Opposite Projects Of The Presbyterians And Independents--The King
Is Brought From Holmby To The Army--Independents Driven From
Parliament--Restored By The Army--Origin Of The Levellers--King Escapes
From Hampton Court, And Is Secured In The Isle Of Wight--Mutiny In The
Army--Public Opinion In Favour Of The King--Scots Arm In His Defence--The
Royalists Renew The War--The Presbyterians Assume The Ascendancy--Defeat
Of The Scots--Suppression Of The Royalists--Treaty Of Newport--The King Is
Again Brought To The Army--The House Of Commons Is Purified--The King's
Trial--Judgment--And Execution--Reflections.
The king during his captivity at Holmby divided his time between his
studies and amusements. A considerable part of the day he spent in his
closet, the rest in playing at bowls, or riding in the neighbourhood.[1] He
was strictly watched; and without an order from the parliament no access
could be obtained to the royal presence. The crowds who came to be touched
for the evil were sent back by the guards; the servants who waited on his
person received their appointment from the commissioners; and, when he
refused[a] the spiritual services of the two Presbyterian ministers sent
to him from London, his request[b] for the attendance of any of his twelve
chaplains was equally refused.[c]
[Footnote 1: "He frequently went to Harrowden, a house of the Lord Vaux's,
where there was a good bowling-green with gardens, groves, and walks, and
to Althorp, a fair house, two or three miles from Holmby, belonging to the
Lord Spenser, where there was a green well kept."--Herbert, 18.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Feb. 17.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. March 6.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1647. March 8.]
Thus three months passed away without any official communication from the
two houses. The king's patience was exhausted; and he addressed them in
a[a] letter, which, as it must have been the production of his own pen,
furnishes an undoubted and favourable specimen of his abilities. In it
he observed that the want of advisers might, in the estimation of any
reasonable man, excuse him from noticing the important propositions
presented to him at Newcastle; but his wish to restore a good understanding
between himself and his houses of parliament had induced him to make them
the subjects of his daily study; and, if he could not return an answer
satisfactory in every particular, it must be attributed not to want of
will, but to the prohibition of his conscience. Many things he would
cheerfully concede: with respect to the others he was ready to receive
information, and that in person, if such were the pleasure of the Lords
and Commons. Individuals in his situation might persuade themselves that
promises extorted from a prisoner are not binding. If such were his
opinion, he would not hesitate a moment to grant whatever had been asked.
His very reluctance proved beyond dispute, that with him at least the words
of a king were sacred.
After this preamble he proceeds to signify his assent to most of the
propositions; but to the three principal points in debate, he answers: 1.
That he is ready to confirm the Presbyterian government for the space of
three years, on condition that liberty of worship be allowed to himself
and his household; that twenty divines of his nomination be added to the
assembly at Westminster; and that the final settlement of religion at the
expiration of that period be made in the regular way by himself and the two
houses: 2. he is willing
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. May 12.]
that the command of the army and navy be vested in persons to be named by
them, on condition that after ten years it may revert to the crown; and 3.
if these things be accorded, he pledges himself to give full satisfaction
with respect to the war in Ireland. By[a] the Lords the royal answer was
favourably received, and they resolved by a majority of thirteen to nine
that the king should be removed from Holmby to Oatlands; but the Commons
neglected to notice the subject, and their attention was soon occupied by a
question of more immediate, and therefore in their estimation of superior
importance.[1]
The reader is aware that the Presbyterians had long viewed the army under
Fairfax with peculiar jealousy. It offered a secure refuge to their
religious, and proved the strongest bulwark of their political, opponents.
Under its protection, men were beyond the reach of intolerance. They prayed
and preached as they pleased; the fanaticism of one served to countenance
the fanaticism of another; and all, however they might differ in spiritual
gifts and theological notions, were bound together by the common profession
of godliness, and the common dread of persecution. Fairfax, though called
a Presbyterian, had nothing of that stern, unaccommodating character which
then marked the leaders of the party. In the field he was distinguished by
his activity and daring; but the moment his military duties were performed,
he relapsed into habits of ease and indolence; and, with the good-nature
and the credulity of a child, suffered himself to be guided by the advice
or the wishes of
[Footnote 1: These particulars appear in the correspondence in Clar. Pap.
221-226; Journals, 19, 69, 193, 199; Commons', Feb. 25; March 2, 9; May
21.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. May 20.]
those around him--by his wife, by his companions, and particularly by
Cromwell. That adventurer had equally obtained the confidence of the
commander-in-chief and of the common soldier. Dark, artful, and designing,
he governed Fairfax by his suggestions, while he pretended only to second
the projects of that general. Among the privates he appeared as the
advocate of liberty and toleration, joined with them in their conventicles,
equalled them in the cant of fanaticism, and affected to resent their
wrongs as religionists and their privations as soldiers. To his
fellow-officers he lamented the ingratitude and jealousy of the parliament,
a court in which experience showed that no man, not even the most
meritorious patriot, was secure. To-day he might be in high favour;
tomorrow, at the insidious suggestion of some obscure lawyer or
narrow-minded bigot, he might find himself under arrest, and be consigned
to the Tower. That Cromwell already aspired to the eminence to which he
afterwards soared, is hardly credible; but that his ambition was awakened,
and that he laboured to bring the army into collision with the parliament,
was evident to the most careless observer.[1]
To disband that army was now become the main object of the Presbyterian
leaders; but they disguised their real motives under the pretence of the
national benefit. The royalists were humbled in the dust; the Scots had
departed; and it was time to relieve the country from the charge of
supporting a multitude of
[Footnote 1: As early as Aug. 2, 1648, Huntingdon, the major in his
regiment, in his account of Cromwell's conduct, noticed, that in his
chamber at Kingston he said, "What a sway Stapleton and Hollis had
heretofore in the kingdom, and he knew nothing to the contrary but that he
was as well able to govern the kingdom as either of them."--Journals, x.
411.]
men in arms without any ostensible purpose. They carried, but with
considerable opposition, the following resolutions: to take from the army
three regiments of horse and eight regiments of foot, for the service in
Ireland; to retain in England no greater number of infantry than might be
required to do the garrison duty, with six thousand cavalry for the more
speedy suppression of tumults and riots; and to admit of no officer
of higher rank than colonel, with the exception of Fairfax, the
commander-in-chief. In addition it was voted that no commission should be
granted to any member of the lower house, or to any individual who refused
to take the solemn league and covenant, or to any one whose conscience
forbade him to conform to the Presbyterian scheme of church government.[1]
The object of these votes could not be concealed from the Independents.
They resolved to oppose their adversaries with their own weapons, and to
intimidate those whom they were unable to convince. Suddenly, at their
secret instigation, the army, rising from its cantonments in the
neighbourhood of Nottingham, approached the metropolis, and selected
quarters in the county of Essex. This movement was regarded and resented
as a menace: Fairfax, to excuse it, alleged the difficulty of procuring
subsistence in an exhausted and impoverished district.[a] At Saffron Walden
he was met by the parliamentary commissioners, who called a council of
officers, and submitted to their consideration proposals for the service of
[Footnote 1: Journals of Commons, iv., Feb. 15, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27;
March 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. On several divisions, the Presbyterian majority was
reduced to ten; on one, to two members. They laboured to exclude Fairfax,
but were left in a minority of 147 to 159.--Ibid. March 5. "Some," says
Whitelock, "wondered it should admit debate and question" (p. 239).]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. March 21.]
Ireland; but instead of a positive answer, inquiries were made and
explanations demanded, while a remonstrance against the treatment of the
army was circulated for signatures through the several regiments. In it the
soldiers required an ordinance of indemnity to screen them from actions
in the civil courts for their past conduct, the payment of their arrears,
which amounted to forty-three weeks for the horse, and to eighteen for the
infantry; exemption from impressment for foreign service; compensation for
the maimed; pensions for the widows and families of those who had fallen
during the war, and a weekly provision of money, that they might no longer
be compelled to live at free quarters on the inhabitants. This remonstrance
was presented to Fairfax to be forwarded by him to the two houses. The
ruling party became alarmed: they dreaded to oppose petitioners with swords
in their hands; and, that the project might be suppressed in its birth,
both houses sent instructions to the general, ordered all members
of parliament holding commands to repair to the army, and issued a
declaration,[a] in which, after a promise to take no notice of what was
past, they admonished the subscribers that to persist in their illegal
course would subject them to punishment "as enemies to the state and
disturbers of the public peace."[1]
The framers of this declaration knew little of the temper of the military.
