CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND
CASSELL'S
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
FROM THE GREAT REBELLION TO
THE FALL OF MARLBOROUGH
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS,
INCLUDING COLOURED
AND REMBRANDT PLATES
VOL. III
_THE KING'S EDITION_
CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED
LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
MCMIX
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
THE GREAT REBELLION. PAGE
Condition of Ireland--Roger Moore's Pilgrimage--Negotiations of the
Anglo-Irish with Charles--Hugh M'Mahon betrays the Plot--Rising
of the Native Irish--Massacre of Protestants--Measures taken by
the English Parliament--Return of Charles to London--The Grand
Remonstrance--The King's Answer--His Lieutenant of the Tower--Riots
in London--Blunder of the Bishops--Attempted Arrest of the Five
Members--Charles leaves London--The Queen goes to Holland--Charles
at York--His Repulse from Hull--Preparations for War--The Royal
Standard Raised--Prince Rupert's Headstrong Folly--Battle of Edge
Hill--Charles marches on London--He returns to Oxford--Cromwell in
the East--The Queen in Yorkshire--Death of Hampden--Parliamentary
Disasters--Battle of Newbury--Death of Lord Falkland--Negotiations
with the Scots and Irish--Death of Pym--Royal Parliament at
Oxford--Battle of Marston Moor--Disastrous Failure of Essex in
Cornwall--Second Battle of Newbury--The Self-denying Ordinance--The
New-modelled Army 1
CHAPTER II.
THE GREAT REBELLION (_concluded_).
The Assembly at Westminster--Trial and Death of Laud--Negotiations
at Uxbridge--Meeting of the Commissioners--Impossibility
of a Settlement--Prospect of Help to the King from the
Continent--Charles agrees to the demands of the Irish
Catholics--Discipline and Spirit of the Parliamentary
Army--Campaign of the New-modelled Army--Hunting the King--Battle
of Naseby--Fairfax in the West--Exploits of Montrose--Efforts of
Charles to join Him--Battle of Kilsyth--Fall of Bristol--Battle
of Philiphaugh--Last Efforts of the Royalists--Charles Offers to
Treat--Discovery of his Correspondence with Glamorgan--Charles
Intrigues with the Scots--Flight from Oxford--Surrender to
the Scots at Newark--Consequent Negotiations--Proposals for
Peace--Surrender of Charles to Parliament 34
CHAPTER III.
END OF THE REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Differences between the Presbyterians and Independents--The King
at Holmby--Attempt to Disband the Army--Consequent Petitions
to Parliament--The Adjutators--Meeting at Newmarket--Seizure
of the King--Advance of the Army on London--Stubbornness
of the Presbyterians--The Army Marches through London--Its
Proposals to Charles--Their Rejection--The King throws away
his best Chances--The Levellers--Cromwell's Efforts on
behalf of Charles--Renewed Intrigues of Charles--Flight to
Carisbrooke--Attempts to Rescue the King--Charles Treats with the
Scots--Consequent Reaction in his Favour--Battle of Preston and
Suppression of the Insurrection--Cromwell at Edinburgh--The Prince
of Wales in Command of the Fleet--Negotiations at Newport--Growing
Impatience of the Army--Petitions for the King's Trial--Charles's
Blindness and Duplicity--He is Removed to Hurst Castle--Pride's
Purge--Supremacy of the Independents--The Whiggamores--Hugh Peters'
Sermon in St. Margaret's, Westminster--Ordinance for the King's
Trial--Trial and Execution of Charles I. 59
CHAPTER IV.
THE COMMONWEALTH.
Proclamation of the Prince of Wales Forbidden--Decline
of the Peerage--_Ultimus Regum_--Establishment of a
Republican Government--Abolition of the House of Lords and
the Monarchy--Council of State--The Oath Difficulty--The
Engagement--Religious Toleration--Trials of Royalists--Discontent
among the People--The Levellers--Activity of John
Lilburne--Quelling the Mutiny in Whalley's Regiment--Lockyer's
Funeral--Arrest of Lilburne--Spread of the Disaffection to
other Regiments--Suppression of the Insurrection--Cromwell
appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland--Royalist Movement
in Scotland--Charles's Son proclaimed King--The Scottish
Deputation at the Hague--Charles's Court--Assassination of
Dr. Dorislaus--Affairs in Ireland--Cromwell's Campaign--Defeat
and Death of Montrose--Cromwell in Scotland--Battle of
Dunbar--Movements of Charles--His March into England--Battle of
Worcester--Charles Escapes to France--Vigorous Government--Foreign
Difficulties--Navigation Act--War with Holland--Contest between
Parliament and the Army--Expulsion of the Rump--The Little
Parliament--Cromwell made Protector 90
CHAPTER V.
THE COMMONWEALTH (_concluded_).
Naval Victory over the Dutch--Death of Van Tromp--_Quasi_-Royal
State of the Lord-Protector--Disaffection against Cromwell--His
Vigorous Rule--Charles II. offers a Reward for his
Assassination--Rebellions in Scotland--Cromwell's Dealings with the
Portuguese Ambassador--Reform of the Court of Chancery--Commission
for Purgation of the Church--The Reformed Parliament--Exclusion of
the Ultras--Dissolution of Parliament--Danger from Plots--Accident
to the Protector--Death of Cromwell's Mother--Royalist
Outbreaks--Cromwell's Major-Generals--Foreign Policy--War with
Spain--Massacre of the Piedmontese--Capture of Jamaica--The
Jews Appeal for Toleration--Cromwell's Third Parliament--Plots
against his Life--The Petition and Advice--Cromwell refuses the
Royal Title--Blake's Brilliant Victory at Santa Cruz--Death of
Blake--Successes against Spain--Failure of the Reconstructed
Parliament--Punishment of Conspirators--Victory in the
Netherlands--Absolutism of Cromwell--His Anxieties, Illness, and
Death--Proclamation of Richard Cromwell--He calls a Parliament--It
is Dissolved--Reappearance of the Rump--Richard Retires--Royalist
Risings--Quarrels of the Army and the Rump--General Monk--He
Marches upon London--Demands a Free Parliament--Royalist
Reaction--Declaration of Breda--Joyful Reception of Charles 123
CHAPTER VI.
THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION UNDER JAMES I., CHARLES I., AND THE
COMMONWEALTH.
Manufactures and Commerce--Trade under the Stuarts--English
Commerce and Dutch Competition--The East India
Company--Vicissitudes of its Early History--Rival Companies--The
American Colonies and West Indies--Growth of London--National
Revenue--Extravagance of the Stuarts--Invention of the Title
of Baronet--Illegal Monopolies--Cost of Government--Money
and Coinage--Agriculture and Gardening--Dramatists of the
Period--Shakespeare and his Contemporaries--Poets of the
Occult School--Herbert, Herrick, Quarles--A Wealth of
Poetry--Prose-Writers--Bacon's "Novum Organum"--Milton's
Prose Works--Hales, Chillingworth, Jeremy Taylor, Fuller, and
other Theological Writers--Harrington's "Oceana"--Sir Thomas
Browne--Historians and Chroniclers--First Newspapers--Harvey's
Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood--Napier's
Invention of Logarithms--Music--Painting, Engraving, and
Sculpture--Architecture--Manners and Customs--Sports and
Pastimes--Furniture and Domestic Embellishment--Costumes--Arms and
Armour--Condition of the People 165
CHAPTER VII.
CHARLES II.
Character of Charles II.--The King's First Privy Council--The
Convention Parliament--Submission of the Presbyterian
Leaders--The Plight of those who took Part in the late King's
Trial--Complaisance of the Commoners--Charles's Income--The Bill
of Sales--The Ministers Bill--Settlement of the Church--Trial
of the Regicides--Their Execution--Marriage of the Duke of
York--Mutilation of the Remains of Cromwell--The Presbyterians
Duped--The Revenue--Fifth-Monarchy Riot--Settlements of Ireland and
Scotland--Execution of Argyll--Re-establishment of Episcopacy--The
new Parliament violently Royalist--The King's Marriage--His
Brutal Behaviour to the Queen--State of the Court--Trial of Vane
and Lambert--Execution of Vane--Assassination of Regicides--Sale
of Dunkirk--The Uniformity Act--Religious Persecution--Strange
Case of the Marquis of Bristol--Repeal of the Triennial Act--The
Conventicle and Five Mile Acts--War with Holland--Appearance of the
Plague--Gross Licentiousness of the Court--Demoralisation of the
Navy--Monk's Fight with the Dutch--The Great Fire 193
CHAPTER VIII.
REIGN OF CHARLES II. (_continued_).
Demands of Parliament--A Bogus Commission--Crushing the
Covenanters in Scotland--The Dutch in the Thames--Panic in London
and at Court--Humiliation of England--Peace is Signed--Fall of
Clarendon--The Cabal--Sir William Temple at the Hague--The
Triple Alliance--Scandals at Court--Profligacy of the King and
the Duke of Buckingham--Attempt to Deprive the Duke of York of
the Succession--Persecution of Nonconformists--Trial of Penn and
Mead--The Rights of Juries--Secret Treaty with France--Suspicious
Death of Charles's Sister--"Madam Carwell"--Attack on Sir
John Coventry--National Bankruptcy--War with Holland--Battle
of Southwold Bay--Declaration of Indulgence--Fall of the
Cabal--Affairs in Scotland and Ireland--Progress of the Continental
War--Mary Marries William of Orange--Louis Intrigues with the
Opposition--Peace of Nimeguen--The Popish Plot--Impeachment of
Danby--Temple's Scheme of Government--The Exclusion Bill--Murder
of Archbishop Sharp--Bothwell Bridge--Anti-Catholic Fury--Charges
against James--Execution of Lord Stafford 221
CHAPTER IX.
REIGN OF CHARLES II. (_concluded_).
Charles's Embarrassments--Exclusion Intrigues--Parliament
Dissolved--The King again Pensioned by Louis--New Parliament
at Oxford--Violence of the Whigs--Charles Dissolves the
Oxford Parliament--Execution of Archbishop Plunket--Arrest of
Shaftesbury--Dismay of the Gang of Perjurers--Oates turned out of
Whitehall--Shaftesbury's Lists--Visit of William of Orange--James
in Scotland--Defeat of the Cameronians--Cargill's Manifesto--The
Duke of York's Tyranny--Flight of Argyll--The Torture in
Edinburgh--Arrogance of Monmouth--Contest between the Court and the
City--Death of Shaftesbury--Rye House Plot--Suicide of the Earl of
Essex--Trial of Lord William Russell--Extraordinary Declaration
of the University of Oxford--Trial of Algernon Sidney--The
Duke of Monmouth Pardoned--Base Conduct of Monmouth--Trial of
Hampden--Trials in Scotland--Absolutism of Charles--Forfeiture
of Charters by the Corporations--Influence of the Duke of
York--Opposition of Halifax--Sickness and Death of the King 267
CHAPTER X.
REIGN OF JAMES II.
