Oxford, and was directing his march on London. Henry Martin, a member
of the Commons, who commanded at Reading, considering that town
untenable, fell back on London. The panic in the capital was great. A
deputation was sent, consisting of the Earl of Northumberland and three
members of the Commons, to meet the king and present a petition for
an accommodation. They encountered him at Colnbrook: he received the
petition very graciously, and called God to witness that he desired
nothing so much as peace, and the sparing of his bleeding country.
This being reported to Parliament, they ordered Essex to suspend
hostilities, and sent Sir Peter Killigrew to request the same on the
part of the king, supposing that after this gracious message, in which
he promised to reside near London till the differences were settled, he
would have ceased all offensive operations. But scarcely was Killigrew
gone, when Parliament was startled by the sound of artillery, and
Essex rushed from the House and rode in the direction of the sound. He
found Prince Rupert closely followed by the king in the full attack
of Brentford, which was defended by a small force of Holles's horse.
The king had taken advantage of a thick November fog to endeavour to
steal a march on London; but Holles's horse though few were stout,
and withstood the whole weight of the attack till reinforced by the
regiments of Hampden and Brooke. Thus the king's object was defeated,
and the next day, the 13th of November, being Sunday, there was such
an outpouring from London of the train-bands, and of zealous citizens,
that Essex found himself at the head of twenty-four thousand men, drawn
up on Turnham Green. Hampden, Holles, and all the members of Parliament
advised sending a body of soldiers to make a detour and get into the
king's rear, and then to fall vigorously on in front, and Hampden
with his regiment was despatched on this service. But Essex speedily
recalled him, saying he would not divide his forces; and thus not only
was the retreat left open to the king, but three thousand troops,
which had been posted at Kingston Bridge, were called away to add to
the force in London. Charles therefore finding a very formidable body
in front and the way open behind, drew off his forces and retreated
to Reading, and then again to his old quarters at Oxford. Again
Essex had displayed miserably defective tactics, or he might have
readily surrounded and cut up the royal force. It was in vain that
the Parliamentary leaders urged Essex to give instant pursuit of the
retreating army; other officers also thought it better to let the king
take himself away. The Parliament, in great indignation at the king's
conduct, passed a resolution never to enter into any negotiations with
him again; and Charles, pretending equal surprise and resentment,
declared that the Parliament had thrown three regiments into Brentford
after sending to treat with him. But it must be remembered that they
proposed this accommodation at Colnbrook, and what business, then,
had he at Brentford? The march, and the hour of it, were sufficiently
decisive of the king being the aggressor.
Charles lay with his army at Oxford during the winter, and Prince
Rupert exercised his marauding talents in the country round. Of the
Parliamentary proceedings or preparations we have little account,
except that the Parliamentarians were generally discontented with
Essex, who was slow, by no means sagacious, and, many believed, not
hearty in the cause. Sir William Waller, however, drove Goring out
of Portsmouth and took possession of it, so that he was dubbed by
the people William the Conqueror, and it was agitated to put him at
the head of the army in the place of Essex. But another man was now
being heard of. This was Oliver Cromwell, who had quitted his farm
and raised a regiment of his own. He was Colonel Cromwell now. He had
told Hampden at the battle of Edge Hill, where they both were, that it
would never do to trust to a set of poor tapsters and town apprentices
for fighting against men of honour. They must have men, too, imbued
with a principle still higher, and that must be religion. Hampden said
it was a good notion if it could be carried out; and from that time
Cromwell kept it in view, and so collected and trained that regiment
of serious religious men, known as his invincible Ironsides. Cromwell
was active all this winter along the eastern coast, in Cambridgeshire,
Huntingdonshire, Essex, and elsewhere, raising supplies, stopping those
of the enemy, and forming Associations of counties for mutual defence.
Four or six were formed, but all soon went to pieces except that of the
counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, of which
Lord Grey of Wark was the commander, and Oliver, his lieutenant, the
soul. This Association maintained its district during the whole war.
In February we find Cromwell at Cambridge, the castle of which, with
its magazines, he had taken by storm, and had now collected there great
forces from Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk.
The queen's arrival in Yorkshire early in February created immense
enthusiasm amongst the Cavaliers. Her spirit, her manners, her
condescension fascinated all who came near her. She was in every sense
now a heroine, and the fact of the Parliament having impeached her
of high treason, and her head being forfeited if she fell into their
hands, only raised her own resolution and the devotion of all around
her. She was conducted to York by a guard of two thousand Cavaliers,
headed by the Marquis of Montrose himself, and attended by six
pieces of cannon, two mortars, and two hundred and fifty waggons of
ammunition. The Lord Fairfax, who was the only Parliamentary general
with any force in the north besides the Governor of Hull, was gallant
enough to offer to escort her himself with his Roundheads; but she knew
she was outlawed, and declined the honour. She rode on horseback on the
march, calling herself the "she-majesty-generalissima," ate her meals
in the sight of the army, in the open air, and delighted the soldiers
by talking familiarly to them. She remained nearly four months at York,
doing wonderful service to the king's cause, and, as we shall find,
succeeding through the Earl of Newcastle even in corrupting the faith
of the Hothams at Hull. Her arrival gave new spirit to the royal cause,
but was undoubtedly, at the same time, the most fatal thing which could
have happened to it, as it strengthened the king in his obstinate
determination to refuse all accommodation with the Parliament.
And although the Parliament, in its resentment at the king's treachery
at Brentford, had vowed never to treat with him again, in March, 1643,
it made fresh overtures to him. The deputation sent to him consisted
of the Earls of Northumberland, Pembroke, Salisbury, and Holland,
Viscounts Wenman and Dungarvan, John Holland and William Litton,
knights, and William Pierpoint, Bulstrode Whitelock, Edmund Waller, and
Richard Winwood, esquires. They were received by the king in the garden
of Christ Church, and permitted to kiss his hands. On Waller performing
that ceremony, Charles said graciously, "You are the last, but not the
worst, nor the least in my favour." In fact, Waller at that moment was
engaged in a plot for the king, whence the significant remark. As
the two parties insisted on their particular demands, the interview
came to nothing. Courteous as the king was to Waller, he was otherwise
by no means so to the deputation. The queen was in the country with
abundant supplies of arms and ammunition, and he was elated with the
fact. He interrupted the Earl of Northumberland so rudely and so
frequently, whilst reading the Parliamentary proposals, that the earl
stopped, and demanded proudly whether his majesty would allow him to
proceed. To which Charles replied curtly, "Ay! ay!" The negotiations
continued for several weeks, but during their abortive proceedings
military movement was going on. Essex took Reading after a siege of
ten days, and Hampden proposed to invest Oxford and finish the war at
once, which Clarendon confesses would have done it, for the town was
ill fortified, was so crowded with people that it could not long hold
out, and Charles had not then received his ammunition from the queen.
The dilatory spirit of Essex, however, and his officers prevailed, and
this opportunity was lost. In May the ammunition arrived, and whilst
Charles was preparing to act, the Parliament was busy in unravelling
different plots against them. One was that in which Waller was engaged.
