
by mercenary views, it was not possible, without great trouble, and
expense, and loss of time, again to assemble them. The more prudent
Covenanters had concluded, that their pretensions being so contrary to
the interests, and still more to the inclinations, of the king, it was
likely that they should again be obliged to support their cause by arms;
and they were therefore careful, in dismissing their troops, to preserve
nothing but the appearance of a pacific disposition. The officers had
orders to be ready on the first summons: the soldiers were warned not to
think the nation secure from an English invasion: and the religious
zeal which animated all ranks of men, made them immediately fly to their
standards as soon as the trumpet was sounded by their spiritual and
temporal leaders. The credit which in their last expedition they
had acquired, by obliging their sovereign to depart from all his
pretensions, gave courage to every one in undertaking this new
enterprise.[**]
* Rush vol. iii. p. 955.
** Clarendon, vol. i. p. 125. Rush vol. iii. p. 1023.
{1640.} The king, with great difficulty, found means to draw together an
army; but soon discovered that all savings being gone, and great debts
contracted, his revenue would be insufficient to support them. An
English parliament, therefore, formerly so unkind and intractable, must
now, after above eleven years' intermission, after the king had tried
many irregular methods of taxation, after multiplied disgusts given to
the Puritanical party, be summoned to assemble, amidst the must pressing
necessities of the crown.
As the king resolved to try whether this house of commons would be
more compliant than their predecessors, and grant him supply on any
reasonable terms, the time appointed for the meeting of parliament was
late, and very near the time allotted for opening the campaign against
the Scots. After the past experience of their ill humor, and of their
encroaching disposition, he thought that he could not in prudence trust
them with a long session, till he had seen some better proofs of their
good intentions: the urgency of the occasion, and the little time
allowed for debate, were reasons which he reserved against the
malecontents in the house; and an incident had happened, which, he
believed, had now furnished him with still more cogent arguments.
The earl of Traquaire had intercepted a letter written to the king of
France by the Scottish malecontents, and had conveyed this letter to
the king. Charles, partly repenting of the large concessions made to the
Scots, partly disgusted at their fresh insolence and pretensions, seized
this opportunity of breaking with them. He had thrown into the Tower
Lord Loudon, commissioner from the Covenanters, one of the persons who
had signed the treasonable letter.[*] And he now laid the matter before
the parliament, whom he hoped to inflame by the resentment, and alarm by
the danger, of this application to a foreign power.
* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 129. Rush. vol. iii. p 956. May, p.
56.
By the mouth of the lord keeper Finch, he discovered his wants, and
informed them, that he had been able to assemble his army, and to
subsist them, not by any revenue which he possessed, but by means of
a large debt of above three hundred thousand pounds, which he had
contracted, and for which he had given security upon the crown lands. He
represented, that it was necessary to grant supplies for the immediate
and urgent demands of his military armaments: that the season was
far advanced, the time precious, and none of it must be lost in
deliberation; that though his coffers were empty, they had not been
exhausted by unnecessary pomp, or sumptuous buildings, or any other kind
of magnificence: that whatever supplies had been levied on his subjects,
had been employed for their advantage and preservation; and, like vapors
rising out of the earth, and gathered into a cloud, had fallen in sweet
and refreshing showers on the same fields from which they had at first
been exhaled: that though he desired such immediate assistance as might
prevent for the time a total disorder in the government he was far from
any intention of precluding them from their right to inquire into the
state of the kingdom, and to offer his petitions for the redress of
their grievances: that as much as was possible of this season should
afterwards be allowed them for that purpose: that as he expected only
such supply at present as the current service necessarily required, it
would be requisite to assemble them again next winter, when they should
have full leisure to conclude whatever business had this session been
left imperfect and unfinished: that the parliament of Ireland had twice
put such trust in his good intentions as to grant him, in the beginning
of the session, a large supply, and had ever experienced good effects
from the confidence reposed in him: and that; in every circumstance, his
people should find his conduct suitable to a just, pious, and gracious
king; and such as was calculated to promote an entire harmony between
prince and parliament.[*]
* Rush. vol. iii. p. 1114.
