Treaty At Uxbridge--Victories Of Montrose In Scotland--Defeat Of The King
At Naseby--Surrender Of Bristol--Charles Shut Up Within Oxford--Mission Of
Glamorgan To Ireland--He Is Disavowed By Charles, But Concludes A Peace
With The Irish--The King Intrigues With The Parliament, The Scots, And The
Independents--He Escapes To The Scottish Army--Refuses The Concessions
Required--Is Delivered Up By The Scots.
Whenever men spontaneously risk their lives and fortunes in the support of
a particular cause, they are wont to set a high value on their services,
and generally assume the right of expressing their opinions, and of
interfering with their advice. Hence it happened that the dissensions and
animosities in the court and army of the unfortunate monarch were scarcely
less violent or less dangerous than those which divided the parliamentary
leaders. All thought themselves entitled to offices and honours from the
gratitude of the sovereign; no appointment could be made which did not
deceive the expectations, and excite the murmurs, of numerous competitors;
and complaints were everywhere heard, cabals were formed, and the wisest
plans were frequently controlled and defeated, by men who thought
themselves neglected or aggrieved. When Charles, as one obvious remedy,
removed the lord Wilmot from the command of the cavalry, and the lord Percy
from that of the ordnance, he found that he had only aggravated the
evil; and the dissatisfaction of the army was further increased by the
substitution of his nephew Prince Rupert, whose severe and imperious temper
had earned him the general hatred, in the place of Ruthen, who, on account
of his infirmities, had been advised to retire.[1]
Another source of most acrimonious controversy was furnished by the
important question of peace or war, which formed a daily subject of debate
in every company, and divided the royalists into contending parties. Some
there were (few, indeed, in number, and chiefly those whom the two houses
by their votes had excluded from all hopes of pardon) who contended that
the king ought never to lay down his arms till victory should enable him to
give the law to his enemies; but the rest, wearied out with the fatigues
and dangers of war, and alarmed by the present sequestration of their
estates, and the ruin which menaced their families, most anxiously longed
for the restoration of peace. These, however, split into two parties; one
which left the conditions to the wisdom of the monarch; the other which not
only advised, but occasionally talked of compelling a reconciliation, on
almost any terms, pretending that, if once the king were reseated on his
throne, he must quickly recover every prerogative which he might have lost.
As for Charles himself, he had already suffered too much by the war, and
saw too gloomy a prospect before him, to be indifferent to the subject;
but, though he was now prepared to make sacrifices, from which but two
years before he would have recoiled with horror, he had still resolved
never to subscribe to conditions irreconcilable with his honour and
conscience; and in this temper of
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, ii. 482, 513, 554.]
mind he was confirmed by the frequent letters of Henrietta from Paris, who
reminded him of the infamy which he would entail on himself, were he, as
he was daily advised, to betray to the vengeance of the parliament the
Protestant bishops and Catholic royalists, who, trusting to his word,
had ventured their all for his interest.[1] He had now assembled _his_
parliament for the second time; but the attendance of the members was
scarce, and the inconvenience greater than the benefit. Motions were made
ungrateful to the feelings, and opposed to the real views of the king, who,
to free himself from the more obtrusive and importunate of these advisers,
sent them
[Footnote 1: This is the inference which I have drawn from a careful
perusal of the correspondence between Charles and the queen in his Works,
p. 142-150. Some writers have come to a different conclusion: that he
was insincere, and under the pretence of seeking peace, was in reality
determined to continue the war. That he prepared for the resumption of
hostilities is indeed true, but the reason which he gives to the queen is
satisfactory, "the improbability that this present treaty should produce
a peace, considering the great strange difference (if not contrariety) of
grounds that are betwixt the rebels' propositions and mine, and that I
cannot alter mine, nor will they ever theirs, until they be out of the hope
to prevail by force" (p. 146). Nor do I see any proof that Charles was
governed, as is pretended, by the queen. He certainly took his resolutions
without consulting her, and, if she sometimes expressed her opinion
respecting them, it was no more than any other woman in a similar situation
would have done. "I have nothing to say, but that you have a care of your
honour; and that, if you have a peace, it may be such as may hold; and if
it fall out otherwise, that you do not abandon those who have served you,
for fear they do forsake you in your need. Also I do not see how you can
be in safety without a regiment of guard; for myself, I think I cannot be,
seeing the malice which they have against me and my religion, of which I
hope you will have a care of both. But in my opinion, religion should
be the last thing upon which you should treat; for if you do agree upon
strictness against the Catholics, it would discourage them to serve you;
and if afterwards there should be no peace, you could never expect succours
either from Ireland, or any other Catholic prince, for they would believe
you would abandon them after you have served yourself" (p. 142, 143).]
into honourable exile, by appointing them[a] to give their attendance on
his queen during her residence in France.[1]
In the last summer the first use which he had made of each successive
advantage, was to renew[b] the offer of opening a negotiation for peace. It
convinced the army of the pacific disposition of their sovereign, and it
threw on the parliament, even among their own adherents, the blame of
continuing the war. At length,[c] after the third message, the houses gave
a tardy and reluctant consent; but it was not before they had received from
Scotland the propositions formerly voted as the only basis of a lasting
reconciliation, had approved of the amendments suggested by their allies,
and had filled up the blanks with the specification of the acts of
parliament to be passed, and with the names of the royalists to be excepted
from the amnesty. It was plain to every intelligent man in either army that
to lay such a foundation of peace was in reality to proclaim perpetual
hostilities.[2] But the king, by the advice of his council, consented to
make it the subject of a treaty, for two ends; to discover whether it was
the resolution of the houses to adhere without any modification to these
high pretensions; and to make the experiment, whether it were not possible
to gain one of the two factions, the Presbyterians or the Independents, or
at least to widen
[Footnote 1: See the letters in Charles's Works, 142-148. "I may fairly
expect to be chidden by thee for having suffered thee to be vexed by them
(Wilmot being already there, Percy on his way, and Sussex within a few
days of taking his journey), but that I know thou carest not for a little
trouble to free me from great inconvenience."--Ibid. 150.]