James's Speech to the Council--Rochester supersedes Halifax--Other
Changes in the Ministry--James Collects the Customs without
Parliament--French Pension continued--Scottish Parliament--Oates
and Dangerfield--Meeting of Parliament--It grants Revenue for
Life--Monmouth and Argyll--Argyll's Expedition--His Capture and
Execution--Monmouth's Expedition--He enters Taunton--Failure of
his Hopes--Battle of Sedgemoor--Execution of Monmouth--Cruelties
of Kirke and Jeffreys--The Bloody Assize--The Case of Lady Alice
Lisle--Decline of James's Power--He Breaks the Test Act--Revocation
of the Edict of Nantes--Prorogation of Parliament--Acquittal
of Delamere--Alienation of the Church--Parties at Court--The
Dispensing Power Asserted--Livings granted to Catholics--Court of
High Commission Revived--Army on Hounslow Heath--Trial of "Julian"
Johnson--James's Lawlessness in Scotland and Ireland--Declaration
of Indulgence--The Party of the Prince of Orange and the Princess
Mary--Expulsion of the Fellows of Magdalen College--New Declaration
of Indulgence--Protest of the Seven Bishops--Birth of the Prince of
Wales--Trial and Acquittal of the Bishops--Invitation to William
of Orange--Folly of James--William's Preparations--Blindness of
James, and Treachery of his Ministers--William's Declaration--James
convinced, makes Concessions--William lands at Torbay--His Advance
to Exeter--Churchill's Treason--Flight of the Princess Anne and her
Husband--James sends Commissioners to Treat with William--Flight
of James--Riots in London--Return of James--His Final Flight to
France--The Convention--The Succession Question--Declaration of
Rights--William and Mary joint Sovereigns 289
CHAPTER XI.
PROGRESS OF THE NATION FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE GREAT REVOLUTION.
Religion: Nonconformist Sects--Imprisonment of Bunyan--Fox
and the Society of Friends--The Punishment of James
Naylor--Expulsion of Roger Williams--Other Religious
Sects--Literature: Milton--His Works--Cowley--Butler--Dryden--Minor
Poets--Dramatists of the Restoration--Prose Writers: Milton and
Dryden--Hobbes--Clarendon--Baxter--Bunyan--Waiton--Evelyn and
Pepys--Founding of the Royal Society--Physical Science--Discoveries
of Napier, Newton and Flamsteed--Mathematicians and
Chemists--Harvey and Worcester--Painting, Sculpture, and
Engraving--Coinage--Music--Furniture--Costume--Manners and
Customs--State of London--Sports and Amusements--Country
Life--Travelling--The Clergy--Yeomen--Village Sports--Growth
of the Revenue and Commerce--Growing prosperity of the North
of England--The Navigation Act--Norwich and Bristol--Postal
Arrangements--Advantages Derived from the Industries of the
Foreign Refugees--The East India Company--Condition of the People:
Wages--The Poor Law--Efforts of Philanthropists 352
CHAPTER XII.
REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY.
Accession of William and Mary--Discontent of the Church and
the Army--William's First Ministry--His Dutch Followers--The
Convention becomes a Parliament--Oath of Allegiance--Settlement
of the Revenue--Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act--The Mutiny
Bill--Settlement of Religion--The Coronation--Declaration of War
with France--Violence of the Revolution in Scotland--Parties
in the Scottish Parliament--Letter from James--Secession of
Dundee--Edinburgh in Arms--Settlement of the Government--Dundee
in the Highlands--Battle of Killiecrankie--Mackay Concludes the
War--Revolution in Ireland--Panic among the Englishry--Londonderry
and Enniskillen Garrisoned--Negotiations of Tyrconnel--His
Temporary Success--Landing of James--He Enters Dublin--His Journey
into Ulster--The Siege of Londonderry--It is Saved--Legislation
of the Irish Parliament--Arrival of Schomberg--Factiousness of
the English Whigs--State of the English Army in Ireland--Renewed
Violence of the Whigs--The Corporation Act Thrown Out--William
Threatens to Leave England--Dissolution of Parliament--Tory
Reaction--Venality of the New Parliament--Settlement of the
Revenue--Whig Propositions--The Act of Grace--Preparations for
War--A Jacobite Plot--William goes to Ireland--Progress of the
War under Schomberg--Gradual Improvement of his Position and
Ruin of the Jacobite Army--The Battle of the Boyne--Flight
of James--William Enters the Irish Capital--News from
England--Siege of Limerick--Battle of Beachy Head--Landing of
the French in Torbay--Courage of the English People--Settlement
of Scotland--Marlborough's Successes in Ireland--Parliament
Grants Liberal Supplies--Preston's Plot Thwarted--William
Sets Out for Holland--Vigour of Louis--Fall of Mons--Trial of
Jacobite Conspirators--Treason in High Places--Punishment of the
Non-Jurors--The Continental Campaign--Condition of Ireland--Arrival
of St. Ruth--Siege of Athlone--Battle of Aghrim--Second Siege and
Capitulation of Limerick 396
CHAPTER XIII.
REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY.
Proceedings in Parliament--Complaints against Admiral
Russell--Treason in the Navy--Legislation against the
Roman Catholics--The East India Company--Treasons
Bill--The Poll Tax--Changes in the Ministry--Marlborough
is deprived of his Offices--His Treachery--The Queen's
Quarrel with the Princess Anne--William goes Abroad--Fall
of Namur--Battle of Steinkirk--Results of the Campaign--The
Massacre of Glencoe--Proposed Invasion of England--James's
Declaration--Russell's Hesitation overcome by the Queen--Battle of
La Hogue--Gallant Conduct of Rooke--Young's Sham Plot--Founding of
Greenwich Hospital--Ill Success of the Fleet--Discontent of the
People--Complaints in the Lords and Commons--The Land Tax--Origin
of the National Debt--Liberty of the Press--The Continental
Campaign--Battle of Landen--Loss of the Smyrna Fleet--Attack
on the Navy--New Legislation--Banking Schemes of Chamberlayne
and Paterson--The Bank of England Established--Ministerial
Changes--Negotiations for Peace--Marlborough's Treason and the
Death of Talmash--Illness and Death of Queen Mary 448
CHAPTER XIV.
Reign of WILLIAM III. (_continued_).
Rising Hopes of the Jacobites--Expulsion of Trevor for
Venality--Examination of the Books of the East India
Company--Impeachment of Leeds--The Glencoe Inquiry--The Darien
Scheme--Marlborough's Reconciliation with William--Campaign of
1695--Surrender of Namur--William's Triumphant Return--General
Election and Victory of the Whigs--New Parliament--Re-establishment
of the Currency--Treasons Bill passed--A Double Jacobite
Plot--Barclay's Preparations--Failure of Berwick's Insurrection
Scheme--William Avoids the Snare--Warnings and Arrests--Sensation
in the House of Commons--Trial and Execution of the
Conspirators--The Association Bill becomes Law--Land Bank
Established--Commercial Crisis--Failure of the Land Bank--The
Bank of England supplies William with Money--Arrest of Sir John
Fenwick--His Confession--William ignores it--Good Temper of the
Commons--They take up Fenwick's Confession--His Silence--A Bill of
Attainder passes both Houses--Execution of Fenwick--Ministerial
Changes--Louis desires Peace--Opposition of the Allies--French
Successes--Terms of Peace--Treaty of Ryswick--Enthusiasm in England
476
CHAPTER XV.
REIGN OF WILLIAM III. (_concluded_).
William Meets his Parliament--Reduction of the Standing
Army--Visit of Peter the Great--Schemes of Louis--The East
India Company--Spanish Partition Scheme--Its Inception and
Progress--Somers's Hesitation--The Treaty is Signed--New
Parliament--Tory Reaction--Dismissal of the Dutch
Guards--William forms an Intention of Quitting England--Attack
on the late Ministry--Jobbery in the Admiralty--Paterson's
Darien Scheme--Douglas's Reasons against It--Enthusiasm
of the Scots--Departure of the First Expedition and
its Miserable Failure--The Untimely End of the Second
Expedition--Second Partition Scheme--Double-dealing of the
French--New Parliament--Attack on Somers--Report on the Irish
Grants--Resumption Bill passed--William's Unpopularity--Death of
the Duke of Gloucester--Conclusion of the New Partition Treaty
and its Results--Charles makes over his Dominions to the French
Candidate--His Death--Disgust of William at Louis's Duplicity--Tory
Temper of the House--The Succession Question--Debates on Foreign
Policy--The Succession Act passed--New Negotiations with
France--Attack on the Whig Ministers--Acknowledgment of the Spanish
King--Impeachment of the Whigs--The Kentish Petition--Its Reception
by the House--The Legion Memorial--Panic in the House--Violent
Struggle between the two Houses--The Impeachments dropped--William
goes Abroad--The Grand Alliance and its Objects--Beginning of the
War--Death of James II.--Louis acknowledges the Pretender--Reaction
in England--New Parliament and Ministry--The King's Speech--British
Patriotism is Roused--Voting of Supplies--The Bills of Attainder
and Abjuration--Illness and Death of William--His Character 502
CHAPTER XVI.
THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
Accession of the Queen--Meeting of the Houses of
Parliament--Scotland and Ireland--Power of Marlborough--The
Revenue--Tory Colour of the Ministry--The Coronation--Declaration
of War--Marlborough goes to the Seat of War--General Aspect of
Affairs--Marlborough's Difficulties--His Campaign--Operations by
Sea--Meeting of Parliament--Supply--Marlborough's Dukedom--The
Occasional Conformity Bill--Dismissal of Rochester--Opening
of the Campaign of 1703--Fall of Bonn--Failure to take
Antwerp--Savoy and Portugal join the Allies--Visit of the Archduke
Charles to England--The Storm--Jacobite Conspiracy--Ashby
_versus_ White--Queen Anne's Bounty--Marlborough's Great
Plans--The States-General hoodwinked--His March--Dismay of the
French--Junction with Eugene--Advance on the Danube--Assault
of the Schellenberg--The Prince of Baden's Conceit--Approach
of Tallard--The Eve of Blenheim--The Battle--Conclusion of the
Campaign--Marlborough's Diplomacy--Capture of Gibraltar--Battle of
Malaga--Proceedings in Parliament--The Campaign of 1705--Attempt
to recover Gibraltar--Peterborough's Exploits in Spain--Proposal
to Invite the Electress Sophia to England--Consequent
Legislation--Battle of Ramillies--Eugene relieves Turin--Disasters
in Spain--Meeting of the Commissioners for the Union--Condition of
the Treaty--Opposition in Scotland--Riots in Edinburgh--Conduct of
the Opposition--The Measure carried by Bribery--Its Discussion in
the English Parliament--The Royal Assent given 535
CHAPTER XVII.
THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE (_continued_).
