CHAPTER LVI.

CHARLES I.

{1642.} When two names so sacred in the English constitution as those of

king and parliament were placed in opposition, no wonder the people

were divided in their choice, and were agitated with the most violent

animosities and factions.

The nobility and more considerable gentry, dreading a total confusion

of rank from the fury of the populace, enlisted themselves in defence of

the monarch, from whom they received and to whom they communicated their

lustre. Animated with the spirit of loyalty derived from their ancestors

they adhered to the ancient principles of the constitution, and valued

themselves on exerting the maxims, as well as inheriting the possessions

of the old English families. And while they passed their time mostly at

their country seats, they were surprised to hear of opinions prevailing

with which they had ever been unacquainted, and which implied not a

limitation, but an abolition almost total of monarchical authority.

The city of London, on the other hand, and most of the great

corporations, took part with the parliament, and adopted with zeal those

democratical principles, on which the pretensions of that assembly were

founded. The government of cities, which even under absolute monarchies

is commonly republican, inclined them to this party: the small

hereditary influence which can be retained over the industrious

inhabitants of towns, the natural independence of citizens, and the

force of popular currents over those more numerous associations of

mankind; all these causes gave their authority to the new principles

propagated throughout the nation. Many families, too, which had lately

been enriched by commerce, saw with indignation that, notwithstanding

their opulence, they could not raise themselves to a level with the

ancient gentry: they therefore adhered to a power by whose success they

hoped to acquire rank and consideration.[*] And the new splendor and

glory of the Dutch commonwealth, where liberty so happily supported

industry, made the commercial part af the nation desire to see a like

form of government established in England.

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 4.

The genius of the two religions, so closely at this time interwoven

with politics, corresponded exactly to these divisions. The Presbyterian

religion was new, republican, and suited to the genius of the populace:

the other had an air of greater show and ornament, was established on

ancient authority, and bore an affinity to the kingly and aristocratical

parts of the constitution. The devotees of Presbytery became of course

zealous partisans of the parliament: the friends of the Episcopal church

valued themselves on defending the rights of monarchy.

Some men also there were of liberal education, who, being either

careless or ignorant of those disputes bandied about by the clergy of

both sides, aspired to nothing but an easy enjoyment of life, amidst

the jovial entertainment and social intercourse of their companions. All

these flocked to the king's standard, where they breathed a freer air,

and were exempted from that rigid preciseness and melancholy austerity

which reigned among the parliamentary party.

Never was a quarrel more unreal than seemed at first than between the

contending parties: almost every advantage lay against the royal cause.

The king's revenue had been seized from the beginning by the parliament,

who issued out to him from time to time small sums for his present

subsistence; and as soon as he withdrew to York, they totally stopped

all payments. London, and all the seaports, except Newcastle, being in

their hands, the customs yielded them a certain and considerable supply

of money; and all contributions, loans, and impositions were more easily

raised from the cities, which possessed the ready money, and where men

lived under their inspection, than they could be levied by the king in

those open countries which after some time declared for him.

The seamen naturally followed the disposition of the sea ports to which

they belonged: and the earl of Northumberland, lord admiral, having

embraced the party of the parliament, had appointed, at their desire,

the earl of Warwick to be his lieutenant; who at once established his

authority in the fleet, and kept the entire dominion of the sea in the

hands of that assembly.

All the magazines of arms and amunition were from the first seized by

the parliament; and their fleet intercepted the greater part of those

which were sent by the queen from Holland. The king was obliged, in

order to arm his followers, to borrow the weapons of the train bands,

under promise of restoring them as soon as peace should be settled in

the kingdom.

The veneration for parliaments was at this time extreme throughout the

nation.[*] The custom of reviling those assemblies for corruption, as

it had no pretence, so was it unknown during all former ages. Few or no

instances of their encroaching ambition or selfish claims had hitherto

been observed. Men considered the house of commons in no other light

than as the representatives of the nation, whose interest was the same

with that of the public, who were the eternal guardians of law and

liberty, and whom no motive, but the necessary defence of the people,

could ever engage in an opposition to the crown. The torrent, therefore,

of general affection ran to the parliament. What is the great advantage

of popularity, the privilege of affixing epithets fell of course to that

party. The king's adherents were the wicked and the malignant: their

adversaries were the godly and the well-affected. And as the force of

the cities was more united than that of the country, and at once gave

shelter and protection to the parliamentary party, who could easily

suppress the royalists in their neighborhood, almost the whole kingdom,

at the commencement of the war, seemed to be in the hands of the

parliament.[**]

* Walker p 336.

** Warwick, p. 318.

What alone gave the king some compensation for all the advantages

possessed by his adversaries was, the nature and qualities of his

adherents. More bravery and activity were hoped for from the generous

spirit of the nobles and gentry, than from the base disposition of the

multitude. And as the men of estates, at their own expense, levied and

armed their tenants, besides an attachment to their masters, greater

force and courage were to be expected in these rustic troops, than in

the vicious and enervated populace of cities.

The neighboring states of Europe, being engaged in violent wars, little

interested themselves in these civil commotions; and this island enjoyed

the singular advantage (for such it surely was) of fighting out its own

quarrels without the interposition of foreigners. France, from policy,

had fomented the first disorders in Scotland, had sent over arms to

the Irish rebels, and continued to give countenance to the English

parliament; Spain, from bigotry, furnished the Irish with some supplies

of money and arms. The prince of Orange, closely allied to the crown,

encouraged English officers who served in the Low Countries to enlist in

the king's army: the Scottish officers, who had been formed in Germany

and in the late commotions, chiefly took part with the parliament.

The contempt entertained by the parliament for the king's party was

so great, that it was the chief cause of pushing matters to such

extremities against him; and many believed that he never would attempt

resistance, but must soon yield to the pretensions, however enormous,

of the two houses. Even after his standard was erected, men could not be

brought to apprehend the danger of a civil war; nor was it imagined

that he would have the imprudence to enrage his implacable enemies, and

render his own condition more desperate, by opposing a force which was

so much superior. The low condition in which he appeared at Nottingham

confirmed all these hopes. His artillery, though far from numerous,

had been left at York for want of horses to transport it. Besides the

trained bands of the county, raised by Sir John Digby, the sheriff, he

had not gotten together above three hundred infantry. His cavalry, in

which consisted his chief strength, exceeded not eight hundred, and

were very ill provided with arms. The forces of the parliament lay at

Northampton, within a few days' march of him, and consisted of above six

thousand men, well armed and well appointed. Had these troops advanced

upon him, they must soon have dissipated the small force which he had

assembled. By pursuing him in his retreat, they had so discredited his

cause and discouraged his adherents, as to have forever prevented his

collecting an army able to make head against them. But the earl of

Essex, the parliamentary general, had not yet received any orders from

his masters.[*]

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 1, 2.

What rendered them so backward, after such precipitate steps as they

had formerly taken, is not easily explained. It is probable, that in the

extreme distress of his party consisted the present safety of the

king. The parliament hoped that the royalists, sensible of their feeble

condition, and convinced of their slender resources, would disperse

of themselves, and leave their adversaries a victory so much the more

complete and secure, as it would be gained without the appearance of

force, and without bloodshed. Perhaps, too, when it became necessary

to make the concluding step, and offer barefaced violence to their

sovereign, their scruples and apprehensions, though not sufficient

to overcome their resolutions, were able to retard the execution of

them.[*]

Sir Jacob Astley, whom the king had appointed major-general of his

intended army, told him, that he could not give him assurance but he

might be taken out of his bed, if the rebels should make a brisk attempt

to that purpose. All the king's attendants were full of well-grounded

apprehensions. Some of the lords having desired that a message might

be sent to the parliament with overtures to a treaty, Charles, who well

knew that an accommodation in his present condition meant nothing but a

total submission, hastily broke up the council lest this proposal should

be further insisted on. But next day the earl of Southampton, whom no

one could suspect of base or timid sentiments, having offered the

same advice in council it was hearkened to with more coolness and

deliberation. He urged, that though such a step would probably

increase the insolence of the parliament, this was so far from being an

objection, that such dispositions must necessarily turn to the advantage

of the royal cause: that if they refused to treat, which was more

probable, the very sound of peace was so popular, that nothing could

more disgust the nation than such haughty severity: that if they

admitted of a treaty, their proposals, considering their present

situation, would be so exorbitant, as to open the eyes of their most

partial adherents, and turn the general favor to the king's party: and

that, at worst, time might be gained by this expedient, and a delay of

the imminent danger with which the king was at present threatened.[**]

Charles, on assembling the council, had declared against all advances

towards an accommodation; and had said that, having now nothing left

him but his honor, this last possession he was resolved steadily to

preserve, and rather to perish than yield any further to the pretensions

of his enemies:[***] but, by the unanimous desire of the counsellors,

he was prevailed on to embrace Southampton's advice. That nobleman,

therefore, with Sir John Colepeper and Sir William Uvedale, was

despatched to London with offers of a treaty.[****]

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 18.

** Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 7.

*** Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 7.

**** Rush. vol. v. p. 784.

The manner in which they were received gave little hopes of success.

Southampton was not allowed by the peers to take his seat; but was

ordered to deliver his message to the usher, and immediately to depart

the city: the commons showed little better disposition towards Colepeper

and Uvedale.[*] Both houses replied, that they could admit of no

treaty with the king till he took down his standard, and recalled

his proclamations, in which the parliament supposed themselves to

be declared traitors. The king, by a second message, denied any

such intention against the two houses; but offered to recall these

proclamations, provided the parliament agreed to recall theirs, in which

his adherents were declared traitors. They desired him, in return,

to dismiss his forces, to reside with his parliament, and to give up

delinquents to their justice; that is abandon himself and his friends to

the mercy of his enemies.[**] Both parties flattered themselves that,

by these messages and replies, they had gained the ends which they

proposed.[***] The king believed that the people were made sufficiently

sensible of the parliament's insolence and aversion to peace: the

parliament intended, by this vigor in their resolutions, to support the

vigor of their military operations.