They sought to prevail by intimidation, and they only inflamed the general
discontent. Was it to be borne, the soldiers asked each other, that the
city of London and the county of Essex should be allowed to petition
against the army,
[Footnote 1: Journals, ix. 66, 72, 82, 89, 95, 112-115. Commons', v. March
11, 25, 26, 27, 29.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647 March 29.]
and that they, who had fought, and bled, and conquered in the cause of
their country, should be forbidden either to state their grievances or
to vindicate their characters? Hitherto the army had been guided, in
appearance at least, by the council of officers; now, whether it was a
contrivance of the officers themselves to shift the odium to the whole body
of the military, or was suggested by the common men, who began to distrust
the integrity of their commanders, two deliberating bodies, in imitation
of the houses at Westminster, were formed; one consisting of the officers
holding commissions, the other of two representatives from every troop and
company, calling themselves adjutators or helpers; a name which, by
the ingenuity of their enemies, was changed into that of agitators or
disturbers.[1] Guided by their resolves, the whole army seemed to be
animated with one soul; scarcely a man could be tempted to desert the
common cause by accepting of the service in Ireland; each corps added
supernumeraries to its original complement;[2] and language was held,
and projects were suggested, most alarming to the Presbyterian party.
Confident, however, in their own power, the majority in the house[a]
[Footnote 1: Hobbes, Behemoth, 587. Berkeley, 359. This, however, was not
the first appearance of the agitators. "The first time," says Fairfax, "I
took notice of them was at Nottingham (end of February), by the soldiers
meeting to frame a petition to the parliament about their arrears. The
thing seemed just; but not liking the way, I spoke with some officers
who were principally engaged in it, and got it suppressed for that
time."--Short Memorials of Thomas Lord Fairfax, written by himself.
Somers's Tracts, v. 392. Maseres, 446.]
[Footnote 2: Several bodies of troops in the distant counties had been
disbanded; but the army under Fairfax, by enlisting volunteers from both
parties, royalists as well as parliamentarians, was gradually increased by
several thousand men, and the burthen of supporting it was doubled.--See
Journals, ix. 559-583.]
[Sidebar a: A.D. 1647. April 27.]
resolved that the several regiments should be disbanded on the receipt of
a small portion of their arrears. This vote was scarcely past, when a
deputation from the agitators presented to the Commons a defence of the
remonstrance. They maintained that by becoming soldiers they had not lost
the rights of subjects; that by purchasing the freedom of others, they had
not forfeited their own; that what had been granted to the adversaries of
the commonwealth, and to the officers in the armies of Essex and Waller,
could not in justice be refused to them; and that, as without the liberty
of petitioning, grievances are without remedy, they ought to be allowed to
petition now in what regarded them as soldiers, no less than afterwards
in what might regard them as citizens. At the same time the agitators
addressed to Fairfax and the other general officers a letter complaining of
their wrongs, stating their resolution to obtain redress, and describing
the expedition to Ireland as a mere pretext to separate the soldiers from
those officers to whom they were attached, "a cloak to the ambition of
men who having lately tasted of sovereignty, and been lifted beyond their
ordinary sphere of servants, sought to become masters, and degenerate into
tyrants." The tone of these papers excited alarm; and Cromwell, Skippon,
Ireton, and Fleetwood were[a] ordered to repair to their regiments, and
assure them that ordinances of indemnity should be passed, that their
arrears should be audited, and that a considerable payment should be made
previous to their dismissal from the service.[b] When these officers
announced, in the words of the parliamentary order, that they were come to
quiet "the distempers in the army," the councils replied, that they knew of
no[b]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. April 30.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. May 8.]
distempers, but of many grievances, and that of these they demanded
immediate redress.[1]
Whitelock, with his friends, earnestly deprecated a course of proceeding
which he foresaw must end in defeat; but his efforts were frustrated by the
inflexibility or violence of Holles, Stapleton, and Glyn, the leaders of
the ruling party, who, though they condescended to pass[a] the ordinance of
indemnity, and to issue[b] money for the payment of the arrears of eight
weeks, procured[c] instructions for the lord general to collect the several
regiments in their respective quarters, and to disband them without delay.
Instead of obeying, he called together the council of officers, who
resolved, in answer to a petition to them from the agitators, that the
votes of parliament were not satisfactory; that the arrears of payment for
eight weeks formed but a portion of their just claim, and that no security
had been given for the discharge of the remainder; that the bill of
indemnity was a delusion, as long as the vote declaring them enemies of
the state was unrepealed; and that, instead of suffering themselves to be
disbanded in their separate quarters, the whole army ought to be drawn
together, that they might consult in common for the security of their
persons and the reparation of their characters. Orders were despatched at
the same time to secure the park of artillery at Oxford, and to seize the
sum of four thousand pounds destined for the garrison in that city. These
measures opened the eyes of their adversaries. A proposal was made in
parliament to expunge the offensive declaration from the journals, a more
comprehensive bill of indemnity was introduced, and other
[Footnote 1: Journals, ix. 164. Commons', Ap. 27, 30. Whitelock, 245, 246.
Rushworth, vi. 447, 451, 457, 469, 480, 485.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. May 21.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. May 25.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1647. May 29.]
votes were suggested calculated to remove the objections of the army, when
the alarm of the Presbyterian leaders was raised to the highest pitch by
the arrival of unexpected tidings from Holmby.[1]
Soon after the appointment of the agitators, an officer had delivered to
the king a petition from the army, that he would suffer himself to be
conducted to the quarters of their general, by whom he should be restored
to his honour, crown, and dignity.[a] Charles replied, that he hoped one
day to reward them for the loyalty of their intention, but that he could
not give his consent to a measure which, must, in all probability, replunge
the nation into the horrors of a civil war. He believed that this answer
had induced the army to abandon the design; but six weeks later, on
Wednesday the 2nd of June, while he was playing at bowls at Althorp, Joyce,
a cornet in the general's lifeguard, was observed standing among the
spectators; and late in the evening of the same day, the commissioners in
attendance upon him understood that a numerous party of horse had assembled
on Harleston Heath, at the distance of two miles from Holmby.[b] Their
object could not be doubted; it was soon ascertained that the military
under their orders would offer no resistance; and Colonel Greaves, their
commander, deemed it expedient to withdraw to a place of safety. About
two in the morning a body of troopers appeared before the gates, and were
instantly admitted.[c] To the questions of the commissioners, who was their
commander, and what was their purpose, Joyce replied, that they were all
commanders, and that they had
[Footnote 1: Whitelock, 248, 250. Holles, 92. Journals, 207, 222, 226-228.
Commons', May 14, 21, 25, 28, June 1, 4, 5. Rushworth, vi. 489, 493,
497-500, 505.]
[Transcriber's Note: Footnote 2 not found in the text.]
[Footnote 2: Clarendon Papers, ii. 365.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. April 21]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. June 2]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1647. June 3]
come to arrest Colonel Greaves, and to secure the person of the king, that
he might not be carried away by their enemies. With a pistol in his hand
he then demanded admission to Charles; but the grooms of the bedchamber
interposed; and, after a violent altercation, he was induced to withdraw.
During the day the parliamentary guards were replaced by these strangers;
about ten at night Joyce again demanded admission to the royal bedchamber,
and informed the king that his comrades were apprehensive of a rescue, and
wished to conduct him to a place of greater security. Charles signified
his assent, on the condition that what then passed between them in private
should be repeated in public; and at six the next morning, took his station
on the steps at the door, while the troopers drew up before him, with Joyce
a little in advance of the line. This dialogue ensued:--
KING.--Mr. Joyce, I desire to ask you, what authority you have to take
charge of my person and convey me away?
JOYCE.--I am sent by authority of the army, to prevent the design of their
enemies, who seek to involve the kingdom a second time in blood.
KING.--That is no lawful authority. I know of none in England but my own,
and, after mine, that of the parliament. Have you any written commission
from Sir Thomas Fairfax?
JOYCE.--I have the authority of the army, and the general is included in
the army.
KING.--That is no answer. The general is the head of the army. Have you any
written commission?
JOYCE.--I beseech your majesty to ask me no more questions. There is my
commission, pointing to the troopers behind him.
KING, with a smile--I never before read such a commission; but it is
written in characters fair and legible enough; a company of as handsome
proper gentlemen as I have seen a long while. But to remove me hence,
you must use absolute force, unless you give me satisfaction as to these
reasonable and just demands which I make: that I may be used with honour
and respect, and that I may not be forced in any thing against my
conscience or honour, though I hope that my resolution is so fixed that no
force can cause me to do a base thing. You are masters of my body, my soul
is above your reach.
