It was generally allowed by moderate people, that in the autumn of
1641, at which time the labors of the Parliament had continued one
year, the king had granted redress of all the abuses for which the
earlier part of his reign, and the British constitution in general,
were blameable. If he could have given a guarantee that he never would
seek to restore any of these abuses, or attempt to revenge himself
upon the men who had been chiefly concerned in causing him to give up,
there would have been no further contention. Unfortunately, the
character of the king for fidelity to his engagements was not
sufficiently high to induce the leaders of the House of Commons to
depend upon him: they feared that if they once permitted him to resume
his authority there would be no longer any safety for them; and they
deemed it necessary that things should be prevented from falling into
their usual current. They therefore prepared a paper called _The
Remonstrance_, containing an elaborate view of all the grievances that
had ever existed, or could now be supposed to exist; and this they not
only presented to the king but disseminated widely among the people,
with whom it served to increase the prevailing disaffection.
From this time it was seen that the sword could alone decide the
quarrel between the king and the Parliament. Charles made an
unsuccessful attempt (January 4, 1642) to seize six of the most
refractory members, for the purpose of striking terror into the rest.
This served to widen still further the breach. In the earlier part of
1642, the two parties severally employed themselves in preparing for
war. Yet, even now, the king granted some additional concessions to
his opponents. It was at last, upon a demand of the Parliament for the
command of the army――a privilege always before, and since, resting
with the crown――that he finally broke off all amicable intercourse. He
now retired with his family to York.
The Parliament found its chief support in the mercantile classes of
London and of the eastern coast of England, which was then more
devoted to trade than the west, and in the Puritan party generally,
who were allied intimately with the Presbyterians of Scotland, if not
rapidly becoming assimilated with them. Charles on the other hand
looked for aid to the nobility and gentry, who were able to bring a
considerable number of dependents into the field. The Parliamentary
party was by the other styled _Roundheads_, in consequence of their
wearing short hair; while the friends of the Parliament bestowed upon
their opponents the epithet of _Malignants_. The Royalists were also,
in the field, termed Cavaliers, from so many of them being horsemen.
On the 25th of August 1642 the king erected his standard at
Nottingham, and soon found himself at the head of an army of about ten
thousand men. The Parliament had superior forces, and a better supply
of arms; but both parties were very ignorant of the art of war. The
king commanded his own army in person, while the Parliamentary forces
were put under the charge of the Earl of Essex.
The first battle took place, October 23, at Edgehill, in Warwickshire,
where the king had rather the advantage, though at the expense of a
great number of men. He gained some further triumphs before the end of
the campaign, but still could not muster so large an army as the
Parliament. During the winter, the parties opened a negotiation at
Oxford; but the demands of the Parliament being still deemed too great
by the king, it came to no successful issue.
Early in the ensuing season, the king gained some considerable
advantages; he defeated a Parliamentary army under Sir William Waller
at Stratton, and soon after took the city of Bristol. It only remained
for him to take Gloucester, in order to confine the insurrection
entirely to the eastern provinces. It was even thought at this time
that he might have easily obtained possession of London, and thereby
put an end to the war. Instead of making such an attempt, he caused
siege to be laid to Gloucester, which the army of Essex relieved when
it was just on the point of capitulating. As the Parliamentary army
was returning to London, it was attacked by the royal forces at
Newbury, and all but defeated. Another section of the royal army in
the north, under the Marquis of Newcastle, gained some advantages;
and, upon the whole, at the close of the campaign of 1643, the
Parliamentary cause was by no means in a flourishing condition.
In this war there was hardly any respectable military quality
exhibited besides courage. The Royalists used to rush upon the enemy
opposed to them, without any other design than to cut down as many as
possible, and when any part of the army was successful, it never
returned to the field while a single enemy remained to be pursued; the
consequence of which was, that one wing was sometimes victorious,
while the remainder was completely beaten. The Parliamentary troops,
though animated by an enthusiastic feeling of religion, were somewhat
steadier, but nevertheless had no extensive or combined plan of
military operations. The first appearance of a superior kind of
discipline was exhibited in a regiment of horse commanded by Oliver
Cromwell, a gentleman of small fortune, who had been a brewer, but was
destined, by great talent, and address, joined to an unrelenting
disposition, to rise to supreme authority. Cromwell, though himself
inexperienced in military affairs, showed from the very first a power
of drilling and managing troops, which no other man in either army
seemed to possess. Hence his regiment soon became famous for its
exploits.