[Footnote 2: Journals, vii. 53. The very authors of the propositions did
not expect that the king would ever submit to them.--Baillie, ii. 8, 43,
73.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. July 4.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1644. Sept. 5.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1644. Nov. 23.] the breach between them by furnishing new
causes of dissension.[1]
At Uxbridge, within the parliamentary quarters, the commissioners from the
two parties met each other.[a] Those from the parliament had been commanded
to admit of no deviation from the substance of the propositions already
voted; to confine themselves to the task of showing that their demands were
conformable to reason, and therefore not to be refused; and to insist
that the questions of religion, the militia, and Ireland, should each
be successively debated during the term of three days, and continued in
rotation till twenty days had expired, when, if no agreement were made, the
treaty should terminate. They demanded that episcopacy should be abolished,
and the Directory be substituted in place of the Book of Common Prayer;
that the command of the army and navy should be vested in the two houses,
and intrusted by them to certain commissioners of their own appointment;
and that the cessation in Ireland should be broken, and hostilities
should be immediately renewed. The king's commissioners replied, that
his conscience would not allow him to consent to the proposed change of
religious worship, but that he was willing to consent to a law restricting
the jurisdiction of the bishops within the narrowest bounds, granting every
reasonable indulgence to tender consciences, and raising on the church
property the sum of one hundred thousand
[Footnote 1: Charles was now persuaded even to address the two houses by
the style of "the Lords and Commons assembled in the parliament of England
at Westminster," instead of "the Lords and Commons of parliament assembled
at Westminster," which he had formerly used.--Journals, vii. 91. He says
he would not have done it, if he could have found two in the council to
support him.--Works, 144, Evelyn's Mem. ii. App. 90. This has been alleged,
but I see not with what reason, as a proof of his insincerity in the
treaty.]
[Sidenote: A.D. 1645. Jan. 30.]
pounds, towards the liquidation of the public debt; that on the subject
of the army and navy he was prepared to make considerable concessions,
provided the power of the sword were, after a certain period, to revert
unimpaired to him and his successors; and that he could not, consistently
with his honour, break the Irish treaty, which he had, after mature
deliberation, subscribed and ratified. Much of the time was spent in
debates respecting the comparative merits of the episcopal and presbyterian
forms of church government, and in charges and recriminations as to the
real authors of the distress and necessity which had led to the cessation
in Ireland. On the twentieth day nothing had been concluded. A proposal
to prolong the negotiation was rejected by the two houses, and the
commissioners returned to London and Oxford.[a] The royalists had, however,
discovered that Vane, St. John, and Prideaux had come to Uxbridge not
so much to treat, as to act the part of spies on the conduct of their
colleagues; and that there existed an irreconcilable difference of opinion
between the two parties, the Presbyterians seeking the restoration
of royalty, provided it could be accomplished with perfect safety to
themselves, and with the legal establishment of their religious worship,
while the Independents sought nothing less than the total downfall of the
throne, and the extinction of the privileges of the nobility.[1]
Both parties again appealed to the sword, but with very different prospects
before them; on the side of the royalists all was lowering and gloomy, on
that of the parliament bright and cheering. The king had
[Footnote 1: See Journals, vii. 163, 166, 169, 174, 181, 195, 211, 231,
239, 242-254; Clarendon, ii. 578-600.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Feb. 22.]
derived but little of that benefit which he expected from the cessation in
Ireland. He dared not withdraw the bulk of his army before he had concluded
a peace with the insurgents; and they, aware of his difficulties, combined
their demands, which he knew not how to grant, with an offer of aid which
he was unwilling to refuse. They demanded freedom of religion, the repeal
of Poyning's law, a parliamentary settlement of their estates, and a
general amnesty, with this exception, that an inquiry should be instituted
into all acts of violence and bloodshed not consistent with the
acknowledged usages of war, and that the perpetrators should be punished
according to their deserts, without distinction of party or religion. It
was the first article which presented the chief difficulty. The Irish urged
the precedent of Scotland; they asked no more than had been conceded to the
Covenanters; they had certainly as just a claim to the free exercise of
that worship, which had been the national worship for ages, as the Scots
could have, to the exclusive establishment of a form of religion which had
not existed during an entire century. But Charles, in addition to his own
scruples, feared to irritate the prejudices of his Protestant subjects. He
knew that many of his own adherents would deem such a concession an act of
apostasy; and he conjured the Irish deputies not to solicit that which must
prove prejudicial to him, and therefore to themselves: let them previously
enable him to master their common enemies; let them place him in a
condition "to make them happy," and he assured them on the word of a king,
that he would not "disappoint their just expectations."[1] They were not,
however, to be satisfied
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, Irish Rebellion, 25.]
with vague promises, which might afterwards be interpreted as it suited
the royal convenience; and Charles, to throw the odium of the measure from
himself on his Irish counsellors, transferred the negotiation to Dublin,
to be continued by the new lord lieutenant, the marquess of Ormond. That
nobleman was at first left to his own discretion. He was then authorized
to promise the non-execution of the penal laws for the present, and their
repeal on the restoration of tranquillity; and, lastly, to stipulate for
their immediate repeal, if he could not otherwise subdue the obstinacy, or
remove the jealousy of the insurgents. The treaty at Uxbridge had disclosed
to the eyes of the monarch the abyss which yawned before him; he saw "that
the aim of his adversaries was a total subversion of religion and regal
power;" and he commanded Ormond to conclude the peace whatever it might
cost, provided it should secure the persons and properties of the Irish
Protestants, and the full exercise of the royal authority in the island.[1]
[Footnote 1: Carte's Ormond, ii. App. xii. xiv. xv. xviii. iii. cccxxxi.
He thus states his reasons to the lord lieutenant:--"It being now manifest
that the English rebels have, as far as in them lies, given the command
of Ireland to the Scots" (they had made Leslie, earl of Leven,
commander-in-chief of all the English as well as Scottish forces in
Ireland), "that their aim is the total subversion of religion and regal
power, and that nothing less will content them, or purchase peace here; I
think myself bound in conscience not to let slip the means of settling that
kingdom (if it may be) fully under my obedience, nor lose that assistance
which I may hope from my Irish subjects, for such scruples as in a less
pressing condition might reasonably be stuck at by me.... If the suspension
of Poining's act for such bills as shall be agreed upon between you there,
and the present taking away of the penal laws against papists by a law,
will do it, I shall not think it a hard bargain, so that freely and
vigorously they engage themselves in my assistance against my rebels of
England and Scotland, for which no conditions can be too hard, not being
against conscience or honour."--Charles's Works, 149, 150.]
In Scotland an unexpected but transient diversion had been made in favour
of the royal cause. The earls, afterwards marquesses, of Antrim and
Montrose had met in the court at Oxford. In abilities Montrose was inferior
to few, in ambition to none. The reader is aware that he had originally
fought in the ranks of the Covenanters, but afterwards transferred his
services to Charles, and narrowly escaped the vengeance of his enemies.
Now, that he was again at liberty, he aspired to the glory of restoring
the ascendancy of the royal cause in Scotland. At first all his plans were
defeated by the jealousy or wisdom of Hamilton; but Hamilton gradually
sunk, whilst his rival rose in the esteem of the sovereign.[1] Antrim, his
associate, was weak and capricious, but proud of his imaginary consequence,
and eager to engage in undertakings to which neither his means nor his
talents were equal. He had failed in his original attempt to surprise the
castle of Dublin; and had twice fallen into the hands of the Scots in
Ulster, and twice made his escape; still his loyalty or presumption
was unsubdued, and he had come to Oxford to make a third tender of his
services.