The troopers signified their assent by acclamation; and Joyce rejoined,
that their principle was not to force any man's conscience, much less that
of their sovereign. Charles proceeded to demand the attendance of his own
servants, and, when this had been granted, asked whither they meant to
conduct him. Some mentioned Oxford, others Cambridge, but, at his
own request, Newmarket was preferred. As soon as he had retired, the
commissioners protested against the removal of the royal person, and called
on the troopers present to come over to them, and maintain the authority
of parliament. But they replied with one voice "None, none;" and the king,
trusting himself to Joyce and his companions, rode that day as far as
Hinchinbrook House, and afterwards proceeded to Childersley, not far from
Cambridge.[1]
[Footnote 1: Compare the narrative published by the army (Rushw. vi. 53),
with the letters sent by the commissioners to the House of Lords, Journals,
237, 240, 248, 250, 273, and Herbert's Memoirs, 26-33. Fairfax met the king
at Childersley, near Cambridge, and advised him to return to Holmby. "The
next day I waited on his majesty, it being also my business to persuade his
return to Holmby; but he was otherwise resolved.... So having spent the
whole day about this business, I returned to my quarters; and as I took
leave of the king, he said to me, Sir, I have as good interest in the army
as you.... I called for a council of war to proceed against Joyce for this
high offence, and breach of the articles of war; but the officers, whether
for fear of the distempered soldiers, or rather (as I suspected) a secret
allowance of what was done, made all my endeavours in this ineffectual."
Somers's Tracts, v. 394. Holles asserts that the removal of the king had
been planned at the house of Cromwell, on the 30th of May (Holles, 96);
Huntingdon, that it was advised by Cromwell and Ireton.--Lords' Journals,
x. 409.]
This design of seizing the person of the king was openly avowed by the
council of the agitators, though the general belief attributed it to the
secret contrivance of Cromwell. It had been carefully concealed from the
knowledge of Fairfax, who, if he was not duped by the hypocrisy of the
lieutenant-general and his friends, carefully suppressed his suspicions,
and acted as if he believed his brother officers to be animated with the
same sentiments as himself, an earnest desire to satisfy the complaints of
the military, and at the same time to prevent a rupture between them and
the parliament. But Cromwell appears to have had in view a very different
object, the humiliation of his political opponents; and his hopes were
encouraged not only by the ardour of the army, but also by the general
wishes of the people.
1. The day after the abduction of the king[a] from Holmby, the army
rendezvoused at Newmarket, and entered into a solemn engagement, stating
that, whereas several officers had been called in question for advocating
the cause of the military, they had chosen certain men out of each company,
who then chose two or more out of themselves, to act in the name and behalf
of the whole soldiery of their respective regiments; and that they did
now unanimously declare and promise that the army should not disband, nor
volunteer for the service in Ireland, till
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. June 5.]
their grievances had been so far redressed, and their subsequent safety so
far secured, as to give satisfaction to a council composed of the general
officers, and of two commissioned officers, and two privates, or agitators,
chosen from each regiment.[1]
2. The forcible removal of the king had warned the Presbyterian leaders
of the bold and unscrupulous spirit which animated the soldiery; yet
they entertained no doubt of obtaining the victory in this menacing and
formidable contest. So much apparent reverence was still paid to the
authority of the parliament, so powerful was the Presbyterian interest in
the city and among the military, that they believed it would require only a
few concessions, and some judicious management on their part, to break that
bond of union which formed the chief element of strength possessed by their
adversaries. But when it became known that a friendly understanding already
existed between the officers and the king, they saw that no time was to be
lost. In their alarm the measures, which they had hitherto discussed very
leisurely, were turned through the two houses; the obnoxious declaration
was erased from the journals; a most extensive bill of indemnity was
passed; several ordinances were added securing more plentiful pay to the
disbanded soldiers, and still more plentiful to those who should volunteer
for the service in Ireland. Six commissioners--the earl of Nottingham
and Lord Delaware from the House of Lords, and Field-Marshal General
Skippon,[2] Sir Henry Vane the younger, and two
[Footnote 1: Parl. Hist. iii. 64.]
[Footnote 2: Skippon had been appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in
Ireland, with the title of field-marshal, and six pounds per day for his
entertainment.--Journals, ix. 122, Ap. 6. He also received the sum of one
thousand pounds for his outfit--Holles, p. 250.]
others, from the House of Commons--were appointed to superintend the
disbandment of the forces; and peremptory orders were despatched to the
lord general, to collect all the regiments under his immediate command on
Newmarket Heath on Wednesday the 9th of June, and to second to the utmost
of his power the proceedings on the part of the six deputies. He professed
obedience; but of his own authority changed the place of rendezvous to
Triploe Heath, between Cambridge and Royston, and the day also from
Wednesday to Thursday, apparently with a view to the convenience of the two
houses.[1]
It was only on the morning of Wednesday that the earl of Nottingham, with
his five companions, was able to set out from London on their important
mission; and, while they were on the road, their colleagues at Westminster
sought to interest Heaven in their favour by spending the day, as one of
fasting and humiliation, in religious exercises, according to the fashion
of the time.[a] Late in the evening the commissioners reached Cambridge,
and immediately offered the votes and ordinances, of which they were the
bearers, to the acceptance of Fairfax and his council. The whole, however,
of the next morning was wasted (artfully, it would seem, on the part of the
officers) in trifling controversies on mere matters of form, till at last
the lord general deigned to return an answer which was tantamount to
a refusal.[b] To the proposals of parliament he preferred the solemn
engagement already entered into by the army on Newmarket Heath, because
[Footnote 1: The orders of the parliament with respect to the time
and place are in the Lords' Journals, ix. 241. Yet the debates on the
concessions did not close before Tuesday, nor did the negotiation between
the commissioners and the military council conclude till afternoon on
Thursday.--Ibid. 247, 353.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. June 9.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. June 10.]
the latter presented a more effectual way of disbanding the forces under
his command without danger, and of extinguishing satisfactorily the
discontent which pervaded the whole nation. If, however, the commissioners
wished to ascertain in person the real sentiments of the soldiery, he
was ready with his officers to attend upon them, whilst they made the
inquiry.[1] It was now one in the afternoon; every corps had long since
occupied its position on the heath; and there is reason to believe, that
the opportunity afforded by this delay had been improved to prepare each
regiment separately, and particular agents in each regiment, against the
arrival and proposals of the commissioners. The latter dared not act on
their own discretion, but resolved to obey their instructions to the very
letter. Proceeding, therefore, to the heath, they rode at once to the
regiment of infantry of which Fairfax was colonel. The votes of the two
houses were then read to the men, and Skippon, having made a long harangue
in commendation of the votes, concluded by asking whether, with these
concessions, they were not all satisfied. "To that no answer can be
returned," exclaimed a voice from the ranks, "till your proposals have been
submitted to, and approved by, the council of officers and agitators."
The speaker was a subaltern, who immediately, having asked and obtained
permission from his colonel to address the whole corps, called aloud, "Is
not that the opinion of you all?" They shouted, "It is, of all, of all."
"But are there not," he pursued, "some among you who think otherwise?"
"No," was the general response, "no, not one." Disconcerted and abashed,
the commissioners turned aside, and, as they withdrew, were
[Footnote 1: The correspondence is in the Journals, ibid.]
greeted with continual cries of "Justice, justice, we demand justice."[1]
From this regiment they proceeded to each of the others. In every instance
the same ceremony was repeated, and always with the same result. No one now
could doubt that both officers and men were joined in one common league;
and that the link which bound them together was the "solemn engagement."[2]
Both looked upon that engagement as the charter of their rights and
liberties. No concession or intrigue, no partiality of friendship or
religion, could seduce them from the faith which they had sworn to it.
There were, indeed, a few seceders, particularly the captains, and several
of the lord general's life-guard; but after all, the men who yielded to
temptation amounted to a very inconsiderable number, in comparison with
the immense majority of those who with inviolable fidelity adhered to
the engagement, and, by their resolution and perseverance, enabled their
leaders to win for them a complete, and at the same time a bloodless
victory.
3. On the next day a deputation of freeholders from the county of Norfolk,
and soon afterwards similar deputations from the counties of Suffolk,
Essex, Herts, and Buckingham, waited with written addresses upon Fairfax.
They lamented that now, when the war with the king was concluded, peace had
not brought with it the blessings, the promise of which by the parliament
had induced them to submit to the evils and privations of war; a
disappointment that could be attributed only to the obstinacy with which
certain individuals clung to the emoluments of office
[Footnote 1: Rushworth, vi. 518. Whitelock, 251. Holles, 252.]
