YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE GREAT CIVIL WAR VOL. II. riUXTED BY SP0TT1STV00DE ASD CO., SETV-STEEET SQUARE LOXDOX HISTORY OF THE GEEAT CIVIL WAR 1642 — 1649 BY SAMUEL E. GAEDINEE, M.A. Hon. LL.D. Edinburgh ; Ph.D. Gottingen FELLOW OF ALL SOULS ; HONORARY STUDENT OP CHRIST CHURCH ; FELLOW OP KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON ; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OP THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE ROYAL BOHEMIAN SOCIETY OF SCIENCES VOL. II. 1644—1647 LONDON LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. AND NEW ?OEK: 15 EAST 16'" STBEET 1889 All rights reserved PREFACE. The length to which the present volume has run has made it necessary to postpone a chapter in which I had hoped to set forth some of the effects of the war upon various classes and upon the country at large. It will be found at the beginning of the third volume, which will appear, I trust, after no unreasonable delay. On another point of considerable importance I must ask such of my readers as may differ from me to suspend their judgment. I cannot expect that they will all be inclined to accept my view of Crom well's pohtical character as justified by the evidence which I have here to give. In fact, the crucial year in Cromwell's career is 1647. At its beginning he was regarded by his opponents as a skilful and dangerous antagonist. At its close he was regarded by two great parties as a cunning and successful hypocrite. Fortunately there is in existence a not inconsiderable quantity of neglected or unknown evidence on the subject which I hope, in due time, to be able to produce. So much of it as relates to the first six months of the year is especially valuable, as it is on Cromwell's relations with the agitators and the army at large that our knowledge has hitherta vi PREFACE. been of the slightest. Even whilst I am writing these lines Mr. C. H. Firth has told me of a correspondence of considerable importance, bearing on Cromwell's proceedings at that time, which exists amongst the MSS. of Worcester College. These papers were duly noticed some years ago by the late Mr. Coxe in his Catalogue of the MSS. of the Oxford Colleges, but till Mr. Firth's practised eye lit upon them no one seems to have thought of using them for historical purposes. The authorities on which my narrative has been based are for the most part sufficiently indicated in the notes, but I should like to call attention to the value of the French despatches relating to the time when Charles was preparing to place himself in the hands of the Scots, and when he was attempting to bargain with them at Newcastle. Those of Bellievre have been for some time known through the references of Eanke, who bestowed especial care on this por tion of his history ; but those of Montreuil appear to have been entirely neglected. The letters which Montreuil addressed to the Secretary Brienne are to be found in two copies — one in the National Library at Paris, and the other in vol. lxxxiii. of the Carte MSS. at Oxford. In both of these, however, the letters to Brienne of the year 1646 are wanting. A visit to Paris in search of them proved unavailing as far as they were concerned, but resulted in the dis covery that Montreuil's more important correspond ence with Mazarin himself was preserved in the archives of the Foreign Office. Bellievre's despatches PREFACE. vii were copied by the late Mr. Armand Baschet for our own Eecord Office ; but those which passed between Montreuil and Mazarin can, up to this time, be seen only at Paris. A visit to Simancas was, as far as the present volume is concerned, almost wholly without result, though it produced information of considerable value on the relations between England and Spain in the time of the Commonwealth and Protectorate. It must be remembered that, after 1622, only the copies of the few despatches from England which were laid before the Council of State are to be found at Simancas. It is possible that some future inquirer may Hght upon the remainder elsewhere, perhaps in the Eoyal Library at Madrid, the contents of which, unless I have been misinformed, are still in such con fusion as to be unavailable to the historical student. No one who writes of Montrose's campaigns will be inclined to underestimate the value of Napier's Memorials and Memoirs of Montrose. His industry has made it almost impossible to discover any facts unnoticed by him. It is only in his description of battles that one sometimes hesitates to follow him, as there are no signs of his having actually visited the localities, and as it is certain that Wishart and pro bable that Patrick Gordon, on whom he relies, had not visited them either. Wishart especially is sometimes betrayed into palpable error by his topographical ignorance ; and the knowledge that this is the case has made me exceedingly doubtful whether I have arrived at anything like accuracy when I have had Vlll PREFACE. to build on his evidence, even when I have been able to correct that evidence by the use of my own eyes. In my inquiries on the spot into the topography of Montrose's six great victories I have had much valu able local assistance, and I feel bound to express my hearty thanks to those whose knowledge ofthe ground proved so helpful to me — to Mr. George Bain, the Editor of the Nairnshire Telegraph, who conducted me over the field of Auldearn ; to Mr. E. F. 0. Farqu- harson, of Hoghton, on whose property the battle of Alford was fought ; to the Eev. Dr. Milne, of Fyvie, who knows every inch inside and outside of Fyvie; Castle ; and especially to Mr. A. M. Munro, of the City Chamberlain's office at Aberdeen, without whose antiquarian knowledge of the locality where the battle of Aberdeen was fought, I should have been entirely at fault, as the whole ground is now covered with streets and houses. To Mr. Munro I also owe an indication of Milne's plan of Aberdeen, published from a survey taken in 1789, and therefore before modern buildings