However plausible these topics, they made small impression on the house
of commons. By some illegal, and several suspicious measures of the
crown, and by the courageous opposition which particular persons, amidst
dangers and hardships, had made to them, the minds of men, throughout
the nation, had taken such a turn, as to ascribe every honor to the
refractory opposers of the king and the ministers. These were the
only patriots, the only lovers of their country, the only heroes, and
perhaps, too, the only true Christians. A reasonable compliance with the
court was slavish dependence; a regard to the king, servile flattery; a
confidence in his promises, shameful prostitution. This general cast
of thought, which has more or less prevailed in England during near a
century and a half, and which has been the cause of much good and much
ill in public affairs, never predominated more than during the reign
of Charles. The present house of commons, being entirely composed
of country gentlemen, who came into parliament with all their native
prejudices about them, and whom the crown had no means of influencing,
could not fail to contain a majority of these stubborn patriots.
Affairs likewise, by means of the Scottish insurrection and the general
discontents in England, were drawing so near to a crisis, that the
leaders of the house, sagacious and penetrating, began to foresee the
consequences, and to hope that the time so long wished for was now come,
when royal authority must fall into a total subordination under popular
assemblies, and when public liberty must acquire a full ascendant. By
reducing the crown to necessities, they had hitherto found that the king
had been pushed into violent counsels, which had served extremely the
purposes of his adversaries: and by multiplying these necessities, it
was foreseen that his prerogative, undermined on all sides, must at
last be overthrown, and be no longer dangerous to the privileges of the
people. Whatever, therefore, tended to compose the differences between
king and parliament, and to preserve the government uniformly in its
present channel, was zealously opposed by these popular leaders; and
their past conduct and sufferings gave them credit sufficient to effect
all their purposes.
The house of commons, moved by these and many other obvious reasons,
instead of taking notice of the king's complaints against his Scottish
subjects, or his applications for supply, entered immediately upon
grievances; and a speech which Pym made them on that subject was much
more hearkened to, than that which the lord keeper had delivered to them
in the name of their sovereign. The subject of Pym's harangue has
been sufficiently explained above; where we gave an account of all the
grievances, imaginary in the church, more real in the state, of which
the nation at that time so loudly complained.[*] The house began
with examining the behavior of the speaker the last day of the former
parliament; when he refused, on account of the king's command, to put
the question: and they declared it a breach of privilege. They proceeded
next to inquire into the imprisonment and prosecution of Sir John
Elliot, Hollis, and Valentine:[**] the affair of ship money was
canvassed: and plentiful subject of inquiry was suggested on all hands.
Grievances were regularly classed under three heads; those with regard
to privileges of parliament, to the property of the subject, and to
religion.[***]
* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 133. Rush. vol. iii. p. 1131. May,
p. 60.
** Rush. vol. iii p. 1136.
*** Rush. vol. iii. p. 1147.
The king, seeing a large and inexhaustible field opened, pressed them
again for supply; and finding his message ineffectual, he came to the
house of peers, and desired their good offices with the commons. The
peers were sensible of the king's urgent necessities; and thought that
supply on this occasion ought, both in reason and in decency, to go
before grievances. They ventured to represent their sense of the matter
to the commons; but their intercession did harm. The commons had always
claimed, as their peculiar province the granting of supplies; and,
though the peers had here gone no further than offering advice, the
lower house immediately thought proper to vote so unprecedented an
interposition to be a breach of privilege.[*] Charles, in order to bring
the matter of supply to some issue, solicited the house by new messages:
and finding that ship money gave great alarm and disgust; besides
informing them, that he never intended to make a constant revenue of
it, that all the money levied had been regularly, with other great sums,
expended on equipping the navy; he now went so far as to offer them a
total abolition of that obnoxious claim, by any law which the commons
should think proper to present to him. In return, he only asked for his
necessities a supply of twelve subsidies,--about six hundred thousand
pounds,--and that payable in three years; but at the same time he let
them know, that, considering the situation of his affairs, a delay would
be equivalent to a denial.[**] The king though the majority was against
him, never had more friends in any house of commons; and the debate was
carried on for two days, with great zeal and warmth on both sides.
* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 134.
** Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 135. Rush. vol. iii p. 1154.
It was urged by the partisans of the court, that the happiest occasion
which the fondest wishes could suggest, was now presented for removing
all disgusts and jealousies between king and people, and for reconciling
their sovereign forever to the use of parliaments: that if they, on
their part, laid aside all enormous claims and pretensions, and provided
in a reasonable manner for the public necessities, they needed entertain
no suspicion of any insatiable ambition or illegal usurpation in the
crown: that though due regard had not always been paid, during this
reign, to the rights of the people, yet no invasion of them had been
altogether deliberate and voluntary; much less the result of wanton
tyranny and injustice; and still less of a formal design to subvert the
constitution. That to repose a reasonable confidence in the king, and
generously to supply his present wants, which proceeded neither from
prodigality nor misconduct, would be the true means of gaining on his
generous nature, and extorting, by a gentle violence, such concessions
as were requisite for the establishment of public liberty: that he
had promised, not only on the word of a prince, but also on that of
a gentleman, (the expression which he had been pleased to use,) that,
after the supply was granted the parliament should still have liberty
to continue their deliberations: could it be suspected that any man, any
prince much less such a one, whose word was as yet sacred and inviolate,
would, for so small a motive forfeit his honor, and, with it, all future
trust and confidence, by breaking a promise so public and so solemn?
that even if the parliament should be deceived in reposing this
confidence in him, they neither lost any thing, nor incurred any danger;
since it was evidently necessary, for the security of public peace, to
supply him with money, in order to suppress the Scottish rebellion: that
he had so far suited his first demands to their prejudices, that he only
asked a supply for a few months, and was willing, after so short a trust
from them, to fall again into dependence, and to trust them for his
further support and subsistence: that if he now seemed to desire
something further, he also made them, in return, a considerable offer,
and was willing, for the future, to depend on them for a revenue which
was quite necessary for public honor and security: that the nature of
the English constitution supposed a mutual confidence between king and
parliament: and if they should refuse it on their part, especially with
circumstances of such outrage and indignity, what could be expected but
a total dissolution of government, and violent factions, followed by the
most dangerous convulsions and intestine disorders?
In opposition to these arguments, it was urged by the malecontent party,
that the court had discovered, on their part, but few symptoms of that
mutual confidence to which they now so kindly invited the commons: that
eleven years' intermission of parliaments--the longest that was to be
found in the English annals--was a sufficient indication of the jealousy
entertained against the people; or rather of designs formed for the
suppression of all their liberties and privileges: that the ministers
might well plead necessity, nor could any thing, indeed, be a stronger
proof of some invincible necessity, than their embracing a measure for
which they had conceived so violent an aversion, as the assembling of
an English parliament: that this necessity, however, was purely
ministerial, not national; and if the same grievances, ecclesiastical
and civil, under which this nation itself labored, had pushed the Scots
to extremities, was it requisite that the English should forge their own
chains, by imposing chains on their unhappy neighbors? that the ancient
practice of parliament was to give grievances the precedency of supply;
and this order, so carefully observed by their ancestors, was founded
on a jealousy inherent in the constitution, and was never interpreted as
any peculiar diffidence of the present sovereign: that a practice which
had been upheld during times the most favorable to liberty, could not,
in common prudence, be departed from, where such undeniable reasons
for suspicion had been afforded: that it was ridiculous to plead the
advanced season, and the urgent occasion for supply; when it plainly
appeared that, in order to afford a pretence for this topic, and to
seduce the commons, great political contrivance had been employed: that
the writs for elections were issued early in the winter; and if the
meeting of parliament had not purposely been delayed till so near the
commencement of military operations, there had been leisure sufficient
to have redressed all national grievances, and to have proceeded
afterwards to an examination of the king's occasion for supply: that
the intention of so gross an artifice was to engage the commons, under
pretence of necessity, to violate the regular order of parliament; and
a precedent of that kind being once established, no inquiry into public
measures would afterwards be permitted: that scarcely any argument more
unfavorable could be pleaded for supply, than an offer to abolish ship
money; a taxation the most illegal and the most dangerous that had ever,
in any reign, been imposed upon the nation: and that, by bargaining for
the remission of that duty, the commons would in a manner ratify the
authority by which it had been levied; at least give encouragement for
advancing new pretensions of a like nature, in hopes of resigning them
on like advantageous conditions.