This was a most daring one. Waller had been one of the most determined
declaimers in Parliament against the king; but now he had been won over
by Lord Falkland, and had entered into a scheme for betraying London
to the Royalists, and seizing the leaders of the opposition. Mixed up
with this scheme, besides himself, were Tomkins, his brother-in-law,
Challoner, Blinkhorne, and others. A commission of array was smuggled
into the City through Lady Aubigny, whose husband fell at Edge Hill, by
which all inclined to the king's service might receive due authority.
But the servant of Tomkins overheard the conspirators, carried the news
to Pym, and they were speedily in custody. Tomkins and Challoner were
hanged within sight of their own houses; Blinkhorne, White, Hasell, and
Waller were, by the intercession of Essex, reprieved, but Waller was
fined ten thousand pounds and confined in the Tower for a year.
About the same time a similar plot for betraying Bristol was detected
by Colonel Fiennes, the governor, son of Lord Say and Sele. The chief
conspirators were Robert and William Yeomans, who were condemned to be
executed; but one of them was saved by the king declaring that he would
hang as many of his prisoners. The prospect which was opened of terror
and barbarity by such retaliation put an end to it, and saved at this
time Colonel Lilburne, who had been taken at Brentford. Lilburne was an
ultra-republican, and at the same time a declaimer from the Bible on
the mischief of kings. He had been whipped in Westminster, but had only
been made more outrageous, and was so pugnaciously inclined, that it
was said that if he were left alone in the world, John would be against
Lilburne, and Lilburne against John. Charles ordered his execution,
but the threats of the Parliament of sweeping retaliation saved the
democratic orator and soldier.
The Parliament now made a new Great Seal, and passed under it no less
than five hundred writs in one day. All other events, however, sank
into comparative insignificance before one which now occurred. Prince
Rupert had extended his flying excursions of cavalry, and committed
great depredations in Gloucestershire, Wilts, Hants, and even as far
as Bath; and though the Earl of Essex had his forces lying about Thame
and Brickhill, in Buckinghamshire, yet he was so inert that Rupert
burst into both Bucks and Berkshire in his very face. Colonel Hurry,
who had gone over from Essex to the king, now informed Rupert that two
Parliamentary regiments were lying at Wycombe, apart from the rest of
the army and easy to be cut off. The fiery prince at once determined
to make a night attack upon them. He trotted away from Oxford on the
17th of June with two thousand horsemen, rode past Thame, where Essex
was lying, without any opposition, and reached the hamlet of Postcombe
at three o'clock in the morning. Here, to their surprise, they found a
body of horse posted to stop them. Hampden, in fact, who ought to have
been at the head of the army, had been uneasy about the unprotected
condition of the two regiments at Wycombe, and had in vain urged Essex
to call in the outposts from Wycombe, Postcombe, and Chinnor. Not being
able to rouse him to this prudent measure, he continued on the alert,
and hearing of the march of Rupert in that direction, despatched a
trooper in all haste to Essex, to advise him to move a body of horse
and foot instantly to Chiselhampton Bridge, the only place where Rupert
could cross the Cherwell. Not satisfied with this, he himself rode
with some cavalry in that direction, and found Rupert on the field
of Chalgrove, in the midst of the standing corn. On being checked
at Postcombe, Rupert had diverged to Chinnor, surprised the outpost
there, killed fifty men, and captured sixty others. On descrying
Hampden's detachment coming down Beacon Hill, he posted himself in
the wide field of Chalgrove, where he was attacked by the troops of
Captains Gunter and Sheffield, with whom Hampden had ridden. They
boldly charged Rupert, but Gunter was soon slain, and Hampden, who was
looking impatiently but in vain for Essex's reinforcements, rode up to
lead on Gunter's troopers to the charge, and received a mortal wound.
He did not fall, but, feeling his death blow, wheeled round his horse,
and rode away towards the house of his father-in-law at Pyrton, whence
he married his first wife, whose early death had made such a change
in him. The soldiers of Rupert barred the way in that direction, and
he made for Thame, and reached the house of Ezekiel Browne. He still
continued to live for a week, and spent the time with what strength
he had in urging on Parliament a correction of the palpable military
errors of the campaign, and especially of the dilatory motions of
Essex, which in fact had cost him his life. He expired on the 24th of
June, and was buried in his own parish church at Hampden, followed to
the grave by his regiment of green-coats with reversed arms and muffled
drums.
The news of this national disaster spread dismay through London and
over the whole country. The prudence, the zeal, and activity united
in Hampden, had made him one of the most efficient men in the House
and in the field. The suavity of his manners, the generosity of his
disposition, the soundness of his judgment, had won him universal
confidence. It was clearly seen that nothing but the deepest and most
patriotic concern for the real welfare of the country animated him.
Though he was conscientiously convinced of the mischief of political
bishops, he was attached to the doctrines of the Church of England;
and though he was, like Pym, firmly persuaded that nothing but the
strongest obligations, the most imperative necessity, would ever tie
down Charles to an observance of the limits of the Constitution, he
was far from dreaming of his death, or of sweeping away the monarchy
to make way for a republic. A little more time must have placed him
at the head of the army, and, with such a right-hand man as Cromwell,
must have soon terminated the campaign. His death seemed like a general
defeat, and struck the deepest and most lasting sorrow into the public
mind. Time has only increased the veneration for the name of John
Hampden, which has become the watchword of liberty, and the object of
popular appeal in every great crisis of his country's history.
Other discouragements fell on the Parliament at the same period. The
Earl of Newcastle had established so strong a power in the North, that
he had reduced the resistance of the Fairfaxes to almost nothing. His
army abounded with Papists, and was officered by many renegade Scots,
amongst them, conspicuous, Sir John Henderson. He had possession of
Newark Castle, and even repulsed Cromwell in Lincolnshire. But his
greatest triumph was in seducing the Hothams, father and son, and
nearly succeeding in obtaining possession of Hull from their treason.
Newcastle had defeated the Fairfaxes at Atherton Moor, and if Hull
was lost, all was lost in the North. It was therefore proposed to put
Hull into the hands of Lord Fairfax and his son Sir Thomas, which
probably hastened the defection of the Hothams. The plot, however, was
discovered in time; the Hothams were seized, their papers secured,
their letters intercepted, the whole treason made open to the daylight,
and the delinquents shipped off to London. Great as had been their
services in Hull, their apostasy wiped away all past merits, and they
were condemned and executed on Tower Hill.