[Footnote 1: When Hamilton arrived at Oxford, Dec. 16, 1643, several
charges were brought against him by the Scottish royalists, which with his
answers may be seen in Burnet, Memoirs, 250-269. Charles pronounced no
opinion; but his suspicions were greatly excited by the deception practised
by Hamilton on the lords of the royal party at the convention, and his
concealment from them of the king's real intentions. On this account
Hamilton was arrested, and conveyed to Pendennis Castle, in Cornwall,
where he remained a prisoner till the place was taken by the parliamentary
forces. Hamilton's brother Lanark was also forbidden to appear at court;
and, having received advice that he would be sent to the castle of Ludlow,
made his escape from Oxford to his countrymen in London, and thence
returned to Edinburgh. His offence was, that he, as secretary, had affixed
the royal signet to the proclamation of August 24, calling on all Scotsmen
to arm in support of the new league and covenant.--See p. 36.]
Both Antrim and Montrose professed themselves the personal enemies of
the earl of Argyle, appointed by the Scottish estates lieutenant of the
kingdom; and they speedily arranged a plan, which possessed the double
merit of combining the interest of the king with the gratification of
private revenge. Having obtained the royal commission,[1] Antrim proceeded
to Ulster, raised eleven or fifteen hundred men among his dependants, and
despatched them to the opposite coast of Scotland under the command of his
kinsman Alaster Macdonald, surnamed Colkitto.[2] They landed at Knoydart:
the destruction of their ships in Loch Eishord, by a hostile fleet,
deprived them of the means of returning to Ireland; and Argyle with a
superior force cautiously watched their motions.[a] From the Scottish
royalists they received no aid; yet Macdonald marched as far as Badenoch,
inflicting severe injuries on the Covenanters, but exposed to destruction
from the increasing multitude of his foes. In the mean time, Montrose,
with the rank of lieutenant-general, had unfurled the royal standard at
Dumfries;[b] but with so little success, that he hastily retraced his steps
to Carlisle, where by several daring actions he rendered such services to
the royal cause, that he received the title of marquess from the gratitude
of the king. But the fatal battle of Marston Moor induced him to turn his
thoughts once more towards Scotland;[c] and having ordered his followers to
proceed to Oxford, on
[Footnote 1: He was authorized to treat with the confederate Catholics for
ten thousand men; if their demands were too high, to raise as many men as
he could and send them to the king; to procure the loan of two thousand men
to be landed in Scotland; and to offer Monroe, the Scottish commander, the
rank of earl and a pension of two thousand pounds per annum, if with his
army he would join the royalists. Jan. 20, 1644.--Clarendon Papers, ii.
165.]
[Footnote 2: MacColl Keitache, son of Coll, the left-handed.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. July 8.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1644. April 13.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1644. May 6.]
the third day he silently withdrew with only two companions, and soon
afterwards reached in the disguise of a groom the foot of the Grampian
Hills. There he received intelligence of the proceedings of Macdonald,
and appointed to join him in Athole.[a] At the castle of Blair, which had
surrendered to the strangers, the two chieftains met: Montrose assumed the
command, published the royal commission, and called on the neighbouring
clans to join the standard of their sovereign. The Scots, who had scorned
to serve under a foreigner, cheerfully obeyed, and to the astonishment of
the Covenanters an army appeared to rise out of the earth in a quarter the
most remote from danger; but it was an army better adapted to the purpose
of predatory invasion than of permanent warfare. Occasionally it swelled to
the amount of several thousands: as often it dwindled to the original band
of Irishmen under Macdonald. These, having no other resource than
their courage, faithfully clung to their gallant commander in all the
vicissitudes of his fortune; the Highlanders, that they might secure their
plunder, frequently left him to flee before the superior multitude of his
foes.
The first who dared to meet the royalists in the field, was the lord Elcho,
whose defeat at Tippermuir gave to the victors the town of Perth, with a
plentiful supply of military stores and provisions.[b] From Perth they
marched towards Aberdeen; the Lord Burley with his army fled at the first
charge; and the pursuers entered the gates with the fugitives.[c] The sack
of the town lasted three days: by the fourth many of the Highlanders had
disappeared with the spoil; and Argyle approached with a superior force.[d]
Montrose, to avoid the enemy, led his followers into Banff, proceeded
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. August 1.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1644. Sept. 1.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1644. Sept. 12.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1644. Sept. 19.]
along the right bank of the Spey, crossed the mountains of Badenoch, passed
through Athole into Angus, and after a circuitous march of some hundred
miles, reached and took the castle of Fyvie. There he was overtaken by the
Covenanters, whom he had so long baffled by the rapidity and perplexity of
his movements.[a] But every attempt to force his position on the summit of
a hill was repelled; and on the retirement of the enemy, he announced to
his followers his intention of seeking a safer asylum in the Highlands.
Winter had already set in with severity; and his Lowland associates shrunk
from the dreary prospect before them; but Montrose himself, accompanied by
his more faithful adherents, gained without opposition the braes of Athole.
To Argyle the disappearance of the royalists was a subject of joy.
Disbanding the army, he repaired, after a short visit to Edinburgh, to his
castle of Inverary, where he reposed in security, aware, indeed, of the
hostile projects of Montrose, but trusting to the wide barrier of snows
and mountains which separated him from his enemy. But the royal leader
penetrated through this Alpine wilderness,[b] compelled Argyle to save
himself in an open boat on Loch Tyne, and during six weeks wreaked his
revenge on the domains and the clansmen of the fugitive. At the approach of
Argyle with eleven hundred regular troops, he retired; but suddenly turning
to the left, crossed the mountains, and issuing from Glennevis, surprised
his pursuers at Inverlochy in Lochabar.[c] From his galley in the Frith
Argyle beheld the assault of the enemy, the shock of the combatants, and
the slaughter of at least one half of his whole force.[d] This victory
placed the north of Scotland at the mercy of the conquerors.
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. Oct. 28.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1644. Dec. 13.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. Jan. 28.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1645. Feb. 2.]
From Inverlochy they marched to Elgin, and from Elgin to Aberdeen,
ravaging, as they passed, the lands, and burning the houses of the
Covenanters. But at Brechin, Baillie opposed their progress with a[a]
numerous and regular force. Montrose turned in the direction of Dunkeld;
Baillie marched to Perth. The former surprised the opulent town of Dundee;
the latter arrived in time to expel the plunderers. But[b] he pursued in
vain. They regained the Grampian hills, where in security they once more
bade defiance to the whole power of the enemy. Such was the short and
eventful campaign of Montrose. His victories, exaggerated by report, and
embellished by the fancy of the hearers, cast a faint and deceitful lustre
over the declining cause of royalty. But they rendered no other service.
His passage was that of a meteor, scorching every thing in its course.