had sprung up. It is on this that my plan of the battle at page 93 is founded. The map of the siege of Bristol at page 289 is taken, with some slight omissions, with Mr. W. Hunt's permission, from his work on Bristol in the series of 'Historic Towns.' The divisions of the clan territories in the map facing page 104 have been copied from those given in the map in General Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders ; the colouring showing the side taken by each clan is derived from the statements occurring in Wishart PREFACE. IX and other contemporary writers. In one or two cases I have had considerable doubt about the accuracy of my colouring, and shall be very glad to receive corrections from any source. I have to thank the Earl of Leicester for his kind ness in allowing his copy of the so-called Einuc- cini Memoirs to lie at the British Museum for some months, so as to enable me to make use of them in a leisurely fashion. These Memoirs were compiled by a priest from Einuccini's own papers after his death, and afford a good deal of information not to be found in the despatches printed in the Nunziatura, as well as a considerable number of unpublished docu ments. A description of the MS. is given by Mr. J. T. Gilbert in the Ninth Eeport of the Historical MSS. Commission, Appendix IL, page 340. Mr. Gilbert has also printed in his History of the Irish Confederation a considerable number of unpublished documents. Of the papers at Kingston Lacy, which Mr. Bankes was good enough to allow me to examine, the most important is the book of the Parliamentary Committee for Dorset, to which I hope to refer at length in my next volume. There are, however, in the collection some letters from Digby to Jermyn of which I have been able to make present use. It is evident by the marks on these that they originally formed part of the papers taken from Digby when he was defeated at Sherburn, most of which are in the Eecord Office. How these fell into the hands of the proprietors of Kingston Lacy is a question not easily to be answered. CONTENTS THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAPTER XXII. PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. 1644 Contrast between English and Scottish Preabyterianism Political aspect of the Presbyterian party Prynne's Presbyterianism .... His intolerance 1643 June. — Milton's marriage .... August 1. — The doctrine and discipline of divorce 1644 July 15. — The judgment of Martin Bucer . November 24. — Areopagitica .... The Long Parliament and the press . Presbyterianism of the House of Commons , November 15. — Lay preaching forbidden November 20. — Peace propositions sent to Oxford Necessity of military reorganisation . November 23. — A New Model te be considered Cromwell as a statesman .... l'AGK I 2 3 4 5 689 n 12 13 13 IS 16 '7 CHAPTER XXIII. THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. 1644 Cromwell proposes to attack the Earl of Manchester . , November 25. — Statements by Waller and Cromwell . December 2. — Manchester's defence communicated to the Commons 20 21 Xll CONTENTS OF 16431644 November 23. — The Peace Commissioners at Oxford November 27.— The King's reception ofthe Commissioners .December 3. — The Scots attempt to overthrow Cromwell December 4. — Cromwell's reply to the report made by Holies December 9. — Report of Tate's Committee A Self-denying Ordinance proposed by Tate Progress of the Self-denying Ordinance . The military situation October 24. — Ordinance against the Irish November 6.— Waller ordered to relieve Taunton Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper His temporary Royalism . . . ' . January. — He goes over to the Parliament August 3.— He receives a command in Dorset December 14. — The relief of Taunton . PAGE 2324 25 2728 29 31 32 33 34 34353637 39 CHAPTER XXIV. THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 1644 December 20. — Negotiations to be opened with the King March 1 2- July 29. — Laud's trial .... His case compared with that of Strafford . October 11. — Laud's counsel heard on points of law October 31. — An Ordinance of Attainder brought in December 23. — Execution of Sir Alexander Carew December 7. — Condemnation- of Sir John Hotham December 24. — Condemnation of Captain Hotham 1645 January 2-3. — Executi°n °f tne tw0 Hothams . Plan for uniting the two Houses . January 4. — Ordinance for Laud's attainder passed January 10. — Laud's execution Fruit of Laud's teaching . . January 4. — The Directory to be established . Parochial and congregational Presbyterianism January 2. — Prynne's Truth Triumphing Lilburne and Prynne ...... Lilburne's Letter to Pi-ynne .... Importance of Lilburne's views .... January 1. — L'Estrange's reprieve . January 10. — The Royalists repulsed at Abingdon January 9. — Goring at Farnham January 11. — Arrest of three peers at Oxford January 9. — Strafford's blood appeased . 40414L434445 46 46 47 484849 5o 51 51 5253 5455 5657 57 5859 THE' SECOND VOLUME. xiii CHAPTER XXV. THE NEW MODEL ORDINANCE AND THE TREATY OF UXBRIDGE, PAGE 1645 January 4. — Conflict between the Houses on military or ganisation . . • . ' . . . . . 60 Resolution of the Committee of Both Kingdoms on the New Model . . . . . . ...... .61 January 7. — Objections of the Lords to the*' Sel&Denying Ordinance ;' . ' . . 61 January 11. — The New Model Ordinance accepted by the House of Commons . . . . . . .62 January 13. — The Lords throw out the Self-Denying Ordi- 62 63 6465 66 666869 69 7i 72 7373 7474 75 75 7676 January 21. — Fairfax to command the New Model Army January 28. — The New Model Ordinance sent up to the Lords January 30. — Cromwell supports the advance of the Scots January 29. — Arrival of the Commissioners at Uxbridge Aims of the Scottish Commissioners Intentions of the House of Commons .... The Three Propositions of Uxbridge January 31. — The religious difficulty .... February 10. — Toleration scheme of the Oxford clergy A Presbyterian settlement urged .... Discussions on the militia and on Ireland February 4. — The New Model Ordinance passed with pro visoes by the Lords . ..... February 7, 8. — The provisoes modified by the Commons February 12. — News of military disasters February 1 5. — The New Model Ordinance passed February 20. — TheKing proposes to go to Westminster February 22. — A National Synod proposed End of the Treaty of Uxbridge . . CHAPTER XXVI. TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. 