Negotiations for Peace--The Ministry becomes
Whig--Harley--Marlborough and Charles of Sweden--The Allies in
Spain--Battle of Almanza--The French Triumphant in Spain--Attack
on Toulon--Destruction of Shovel's Fleet--Jacobitism in
Scotland--First Parliament of Great Britain--Abigail
Hill--The Gregg Affair--Retirement of Harley and St. John
from the Ministry--Attempted Invasion of Scotland--Campaign
of 1708--Battle of Oudenarde--Capture of Lille--Leake takes
Sardinia and Minorca--Death of Prince George of Denmark--The
Junto--Terrible Plight of France--Marlborough's Plans for
1709--Louis Negotiates with Holland--Torcy's Terms--Ultimatum
of the Allies--Rejection of the Terms--Patriotism of the French
Nation--Fall of Tournay--Battle of Malplaquet--Meeting of
Parliament--Dr. Sacheverell's Sermons--His Impeachment resolved
upon--Attitude of the Court--The Trial and Sacheverell's
Defence--The Riots--Dispersal of the Rabble--The Sentence--Bias
of the Queen--The Tories in Power--Renewed Overtures for
Peace--Their Failure--The Campaigns in the Netherlands and in
Spain--Brihuega and its Consequence--Marlborough's Reign at an
End--Unpopularity of Marlborough--Dismissal of the Duchess--Triumph
of the Tories--Guiscard's Attack on Harley--Popularity of
Harley--Marlborough's Last Campaign--Failure of the Attack on
Quebec--The Ministry determine to make Peace--Overtures to
the Pretender--He refuses to Change his Religion--Gualtier's
Mission to Versailles--Indignation of the Dutch--The Basis of
Negotiations--Signing of the Preliminaries--Excitement Abroad
and at Home--Prorogation of Parliament--Strengthening of the
Ministry--Debates in the two Houses--The Whigs adopt the Occasional
Conformity Bill--Creation of Peers--Dismissal of Marlborough from
his Employments--Walpole expelled the House 574
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Christ Church, Oxford, from St. Aldate's (looking West) 1
The Clock Tower, Dublin Castle 5
Charles demanding the Surrender of the Five Members 9
Lord Falkland 13
St. Mary's Church, Nottingham 17
Hampden mortally Wounded at Chalgrove 21
Archbishop Laud's Library, East Quadrangle, John's College, Oxford 25
Prince Rupert 28
Siege-piece of Charles I.--Newark (Half-crown) 29
Siege-piece of Charles I.--Pontefract (Shilling) 29
Siege-piece of Charles I.--Beeston (Two Shillings) 29
Siege-piece of Charles I.--Colchester (Ten Shillings, Gold) 29
St. Margaret's, Westminster 33
Interview between Charles and the Earl of Denbigh 36
Roundhead Soldiers 37
Charles at the Battle of Naseby 41
Cavalier Soldiers 45
Raglan Castle 49
Flight of Charles from Oxford 53
Queen Henrietta's Drawing-room and Bedroom, Merton College, Oxford 57
Lord Fairfax 61
Cornet Joyce's Interview with Charles 64
Fairfax House, Putney 65
Lord Clarendon 69
Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight 73
Rising of the London Apprentices on behalf of Charles 76
Execution of Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle 77
Arrival of Charles under Guard at Hurst Castle 81
Trial of Charles 85
Charles's Farewell Interview with the Duke of Gloucester
and the Princess Elizabeth 89
Oliver Cromwell 93
Assassination of Dr. Dorislaus 97
Great Seal of the Commonwealth 101
Dunbar 105
Cromwell on his way to London after the Battle of Worcester 108
Henry Ireton 109
Royal Museum and Picture Gallery, The Hague 113
Cromwell addressing the Long Parliament for the Last Time 117
Token of the Commonwealth (Copper) 121
Broad of the Commonwealth (Gold) 121
Crown of the Commonwealth (Silver) 121
The Great Hall, Hampton Court Palace 125
John Milton 129
The Royalist Plotters at Salisbury insulting the Sheriff 132
The Painted Chamber, Westminster 133
Admiral Blake 137
Cromwell refusing the Crown 141
Arrest of Conspirators at the "Mermaid" 145
John Thurloe 149
The Manor House, Wimbledon (1660) 153
Richard Cromwell 156
Reception of Monk in the City of London 157
Interior of the Painted Chamber, Westminster (looking East) 161
Landing of Charles II. at Dover 164
Cecil, Second Lord Baltimore 169
Cheapside and the Cross in 1660 172
The "Globe" Theatre, Southwark (with the "Rose"
Theatre in the Distance), in 1613 173
Hawthornden in 1773 177
Scene at the Funeral of Chillingworth 181
William Harvey 184
Reduced Facsimile of Front Page of No. 26 of "A Perfect Diurnall" 185
Shopkeeper and Apprentice in the Time of Charles I. 189
Great Seal of Charles II. 193
Charles II. 197
Arrest of Argyll 200
Shilling of Charles II. 205
Halfpenny (with Figure of Britannia) of Charles II. 205
Crown of Charles II. 205
Five-Guinea Piece of Charles II. 205
Sir Harry Vane taking Leave of his Wife and Friends 209
The Great Plague: Scene in the Streets of London 213
Thumbscrew 214
The Great Plague: The Maniac pronouncing the Doom of London 217
Pie Corner, Smithfield, where the Great Fire reached its Limits 220
George Monk, Duke of Albemarle 221
Tilbury Fort 225
Samuel Pepys 229
The Assault on Sir John Coventry 232
Anthony Ashley Cooper, First Earl of Shaftesbury 237
View in the Hague: The Gevangenpoort in which Cornelius
and John De Witt were imprisoned (1672) 241
Sir William Temple 245
Titus Oates before the Privy Council 249
Thomas Osborne, first Duke of Leeds 253
Hôtel de Ville, Paris, in the Eighteenth Century 257
Assassination of Archbishop Sharp 260
The Duke of Monmouth 265
Arrival of Charles at Oxford 268
Escape of Argyll 273
The Rye House 277
Trial of Lord William Russell 281
The Bass Rock 284
Great Seal of James II. 289
James II. 293
The Last Sleep of Argyll 297
The Cross, Bridgewater, where Monmouth was proclaimed King 300
Monmouth's Interview with the King 304
Judge Jeffreys 309
Fourpenny Piece of James II. 311
Five-Guinea Piece of James II. 311
Windsor Castle, from the Brocas 313
Parliament Hall, Edinburgh 317
John Dryden 321
James doing Homage to the Papal Nuncio 324
The Seven Bishops entering the Tower 329
View in the Hague: The Hall of the Knights in the Binnenhof 333
William of Orange embarking to join the "Brill" 337
William of Orange entering Exeter 341
James hearing of the Landing of William of Orange 345
Roger Williams leaving his Home in Massachusetts 353
Milton dictating "Paradise Lost" to his Daughters 357
Samuel Butler 361
John Bunyan 364
Gresham College, where the Royal Society was first Housed 365
Sir Isaac Newton 369
Evelyn "Discovering" Grinling Gibbons 372
Costumes of the Time of Charles II. 377
Chelsea Hospital 380
May-Day Revels in the Time of Charles II. 384
Ships of the Time of Charles II. 385
The Old East India House in 1630 389
Great Seal of William and Mary 396
Kensington Palace 397
William III. 400
Mary II. 401
Covenanters evicting an Episcopalian Clergyman 405
Battle of Killiecrankie: The Last Charge of Dundee 409
The _Mountjoy_ and _Phœnix_ breaking the Boom at Londonderry 416
Landing of Marshal Schomberg at Carrickfergus 417
Five-Guinea Piece of William and Mary 420
Crown of William and Mary 420
Fourpenny Piece of William and Mary 420
Halfpenny of William and Mary 420
Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey 424
William Penn 425
James entering Dublin after the Battle of the Boyne 429
The French retreating from Torbay 433
Edinburgh Castle in 1725 436
The Duke of Marlborough 441
The Assault of Athlone 444
Scene at the Removal of the Irish Soldiers from Limerick 445
George Saville, Marquis of Halifax 449
Lady Marlborough and the Princess Anne at the Queen's Drawing-Room 453
Glencoe: Scene of the Massacre 457
Greenwich Hospital 464
Burning of Blount's Pamphlet by the Common Hangman 465
Louis XIV. 469
Costumes of the Time of William and Mary 473
William Paterson 477
Five-Guinea Piece of William 480
Half-Crown of William 480
Surrender of Boufflers 481
Conspirators landing at Romney Marsh 485
Bishop Burnet 489
Old Mercers' Hall, where the Bank of England was first Established 492
Lady Fenwick interceding for her Husband 493
Lord Somers 497
William's triumphant Procession to Whitehall 500
View in the Hague: Old Gate in the Binnenhof, with the
Arms of the County of Holland 505
Charles Montague, Earl of Halifax 509
Scene at the Departure from Leith of the Darien Expedition 513
The Royal Palace of Whitehall, from the Thames, in the beginning
of the 17th Century 520
Captain Kidd before the Bar of the House of Commons 525
The Pretender proclaimed King of England by Order of
Louis XIV. 529
View in the Hague: Chamber of the States-General in the Binnenhof 533
Bishop Burnet announcing her Accession to Anne 537
Lord Godolphin 541
View in Lisbon: The Práça de Dom Pedro 545
The King of Spain at Windsor: His Gallantry to the
Duchess of Marlborough 549
Prince Eugene of Savoy 553
The Battle of Blenheim 557
Queen Anne 561
Great Seal of Queen Anne 568
The People of Edinburgh Escorting the Duke of Hamilton
to Holyrood Palace 569
Costumes of the Reign of Queen Anne 572
Wreck of Sir Cloudesley Shovel's Fleet 577
Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough 581
London Coffee House in the Reign of Queen Anne 585
Five-Guinea Piece of Queen Anne 588
Farthing of Queen Anne 588
Two-Guinea Piece of Queen Anne 588
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford 589
Drinking to the Health of Dr. Sacheverell 592
Making Friends with Mrs. Masham 593
The Duke of Marlborough's Interview with Queen Anne 597
The Fracas in the Privy Council 601
Marlborough House in the Time of Queen Anne 604
Henry St. John (afterwards Viscount Bolingbroke) 605
LIST OF PLATES
CHARLES I. ON HIS WAY TO EXECUTION, 1649.
(_By Ernest Crofts, R.A._) _Frontispiece_
MAP OF ENGLAND DURING THE CIVIL WAR, 1642-1649. _To face p._ 50
THE CHILDREN OF CHARLES I. (_By Miss Margaret I. Dicksee_) " 71
DEATH OF THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH, CARISBROOKE CASTLE,
SEPT. 8TH, 1650. (_By C. W. Cope, R.A._) " 102
CROMWELL REFUSING THE CROWN. (_By J. Schex_) " 145
RESCUED FROM THE PLAGUE, LONDON, 1665.
(_By F. W. W. Topham, R.I._) " 209
CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYNN. (_By E. M. Ward, R.A._) " 210
THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON, 1666.
(_By Stanhope A. Forbes, A.R.A._) " 225
THE DISGRACE OF LORD CLARENDON AFTER HIS LAST INTERVIEW
WITH THE KING IN WHITEHALL PALACE, 1667.