Wherever he appeared, he inflicted the severest injuries; but he made no
permanent conquest; he taught the Covenanters to tremble at his name,
but he did nothing to arrest that ruin which menaced the throne and its
adherents.[1]
England, however, was the real arena on which the conflict was to be
decided, and in England the king soon found himself unable to cope with his
enemies. He still possessed about one-third of the kingdom. From Oxford he
extended his sway almost without interruption to the extremity of Cornwall:
North and South Wales, with the exception of the castles of Pembroke and
Montgomery, acknowledged his authority; and the royal standard was still
unfurled in several
[Footnote 1: See Rushworth, v. 928-932; vi. 228; Guthrie, 162-183; Baillie,
ii. 64, 65, 92-95; Clarendon, ii. 606, 618; Wishart, 67, 110; Journals,
vii. 566; Spalding, ii. 237.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. March 25.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. April 4.]
towns in the midland comities.[1] But his army, under the nominal command
of the prince of Wales, and the real command of Prince Rupert, was
frittered away in a multitude of petty garrisons, and languished in a state
of the most alarming insubordination. The generals, divided into factions,
presumed to disobey the royal orders, and refused to serve under an
adversary or a rival; the officers indulged in every kind of debauchery;
the privates lived at free quarters; and the royal forces made themselves
more terrible to their friends by their licentiousness than to their
enemies by their valour.[2] Their excesses provoked new associations in the
counties of Wilts, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, and Worcester, known by the
denomination of Clubmen, whose primary object was the protection of private
property, and the infliction of summary vengeance on the depredators
belonging to either army. These associations were encouraged and organized
by the neighbouring gentlemen; arms of every description were collected for
their use; and they were known to assemble in numbers of four, six,
and even ten thousand men. Confidence in their own strength, and the
suggestions of their leaders, taught them to extend their views; they
invited the adjoining counties to follow their example, and talked of
putting an end by force to the unnatural war which depopulated the country.
But though they professed to observe the strictest neutrality between the
contending parties, their meetings excited a well-founded jealousy
[Footnote 1: Rushworth, vi. 18-22.]
[Footnote 2: Clarendon, ii. 604, 633, 636, 642, 661, 668. "Good men are so
scandalized at the horrid impiety of our armies, that they will not believe
that God can bless any cause in such hands."--Lord Culpeper to Lord Digby.
Clarendon Papers, ii. 189. Carte's Ormond, iii. 396, 399.]
on the part of the parliamentary leaders; who, the moment it could be done
without danger, pronounced such associations illegal, and ordered them to
be suppressed by military force.[1]
On the other side, the army of the parliament had been reformed according
to the ordinance. The members of both houses had resigned their
commissions, with the exception of a single individual, the very man with
whom the measure had originated,--Lieutenant-General Cromwell. This by
some writers has been alleged as a proof of the consummate art of that
adventurer, who sought to remove out of his way the men that stood between
him and the object of his ambition; but the truth is, that his continuation
in the command was effected by a succession of events which he could not
possibly have foreseen. He had been sent with Waller to oppose the progress
of the royalists in the west; on his return he was ordered to prevent the
junction of the royal cavalry with the forces under the king; and he then
received a commission to protect the associated counties from insult.
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, ii. 665. Whitelock, March, 4, 11, 15. Rushw. vi.
52, 53, 61, 62. But the best account of the Clubmen is to be found in a
letter from Fairfax to the committee of both kingdoms, preserved in the
Journals of the Lords, vii. 184. They wore white ribbons for a distinction,
prevented, as much as they were able, all hostilities between the soldiers
of the opposite parties, and drew up two petitions in the same words, one
to be presented to the king, the other to the parliament, praying them
to conclude a peace, and in the meantime to withdraw their respective
garrisons out of the country, and pledging themselves to keep possession of
the several forts and castles, and not to surrender them without a joint
commission from both king and parliament. Fairfax observes, that "their
heads had either been in actual service in the king's army, or were known
favourers of the party. In these two counties, Wilts and Dorset, they are
abundantly more affected to the enemy than to the parliament. I know not
what they may attempt."--Ibid. At length the two houses declared
all persons associating in arms without authority, traitors to the
commonwealth.--Journals, vii. 549.]
While he was employed in this service, the term appointed by the ordinance
approached; but Fairfax expressed his unwillingness to part with so
experienced an officer at such a crisis, and the two houses consented that
he should remain forty days longer with the army. Before they expired, the
great battle of Naseby had been fought: in consequence of the victory the
ordinance was suspended three months in his favour; and afterwards the same
indulgence was reiterated as often as it became necessary.[1]
It was evident that the army had lost nothing by the exclusion of members
of parliament and the change in its organization. The commanders were
selected from those who had already distinguished themselves by the
splendour of their services and their devotion to the cause; the new
regiments were formed of privates, who had served under Essex, Manchester,
and Waller, and care was taken that the majority of both should consist
of that class of religionists denominated Independents. These men were
animated with an enthusiasm of which at the present day we cannot form an
adequate conception. They divided their time between military duties and
prayer; they sang psalms as they advanced to the charge; they called on the
name of the Lord, while they were slaying their enemies. The result showed
that fanaticism furnished a more powerful stimulus than loyalty; the
soldiers of God proved more than a match for the soldiers of the
monarch.[2]
[Footnote 1: Journals, Feb. 27, May 10, June 16, Aug. 8. Lords' Journ. vii.
420, 535.]
[Footnote 2: Essex, Manchester, and Denbigh reluctantly tendered their
resignations the day before the ordinance passed. The first died in the
course of the next year (Sept. 14); and the houses, to express their
respect for his memory, attended the funeral, and defrayed the expense out
of the public purse.--Lords' Journals, viii. 508, 533.]
Charles was the first to take the field. He marched from Oxford at the head
of ten thousand men, of whom more than one-half were cavalry; the siege of
Chester[a] was raised at the sole report of his approach; and Leicester, an
important post in possession of the parliament,[b] was taken by storm on
the first assault. Fairfax[c] had appeared with his army before Oxford,
where he expected to be admitted by a party within the walls; but the
intrigue failed, and he received orders to proceed[d] in search of the
king.[1] On the evening of the[e] seventh day his van overtook the rear of
the royalists between Daventry and Harborough. Fairfax and his officers
hailed with joy the prospect of a battle. They longed to refute the bitter
taunts and sinister predictions of their opponents in the two houses; to
prove that want of experience might be supplied by the union of zeal and
talent; and to establish, by a victory over the king, the superiority of
the Independent over the Presbyterian party. Charles, on the contrary,
had sufficient reason to decline an engagement.[2] His numbers had been
diminished by the necessity of leaving a strong garrison in Leicester,
and several reinforcements were still on their march to join the royal
standard. But in the presence of the Roundheads the Cavaliers never
listened to the suggestions of prudence. Early[f] in the morning the royal
army formed in line about a mile south of Harborough. Till eight they
awaited with patience the expected charge of the enemy; but
[Footnote 1: Lords' Journals, vii. 429, 431.]