1644 Montrose's idealism July 3. — He asks Rupert for help August 18. — He sets out for Scotland . June. — Alaster Macdonald in the West Highlands . The Mackenzies and the Macdonalds .... The Highland clans August. — Montrose summons Macdonald to Blair Athol He is accepted as a leader 7880 818283848586 XIV CONTENTS OF 1645 His march to Perth .... September 1.— The battle of Tippermuir The surrender of Perth September 7. — Murder of Lord Kilpont . September 12. — A price set on Montrose's head Montrose and the Gordons September 13. — Montrose before Aberdeen Montrose's drummer killed The battle of Aberdeen Massacre in the town .... Montrose evades Argyle in the Highlands The defence of Fyvie Castle . A council of war .... December. — Montrose in Argyle . January. — Argyle at Inverlochy . February 1 . — Montrose prepares to attack the Campbells February 2. — The battle of Inverlochy February 3. — Montrose invites the King to Scotland PAGE 87 88 89 9090 91 92 94 95 968999 100 IOI 102103 104 105 CHAPTER XXVII. THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. 1644 November 22. — Execution of Hugh Macmahon . 1645 February 10. — Lord Maguire's trial .... February 20. — His execution . ... 1644 March (?). — Lord Herbert becomes Earl of Glamorgan April 1 . — Glamorgan's commission .... May 4. — Glamorgan to be Duke of Somerset . May 13. — Monro seizes Belfast ..... The Supreme Council offers its army to Ormond July 26. — Ormond empowered to resume negotiations with the Supreme Council ...... September 6. — Peace conferences at Dublin December 15. — Muskerry's proposal accepted by Charles November 14. — Ormond offers his resignation December 27. — Glamorgan commended to Ormond Purpose of Glamorgan's mission 1645 January 2. — Glamorgan's instructions .... February 2. — A dukedom offered to the Marquis of Wor cester January 12. — The King promises to confirm Glamorgan's engagements . January 6. — Commission to Glamorgan to levy troops in Ireland and the Continent 106 107107108109 in112 112H3U3 114USH5116 117 118 119120 THE SECOND VOLUME. XV PAGE 121121122122 1644 November. — The Queen in Paris .... French campaign on the Rhine July. — Battles of Freiburg November 24. — The Queenpsupports O'Hartegan . September. — A joint committee of English andlrish Catholics 123 November 23. — The Duke of Lorraine to be gained . . 124 Goffe's mission to the Hague 124 1645 January 16. — The Queen learns that the Duke of Lorraine is ready to assist Charles 125 January 22. — Charles urges Ormond to conclude peace . 126 February 27. — He offers to repeal the penal laws in Ireland 127 March 5. — He offers to extend the repeal to England . .127 March 12. — Charles gives Glamorgan a commission to treat 128 March 28. — Glamorgan wrecked on the coast of Lancashire 129 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE SECOND SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE AND THE NEW ^ftJODEL ARMY. 1645 February. — English dissatisfaction with Charles's policy's 130131 132133134 135135136137138139 140141 141142143 144 H5145146147 148 149150151151 Military disorders Parliamentary successes ... Charles's plan of campaign March 5. — The Prince of Wales goes to the West March 10. — The Oxford Parliament adjourned . March 6. — The Prince of Wales at Bristol Goring in the West Waller falls back . . ... Financial distress on both sides . March 18. — A rising in Herefordshire . April 1 . — Byron looks to Ireland for help . February 25. —A new Self-denying Ordinance to be prepared March 3. — A list of officers sent to the Lords March 24. — -The second Self-Denying Ordinance brought in March 25. — The Commons express confidence in the Lords April 1 . — The Lords agree to Fairfax's commission April 3. — The second Self-Denying Ordinance passed . A batch of resignations April 5. — Essex's army reduced April 17. — End of Waller's command .... April 26. — Laymen forbidden to preach The soldiers and the officers of the New Model Lilhurne refuses to take the Covenant March 31. — Pay of the army secured on county taxation Character of the New Model army . XVI CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XXIX. THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. 1645 April 23. — Proposed sale of pictures . •--.,¦ •; ¦ April 11. — Goring refuses obedience to the Prince of Wales Rupert recruits his army . April 23. — Cromwell's raid round Oxford Failure of Charles's diplomacy . Charles's want of national feeling . March. — Charles's promises to Montrose April 25. — Charles is unable to join Montrose April 30. — Goring starts for Oxford . The second siege of Taunton .... April 30. — Fairfax sets out to relieve Taunton May 3. — Fairfax is ordered to halt . May 1. — End ofthe second siege of Taunton May 7. — The King leaves Oxford . May 8. — Goring sent back to the West May 9. — The King's march towards the North May 10. — The plan of campaign of the Committee of Kingdoms ....... Lord Savile's intrigues ...... May 22. — The first siege of Oxford Movements of the armies .... Both 153 154 '55 157 158 159 160 161162 163163164 165 166167 168169 170171 172 CHAPTER XXX. DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. 1645 February. — Montrose joined by Lord Gordon Montrose excommunicated Montrose opposed by Baillie and Hurry March. — Montrose on the Isla April 4. — Dundee taken .... Montrose's retreat . . ... Charles's plan revealed .... Montrose in Perthshire May. — Montrose and Hurry in the North . May 9. — Hurry attempts to surprise Montrose Montrose prepares for battle The battle of Auldearn Effect of the battle on Leven's movements May 17. — Goring on Sedgemoor . May 25.