These reasons, joined to so many occasions of ill humor, seemed to sway
with the greater number: but, to make the matter worse, Sir Harry Vane,
the secretary, told the commons, without any authority from the
king, that nothing less than twelve subsidies would be accepted as a
compensation for the abolition of ship money. This assertion, proceeding
from the indiscretion, if we are not rather to call it the treachery of
Vane, displeased the house, by showing a stiffness and rigidity in the
king, which, in a claim so ill grounded, was deemed inexcusable.[*] We
are informed likewise, that some men, who were thought to understand the
state of the nation, affirmed in the house, that the amount of twelve
subsidies was a greater sum than could be found in all England: such
were the happy ignorance and inexperience of those times with regard to
taxes.[**]
* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 138.
** Clarendon, vol. *i. p. 136.
The king was in great doubt and perplexity. He saw that his friends in
the house were outnumbered by his enemies, and that the same
counsels were still prevalent which had ever bred such opposition and
disturbance. Instead of hoping that any supply would be granted him to
carry on war against the Scots, whom the majority of the house regarded
as their best friends and firmest allies; he expected every day that
they would present him an address for making peace with those rebels.
And if the house met again, a vote, he was informed, would certainly
pass, to blast his revenue of ship money; and thereby renew all the
opposition which, with so much difficulty, he had surmounted in levying
that taxation. Where great evils lie on all sides, it is difficult
to follow the best counsel; nor is it any wonder that the king, whose
capacity was not equal to situations of such extreme delicacy, should
hastily have formed and executed the resolution of dissolving this
parliament: a measure, however, of which he soon after repented, and
which the subsequent events, more than any convincing reason, inclined
every one to condemn. The last parliament, which ended with such rigor
and violence, had yet at first covered their intentions with greater
appearance of moderation than this parliament had hitherto assumed.
An abrupt and violent dissolution naturally excites discontents among
the people, who usually put entire confidence in their representatives,
and expect from them the redress of all grievances. As if there were not
already sufficient grounds of complaint, the king persevered still in
those counsels which, from experience, he might have been sensible were
so dangerous and unpopular. Bellasis and Sir John Hotham were summoned
before the council; and, refusing to give any account of their
conduct in parliament, were committed to prison. All the petitions
and complaints which had been sent to the committee of religion, were
demanded from Crew, chairman of that committee; and on his refusal
to deliver them, he was sent to the Tower. The studies, and even the
pockets of the earl of Warwick and Lord Broke, before the expiration of
privilege, were searched, in expectation of finding treasonable papers.
These acts of authority were interpreted, with some appearance of
reason, to be invasions on the right of national assemblies.[*] But the
king, after the first provocation which he met with, never sufficiently
respected the privileges of parliament; and, by his example, he further
confirmed their resolution, when they should acquire power, to pay like
disregard to the prerogatives of the crown.
* Rush. vol. iii. p. 1167. May, p. 61.