(_By E. M. Ward, R.A._) " 233
THE ANTE-CHAMBER OF WHITEHALL DURING THE LAST MOMENTS OF
CHARLES II., 1685. (_By E. M. Ward, R.A._) " 289
"AFTER SEDGEMOOR." (_By W. Rainey, R.I._) " 302
COVENANTERS PREACHING. (_By Sir George Harvey, R.S.A._) " 402
WILLIAM III. AT THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. (_By Jan Wyck_) " 430
A LOST CAUSE: FLIGHT OF JAMES II. AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE
BOYNE, 1690. (_By Andrew C. Gow, R.A._) " 433
THE FOUNDING OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND, 1694.
(_By George Harcourt_) " 471
PETER THE GREAT AT DEPTFORD DOCKYARD.
(_By Daniel Maclise, R.A._) " 503
H.R.H. PRINCESS ANNE OF DENMARK, AFTERWARDS QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
(_By W. Wissing and J. Vandervaart_) " 545
[Illustration: _By permission of Messrs. S. Hildesheimer & Co., Ld._
CHARLES I. ON HIS WAY TO EXECUTION, 1649.
FROM THE PICTURE BY ERNEST CROFTS, R.A.]
[Illustration: CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD, FROM ST. ALDATE'S (LOOKING WEST.)]
CASSELL'S
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
THE GREAT REBELLION.
Condition of Ireland--Roger Moore's Pilgrimage--Negotiations of the
Anglo-Irish with Charles--Hugh M'Mahon betrays the Plot--Rising
of the Native Irish--Massacre of Protestants--Measures taken by
the English Parliament--Return of Charles to London--The Grand
Remonstrance--The King's Answer--His Lieutenant of the Tower--Riots
in London--Blunder of the Bishops--Attempted Arrest of the Five
Members--Charles leaves London--The Queen goes to Holland--Charles
at York--His Repulse from Hull--Preparations for War--The Royal
Standard Raised--Prince Rupert's Headstrong Folly--Battle of Edge
Hill--Charles marches on London--He returns to Oxford--Cromwell in
the East--The Queen in Yorkshire--Death of Hampden--Parliamentary
Disasters--Battle of Newbury--Death of Lord Falkland--Negotiations
with the Scots and Irish--Death of Pym--Royal Parliament at
Oxford--Battle of Marston Moor--Disastrous Failure of Essex in
Cornwall--Second Battle of Newbury--The Self-denying Ordinance--The
New-modelled Army.
The causes which drove the Irish to rebellion were for the most part
of long standing. Their religion had been ruthlessly persecuted; their
property had been confiscated by whole provinces at a time; their
ancient chiefs had been driven from their lands, and many of them
exterminated. Elizabeth, James, and Charles, had proffered them new
titles on condition of making large sacrifices, but had never kept
their word, and at this moment, the graces promised by Charles to
tolerate their religion and confirm the titles of their estates, were
unfulfilled. The example of the Scots had aroused them to the hope of
achieving a like triumph. Their great enemy the Earl of Strafford had
fallen, but, on the other hand, they were menaced by Parliament with
a still more fierce persecution, and even an avowed extermination of
their religion. They believed that the Scottish Presbyterians would
join with avidity in the attempt to subdue them, and come in for a
share of the plunder of their estates; and they now seized on the idea
of rising and reclaiming their ancient power and property. True, they
were not one united people like the Scots: there were the ancient
Irish, and the Anglo-Irish of the pale, that is, English settled in
Ireland holding the estates of the expelled native chiefs, but keeping
themselves aloof from the Irish. Yet many of the pale were Catholics,
and the Catholic religion was the unanimous object of attachment on
the part of the natives. The Parliament and the Scottish settlers
in the north were banded against this religion, and this produced a
counter-bond between the Catholic natives and the Catholics of the
pale. From the British Parliament neither of these parties had anything
to hope for on the score of religion; but the king was in need of aid
against this Parliament, and it occurred to them that they might make
common cause with him.
Roger Moore, a gentleman of Kildare, entered into this scheme with
all the impetuosity of his nation. He saw the lands of his ancestors
for the most part in the hands of English and Scottish settlers,
and he made a pilgrimage into almost every quarter of Ireland to
incite his countrymen to grasp this opportunity, when the king and
Parliament of England were engrossed by their disputes, to recover
their rights. Everywhere he was listened to with enthusiasm, and the
natives held themselves ready to rise, and take a terrible vengeance
on the usurpers of their lands at the first signal. The great chiefs
of Ulster, Cornelius Maguire, Baron of Enniskillen, and Sir Phelim
O'Neil, who had become the chieftain of the sept of Tyrone after the
death of the son of the late persecuted Tyrone, fell into his views
with all their followers. The Catholic members of the pale were more
disposed to negotiate with Charles than to rush into insurrection
against his authority. They knew that it was greatly to his interest
at this moment to conciliate his Irish subjects, and they despatched
to him a deputation previous to his journey to Scotland, demanding
the ratification of those graces for which he had received the
purchase money thirteen years before, and offering in return their
warmest support to his authority in Ireland. Charles received them
very graciously, promised them the full satisfaction of all their
demands, and by Lord Gormanstown, who headed the deputation, and on
whom he lavished the most marked attentions, he sent word to the Earls
of Ormond and Antrim to secure in his interest the eight thousand
troops which had been raised by Strafford, to keep them in efficient
discipline, to augment rather than decrease their number, and to
surprise the castle of Dublin, where they would find twelve thousand
stand of arms.
But the English Parliament were by no means unaware of the danger from
the army in Ireland, which consisted almost entirely of Catholics.
They insisted on its being disbanded, as promised by the king on the
Scottish pacification. He was not able to prevent this, and signed the
order; but at the same time sent secret instructions by Gormanstown to
Ormond and Antrim, to frustrate this by enlisting the whole body as
volunteers to serve the King of Spain in Flanders.
At this juncture Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase were at the
head of the English Government in Ireland; they were in the interest
of the Parliament, and were detested by almost all classes of Irish.
Sir John Clotworthy, in the House of Commons, had openly declared that
"the conversion of the Papists in Ireland was only to be effected by
the Bible in one hand, and the sword in the other." Pym was reported
to have said that they would not leave a priest in Ireland; and at a
public entertainment Parsons had echoed those sentiments by declaring
that "in a twelvemonth not a Catholic would be left in that country."
The Irish were, therefore, delighted with their success with the king,
and Gormanstown and his associates hastened home again, with two Bills
signed by the king, granting the possession of lands which had been
held sixty years, and setting aside all the sequestrations made by
Strafford. But Parsons and Borlase, aware that the passing of these
Bills would attach Ireland to the interests of the king, defeated the
object by proroguing Parliament a few days before the arrival of the
deputies.
It was now resolved by Ormond and Antrim to defer any movement till
the reassembling of the Irish Parliament in November, when they could
at the same moment secure Dublin castle and the persons of Parsons
and Borlase, and issue in the name of the two Houses his Majesty's
concession to the people of Ireland. But the native Irish, stimulated
by the addresses of Moore, could not wait so long. They determined to
rise, without waiting for the combined force, on the 23rd of October.
Two hundred and twenty men were to surprise the castle, but at the time
appointed only eighty appeared. They concluded to wait till the next
day for the arrival of the rest, but that night one Hugh M'Mahon, in a
drunken fit, betrayed the secret to Owen O'Connelly, a servant of Sir
John Clotworthy, and a Protestant. He instantly carried the news to Sir
William Parsons; the city gates were closed, and a quick search was
made for the conspirators. All but M'Mahon and Lord Maguire escaped,
but the castle was saved.
Ignorant of the failure of the plot, the people of Ulster rose on the
appointed day. Charlemont and Dungannon were surprised by Sir Phelim
O'Neil, Mountjoy by O'Quin, Tanderagee by O'Hanlan, and Newry by
Macginnis. In little more than a week all the open country in Tyrone,
Monaghan, Longford, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Donegal, Derry, and
part of Down, were in their hands. The other colonies in which there
were English or Scottish plantations followed their example, and the
greater part of Ireland was in a dreadful state of anarchy and terror.
The Protestant people on the plantations fell beneath the butchering
revenge of the insurgents, or fled wildly into the fortified towns.
The horrors of the Irish massacre of 1641 have assumed a fearful place
in history; the cruelties, expulsions, and oppressions of long years
were repaid by the most infuriated cruelty. Men, women, and children,
fell indiscriminately in the onslaught, and they who escaped, says
Clarendon, "were robbed of all they had, to their very shirts, and so
turned naked to endure the sharpness of the season, and by that means,
and for want of relief, many thousands of them perished by hunger and
cold."
Great care has been taken by Catholic writers to contradict these
accounts, and to represent the atrocities committed as of no
extraordinary extent. They remind us that no accounts of these
barbarous slaughters were transmitted in the reports to the English
Parliament, which would have been only too glad to spread, and even
exaggerate bloody deeds of the Catholics. They reduce the number of
people slain during the whole insurrection to about ten thousand,
instead of the grossly exaggerated statements of Milton in his
"Iconoclastes," that there were one hundred and fifty-four thousand
in Ulster alone, or of Sir John Temple, that three hundred thousand
were slain or expelled altogether. But nothing less than a most
frightful massacre could have left the awful impression which still
lives in tradition, and the calculations of moderate historians do not
make the number massacred less than from fifteen thousand to twenty
thousand. The Earl of Castlehaven, a Catholic, says that all the water
in the sea could not wash from the Irish the taint of that rebellion.
Whilst remembering the vengeance, however, we must never forget the
long and maddening incentives to it. Much blame was attached to the
Deputy-Governors, Borlase and Parsons, who, shut up in security in
Dublin, took no measures for suppressing the insurgents. They were
charged with purposely allowing the rebellion to spread, in order that
there might be more confiscations, in which they would find their own
benefit; but it must not be forgotten that they had few soldiers on
whom they could rely, for these were nearly all Catholics; nor did
the insurgents escape without severe chastisement in many places, for
wherever there was a trusty garrison, the soldiers easily repelled the
disorderly mob of plunderers; and Sir Phelim O'Neil suffered during the
month of November severe losses.
Before Charles reached England, O'Connelly, the discoverer of the plot,
arrived in London, with letters from the lords justices, and was called
before the House of Lords to relate all that he knew. They immediately
invited the House of Commons to a conference on the state of Ireland,
and on the better providing for the security of England. They presented
O'Connelly with five hundred pounds in money, and settled on him an
annuity of two hundred pounds a year. It was resolved to look well
after the Catholics in England, and to put the ports into a state of
defence. The Commons voted that two hundred thousand pounds should be
set apart for the requirements of Ireland; that six thousand foot and
two thousand horse should be raised for service there; and that the
fleet should carefully guard its coast. The Earl of Leicester, the
Lord-Lieutenant, was desired to furnish a list of the most suitable
officers for the service, and arms and ammunition were prepared in
haste, to be despatched to Dublin. A pardon was offered to all rebels
who laid down their arms by a certain day, at the same time that a
reward was set on the heads of the leaders. But the Commons did not
stop there; they passed a resolution never to tolerate the Catholic
worship either in Ireland or in any part of his Majesty's dominions.