These melancholy events were considerably softened by the growing
successes of Cromwell, who seemed to be almost everywhere at once,
always fighting, mostly successful. On the 13th of March he dashed
into St. Albans and seized the sheriff, who was enrolling soldiers by
the king's writ, and sent him off to London. On the 17th he marched
from Norwich and took Lowestoft, with a number of prisoners, amongst
them Sir Thomas Barker, Sir John Pettus, and Sir John Wentworth, who
were glad to compromise with good fines, Wentworth paying one thousand
pounds. He next made an attempt to wrest Newark Castle from the Earl
of Newcastle, but in vain (it stood out to the end of the war); but
he raised the siege of Croyland, made his appearance at Nottingham
and Lynn, and in July he defeated Newcastle's troops near Grantham,
took Burghleigh House and Stamford, and, before the month closed,
fought a stout battle under the walls of Gainsborough to relieve Lord
Willoughby, who was sorely pressed in that town by Newcastle's forces,
and but for Cromwell's timely march to his aid, would have been cut
to pieces. Cromwell attacked the besiegers on some sandhills near
the town, dispersed them, and killed General Cavendish, a cousin of
Newcastle's. After this exploit, however, Newcastle's main army came
down upon them, and they were compelled to retreat to Lincoln, and even
beyond it.
[Illustration: HAMPDEN MORTALLY WOUNDED AT CHALGROVE. (_See p._ 20.)]
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary affairs went greatly wrong in the West.
Waller, who had gained the name of Conqueror by his rapid reduction of
Portsmouth, Winchester, Malmesbury, and Hereford, was now defeated with
an army eight thousand strong by Prince Maurice, near Bath, and by Lord
Wilmot, near Devizes. His whole army was dispersed, and he hastened
to London to complain of the inaction of Essex as the cause of his
failure. Indeed, the army of Essex distinguished itself this summer so
far only by inaction, whilst Rupert in the west laid siege to Bristol,
and in three days made himself master of it, through the incapacity of
Fiennes, the governor, who was tried by a council of war and sentenced
to death, but pardoned by Essex with loss of his commission.
It was imagined that Charles, being now reinforced by a number of
French and Walloons who came with the queen, and strengthened by
victory, would make a grand attempt on the capital. There was no
little alarm there. Essex, who had done nothing through the summer but
watch his men melt away from his standard, recommended Parliament to
come to terms with the king, and the Lords were of his opinion. Many
of them were ready to run off to Charles on the first opportunity.
Bedford, Holland, Northumberland, and Clare, father of Denzil Holles,
were strongly suspected, and soon after proved that these suspicions
were not unjust. Four nobles had been appointed to raise new forces,
but seeing how things were going, all declined their commissions
except Lord Kimbolton, now by the death of his father become Earl of
Manchester. He accepted the command of the Eastern Association, having
Cromwell and three other colonels under him, and soon had a fine force
in those counties.
Parliament, listening to neither Essex nor the faint-hearted fears
of the peers, refused to open fresh negotiations with the king. They
called on the Londoners to invigorate their train-bands, and to put the
City into a state of defence; and their call was zealously responded
to. Ladies as well as gentlemen turned out and handled spades and
pickaxes in casting up an entrenchment all round the City. Pym and
St. John were sent to the army and seemed to infuse a new spirit into
Essex, pronouncing him sound in the cause. Charles, if he ever thought
of attacking London, seeing the spirit there, turned his attention to
the West and invested Gloucester. Essex was despatched to relieve that
city, and made a march much more active and efficient than was his
wont. He set out on the 26th of August, and on the night of the tenth
day--though he had been harassed on his way by the flying troopers of
Rupert and Lord Wilmot--that is, on the 5th of September, the people
of Gloucester saw his signal fires on the top of Prestbury Hill, amid
the rain and darkness. The king also saw them, fired his tents in the
morning, and marched away. From that hour the prospects of Charles grew
gloomier.
Essex having relieved Gloucester, and left a good garrison there under
the brave governor, Colonel Massey, made the best of his way back
again, lest the king should outstrip him and take up a position before
London. Charles had not neglected the attempt to cut off his return.
At Auborne Chase Essex was attacked by the flying squadrons of Rupert,
and after beating them off he found the king posted across his path at
Newbury on the 20th of September. The royal army occupied the bank of
the river which runs through the place, to prevent his passage. Every
part where there was a chance of the Parliamentary forces attempting
to cross was strongly defended by breastworks, and musketeers lined
the houses facing the river. It was supposed that Charles could easily
keep the Roundheads at bay, and force them to retreat or starve. Essex
drew up his forces, however, with great skill upon an eminence called
Bigg's Hill, about half a mile from the town, and Charles was prepared
to wait for a chance of taking him at a disadvantage. But the rashness
of the young Cavaliers under Digby, Carnarvon, and Jermyn, led to
skirmishes with the Parliamentarians, and Charles soon found himself
so far involved, that he was obliged to give orders for a general
engagement. The royal horse charged that of Essex with a recklessness
amounting almost to contempt; but though they threw them into disorder,
they found it a different matter with the infantry, consisting of the
train-bands and apprentices of London. These received the Cavaliers
on their pikes, and stood as immovable as a rock, and showed such
resolute and steady spirit, that they soon allowed the horse to
recover itself, and the whole army fought with desperation till dark.
The effect was such, that Charles would not risk another day of it.
Waller was lying at Windsor with two thousand horse and as many foot,
and should he come up as he ought, the king would be hemmed in and
placed in imminent peril. But Waller lay perfectly still--purposely,
as many thought--leaving Essex to take care of himself, as the earl
had formerly left him at Roundaway Hill. In the morning, therefore,
Essex found the king's forces withdrawn and the way open. Charles
had retreated again towards Oxford, having deposited his guns and
ammunition at Donnington Castle, Chaucer's old residence, which lay
within sight, and ordered Rupert to harass the Parliament army on its
march. Essex made his way to Reading, whence he hurried up to town
to complain of the neglect of Waller, and to offer the surrender of
his commission. This was not accepted, but the only alternative was
adopted, that of withdrawing the command from Waller, which, after much
reluctance, was done on the 9th of October.
The Parliamentarians lost five hundred men in the battle, the king
three times that number and many officers; but the greatest loss of
all was that of the amiable and conscientious Lord Falkland, a man on
the Royalist side as much respected as Hampden was on the Parliament
side. He had gone with the Parliament till he thought they had
obtained all that they were justly entitled to, and pressed too hard
on the king, when he felt it his duty to support the Crown, and had
accepted office as Secretary of State. He was a man of a most cheerful,
cordial, courteous disposition; but from the moment the war broke
out, his cheerfulness fled. He seemed to feel in himself the wounds
and miseries of his bleeding country. He was constantly an advocate
of peace, and was often observed sitting in a state of abstraction,
uttering aloud and unconsciously the words, "Peace! peace!" As the war
went on his melancholy increased; he neglected his dress, and became
short and hasty in his temper. He declared that "the very agony of the
war, and the view of the calamities and desolation which the kingdom
did and must endure, took his sleep from him, and would break his
heart." Whitelock says that "on the morning of the fight he called
for a clean shirt, and being asked the reason of it, answered that
if he were slain in the battle, they would not find his body in foul
linen. Being dissuaded by his friends against going into the fight, as
having no call to it, being no military officer, he said he was weary
of the times, and foresaw much misery to his country, and did believe
he should be out of it ere night, and could not be persuaded to the
contrary, but would enter into the battle, and was there slain." His
death was deeply lamented by all parties. Besides him fell the Earls of
Sunderland and Carnarvon.