[Footnote 2: So little did Charles anticipate the approach of the enemy,
that On the 12th he amused himself with hunting, and on the 13th at supper
time wrote to secretary Nicholas that he should march the next morning,
and proceed through Landabay and Melton to Belvoir, but no further. Before
midnight he had resolved to fight.--See his letter in Evelyn's Memoirs, ii.
App. 97.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. May 7.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. May 15.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. May 31.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1645. June 6.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1645. June 13.]
[Sidenote f: A.D. 1645. June 14.]
Fairfax refused to move from his strong position near Naseby, and the king,
yielding to the importunity of his officers, gave the word to advance.
Prince Rupert commanded on the right. The enemy fled before him; six pieces
of cannon were taken, and Ireton, the general of the parliamentary horse,
was wounded, and for some time a prisoner in the hands of the victors.[1]
But the lessons of experience had been thrown away upon Rupert. He urged
the pursuit with his characteristic impetuosity, and, as at Marston Moor,
by wandering from the field suffered the victory to be won by the masterly
conduct of Oliver Cromwell.
That commander found himself opposed to a weak body of cavalry under Sir
Marmaduke Langdale. By both the fight was maintained with obstinate valour;
but superiority of numbers enabled the former to press on the flanks of the
royalists, who began to waver, and at last turned their backs and fled.
Cromwell prudently checked the pursuit, and leaving three squadrons to
watch the fugitives, directed the remainder of his force against the rear
of the royal infantry. That body of men, only three thousand five hundred
in number, had hitherto fought with the most heroic valour, and had driven
the enemy's line, with the exception of one regiment, back on the reserve;
but this unexpected charge broke their spirit; they threw down their arms
and asked for quarter. Charles, who had witnessed their efforts and their
danger, made every exertion to support them; he collected several
[Footnote 1: Ireton was of an ancient family in Nottinghamshire, and bred
to the law. He raised a troop of horse for the parliament at the beginning
of the war, and accepted a captain's commission in the new-modelled army.
At the request of the officers, Cromwell had been lately appointed
general of the horse, and, at Cromwell's request, Ireton was made
commissary-general under him.--Journals, vii. 421. Rushworth, vi. 42.]
bodies of horse; he put himself at their head; he called on them to follow
him; he assured them that one more effort would secure the victory. But the
appeal was made in vain. Instead of attending to his prayers and commands,
they fled, and forced him to accompany them. The pursuit was continued with
great slaughter almost to the walls of Leicester; and one hundred females,
some of them ladies of distinguished rank, were put to the sword under the
pretence that they were Irish Catholics. In this fatal battle, fought near
the village of Naseby, the king lost more than three thousand men, nine
thousand stand of arms, his park of artillery, the baggage of the army, and
with it his own cabinet, containing private papers of the first importance.
Out of these the parliament made a collection, which was published, with
remarks, to prove to the nation the falsehoods of Charles, and the justice
of the war.[1]
[Footnote 1: For this battle see Clarendon, ii. 655; Rushworth, vi. 42; and
the Journals, vii. 433-436. May asserts that not more than three hundred
men were killed on the part of the king, and only one hundred on that of
the parliament. The prisoners amounted to five thousand.--May, 77. The
publication of the king's papers has been severely censured by his friends,
and as warmly defended by the advocates of the parliament. If their
contents were of a nature to justify the conduct of the latter, I see not
on what ground it could be expected that they should be suppressed. The
only complaint which can reasonably be made, and which seems founded in
fact, is that the selection of the papers for the press was made unfairly.
The contents of the cabinet were several days in possession of the
officers, and then submitted to the examination of a committee of the lower
house; by whose advice certain papers were selected and sent to the Lords,
with a suggestion that they should be communicated to the citizens in
a common hall. But the Lords required to see the remainder; twenty-two
additional papers were accordingly produced; but it was at the same time
acknowledged that others were still kept back, because they had not yet
been deciphered. By an order of the Commons the papers were afterwards
printed with a preface contrasting certain passages in them with the king's
former protestations.--Journals, June 23, 26, 30, July 3, 7; Lords', vii.
467, 469. Charles himself acknowledges that the publication, as far as it
went, was genuine (Evelyn's Memoirs, App. 101); but he also maintains that
other papers, which would have served to explain doubtful passages, had
been purposely suppressed.--Clarendon Papers, ii. 187. See Baillie, ii.
136.]
After this disastrous battle, the campaign presented little more than the
last and feeble struggles of an expiring party. Among the royalists hardly
a man could be found who did not pronounce the cause to be desperate; and,
if any made a show of resistance, it was more through the hope of procuring
conditions for themselves, than of benefiting the interests of their
sovereign. Charles himself bore his misfortunes with an air of magnanimity,
which was characterized as obstinacy by the desponding minds of his
followers. As a statesman he acknowledged the hopelessness of his cause; as
a Christian he professed to believe that God would never allow rebellion
to prosper; but, let whatever happen, he at least would act as honour and
conscience called on him to act; his name should not descend to posterity
as the name of a king who had abandoned the cause of God, injured the
rights of his successors, and sacrificed the interests of his faithful
and devoted adherents. From Leicester he retreated[a] to Hereford; from
Hereford to Ragland Castle, the seat of the loyal marquess of Worcester;
and thence to Cardiff, that he might more readily communicate with Prince
Rupert at Bristol. Each day brought him a repetition of the most melancholy
intelligence. Leicester had surrendered almost at the[b] first summons; the
forces under Goring, the only body of royalists deserving the name of an
army, were defeated by Fairfax at Lamport; Bridgewater, hitherto[c] deemed
an impregnable fortress, capitulated after a[d]
[Transcriber's Note: No footnote 1 in the text]
[Footnote 1: Rushworth vi. 132. Clarendon, ii. 630.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645 July 3.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645 June 17.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645 July 10.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1645 July 23.]
short siege; a chain of posts extending from that town to Lime, on the
southern coast, cut off Devonshire and Cornwall, his principal resources,
from all communication with the rest of the kingdom; and, what was still
worse, the dissensions which raged among his officers and partisans in
those counties could not be appeased either by the necessity of providing
for the common safety, or by the presence and authority of the prince of
Wales.[1] To add to his embarrassments, his three[a] fortresses in the
north, Carlisle, Pontefract, and Scarborough,[b] which for eighteen months
had defied all the efforts of the enemy, had now fallen, the first into
the[c] hands of the Scots, the other two into those of the parliament.
Under this accumulation of misfortunes many of his friends, and among them
Rupert himself, hitherto the declared advocate of war, importuned him to
yield to necessity, and to accept the conditions offered by the parliament.