[Footnote 2: Nottingham's Letter in the Lords' Journals, ix. 253.]
and the monopoly of power. To Fairfax, therefore, under God, they appealed
to become the saviour of his country, to be the mediator between it and the
two houses. With this view, let him keep his army together, till he had
brought the incendiaries to condign punishment, and extorted full redress
of the grievances so severely felt both by the army and the people.[1]
The chiefs, however, who now ruled at Westminster, were not the men to
surrender without a struggle. They submitted, indeed, to pass a few
ordinances calculated to give satisfaction, but these were combined with
others which displayed a fixed determination not to succumb to the dictates
of a mutinous soldiery. A committee was established with power to raise
forces for the defence of the nation: the favourite general Skippon was
appointed to provide for the safety of the capital; and the most positive
orders were sent to Fairfax not to suffer any one of the corps under his
command to approach within forty miles of London. Every day the
contest assumed a more threatening aspect. A succession of petitions,
remonstrances, and declarations issued from the pens of Ireton and Lambert,
guided, it was believed, by the hand of Cromwell. In addition to their
former demands, it was required that all capitulations granted by military
commanders during the war should be observed; that a time[a] should be
fixed for the termination of the present parliament; that the House of
Commons should be purged of every individual disqualified by preceding
ordinances;
[Footnote 1: Lords' Journals, 260, 263, 277. Holles says that these
petitions were drawn by Cromwell, and sent into the counties for
subscriptions.--Holles, 256.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. June 14.]
and, in particular, that eleven of its members, comprising Holles, Glyn,
Stapleton, Clotworthy, and Waller, the chief leaders of the Presbyterian
party, and members of the committee at Derby House, should be excluded,
till they had been tried by due course of law for the offence of
endeavouring to commit the army with the parliament. To give weight to
these demands, Fairfax, who seems to have acted as the mere organ of the
council of officers,[1] marched successively to St. Alban's, to Watford,
and to Uxbridge.[a] His approach revealed the weakness of his opponents,
and the cowardice, perhaps hypocrisy, of many, who foresaw the probable
issue of the contest, and deemed it not their interest to provoke by a
useless resistance the military chiefs, who might in a few hours be
their masters.[b] Hence it happened that men, who had so clamorously and
successfully appealed to the privileges of parliament, when the king
demanded the five members, now submitted tamely to a similar demand, when
it was made by twelve thousand men in arms. Skippon, their oracle, was one
of the first deserters. He resigned the several commands which he held,
and exhorted the Presbyterians to fast and pray, and submit to the will of
God.[c] From that time it became their chief solicitude to propitiate the
army. They granted very ingeniously leave of absence to the eleven accused
members; they ordered the new levies for the defence of the city to be
disbanded, and the
[Footnote 1: "From the time they declared their usurped authority at
Triploe Heath (June 10th), I never gave my free consent to any thing they
did; but being yet undischarged of my place, they set my name in way of
course to all their papers, whether I consented or not."--Somers's Tracts,
v. 396. This can only mean that he reluctantly allowed them to make use
of his name; for he was certainly at liberty to resign his command, or to
protest against the measures which he disapproved.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. June 12.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. June 25.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1647. June 21.]
new lines of communication to be demolished; they sent a month's pay to
the forces under Fairfax, with a vote declaring them the army of the
parliament, and appointed commissioners to treat with commissioners from
the military council, as if the latter were the representatives of an
independent and coequal authority.[1]
This struggle and its consequences were viewed with intense interest by the
royalists, who persuaded themselves that it must end in the restoration
of the king; but the opportunities furnished by the passions of his
adversaries were as often forfeited by the irresolution of the monarch.
While both factions courted his assistance, he, partly through distrust of
their sincerity, partly through the hope of more favourable terms,
balanced between their offers, till the contest was decided without his
interference. Ever since his departure from Holmby, though he was still a
captive, and compelled to follow the marches of the army, the officers had
treated him with the most profound respect; attention was paid to all his
wants; the general interposed to procure for him occasionally the company
of his younger children; his servants, Legge, Berkeley, and Ashburnham,
though known to have come from France with a message from the queen,[2]
were permitted to attend him; and free access was
[Footnote 1: Rushworth, vi. 518-596. Whitelock, 251-256. Holles, 104.
Journals, 249, 257, 260, 263, 275, 277, 284, 289, 291, 298. Commons', June
7, 11, 12, 15, 18, 25, 26, 28. On divisions in general, the Presbyterians
had a majority of forty; but on the 28th, the first day after the departure
of their leaders, they were left in a minority of eighty-five to one
hundred and twenty-one.--Ibid.]
[Footnote 2: "I returned with instructions to endeavour by the best means
imaginable such a compliance between his majesty and the army, as might
have influence, and beget a right understanding between his majesty and the
parliament"--Ashburnham's Letter, in 1648, p. 5.]
given to some of his chaplains, who read the service in his presence
publicly and without molestation. Several of the officers openly professed
to admire his piety, and to compassionate his misfortunes; even Cromwell,
though at first he affected the distance and reserve of an enemy, sent him
secret assurances of his attachment; and successive addresses were made to
him in the name of the military, expressive of the general wish to effect
an accommodation, which should reconcile the rights of the throne with
those of the people. A secret negotiation followed through the agency of
Berkeley and Ashburnham; and Fairfax, to[a] prepare the public for the
result, in a letter to the two houses, spurned the imputation cast upon
the army, as if it were hostile to monarchical government, justified the
respect and indulgence with which he had treated the royal captive, and
maintained that "tender, equitable, and moderate dealing towards him, his
family, and his former adherents," was the most hopeful course to lull
asleep the feuds which divided the nation. Never had the king so fair a
prospect of recovering his authority.[1]
In the treaty between the commissioners of the parliament and those of
the army, the latter proceeded with considerable caution. The redress of
military grievances was but the least of their cares; their great object
was the settlement of the national tranquillity on what _they_ deemed a
solid and permanent basis. Of this intention they had suffered some hints
to transpire; but before the open announcement of their plan, they resolved
to bring the city, as they had brought the parliament, under subjection.
London,
[Footnote 1: Journals, ix. 323, 324. Ashburn. ii. 91. Also Huntingdon's
Narrative, x. 409.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. July 2.]
with its dependencies, had hitherto been the chief support of the contrary
faction; it abounded with discharged officers and soldiers who had served
under Essex and Waller, and who were ready at the first summons to draw
the sword in defence of the covenant; and the supreme authority over the
military within the lines of communication had been, by an ordinance of the
last year, vested in a committee, all the members of which were strongly
attached to the Presbyterian interest. To wrest this formidable weapon from
the hands of their adversaries, they forwarded a request to the two
houses, that the command of the London militia might be transferred from
disaffected persons to men distinguished by their devotion to the cause of
the country. The Presbyterians in the city were alarmed; they suspected a
coalition between the king and the Independents; they saw that the covenant
itself was at stake, and that the propositions of peace so often voted in
parliament might in a few days be set aside. A petition was presented[a]
in opposition to the demand of the army; but the houses, now under the
influence of the Independents, passed[b] the ordinance; and the city, on
its part, determined[c] to resist both the army and the parliament. Lord
Lauderdale, the chief of the Scottish commissioners, hastened to the king
to obtain his concurrence; a new covenant, devised in his favour, was
exposed at Skinners' Hall, and the citizens and soldiers, and probably the
concealed royalists, hastened in crowds to subscribe their names. By it
they bound themselves, in the presence of God, and at the risk of their
lives and fortunes, to bring the sovereign to Westminster, that he might
confirm the concessions which he had made in his letter from Holmby, and
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. July 14.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. July 23.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1647. July 24.]
might confer with his parliament on the remaining propositions. But the
recent converts to the cause of the army hastened to prove the sincerity of
their conversion. Both Lords and Commons voted this engagement an act of
treason against the kingdom; and the publication of the vote, instead
of damping the zeal, inflamed the passions of the people. The citizens
petitioned a second time, and received a second refusal. The moment the
petitioners departed, a multitude of apprentices, supported by a crowd of
military men, besieged the doors of the two houses; for eight hours they
continued, by shouts and messages, to call for the repeal of the ordinance
respecting the militia, and of the vote condemning the covenant; and the
members, after a long resistance, worn out with fatigue, and overcome with
terror, submitted to their demands. Even after they had been suffered to
retire, the multitude suddenly compelled the Commons to return, and,
with the speaker in the chair, to pass a vote[a] that the king should be
conducted without delay to his palace at Westminster. Both houses adjourned
for three days, and the two speakers, with most of the Independent party
and their proselytes, amounting to eight peers and fifty-eight commoners,
availed themselves of the opportunity to withdraw from the insults of the
populace, and to seek an asylum in the army.[1]
In the mean while the council of officers had completed their plan "for the
settlement of the nation," which they submitted first to the consideration
of Charles, and afterwards to that of the parliamentary commissioners. In
many points it was similar to the
[Footnote 1: Whitelock, 260, 261. Journals, ix. 377, 393. Holles, 145.