The courage of the parliament was increased, besides their great

superiority of force, by two recent events which had happened in their

favor. Goring was governor of Portsmouth, the best fortified town in the

kingdom, and by its situation of great importance. This man seemed to

have rendered himself an implacable enemy to the king, by betraying,

probably magnifying, the secret cabals of the army; and the parliament

thought that his fidelity to them might on that account be entirely

depended on. But the same levity of mind still attended him, and the

same disregard to engagements and professions. He took underhand his

measures with the court, and declared against the parliament. But though

he had been sufficiently supplied with money, and long before knew his

danger, so small was his foresight, that he had left the place entirely

destitute of provisions, and in a few days he was obliged to surrender

to the parliamentary forces.[****]

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 10.

** Rush. vol. v. p. 786. Dugdale, p. 102.

*** Whitlocke, p. 59.

**** Rush, vol. v. p. 683. Whitlocke, p. 60. Clarendon, vol.

iii. p. 19.

The marquis of Hertford was a nobleman of the greatest quality and

character in the kingdom, and, equally with the king, descended by a

female from Henry VII. During the reign of James, he had attempted,

without having obtained the consent of that monarch, to marry Arabella

Stuart, a lady nearly related to the crown; and, upon discovery of his

intentions, had been obliged for some time to fly the kingdom. Ever

after, he was looked on with an evil eye at court, from which in a great

measure he withdrew; and living in an independent manner, he addicted

himself entirely to literary occupations and amusements. In proportion

as the king declined in popularity, Hertford's character flourished with

the people; and when this parliament assembled, no nobleman possessed

more general favor and authority. By his sagacity he soon perceived that

the commons, not content with correcting the abuses of government,

were carried, by the natural current of power and popularity, into the

opposite extreme, and were committing violations, no less dangerous

than the former, upon the English constitution. Immediately he devoted

himself to the support of the king's falling authority, and was

prevailed with to be governor to the young prince and reside at court;

to which, in the eyes of all men, he gave by his presence a new lustre

and authority. So high was his character for mildness and humanity, that

he still preserved, by means of these popular virtues, the public

favor; and every one was sensible of the true motive of his change.

Notwithstanding his habits of ease and study, he now exerted himself

in raising an army for the king; and being named general of the western

counties, where his interest chiefly lay, he began to assemble forces

in Somersetshire. By the assistance of Lord Seymour, Lord Paulet, John

Digby, son of the earl of Bristol, Sir Francis Hawley, and others, he

had drawn together some appearance of an army; when the parliament,

apprehensive of the danger, sent the earl of Bedford with a considerable

force against him. On his approach Hertford was obliged to retire into

Sherborne Castle; and finding that place untenable, he himself passed

over into Wales, leaving Sir Ralph Hopton, Sir John Berkeley, Digby

and other officers, with their horse, consisting of about a hundred and

twenty, to march into Cornwall, in hopes of finding that county better

prepared for their reception.[*]

* Clarendon, vol. vi. p. 2, 3, etc.

All the dispersed bodies of the parliamentary army were now ordered to

march to Northampton; and the earl of Essex who had joined them, found

the whole amount to fifteen thousand men.[*] The king, though his camp

had been gradually reënforced from all quarters, was sensible that he

had no army which could cope with so formidable a force, and he thought

it prudent, by slow marches, to retire to Derby, thence to Shrewsbury,

in order to countenance the levies which his friends were making in

those parts. At Wellington, a day's march from Shrewsbury, he made a

rendezvous of all his forces, and caused his military orders to be read

at the head of every regiment. That he might bind himself by reciprocal

ties, he solemnly made the following declaration before his whole army.

"I do promise, in the presence of Almighty God, and as I hope for his

blessing and protection, that I will, to the utmost of my power, defend

and maintain the true reformed Protestant religion established in the

church of England, and, by the grace of God, in the same will live and

die.

"I desire that the laws may ever be the measure of my government, and

that the liberty and property of the subject may be preserved by them

with the same care as my own just rights. And if it please God, by his

blessing on this army raised for my necessary defence, to preserve me

from the present rebellion, I do solemnly and faithfully promise, in the

sight of God, to maintain the just privileges and freedom of parliament,

and to govern, to the utmost of my power, by the known statutes and

customs of the kingdom; and particularly to observe inviolably the laws

to which I have given my consent this parliament. Meanwhile, if this

emergence, and the great necessity to which I am driven, beget any

violation of law, I hope it shall be imputed by God and man to the

authors of this war; not to me, who have so earnestly labored to

preserve the peace of the kingdom.

"When I willingly fail in these particulars, I shall expect no aid or

relief from man, nor any protection from above: but in this resolution

I hope for the cheerful assistance of all good men, and am confident of

the blessing of Heaven."[*]

* Whitlocke, p. 60., Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 15, 17.

Dugdale, p. 104.

Though the concurrence of the church undoubtedly increased the king's

adherents, it may safely be affirmed, that the high monarchical

doctrines, so much inculcated by the clergy, had never done him any real

service. The bulk of that generous train of nobility and gentry who now

attended the king in his distresses, breathed the spirit of liberty as

well as of loyalty; and in the hopes alone of his submitting to a legal

and limited government, were they willing in his defence to sacrifice

their lives and fortunes.

While the king's army lay at Shrewsbury, and he was employing himself in

collecting money, which he received, though in no great quantities, by

voluntary contributions, and by the plate of the universities, which was

sent him, the news arrived of an action, the first which had happened in

these wars, and where he was successful.

On the appearance of commotions in England, the princes Rupert and

Maurice, sons of the unfortunate palatine, had offered their service to

the king; and the former at that time commanded a body of horse, which

had been sent to Worcester in order to watch the motions of Essex, who

was marching towards that city. No sooner had the prince arrived, than

he saw some cavalry of the enemy approaching the gates. Without delay,

he briskly attacked them, as they were defiling from a lane, and forming

themselves. Colonel Sandys, who led them, and who fought with valor,

being mortally wounded, fell from his horse. The whole party was routed,

and was pursued above a mile. The prince, hearing of Essex's approach,

retired to the main body.[*] This rencounter, though in itself of

small importance, mightily raised the reputation of the royalists, and

acquired to Prince Rupert the character of promptitude and courage;

qualities which he eminently displayed during the whole course of the

war.

The king, on mustering his army, found it amount to ten thousand men.

The earl of Lindesey, who in his youth had sought experience of military

service in the Low Countries,[**] was general; Prince Rupert commanded

the horse; Sir Jacob Astley, the foot; Sir Arthur Aston, the dragoons;

Sir John Heydon, the artillery. Lord Bernard Stuart was at the head of a

troop of guards. The estates and revenue of this single troop, according

to Lord Clarendon's computation, were at least equal-to those of all

the members who at the commencement of war voted in both houses. Their

servants, under the command of Sir William Killigrew, made another

troop, and always marched with their masters.[***]

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 25. May. book iii. p. 10.

** He was then Lord Willoughby.

*** Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 41. Warwick, p. 231.

With this army the king left Shrewsbury, resolving to give battle as

soon as possible to the army of the parliament, which he heard was

continually augmenting by supplies from London. In order to bring on

an action, he directed his march towards the capital, which he knew the

enemy would not abandon to him. Essex had now received his instructions.

The import of them was, to present a most humble petition to the king,

and to rescue him and the royal family from those desperate malignants

who had seized their persons.[*] Two days after the departure of the

royalists from Shrewsbury, he left Worcester. Though it be commonly easy

in civil wars to get intelligence, the armies were within six miles of

each other ere either of the generals was acquainted with the approach of

his enemy. Shrewsbury and Worcester, the places from which they set out,

are not above twenty miles distant; yet had the two armies marched ten

days in this mutual ignorance: so much had military skill, during a long

peace, decayed in England.[**]

* Whitlocke, p. 59. Clarendon, vol. iii, p. 27, 28, etc.

** Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 44.

The royal army lay near Banbury; that of the parliament, at Keinton, in

the county of Warwick. Prince Rupert sent intelligence of the enemy's

approach. Though the day was far advanced, the king resolved upon the

attack: Essex drew up his men to receive him. Sir Faithful Fortescue,

who had levied a troop for the Irish wars, had been obliged to serve in

the parliamentary army, and was now posted on the left wing, commanded

by Ramsay, a Scotchman. No sooner did the king's army approach, than

Fortescue, ordering his troop to discharge their pistols in the ground,

put himself under the command of Prince Rupert. Partly from this

incident, partly from the furious shock made upon them by the prince,

that whole wing of cavalry immediately fled, and were pursued for two

miles. The right wing of the parliament's army had no better success.

Chased from their ground by Wilmot and Sir Arthur Aston, they also took

to flight. The king's body of reserve, commanded by Sir John Biron,

judging, like raw soldiers, that all was over, and impatient to have

some share in the action, heedlessly followed the chase which their

left wing had precipitately led them. Sir William Balfour, who commanded

Essex's reserve, perceived the advantage: he wheeled about upon the

king's infantry, now quite unfurnished of horse; and he made great

havoc among them. Lindesey, the general, was mortally wounded, and

taken prisoner. His son, endeavoring his rescue, fell likewise into the

enemy's hands. Sir Edmund Verney, who carried the king's standard, was

killed, and the standard taken; but it was afterwards recovered. In this

situation, Prince Rupert, on his return, found affairs. Every thing

bore the appearance of a defeat, instead of a victory, with which he had

hastily flattered himself. Some advised the king to leave the field; but

that prince rejected such pusillanimous counsel. The two armies

faced each other for some time, and neither of them retained courage

sufficient for a new attack. All night they lay under arms; and next

morning found themselves in sight of each other. General, as well as

soldier, on both sides, seemed averse to renew the battle. Essex first

drew off, and retired to Warwick. The king returned to his former

quarters. Five thousand men are said to have been found dead on the

field of battle, and the loss of the two armies, as far as we can judge

by the opposite accounts, was nearly equal. Such was the event of this

first battle fought at Keinton, or Edge Hill.[*]

Some of Essex's horse, who had been driven off the field in the

beginning of the action, flying to a great distance, carried news of a

total defeat, and struck a mighty terror into the city and parliament.