Though the parliament was dissolved, the convocation was still allowed
to sit; a practice of which, since the reformation, there were but
few instances,[*] and which was for that reason supposed by many to be
irregular. Besides granting to the king a supply from the spirituality,
and framing many canons, the convocation, jealous of like innovations
with those which had taken place in Scotland, imposed an oath on the
clergy and the graduates in the universities, by which every one swore
to maintain the established government of the church by archbishops,
bishops, deans, chapters, etc.[**] These steps, in the present
discontented humor of the nation, were commonly deemed illegal; because
not ratified by consent of parliament, in whom all authority was now
supposed to be centred. And nothing, besides, could afford more subject
of ridicule, than an oath which contained an "et cætera," in the midst
of it.
The people, who generally abhorred the convocation as much as they
revered the parliament, could scarcely be restrained from insulting and
abusing this assembly; and the king was obliged to give them guards, in
order to protect them.[***] An attack too was made during the night upon
Laud, in his palace of Lambeth, by above five hundred persons; and
he found it necessary to fortify himself for his defence.[****] A
multitude, consisting of two thousand secretaries, entered St. Paul's,
where the high commission then sat, tore down the benches, and cried
out, "No bishop; no high commission."[v] All these instances of
discontent were presages of some great revolution, had the court
possessed sufficient skill to discern the danger, or sufficient power to
provide against it.
In this disposition of men's minds, it was in vain that the king issued
a declaration, in order to convince his people of the necessity which he
lay under of dissolving the last parliament.[v*]
* There was one in 1586: see History of Archbishop Laud, p.
80. The authority of the convocation was, indeed, in most
respects, independent of the parliament: and there was no
reason which required the one to be dissolved upon the
dissolution of the other.
** Whitlocke, p. 33.
*** Whitlocke, p. 33.
**** Dugdale, p. 62. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 143.
v Dugdale, p. 65.
V* Rush. vol. iii. p. 1165.
The chief topic on which he insisted was, that the commons imitated the
bad example of all then predecessors of late years, in making continual
encroachments on his authority, in censuring his whole administration
and conduct, in discussing every circumstance of public government, and
in their indirect bargaining and contracting with their king for supply;
as if nothing ought to be given him but what he should purchase, either
by quitting somewhat of his royal prerogative, or by diminishing and
lessening his standing revenue. These practices, he said, were contrary
to the maxims of their ancestors; and these practices were totally
incompatible with monarchy.[*] [5]
The king, disappointed of parliamentary subsidies, was obliged to have
recourse to other expedients, in order to supply his urgent necessities.
The ecclesiastical subsidies served him in some stead; and it seemed
but just that the clergy should contribute to a war which was in a great
measure of their own raising.[**] He borrowed money from his ministers
and courtiers; and so much was he beloved among them, that above three
hundred thousand pounds were subscribed in a few days; though nothing
surely could be more disagreeable to a prince full of dignity, than
to be a burden on his friends instead of being a support to them. Some
attempts were made towards forcing a loan from the citizens; but
still repelled by the spirit of liberty, which was now become
unconquerable.[***] A loan of forty thousand pounds was extorted from
the Spanish merchants, who had bullion in the Tower exposed to the
attempts of the king. Coat and conduct money for the soldiery was levied
on the counties; an ancient practice,[****] but supposed to be abolished
by the petition of right. All the pepper was bought from the East India
Company upon trust, and sold at a great discount for ready money.[v] A
scheme was proposed for coining two or three hundred thousand pounds of
base money:[v*] such were the extremities to which Charles was reduced.
The fresh difficulties which, amidst the present distresses, were every
day raised with regard to the payment of ship money, obliged him to
exert continual acts of authority, augmented the discontents of the
people, and increased his indigence and necessities.[v**]
* See note E, at the end of the volume.