When the king's affairs were in the ascendant by the successes in the
West, the taking of Bristol, and the defeat of Waller at Roundaway
Hill, near Devizes, the Earls of Bedford, Northumberland, Holland, and
Clare deserted the Parliament cause. Northumberland, being cautious,
retired to Petworth, to see how the other lords who meant to go over to
Charles should be received. Bedford, Clare, and Holland offered their
services to the king, and went to Wallingford, where they were suffered
to wait a great while, much to their chagrin. They then went to Oxford,
whilst Charles was in the West, and were ordered to await his return.
The queen and the courtiers, meanwhile, treated them not as valuable
and influential allies, whose good reception would certainly bring over
many more, but, with consummate folly, as renegades, who had forfeited
all respect by taking part with the king's enemies. They followed
the king to Gloucester, where they were coolly enough received, and
afterwards fought on his side at Newbury; but nothing winning them
that estimation which good policy would have granted them at once,
they made their peace with Parliament and went back to London, where,
however, they found they had sunk greatly in public opinion, and were
not permitted to take their seats in the House of Peers or hold office.
Their flight had lowered the public estimation of the Lords, and their
reception at Oxford had seriously injured the king's cause. Whilst the
king and queen retained their impolitic resentments, there was no hope
of winning over friends from the ranks of their opponents. It was clear
that neither time nor trouble had really taught them anything. Moreover
we also learn from the pages of Clarendon that there existed great
discord and division in the camp at Oxford. Every one was jealous of
the slightest promotion or favour shown to another; and the Cavaliers,
he says, had grown disorderly, and devoted to the plundering of the
people, just as the Parliamentary army was growing orderly, zealous,
and efficient. To such an extent was this the case that one side seemed
to fight for monarchy with weapons of confusion, and the other to
destroy the king and Government with all the principles and regularity
of monarchy.
This was seen in nothing more than in the management with regard to
Scotland. To both parties it was of the highest consequence to have
the alliance of the Scots. Charles, on his last visit, had flattered
the people, given in to the notions of the Covenanters, and conferred
honours on their leaders. But Montrose, who knew the Covenanters well,
assured the king that he would never get them to fight on his side.
They were too much united in interest and opinion with the Puritan
Parliament not to adhere to it. He proposed, therefore, to raise
another power in Scotland--that of the nobility and the Highlanders,
who should at least divide the country, delay if not prevent the army
of the Covenanters from leaving the country, and thus save the king
from the danger of an invasion in that quarter, the first result of
which would be the loss of his ascendency in the northern counties of
England. When the queen came to York, Montrose waited on her, and did
all in his power to awaken a sense of peril in Scotland, and offered
to raise ten thousand men there, and paralyse the designs of the
Covenanters. But when these representations were made to Charles, the
Marquis of Hamilton, now made duke, strongly opposed the advice of
Montrose, declared that it was monstrous to set Scots against Scots,
and that he would undertake to keep them quiet. He prevailed, and
Montrose, disappointed, retired again to Scotland to watch the progress
of events. Hamilton went to Scotland, with authority from the king to
take the lead in all movements of the Royalists.
As was foreseen, the English Parliament made overtures to the Scots
for assistance, and the Scots were by no means loth to grant it,
provided they could make advantageous terms. A Commission was sent to
Edinburgh to treat, and the Scots on their part resolved to call a
Parliament to receive their offers. The time fixed for the reassembling
of the Scottish Parliament was not come by a full year, and the Duke
of Hamilton had most particularly pledged himself to the king to
prevent it from meeting. Yet on the 22nd of June, notwithstanding
his remonstrance, it came together, and on the 20th of July the
Commissioners from the English Parliament arrived, and were received by
both Parliament and General Assembly with exultation, and their letters
from the Parliament of England were read with shouts of triumph--by
many, with tears of joy. Their arrival was regarded as a national
victory.
The conduct of Hamilton was now suspicious. If he was honest he had
misled the king, for he found he had no power to resist the popular
feeling in Scotland; but the general opinion coincided with that of
Montrose, that he was a traitor. The Royalists called upon him to
summon them to his aid, to assemble them in a large body, mounted and
armed, and, supported by them, to forbid the meeting of Parliament as
illegal. But that, Hamilton assured them, would frighten the people,
and lead to disturbance. He proposed that the meeting should take
place, that all the Royalist members should appear in their places,
and then he would declare the meeting illegal, and dismiss it. To
their astonishment, however, Hamilton did not dismiss it, but allowed
it to sit. On this Montrose posted away to England, followed the king
to Gloucester, and represented to him the conduct of Hamilton as
confirming all former declarations of his perfidy. After the battle of
Newbury, Charles listened more at leisure to these representations. He
was so far convinced that he thought of ordering the Earl of Newcastle
to send for Hamilton and his brother Lord Lanark, and to confine them
at York. But at that moment the two brothers, probably aware of the
proceedings of Montrose, appeared themselves at Oxford, where Charles
ordered the Council to examine into the charges against them. Lanark
managed to escape from custody, and hastened direct to London and to
the Parliament, which received him most cordially, a pretty strong
proof of mutual understanding. This satisfied Charles of Hamilton's
complicity, and he sent him in custody to the castle of Bristol, thence
to Exeter, and thence to Pendennis in Cornwall.
The Commissioners sent to Scotland were Henry Vane the younger, Armyn,
Hatcher, Darley, and Marshall, with Nye, an independent. The Scots
proposed to invade England on condition that the Parliament adopted
the Covenant, and engaged to establish uniformity of religion in both
countries, "according to the pattern of the most reformed Church,"
which, of course, meant Presbyterianism. But the Commissioners knew
that this was impossible, for though a considerable number of the
people were Presbyterian in doctrine, many more were Independent, and
just as sturdy in their faith, to say nothing of the large section
of the population which held conscientiously to both Episcopacy and
Catholicism. Vane himself was a staunch Independent, and he was at
the same time one of the most adroit of diplomatists. He consented
that the Kirk should be preserved in its purity and freedom, and that
the Church of England should be reformed "according to the Word of
God." As the Scots could not object to reformation according to the
Word of God, and "the example of the first Reformed churches," which
they applied especially to their own, they were obliged to be content
with that vague language. Vane also obtained the introduction of the
word League, giving the alliance a political as well as a religious
character. It was concluded to send a deputation with the Commissioners
to London, to see the solemn "League and Covenant" signed by the two
Houses of Parliament, at the head of which went Alexander Henderson,
the well-known Moderator of the Assembly. Whilst they were on their
journey, the ministers in Scotland readily proclaimed from their
pulpits that now the Lord Jesus had taken the field against antichrist,
that Judah would soon be enslaved if Israel was led away captive, and
that the curse of Meroz would fall on all who did not come to the help
of the Lord against the mighty.
[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP LAUD'S LIBRARY, EAST QUADRANGLE, JOHN'S
COLLEGE, OXFORD.]
On the 25th of September, the very day that Essex arrived in London
after the battle of Newbury, and received the thanks of Parliament,
the two Houses met with the Westminster divines in the church of St.