— Massey sent to the West . 174175176177178 179 180 181182 '83 184 186 188 9 190 THE SECOND VOLUME. xvii May 26. — Evesham stormed by Massey . May 22. — The King turns eastward . May 26. — Cromwell sent to Ely Oxford in straits Goring summoned by the King May 31. — Leicester stormed by the Royalists CHAPTER XXXI. NASEBY. PAGE 190 191 192192 193194 1645 May 31. — Prospects of the King 196 Junes. — Mutiny of the Yorkshire Horse . . . -197 June 7. — Charles hears that Oxford has been relieved . . 197 June 2. — Fairfax ordered to abandon the siege of Oxford . 198 Junes. — Fairfax marches against the King . . . . 199 June 9. — Cromwell rouses the Eastern Association . . 200 June 10. — The Commons agree to the appointment of Cromwell as Lieutenant-General 201 Charles's Privy Council recommends an attack on the Eastern Association 202 June 12. — Rupert over-confident 203 Fairfax as a disciplinarian 204 June 13. — Cromwell joins Fairfax 204 Fairfax in pursuit 206 June 14. — A council of war at Harborough . . . . 207 First positions of the two armies 208 Movements of the armies , 209 Final positions of the armies 210 The battle of Naseby 211 Result of the battle 216 Cromwell pleads for liberty 217 His letter mutilated by the Commons 218 CHAPTER XXXII. LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. 1645 June 16- — Cromwell's Lieutenant-Generalship confirmed by the Lords 219 June 18. — Surrender of Leicester 219 The Scottish army ordered southwards 220 June 19. — The City banquet to the two Houses . . .221 J^ June 21. — The Naseby prisoners in London . . . . 222 The King's cabinet opened 223 June 19. — The King at Hereford 224 II. a xvm CONTENTS OF June 1 8. — His appeal to Ormond 225 Colonel FitzwUliam's mission to Ireland .... 226 June 23. — The King's instructions to his son . . . . 227 June 2 1. —Proposal to subordinate Fairfax to the Committee of Both Kingdoms 227 June 25 —Abandonment of the proposal 228 June 28. — Surrender of Carlisle 229 The Clubmen 230 July 3. — Fairfax in Dorset 231 Fairfax's reply to the Clubmen 232 State of the King's army in the West ,232 Final raising of the siege of Taunton 234 Goring outmanoeuvred on the line of the Yeo and Parret 236 July 9. — He is surprised by Massey ..... 237 July 10. — His position at Pisbury Bottom . . . .238 The battle of Langport ....'... 239 July 16. — The siege of Bridgwater 241 July. 23. — Surrender of Bridgwater 242 Charles's movements 243 July 22. — His conference with Rupert 244 July 24— He abandons his intention of going into the West 245 CHAPTER XXXIII. ALFORD AND KILSYTH. 1645 July. — Charles hopes to open communication with Mont rose May. — Montrose eludes Baillie . Desertion of the Gordons June. — Separation of Baillie and Lindsay . July 1. — Montrose at Alford . July 4. — Montrose takes up his position The battle of Alford .... July 28. — Reception of the news by Charles July 21. — Surrender of Pontefract . July 25. — Surrender of Scarborough Castle. July 30. — Charles in South Wales . July 31. — He sends to Ormond for aid July 21. — Overtures from Scottish Lords to the King The King refuses to abandon episcopacy July 28. — Rupert urges Charles to make peace August 3. — Charles rejects the proposal He prepares for martyrdom 246247248249 250 251252 253 25325425425525S256 257 257 258 THE SECOND VOLUME. XIX August 5. — Laugharne storms the castle of Haverfordwest Astley succeeds Gerard in South Wales Charles sets off to join Montrose August 20. — He turns back from Doncaster. July 8. — The Scottish Parliament at Stirling . July 24. — The Parliament meets at Perth . Montrose manoeuvres round Perth . August 5. — Baillie forced to retain the command Covenanters August 14. — Montrose at Kilsyth August 15. — Montrose prepares for battle The blunder of the Covenanting committee . The battle of Kilsyth . . The escape of the Covenanting noblemen . of the PAGE 260260 26l26l262263 264265266267 269270 272 CHAPTER XXXIV. SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. 1645 August 24. — Charles declares his resolution to support Church ...... Royalist plunderings French successes on the Continent . General despondency of the Royalists . August 28. — Charles arrives at Oxford . August 2. — Fairfax besieges Sherborne Castle The Dorset Clubmen .... The Clubmen on Hambledon Hill , August 5. — Sherborne Castle taken August 23. — Opening of the siege of Bristol Leven'g siege of Hereford Herefordshire plundered by the Scots . September 1. — The siege of Hereford raised Digby continues hopeful .... Despondency at Oxford .... September 9. — Digby expects that Fairfax will fail Bristol September 4. — Fairfax summons Rupert Difficulties of Rupert's position .... Weakness of the garrison of Bristol September 10. — Bristol stormed .... September 14. — Effect of the surrender on Charles . Rupert dismissed the at 273 274 275276 276 277277 278280281281282 283284 28S 286 287 288 289290 291292 a 2 XX CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XXXV. CURRENTS OF OPINION. 1645 September 14.— Cromwell's despatch announcing the cap ture of Bristol September 17. — It is mutilated by the Commons Cromwell and the New Model army Hugh Peters His early life His career in New England ... His views on liberty of conscience . His character as an army chaplain Baxter at Coventry His visit to the army Liberty of conscience in the army . The military view of Royalty and Nobility . Cromwell's moderating influence . May 10. — Arrest of Lilburne .... June 18. — Lilburne's second arrest . June 20. — Savile committed to the Tower . Lilburne's charges against Holies and Lenthall July 19. — He is again in custody His constitutional position .... October 14. — He is liberated by the Commons August 18. — Bills ordered to be prepared to he submitted to the King ...... August 21. — New writs to be issued Restrictions on the elections 294295 296 2972982993013023°3 304304 3°53063°7 308 3°9 3°9 310 3H312 313313 3J4 CHAPTER XXXVI. ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH. 1645 August. — Goring after Langport September 17. — Letter ofthe Prince of Wales to Fairfax . Mazarin's relations with England August. — Montreuil's negotiation with the Scots . September 13. — The Scots ask for English aid against Montrose French intervention accepted by the Presbyterians September 18. — Culpepper's plan of campaign Temper of the Welsh September 18. — Charles marches to the North 315 316317 317 3i8319320 321321 THE SECOND VOLUME. xxi PAGE September 22. — He reaches Chirk Castle . . . .322 September 24. — Battle of Rowton Heath . . . . 323 September 25. — Charles at Denbigh 325 Charles's plan of action 326 August 15. — Montrose's difficulties after his victory at Kilsyth 327 August 16. — Montrose at Glasgow 328 August 18. — He goes to Bothwell 328 Desertion of the Highlanders and the Macdonalds . . • 329 The Gordons return home 330 Comparison between Montrose and Cromwell . . .331 Character of Montrose's followers 332 Montrose's new supporters 333 September 9. — Imprisonment of Home and Roxburgh . . 334 David Leslie's march 335 September 13. — Overthrow of Montrose at Philiphaugh . . 336 Butchery of Irish women 337 CHAPTER XXXVII. BASING HOUSE AND SHERBURN. 1645 September 28. — Effect on Charles of the news from Philip haugh 338 September 23-26. — Surrender of Devizes, Laycock House, and Berkeley Castle . 340 October 4. — Charles at Newark 340 September 28. — Separation of Fairfax and Cromwell . . 341 October 19. — Tiverton Castle taken 342 October 20. — Fairfax goes into quarters round Exeter . . 343 Octobers. — Surrender of Winchester Castle . . . . 343 October 8. — Cromwell before Basing House . . . 344 October 14. — Basing House stormed and sacked . . . 345 Meeting of the Marquis of Winchester and Hugh Peters . 346 Cromwell's advice to the House of Commons . . . . 347 October 14. — Condition of the garrison of Newark . . 348 Willis's plan of campaign 348 October 12. — Charles marches northwards to join Montrose 349 October. — Montrose again deserted by the Gordons . . 350 October 14. — Charles's advance stopped 351 October 15. — Digby defeats Poyntz's infantry at Sherburn. 352 Cavalry fight at Sherburn 353 October 24.— Digby escapes to the Isle of Man . . . 354 October 16. — Rupert's reception at Newark . . . .355 October 21.— Rupert absolved by a council of war . . , 356 xxii CONTENTS OF October 26. — A noisy scene 357 October 27. — Rupert leaves the King 359 November 5. — The King's return to Oxford . . . 360 November 1. — Sir W. Vaughan defeated in South Wales . 360 November 5. — Desire for peace at Oxford . . . .361 CHAPTER XXXVIII. A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. 1645 Presbyterians and Independents in the House of Commons . 362 September 23. — Leven's army invited south . . . 363 Holland proposes that the King shall go to the Scots . . 363 Relations between the Scots and the English Parliament . 364 October 17. — Terms oflered to the King by the Scottish Commissioners 364 Mission of Sir R. Moray to the Queen 365 October 22. — Digby's correspondence read at Westminster . 366 Strong position of the Independents 367 August 4.- — Claims of the Assembly of Divines . . . 368 October 20.— Excommunication to be placed under the con trol of a Parliamentary committee .... 369 Religion of the London citizens . . . . . . 370 October 6. — Henry Burton locked out of his church . .371 October 13. — The Dissenting Brethren refuse to produce a scheme of church government. . . ... 372 November 6. — Revival of the Accommodation Order . . 372 November 17.— The Dissenting Brethren declare for full liberty of conscience 373 " November 19. — Counter-petition of the London citizens . 373 November 24. — -Peace propositions to be prepared . . 374 A secret negotiation between the King and the Indepen- W Result of Sir R, Moray's mission .... March 5. — Rinuccini's mission to Ireland . , Rinuccini in Paris ...... June. — Mission of Sir Kenelm Digby to Rome November. — The Queen hopes for aid from France A plot to deliver up the King December 5.— Charles offers to negotiate at Westminsts December 7.— The Prince ordered to leave England Charles's new plan of campaign . Charles attempts to outwit the Houses . December 6.— Sir R. Moray returns to England . October 21-22. — Executions in Glasgow THE SECOND VOLUME. XX1U PAGE December 13. — Charles invited to the Scottish camp . . 385 . December 1 5. — He repeats his offer to come to Westminster 385 December 23. — Hereford surprised 386 Fresh negotiations between Charles and the Houses . . 386 1646 January 2. — Montreuil at Oxford ..... 387 January 5. — Charles proposes to tolerate Presbyterianism . 388 January 13. — The reply of the Houses sent to the King . 389 January 10. — The King's formal overture to the Scots . 390 1645 November 26.7— Meeting of the Scottish Parliament at St. Andrews 390 1646 January 20-22. — Execution of Montrose's followers . . 391 January 1 5. — Charles's offers on religion .... 391 January 18. — He explains away his offer . . . . 392 January 15. — Montreuil remonstrates with Charles . . 393 January 1 5. — The City petition against toleration . . . 393 January 16. — The consideration of the King's proposal in terrupted ......... 394 CHAPTER XXXIX. GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. 1645 August. — Glamorgan lands in Ireland .... 395 June 9. — The Assembly at Kilkenny agree to refuse to abandon the Churches in the hands of the Irish . . 395 June 19 — Resumption of negotiations between Ormond and the Confederates ........ 396 Progress of the war with the Scots 396 August 11. — Glamorgan at Kilkenny 397 Glamorgan's difficulties 398 August 25. — Signature of the Glamorgan treaty . . . 399 July 31. — Charles offers to allow the Catholics to build chapels 4°° August 25. — Glamorgan's defeasance 401 Scarampi distrusts Glamorgan 402 August 29. — The Supreme Council offers to join Ormond . 403 September 9. — Glamorgan is oflered an army for service in England f 4°3 November 20. — Agreement between Glamorgan and the Supreme Council 4°4 November 12, — Rinuccini at Kilkenny .... 