He replied that they viewed[d] the question with the eyes of mere soldiers
and statesmen; but he was a king, and had duties to perform, from which no
change of circumstances, no human power could absolve him,--to preserve
the church, protect his friends, and transmit to his successors the lawful
rights of the crown. God was bound to support his own cause: he might for a
time permit rebels and traitors to prosper, but he would ultimately humble
them before the throne of their sovereign.[2] Under
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, ii. 663, et seq. Rushw. vi. 50, 55, 57. Carte's
Ormond, iii. 423.]
[Footnote 2: Clarendon, ii. 679. Lords' Journals, vii. 667. Only three days
before his arrival at Oxford, he wrote (August 25) a letter to secretary
Nicholas, with an order to publish its contents, that it was his fixed
determination, by the grace of God, never, in any possible circumstances,
to yield up the government of the church to papists, Presbyterians, or
Independents, nor to injure his successors by lessening the ecclesiastical
or military power bequeathed to him by his predecessors, nor to forsake
the defence of his friends, who had risked their lives and fortunes in his
quarrel.--Evelyn's Memoirs, ii. App. 104.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. June 28.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. July 21.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. July 25.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1645. July 31.]
this persuasion, he pictured to himself the wonderful things to be achieved
by the gallantry of Montrose in Scotland, and looked forward with daily
impatience to the arrival of an imaginary army of twenty thousand men from
Ireland. But from such dreams he was soon awakened by the rapid increase of
disaffection in the population around him, and by the rumoured advance of
the Scots to besiege the city of Hereford. From Cardiff he hastily crossed
the kingdom to Newark. Learning that the Scottish cavalry were in pursuit,
he[a] left Newark, burst into the associated counties, ravaged the lands of
his enemies, took the town of Huntingdon,[b] and at last reached in safety
his court at Oxford.[c] It was not that in this expedition he had in view
any particular object. His utmost ambition was, by wandering from place
to place, to preserve himself from falling into the hands of his enemies
before the winter. In that season the severity of the weather would afford
him sufficient protection, and he doubted not, that against the spring the
victories of Montrose, the pacification of Ireland, and the compassion of
his foreign allies, would enable him to resume hostilities with a powerful
army, and with more flattering prospects of success.[1]
At Oxford Charles heard of the victory gained at Kilsyth, in the
neighbourhood of Stirling, by Montrose, who, if he had been compelled to
retreat from Dundee, was still able to maintain the superiority in the
Highlands. The first who ventured to measure[d] swords with the Scottish
hero was the veteran general
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, ii. 677. Rushw. vi. 131. Carte's Ormond, iii. 415,
416, 418, 420, 423, 427. Baillie, ii, 152.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. August 21.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. August 24.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. August 28.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1645. May 5.]
Hurry: but the assailant fled from the conflict at Auldearn, and saved
himself, with the small remnant of his force, within the walls of
Inverness. To Hurry[a] succeeded with similar fortune Baillie, the
commander-in-chief. The battle was fought at Alford, in the shire of
Aberdeen; and few, besides the principal officers and the cavalry, escaped
from the slaughter. A new army of ten thousand men was collected: four days
were spent in fasting and prayer; and the host of God marched to trample
under foot the host of the king. But the experience of their leader was
controlled by the presumption of the committee of estates; and he, in
submission to their orders, marshalled his men in a position near Kilsyth:
his cavalry was broken by the[b] royalists at the first charge; the
infantry fled without a blow, and about five thousand of the fugitives are
said to have perished in the pursuit, which was continued for fourteen
or twenty miles.[1] This victory placed the Lowlands at the mercy of the
conqueror. Glasgow and the neighbouring shires solicited his clemency; the
citizens of Edinburgh sent to him the prisoners who had been condemned for
their adherence to the royal cause; and many of the nobility, hastening
to his standard, accepted commissions to raise forces in the name of the
sovereign. At this news the[c] Scottish cavalry, which, in accordance with
the treaty of "brotherly assistance," had already advanced to Nottingham,
marched back to the Tweed to protect their own country; and the king on the
third day left Oxford with five thousand men, to drive the infantry
[Footnote 1: It was probably on account of the heat of the season
that Montrose ordered his men to throw aside their plaids--vestes
molestiores--and fight in their shirts; an order which has given occasion
to several fanciful conjectures and exaggerations;--See Carte, iv. 538.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. July 2.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. August 15.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. August 26.]
from the siege of Hereford. They did not wait his arrival, and he entered
the city amidst the joyful acclamations of the inhabitants.[1]
But Charles was not long suffered to enjoy his[a] triumph. Full of
confidence, he had marched from Hereford to the relief of Bristol; but at
Ragland Castle learned that it was already in possession of the enemy.
This unexpected stroke quite unnerved him. That a prince of his family, an
officer whose reputation for courage and fidelity was unblemished, should
surrender in the third week of the siege an important city, which he had
promised to maintain for four months, appeared to him incredible. His mind
was agitated with suspicion and jealousy. He knew not whether to attribute
the conduct of his nephew to cowardice, or despondency, or disaffection;
but he foresaw and lamented its baneful influence on the small remnant of
his followers. In the anguish of his mind[b] he revoked the commission
of the prince, and commanded him to quit the kingdom; he instructed the
council to watch his conduct, and on the first sign of disobedience to take
him into custody; and he ordered the arrest of his friend Colonel Legge,
and appointed Sir Thomas Glenham to succeed Legge, as governor of Oxford.
"Tell my sone," he says in a letter to Nicholas, "that I shall lesse
grieeve to hear that he is knoked in the head, than that he should doe so
meane an act as is the rendering of Bristoll castell and fort upon the
termes it was."[2]
[Footnote 1: Rushworth, vi. 230. May. Guthrie, 194. Baillie, ii. 156, 157,
273. This defeat perplexed the theology of that learned man. I confess I am
amazed, and cannot see to my mind's satisfaction, the reasons of the
Lord's dealing with that land.... What means the Lord, so far against the
expectation of the most clear-sighted, to humble us so low, and by his own
immediate hand, I confess I know not."--Ibid.]
[Footnote 2: Clarendon, ii. 693. Rushworth, vi. 66-82. Journals, vi. 584.
Ellis, iii. 311. Evelyn's Memoirs, ii. App, 108. The suspicion of Legge's
fidelity was infused into the royal mind by Digby. Charles wished him to
be secured, but refused to believe him guilty without better proof.--Ibid,
111.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Sept. 10.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. Sept. 14.]