After a few days, a more just account arrived; and then the parliament

pretended to a complete victory.[**] The king also, on his part, was not

wanting to display his advantages; though, except the taking of Banbury

a few days after, he had few marks of victory to boast of. He continued

his march, and took possession of Oxford, the only town in his dominions

which was altogether at his devotion.

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 44, etc. May, book iii. p. 16,

etc.

** Whitlocke, p. 61. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 59.

After the royal army was recruited and refreshed, as the weather still

continued favorable, it was again put in motion, A party of horse

approached to Reading, of which Martin was appointed governor by the

parliament. Both governor and garrison were seized with a panic, and

fled with precipitation to London. The king, hoping that every thing

would yield before him, advanced with his whole army to Reading. The

parliament, who, instead of their fond expectations that Charles would

never be able to collect an army, had now the prospect of a civil

war, bloody, and of uncertain event; were further alarmed at the near

approach of the royal army, while their own forces lay at a distance.

They voted an address for a treaty. The king's nearer approach to

Colebroke quickened their advances for peace. Northumberland and

Pembroke, with three commoners, presented the address of both houses; in

which they besought his majesty to appoint some convenient place where

he might reside, till committees could attend him with proposals. The

king named Windsor, and desired that their garrison might be removed,

and his own troops admitted into that castle.[*]

Meanwhile Essex, advancing by hasty marches, had arrived at London. But

neither the presence of his army, nor the precarious hopes of a treaty,

retarded the king's approaches. Charles attacked at Brentford two

regiments quartered there, and after a sharp action beat them from that

village, and took, about five hundred prisoners. The parliament had sent

orders to forbear all hostilities, and had expected the same from the

king; though no stipulations to that purpose had been mentioned by their

commissioners. Loud complaints were raised against this attack, as if

it had been the most apparent perfidy and breach of treaty.[**] Inflamed

with resentment, as well as anxious for its own safety, the city marched

its trained bands in excellent order, and joined the army under Essex.

The parliamentary army now amounted to above twenty-four thousand men,

and was much superior to that of the king.[***] After both armies had

faced each other for some time, Charles drew off and retired to Reading,

thence to Oxford.

While the principal armies on both sides were kept in inaction by

the winter season, the king and parliament were employed in real

preparations for war, and in seeming advances towards peace. By means of

contributions or assessments levied by the horse, Charles maintained his

cavalry; by loans and voluntary presents sent him from all parts of the

kingdom, he supported his infantry: but the supplies were still very

unequal to the necessities under which he labored.[****]

* Whitlocke, p. 62. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 73.

** Whitlocke, p. 62. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 75.

*** Whitlocke, p. 62.

**** Clarendon, vol. iii p. 87.

The parliament had much greater resources for money; and had by

consequence every military preparation in much greater order and

abundance. Besides an imposition levied in London, amounting to the

five-and-twentieth part of every one's substance, they established on

that city a weekly assessment of ten thousand pounds, and another of

twenty-three thousand five hundred and eighteen on the rest of the

kingdom.[*] And as their authority was at present established in most

counties, they levied these taxes with regularity; though they amounted

to sums much greater than the nation had formerly paid to the public.

{1643.} The king and parliament sent reciprocally their demands; and a

treaty commenced, but without any cessation of hostilities, as had at

first been proposed. The earl of Northumberland and four members of the

lower house came to Oxford, as commissioners.[**] In this treaty, the

king perpetually insisted on the reëstablishment of the crown in

its legal powers, and on the restoration of his constitutional

prerogative:[***] the parliament still required new concessions, and

a further abridgment of regal authority, as a more effectual remedy to

their fears and jealousies. Finding the king supported by more forces

and a greater party than they had ever looked for, they seemingly

abated somewhat of those extravagant conditions which they had formerly

claimed; but their demands were still too high for an equal treaty.

Besides other articles, to which a complete victory alone could entitle

them, they required the king, in express terms, utterly to abolish

Episcopacy; a demand which before they had only insinuated; and

they required, that all other ecclesiastical controversies should be

determined by their assembly of divines; that is, in the manner the most

repugnant to the inclinations of the king and all his partisans. They

insisted, that he should submit to the punishment of his most faithful

adherents. And they desired him to acquiesce in their settlement of the

militia, and to confer on their adherents the entire power of the sword.

In answer to the king's proposal, that his magazines, towns, forts,

and ships should be restored to him, the parliament required that

they should be put into such hands as they could confide in:[****] the

nineteen propositions which they formerly sent to the king, showed their

inclination to abolish monarchy: they only asked at present the power of

doing it.

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 171.

** Whitlocke, p. 6*.

*** Rush, vol. vi. p. 202.

**** Rush, vol. vi. p. 166. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 119.

And having now in the eye of the law been guilty of treason, by

levying war against their sovereign, it is evident that their fears

and jealousies must on that account have multiplied extremely, and have

rendered their personal safety, which they interwove with the safety of

the nation, still more incompatible with the authority of the monarch.

Though the gentleness and lenity of the king's temper might have insured

them against schemes of future vengeance, they preferred, as is no doubt

natural, an independent security, accompanied too with sovereign power,

to the station of subjects, and that not entirely guarded from all

apprehensions of danger.[*] [12]

The conferences went no further than the first demand on each side.

The parliament, finding that there was no likelihood of coming to any

agreement, suddenly recalled their commissioners.

A military enterprise, which they had concerted early in the spring, was

immediately undertaken. Reading, the garrison of the king's which lay

nearest to London, was esteemed a place of considerable strength in that

age, when the art of attacking towns was not well understood in Europe,

and was totally unknown in England. The earl of Essex sat down before

this place with an army of eighteen thousand men, and carried on the

siege by regular approaches. Sir Arthur Aston, the governor, being

wounded, Colonel Fielding succeeded to the command. In a little time,

the town was found to be no longer in a condition of defence; and though

the king approached with an intention of obliging Essex to raise the

siege, the disposition of the parliamentary army was so strong as

rendered the design impracticable. Fielding, therefore, was contented to

yield the town, on condition that he should bring off all the garrison

with the honors of war, and deliver up deserters. This last article was

thought so ignominious and so prejudicial to the king's interests, that

the governor was tried by a council of war, and condemned to lose his

life for consenting to it. His sentence was afterwards remitted by the

king.[**]

* See note L, at the end of the volume.

** Rush. vol. vi. p. 265, etc. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 237,

238, etc.

Essex's army had been fully supplied with all necessaries from London;

even many superfluities and luxuries were sent them by the care of the

zealous citizens; yet the hardships which they suffered from the siege

during so early a season had weakened them to such a degree, that they

were no longer fit for any new enterprise. And the two armies for some

time encamped in the neighborhood of each other, without attempting on

either side any action of moment.

Besides the military operations between the principal armies which lay

in the centre of England, each county, each town, each family almost,

was divided within itself; and the most violent convulsions shook the

whole kingdom. Throughout the winter, continual efforts had every where

been made by each party to surmount its antagonist; and the English,

roused from the lethargy of peace, with eager though unskilful hands

employed against their fellow-citizens their long-neglected weapons. The

furious zeal for liberty and Presbyterian discipline, which had hitherto

run uncontrolled throughout the nation, now at last excited an equal

ardor for monarchy and Episcopacy, when the intention of abolishing

these ancient modes of government was openly avowed by the parliament.

Conventions for neutrality, though in several counties they had been

entered into and confirmed by the most solemn oaths, yet being voted

illegal by the two houses, were immediately broken;[*] and the fire of

discord was spread into every quarter. The altercation of discourse, the

controversies of the pen, but above all the declamations of the pulpit,

indisposed the minds of men towards each other, and propagated the

blind rage of party.[**] Fierce, however, and inflamed as were the

dispositions of the English, by a war both civil and religious, that

great destroyer of humanity, all the events of this period are less

distinguished by atrocious deeds either of treachery or cruelty, than

were ever any intestine discords which had so long a continuance; a

circumstance which will be found to reflect great praise on the national

character of that people now so unhappily roused to arms.

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 137, 139.

** Dugdale, p. 95.

In the north, Lord Fairfax commanded for the parliament, the earl of

Newcastle for the king. The latter nobleman began those associations

which were afterwards so much practised in other parts of the kingdom.

He united in a league for the king the counties of Northumberland,

Cumberland, Westmoreland, and the bishopric, and engaged some time after

other counties in the same association. Finding that Fairfax, assisted

by Hotham and the garrison of Hull, was making progress in the southern

parts of Yorkshire, he advanced with a body of four thousand men, and

took possession of York. At Tadcaster, he attacked the forces of the

parliament, and dislodged them: but his victory was not decisive. In

other rencounters, he obtained some inconsiderable advantages. But the

chief benefit which resulted from his enterprises was, the establishing

of the king's authority in all the northern provinces.

In another part of the kingdom, Lord Broke was killed by a shot while he

was taking possession of Lichfield for the parliament.[*] After a sharp

combat near Stafford, between the earl of Northampton and Sir John Gell,

the former, who commanded the king's forces, was killed while he fought

with great valor; and his forces, discouraged by his death, though they

had obtained the advantage in the action, retreated into the town of

Stafford.[**]

Sir William Waller began to distinguish himself among the generals of

the parliament. Active and indefatigable in his operations, rapid and

enterprising, he was fitted by his genius to the nature of the

war; which, being managed by raw troops, conducted by unexperienced

commanders, afforded success to every bold and sudden undertaking. After

taking Winchester and Chichester, he advanced towards Gloucester, which

was in a manner blockaded by Lord Herbert, who had levied considerable

forces in Wales for the royal party.[***] While he attacked the Welsh on

one side, a sally from Gloucester made impression on the other. Herbert

was defeated; five hundred of his men killed on the spot; a thousand

taken prisoners; and he himself escaped with some difficulty to Oxford.