Leicester's Journal in the Sydney Papers, edited by Mr. Blencowe, p. 25.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. July 25.]
celebrated "propositions of peace;" but contained in addition several
provisions respecting the manner of election, and the duration of
parliament and the composition of the magistracy, which may not be
uninteresting to the reader even at the present day. It proposed that a
parliament should meet every year, to sit not less than a certain number of
days, nor more than another certain number, each of which should be fixed
by law; that if at the close of a session any parliamentary business
remained unfinished, a committee should be appointed with power to sit and
bring it to a conclusion; that a new parliament should be summoned every
two years, unless the former parliament had been previously dissolved
with its own consent; that decayed and inconsiderable boroughs should be
disfranchised, and the number of county members increased, such increase
being proportionate to the rates of each county in the common charges
of the kingdom; that every regulation respecting the reform of the
representation and the election of members should emanate from the House of
Commons alone, whose decision on such matters should have the force of law,
independently of the other branches of the legislature; that the names of
the persons to be appointed sheriffs annually, and of those to be appointed
magistrates at any time, should be recommended to the king by the grand
jury at the assizes; and that the grand jury itself should be selected, not
by the partiality of the sheriff, but equally by the several divisions of
the county; that the excise should be taken off all articles of necessity
without delay, and off all others within a limited time; that the land-tax
should be equally apportioned; that a remedy should be applied to the
"unequal, troublesome, and contentious way of ministers' maintenance by
tithes;" that suits at law should be rendered less tedious and expensive;
that the estates of all men should be made liable for their debts;
that insolvent debtors, who had surrendered all that they had to their
creditors, should be discharged; and that no corporation should exact
from their members oaths trenching on freedom of conscience.[1] To these
innovations, great and important as they were, it was not the interest, if
it had been the inclination, of Charles to make any serious objection: but
on three other questions he felt much more deeply,--the church, the army,
and the fate of the royalists: yet there existed a disposition to spare
his feelings on all three; and after long and frequent discussion, such
modifications of the original proposals were adopted, as in the opinion of
his agents, Berkeley and Ashburnham, would insure his assent. 1. Instead
of the abolition of the hierarchy, it was agreed to deprive it only of
the power of coercion, to place the liturgy and the covenant on an equal
footing, by taking away the penalties for absence from the one, and for
refusal of the other; and to substitute in place of the oppressive and
sanguinary laws still in force, some other provision for the discovery of
popish recusants, and the restraint of popish priests and Jesuits, seeking
to disturb the state. 2. To restore to the crown the command of the army
and navy at the expiration of ten years. 3. And to reduce the number of
delinquents among the English royalists to be excluded from pardon, to five
individuals. Had the king accepted these terms, he would most probably have
been replaced on the throne; for his agents, who had the best means of
forming a judgment, though
[Footnote 1: Charles's Works, 579. Parl. History, ii. 738.]
they differed on other points, agreed in this, that the officers acted
uprightly and sincerely; but he had unfortunately persuaded himself--and
in that persuasion he was confirmed both by the advice of several
faithful royalists and by the interested representations of the Scottish
commissioners--that the growing struggle between the Presbyterians and
Independents would enable him to give the law to both parties; and hence,
when "the settlement" was submitted to him for his final approbation, he
returned an unqualified refusal. The astonishment of his agents was not
less than that of the officers. Had he dissembled, or had he changed his
mind? In either case both had been deceived. _They_ might suppress their
feelings; but the agitators complained aloud, and a party of soldiers,
attributing the disappointment to the intrigues of Lord Lauderdale, burst
at night into the bedchamber of that nobleman, and ordered him to rise
and depart without delay. It was in vain, that he pleaded his duty as
commissioner from the estates of Scotland, or that he solicited the favour
of a short interview with the king: he was compelled to leave his bed and
hasten back to the capital.[1]
Before this, information of the proceedings in London had induced Fairfax
to collect his forces and march towards the city. On the way he was joined
by the speakers of both houses, eight lords and fifty-eight commoners, who
in a council held at Sion House solemnly bound themselves "to live and die
with the army." Here it was understood that many royalists
[Footnote 1: Compare the narratives of Berkeley, 364, Ashburnham, ii. 92,
Ludlow, i. 174, and Huntingdon (Journals, x. 410) with the proposals of the
army in Charles's Works, 578. The insult to Lauderdale is mentioned in the
Lords' Journals, ix. 367.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. July 30.]
had joined the Presbyterians, and that a declaration had been circulated
in the name of the king, condemning all attempts to make war on the
parliament. The officers, fearing the effect of this intelligence on
the minds of the military, already exasperated by the refusal of their
proposals, conjured Charles to write a conciliatory letter to the general,
in which he should disavow any design of assisting the enemy, should
thank the army for its attention to his comfort, and should commend the
moderation of their plan of settlement in many points, though he could not
consent to it in all. The ill-fated monarch hesitated; the grace of the
measure was lost by a delay of twenty-four hours; and though the letter was
at last[a] sent, it did not arrive before the city had[b] made an offer of
submission. In such circumstances it could serve no useful purpose. It
was interpreted as an artifice to cover the king's intrigues with the
Presbyterians, instead of a demonstration of his good will to the army.[1]
To return to the city, Holles and his colleagues had resumed the ascendancy
during the secession of the Independents. The eleven members returned to
the house; the command of the militia was restored to the former committee;
and a vote was passed that the king should be invited to Westminster. At
the same time the common council resolved to raise by subscription a loan
of ten thousand pounds, and to add auxilairies to the trained bands to the
amount of eighteen regiments. Ten thousand men were already in arms; four
hundred barrels of gunpowder, with other military stores,
[Footnote 1: Journals, 359, 375. Heath, 140. Ludlow, i. 181. Charles
afterwards disavowed the declaration, and demanded that the author and
publisher should be punished.--Whitelock, 267. There are two copies of his
letter, one in the Clarendon Papers, ii. 373; another and shorter in the
Parliamentary History, xv. 205.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. August 3.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. August 4.]
were drawn from the magazine in the Tower; and the Presbyterian generals,
Massey, Waller, and Poyntz, gladly accepted the command.[1] But the event
proved that these were empty menaces. In proportion as it was known that
Fairfax had begun his march, that he had reviewed the army on Hounslow
Heath, and that he had fixed his head-quarters at Hammersmith, the sense of
danger cooled the fervour of enthusiasm, and the boast of resistance was
insensibly exchanged for offers of submission.[a] The militia of Southwark
openly fraternized with the army; the works on the line of communication
were abandoned; and the lord mayor, on a promise that no violence should be
offered to the inhabitants, ordered the gates to be thrown open. The next
morning was celebrated the triumph of the Independents.[b] A regiment of
infantry, followed by one of cavalry, entered the city; then came Fairfax
on horseback, surrounded by his body-guards and a crowd of gentlemen;
a long train of carriages, in which were the speakers and the fugitive
members, succeeded; and another regiment of cavalry closed the procession.
In this manner, receiving as they passed the forced congratulations of the
mayor and the common council, the conquerors marched to Westminster, where
each speaker was placed in his chair by the hand of the general.[2] Of the
lords who had remained in London after the secession, one only, the earl of
Pembroke, ventured to appear; and he was suffered to make his peace by a
declaration that he considered all the proceedings during the absence of
[Footnote 1: Journals, x. 13, 16, 17.]
[Footnote 2: Whitelock, 261-264. Leicester's Journal, 27. Baillie calls
this surrender of the city "an example rarely paralleled, if not of
treachery, yet at least of childish improvidence and base cowardice" (ii.
259). The eleven members instantly fled.--Leicester, ibid.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. August 5.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. August 6.]
the members compulsory, and therefore null. But in the lower house the
Presbyterians and their adherents composed a more formidable body; and
by their spirit and perseverance, though they could not always defeat,
frequently embarrassed the designs of their opponents. To many things they
gave their assent; they suffered Maynard and Glyn, two members, to be
expelled, the lord mayor, one of the sheriffs, and four of the aldermen, to
be sent to the Tower, and the seven peers who sat during the secession of
their colleagues, to be impeached. But a sense of danger induced them to
oppose a resolution sent from the Lords, to annul all the votes passed
from the 20th of July to the 6th of August. Four times,[a] contrary to the
practice of the house, the resolution was brought forward, and as often, to
the surprise of the Independents, was rejected. Fairfax hastened to the aid
of his friends. In a letter to the speaker, he condemned the conduct of the
Commons as equivalent to an approval of popular violence, and hinted
the necessity of removing from the house the enemies of the public
tranquillity. The next morning[b] the subject was resumed: the
Presbyterians made the trial of their strength on an amendment, and
finding themselves outnumbered, suffered the resolution to pass without a
division.[1]
The submission of the citizens made a considerable change in the prospects
of the captive monarch. Had any opposition been offered, it was the
intention of the officers (so we are told by Ashburnham) to have unfurled
the royal standard, and to have placed Charles at their head. The ease
with which they had subdued their opponents convinced them of their own
superiority
[Footnote 1: Journals, 375, 385, 388, 391-398. Commons', iv. Aug. 9, 10,
17, 19, 20.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. August 9, 10, 17, 19.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. August 20.]
and rendered the policy of restoring the King a more doubtful question.