Margaret, where, after various sermons, addresses, and blessings,
the two Houses signed the League and Covenant, and their example was
followed by the Scottish Commissioners and the divines. It was then
ordered to be subscribed in every parish by all persons throughout the
country.
It was agreed that the Estates of Scotland should send an army of
twenty-one thousand men into England, headed by the old Earl of Leven.
They were to receive thirty-one thousand pounds a month,--one hundred
thousand pounds of it in advance, and another sum at the conclusion of
peace. Sixty thousand pounds were soon remitted, the levies began, and
in a few months Leslie mustered his army at Harlaw.
The union of the Scots with the Parliament was an alarming blow to
the Royalists. If they had found it difficult to cope with Parliament
alone, how were they to withstand them and the Scots? To strengthen
himself against this formidable coalition, Charles turned his attention
to Ireland. There the army had actually grown to fifty thousand men.
As the restorers of the English influence, these were to be paid out
of the estates of the revolted Irish, and numbers of both English
and Scots had flocked over. A large body of Scots had landed under
the command of General Monro, eager to avenge the massacre of their
Presbyterian brothers in Ulster. The natives had been driven back, and
the invaders were busy parcelling out the evacuated lands. Two million
and a half of acres had been promised by the English Parliament as the
reward of the victors.
To resist the tempest which threatened to exterminate them, the Irish
Catholics formed themselves into a confederation, and created a kind
of Parliament at Kilkenny. They imitated in everything the measures by
which the Scots had succeeded in enfranchising their religion. They
professed the most profound loyalty to the sovereign, and asserted
that they were in arms only for the protection of their religion and
their lives. They established a synod which assumed the same religious
authority as the Scottish Assembly, and ordered a covenant to be taken,
by which every one bound himself to maintain the Catholic faith and
the rights of the sovereign and the subject. They appointed generals
in each province, and all necessary officers for the command of their
force. Charles, who suspected the allegiance of the Earl of Warwick,
had contrived to remove him, and appointed the Marquis of Ormond in his
place. To him the confederate Catholics transmitted their petition,
avowing the most unshaken loyalty, declaring that they had only taken
up arms to defend their lives and properties from men who were equally
the enemies of the king and their own,--from the same puritanic people,
so they said, who were seeking to deprive the king of his crown. These
petitions, forwarded to Charles, suggested to him the idea of deriving
use from these forces. As they prayed him to assemble a new Parliament
in Ireland, to grant them the freedom of their religion and the rights
of subjects, he instructed Ormond to come to terms with them, so that
in their pacification they might be able to spare a considerable
body of troops for his assistance in England. This was effected in
September, 1643, and the confederates contributed directly thirty
thousand pounds for the support of the royal army, fifteen thousand
pounds in money, and fifteen thousand pounds in pensions.
This was not accomplished without exciting the notice of the English
Parliament, who sent over Commissioners to endeavour to win over the
Protestants in Ormond's army, but in vain. In November Ormond shipped
five regiments to the king. These were sent to Chester to garrison that
town under Lord Byron; but they were rather marauders than soldiers;
they had been raised by the Parliament, yet fought against it for
the king; and they were as loose in discipline as in principles. In
about six weeks after their arrival, they were visited by Sir Thomas
Fairfax at Nantwich, when fifteen thousand of them threw down their
arms, amongst them the afterwards notorious General Monk. Nor was this
the only mischief occasioned to the royal cause by these Irish troops.
Their arrival disgusted the royal forces under Newcastle in the North,
who declared they would not fight with Catholics and Irish rebels.
Whilst the Scots were mustering to enter England, the Marquis of
Newcastle was bearing hard on the Parliament forces in Yorkshire. He
had cleared the country of them except Hull, which he was besieging;
and Lincolnshire was also so overrun with his forces, that Lord
Fairfax, governor of Hull, was obliged to send his son, Sir Thomas,
across the Humber, to the help of the Earl of Manchester. Fairfax
united with Cromwell near Boston, and at Winceby-on-the-Wolds, about
five miles from Horncastle, the united army under Manchester came to a
battle with the troops of Newcastle, and completely routed them, thus
clearing nearly all Lincolnshire of them. Cromwell had a horse killed
under him, and Sir Ingram Hopton, of Newcastle's army, was killed. The
battle was won by Cromwell and Fairfax's cavalry.
The close of 1643 was saddened to the Parliament by the death of
Pym (December 8). It was, indeed, a serious loss, following that of
Hampden. No man had done so much to give firmness to the Commons, and
clearness to the objects at which they aimed. His mind was formed on
the old classic model of patriotic devotion. He had no desire to pull
down the Crown or the Church, but he would have the one restrained
within the limits of real service to the country, and the other
confined to those of its communion. Therefore he recommended, sternly,
resistance to the royal power--preferring civil war to perpetual
slavery--and the exemption of bishops and clergymen from all civil
offices. Seeing from the first the ends that he would attain, guided
by the most solemn and perspicuous principles, he never swerved from
them under pressure of flattery or difficulty, nor would he let the
State swerve. His eloquence and address, but far more his unselfish
zeal, enabled him to prevail with the Commons and intimidate the Lords.
He boldly told the Peers that they must join in the salvation of the
country, or see it saved without them, and take the consequences in the
esteem or the contempt of the people. They would have fared better had
they profited by his warning. Pym was the Aristides of the time: he
sought no advantage to himself, he gained nothing from his exertions
or his prominent position, but the satisfaction of seeing his country
saved by his labours. He derived no influence from his wealth or rank,
for he had none of either. His whole prestige was intellectual and
moral. He wore himself out for the public good, and died as poor as he
commenced, the only grant which he received from the State being an
honourable burial in Westminster Abbey.
At the opening of 1644 Charles had devised a scheme for undermining
the authority of the Parliament, namely, by issuing a proclamation
for its extinction. Clarendon, who was now the Lord Chancellor,
very wisely assured him that the members of Parliament sitting at
Westminster would pay no heed to his proclamation, and that a better
measure would be to summon Parliament to meet at Oxford. That would
give every member of both Houses, who was at all inclined to again
recognise the royal authority, the opportunity to join him; and, on
the other hand, a Parliament assembling by call and authority of the
king at his court, would stamp the other as illegal and rebellious.
The advice was adopted, and at the summons forty-three Peers and one
hundred and eighteen Commoners assembled at Oxford. These, however,
consisted of such as had already seceded from the Parliamentary party,
and the king claimed as the full number of his Parliament at Oxford,
eighty-three Lords, and one hundred and seventy-five Commons. According
to Whitelock, there met at Westminster twenty-two Lords only, and
eleven more were excused on different accounts, making thirty-three;
of the Commons there were more than two hundred and eighty. The
king, in his Parliament, promised all those privileges which he had
so pertinaciously denied to all his past Parliaments, and a letter,
subscribed by all the members of both Houses, was addressed to the Earl
of Essex, requesting him to inform "those by whom he was trusted," that
they were desirous to receive commissioners, to endeavour to come to
a peaceable accommodation on all matters in dispute. Essex returned
the letter, refusing to forward a paper which did not acknowledge the
authority of the body addressed. The point was conceded, and Charles
himself then forwarded him a letter addressed to the Lords and Commons
of Parliament assembled at Westminster in his own name, soliciting, by
advice of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford, the
appointment of such commissioners "for settling the rights of the Crown
and Parliament, the laws of the land, and the liberties and property
of the subject." But there was no probability of agreement, and so the
Oxford Parliament proceeded to proclaim the Scots, who had entered
England contrary to the pacification, and all who countenanced them
guilty of high treason.