Commissioners were appointed to disarm the recusants in every part
of the kingdom; pursuivants were sent out in every direction to seize
priests and Jesuits; orders were given for the trial of all such
persons; and the king was advised not to pardon or reprieve them. The
queen's chapel was closed, her priests were dismissed, her confessor
was sent to the Tower, and no less than seventy Catholic lords and
gentlemen were denounced by the Commons to the Lords, as persons who
ought to be secured to prevent them from doing injury to the State.
Such was the condition of things when Charles arrived in London. He
was well received by the Lord Mayor and aldermen of the city, and in
return gave them an entertainment at Hampton Court; but he was greatly
chagrined at the proceedings of the Commons, telling them that they
were converting the war in Ireland, which was a civil war, into a
war of religion. He took umbrage also at Parliament sitting with a
guard round their House. The Earl of Essex, on the king's arrival,
surrendered his command of the forces south of the Trent to the king,
and announced to the Lords that having resigned his commission, he
could no longer furnish the guard. A message was sent from the Houses,
requesting the king to restore them the guard, but he refused, saying
he saw no occasion for it; but the Commons let him know that many
dangerous persons, Irish and others, were lurking about, and that the
"Incident" in Scotland, and the late attempt to surprise the castle in
Dublin, warned them of their danger; and that not only must they have a
guard, but they must nominate the commander of it themselves.
Whilst Charles was pondering on the answer which he should return to
this unwelcome message, Sir Ralph Hopton appeared at Hampton Court
with another address from the Commons yet more ominous. This bore the
alarming title of a "Remonstrance on the state of the kingdom." It had
been drawn up and passed by the Commons before the king came back from
Scotland, that is, on the 22nd of November; and it was resolved to
present it to him on his return. It was the act of the Commons alone,
and had not been carried even there without a violent debate, which
lasted till two o'clock in the morning, the House having sat that day
eighteen hours. The heat to which the proposal gave rise was such, that
Sir Philip Warwick says, "We had sheathed our swords in each others'
bowels, had not the sagacity and calmness of Mr. Hampden, by a soft
speech, prevented it." Cromwell is reported by Clarendon to have said
to Lord Falkland as they came out, that had it not been carried, he
would have sold all and gone to America. "So near," adds the Royalist
historian, "was the poor kingdom at that time to its deliverance."
And yet this famous Remonstrance was only carried by a majority of
nine, according to Clarendon; according to others, by eleven. It was,
as Clarendon describes it, "a very bitter representation of all the
illegal things that had been done from the first hour of the king's
coming to the crown, to that minute." It consisted of two hundred
and six clauses, and dealt among other matters with the war against
the French Protestants; the innovations in the Church; the illegal
imposition of ship-money; forced loans; the cruelties of the Star
Chamber and High Commission; the forcing of episcopacy on Scotland;
the forcing of it on the Irish by Strafford, and all the other illegal
proceedings there; the opposition of the king and his ministers to
necessary reforms; and the plotting of the queen with the Papists at
home and abroad. It went on to remind the king of what they had done
in pulling down his evil counsellors, and informed him that other good
things were in preparation.
[Illustration: THE CLOCK TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE.]
The king the next day delivered his answer in the House of Lords,
protesting, as usual, his good intentions, telling the Commons, before
he removed evil counsellors, they must point out who they were and
bring real facts against them; at the same time he significantly
reminded them that he had left Scotland in perfect amity with him, so
that they might infer that they were not to look for support against
him there, and calling on them to stir themselves in aiding him to
put down the rebellion in Ireland. Matters continued getting worse
every day between the king and Parliament. From the 8th to the 20th of
December there was a sullen humour between them. So far from granting
the Parliament the usual guard, Charles had posted a guard of his own
near the Commons. They summoned the commander of the guard before them,
pronounced its being placed there a breach of their privileges, and
demanded that it should be removed. On the 14th of December Charles
objected to their ordering the impressment of soldiers from Ireland,
that being his prerogative, but that he would permit it for the time
on the understanding that his right was not thereby affected. The
next day the Commons passed an order for the printing and publishing
of their Remonstrance, which measure they had failed to carry at the
same time as the Remonstrance itself. This had a great effect with
the public, and the king, in a restless, angry humour, prevailing in
nothing against the House, sought to strengthen himself by getting
into the Tower a lieutenant of his own party. But in this movement he
was equally injudicious and equally unfortunate. Charles dismissed Sir
William Balfour, who had honestly resisted his warrant and refused
a bribe of Strafford to permit his escape; but to have deprived the
Commons of any plea for interfering in what was unquestionably his
own prerogative, he should have replaced him by a man of character.
Instead of that, he gave the post to Colonel Lunsford, a man of
desperate fortunes and the most unprincipled reputation; outlawed for
his violent attacks on different individuals, and known to be capable
of executing the most lawless designs. The City immediately petitioned
the Commons against the Tower being in the hands of such a man; the
Commons called for a conference with the Lords on the subject, but the
Lords refused to meddle in what so clearly was the royal prerogative.
The Commons then called on them to enter the protest they had made
on their books; but the Lords took time to consider it. On Thursday,
December 23rd, a petition was addressed to the Commons, purporting
to be from the apprentices of London, against Papists and prelates,
who, they contended, caused the destruction of trade by their plots,
and the fears which thence unsettled men of capital; whereby they,
the apprentices, "were nipped in the bud," on entering the world.
The Corporation waited on his Majesty on Sunday, the 26th, to assure
him that the apprentices were contemplating a rising, and meant to
carry the Tower by storm, unless Lunsford were removed; and that the
merchants had already taken away their bullion from the Mint for fear
of him, and the owners of ships coming in with new would not carry it
there. That evening Charles took the keys from his new lieutenant, and
appointed Sir John Byron in his place.
And now, notwithstanding their reluctance, the Lords were compelled to
entertain this question, for they found Lord Newport, the Constable of
the Tower, also brought into controversy by the king. It appeared that
during Charles's absence in Scotland, at a meeting of a number of the
peers and members of the Commons at Kensington, regarding some rumour
of plots against Parliament, Lord Newport was reported to have said,
"Never mind, we have his wife and children." Newport stated in the
House that he had waited on the queen at the time, and assured her that
no such words had been spoken; yet on Friday last the king had reminded
him of it, and intimated his belief of it. It was now the turn of the
Lords to call for a conference with the Commons. This was granted
on Monday, and whilst it was sitting, the House of Parliament was
surrounded by tumultuous mobs, crying, "Beware of plots! No bishops! no
bishops!"
Poor Williams, made Archbishop of York on the 4th of this month, was
surrounded by this mob and much frightened; but he got away unhurt,
any further than in his feelings, from the execrations heaped on the
bishops. One David Hide, however, a ruffian officer, who had been
in the army in the north, and was now appointed to the service in
Ireland, drew his sword, and swore that "he would cut the throats
of those _roundheaded_ dogs that bawled against bishops," and by
that expression, says Clarendon, gave the first utterance to the
name "roundheads," which was at once universally applied to the
Parliamentary party; the term "cavaliers" soon being introduced to
designate the Royalists. The same day Lunsford had the insolence to
go through Westminster Hall with thirty or forty of his partisans at
his back. The mob fell on them, and they drew their swords and cut
right and left among the crowd. Presently there came pouring down to
Westminster hundreds of fresh apprentices, with swords, cudgels, and
other weapons, crying, "Slash us now! Slash us now!" And this was
renewed by thousands the next day, December 28th, with the same "Slash
us now, whilst we wait on the honourable House to request an answer to
our petition." Some of the youths were shut into the abbey and brought
before Williams, whilst those without cried that if they were not
released, they would break in and pull down the organs. This, however,
they were prevented from doing, by numbers of the bishop's men coming
out on the abbey leads, and flinging down stones upon them, by which
many were injured; and Sir Richard Wiseman, who happened to be passing,
was so much hurt that he died of his injuries.
Williams, the archbishop, was so incensed at the cry against the
bishops, that he forgot his usual cunning, and got eleven other bishops
to join him in an address to the king, declaring that the bishops
could not get to their places for the riotous crowds, and from fear
of their lives from them; and therefore, as bishops had at all times
formed part and parcel of the Upper House, that House, so long as
they were detained from it, was no longer a competent House, and that
all its acts, of whatever kind, would be utterly invalid. This was
supposed to be a manœuvre of the king's to get rid of the authority
of Parliament for the present, and thus of his unfortunate surrender
of the powers of adjournment; but the Lords, taking no notice of the
protest of the bishops, desired a conference with the Commons, and then
denounced the protest of the bishops as subversive of the fundamental
rights of Parliament. The Commons, on their part, instead of contenting
themselves with passing a resolution condemnatory of the folly of the
bishops, at once declared them guilty of high treason, and called on
the Lords to apprehend them, which was at once done, and ten of the
bishops were committed to the Tower, and two, on account of their age,
to the custody of the Usher of the Black Rod.
On the last day of this eventful year, Denzil Holles waited on his
Majesty, by order of the Commons, to represent to him, that whilst his
faithful Parliament was ready to shed the last drop of its blood in
defence of his Majesty, it was itself daily exposed to the danger of
plots and ruffians who had dared to shed the blood of the people coming
to petition at the very doors of the House. They demanded, therefore, a
guard. Charles had taken care to surround his own palace day and night
since the commotions. Such a guard was reluctantly granted three days
after.
But if 1641 had been an astonishing year, 1642 was destined to cast
even it into the shade, and its very opening was with nothing short
of the first trumpet note of civil war. On the 3rd of January Charles
sent his answer to the Commons respecting the guard, acceding to the
request, but immediately followed it up by a demand that electrified
the Houses, and was soon to electrify the nation. Whilst the Commons
were debating on the royal message, the king's new Attorney-General,
Herbert, appeared at the bar of the House of Lords, and presented
articles of high treason against six leading Members of Parliament,
one peer and five commoners. These members were, Lord Kimbolton in the
Peers, and Holles, Hazelrig, Pym, Hampden, and Strode, in the Commons.
There were seven articles exhibited against them of high treason and
other misdemeanour. These were stated in the following words:--"1st.
That they have traitorously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental laws
and government of the kingdom of England, to deprive the king of his
royal power, and to place in subjects an arbitrary and tyrannical power
over the lives, liberties, and estates of his Majesty's liege people.
2nd. That they have traitorously endeavoured, by many foul aspersions
upon his Majesty and his Government, to alienate the affections of his
people, and to make his Majesty odious unto them. 3rd. That they have
endeavoured to draw his Majesty's late army to disobedience to his
Majesty's commands, and to side with them in their traitorous designs.
4th. That they have traitorously invited and encouraged a foreign
power to invade his Majesty's kingdom of England. 5th. That they have
traitorously endeavoured to subvert the rights and the very being of
Parliaments. 6th. That for the completing of their traitorous designs,
they have endeavoured, so far as in them lay, by force and terror, to
compel the Parliament to join with them in their traitorous designs,
and to that end have actually raised and countenanced tumults against
the king and Parliament. 7th. And that they have traitorously conspired
to levy, and actually have levied war against the king."