Whilst the king thus mourned over the loss of Bristol, he received still
more disastrous intelligence from Scotland. The victory of Kilsyth had
dissolved the royal army. The Gordons with their followers had returned to
their homes; Colkitto. had led back the Highlanders to their mountains;
and with the remnants not more than six hundred repaired to the borders
to await the arrival of an English force which had been promised, but not
provided, by Charles. In the mean while David Leslie had been detached with
four thousand cavalry from the Scottish army in England. He crossed the
Tweed,[a] proceeded northward, as if he meant to interpose himself between
the enemy and the Highlands; and then returned suddenly to surprise them
in their encampment at Philiphaugh. Montrose spent the night at Selkirk in
preparing despatches for the king; Leslie, who was concealed at no great
distance, crossing the Etrick at dawn, under cover of a dense fog,
charged[b] unexpectedly into the camp of the royalists, who lay in heedless
security on the Haugh. Their leader, with his guard of horse, flew to their
succour; but, after a chivalrous but fruitless effort was compelled
to retire and abandon them to their fate. The greater part had formed
themselves into a compact body, and kept the enemy at bay till their offer
of surrender upon terms had been accepted. But then the ministers loudly
demanded their lives; they pronounced the capitulation sinful, and
therefore void; and had the satisfaction to behold the whole body of
captives massacred in
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Sept. 6.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. Sept. 13.]
cold blood, not the men only, but also every woman and child found upon the
Haugh. Nor was this sacrifice sufficient. Forty females, who had made their
escape, and had been secured by the country people, were a few days later
delivered up to the victors, who, in obedience to the decision of the kirk,
put them to death by throwing them from the bridge near Linlithgow into
the river Avon. Afterwards the Scottish parliament approved of their
barbarities, on the pretence that the victims were papists from Ireland;
and passed an ordinance that the "Irische prisoners taken at and after
Philiphaughe, in all the prisons in the kingdom, should be _execut_ without
any assaye or processes conform to the treatey betwixt both kingdoms."[1]
Of the noblemen and gentlemen who fled with Montrose, many were also taken;
and of these few escaped the hands of the executioner: Montrose himself
threaded back his way to the Highlands, where he once more raised the royal
standard, and, with a small force and diminished reputation, continued to
bid defiance to his enemies. At length, in obedience to repeated messages
from the king, he dismissed his followers, and reluctantly withdrew to the
continent.[2] With the defeat of Montrose at Philiphaugh vanished those
brilliant hopes with which the king had consoled himself for his former
losses; but the activity of his enemies allowed him no leisure to indulge
his grief; they had already formed a lodgment within the
[Footnote 1: Balfour, iii. 341. Thurloe, i. 72. The next year the garrison
of Dunavertie, three hundred men, surrendered to David Leslie "at the
kingdom's mercie." "They put to the sword," says Turner, "everie mother's
sonne except one young man, Machoul, whose life I begged."--Turner's
Memoirs, 46, also 48.]
[Footnote 2: Rush. vi. 237. Guthrie, 301. Journals, vi. 584. Wishart, 203.
Baillie, ii. 164.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Dec. 23.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. Sept. 3.]
suburbs of Chester, and threatened to deprive him of that, the only port by
which he could maintain a communication with Ireland. He hastened to its
relief, and was followed at the distance of a day's journey by Pointz, a
parliamentary officer. It was the king's intention[a] that two attacks, one
from the city, the other from the country, should be simultaneously made on
the camp of the besiegers; and with this view he left the greater part of
the royal cavalry at Boutenheath, under Sir Marmaduke Langdale, while he
entered Chester himself with the remainder in the dusk of the evening.
It chanced that Pointz meditated a similar attempt with the aid of the
besiegers, on the force under Langdale; and the singular position of the
armies marked the following day with the most singular vicissitudes of
fortune. Early in the morning[b] the royalists repelled the troops under
Pointz; but a detachment from the camp restored the battle, and forced them
to retire under the walls of the city. Here, with the help of the king's
guards, they recovered the ascendancy, but suffered themselves in the
pursuit to be entangled among lanes and hedges lined with infantry, by whom
they were thrown into irremediable disorder. Six hundred troopers fell
in the action, more than a thousand obtained quarter, and the rest were
scattered in every direction. The next night Charles repaired to Denbigh,
collected the fugitives around him, and, skilfully avoiding Pointz,
hastened[c] to Bridgenorth, where he was met by his nephew Maurice from the
garrison of Worcester.[1]
The only confidential counsellor who attended the king in this expedition
was Lord Digby. That nobleman,
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, ii. 712. Thurloe, i. 3. Rush. vi. 117. Journals,
vi. 608.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Sept. 23.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. Sept. 23.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. Sept. 30.]
unfortunately for the interests of his sovereign, had incurred the hatred
of his party: of some, on account of his enmity to prince Rupert; of the
general officers, because he was supposed to sway the royal mind, even in
military matters; and of all who desired peace, because to his advice was
attributed the obstinacy of Charles in continuing the war. It was the
common opinion that the king ought to fix his winter quarters at Worcester;
but Digby, unwilling to be shut up during four months in a city of which
the brother of Rupert was governor, persuaded him to proceed[a] to his
usual asylum at Newark. There, observing that the discontent among the
officers increased, he parted[b] from his sovereign, but on an important
and honourable mission. The northern horse, still amounting to fifteen
hundred men, were persuaded by Langdale to attempt a junction with the
Scottish hero, Montrose, and to accept of Digby as commander-in-chief. The
first achievement of the new general was the complete dispersion of the
parliamentary infantry in the neighbourhood of Doncaster; but in a few
days his own followers were dispersed by Colonel Copley at Sherburne.
They rallied[c] at Skipton, forced their way through Westmoreland and
Cumberland, and penetrated as far as Dumfries, but could nowhere meet with
intelligence of their Scottish friends. Returning to the borders, they
disbanded near Carlisle, the privates retiring to their homes, the officers
transporting themselves to the Isle of Man. Langdale remained at Douglas;
Digby proceeded to the marquess of Ormond in Ireland.
Charles, during his stay at Newark, was made to
[Transcriber's Note: Footnote 1 not found in the text]
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, Hist. ii. 714. Clarendon Papers, ii. 199.
Rushworth, vi. 131.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Oct. 4.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. Oct. 12.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. Oct. 15.]
feel that with his good fortune he had lost his authority. His two nephews,
the Lord Gerard, and about twenty other officers, entered his chamber, and,
in rude and insulting language, charged him with ingratitude for their
services, and undue partiality for the traitor Digby. The king lost the
command of his temper, and, with more warmth than he was known to have
betrayed on any other occasion, bade them quit his presence for ever. They
retired, and the next morning received passports to go where they pleased.