Still they continued to treat him with respect and indulgence. From
Oatlands he was transferred[a] to the palace of Hampton Court. There he
was suffered to enjoy the company of his children, whenever he pleased to
command their attendance, and the pleasure of hunting, on his promise not
to attempt an escape; all persons whom he was content to see found ready
admission to his presence; and, what he prized above all other concessions,
he was furnished with the opportunity of corresponding freely and safely
with the queen at Paris.[1] At the same time the two houses, at the
requisition of the Scottish commissioners, submitted[b] "the propositions"
once more to the royal consideration; but Charles replied,[c] that the plan
suggested by the army was better calculated to form the basis of a lasting
peace, and professed his readiness to treat respecting that plan with
commissioners appointed by the parliament, and others by the army.[2] The
officers applauded this answer; Cromwell in the Commons spoke in its favour
with a vehemence which excited suspicion; and, though it was ultimately
voted[d] equivalent to a refusal, a grand committee was appointed[e] "to
take the whole matter respecting the king into consideration." It had been
calculated that this attempt to amalgamate the plan of the parliament with
that of the army might be accomplished in the space of
[Footnote 1: Clarendon Papers, ii. 381, Appendix, xli. Rushw. vii. 795.
Memoirs of Hamiltons, 316. Herbert, 48. Ashburn. ii. 93, 95.]
[Footnote 2: Of this answer, Charles himself says to the Scottish
commissioners. "Be not startled at my answer which I gave yesterday to the
two houses; for if you truly understand it, I have put you in a right way,
where before you were wrong."--Memoirs of Hamiltons, 323.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. August 24.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. Sept. 8.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1647. Sept. 9.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1647. Sept. 21.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1647. Sept. 22.]
twenty days; but it occupied more than two months; for there was now a
third house to consult, the council of war, which debated every clause,
and notified its resolves to the Lords and Commons, under the modest, but
expressive, name of the desires of the army.[1]
While the king sought thus to flatter the officers, he was, according to
his custom, employed in treating with the opposite party.[2] The marquess
of Ormond, and the lord Capel,[3] with the Scottish commissioners, waited
on him from London; and a resolution was[a] formed that in the next spring,
the Scots should enter England with a numerous army, and call on the
Presbyterians for their aid; that Charles, if he were at liberty, otherwise
the prince of Wales, should sanction the enterprise by his presence; and
that Ormond should resume the government of Ireland, while Capel summoned
to the royal standard the remains of the king's party in England. Such was
the outline of the plan; the minor details had not been arranged, when
Cromwell, either informed by his spies, or prompted by his suspicions,
complained to Ashburnham of the incurable duplicity of his master, who was
[Footnote 1: Ludlow, i. 184. Whitelock, 269. Huntingdon in Journals, x.
410. Journals, v. Sept. 22. On the division, Cromwell was one of the
tellers for the Yea, and Colonel Rainsborough, the chief of the Levellers,
for the No. It was carried by a majority of 84 to 34.--Ibid.]
[Footnote 2: In vindication of Charles it has been suggested that he was
only playing at the same game as his opponents, amusing them as they sought
to amuse him. This, however, is very doubtful as far as it regards the
superior officers, who appear to me to have treated with him in good
earnest, till they were induced to break off the negotiation by repeated
proofs of his duplicity, and the rapid growth of distrust and disaffection
in the army. I do not, however, give credit to Morrice's tale of a letter
from Charles to Henrietta intercepted by Cromwell and Ireton.]
[Footnote 3: Capel was one of the most distinguished of the royal
commanders, and had lately returned from beyond the sea with the permission
of parliament.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. October.]
at the same time soliciting the aid, and plotting the destruction of the
army.[1]
But by this time a new party had risen, equally formidable to royalists,
Presbyterians, and Independents. Its founders were a few fanatics in the
ranks, who enjoyed the reputation of superior godliness. They pretended not
to knowledge or abilities; they were but humble individuals, to whom God
had given reason for their guide, and whose duty it was to act as that
reason dictated. Hence they called themselves Rationalists, a name which
was soon exchanged for the more expressive appellation of Levellers. In
religion they rejected all coercive authority; men might establish a public
worship at their pleasure, but, if it were compulsory, it became unlawful
by forcing conscience, and leading to wilful sin: in politics they taught
that it was the duty of the people to vindicate their own rights and do
justice to their own claims. Hitherto the public good had been sacrificed
to private interest; by the king, whose sole object was the recovery of
arbitrary power; by the officers, who looked forward to commands, and
titles, and emoluments; and by the parliament, which sought chiefly the
permanence of its own authority. It was now time for the oppressed to
arise, to take the cause into their own hands, and to resolve "to part with
their lives, before they would part with their freedom."[2] These doctrines
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, iii. 70-72-75. Ashburnham, ii. 94. Of the
disposition of the Scottish parliament, we have this account from Baillie:
"If the king be willing to ratify our covenant, we are all as one man to
restore him to all his rights, or die by the way; if he continue resolute
to reject our covenant, and only to give us some parts of the matter of it,
many here will be for him, even on these terms; but divers of the best and
wisest are irresolute, and wait till God give more light."--Baillie, ii.
260.]
[Footnote 2: Clarendon Papers, ii. App. xl. Walker, History of
Independents, 194. Rushworth, vii. 845. Hutchinson, 287. Secretary
Nicholas, after mentioning the Rationalists, adds, "There are a sect of
women lately come from foreign parts, and lodged in Southwark, called
Quakers, who swell, shiver, and shake; and when they come to themselves
(for in all the time of their fits Mahomet's holy ghost converses with
them) they begin to preach what hath been delivered to them by the
spirit"--Clarendon Papers, ii. 383.]
were rapidly diffused: they made willing converts of the dissolute, the
adventurous, and the discontented; and a new spirit, the fruitful parent
of new projects, began to agitate the great mass of the army. The king was
seldom mentioned but in terms of abhorrence and contempt; he was an Ahab or
Coloquintida, the everlasting obstacle to peace, the cause of dissension
and bloodshed. A paper[a] entitled "The Case of the Army," accompanied with
another under the name of "The Agreement of the People," was presented to
the general by the agitators of eleven regiments. They offered,[b] besides
a statement of grievances, a new constitution for the kingdom. It made no
mention of king or lords. The sovereignty was said to reside in the people,
its exercise to be delegated to their representatives, but with the
reservation of equality of law, freedom of conscience, and freedom from
forced service in the time of war; three privileges of which the nation
would never divest itself; parliaments were to be biennial, and to
sit during six months; the elective franchise to be extended, and the
representation to be more equally distributed. These demands of
the Levellers were strenuously supported by the colonels Pride and
Rainsborough, and as fiercely opposed by Cromwell and Ireton. The council
of officers yielded so far as to require that no more addresses should be
made to the king; but the two houses voted the papers destructive
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Oct. 18.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. Nov. 1.]
of the government, and ordered the authors to be prosecuted; though at the
same time, to afford some satisfaction to the soldiery, they resolved[a]
that the king was bound to give the royal assent to all laws for the
public good, which had been passed and presented to him by the Lords and
Commons.[1]
It was now some time since the king had begun to tremble for his safety. He
saw that the violence of the Levellers daily increased; that the officers,
who professed to be his friends, were become objects of suspicion; that
Ireton had been driven from the council, and Cromwell threatened
with impeachment; that several regiments were in a state of complete
insubordination; and that Fairfax himself doubted of his power to restore
the discipline of the army. Charles had formerly given his word of honour
to the governor, Colonel Whalley, not to attempt an escape: he now withdrew
it under the pretence that of late he had been as narrowly watched as if no
credit were due to his promise. His guards were immediately doubled; his
servants, with the exception of Legge, were dismissed; and the gates were
closed against the admission of strangers. Yet it may be doubted whether
these precautions were taken with any other view than to lull the suspicion
of the Levellers; for he still possessed the means of conferring personally
with Ashburnham and Berkeley, and received from Whalley repeated hints of
the dangerous designs of his enemies. But where was he to seek an asylum?
Jersey, Berwick, the Isle of Wight, and the residence of the Scottish
commissioners in London were proposed. At first the commissioners expressed
a willingness to
[Footnote 1: Claren. Papers, ii, App. xl. xli. Journ. Nov. 5, 6. Rush. vii.