Hereford, esteemed a strong town, defended by a considerable garrison,

was surrendered to Waller, from the cowardice of Colonel Price, the

governor. Tewkesbury underwent the same fate. Worcester refused him

admittance; and Waller, without placing any garrisons in his new

conquests, retired to Gloucester, and he thence joined the army under

the earl of Essex.[****]

* He had taken possession of Lichfield, and was viewing from

a window St. Chad's cathedral, in which a party of the

royalists had fortified themselves. He was cased in complete

armor, but was shot through the eye by a random ball. Lord

Broke was a zealous Puritan; and had formerly said, that he

hoped to see with his eyes the ruin of all the cathedrals of

England. It was a superstitious remark of the royalists,

that he was killed on St. Chad's day by a shot from St.

Chad's cathedral, which pierced that very eye by which he

hoped to see the ruin of all cathedrals. Dugdale, p. 118.

Clarendon, etc.

* Whitlocke, p. 66. Rush. vol. vi. p. 152. Clarendon, vol.

iii. p. 151.

* Rush. vol. vi. D. 92, 100.

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 262.

[Illustration: 1-671-gloucester.jpg GLOUCESTER]

But the most memorable actions of valor during this winter season were

performed in the west. When Sir Ralph Hopton with his small troop,

retired into Cornwall before the earl of Bedford, that nobleman,

despising so inconsiderable a force, abandoned the pursuit, and

committed the care of suppressing the royal party to the sheriffs of the

county. But the affections of Cornwall were much inclined to the

king's service. While Sir Richard Duller and Sir Alexander Carew lay

at Launceston, and employed themselves in executing the parliament's

ordinance for the militia, a meeting of the county was assembled

at Truro; and after Hopton produced his commission from the earl of

Hertford, the king's general, it was agreed to execute the laws, and

to expel these invaders of the county. The train bands were accordingly

levied, Launceston taken, and all Cornwall reduced to peace and to

obedience under the king.

It had been usual for the royal party, on the commencement of these

disorders, to claim on all occasions the strict execution of the laws,

which, they knew, were favorable to them; and the parliament, rather

than have recourse to the plea of necessity, and avow the transgression

of any statute, had also been accustomed to warp the laws, and by forced

constructions to interpret them in their own favor.[*]

* Clarerdon, vol. iii. p. 130.

But though the king was naturally the gainer by such a method of

conducting war, and it was by favor of law that the train, bands were

raised in Cornwall, it appeared that those maxims were now prejudicial

to the royal party. These troops could not legally, without their

own consent, be carried out of the county; and consequently it was

impossible to push into Devonshire the advantage which they had

obtained. The Cornish royalists, therefore, bethought themselves of

levying a force which might be more serviceable. Sir Bevil Granville,

the most beloved man of that country, Sir Ralph Hopton, Sir Nicholas

Slanning, Arundel, and Trevannion undertook as their own charges to

raise an army for the king; and their great interest in Cornwall soon

enabled them to effect their purpose. The parliament, alarmed at this

appearance of the royalists, gave a commission to Ruthven, a Scotchman,

governor of Plymouth, to march with all the forces to Dorset. Somerset,

and Devon, and make an entire conquest of Cornwall. The earl of Stamford

followed him at some distance With a considerable supply. Ruthven,

having entered Cornwall by bridges thrown over the Tamar, hastened to

an action, lest Stamwood should join him, and obtain the honor of that

victory which he looked for with assurance. The royalists in like manner

were impatient to bring the affair to a decision before Ruthven's army

should receive so considerable a reënforcement. The battle was fought

on Bradoc Down; and the king's forces, though inferior in number, gave

a total defeat to their enemies. Ruthven, with a few broken troops,

fled to Saltash; and when that town was taken, he escaped with some

difficulty, and almost alone, into Plymouth. Stamford retired, and

distributed his forces into Plymouth and Exeter.

Notwithstanding these advantages, the extreme want both of money and

ammunition under which the Cornish royalists labored, obliged them to

enter into a convention of neutrality with the parliamentary party

in Devonshire; and this neutrality held all the winter season. In

the spring, it was broken by the authority of the two houses; but war

recommenced with great appearance of disadvantage to the king's party.

Stamford, having assembled a strong body of near seven thousand men,

well supplied with money, provisions, and ammunition, advanced upon the

royalists, who were not half his number, and were oppressed by every

kind of necessity. Despair, joined to the natural gallantry of these

troops, commanded by the prime gentry of the county, made them resolve

by one vigorous effort, to overcome all these disadvantages. Stamford

being encamped on the top of a high hill near Stratum, they attacked him

in four divisions, at five in the morning, having lain all night under

arms. One division was commanded by Lord Mohun and Sir Ralph Hopton,

another by Sir Bevil Granville and Sir John Berkeley, a third by

Slanning and Trevannion, a fourth by Basset and Godolphin. In this

manner the action began; the king's forces pressing with vigor

those four ways up the hill, and their enemies obstinately defending

themselves. The fight continued with doubtful success, till word was

brought to the chief officers of the Cornish, that their ammunition

was spent to less than four barrels of powder. This defect, which they

concealed from the soldiers, they resolved to supply by their valor.

They agreed to advance without firing till they should reach the top of

the hill, and could be on equal ground with the enemy. The courage of

the officers was so well seconded by the soldiers, that the royalists

began on all sides to gain ground. Major-General Chidley, who commanded

the parliamentary army, (for Stamford kept at a distance,) failed not

in his duty; and when he saw his men recoil, he himself advanced with a

good stand of pikes, and piercing into the thickest of the enemy, was

at last overpowered by numbers, and taken prisoner. His army, upon

this disaster, gave ground apace; insomuch that the four parties of the

royalists, growing nearer and nearer as they ascended, at length met

together upon the plain at the top; where they embraced with great

joy, and signalized their victory with loud shouts and mutual

congratulations.[*]

After this success, the attention both of king and parliament was turned

towards the west, as to a very important scene of action. The king sent

thither the marquis of Hertford and Prince Maurice, with a reënforcement

of cavalry; who, having joined the Cornish army, soon overran the county

of Devon; and advancing into that of Somerset, began to reduce it

to obedience. On the other hand, the parliament, having supplied

Sir William Waller, in whom they much trusted, with a complete army,

despatched him westwards, in order to check the progress of the

royalists. After some skirmishes, the two armies met at Lansdown, near

Bath, and fought a pitched battle, with great loss on both sides, but

without any decisive event.[**] The gallant Granville was there killed;

and Hopton, by the blowing up of some powder, was dangerously hurt.

* Rush, vol. vi. p. 267, 273. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 269,

279.

** Rush, vol. vi. p. 284. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 282.

The royalists next attempted to march eastwards, and to join their

forces to the king's at Oxford: but Waller hung on their rear, and

infested their march till they reached the Devizes. Reënforced by

additional troops, which flocked to him from all quarters, he so much

surpassed the royalists in number, that they durst no longer continue

their march, or expose themselves to the hazard of an action. It was

resolved that Hertford and Prince Maurice should proceed with the

cavalry; and, having procured a reënforcement from the king, should

hasten back to the relief of their friends. Waller was so confident of

taking this body of infantry, now abandoned by the horse, that he wrote

to the parliament that their work was done, and that by the next post

he would inform them of the number and quality of the prisoners. But the

king, even before Hertford's arrival, hearing of the great difficulties

to which his western army was reduced, had prepared a considerable body

of cavalry, which he immediately despatched to their succor under the

command of Lord Wilmot. Waller drew up on Roundway Down, about two miles

from the Devizes, and advancing with his cavalry to fight Wilmot, and

prevent his conjunction with the Cornish infantry, was received with

equal valor by the royalists. After a sharp action, he was totally

routed, and flying with a few horse, escaped to Bristol. Wilmot, seizing

the enemy's cannon, and having joined his friends whom he came to

relieve, attacked Waller's infantry with redoubled courage, drove them

off the field, and routed and dispersed the whole army.[*]

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 285. Clarendoo. vol. iii. p. 29l.

This important victory, following so quick after many other successes,

struck great dismay into the parliament, and gave an alarm to their

principal army, commanded by Essex. Waller exclaimed loudly against

that general, for allowing Wilmot to pass him, and proceed without any

interruption to the succor of the distressed infantry at the Devizes.

But Essex, finding that his army fell continually to decay after the

siege of Reading, was resolved to remain upon the defensive; and the

weakness of the king, and his want of all military stores, had also

restrained the activity of the royal army. No action had happened in

that part of England, except one skirmish, which of itself was of no

great consequence, and was rendered memorable by the death alone of the

famous Hambden.

Colonel Urrey, a Scotchman, who served in the parliamentary army, having

received some disgust, came to Oxford and offered his services to the

king. In order to prove the sincerity of his conversion, he informed

Prince Rupert of the loose disposition of the enemy's quarters, and

exhorted him to form some attempt upon them. The prince, who was

entirely fitted for that kind of service, falling suddenly upon the

dispersed bodies of Essex's army, routed two regiments of cavalry

and one of infantry, and carried his ravages within two miles of

the general's quarters. The alarm being given, every one mounted on

horseback, in order to pursue the prince, to recover the prisoners,

and to repair the disgrace which the army had sustained. Among the rest

Hambden, who had a regiment of infantry that lay at a distance, joined

the horse as a volunteer; and overtaking the royalists on Chalgrave

field, entered into the thickest of the battle. By the bravery and

activity of Rupert, the king's troops were brought off, and a great

booty, together with two hundred prisoners, was conveyed to Oxford. But

what most pleased the royalists was the expectation that some disaster

had happened to Hambden their capital and much dreaded enemy. One of the

prisoners taken in the action, said, that he was confident Mr. Hambden

was hurt: for he saw him, contrary to his usual custom, ride off the

field before the action was finished; his head hanging down, and his

hands leaning upon his horse's neck. Next day the news arrived, that he

was shot in the shoulder with a brace of bullets, and the bone broken.