405 Rinuccini and the Supreme Council 406 December 20. — Glamorgan signs a second treaty . . . 407 December 27. — Glamorgan arrested 408 xxiv CONTENTS OF 1646 January 16.— The Glamorgan treaty known at Westmmster 409 Reports from France 4*° The Channel Islands to be pledged to France . . .411 The negotiation between Charles and the Scots revealed . 412 January 29.— Charles disavows Glamorgan. . . . 413 Charles explains his conduct to Ormond and the Queen . . 414 Worcester quotes Gower against Charles . . . . 415 February 3. — Charles assures Glamorgan of his favour . . 416 January 21. — Glamorgan liberated . . . . .416 Rinuccini receives the articles agreed on by the Pope and Sir , Kenelm Digby 4'7 February 7. — He urges these articles on the General As sembly • 4J8 February 8. — Glamorgan urges Ormond to accept Rinuccini's , proposals 4J9 February 16. — Compact between Glamorgan and the Supreme Council > 420 February 18. — A third Glamorgan treaty . . . . 421 March 8. — The surrender of Chester known in Ireland . 422 The seizure of Bunratty 423 March 4. — Rinuccini's view of Charles's character . . 423 March 28. — The treaty with Ormond signed . . . . 424 An Irish army to be sent to England 425 April 3. — The expedition countermanded . . . . 426 CHAPTER XL. THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. 1645 November. — Fairfax before Exeter 1646 January 9. — A surprise at Bovey Tracey . January 15. — Hopton appointed to command the Royalists in the West January 18. — Fairfax storms Dartmouth January 26. — Powderham Castle surrenders . The Queen's projects known ..... February 1 . — Charles talks of marching into Kent . February 10. — Fairfax advances to meet Hopton February 16— Hopton's defeat at Torrington . February 25 -Fairfax enters Launceston . March 2.— Fairfax reaches Bodmin , 429 431 431 432433434435 436437 March 2. — The Prince of Wales embarks for the Scilly Isles 438 March 14. — Hopton's surrender ...... aw February 5. — Arrest of Will Murray ..... 440 427428 THE SECOND VOLUME. XXV PAGE February 19. — Charles refuses to make religious concessions to the Scots 441 March 2. — Charles appeals to the Independents . . . 442 Charles's letters to his wife 443 The Scottish terms conveyed by Sir R. Moray . . . 444 March 16. — Modification of the Scottish proposals . . . 445 Final terms of the Scots 446 March 17. — Montreuil carries them to Oxford . . . 447 ^r February 13. — Question of the command of the suburban militia. 448 March 5. — The Ordinance for Presbyterianism passed by the Commons 448 March 14. — The Ordinance passed by the Lords . . . 449 The Recruiters 449 Baillie's view of the situation 450 V^March 14. — The City complains of the 14th clause of the Ordinance for Presbyterianism 451 March 17. — Montreuil's negotiation with Charles . . . 451 March 21. — Astley defeated at Stow-on-the-Wold . . 452 Causes of Charles's military failure 452 Cromwell's national position 454 CHAPTER XLI. the King's flight to the scots. 1646 March 23. — Charles again asks to return to Westminster . 455 ty March 24. — Alarm in the City 456 Hugh Peters's thanksgiving sermon 457 March 23. — Charles sends a secret message to the Scots . 459 April 1. — Engagements exchanged through Montreuil . . 460 April 3. — Montreuil goes to the Scottish camp . . . 461 April 15. — Further modification of the Scottish terms . . 462 April 13.— Charles's vow 463 Montrose in the Highlands 463 April 18. — Charles mvites Montrose to join the Covenanters 464 April 22. — Charles thinks of escaping to Lynn . . , 464 April 13. — Surrender of Exeter 465 April 7. — The Scots urge Parliament to come to terms with the King 466 April 17. — Manifesto of the Commons 467 The Commons attack the Divine Right of Presbytery . . 468 April 23. — Cromwell thanked by the House . . . . 469 April 22. — Charles sends a message to Ireton . . . 469 XXvi CONTENTS OF PAGE April 2 5.— Makes overtures to Rainsborough . . . . 470 April 26.— Takes leave of his Council 47 1 April 27. — Leaves Oxford 472 April 28.— Hudson sent to Montreuil 473 April 30.— The verbal engagement of the Scots . . . 474 May 5. — Charles arrives at Southwell 477 CHAPTER XLIL THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE ZING'S CAPTIVITY. 1646 May 5. — Charles removed to Kelham .... May 6. — Newark surrendered May 13. — The King at Newcastle May 18. — The Presbyterian majority in the Lords May 19. — The Commons resolve that the Scottish army is no longer needed -tf May 18.— The King writes to the Houses, the City, and the Scottish Committee of Estates May 25.— Effect of his letters at Westminster May 1 1 . — Oxford summoned June 15. — Ire ton's marriage June 24.— Surrender of Oxford ..... April 16.— The Prince of Wales leaves Scilly for Jersey . May 20. — Hyde protests against the Prince's removal to France June. — Charles's controversy with Henderson . . June 9. — Charles proposes a local toleration of Episcopacy June 8. — The Commons learn that the Scots intend to em ploy their army in the King's cause .... The Scots declare their innocency .... June 11. — Charles applies to the English Parliament June 18. — Hudson's confession June 25. — Argyle's speech at Westminster Argyle's policy June 20. — The Prince's removal from Jersey demanded . June 26. — The Prince embarks for France . Hyde's character and principles ..... Hyde contrasted with Cromwell ..... His dissatisfaction with Charles's conduct His History of the Rebellion ..... His relation to Hooker ... ... May 5. — A petition for the abolition of tithes June 1 1. — Lilburne committed by the Lords . July 11. — Is sentenced to fine and imprisonment 478479 480 481482483484 484 485 485 486487 489490 491 492 493494 495496 496 497498 499 5015025°3 504 THE SECOND VOLUME. XXVU CHAPTER XLIII. THE NEWCASTLE PROPOSITIONS. i646^fJune 9. — Elders to be elected in London July 13. — Despatch of propositions to the King . Bellievre's mission . .' The Queen's Memoir Hyde's opinion of the propositions ..... Mazarin aims at the annexation of the Spanish Netherlands Bellievre's instructions July. — Bellievre's first report from England Chances in favour of the King July 1. — Charles makes up his mind to reject the proposi tions July 16. — Charles's secret communications with Montrose July 30. — Arrival of the Parliamentary Commissioners August 1. — Charles gives an evasive reply to the propositions August 3. — Montreuil sent back to France . Charles acts in opposition to the Queen .... His views on the connection between Church and State Impossibility of coming to terms with him August 12.