849 857, 860, 863. Whitelock, 274-277.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Nov. 6.]
receive him; the next day they withdrew their consent, and he fixed, as a
last resource, on the Isle of Wight. On November 10th his apprehensions
were wound up to the highest pitch, by some additional and most alarming
intelligence; the next evening[a] he was missing. At supper-time Whalley
entered his apartment, but, instead of the king, found on his table several
written papers, of which one was an anonymous letter, warning him of danger
to his person, and another, a message from himself to the two houses,
promising, that though he had sought a more secure asylum, he should be
always ready to come forth, "whenever he might be heard with honour,
freedom, and safety."[1]
This unexpected escape drew from the parliament threats of vengeance
against all persons who should presume to harbour the royal fugitive; but
in the course of three days the intelligence arrived, that he was again
a prisoner in the custody of Colonel Hammond, who had very recently been
appointed governor of the Isle of Wight. The king, accompanied by Legge,
groom of the chamber, had on the evening of his departure descended the
back stairs into the garden, and repaired to a spot where Berkeley and
Ashburnham waited[b] his arrival. The night was dark and stormy, which
facilitated their escape; but, when they had crossed the river at Thames
Ditton, they lost their way, and it was daybreak before they reached
Sutton, where they mounted their horses. The unfortunate
[Footnote 1: See Ashburnham's letter to the speaker on Nov. 26, p. 2; his
memoir, 101-112; Berkeley, 373-375; Journals, ix. 520; Rush. vii. 871;
Clarendon, iii. 77; Mem. of Hamiltons, 324; Whitelock, 278. That a letter
from Cromwell was received or read by the king, is certain (see Journals,
x. 411; Berkeley, 377); that it was written for the purpose of inducing him
to escape, and thus fall into the hands of the Levellers, is a gratuitous
surmise of Cromwell's enemies.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Nov. 11.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. Nov. 12.]
monarch had still no fixed plan. As they proceeded in a southerly
direction, he consulted his companions; and after some debate resolved to
seek a temporary asylum at Tichfield House, the residence of the countess
of Southampton, whilst Ashburnham and Berkeley should cross over to the
Isle of Wight, and sound the disposition of Hammond the governor, of
whom little more was known than that he was nephew to one of the royal
chaplains. When Hammond first learned[a] the object of the messengers,
he betrayed considerable alarm, under the impression that the king was
actually on the island; but, having recovered his self-possession, he
reminded them that he was but a servant bound to obey the orders of his
employers, and refused to give any other pledge than that he would prove
himself an honest man. How they could satisfy themselves with this
ambiguous promise, is a mystery which was never explained--each
subsequently shifting the blame to the other--but they suffered him to
accompany them to the king's retreat, and even to take with him a brother
officer, the captain of Cowes Castle.
During their absence Charles had formed a new plan of attempting to escape
by sea, and had despatched a trusty messenger to look out for a ship in
the harbour of Southampton. He was still meditating on this project when
Ashburnham returned, and announced that Hammond with his companion was
already in the town, awaiting his majesty's commands. The unfortunate
monarch exclaimed, "What! have you brought him hither? Then I am undone."
Ashburnham instantly saw his error. It was not, he replied, too late.
_They_ were but two, and might be easily despatched. Charles paced the room
a few minutes, and then rejected the sanguinary hint. Still he clung to
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Nov. 13.]
the vain hope that a ship might he procured; but at the end of two hours,
Hammond became impatient; and the king, having nerved his mind for the
interview, ordered him to be introduced, received him most graciously, and,
mingling promises with flattery, threw himself on his honour. Hammond,
however, was careful not to commit himself; he replied in language dutiful,
yet ambiguous; and the king, unable to extricate himself from the danger,
with a cheerful countenance, but misboding heart, consented to accompany
him to the island. The governor ordered every demonstration of respect to
be paid to the royal guest, and lodged him in Carisbrook Castle.[1]
The increasing violence of the Levellers, and the mutinous disposition
of the army, had awakened the most serious apprehensions in the superior
officers; and Fairfax, by the advice of the council, dismissed the
agitators to their respective regiments,[a] and ordered the several corps
to assemble in three brigades on three different days. Against the time
a remonstrance was prepared in his name, in which he complained of the
calumnies circulated among the soldiers, stated the objects which he had
laboured to obtain, and offered to persist in his endeavours, provided the
men would return to their ancient habits of military obedience. All looked
forward with anxiety to the result; but no one with more apprehension than
Cromwell. His life was at stake. The Levellers had threatened to make him
pay with his head the forfeit of his intrigues with Charles; and the flight
of that prince, by disconcerting their plans, had irritated their former
animosity. On the appointed day the first
[Footnote 1: Journals, ix. 525. Rushworth, vii. 874. Ashburnham, ii.
Berkeley, 377-382. Herbert, 52. Ludlow, i. 187-191.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Nov. 8.]
brigade, that on which the officers could rely, mustered in a field between
Hertford and Ware; and the remonstrance was read by order of Fairfax to
each regiment in succession. It was answered with acclamations; the men
hastened to subscribe an engagement to obey the commands of the general;
and the sowers of discord, the distributors of seditious pamphlets, were
pointed out, and taken into custody. From this corps Fairfax proceeded to
two regiments, which had presumed to come on the ground without orders. The
first, after some debate, submitted; the second was more obstinate. The
privates had expelled the majority of the officers, and wore round their
hats this motto: "The people's freedom, and the soldiers' rights." Cromwell
darted into the ranks to seize the ringleaders; his intrepidity daunted the
mutineers; one man was immediately shot, two more were tried and condemned
on the spot, and several others were reserved as pledges for the
submission of their comrades.[1] By this act of vigour it was thought that
subordination had been restored; but Cromwell soon discovered that the
Levellers constituted two-thirds of the military force, and that it was
necessary for him to retrace his steps, if he wished to retain his former
influence. With that view he made a public acknowledgment of his error,
and a solemn promise to stand or fall with the army. The conversion of
the sinner was hailed with acclamations of joy, a solemn fast was kept to
celebrate the event; and Cromwell in the assembly of officers confessed,
weeping as he spoke,
[Footnote 1: Whitelock, 278. Journals, ix. 527. Ludlow, i. 192. It was
reported among the soldiers that the king had promised to Cromwell the
title of earl with a blue ribbon, to his son the office of gentleman of
the bedchamber to the prince, and to Ireton the command of the forces in
Ireland.--Holles, 127.]
that "his eyes, dazzled by the glory of the world, had not clearly
discerned the work of the Lord; and therefore he humbled himself before
them, and desired the prayers of the saints that God would forgive his
self-seeking." His fellow-delinquent Ireton followed in the same repentant
strain; both poured forth their souls before God in fervent and extemporary
prayer; and "never," so we are assured, "did more harmonious music ascend
to the ear of the Almighty."[1]
The king had yet no reason to repent of his confidence in Hammond; but
that governor, while he granted every indulgence to his captive, had no
intention of separating his own lot from that of the army. He consulted the
officers at the head-quarters, and secretly resolved to adhere to their
instructions. Charles recommenced his former intrigues. Through the agency
of Dr. Gough, one of the queen's chaplains, he sought to prevail on the
Scottish commissioners to recede from their demand that he should confirm
the covenant: he sent Sir John Berkeley to Cromwell and his friends, to
remind them of their promises, and to solicit their aid towards a personal
treaty; and by a message[a] to the parliament he proposed, in addition to
his former offers, to surrender the command of the army during his life,
to exchange the profits of the Court of Wards for a yearly income, and to
provide funds for the discharge of the moneys due to the military and to
the public creditors. The neglect with which this message was received,
and the discouraging answer[b] returned by the officers, awakened his
apprehensions; they were confirmed by the Scottish
[Footnote 1: Clarendon Papers, ii. App. xliv. Berkeley, 385. Whitelock,
284.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Nov. 16.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. Dec. 8.]
commissioners, who while they complained of his late offer as a violation
of his previous engagement, assured him that many of his enemies sought to
make him a close prisoner, and that others openly talked of removing him
either by a legal trial, or by assassination. These warnings induced him to
arrange a plan of escape: application was made to the queen for a ship[a]
of war to convey him from the island; and Berwick was selected as the place
of his retreat.[1] He had, however, but little time to spare. As their
ultimatum, and the only condition on which they would consent to a personal
treaty, the houses demanded the royal assent to four bills which they had
prepared. The first of these, after vesting the command of the army in the
parliament for twenty years, enacted, that after that period it might be
restored to the crown, but not without the previous consent of the Lords
and Commons; and that still, whenever they should declare the safety of the
kingdom to be concerned, all bills passed by them respecting the forces by
sea or land should be deemed acts of parliament, even though the king for
the time being should refuse his assent; the second declared all oaths,
proclamations, and proceedings against the parliament during the war, void
and of no effect: the third annulled all titles of honour granted since the
20th of May, 1642, and deprived all peers to be created hereafter of the
right of sitting in parliament, without the consent of the two houses; and
the fourth gave to the houses themselves the power of adjourning from place
to place at their discretion.[2][b] The Scots, to delay the proceedings,
asked
[Footnote 1: Memoirs of Hamiltons, 325-333. Ludlow, i. 195-201. Berkeley,
383.]