But it was now[a] time for the king himself to depart. The enemy's forces
multiplied around Newark, and the Scots were advancing to join the
blockade. In the dead of the night[b] he stole, with five hundred men, to
Belvoir Castle; thence, with the aid of experienced guides, he threaded the
numerous posts of the enemy; and on the second day reached, for the last
time,[c] the walls of Oxford. Yet if he were there in safety, it was owing
to the policy of the parliament, who deemed it more prudent to reduce the
counties of Devon and Cornwall, the chief asylum of his adherents. For this
purpose Fairfax, with the grand army, sat down before Exeter: Cromwell
had long ago swept away the royal garrisons between that city and the
metropolis.[1]
The reader will have frequently remarked the king's impatience for the
arrival of military aid from Ireland. It is now time to notice the
intrigue on which he founded his hopes, and the causes which led to his
disappointment. All his efforts to conclude a peace with the insurgents
had failed through the obstinacy of the ancient Irish, who required as an
indispensable
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, ii. 719-723. Rushworth, vi. 80-95. Journals, 671,
672.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Oct. 29.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. Nov. 3.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. Nov. 5.]
condition the legal establishment of their religion.[1] The Catholics, they
alleged, were the people of Ireland; they had now regained many of the
churches, which, not a century before, had been taken from their fathers;
and they could not in honour or conscience resign them to the professors
of another religion. Charles had indulged a hope that the lord lieutenant
would devise some means of satisfying their demand without compromising
the character of his sovereign;[2] but the scruples or caution of
Ormond compelled him to look out for a minister of less timid and more
accommodating disposition, and he soon found one in the Lord Herbert, a
Catholic, and son to the marquess of Worcester. Herbert felt the most
devoted attachment to his sovereign. He had lived with him for twenty years
in habits of intimacy: in conjunction with his father, he had spent above
two hundred thousand pounds in support of the royal cause; and both had
repeatedly and publicly avowed their determination to stand or fall with
the throne. To him, therefore, the king explained his difficulties, his
views, and his wishes. Low as he was sunk, he had yet a sufficient resource
left in the two armies in Ireland. With them he might make head against his
enemies, and re-establish his authority. But unfortunately this powerful
and necessary aid was withheld from him by the obstinacy of the Irish
Catholics, whose demands were such, that, to grant them publicly would
be to forfeit the affection and support of all the Protestants in his
dominions. He knew but of one way to elude the difficulty,--the employment
of a secret and
[Footnote 1: Rinuccini's MS. Narrative.]
[Footnote 2: See the correspondence in Carte's Ormond, ii. App. xv. xviii.
xx. xxii.; iii. 372, 387, 401; Charles's Works, 155.]
confidential minister, whose credit with the Catholics would give weight
to his assurances, and whose loyalty would not refuse to incur danger or
disgrace for the benefit of his sovereign. Herbert cheerfully tendered his
services. It was agreed that he should negotiate with the confederates for
the immediate aid of an army of ten thousand men; that, as the reward
of their willingness to serve the king, he should make to them certain
concessions on the point of religion; that these should be kept secret, as
long as the disclosure might be likely to prejudice the royal interests;
and that Charles, in the case of discovery, should be at liberty to disavow
the proceedings of Herbert, till he might find himself in a situation to
despise the complaints and the malice of his enemies.[1]
For this purpose Herbert (now[a] created earl of Glamorgan) was furnished,
1. with a commission to levy men, to coin money, and to employ the revenues
of the crown for their support; 2. with a warrant[b] to grant on certain
conditions to the Catholics of Ireland such concessions as it was not
prudent for the king or the lieutenant openly to make; 3. with a promise
on the part of Charles to ratify whatever engagements his envoy might
conclude, even if they were contrary to law; 4. and with different letters
for the pope, the nuncio, and the several princes from whom subsidies might
be expected. But care was taken that none of these documents should come to
the knowledge of the council. The commission was not sealed in the usual
manner; the names of the persons to whom the letters were to be addressed
were not inserted; and all the papers were in several respects informal;
for this purpose, that the king might have a plausible pretext to
[Footnote 1: Clarendon Papers, ii. 201.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Jan. 2.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. March 12.]
deny their authenticity in the event of a premature disclosure.[1]
Glamorgan proceeded on his chivalrous mission, and after many adventures
and escapes, landed in safety in Ireland. That he communicated the
substance of his instructions to Ormond, cannot be doubted; and, if there
were aught in his subsequent proceedings of which the lord lieutenant
remained ignorant, that ignorance was affected and voluntary on the part
of Ormond.[2] At Dublin both joined in the negotiation with the Catholic
deputies: from Dublin Glamorgan proceeded to Kilkenny, where the supreme
council, satisfied with his authority, and encouraged by the advice of
Ormond, concluded with him a treaty,[a] by which it was stipulated that the
Catholics should enjoy the public exercise of their religion, and retain
all churches, and the revenues of churches, which were not actually in
possession of the Protestant clergy; and that in return they should,
against a certain day, supply the king with a body of ten thousand armed
men, and should devote two-thirds of the ecclesiastical revenues to his
service during the war.[3]
[Footnote 1: See the authorities in Note (A).]
[Footnote 2: See the same.]
[Footnote 3: Dr. Leyburn, who was sent by the queen to Ireland in 1647,
tells us, on the authority of the nuncio and the bishop of Clogher, "that
my lord of Worcester (Glamorgan) was ready to justify that he had exactly
followed his instructions, and particularly that concerning the lord
lieutenant, whom he had made acquainted with all that he had transacted
with the Irish, of which he could produce proof."--Birch, Inquiry, 322.
Nor will any one doubt it, who attends, to the letter of Ormond to Lord
Muskerry on the 11th of August, just after the arrival of Glamorgan at
Kilkenny, in which, speaking of Glamorgan, he assured him, and through him
the council of the confederates, that he knew "no subject in England upon
whose favour and authority with his majesty they can better rely than upon
his lordship's, nor ... with whom he (Ormond) would sooner agree for the
benefit of this kingdom."--Birch, 62. And another to Glamorgan himself on
Feb. 11th, in which he says, "Your lordship may securely go on in the
way you have proposed to yourself, to serve the king, without fear of
interruption from me, or so much as inquiring into the means you work
by."--Ibid. 163. See also another letter, of April 6th, in Leland, iii.
283.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. August 25.]
To the surprise of all who were not in the secret, the public treaty now
proceeded with unexpected facility. The only point in debate between the
lord lieutenant and the deputies, respected their demand to be relieved
by act of parliament from all penalties for the performance of the divine
service and the administration of the sacraments, after any other form than
that of the established church. Ormond was aware of their ulterior object:
he became alarmed, and insisted on a proviso, that such article should
not be construed to extend to any service performed, or sacraments
administered, in cathedral or parochial churches. After repeated
discussions, two expedients were suggested; one, that in place of the
disputed article should be substituted another, providing that any
concession with respect to religion which the king might afterwards grant
should be considered as making part of the present treaty; the other, that
no mention should be made of religion at all, but that the lieutenant
should sign a private engagement, not to molest the Catholics in the
possession of those churches which they now held, but leave the question to
the decision of a free parliament. To this both parties assented;[a] and
the deputies returned to Kilkenny to submit the result of the conferences
to the judgment of the general assembly.[1]
But before this, the secret treaty with Glamorgan, which had been concealed
from all but the leading members of the council, had by accident come to
the
[Footnote 1: Compare Carte, i. 548, with Vindiciae Cath. Hib. 11, 13.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Nov. 11.]