Some days after, he died, in exquisite pain, of his wound; nor could his

whole party, had their army met with a total overthrow, have been thrown

into greater consternation. The king himself so highly valued him, that,

either from generosity or policy, he intended to have sent him his own

surgeon to assist at his cure.[*] [13]

* See note M, at the end of the volume.

Many were the virtues and talents of this eminent personage; and his

valor during the war had shone out with a lustre equal to that of

the other accomplishments by which he had ever been distinguished.

Affability in conversation; temper, art, and eloquence in debate;

penetration and discernment in counsel; industry, vigilance, and

enterprise in action; all these praises are unanimously ascribed to

him by historians of the most opposite parties. His virtue, too, and

integrity in all the duties of private life, are allowed to have been

beyond exception: we must only be cautious, notwithstanding his generous

zeal for liberty, not hastily to ascribe to him the praises of a good

citizen. Through all the horrors of civil war, he sought the abolition

of monarchy, and subversion of the constitution; an end which, had

it been attainable by peaceful measures, ought carefully to have been

avoided by every lover of his country. But whether, in the pursuit

of this violent enterprise, he was actuated by private ambition or by

honest prejudices, derived from the former exorbitant powers of royalty,

it belongs not to an historian of this age, scarcely even to an intimate

friend, positively to determine.

Essex, discouraged by this event, dismayed by the total rout of Waller,

was further informed, that the queen, who landed at Burlington Bay, had

arrived at Oxford, and had brought from the north a reënforcement of

three thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. Dislodging from Thame

and Aylesbury, where he had hitherto lain, he thought proper to

retreat nearer to London; and he showed to his friends his broken and

disheartened forces, which a few months before he had led into the field

in so flourishing a condition. The king, freed from this enemy, sent his

army westward under Prince Rupert; and, by their conjunction with the

Cornish troops, a formidable force, for numbers as well as reputation

and valor, was composed. That an enterprise correspondent to men's

expectations might be undertaken, the prince resolved to lay siege

to Bristol, the second town for riches and greatness in the kingdom.

Nathaniel Fiennes, son of Lord Say he himself, as well as his father, a

great parliamentary leader was governor, and commanded a garrison of two

thousand five hundred foot, and two regiments, one of horse, another

of dragoons. The fortifications not being complete or regular, it was

resolved by Prince Rupert to storm the city, and next morning, with

little other provisions suitable to such a work besides the courage of

the troops, the assault began. The Cornish in three divisions attacked

the west side, with a resolution which nothing could control; but though

the middle division had already mounted the wall, so great was the

disadvantage of the ground, and so brave the defence of the garrison,

that in the end the assailants were repulsed with a considerable loss

both of officers and soldiers. On the prince's side, the assault was

conducted with equal courage, and almost with equal loss, but with

better success. One party, led by Lord Grandison, was indeed beaten

off, and the commander himself mortally wounded: another, conducted

by Colonel Bellasis, met with a like fate: but Washington, with a less

party, finding a place in the curtain weaker than the rest, broke

in, and quickly made room for the horse to follow. By this irruption,

however, nothing but the suburbs was yet gained: the entrance into the

town was still more difficult: and by the loss already sustained, as

well as by the prospect of further danger, every one was extremely

discouraged; when, to the great joy of the army, the city beat a parley.

The garrison was allowed to march out with their arms and baggage,

leaving their cannon, ammunition, and colors. For this instance

of cowardice, Fiennes was afterwards tried by a court martial, and

condemned to lose his head; but the sentence was remitted by the

general.[*]

* Rush. vol. vi p. 284. Clarendon, vol. iii. p 293, 294,

etc.

Great complaints were made of violences exercised on the garrison,

contrary to the capitulation. An apology was made by the royalists,

as if these were a retaliation for some violences committed on their

friends at the surrender of Reading. And under pretence of like

retaliations, but really from the extreme animosity of the parties, were

such irregularities continued during the whole course of the war.[*]

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 297

The loss sustained by the royalists in the assault of Bristol was

considerable. Five hundred excellent soldiers perished. Among those of

condition were Grandison, Slanning, Trevannion, and Moyle; Bellasis,

Ashley, and Sir John Owen were wounded; yet was the success upon the

whole so considerable, as mightily raised the courage of the one party

and depressed that of the other. The king, to show that he was not

intoxicated with good fortune, nor aspired to a total victory over the

parliament, published a manifesto, in which he renewed the protestation

formerly taken, with great solemnity, at the head of his army, and

expressed his firm intention of making peace upon the reestablishment

of the constitution. Having joined the camp at Bristol, and sent Prince

Maurice with a detachment into Devonshire, he deliberated how to employ

the remaining forces in an enterprise of moment. Some proposed, and

seemingly with reason, to march directly to London, where every

thing was in confusion, where the army of the parliament was baffled,

weakened, and dismayed, and where, it was hoped, either by an

insurrection of the citizens, by victory, or by treaty, a speedy end

might be put to the civil disorders. But this undertaking, by reason of

the great number and force of the London militia, was thought by many

to be attended with considerable difficulties. Gloucester, lying within

twenty miles, presented an easier, yet a very important conquest. It was

the only remaining garrison possessed by the parliament in those parts.

Could that city be reduced, the king held the whole course of the Severn

under his command; the rich and malecontent counties of the west, having

lost all protection from their friends, might be forced to pay

high contributions as an atonement for their disaffection; an open

communication could be preserved between Wales and these new conquests;

and half of the kingdom being entirely freed from the enemy, and thus

united into one firm body, might be employed in reestablishing the

king's authority throughout the remainder. These were the reasons for

embracing that resolution, fatal, as it was ever esteemed to the royal

party.[*]

The governor of Gloucester was one Massey, a soldier of fortune, who,

before he engaged with the parliament, had offered his service to the

king; and as he was free from the fumes of enthusiasm, by which most of

the officers on that side were intoxicated, he would lend an ear, it

was presumed, to proposals for accommodation. But Massey was resolute

to preserve an entire fidelity to his masters; and though no enthusiast

himself, he well knew how to employ to advantage that enthusiastic

spirit so prevalent in his city and garrison. The summons to surrender

allowed two hours for an answer; but before that time expired, there

appeared before the king two citizens, with lean, pale, sharp, and

dismal visages; faces so strange and uncouth, according to Clarendon,

figures so habited and accoutred, as at once moved the most severe

countenance to mirth, and the most cheerful heart to sadness; it seemed

impossible that such messengers could bring less than a defiance.

The men, without any circumstance of duty or good manners, in a pert,

shrill, undismayed accent, said that they brought an answer from the

godly city of Gloucester; and extremely ready were they, according to

the historian, to give insolent and seditious replies to any question;

as if their business were chiefly, by provoking the king, to make him

violate his own safe-conduct. The answer from the city was in these

words: "We, the inhabitants, magistrates, officers, and soldiers within

the garrison of Gloucester, unto his majesty's gracious message, return

this humble answer: that we do keep this city, according to our

oaths and allegiance, to and for the use of his majesty and his royal

posterity; and do accordingly conceive ourselves wholly bound to obey

the commands of his majesty, signified by both houses of parliament, and

are resolved, by God's help, to keep this city accordingly."[**] After

these preliminaries, the siege was resolutely undertaken by the army,

and as resolutely sustained by the citizens and garrison.

* Whitlocke, p. 69. May, book iii. p. 91.

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 287. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 315. May,

book iii. p. 96.

When intelligence of the siege of Gloucester arrived in London, the

consternation among the inhabitants was as great as if the enemy were

already at their gates. The rapid progress of the royalists threatened

the parliament with immediate subjection: the factions and discontents

among themselves in the city, and throughout the neighboring counties,

prognosticated some dangerous division or insurrection. Those

parliamentary leaders, it must be owned, who had introduced such mighty

innovations into the English constitution, and who had projected so much

greater, had not engaged in an enterprise which exceeded their courage

and capacity. Great vigor, from the beginning, as well as wisdom, they

had displayed in all their counsels; and a furious, headstrong body,

broken loose from the restraint of law, had hitherto been retained in

subjection under their authority, and firmly united by zeal and passion,

as by the most legal and established government. A small committee,

on whom the two houses devolved their power, had directed all their

military operations, and had preserved a secrecy in deliberation, and

a promptitude in execution, beyond what the king, notwithstanding the

advantages possessed by a single leader, had ever been able to attain.

Sensible that no jealousy was by their partisans entertained against

them, they had on all occasions exerted an authority much more despotic

than the royalists, even during the pressing exigencies of war,

could with patience endure in their sovereign. Whoever incurred their

displeasure, or was exposed to their suspicions, was committed to

prison, and prosecuted under the notion of delinquency: after all the

old jails were full, many new ones were erected; and even the ships were

crowded with the royalists, both gentry and clergy, who anguished below

decks, and perished in those unhealthy confinements: they imposed taxes,

the heaviest and of the most unusual nature, by an ordinance of the two

houses; they voted a commission for sequestrations; and they seized,

wherever they had power, the revenues of all the king's party;[*] and

knowing that themselves, and all their adherents, were, by resisting

the prince, exposed to the penalties of law, they resolved, by a severe

administration, to overcome those terrors, and to retain the people in

obedience by penalties of a more immediate execution. In the beginning

of this summer, a combination, formed against them in London, had

obliged them to exert the plenitude of their authority.

* The king afterwards copied from this example; but, as the

far greater part of the nobility and landed gentry were his

friends, he reaped much less profit from this measure.