"The House of Peers," says Clarendon, "was somewhat startled by this
alarm, but took time to consider it till the next day, that they might
see how their masters, the Commons, would behave themselves." Lord
Kimbolton declared his readiness to meet the charge: the Lords sent a
message upon the matter to the Commons; and at the same time came the
news that officers of the Crown were sealing up the doors, trunks, and
papers of Pym, Hampden and the other impeached members. The House
immediately ordered the seals put upon the doors and papers of their
Members to be broken, and they who had presumed to do such an act to
be seized and brought before them. At this moment the serjeant-at-arms
arrived at the door of the House; they ordered him to be admitted,
but without his mace, and having heard his demand for the delivery
of the five Members, they bade him withdraw, and sent Lord Falkland
and three other Members to inform the king that they held the Members
ready to answer any legal charge against them. But the next day the
Commons were informed by Captain Languish, that the king, at the head
of his gentlemen pensioners, and followed by some hundreds of courtiers
and officers, armed with swords and pistols, was advancing towards
the House. The House was well supplied with halberds, which they had
previously ordered into it when the king withdrew their guard; but they
saw the advantage of preventing an armed collision, and ordered the
accused Members to withdraw.
Charles entered the House, his attendants remaining at Westminster
Hall, and at the door of the Commons. As he advanced towards the
Speaker's chair, he glanced towards the place where Pym usually sat,
and then approaching the chair, said, "By your leave, Mr. Speaker, I
must borrow your chair a little." The House, at his entrance, arose and
stood uncovered; Lenthall, the Speaker, dropped upon his knees, and
Charles, much excited, said, "Gentlemen, I am sorry for this occasion
of coming unto you. Yesterday I sent a serjeant-at-arms to apprehend
some that at my command were accused of high treason, wherewith I did
expect obedience, and not a message; and I must declare unto you here,
that albeit no king that ever was in England shall be more careful of
your privileges, to maintain them to the utmost of his power, than I
shall be; yet you must know that in cases of treason no person hath
a privilege, and therefore I am come to know if any of those persons
that I have accused, for no slight crime, but for treason, are here.
I cannot expect that this House can be in the right way that I do
heartily wish it, therefore I am come to tell you that I must have
them, wheresoever I find them." He looked earnestly round the House,
but seeing none of them, demanded of the Speaker where they were.
Lenthall, still on his knees, declared that he had neither eyes to see,
nor tongue to speak, but as the House directed. "Well," said the king,
"since I see all the birds are flown, I do expect that as soon as they
return hither, you do send them to me." And with mingled assurances
that he meant no force, yet not without a threat, he withdrew. As he
walked out, there were raised loud cries of "Privilege! Privilege!" and
the House instantly adjourned.
The Commons, to testify that they no longer felt themselves safe in
their own House, betook themselves to the City where, establishing a
permanent committee to sit at the Grocers' Hall, they adjourned till
the 11th of January. The next day Charles, taking his usual attendants,
went into the City, and at Guildhall demanded of the Lord Mayor and
aldermen that they should hunt out and deliver to him the accused
Members who had taken refuge amongst them. His demand was coldly
received, and after dining with one of the sheriffs he returned. His
passage through the city was attended by continued cries of "Privilege!
Privilege of Parliament!" And one Henry Walker, an ironmonger and
political pamphleteer, threw into his Majesty's carriage a paper
bearing the words, "To your tents, O Israel!" Scarcely had Charles
reached Whitehall, when a deputation from the Corporation waited on
him, complaining of the Tower being put into unsafe hands, of the
fortifying of Whitehall, the wounding of citizens on their way to
petition Parliament, of the dangerous example of the king entering the
House of Commons attended by armed men, and praying him to cease from
the prosecution of the five Members of Parliament, and to remove from
Whitehall and the Tower all suspicious personages.
As Charles still persisted by proclamation in endeavouring to get
possession of the five Members, and as a hundred stand of arms, with
gunpowder and shot, had been removed from the Tower to Whitehall, a
thousand marines and boatmen signed a memorial to the committee of the
Commons sitting at Guildhall, offering to guard them on the appointed
day to their House in Westminster. The committee accepted the offer,
which was immediately followed by one from the apprentices. Seeing that
the City, the seamen, and everybody were of one mind in condemning his
violent invasion of the national sanctuary of the House of Commons,
Charles on the 10th of January, the day previous to the meeting again
of Parliament, quietly withdrew with his family to Hampton Court,
and the next day removed thence to Windsor. Little did he imagine,
deplorable as was his retreat, that he would never enter his capital
again till he came as a prisoner in the hands of this insulted
Parliament. Yet his feelings at this moment must have been melancholy
in the extreme. "In this sad condition," says Clarendon, "was the king
at Windsor; fallen in ten days from a height and greatness that his
enemies feared, to a lowness, that his own servants durst hardly avow
the waiting on him."
Charles had now decided on war. But money was necessary, and to obtain
it he determined to send the queen abroad. A pretext was easily found.
The Princess Mary, who had been some time betrothed to the Prince of
Orange, though she was yet a mere child, only about ten years of age,
was to be delivered to the Dutch Court, and nothing was more natural
than that her mother should accompany her. Even the stern reformers,
who had forbidden her twice before leaving the kingdom, could find no
excuse for forbidding this maternal office. On the 9th of February
Charles and the Court returned from Windsor to Hampton Court, and the
next day the royal party set out for Dover, where, on the 23rd, the
queen and her daughter embarked for Holland. The Prince of Orange
received her majesty with all kindness, which he indeed owed her, for
she had always taken the part of him and his country against Richelieu;
but the civic authorities were not so glad to see her, fearing that
she might embroil them with the all-powerful Parliament of England.
They entered her presence with their hats on, seated themselves in her
presence, and took their leave without a bow or a word. But Henrietta
restrained her disgust better than her husband would have done, for
she had great interests at stake, and succeeded by her flattering
courtesies in so melting the Dutch phlegm, that she eventually
succeeded in borrowing of the authorities of Amsterdam eight hundred
and forty-five thousand guilders, at Rotterdam sixty-five thousand, of
the merchants at the Hague one hundred and sixty-six thousand, besides
pawning her pearls for two hundred and thirteen thousand, and six
rubies for forty thousand, thus raising for her husband two million
pounds sterling.
[Illustration: CHARLES DEMANDING THE SURRENDER OF THE FIVE MEMBERS.
(_See p._ 7.)]
Whilst the king was at Canterbury waiting for the queen's departure,
the Commons urged him to sign the two Bills for the removal of the
bishops from Parliament, and of them and the clergy from all temporal
offices, and for power to press soldiers for the service of Ireland.
He passed them, the second Bill to be in force only till the 1st of
November. The Commons expressed their satisfaction, but still urged the
removal of all Privy Councillors and officers of State, except such
as held posts hereditarily, and the appointment of others having
the confidence of Parliament. They then returned to the subject of
the Militia Bill, which would put the whole force of the army into
the hands of Parliament; but there Charles made a stand. He sent
orders that the Prince of Wales should meet him at Greenwich. The
Parliament--which watched his every movement and no doubt was informed
of his intentions--sent a message to the king, praying him to allow the
prince to remain at Hampton Court; but Charles, complaining of these
suspicions, ordered the prince's governor, the Marquis of Hertford, to
bring him to Greenwich. On Sunday, the 27th of February, some of the
Lords went to Greenwich, to endeavour to bring the prince back; but
Charles would not suffer it, declaring that the prince should accompany
him wherever he went. He removed to Theobalds, and there again a
deputation followed him, urging him to grant the matter of the militia,
or that the Parliament would feel compelled to assume it for the safety
of the kingdom. They also renewed their request for the return of the
prince. Charles expressed much surprise at these importunities, and
refused them both.
On receiving this answer, the two Houses issued an order to fit out the
fleet, and put it into the command of the Earl of Northumberland, as
Lord High Admiral. The Lords, who had hesitated to join the Commons in
the demand of the control of the militia, now passed the ordinance for
it with very few dissentients. Fifty-five Lords and Commons were named
as lord-lieutenants of counties, many of them Royalists, but still
not such as the Commons feared joining the king in an open rupture.
The Commons then proceeded to issue a declaration, expressing their
apprehensions of the favour shown to the Irish rebels by the Court;
of the intention of evil advisers of the king to break the neck of
Parliament, and of the rumours of aid from abroad for these objects
from the Pope, and the Kings of France and Spain. The Lords, with only
sixteen dissentient voices, joined in this declaration, and the Earls
of Pembroke and Holland waited on the king with it at Royston. On
hearing this outspoken paper read, Charles testified much indignation,
pronouncing some assertions in it, in plain terms, lies; and when the
earls entreated him to consent to the granting of the militia for a
time, he exclaimed:--"No, by God, not for an hour. You have asked
that of me which was never asked of any king, and with which I should
not trust my wife and children." This was true, but he had formerly
said he would sooner lose his life than consent to the Bill against
the bishops, and yet he gave them up. That he would on the first
opportunity break his word, was certain; that at this very moment his
wife was moving heaven and earth abroad, and pawning her jewels for
money to put down Parliament and people, was equally well known. In
vain, therefore, were the solemn asseverations which he made, that he
desired nothing so much as to satisfy his subjects.
At this moment he was stealing away towards the north. He got away to
Newmarket, thence to Huntingdon, next to Stamford, and from that place
wrote to the two Houses, informing them that he proposed to take up his
residence for a time in York. The deputies had strongly importuned him
to return to the neighbourhood of his Parliament; this was his answer,
accompanied by a positive refusal to put the militia into their hands.
The Houses were at once roused to action. War was inevitable; the king
was intending to take them by surprise. They therefore voted that the
king's absence was most detrimental to the affairs of Ireland; that
the king was easily advised, and that it was necessary for Parliament
that the power of commanding the militia must be exercised by the sole
authority of Parliament, and orders for that purpose were issued to the
lieutenants and deputy-lieutenants of the counties.
Charles had meanwhile proceeded by Doncaster to York, where he arrived
on the 19th of March. On the 26th the Lords Willoughby and Dungarvan,
with Sir Anthony Ereby, arrived from Parliament with a justification of
their proceedings. They admitted that he had passed many satisfactory
Bills at their instance, but that always at the same time some attempts
had been set on foot to render them abortive. They informed him that
they had certain information of preparations making abroad, and of a
design to enter Hull with foreign forces. Charles denied the truth of
these allegations, and assured them that he would return and reside
near his Parliament as soon as he was sure of the safety of his person.
He did not forget, however, the words dropped about Hull. It was of
immense consequence to obtain possession of that place; but it was in
the keeping of the stout Sir John Hotham and his son, who had declared
in Parliament "fall back, fall edge, he would carry out the wishes
of Parliament." As Charles could not hope to obtain it by force, he
conceived the idea of winning it by stratagem. He sent the Earl of
Newcastle to request that the town and arsenals might be put into
his hands. Newcastle assumed the name of Sir John Savage to obtain
admission to the town, but was discovered, and this clumsy trick only
increased the suspicions of the people. Parliament then sent an order
for the removal of the arms and ammunition to the Tower of London; but
Charles told them that he claimed them as purchased with money borrowed
on his own account, and begged they would leave him to look after his
own property. He also sent them word that it was his intention to pass
over to Ireland, to suppress the rebellion; that he should require
all the arms and ammunition for that purpose, and that they would be
necessary for the use of his guard of two thousand foot and two hundred
horse, which he meant to embark there for Ireland.