The Scots passed the Tweed on the 16th of January, 1644. The winter
was very severe, and the march of the army was dreadful. They made
their way, however, to Newcastle, where the Marquis of Newcastle had
just forestalled them in getting possession of it. They then went on
to Sunderland. Newcastle offered them battle, but the Scots, though
suffering from the weather and want of provisions, having posted
themselves in a strong position, determined to wait for the arrival of
Parliamentary forces to their aid. The defeat of Lord Byron at Nantwich
permitted Sir Thomas Fairfax and Lord Fairfax, his father, to draw
towards them, and these generals having also defeated at Leeds the
Royalists under Lord Bellasis, the son of Lord Falconberg, Newcastle
betook himself to York, where he was followed by both the Fairfaxes and
the Scots.
Charles was lying at Oxford with a force of ten thousand men; Waller
and Essex, with the Parliamentary army, endeavoured to invest him in
that city, but as they were marching down upon him from two different
quarters, he issued from it with seven thousand men and made his way
to Worcester. As these two generals detested each other and could not
act in concert, Essex turned his march towards the West of England,
where Prince Maurice lay, and Waller gave chase to the king. Charles,
by feint of marching on Shrewsbury, induced Waller to proceed in that
direction, and then suddenly altering his course at Bewdley regained
Oxford. After beating up the Parliamentary quarters in Buckinghamshire,
he encountered and worsted Waller at Cropredy Bridge, and then marched
westward after Essex.
[Illustration: PRINCE RUPERT. (_After the Portrait by Vandyke._)]
While these manœuvres were in progress, the Earl of Manchester, having
as his lieutenant-general Oliver Cromwell, marched northward to
co-operate with Leslie and the Fairfaxes at York against Newcastle.
Charles, who saw the imminent danger of Newcastle, and the loss of
all the North if he were defeated, sent word to Prince Rupert to
hasten to his assistance. Rupert had been gallantly fighting in
Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire, and everywhere victorious.
He had compelled the Parliamentary army to raise the siege of Newark,
had taken Stockport, Bolton, and Liverpool, and raised the siege of
Lathom House, which had been nobly defended for eighteen weeks by the
Countess of Derby. On receiving the king's command, he mustered what
forces he could, and reached York on the 1st of July. The Parliamentary
generals, at his approach, raised the siege, and withdrew to Marston
Moor, about four miles from the city. Rupert had about twenty thousand
men, with whom he had committed dreadful ravages on the Lancashire
hills; he had now relieved the marquis, and might have defended the
city with success, but he was always ready to fight, and Newcastle
having six thousand men, making, with his own forces, twenty-six
thousand, Rupert persuaded him to turn out and chastise the Roundheads.
The English and Scots had about the same number. So little did the
Parliamentarians expect a battle, that they were in the act of drawing
off their forces to a greater distance, when Rupert attacked their
rear with his cavalry. On this they turned, and arranged themselves in
front of a large ditch or drain, and the Royalists posted themselves
opposite. The Scots and English occupied a large rye field bounded by
this ditch, and they placed their troops in alternate divisions, so
that there should be no jealousy between them. It was not till five
o'clock in the afternoon of the 2nd of July that the two armies had
arranged themselves for the fight, and then they stood gazing on each
other for two hours, each loth to risk the disadvantage of crossing
the ditch first. Newcastle, who did not want to fight, had retired to
his carriage in ill-humour, and all began to think that there would be
no battle till the morrow, when Rupert, who was posted on the right
wing with his cavalry, another body of cavalry covering the flank of
the infantry on the left, made one of his sudden and desperate charges.
Like all these exploits of his, it was so impetuous, that it bore the
Parliamentary cavalry on their left wing clear away before it, and
the officers and their horse were speedily in full flight, pursued by
the fiery Rupert, who, as was his wont, forgot all but the fugitives
before him, and with three thousand cavalry galloped after them for
some miles. The Royalist infantry followed up the effect by attacking
that of the Parliament with such fury, that the latter was thrown
into confusion, and the three generals, Manchester, Lord Fairfax, and
Leslie, believing all lost, fled with the rest, in the direction of
Tadcaster and Cawood Castle. Cromwell, who commanded the right wing
of the Parliamentary army, was thus left to fight or flee, as might
happen, but nothing daunted, he attacked the Royalist cavalry with such
vigour that he completely routed them, and then turned again to oppose
the horse of Rupert, who were just returning from the chase, to find
their side in flight. These and a body of pikemen,--Newcastle's "white
coats"--fought desperately. The cavalry, on exhausting their charges,
flung their pistols at the enemies' heads, and then fell to with their
swords. At length the victory remained with Cromwell, Rupert drew off,
and Cromwell remained all night on the field. He sent messages after
the fugitive generals to recall them, but Leslie was already in bed at
Leeds when the news reached him, when he exclaimed, "Would to God I
had died on the place!" Cromwell won great renown by this action. He
kept the field all night with his troopers, who were worn out by the
tremendous exertions of the day, and were in expectation every moment
of a fresh attack from Rupert, who might have collected a large body
of troops together to overwhelm him. But he had lost the battle by
his incurable rashness, after having induced the unwilling Newcastle
to risk the engagement, and he made his retreat into Lancashire, and
thence into the western counties.
[Illustration: SIEGE-PIECE OF CHARLES I.--NEWARK (HALF-CROWN).]
[Illustration: SIEGE-PIECE OF CHARLES I.--PONTEFRACT (SHILLING).]
[Illustration: SIEGE-PIECE OF CHARLES I.--BEESTON (TWO SHILLINGS).]
[Illustration: SIEGE-PIECE OF CHARLES I.--COLCHESTER (TEN SHILLINGS,
GOLD).]
Four thousand one hundred and fifty bodies of the slain were buried on
the moor; the greater part of the arms, ammunition, and baggage of the
Royalists fell into the hands of Cromwell, with about a hundred colours
and standards, including that of Rupert himself, and the arms of the
Palatinate. Newcastle evacuated York and retired to the Continent,
accompanied by the Lords Falconberg and Widderington, and about eighty
gentlemen, who believed the royal cause was totally ruined. This the
bloodiest battle of the war was fought on the 2nd of July, and on the
morning of the 4th the Parliamentary forces were again in muster, and
sat down before the walls of York. On the 7th, being Sunday, they held
a public thanksgiving for their victory, and on the 11th being ready
to take the city by escalade, Glenham, the governor, came to terms, on
condition that the garrison should be allowed to march out with all the
honours of war, and retire to Skipton. On the 16th they evacuated the
city, and the Parliamentarians entered, and marched directly to the
cathedral, to return thanks for their victory. The battle of Marston
Moor had indeed utterly destroyed the king's power in the North.