Edward Waller, the first refiner of English versification, was a

member of the lower house; a man of considerable fortune, and not more

distinguished by his poetical genius than by his parliamentary talents,

and by the politeness and elegance of his manners. As full of keen

satire and invective in his eloquence, as of tenderness and panegyric

in his poetry, he caught the attention of his hearers, and exerted the

utmost boldness in blaming those violent counsels by which the commons

were governed. Finding all opposition within doors to be fruitless, he

endeavored to form a party without, which might oblige the parliament

to accept of reasonable conditions, and restore peace to the nation.

The charms of his conversation, joined to his character of courage and

integrity, had procured him the entire confidence of Northumberland,

Conway, and every eminent person of either sex who resided in London.

They opened their breasts to him without reserve, and expressed their

disapprobation of the furious measures pursued by the commons, and their

wishes that some expedient could be found for stopping so impetuous a

career. Tomkins, Waller's brother-in-law, and Chaloner, the intimate

friend of Tomkins, had entertained like sentiments: and as the

connections of these two gentlemen lay chiefly in the city, they

informed Waller that the same abhorrence of war prevailed there among

all men of reason and moderation. Upon reflection, it seemed not

impracticable that a combination might be formed between the lords and

citizens; and, by mutual concert, the illegal taxes be refused, which

the parliament, without the royal assent, imposed on the people. While

this affair was in agitation, and lists were making of such as they

conceived to be well affected to their design, a servant of Tomkins, who

had overheard their discourse, immediately carried intelligence to

Pym. Waller, Tomkins, and Chaloner were seized, and tried by a court

martial.[*]

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 326. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 249, 250,

etc.

They were all three condemned, and the two latter executed on gibbets

erected before their own doors. A covenant, as a test, was taken by

the lords and commons, and imposed on their army, and on all who lived

within their quarters. Besides resolving to amend and reform their

lives, the covenanters their vow, that they will never lay down their

arms so long as the Papists, now in open war against the parliament,

shall by force of arms be protected from justice; they express their

abhorrence of the late conspiracy; and they promise to assist to the

utmost the forces raised by both houses, against the forces levied by

the king.[*]

Waller, as soon as imprisoned, sensible of the great danger into which

he had fallen, was so seized with the dread of death, that all his

former spirit deserted him; and he confessed whatever he knew, without

sparing his most intimate friends, without regard to the confidence

reposed in him, without distinguishing between the negligence of

familiar conversation and the schemes of a regular conspiracy. With

the most profound dissimulation, he counterfeited such remorse of

conscience, that his execution was put off, out of mere Christian

compassion, till he might recover the use of his understanding. He

invited visits from the ruling clergy of all sects; and while he

expressed his own penitence, he received their devout exhortations with

humility and reverence, as conveying clearer conviction and information

than in his life he had ever before attained. Presents too, of which,

as well as of flattery, these holy men were not insensible, were

distributed among them, as a small retribution for their prayers and

ghostly counsel. And by all these artifices, more than from any regard

to the beauty of his genius, of which, during that time of furious cant

and faction, small account would be made, he prevailed so far as to have

his life spared, and a fine of ten thousand pounds accepted in lieu of

it.[**]

The severity exercised against the conspiracy, or rather project of

Waller, increased the authority of the parliament, and seemed to insure

them against like attempts for the future. But by the progress of the

king's arms, the defeat of Sir William Waller, the taking of Bristol,

the siege of Gloucester, a cry for peace was renewed, and with more

violence than ever. Crowds of women, with a petition for that purpose,

flocked about the house, and were so clamorous and, importunate, that

orders were given for dispersing them; and some of the females were

killed in the fray.[***] Bedford, Holland, and Conway had deserted the

parliament, and had gone to Oxford; Clare and Lovelace had followed

them.[****] Northumberland had retired to his country seat: Essex

himself showed extreme dissatisfaction, and exhorted the parliament to

make peace.[v]

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 325. Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 255.

** Whitlocke, p. 66. Rush. vol. vi. p. 330. Clarendon, vol.

iii p. 253, 254, etc.

*** Rush. vol. vi. p. 357.

**** Whitlocke, p. 67.

v Rush. vol. vi. p. 290.

The upper house sent down terms of accommodation, more moderate than

had hitherto been insisted on. It even passed by a majority among the

commons, that these proposals should be transmitted to the King. The

zealots took the alarm. A petition against peace was framed in the city,

and presented by Pennington, the factious mayor. Multitudes attended

him, and renewed all the former menaces against the moderate party.[*]

The pulpits thundered; and rumors were spread of twenty thousand Irish

who had landed, and were to cut the throat of every Protestant.[**]

The majority was again turned to the other side, and all thoughts of

pacification being dropped, every preparation was made for resistance,

and for the immediate relief of Gloucester, on which the parliament was

sensible all their hopes of success in the war did so much depend.

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 356.

** Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 320. Rush, vol. vi. p. 588.

Massey, resolute to make a vigorous defence, and having under his

command a city and garrison ambitious of the crown of martyrdom, had

hitherto maintained the siege with courage and abilities, and had

much retarded the advances of the king's army. By continual sallies he

infested them in their trenches, and gained sudden advantages over them:

by disputing every inch of ground, he repressed the vigor and alacrity

of their courage, elated by former successes. His garrison, however, was

reduced to the last extremity; and he failed not from time to time

to inform the parliament that, unless speedily relieved, he should be

necessitated, from the extreme want of provisions and ammunition, to

open his gates to the enemy.

The parliament, in order to repair their broken condition, and put

themselves in a posture of defence, now exerted to the utmost their

power and authority. They voted that an army should be levied under Sir

William Waller, whom, notwithstanding his misfortunes, they loaded with

extraordinary caresses. Having associated in their cause the counties of

Hertford, Essex, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincoln, and Huntingdon,

they gave the earl of Manchester a commission to be general of the

association, and appointed an army to be levied under his command. But,

above all, they were intent that Essex's army, on which their whole

fortune depended, should be put in a condition of marching against

the king. They excited afresh their preachers to furious declamations

against the royal cause. They even employed the expedient of pressing,

though abolished by a late law, for which they had strenuously

contended.[*] And they engaged the city to send four regiments of its

militia to the relief of Gloucester. All shops, meanwhile, were ordered

to be shut; and every man expected, with the utmost anxiety, the event

of that important enterprise.[**]

Essex, carrying with him a well-appointed army of fourteen thousand men,

took the road of Bedford and Leicester: and though inferior in cavalry,

yet, by the mere force of conduct and discipline, he passed over those

open champaign country, and defended himself from the enemy's horse, who

had advanced to meet him, and who infested him during his whole march.

As he approached to Gloucester, the king was obliged to raise the siege,

and open the way for Essex to enter that city. The necessities of the

garrison were extreme. One barrel of powder was their whole stock

of ammunition remaining; and their other provisions were in the

same proportion. Essex had brought with him military stores; and the

neighboring country abundantly supplied him with victuals of every kind.

The inhabitants had carefully concealed all provisions from the king's

army, and, pretending to be quite exhausted, had reserved their stores

for that cause which they so much favored.[***]

The chief difficulty still remained. Essex dreaded a battle with the

king's army, on account of its great superiority in cavalry; and he

resolved to return, if possible, without running that hazard. He

lay five days at Tewkesbury, which was his first stage after leaving

Gloucester; and he feigned, by some preparations, to point towards

Worcester. By a forced march during the night, he reached Cirencester,

and obtained the double advantage of passing unmolested an open country,

and of surprising a convoy of provisions which lay in that town.[****]

Without delay he proceeded towards London; but when he reached Newbury,

he was surprised to find that the king, by hasty marches, had arrived

before him, and was already possessed of the place.

* Rush, vol. vi. p. 292.

** Rush, vol. vi. p. 292.

*** Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 344.

**** Rush, vol. vi. p 292.

An action was now unavoidable; and Essex prepared for it with presence

of mind, and not without military conduct. On both sides the battle was

fought with desperate valor and a steady bravery. Essex's horse

were several times broken by the king's, but his infantry maintained

themselves in firm array; and, besides giving a continued fire, they

presented an invincible rampart of pikes against the furious shock of

Prince Rupert, and those gallant troops of gentry of which the royal

cavalry was chiefly composed. The militia of London especially, though

utterly unacquainted with action, though drawn hut a few days before

from their ordinary occupations, yet having learned all military

exercises, and being animated with unconquerable zeal for the cause

in which they were engaged, equalled on this occasion what could be

expected from the most veteran forces. While the armies were engaged

with the utmost ardor, night put an end to the action and left the

victory undecided. Next morning, Essex proceeded on his march; and

though his rear was once put in some disorder by an incursion of the

king's horse, he reached London in safety, and received applause for his

conduct and success in the whole enterprise. The king followed him on

his march; and having taken possession of Reading after the earl left

it, he there established a garrison, and straitened by that means London

and the quarters of the enemy.[*]

* Rush, vol. vi. p. 293. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 347.

In the battle of Newbury, on the part of the king, besides the earls

of Sunderland and Carnarvon, two noblemen of promising hopes, was

unfortunately slain, to the regret of every lover of ingenuity and

virtue throughout the kingdom, Lucius Gary, Viscount Falkland, secretary

of state. Before assembling the present parliament, this man, devoted

to the pursuits of learning and to the society of all the polite and

elegant, had enjoyed himself in every pleasure which a fine genius, a

generous disposition, and an opulent fortune could afford. Called into

public life, he stood foremost in all attacks on the high prerogatives

of the crown; and displayed that masculine eloquence and undaunted

love of liberty, which, from his intimate acquaintance with the sublime

spirits of antiquity, he had greedily imbibed. When civil convulsions

proceeded to extremities, and it became requisite for him to choose his

side, he tempered the ardor of his zeal, and embraced the defence of

those limited powers which remained to monarchy, and which he deemed

necessary for the support of the English constitution. Still anxious,

however, for his country, he seems to have dreaded the too prosperous

success of his own party as much as of the enemy; and among his intimate

friends often after a deep silence and frequent sighs, he would with a

sad accent reiterate the word peace. In excuse for the too free exposing

of his person, which seemed unsuitable in a secretary of state, he

alleged, that it became him to be more active than other men in all

hazardous enterprises, lest his impatience for peace might bear the

imputation of cowardice or pusillanimity. From the commencement of the

war, his natural cheerfulness and vivacity became clouded; and even his

usual attention to dress, required by his birth and station gave way to

a negligence which was easily observable. On the morning of the battle

in which he fell, he had shown some care of adorning his person; and

gave for a reason, that the enemy should not find his body in any

slovenly, indecent situation. "I am weary," subjoined he, "of the times,

and foresee much misery to my country; but believe that I shall be out

of it ere night."[*] This excellent person was but thirty-four years of

age when a period was thus put to his life.