[Footnote 2: Journals, ix. 575. Charles's Works, 590-593. Now let the
reader turn to Clarendon, History, iii. 88. He tells us, that by one, the
king was to have confessed himself the author of the war, and guilty of
all the blood which had been spilt; by another, he was to dissolve the
government of the church, and grant all lands belonging to the church to
other uses; by a third, to settle the militia, without reserving so much
power to himself as any subject was capable of; and in the last place, he
was in effect to sacrifice all those who had served him, or adhered to him,
to the mercy of the parliament. When this statement is compared with the
real bills, it may be judged how little credit is due to the assertions of
Clarendon, unless they are supported by other authorities.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Dec. 14.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. Dec. 15.]
for a copy of the bills, and remonstrated against the alterations which
had been made in the propositions of peace. Their language was bold and
irritating; they characterized the conduct of the parliament as a violation
of the league and covenant; and they openly charged the houses with
suffering themselves to be controlled by a body, which owed its origin and
its subsistence to their authority. But the Independents were not to be
awed by the clamour of men whom they knew to be enemies under the name of
allies; they voted[a] the interference of any foreign nation in acts of
parliament a denial of the independence of the kingdom, and ordered[b] the
four bills to be laid before the king for his assent without further delay.
The Scots hastened to Carisbrook, in appearance to protest against them,
but with a more important object in view. They now relaxed from their
former obstinacy; they no longer insisted on the positive confirmation of
the covenant, but were content with a promise that Charles should make
every concession in point of religion which his conscience would allow.
The treaty which had been so long in agitation between them was privately
signed; and the king returned[c] this answer to the two houses, that
neither his present sufferings, nor the apprehension of worse treatment,
should ever induce him to give his assent to any bills
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1647. Dec. 18.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1647. Dec. 24.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1647. Dec. 28.]
as a part of the agreement, before the whole was concluded.[1]
Aware of the consequences of his refusal, Charles had resolved to
anticipate the vengeance of the parliament by making his escape the same
evening to a ship which had been sent by the queen, and had been waiting
for him several days in Southampton Water; but he was prevented by the
vigilance of Hammond, who closed the gates on the departure of the
commissioners, doubled the guards, confined the royal captive to his
chamber, and dismissed Ashburnham, Berkeley, Legge, and the greater part of
his attendants.[2] An attempt to raise in his favour the inhabitants of the
island was instantly suppressed, and its author, Burley, formerly a captain
in the royal army, suffered the punishment of a traitor. The houses
resolved[a] (and the army promised to live and die with them in defence of
the resolution)[3] that they would receive no additional message from the
king; that they would send no address or application to him; that if any
other person did so without leave, he should be subject to the penalties of
high treason; and that the committee of public safety should be renewed to
sit and act alone, without the aid of foreign coadjutors. This last hint
was understood by the Scots: they made a demand[b] of the hundred thousand
pounds due to them by the
[Footnote 1: Journals, ix. 575, 578, 582, 591, 604, 615, 621. Charles's
Works, 594. Memoirs of Hamiltons, 334.]
[Footnote 2: Ashburnham, ii. 121. Berkeley, 387, 393.]
[Footnote 3: On Jan 11, before the vote passed, an address was presented
from the general and the council of war by seven colonels and other
officers to the House of Commons, expressive of the resolution of the army
to stand by the parliament: and another to the House of Lords, expressive
of their intention to preserve inviolate the rights of the peerage. Of the
latter no notice is taken in the journals of the house.--Journ. v. Jan. 11.
Parl. Hist. vi. 835.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1648. Jan. 3 and Jan. 15.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1648. Jan. 17.]
treaty of evacuation, and announced their intention of returning
immediately to their own parliament.[1]
The king appeared to submit with patience to the[a] new restraints imposed
on his freedom; and even affected an air of cheerfulness, to disguise the
design which he still cherished of making his escape. The immediate charge
of his person had been intrusted to four warders of approved fidelity, who,
two at a time, undertook the task in rotation. They accompanied the
captive wherever he was, at his meals, at his public devotions, during his
recreation on the bowling-green, and during his walks round the walls of
the castle. He was never permitted to be alone, unless it were in the
retirement of his bedchamber; and then one of the two warders was
continually stationed at each of the doors which led from that apartment.
Yet in defiance of these precautions (such was the ingenuity of the king,
so generous the devotion of those who sought to serve him) he found the
means of maintaining a correspondence with his friends on the coast of
Hampshire, and through them with the English royalists, the Scottish
commissioners in Edinburgh, the queen at Paris, and the duke of York at St.
James's, who soon afterwards, in obedience to the command of[b] his father,
escaped in the disguise of a female to Holland.[2]
[Footnote 1: The vote of non-addresses passed by a majority of 141 to 92.
Journals, v. Jan. 3. See also Jan. 11, 15, 1648; Lords' Journals, ix. 640,
662; Rushworth, vii. 953, 961, 965; Leicester's Journal, 30.]
[Footnote 2: Journals, x. 35, 76, 220. Rushworth, vii. 984, 1002, 1067,
1109. Clarendon, iii. 129. One of those through whom Charles corresponded
with his friends was Firebrace, who tells us that he was occasionally
employed by one of the warders to watch for him at the door of the king's
bedchamber, and on such occasions gave and received papers through a small
crevice in the boards. See his account in the additions to Herbert's
Memoirs, p. 187. The manner of the duke's escape is related in his Life, i.
33, and Ellis, 2nd series, iii. 329.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1648. Feb. 2.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1648. April. 17.]
In the mean while an extraordinary ferment seemed to agitate the whole mass
of the population. With the exception of the army, every class of men was
dissatisfied. Though the war had ceased twelve months before, the nation
enjoyed few of the benefits of peace. Those forms and institutions, the
safeguards of liberty and property, which had been suspended during the
contest, had not been restored; the committees in every county continued to
exercise the most oppressive tyranny; and a monthly tax was still levied
for the support of the forces, exceeding in amount the sums which had been
exacted for the same purpose during the war. No man could be ignorant that
the parliament, nominally the supreme authority, was under the control of
the council of officers; and the continued captivity of the king, the known
sentiments of the agitators, and, above all, the vote of non-addresses,
provoked a general suspicion that it was in contemplation to abolish the
monarchical government, and to introduce in its place a military despotism.
Four-fifths of the nation began to wish for the re-establishment of the
throne. Much diversity of opinion prevailed with respect to the conditions;
but all agreed that what Charles had so often demanded, a personal treaty,
ought to be granted, as the most likely means to reconcile opposite
interests and to lead to a satisfactory arrangement.
Soon after the passing of the vote of non-addresses,[a] the king had
appealed to the good sense of the people through the agency of the press.
He put it to them to judge between him and his opponents, whether by his
answer to the four bills he had given any reasonable
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1648 Jan. 18.]
cause for their violent and unconstitutional vote; and whether they, by the
obstinate refusal of a personal conference, had not betrayed their resolve
not to come to any accommodation.[1] The impression made by this paper
called for an answer: a long and laboured vindication of the proceedings of
the House of Commons was prepared, and after many erasures and amendments
approved; copies of it were allotted to the members to be circulated among
their constituents, and others were sent to the curates to be read by them
to their parishioners.[2] It contained a tedious enumeration of all the
charges, founded or unfounded, which had ever been made against the king
from the commencement of his reign; and thence deduced the inference that,
to treat with a prince so hostile to popular rights, so often convicted of
fraud and dissimulation, would be nothing less than to betray the
trust reposed in the two houses by the country. But the framers of the
vindication marred their own object. They had introduced much questionable
matter, and made numerous statements open to refutation: the advantage
was eagerly seized by the royalists; and, notwithstanding the penalties
recently enacted on account of unlicensed publications, several answers,
eloquently and convincingly written, were circulated in many parts of
the country. Of these the most celebrated came from the pens of Hyde the
chancellor, and of Dr. Bates, the king's physician.[3]
But, whilst the royal cause made rapid progress among the people, in the
army itself the principles of the Levellers had been embraced by the
majority of
[Footnote 1: King's Works, 130. Parl. Hist. iii. 863.]
[Footnote 2: Journals, v. Feb. 10, 11. Parl. Hist. iii. 847. Perrinchiefe,
44.]
[Footnote 3: Ibid. Parl. Hist. iii. 866. King's Works, 132.]