— Reception of the King's answer at Westminster August 14-September 1.- — Votes for paying off the Scots September 2. — An ordinance against blasphemy and heresy brought in ....... End of the War September 4. — A Scottish deputation at Newcastle September 7. — Charles complains to the Queen September 14. — Charles in consultation with Will Murray August 31. — Montrose escapes from Scotland . State of the Highlands September 16. — Charles makes fresh proposals to Ormond September 18. — The Commons claim for the English Parlia ment the disposal of the King .... September 22. — Concurrence of the Lords October 9. — Ordinance abolishing Episcopacy October 7. — Fairfax's army continued for six months The Scots claim a share in the disposal of the King October 10. — Cromwell's opposition to the ballot October 22. — Massey's troops disbanded September 16. — Death of Essex October 22. — Funeral of Essex November 26.— His effigy destroyed .... 5°5 506507508509 509 5io510 5" 512 512 Si3 5i4 5i55i5 5165i7 518 5i9520521522523524 525 525526 526 527527 528 528 529530 53° 53i533 xxviii CONTENTS OF CHAPTER XLIV. THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. PAGE 1646 June 11. — Charles directs Ormond to abandon the negotia tion with the Irish 534 He explains his order away 534 June 5. — Monro defeated by Owen O'Neill at Benburh . 535 June 29. — Distress of the garrison of Dublin . . . . 537 July 4. — Digby's arrival at Dublin 537 July 20. — Charles holds secret communications with Gla morgan 538 July 30. — The Irish peace proclaimed 539 August 12. — The peace condemned by a congregation ofthe clergy 54° August 9. — The experiences of Ulster King-at-arms . . 541 August 17. — Towns accepting the peace threatened with an interdict 541 Owen O'Neill declares for the clergy 542 August 1 8. — Action of the Supreme Council . . . . 542 August 31. — Ormond at Kilkenny 543 September 19. — Arrest of the leaders of the Supreme Council 544 September 26. — A new Supreme Council .... 544 September 28. — Glamorgan to be Lord-Lieutenant under the Nuncio S4S September 26. — Ormond Sends for help to Westminster . 545 Weakness of the Supreme Conncil . . . . . . 547 Ireland only capable of an ecclesiastical organisation . . 548 Grounds of English resistance ....... 549 October 12. — Reception of Ormond's overtures at West minster 549 CHAPTER XLV. THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. 1646 September 21. — Charles rejects the Queen's project . . 551 September 30. — He consults divines on a new proposal CC2 October 5. — The case against Charles's ecclesiastical policy . 553 October 1 2 . — Charles sends his new proposal by Will Murray 554 His proposal rejected by the Scots tec October 31. — The Queen condemns it ccc THE SECOND VOLUME. xxix In- The siege of Dunkirk September 21. — Cardenas pleads for help . October I. — Surrender of Dunkirk .... October 9. — The Queen gives fresh advice . She expects that Montrose will again take the field She proposes to cede the Channel Islands to France Failure of Will Murray's mission .... November 2. — Charles proposes a temporary abdication November 7. — Will Murray returns to Newcastle . Bellievre advises Charles to come to terms with the dependents Growing desire for the King's restoration November 18. — Hudson's escape Proposed rising against Parliament November 28. — Charles receives the Queen's objections to his plan December 5. — He points out an equivocation in his offer to Parliament December 6. — His offer rejected by the Scots November 3. — Meeting of the Scottish Parliament . Arrangements for the departure of the Scots The Scottish Parliament proposes to support the King December 17. — Protest of the clergy .... The Scottish Parliament calls on Charles to accept the Covenant and the propositions December 16. — Charles learns that his proposed abdication is unacceptable to Mazarin and the Queen . \^ December 20. — He again asks to come to London , ^r December 19. — A City petition .... December 21. — Discovery of a design to carry off the Duke of York December 22. — The Lords wish to place the King at New market December 24. — The Commons declare for Holmby House December 31. — The Lords give way .... December 31. — Ordinance against lay preaching December 22. — Offers made to Charles by the Scottish com manders December 24. — Charles attempts to escape November. — Ormond refuses to surrender Dublin to the English Parliament 1647 January 5. — Charles approves of Ormond's refusal . January 4. — Bellievre attempts to win David Leslie January 30. — The Scots leave Charles in the hands of the English commissioners The Scots compared to Judas '. 556 557558558 559559560560 561562 562563 564 566 566567567568568 56957o 57057i 572 572573573574574575 575 576576 577577578 XXX CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. PAGE They were unable to support Charles if they had wished to do so . 579 Charles's object in clinging to monarchy and Episcopacy . 580 Weakness of English Presbyterianism . . . .581 NOTES. Note on the strength and preliminary movements of the armies at Nasehy 583 Additional note on the same subject by Lieutenant-Colonel Ross . 