Newcastle alone stood out; but this the Scots invested, and readily
reduced, taking up their quarters there for the present.
In the West, matters for awhile wore a better aspect for the king.
Essex, on the escape of the king from Oxford, directed his course
west. The Royalists were strong in Devon, Cornwall, and Somersetshire;
but to effectually compete with them, Waller should have united his
forces with the commander-in-chief. He was too much in rivalry with
him to do that. The king set off after Essex, to support his forces
in the western counties, and Essex, as if unaware of the royal army
following him, continued to march on. The queen, who had been confined
of a daughter at Exeter, on the approach of Essex requested of him
a safe conduct to Bath, on pretence of drinking the waters, whence
she proposed to get to Falmouth, and thence back to France. Essex
ironically replied that he would grant her an escort to London, where
she could consult her own physicians, but where he knew that she was
proclaimed guilty of high treason. Henrietta Maria, however, made her
way to Falmouth without his courtesy, and thence in a Dutch vessel,
accompanied by ten other ships, she reached France, though closely
pursued by the English admiral, who came near enough to discharge
several shots at the vessel.
Essex advanced to Lyme Regis, where he relieved Robert Blake,
afterwards the celebrated admiral, who was there closely besieged by
Prince Maurice; and still proceeding, took Taunton, Tiverton, Weymouth,
and Bridport. This was something like victory; but meanwhile, all men
were wondering at his apparent unconsciousness that the Royalist forces
were enclosing him, and that with the exception of about two thousand
horse under Middleton, which kept at a distance and never united with
him, he was wholly unsupported by Waller's troops. In this manner he
advanced into Cornwall, where Prince Maurice joined his forces with
those of the king to cut off his return. At this crisis many began to
suspect that he meant to go over to the king's party, but in this they
misjudged him, for at this time Charles made overtures to him, but in
vain. He received a letter from the king, promising him if he would
join him in endeavouring to bring the Parliament to terms, he would
guarantee both the liberties and religion of the people; and another
from eighty-four of the king's principal officers, protesting that if
the king should attempt to depart from his engagements they would take
up arms against him. Essex sent the letter to the Parliament, proving
his faith to them; but it would have been still better if he could
have proved to them also his military ability. But near Liskeard, he
suffered himself to be hemmed in by different divisions of the royal
army, and his supplies to be cut off by allowing the little port of
Fowey to fall into the hands of the king's generals, Sir Jacob Astley
and Sir Richard Grenville. He was now attacked by Charles on the one
hand, and Colonel Goring on the other. Essex sent pressing demands to
Parliament for succour and provisions, but none came; and one night
in September his horse, under Sir William Balfour, by a successful
manœuvre, passed the enemy, and made their way back to London. Essex,
with Lord Roberts and many of his officers, escaped in a boat to
Plymouth, and Major-General Skippon, with the fort, capitulated,
leaving to the king their arms and artillery.
Essex had no right to expect anything but the most severe censure for
his failure; he retired to his house, and demanded an investigation,
charging his disasters to the neglect of Waller. The Parliament,
however, instead of reproaching him, thanked him for the fidelity which
he had shown when tempted by the king, and for his many past services.
To Cromwell the general aspect of things had become well nigh
intolerable. But it was in vain that he endeavoured to move the heavy
spirit of his superior, the Earl of Manchester, and hence they came
more and more to disputes. Cromwell was insubordinate because it was
impossible that fire could be subordinate to earth. In vain he pointed
out what ought to be done, and he grew impatient and irritated at
what was not done. That irritation and impatience became the greater
as he turned his eyes on what Essex, Waller, and the rest of the
Parliamentary generals were doing. It seemed to him that they were
asleep, paralysed, when a few bold strokes would bring the war to a
close.
Charles having broken up Essex's army in Cornwall, and put Essex
himself to flight, made a hasty march back again to Oxford to avoid
being himself in turn cooped up in the narrow West. Already the
Parliament was mustering its forces for that purpose. Essex and Waller
were again set at the head of troops, and the victorious forces of
Marston Moor, under Manchester and Cromwell, were summoned to join
them. They endeavoured to stop the king in his attempt to reach Oxford,
and encountered him again near the old ground of battle at Newbury.
Charles was attacked in two places at once--Shaw on the eastern, and at
Speen on the western side of the town. The Earl of Essex was ill, or,
as many believed, pretended to be so; at all events, the command fell
to Manchester. On the 26th of October, the first brush took place, and
the next morning being Sunday, the attack was renewed more vigorously.
The soldiers of Manchester, or rather of Cromwell, went into the fight
singing psalms, as was their wont. The battle was fiercely contested,
and it was not till ten o'clock at night that Charles retreated towards
Wallingford. It was full moonlight, and Cromwell prepared to pursue
him, but was withheld by Manchester. Again and again did Cromwell
insist on the necessity of following and completing the rout of the
royal army. "The next morning," says Ludlow, "we drew together and
followed the enemy with our horse, which was the greatest body that I
saw together during the war, amounting at least to seven thousand horse
and dragoons; but they had got so much ground, that we could never
recover sight of them, and did not expect to see any more in a body
that year; neither had we, as I suppose, if encouragement had not been
given privately by some of our party."
In other words, there were strong suspicions that the aristocratic
generals did not want to press the king too closely. This became
apparent ten days after. Charles, on retreating, had done exactly as
he did before at this same Newbury; he had thrown all his artillery
into the Castle of Donnington, and now he came back again to fetch it,
nobody attempting to hinder him, as nobody had attempted to reduce
Donnington and secure the artillery. So extraordinary was the conduct
of the Parliamentary generals, that though Charles passed through
their lines both in going and returning from Donnington, and even
offered them battle, no one stirred. The generals dispersed their
army into winter quarters, and both Parliament and people complained
of the affair of Newbury. The Parliament set on foot an inquiry into
the causes of the strange neglect of public duty, and they soon found
one powerful cause in the jealousies and contentions of the generals.
It was time a new organisation was introduced, and Cromwell saw that
besides the incapacity of the commanders, there were aristocratic
prejudices that stood in the way of any effectual termination of the
war.
Cromwell was at the head of the Independents, and these were as adverse
to the dominance and intolerance of the Presbyterians, as Cromwell
was to the slow-going generals. He knew that he should have their
support, and he determined to come to a point on the vital question of
the arrangement of the war. He had declared plumply, in his vexation,
"That there never would be a good time in England till we had done
with lords;" and he had horrified the milk-and-water aristocrats, by
protesting that "if he met the king in battle, he would fire his pistol
at him as he would at another." He was now resolved to have lords out
of the army at least, and therefore, on the 25th of November, 1644,
he exhibited a charge in the House of Commons against the Earl of
Manchester, asserting that he had shown himself indisposed to finish
the war; that since the taking of York he had studiously obstructed the
progress of the Parliamentary army, as if he thought the king already
too low, and the Parliament too high, especially at Donnington; and
that since the junction of the armies he had shown this disposition
still more strongly, and had persuaded the Council not to fight at all.