On the 22nd of April he sent the Duke of York, the Prince Palatine,
his nephew, the Lords Newport, Willoughby, and some other persons of
distinction, but without any armed force, to see the town of Hull.
Sir John Hotham and the mayor received them with all honour, and
entertained them as became their rank. They were shown the place,
and were to dine with the governor on the morrow, being St. George's
Day. Just before dinner-time, however, Hotham was startled by the
sudden appearance of Sir Lewis Dives, brother-in-law of the outlawed
Lord Digby, who informed him that his Majesty intended to do him the
honour to dine with him, and was already within a mile of the town,
accompanied by three hundred horse. Sir John, who saw the trick,
instantly ordered the drawbridges to be raised, and shut the gates in
the king's face, for by this time he had arrived at the Beverley gate.
Charles commanded Sir John to open the gate and admit him and his
guard, but Sir John replied that, though a loyal subject of his
Majesty, he could not do so without consent of Parliament, which had
put the town into his keeping. If his Majesty would be pleased to enter
with the prince and twelve attendants he should be welcome; but Charles
refused to enter without the whole of his guard. He staid before the
gate from one o'clock till four, continuing the parley, trusting to the
people being affected by the sight of their sovereign, and compelling
the governor to admit him. But he was disappointed, and at four, going
away for an hour, he gave Hotham that time to consider of it. On his
return at five Hotham still refused entrance to more than before, when
Charles proclaimed him a traitor, and rode off with the prince and
his guard to Beverley. The next day he sent a herald to offer Hotham
pardon and promotion on surrender of the town, but in vain; and he then
returned to York.
Each party now hastened to raise forces and prepare for the struggle.
On the 5th of May the Parliament issued a declaration that as the king
refused his consent to the Militia Bill, they called on all men to obey
their own ordinance for the raising of forces and the defence of the
king. In this ordinance they nominated the lieutenants of counties,
who nominated their deputy-lieutenants, subject to the approbation of
Parliament. Amongst these deputies appeared Hampden, Whitelock, St.
John, Selden, Maynard, Grimstone, and other leaders of Parliament,
who now became equally zealous enrollers and drillers of soldiers.
The king, on his side, denounced the order as traitorous and illegal,
forbade all men obeying it, and summoned a county meeting at York for
promoting the levy of troops for his service. At that meeting we find
Sir Thomas Fairfax stepping forward as a Parliamentary leader, and
laying on the pommel of the king's saddle a strong remonstrance from
the freeholders and farmers of Yorkshire, who advised the king to come
to an agreement with his Parliament.
The country was now come to that crisis when every man must make up
his mind, and show to which side of the dispute he leaned. It was
a day of wonderful searching of characters and interests, and many
strange revolutions took place. Towns, villages, families, now appeared
in convulsion and strife, and some fell one way, some another, not
without much heart-ache and many tears, old friends and kindred parting
asunder, to meet again only to shed each others' blood. Then was there
a strange proclaiming and contradiction of proclamations, one party
denouncing and denying the proceedings of the other. The king raised
only a troop of horse and a regiment of foot; the Parliament soon
found themselves at the head of eight thousand men, consisting of six
regiments, commanded by zealous officers, and the month of May saw
the fields of Finsbury white with tents, and Major-General Skippon
manœuvring his train-bands.
The next shift was for the fleet. The Earl of Northumberland being ill,
or more probably indisposed, the Commons ordered him to surrender his
command to the Earl of Warwick for the time. The Lords hesitated, on
account of the king's sanction being wanted for such an appointment;
but the Commons settled it alone. Clarendon says that the king
remained passive, confiding in the attachment of the sailors, whose
pay he had advanced; but we hear from other sources that Charles had
contrived to alienate the mariners as much as the rest of his subjects,
by calling them "water-rats." His popularity with them was soon tested,
for he ordered the removal of Warwick, and that Pennington should take
his place; but the sailors would not receive him. Without ammunition or
arms, Charles's forces were of little use, and the Commons proclaimed
that any one who should bring in such material without consent of
Parliament, or should bring in money raised on the Crown jewels, would
be considered an enemy to the country.
The coasts being diligently watched by the fleet, Charles now turned
to the Scots, the leaders of whom he hoped to win over by the honours
and favours he had distributed on his last visit; and, in truth, the
members of the Council seemed quite inclined to fall in with his
wishes; but the English Commons being made aware of it, soon turned
the scale, letting both Council and people know that it was their
interest, as much as that of England, that the king should come to an
understanding with his Parliament, which, they asserted, sought only
the good of both king and people. The Parliament had now, however, to
witness considerable defections from its own body, for many thought
that they were driving matters too far; that the king had conceded
more than was reasonable, and that the Commons were themselves aiming
at inordinate power. Amongst those who had gone off to the king were
the Lord Falkland, Sir John Colepepper, and Mr. Hyde (afterwards Lord
Clarendon and historian of the Rebellion). Falkland and Colepepper,
Charles had, before leaving, made his ministers, and Hyde had long been
secretly seeing the king, conveying all the news to him at night, and
writing his declarations. The Commons had perceived well enough who
composed those papers by the style, yet they could not directly prove
it; but he was found by the Earls of Essex and Holland shut up with the
king at Greenwich, and by the Marquis of Hamilton at Windsor. In April
the king summoned Hyde to attend him at York; but even then, as if
afraid of the Parliament, he had gone in a very private way, pretending
that he sought the country for his health; and even after reaching
the neighbourhood of York, instead of openly avowing his adhesion to
the royal cause, he kept himself concealed in the neighbourhood, and
attended to the king's correspondence. He arrived in Yorkshire at
the end of May; but, before leaving London, he had contrived that the
Lord Keeper Lyttelton should run off with the Great Seal to the king,
a matter of no little importance, as regarded the authenticity of all
public documents.
Numbers of both Lords and Commons continued to steal away to the king,
especially, says May, lawyers and clergy, "whose callings made them
capable of easier and greater gratifications from the king than other
men, and therefore apt to lean that way where preferment lies." The
Commons summoned nine peers, who had gone away to York, to appear in
their places in Westminster, and, on their refusing, impeached them of
high treason. These were Spencer, Earl of Northampton, the Earls of
Devonshire, Dover, Monmouth, and the Lords Howard of Charlton, Rich,
Grey of Ruthven, Coventry, and Capel.
On the 2nd of June the Lords and Commons sent proposals to the king
for an amicable arrangement of the national affairs on a permanent
basis; but matters had so far changed with Charles, that he was in no
mood to listen. On that very day, one of the ships, freighted by the
queen in Holland with arms and ammunition, managed to elude the fleet
and land supplies on the Yorkshire coast. With these, and the prospect
of more, with a number of lords and courtiers around him, Charles at
once dropped the humble and conciliatory tone, called the Parliament a
nest of caballers and traitors, who had no right to dictate to him, the
descendant of a hundred kings, and protested that he would never agree
to their terms if he were bound and at their mercy.
From this moment all hope of accommodation was at an end, and king
and Parliament went on preparing with all diligence for trying their
strength at arms. The question to be decided was, whether England
should be an abject despotism or a free nation. If the Parliament
were worsted, then must England sink to the level of the rest of the
king-ridden nations. On the part of the king, his adherents joined
him in his solemn engagement to maintain the Protestant religion, and
to claim nothing but his rightful prerogative; on the part of the
Parliament, an avowal as solemn was, that they fought not against the
king, but for him and his crown, as well as for the liberties and
privileges of the people, which were endangered by the evil counsellors
of the king.
[Illustration: LORD FALKLAND. (After the Portrait by Vandyke.)]
On the 10th of June the Commons issued an address, in which they
intimated that they would receive money and plate for maintaining the
struggle, engaging to pay eight per cent. interest, and appointing Sir
John Wollaston and three other aldermen of London treasurers. In a very
short time an immense treasure was accumulated in Guildhall, the poor
contributing as freely as the rich. Charles wrote to the Corporation
of London, forbidding this collection, but without effect. He made
an attempt also to secure the fleet, inducing the Earl of Warwick to
surrender the command to Admiral Pennington, but only five captains
consented, and these were speedily secured and superseded. On the
12th of July Parliament appointed the Earl of Essex commander of the
army, and many members of the Parliament, both Lords and Commons, took
commissions under him. Amongst these were Sir John Merrick, Lord Grey
of Groby, Denzil Holles, Sir William Waller, Hampden, and Cromwell.
Hampden's regiment was clad in a green uniform, and carried a banner,
having on one side his motto, "_Vestigia nulla retrorsum_;" on the
other, "God is with us." Cromwell, who was also appointed a colonel,
was extremely active in the eastern counties. The whole country was
thrown into the most wonderful state of confusion by the exertions
of the noblemen and gentlemen endeavouring to seize strong places,
and engage the people, some for this side, some for that. Never had
there been such a state of anarchy, opposition, and rending asunder
of old ties. For the most part, the southern counties and mercantile
places were for the Parliament--the more purely agricultural and
remote districts for the king. In many, however, there was a pretty
equal division of interests, and fierce contests for superiority.
In Lincolnshire Lord Willoughby of Parham was very successful for
Parliament. In Essex the Earl of Warwick was equally so, and Kent,
Surrey, Middlesex, and the sea-coast of Sussex, were strongly
Parliamentary. Cromwell did wonders in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridge.
In Berkshire Hampden and the Earl of Holland were opposed by the Earl
of Berkshire, Lord Lovelace, and others; but the Earl of Berkshire was
seized by Hampden, and sent up to the Parliament. In Buckinghamshire
Hampden had it nearly all his own way. Colonel Goring, who was Governor
of Portsmouth, after receiving a large sum from Parliament to put that
place in full condition of defence, betrayed it, as he had before
done the royal party; but the Parliament seized the Earl of Portland,
Goring's ally, and put the Isle of Wight into the keeping of the Earl
of Pembroke. Warwickshire was divided between Lord Brooke for the
Parliament, and the Earl of Northampton for the king; Leicestershire
between the Earl of Huntingdon for the king, and the Earl of Stamford
for the Parliament. Derbyshire was almost wholly for the king, and so
on northward; yet in Yorkshire Lord Fairfax was zealous for Parliament,
and so were Sir Thomas Stanley and the Egertons in Lancashire. The
Earl of Derby and his son, Lord Strange, embraced the side of royalty;
and the first blood in this war was shed by Lord Strange endeavouring
to secure Manchester, where he was repulsed and driven out. Great
expectations were entertained by the Royalists of the assistance of the
numerous Catholics in Lancashire and Cheshire, but they were either
indifferent or overawed. In the west of England the king had a strong
party. Charles, in his commission of array, had appointed the Marquis
of Hertford Lieutenant-general of the West, including seven counties in
Wales, and the second skirmish took place in Somersetshire, between him
and the deputy-lieutenant of the county, where ten men were killed and
many wounded.