* Whitlocke, p. 70. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 350, 351, etc.

The loss sustained on both sides in the battle of Newbury, and the

advanced season, obliged the armies to retire into winter quarters.

In the north, during this summer, the great interest and popularity of

the earl, now created marquis of Newcastle, had raised a considerable

force for the king; and great hopes of success were entertained from

that quarter. There appeared, however, in opposition to him, two men

on whom the event of the war finally depended, and who began about this

time to be remarked for their valor and military conduct. These were Sir

Thomas Fairfax, son of the lord of that name, and Oliver Cromwell. The

former gained a considerable advantage at Wakefield over a detachment

of royalists, and took General Goring prisoner: the latter obtained a

victory at Gainsborough over a party commanded by the gallant Cavendish,

who perished in the action. But both these defeats of the royalists were

more than sufficiently compensated by the total rout of Lord Fairfax

at Atherton Moor, and the dispersion of his army. After this victory,

Newcastle, with an army of fifteen thousand men, sat down before Hull.

Hotham was no longer governor of this place. That gentleman and his son

partly from a jealousy entertained of Lord Fairfax, partly repenting of

their engagements against the king, had entered into a correspondence

with Newcastle, and had expressed an intention of delivering Hull into

his hands. But their conspiracy being detected, they were arrested and

sent prisoners to London; where, without any regard to their former

services, they fell, both of them, victims to the severity of the

parliament.[*]

Newcastle, having carried on the attack of Hull for some time, was beat

off by a sally of the garrison, and suffered so much that he thought

proper to raise the siege. About the same time, Manchester, who advanced

from the eastern associated counties, having joined Cromwell and

young Fairfax, obtained a considerable victory over the royalists at

Horncastle; where the two officers last mentioned gained renown by their

conduct and gallantry. And though fortune had thus balanced her favors,

the king's party still remained much superior in those parts of England;

and had it not been for the garrison of Hull, which kept Yorkshire in

awe, a conjunction of the northern forces with the army in the south

might have been made, and had probably enabled the king, instead

of entering on the unfortunate, perhaps imprudent, enterprise of

Gloucester, to march directly to London, and put an end to the war.[**]

* Rush, vol. vi. p. 275.

** Warwick, p. 261. Walker, p. 278. laudable.

While the military enterprises were carried on with vigor in England,

and the event became every day more doubtful, both parties cast their

eye towards the neighboring kingdoms, and sought assistance for the

finishing of that enterprise in which their own forces experienced such

furious opposition. The parliament had recourse to Scotland; the king to

Ireland.

When the Scottish Covenanters obtained that end for which they so

earnestly contended, the establishment of Presbyterian discipline in

their own country, they were not satisfied, but indulged still in an

ardent passion for propagating, by all methods, that mode of religion in

the neighboring kingdoms. Having flattered themselves, in the fervor of

their zeal, that by supernatural assistances they should be enabled to

carry their triumphant covenant to the gates of Rome itself, it behoved

them first to render it prevalent in England, which already showed so

great a disposition to receive it. Even in the articles of pacification,

they expressed a desire of uniformity in worship with England; and the

king, employing general expressions, had approved of this inclination as

pious and no sooner was there an appearance of a rupture, than the English

parliament, in order to allure that nation into a close confederacy,

openly declared their wishes of ecclesiastical reformation, and of

imitating the example of their northern brethren.[*] When war was

actually commenced, the same artifices were used, and the Scots beheld,

with the utmost impatience, a scene of action of which they could not

deem themselves indifferent spectators. Should the king, they said, be

able by force of arms to prevail over the parliament of England, and

reestablish his authority in that powerful kingdom, he will undoubtedly

retract all those concessions which, with so many circumstances of

violence and indignity, the Scots have extorted from him. Besides a

sense of his own interest, and a regard to royal power, which has been

entirely annihilated in this country, his very passion for prelacy and

for religious ceremonies must lead him to invade a church which he has

ever been taught to regard as anti-Christian and unlawful. Let us but

consider who the persons are that compose the factions now so furiously

engaged in arms. Does not the parliament consist of those very men who

have ever opposed all war with Scotland, who have punished the authors

of our oppressions, who have obtained us the redress of every grievance,

and who, with many honorable expressions, have conferred on us an

ample reward for our brotherly assistance? And is not the court full

of Papists, prelates, malignants; all of them zealous enemies to

our religious model, and resolute to sacrifice their lives for their

idolatrous establishments? Not to mention our own necessary security can

we better express our gratitude to Heaven for that pure light with which

we are, above all nations, so eminently distinguished, than by conveying

the same divine knowledge to our unhappy neighbors, who are wading

through a sea of blood in order to attain it? These were in Scotland the

topics of every conversation: with these doctrines the pulpits echoed:

and the famous curse of Meroz, that curse so solemnly denounced and

reiterated against neutrality and moderation, resounded from all

quarters.[**]

* Rush, vol. vi. p. 390. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 68.

** Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord; curse ye

bitterly the inhabitants thereof: because they came not to

the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the

mighty. Judges, chap. v ver. 23.

The parliament of England had ever invited the Scots, from the

commencement of the civil dissensions, to interpose their mediation,

which they knew would be so little favorable to the king: and the king

for that very reason had ever endeavored, with the least offensive

expressions, to decline it.[*] Early this spring, the earl of Loudon,

the chancellor, with other commissioners, and attended by Henderson,

a popular and intriguing preacher, was sent to the king at Oxford, and

renewed the offer of mediation; but with the same success as before. The

commissioners were also empowered to press the king on the article of

religion, and to recommend to him the Scottish model of ecclesiastic

worship and discipline. This was touching Charles in a very tender

point: his honor his conscience, as well as his interest, he believed to

be intimately concerned in supporting prelacy and the liturgy.[**] [14]

He begged the commissioners, therefore, to remain satisfied with the

concessions which he had made to Scotland; and having modelled their own

church according to their own principles, to leave their neighbors in

the like liberty, and not to intermeddle with affairs of which they

could not be supposed competent judges.[***]

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 398.

** See note N, at the end of the volume.

*** Bush. vol. vi. p. 462.

The divines of Oxford, secure, as they imagined, of a victory, by means

of their authorities from church history, their quotations from the

fathers, and their spiritual arguments, desired a conference with

Henderson, and undertook by dint of reasoning to convert that great

apostle of the north: but Henderson, who had ever regarded as impious

the least doubt with regard to his own principles, and who knew of a

much better way to reduce opponents than by employing any theological

topics, absolutely refused all disputation or controversy. The English

divines went away full of admiration at the blind assurance and bigoted

prejudices of the man: he on his part was moved with equal wonder at

their obstinate attachment to such palpable errors and delusions.

By the concessions which the king had granted to Scotland, it became

necessary for him to summon a parliament once in three years; and in

June of the subsequent year was fixed the period for the meeting of that

assembly. Before that time elapsed, Charles flattered himself that

he should be able, by some decisive advantage, to reduce the English

parliament to a reasonable submission, and might then expect with

security the meeting of a Scottish parliament. Though earnestly

solicited by Loudon to summon presently that great council of the

nation, he absolutely refused to give authority to men who had already

excited such dangerous commotions, and who showed still the same

disposition to resist and invade his authority. The commissioners,

therefore, not being able to prevail in any of their demands, desired

the king's passport for London, where they purposed to confer with the

English parliament;[*] and being likewise denied this request, they

returned with extreme dissatisfaction to Edinburgh.

The office of conservators of the peace was newly erected in Scotland,

in order to maintain the confederacy between the two kingdoms; and

these, instigated by the clergy, were resolved, since they could not

obtain the king's consent, to summon in his name, but by their own

authority, a convention of states; and to bereave their sovereign of

this article, the only one which remained, of his prerogative. Under

color of providing for national peace, endangered by the neighborhood

of English armies, was a convention called; an assembly which though

it meets with less solemnity, has the same authority as a parliament in

raising money and levying forces. Hamilton, and his brother the earl

of Laneric, who had been sent into Scotland in order to oppose, these

measures, wanted either authority or sincerity; and passively yielded

to the torrent. The general assembly of the church met at the same time

with the convention; and exercising an authority almost absolute over

the whole civil power, made every political consideration yield to their

theological zeal and prejudices.

The English parliament was at that time fallen into great distress

by the progress of the royal arms; and they gladly sent to Edinburgh

commissioners, with ample powers to treat of a nearer union and

confederacy with the Scottish nation. The persons employed were the

earl of Rutland, Sir William Armyne, Sir Henry Vane the younger, Thomas

Hatcher, and Henry Dailey, attended by Marshall and Nye, two clergymen

of signal authority.[**]

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 406.

** Whitlocke, p. 73. Rush. vol. vi. p. 466. Clarendon, vol.

iii. p.300

In this negotiation, the man chiefly trusted was Vane, who, in

eloquence, address, capacity, as well as in art and dissimulation, was

not surpassed by any one even during that age, so famous for active

talents. By his persuasion was framed, at Edinburgh, that Solemn League

and Covenant, which effaced all former protestations and vows taken in

both kingdoms, and long maintained its credit and authority. In this

covenant, the subscribers, besides engaging mutually to defend each

other against all opponents bound themselves to endeavor, without

respect of persons the extirpation of Popery and prelacy, superstition,

heresy, schism, and profaneness; to maintain the rights and privileges

of parliaments, together with the king's authority, and to discover and

bring to justice all incendiaries and malignants.[*]

* Rush vol. vi. p. 478. Clarendon, vol iii. p. 373.