** May, p. 48.
*** Rush. vol. iii. p. 1181.
**** Rush. vol. i. p. 168.
v May, p. 63.
v* Rush. vol. iii. p. 1216. May, p. 63.
v** Rush. vol. iii. p. 1173, 1182, 1184, 1199, 1200, 1203,
1204.
The present expedients, however, enabled the king, though with great
difficulty, to march his army, consisting of nineteen thousand foot and
two thousand horse.[*] The earl of Northumberland was appointed
general; the earl of Strafford, who was called over from Ireland,
lieutenant-general; Lord Conway, general of the horse. A small fleet was
thought sufficient to serve the purposes of this expedition.
So great are the effects of zeal and unanimity, that the Scottish army,
though somewhat superior, were sooner ready than the king's; and they
marched to the borders of England. To engage them to proceed, besides
their general knowledge of the secret discontents of that kingdom,
Lord Saville had forged a letter, in the name of six noblemen the most
considerable of England, by which the Scots were invited to assist their
neighbors in procuring a redress of grievances.[**] Notwithstanding
these warlike preparations and hostile attempts, the Covenanters still
preserved the most pathetic and most submissive language; and entered
England, they said, with no other view than to obtain access to the
king's presence, and lay their humble petition at his royal feet. At
Newburn upon Tyne, they were opposed by a detachment of four thousand
five hundred men under Conway, who seemed resolute to dispute with them
the passage of the river. The Scots first entreated them, with great
civility, not to stop them in their march to their gracious sovereign;
and then attacked them with great bravery, killed several, and chased
the rest from their ground. Such a panic seized the whole English army,
that the forces at Newcastle fled immediately to Durham; and not yet
thinking themselves safe, they deserted that town, end retreated into
Yorkshire.[***]
The Scots took possession of Newcastle; and though sufficiently elated
with their victory, they preserved exact discipline, and persevered in
their resolution of paying for every thing, in order still to maintain
the appearance of an amicable correspondence with England. They also
despatched messengers to the king, who was arrived at York; and they
took care, after the advantage which they had obtained, to redouble
their expressions of loyalty, duty, and submission to his person; and
they even made apologies, full of sorrow and contrition for their late
victory.[****]
* Rush. vol. iii. p. 1279.
** Nalson, vol. ii. p. 427.
*** Clarendon, vol. i. p. 143.
**** Rush. vol. iii. p. 1255.
Charles was in a very distressed condition. The nation was universally
and highly discontented. The army was discouraged, and began likewise to
be discontented, both from the contagion of general disgust, and as an
excuse for their misbehavior, which they were desirous of representing
rather as want of will than of courage to fight. The treasury too was
quite exhausted, and every expedient for supply had been tried to the
uttermost. No event had happened, but what might have been foreseen as
necessary, at least as very probable; yet such was the king's situation,
that no provision could be made, nor was even any resolution taken
against such an exigency.
In order to prevent the advance of the Scots upon him, the king agreed
to a treaty, and named sixteen English noblemen, who met with eleven
Scottish commissioners at Rippon. The earls of Hertford, Bedford,
Salisbury, Warwick, Essex, Holland, Bristol, and Berkshire, the lords
Kimbolton, Wharton. Dunsmore, Paget, Broke Saville, Paulet, and
Howard of Escric, were chosen by the king; all of them popular men
and consequently supposed nowise averse to the Scottish invasion, or
unacceptable to that nation.[*]
An address arrived from the city of London, petitioning for a
parliament; the great point to which all men's projects at this
time tended.[**] Twelve noblemen presented a petition to the same
purpose.[***] But the king contented himself with summoning a great
council of the peers at York; a measure which had formerly been taken
in cases of sudden emergency, but which at present could serve to little
purpose. Perhaps the king, who dreaded above all things the house of
commons, and who expected no supply from them on any reasonable terms,
thought that, in his present distresses, he might be enabled to levy
supplies by the authority of the peers alone. But the employing so long
the plea of a necessity which appeared distant and doubtful, rendered it
impossible for him to avail himself of a necessity which was now at last
become real, urgent, and inevitable.
* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 155.
** Rush. vol. iii. p. 1263.
*** Clarendon, vol. i. p, 146. Rush. vol. iii. p. 1260. May,
p. 66. Warwick, p. 151.
By Northumberland's sickness, the command of the army had devolved on
Strafford. This nobleman possessed more vigor of mind than the king or
any of the council. He advised Charles rather to put all to hazard, than
submit to unworthy terms as were likely to be imposed upon him.
The loss sustained at Newburn, he said, was inconsiderable and though a
panic had for the time seized the army, that event was nothing strange
among new levied troops and the Scots, being in the same condition,
would no doubt be liable in their turn to a like accident. His opinion
therefore was, that the king should push forward and attack the Scots,
and bring the affair to a quick decision; and, if he were ever so
unsuccessful, nothing worse could befall him than what from his
inactivity he would certainly be exposed to.[*] To show how easy it
would be to execute this project, he ordered an assault to be made on
some quarters of the Scots, and he gained an advantage over them. No
cessation of arms had as yet been agreed to during the treaty at Rippon;
yet great clamor prevailed on account of this act of hostility. And when
it was known that the officer who conducted the attack was a Papist, a
violent outcry was raised against the king for employing that hated sect
in the murder of his Protestant subjects.[**]
It may be worthy of remark, that several mutinies had arisen among the
English troops when marching to join the army; and some officers had
been murdered merely on suspicion of their being Papists.[***] The
petition of right had abolished all martial law; and by an inconvenience
which naturally attended the plan, as yet new and unformed, of regular
and rigid liberty, it was found absolutely impossible for the generals
to govern the army by all the authority which the king could legally
confer upon them. The lawyers had declared, that martial law could not
be exercised, except in the very presence of an enemy; and because it
had been found necessary to execute a mutineer, the generals thought it
advisable, for their own safety, to apply for a pardon from the crown.
This weakness, however, was carefully concealed from the army, and Lord
Conway said, that if any lawyer were so imprudent as to discover the
secret to the soldiers, it would be necessary instantly to refute it,
and to hang the lawyer himself by sentence of a court martial.[****]
* Nalson, vol. ii. p. 5.
** Clarendon, vol. i. p. 159.
*** Rush. vol. iii. 1190, 1191, 1192, etc. May, p. 64.
**** Rush. vol. iii. p 1199.
An army new levied, undisciplined, frightened, seditious, ill paid,
and governed by no proper authority, was very unfit for withstanding
a victorious and high-spirited enemy, and retaining in subjection a
discontented and zealous nation.
Charles, in despair of being able to stem the torrent, at last
determined to yield to it: and as he foresaw that the great council of
the peers would advise him to call a parliament, he told them, in his
first speech, that he had already taken this resolution. He informed
them likewise, that the queen, in a letter which she had written to him,
had very earnestly recommended that measure. This good prince, who was
extremely attached to his consort, and who passionately wished to render
her popular in the nation, forgot not, amidst all his distress, the
interests of his domestic tenderness.[*]
In order to subsist both armies, (for the king was obliged, in order to
save the northern counties, to pay his enemies,) Charles wrote to the
city, desiring a loan of two hundred thousand pounds. And the peers at
York, whose authority was now much greater than that of their sovereign,
joined in the same request:[**] so low was this prince already fallen in
the eyes of his own subjects.
As many difficulties occurred in the negotiation with the Scots, it
was proposed to transfer the treaty from Rippon to London; a proposal
willingly embraced by that nation, who were now sure of treating with
advantage in a place where the king, they foresaw, would be in a manner
a prisoner, in the midst of his implacable enemies, and their determined
friends.[***]
* Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 154. Bush. vol. iii. p. 1275.
** Rush. vol. iii. p 1279.
*** Rush, vol. iii. p 1805.