No exertions were spared by the Parliament at the same time to induce
the king to come to an arrangement; but he showed that he was at heart
totally unchanged, for he replied to their overtures by still insisting
that the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members of the Commons should be
given up to him, as well as Alderman Pennington, the Lord Mayor of
London, and Captain Venn, commander of the train-bands. He demanded
indictments of high treason against the Earls of Essex, Warwick, and
Stamford, Sir John Hotham, Major-General Skippon, and all who had
dared to put in force the ordinance of Parliament for the raising of
the militia. Yet at the same time he was in secret negotiation with
Hotham for the betrayal of Hull; and Hotham sullied that reputation for
patriotic bravery which he had acquired by listening to him. He was,
however, stoutly resisted by the inhabitants, the garrison, and his
own son. The king then invested Hull, and intrigued with some traitors
within to set fire to the town, so that he might assault it in the
confusion. But the plot was discovered, and the incensed inhabitants
made a sortie under Sir John Meldrum, and put the king's forces to a
precipitate flight.
Charles then marched away to Nottingham, where he raised his standard
on the 25th of August, according to Clarendon; on the 22nd, according
to Rushworth. It was a most tempestuous time; the standard, which
was raised on the castle-hill, an elevated and exposed place, was
blown down in the night, an ominous occurrence in the opinion of both
soldiers and people, and it was three days before it could be erected
again, owing to the fierceness of the wind. Besides the prostration
of the standard, the condition of the king's affairs was equally
discouraging. The people showed no enthusiasm in flocking to the royal
banner, the arms and ammunition did not arrive from York, and the royal
arms had received a severe repulse at Coventry. News came that the
Earl of Essex was at the head of fifteen thousand men at Northampton,
and the Earl of Southampton and his other officers entreated the king
to make overtures of peace to the Parliament, telling him that if
they refused them, it would turn the tide of popular favour against
them. At first Charles listened to such counsels with anger, but at
length despatched Sir John Colepepper to London to treat. But the
Parliament would not hear of any accommodation till the king had pulled
down his standard, and withdrawn his proclamations of high treason
against the Earl of Essex, the accused Members of Parliament, and
all who had supported them. In fact, all attempts at agreement were
become useless, and were rendered more so by the conduct of Charles's
nephew, Prince Rupert, who, with his younger brother Maurice, sons of
Charles's sister, Elizabeth of Bohemia, had arrived in England, and
were placed at the head of the royal cavalry. Whilst Colepepper was
trying to effect a peace in London, Rupert, with that rashness which
afterwards grew so notorious, and so fatal to Charles's army, was
making war through the midland counties, insulting all who advocated
peace, ordering rather than inviting men to the king's standard, and
plundering towns and villages at will for the supply of his troopers.
About the middle of September Charles marched from Nottingham,
intending to reach the west of England and unite his forces with
those of the Marquis of Hertford. He conducted himself in a very
different manner to the fiery Rupert, or Robber, as the people named
him. He everywhere issued the most positive assurances of his love for
his people, and his resolve to maintain their liberties; but these
assurances were not well maintained by his actions betraying the fact
that he was playing a part. He in one place invited the train-bands to
attend his march as his bodyguard, but when they arrived, he expressed
his doubts of their loyalty, forcibly seized their arms, and sent them
away. In spite of his professions to respect his subjects' rights,
he still levied money and supplies in the old arbitrary manner. On
the 20th of September he was at Shrewsbury, where he assured the
inhabitants that he would never suffer an army of Papists, and on the
23rd he wrote to the Earl of Newcastle, telling him that the rebellion
had reached that height, that he must raise all the soldiers he could,
without any regard to their religion. He received five thousand pounds
in cash from the Catholics in Shropshire, sold a title of baron for six
thousand pounds more, and began minting money from plate with great
alacrity. And to put the finish to his insincerity, he despatched
orders to Ireland to send him as many troops thence as they could, who
were almost wholly Catholic.
But the Earl of Essex was carefully watching the king's progress;
he had sent him the Parliamentary proposals of accommodation, which
he refused to receive from what he called a set of traitors. Essex
reached Worcester, in his march to cut off the king's movement towards
London, just as Prince Rupert and Colonel Sandys had had a skirmish in
that town, from which Rupert was forced to fly. There Essex lay still
for three weeks, till at length Charles, encouraged by his inaction,
ventured to quit Shrewsbury on the 20th of October, and by a bold
march by Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Kenilworth, actually shot past
Essex's position on the road to London. The Parliamentary general,
however, gave quick pursuit, and on the 22nd reached Kineton, in
Warwickshire, just as the king encamped on Edge Hill, close above him.
Charles had the way open, but a council of war advised the attack of
Essex, who had marched at such a rate, that a great part of his forces
was left behind. On the following morning, the 23rd of October--it was
Sunday--Essex accordingly found the royal army drawn up in order of
battle on the heights of Edge Hill. It was a serious disadvantage to
the Parliamentary army to have to charge up hill, and both parties were
loth to strike the first blow. They remained, therefore, looking at
each other till about two o'clock in the afternoon. Charles was on the
field in complete armour, and encouraging the soldiers by a cheerful
speech. He held the title of generalissimo of his own forces; the Earl
of Lindsay was his general, an experienced soldier, who had fought side
by side in the foreign wars with Essex, to whom he was now opposed. So
much, however, was he disgusted with the youthful insolence of Prince
Rupert, that he gave himself no further trouble than to command his
own regiment. Sir Jacob Astley was major-general of the horse, under
Lindsay, Prince Rupert commanding the right wing of the horse, and Lord
Wilmot the left, two reserves of horse being also under the command of
Lord Digby and Sir John Byron. In numbers, both of horse and foot, the
royal army exceeded that which Essex had on the field; but Essex had a
better train of artillery.
Essex had drawn out his army at the foot of the hill in the broad Vale
of the Red Horse. Sir John Meldrum, who had so lately chased the king's
forces from Hull, led the van. Three regiments of horse were posted on
the right, commanded by Sir Philip Stapleton and Sir William Balfour.
On the left were the twenty troops of horse under Sir James Ramsay. In
the centre, behind the cavalry, were posted the infantry, Essex's own
regiment occupying the main position, flanked by two reserves of horse
under Lord Brooke and Denzil Holles.
At two o'clock, according to one historian, Essex commanded his
artillery to fire on the enemy. According to another, the cavaliers
grew impatient of inaction, and demanded to be led against the foe;
and the king firing a cannon with his own hand as a signal for the
assault, the Royalists began to descend the hill. When they came within
musket shot, their spirits were greatly raised by seeing Sir Faithful
Fortescue fire his pistol into the ground, and range himself with two
troops of horse on their side. The Parliamentary cavalry made a charge
on the king's centre, and endeavoured to seize the standard, but could
not resist the pikes of the Royalists. Prince Rupert made a furious
charge on the left wing of the Parliamentarians, broke it, and pursued
it in headlong chase into the village of Kineton, where finding the
baggage of the enemy, he allowed his men an hour to plunder it. This
uncalculating conduct on the part of Rupert continued through the
whole war, and no amount of experience of the disastrous results of it
ever cured him of it in the least. Put him at the head of a body of
horse, and such was his valour and impetuosity that he would carry all
before him, but he was rarely seen again in the field till the battle
was over, when he returned from the headlong chase, often to find his
friends totally defeated.
To-day, during Rupert's absence, the main bodies of infantry were
led into action by Essex and Lindsay, each marching on foot at the
head of his men. The steady valour of the Roundheads astonished the
Cavaliers. The left wing of Charles's army, under Lord Wilmot, sought
refuge behind a body of pikemen, but Balfour, one of the commanders
of the Parliamentary right wing, wheeled his regiment round on the
flank of the king's infantry, broke through two divisions, and seized
a battery of cannon. In another part of the field the king's guards
displayed extraordinary valour, and forced back all that were opposed
to them. Essex perceiving it, ordered two regiments of infantry and a
squadron of horse to charge them in front and flank, and at the same
time Balfour, abandoning the guns he had captured, attacked them in
the rear. They were now overpowered and broke. Sir Edward Varney, the
standard-bearer, was killed, and the standard taken; but this being
entrusted by Essex to his secretary, Chambers, was, by treachery or
mistake, given up to a Captain Smith, one of the king's officers, whom
Charles, for this service, made a baronet on the field. Charles beheld
with dismay his guards being cut to pieces by overwhelming numbers,
and advanced at the head of the reserve to their rescue. At this
moment Rupert returned from his chase, and the remnant of the guards
was saved. Lord Lindsay had received a mortal wound, his son, Lord
Willoughby, and Colonel Vavasour, were taken prisoners in endeavouring
to rescue him, and Colonel Monroe and other officers had fallen. Had
Rupert returned on having put to the rout the Parliamentary right wing,
all this might have been prevented. As it was, a check was given to the
vehemence of the Roundheads, the firing ceased, and both armies having
stood looking at each other till the darkness fell, each drew off, the
Royalists back to their hill, the Parliamentarians to Kineton.
Both parties claimed the victory, but if remaining on the field of
battle, and being the last to march away, are any criterions of
success, these were on the side of Essex. His men lay in the field all
night, a keenly frosty one, without covering, but supplied with meat
and beer; and the next morning Charles marched away to Banbury. It
was said that gunpowder failed in Essex's army, or that he would have
pursued the royal army up the hill. As it was, though strengthened by
the arrival of most of his forces left behind under Hampden, he did not
think fit to follow Charles the next day, but allowed him to continue
his route, himself retreating to Warwick. This was not the part of a
victor, so that neither could be said to have won. The number of slain
has been variously estimated; most writers state it at about five
thousand, but the clergyman of Kineton, who buried the dead, reports
them only twelve hundred.
Charles marched from Banbury to Oxford, where a number of gentlemen,
well mounted, having heard his engagement at Edge Hill represented as
a victory, came in, and thus recruited the wasted body of his cavalry.
Rupert, during the king's stay, kept up that species of warfare which
he had been taught to admire in Count Mansfeld, in Germany. He made
rapid rides round the country, to Abingdon, Henley, and other towns,
where he levied contributions without scruple from the Roundhead
partisans. The Londoners were in the greatest alarm at the tidings
of the king's growing army at Oxford, and sent pressing orders to
Essex to hasten to the defence of the capital. The train-bands were
kept constantly under arms, trenches were thrown up round the city,
forces were despatched to hold Windsor Castle, seamen and boatmen were
sent up the Thames to prevent any approach in that direction, and the
apprentices were encouraged to enrol themselves by the promise of the
time they served being reckoned in the term of their apprenticeship.
At length Essex reached London, posted his men about Acton on the
7th of November, and rode to Westminster, to give an account of his
campaign. It could not be said that he had shown much generalship, but
it was not a time to be too critical with commanders: the brilliant
military genius of Cromwell had not yet revealed itself, therefore the
Parliament gave him hearty thanks, voted him five thousand pounds, and
recommended the capital to his care.
[Illustration: ST. MARY'S CHURCH, NOTTINGHAM. (_From a Photograph by
Frith & Co._)]