The subscribers of the covenant vowed also to preserve the reformed

religion established in the church of Scotland; but, by the artifice of

Vane, no declaration more explicit was made with regard to England and

Ireland, than that these kingdoms should be reformed according to

the word of God and the example of the purest churches. The Scottish

zealots, when prelacy was abjured, deemed this expression quite free

from ambiguity, and regarded their own model as the only one which

corresponded in any degree to such a description: but that able

politician had other views; and while he employed his great talents

in overreaching the Presbyterians, and secretly laughed at their

simplicity, he had blindly devoted himself to the maintenance of systems

still more absurd and more dangerous.

In the English parliament there remained some members who, though

they had been induced, either by private ambition or by zeal for civil

liberty, to concur with the majority, still retained an attachment to

the hierarchy, and to the ancient modes of worship. But in the present

danger which threatened their cause, all scruples were laid aside;

and the covenant, by whose means alone they could expect to obtain so

considerable a reënforcement as the accession of the Scottish nation,

was received without opposition. The parliament, therefore, having first

subscribed it themselves, ordered it to be received by all who lived

under their authority.

Great were the rejoicings among the Scots, that they should be the happy

instruments of extending their mode of religion, and dissipating that

profound darkness in which the neighboring nations were involved.

The general assembly applauded this glorious imitation of the piety

displayed by their ancestors who, they said, in three different

applications, during the reign of Elizabeth, had endeavored to engage

the English, by persuasion, to lay aside the use of the surplice,

tippet, and corner-cap.[*] The convention, too, in the height of their

zeal, ordered every one to swear to this covenant, under the penalty

of confiscation; besides what further punishment it should please the

ensuing parliament to inflict on the refusers, as enemies to God, to

the king, and to the kingdom. And being determined that the sword should

carry conviction to all refractory minds, they prepared themselves, with

great vigilance and activity, for their military enterprises. By means

of a hundred thousand pounds, which they received from England; by the

hopes of good pay and warm quarters; not to mention men's favorable

disposition towards the cause; they soon completed their levies. And

having added to their other forces the troops which they had recalled

from Ireland, they were ready, about the end of the year, to enter

England, under the command of their old general, the earl of Leven, with

an army of above twenty thousand men.[**]

* Rush., vol. vi. p 388.

** Clarendon, vol. iii. p 383.

The king, foreseeing this tempest which was gathering upon him,

endeavored to secure himself by every expedient; and he cast his eye

towards Ireland, in hopes that this kingdom, from which his cause had

already received so much prejudice, might at length contribute somewhat

towards his protection and security.

After the commencement of the Irish insurrection, the English

parliament, though they undertook the suppression of it, had ever been

too much engaged, either in military projects or expeditions at home,

to take any effectual step towards finishing that enterprise. They had

entered, indeed, into a contract with the Scots, for sending over an

army of ten thousand men into Ireland; and in order to engage that

nation in this undertaking, besides giving a promise of pay, they agreed

to put Caricfergus into their hands, and to invest their general with an

authority quite independent of the English government. These troops, so

long as they were allowed to remain, were useful, by diverting the force

of the Irish rebels, and protecting in the north the small remnants of

the British planters. But except this contract with the Scottish nation,

all the other measures of the parliament either were hitherto absolutely

insignificant, or tended rather to the prejudice of the Protestant cause

in Ireland. By continuing their violent persecution, and still more

violent menaces against priests and Papists, they confirmed the Irish

Catholics in their rebellion, and cut off all hopes of indulgence and

toleration. By disposing beforehand of all the Irish forfeitures to

subscribers or adventurers, they rendered all men of property desperate,

and seemed to threaten a total extirpation of the natives.[*] And while

they thus infused zeal and animosity into the enemy, no measure was

pursued which could tend to support or encourage the Protestants, now

reduced to the last extremities.

So great is the ascendant which, from a long course of successes, the

English has acquired over the Irish nation, that though the latter, when

they receive military discipline among foreigners, are not surpassed by

any troops, they have never, in their own country, been able to make any

vigorous effort for the defence or recovery of their liberties. In many

rencounters, the English, under Lord More, Sir William St. Leger, Sir

Frederic Hamilton, and others, had, though under great disadvantages of

situation and numbers, put the Irish to rout, and returned in triumph

to Dublin. The rebels raised the siege of Tredah, after an obstinate

defence made by the garrison.[**] Ormond had obtained two complete

victories at Kilrush and Ross; and had brought relief to all the forts

which were besieged or blockaded in different parts of the kingdom.[***]

* A thousand acres in Ulster were given to every one that

subscribed two hundred pounds, in Connaught to the

subscribers of three hundred and fifty, in Munster for four

hundred and fifty, in Leinster for six hundred.

* Rush vol. vi. p. 506.

** Rush. vol. vi. p. 512.

But notwithstanding these successes, even the most common necessaries

of life were wanting to the victorious armies. The Irish, in their wild

rage against the British planters, had laid waste the whole kingdom, and

were themselves totally unfit, from their habitual sloth and ignorance,

to raise any convenience of human life. During the course of six months,

no supplies had come from England, except the fourth part of one small

vessel's lading. Dublin, to save itself from starving, had been obliged

to send the greater part of its inhabitants to England. The army had

little ammunition, scarcely exceeding forty barrels of gunpowder; not

even shoes or clothes; and for want of food, the soldiers had been

obliged to eat their own horses. And though the distress of the Irish

was not much inferior,[*] besides that they were more hardened against

such extremities, it was but a melancholy reflection, that the two

nations, while they continued their furious animosities, should make

desolate that fertile island, which might serve to the subsistence and

happiness, of both.

The justices and council of Ireland had been engaged, chiefly by the

interest and authority of Ormond, to fall into an entire dependence

on the king. Parsons, Temple, Loftus, and Meredith, who favored the

opposite party, had been removed; and Charles had supplied their place

by others better affected to his service. A committee of the English

house of commons, which had been sent over to Ireland in order to

conduct the affairs of that kingdom, had been excluded the council,

in obedience to orders transmitted from the king.[**] And these were

reasons sufficient, besides the great difficulties under which they

themselves labored, why the parliament was unwilling to send supplies

to an army which, though engaged in a cause much favored by them, was

commanded by their declared enemies. They even intercepted some small

succors sent thither by the king.

The king, as he had neither money, arms, ammunition, nor provisions to

spare from his own urgent wants, resolved to embrace an expedient which

might at once relieve the necessities of the Irish Protestants, and

contribute to the advancement of his affairs in England. A truce with

the rebels, he thought, would enable his subjects in Ireland to provide

for their own support, and would procure him the assistance of the army

against the English parliament. But as a treaty with a people so odious

for their barbarities, and still more for their religion, might be

represented in invidious colors, and renew all those calumnies with

which he had been loaded, it was necessary to proceed with great caution

in conducting that measure. A remonstrance from the army was made to the

Irish council, representing their intolerable necessities, and craving

permission to leave the kingdom: and if that were refused, "We must have

recourse," they said, "to that first and primary law with which God has

endowed all men; we mean the law of nature, which teaches every creature

to preserve itself."[***]

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 555.

** Rush. vol. vi. p 530. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 167.

*** Rush. vol. vi. p. 537.

Memorials both to the king and parliament were transmitted by the

justices and council, in which then wants and dangers are strongly set

forth;[*] and though the general expressions in these memorials might

perhaps be suspected of exaggeration, yet from the particular facts

mentioned, from the confession of the English parliament itself,[**]

and from the very nature of things, it is apparent that the Irish

Protestants were reduced to great extremities;[***] and it became

prudent in the king, if not absolutely necessary, to embrace some

expedient which might secure them for a time from the ruin and misery

with which they were threatened.

Accordingly the king gave orders[****] to Ormond and the justices to

conclude, for a year, a cessation of arms with the council of Kilkenny,

by whom the Irish were governed, and to leave both sides in possession

of their present advantages. The parliament, whose business it was to

find fault with every measure adopted by the opposite party, and who

would not lose so fair an opportunity of reproaching the king with his

favor to the Irish Papists, exclaimed loudly against this cessation.

Among other reasons, they insisted upon the divine vengeance, which

England might justly dread for tolerating anti-Christian idolatry,

on pretence of civil contracts and political agreements.[v] Religion,

though every day employed as the engine of their own ambitious purposes,

was supposed too sacred to be yielded up to the temporal interests or

safety of kingdoms.

* Rush. vol. vi. p. 538.

** Rush, vol. vi. p. 540.

*** See further, Carte's Ormond, (vol. iii. No. 113, 127,

128, 129 134, 136, 141, 144, 149, 158, 159.) All these

papers put it past doubt, that the necessities of the

English army in Ireland were extreme. See further, Rush.

vol. vi. p. 537. and Dugdale, p. *53 *54.

**** Rush. vol. vi p. 537, 544, 547

v Rush, vol. vi. p. 557.

After the cessation, there was little necessity, as well as no means

of subsisting the army in Ireland. The king ordered Ormond, who was

entirely devoted to him, to send over considerable bodies of it to

England. Most of them continued in his service; but a small part, having

imbibed in Ireland a strong animosity against the Catholics, and hearing

the king's party universally reproached with Popery, soon after deserted

to the Parliament.

Some Irish Catholics came over with these troops, and joined the royal

army, where they continued the same cruelties and disorders to which

they had been accustomed.[*] The parliament voted, that no quarter in

any action should ever be given them; but Prince Rupert, by making some

reprisals, soon repressed this inhumanity.[**]

* Whitlocke, p 78, 103.

** Rush. vol. vi. p. 680, 788.