Manchester, eight days after, replied at great length, accusing
Cromwell of insubordination, and was supported by Major-General
Crawford, whom the Scottish Presbyterians had got into the army
of Manchester, to counteract the influence of Cromwell and the
Independents. Crawford even dared to charge Cromwell with leaving the
field of Newbury from a slight wound. Cromwell, on the 9th of December,
leaving such charges to be answered by Marston Moor and his share
of Newbury, proposed a measure which at once swept the army of all
its deadweights. In the Grand Committee there was a general silence
for a good space of time, one looking on the other, to see who would
venture to propose the only real remedy for getting rid of the Essexes
and Manchesters out of the army, when Cromwell arose and proposed
the celebrated Self-denying Ordinance. It is now time to speak, he
said, or for ever hold the tongue. They must save the dying nation by
casting off all lingering proceedings, like those of the soldiers of
fortune beyond the sea, who so pursued war because it was their trade.
"What," he asked, "did the nation say?" That members of both Houses
had got good places and commands, and by influence in Parliament or
in the army, meant to keep them by lingering on the war. What he told
them to their faces, he assured them was simply what all the world was
saying behind their backs. But there was a sure remedy for all that,
and for himself, he cared to go no farther into the inquiry, but to
apply that remedy. It was for every one to _deny themselves_ and their
own private interests, and for the public good to do what Parliament
should command. He told them that he would answer for his own soldiers,
not that they idolised him, but because they looked to Parliament, and
would obey any commands the Parliament should lay upon them for the
Cause.
Accordingly, the same day, Mr. Tate, of Northampton, formally moved
the Self-denying Ordinance--that is, that no member of either House
should hold a command in the army or a civil office. This was so
surprising a measure, that even Whitelock observed that "our noble
generals, the Earls of Denbigh, Warwick, Manchester, the Lords Roberts,
Willoughby, and other lords in your armies, besides those in civil
offices, and your members the Lord Grey, Lord Fairfax, Sir William
Waller, Lieutenant-General Cromwell, Mr. Hollis, Sir Philip Stapleton,
Sir William Brereton, Sir John Meyrick, and many others must be laid
aside if you pass this ordinance." The proposition seen in these
dimensions was daring and drastic. Manchester, Essex, Denzil Holles,
Meyrick, Stapleton, and others, who had so long gone on side by side
with Cromwell, Whitelock, and others, were now not only indignant at
Cromwell's bold and aspiring tone, but bitterly opposed to him on the
ground of faith and Church government. They were for preserving Church
and State, and they were linked with the Scots, who were vehement for
the general acceptation of the Presbyterian doctrine, if they could not
carry its formula. They met at Essex House, and concerted how they were
to put down not only this troublesome man, but the troublesome party of
which he was the representative, the Independents, who were for liberty
in the Church and the State, and would hear nothing of the domination
of synods and presbyteries any more than of bishops. They sent to
Whitelock and Maynard, to consult them as lawyers, on nothing less than
impeaching Cromwell as an incendiary. The Lord Chancellor of Scotland
addressed them thus:--"Ye ken varra weel that, Lieutenant-General
Cromwell is no friend of ours, and since the advance of our army into
England, he hath used all underhand and cunning means to take off
from our honour and merit with this kingdom--an evil requital of all
our hazards and services; but so it is, and we are nevertheless fully
satisfied of the affections and gratitude of the gude people of this
nation in general. It is thought requisite for us, and for the carrying
on of the cause of the twa kingdoms, that this obstacle or _remora_ may
be moved out of the way, who, we foresee, will otherwise be no small
impediment to us, and the gude design that we have undertaken. He not
only is no friend to us, and to the government of our Church, but he
is also no well-willer to his excellency, whom you and us all have
cause to love and honour; and if he be permitted to go on in his ways,
it may, I fear, endanger the whole business. Ye ken varra weel the
accord atwixt the twa kingdoms, and the union by the Solemn League and
Covenant, and if any be an incendiary betwin the twa nations, how he is
to be proceeded against."
Whitelock replied that the word "incendiary" meant just the same thing
in English as it did in Scottish, but that whether Cromwell was an
incendiary, was a thing that could only be established by proofs,
and that, he thought, would be a tough matter. Maynard agreed with
Whitelock, and though Holles and others of the Presbyterian party urged
an immediate impeachment, the Scots cautiously paused.
The question of the Self-denying Ordinance was vigorously debated
for ten days in the Commons. Vane seconded the motion of Tate, and
another member observed that two summers had passed over, and they
were not saved. A fast was appointed for imploring a blessing on the
new project. The people of London, on the 12th of December, petitioned
the House, thanking them for their proceedings, and, after serious
debate and opposition, the Bill was passed on the 19th. On the 21st it
was sent up to the Peers, where it was vigorously attacked by Essex,
Manchester, and the rest of the Lords affected. On the 13th of January,
1646, the Lords threw it out. But the Commons went on remodelling the
army, fixed its numbers at twenty-one thousand effective men, namely,
fourteen thousand foot, six thousand horse, and one thousand dragoons.
They then nominated Sir Thomas Fairfax commander-in-chief instead of
Essex; Skippon, the old train-band major, was made major-general; the
lieutenant-general was left unnamed, the Commons, in spite of their own
ordinance, resolving that Cromwell should hold that post, but avoiding
to increase the opposition to the general measure by not mentioning him.
[Illustration: ST. MARGARET'S, WESTMINSTER. (1888.)]
On the 28th of January, the Commons, having completed the organisation
of the army and the appointment of the officers, again sent the
Ordinance up to the Peers who, seeing that they should be obliged to
swallow it, moulded it into a more digestible shape, by insisting
that all officers should be nominated by both Houses, and that no
one should be capable of serving who did not take the Solemn League
and Covenant within twenty days. But the Lords were struck with an
apprehension that the Commons meant to do without them in the end, and
they therefore exercised their rights in opposing the acts of the Lower
House. They refused to sanction one-half of the officers appointed
by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had been introduced to the Commons on the
18th of February, thanked for his past services, and complimented on
his appointment. To remove the suspicion of the Lords, the Commons
assured them by message that they had bound themselves to be as tender
of the honours and rights of the Peers as they were of their own. This
pacified the Lords, and yielding to a necessity too strong for them,
Essex, Manchester, Denbigh, and the rest resigned their commands, and
on the 3rd of April the Self-denying Ordinance was passed by the Peers.
Sir Thomas Fairfax proceeded to Windsor to remodel the army according
to this Act. He did not find it an easy task; many, who were dismissed
by the Act or for their past conduct, were unwilling to be cashiered;
others would not serve under the new officers; and Dalbier, who had
been one of the worst counsellors of Essex, lay apart with eight troops
of horse, as if he contemplated going over to the king. At length,
however, he came in, and the work was completed.