591 MAPS. PAGE The Highlands of Scotland, showing the sides taken by the clans on February 2, 1645 To face 104 England and Wales, showing the districts occupied by the Royalists and Parliamentarians on July 23, 1645 . . . To face 242 England and Wales, showing the districts occupied by the Royalists and Parliamentarians on November 5, 1645 . . To face 360 The campaign of Tippermuir and Aberdeen 88 The battle of Aberdeen 93 The campaigh of Inverlochy 1 01 The first operations of the New Model army 1 56 The campaign of Naseby 167 The campaign of Dundee and Auldearn 176 The battle of Auldearn . . 183 The battle of Naseby 207 The campaign of Langport and Bristol 220 The operations round Langport 235 The campaign of Alford ......... 247 The battle of Alford 250 Tne campaign of Kilsyth 264 The battle of Kilsyth 267 The siege of Bristol 289 The operations after the storming of Bristol 339 The last campaign in the West 431 The route of Charles I. after his escape from Oxford . . . 473 Errata. Page 268, lime 26, dele ' his footmen to strip themselves to the waist and.1 Page 268, Kne 29, for ' The day . . . lightly equipped as possible,' read, ' The Highlanders, according to their custom, knotted their long Mlts between their legs, that they might charge up the hillside the more readily.' Page 269, line 7 from oottom, for 'their shirts between their legs,' read, ' Mr. Burnett, the Lion King-at-arms, has pointed out to me the supporters granted in 1625 to Macpherson of Cluny, of which a copy is preserved in the Eegister House at Edinburgh. They are two Highlanders prepared for battle. The upper part of the body is clothed in a tartan jerkin. Below is a white kilt, longer than that at present in use, tied in a knot at the bottom, so as to leave the whole of the legs bare. This answers to the description of the Bard of Clanranald, especially if this kilt was the lower part of a shirt, the upper part being covered by the tartan. Its whiteness is probably accounted for by the Highlanders represented being supposed to be of superior "rank. Mr. Skene (27?,e Highlanders of Scotland, i. 233) comes to the conclusion that " among the common people the plaid was certainly not of tartan, but generally brown in colour, while the shirt worn by them was of tartan." ' Page 269, last line, add after ' above his clothes,' ' but the evidence of the bard seems to show that this only applies to the cavalry.' THE GREAT CIVIL WAE. CHAPTER XXII. PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. The strife which had broken out in the army on the chap question of military efficiency was inseparably con- . xxn" . nected with a conflict of opinion which had long cleft l644 Puritan society asunder. Manchester was the repre- anTthT6 sentative not merely of an unadventurous school of ^riSs." commanders, but of an unadventurous school of politicians. In Parliament and Assembly Presby terianism maintained its ascendency. Yet between the Presbyterianism of England and the Presby- English terianism of Scotland there was a great gulf. It is ^ j,cr°fca"_ indeed possible to transfer the external institutions of t»tman- a political or religious system from one nation to another, but it is not possible to transfer the spirit by which that system is animated. England might, if she chose, adopt from Scotland the parity of ministers and the lay elderships, but she would of necessity colour those institutions as soon as they were established with her own national traditions and modes of thought. The historical development of the Scottish nation favoured the predominance of the clergy, whereas the historical development of the n. b PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. The EnglishPresby terian party. ™£f- English nation favoured the predominance of the ~~i644~' laity' It was therefore from no zeal for Presbyterianism as a divine institution that its English supporters rallied round it. It was to them chiefly an eccle siastical form of Parliamentarism, in which the Assembly was to work under the control of the Houses, and the parochial clergy were to work under the control of the lay elders. The name 'Presbyterian,' in short, by fixing attention exclusively upon the ecclesiastical aims of the party which bore it, has been the source of much unintentional misunderstanding. It is beyond dispute that the Presbyterian party failed in establishing the Church polity which they defended, and it is therefore easy to forget that they succeeded in inspiring both Church and State with the spirit which had impelled them temporarily to become the champions of that polity. When at last the Eestoration arrived, it was parliamentary rather than monarchical, and though the bishops returned to the sees from which they had been expelled, they returned practically stripped of that uncontrolled jurisdiction which had aroused opposition in the days of Laud. To make King and Church responsible to Parliament was the real aim of the Presbyterian party, and every year which passed after the Eestoration made it more evident that, for the time at least, the most substantial gains of the long conflict fell to those who concentrated their efforts on this object. It was inevitable that a party thus constituted should be intensely conservative, for the very reason that up to a certain point it had been driven to be revolutionary. A task which can only be accom plished by the energy of a whole generation un its conser vatism. ENGLISH PRESBYTERIANISM. 3 consciously calls up in those who devote themselves chap. to it a sullen indifference to changes which seem to -l^-l- have no relation to the change which they themselves l644 advocate, even if they do not dread the new pro posals of reform as distracting attention from the work which appears to them to be the one thing needful. Of conservatism of this kind Prynne was, if not the most convincing, at least the most self- sufficient and voluminous champion. During the (•-1 /-(••l • f -1 i ¦ ¦ Prynne's progress 01 the Uivil strife the stream of Ins vitu- Hterary perationhad never flagged. In 1643 he had proved, acllvlty" at inordinate length, that Nathaniel Fiennes was a coward and a traitor ; that Charles had illegally scattered favours amongst disloyal Papists, and that sovereign power resided in Parliaments.1 In the spring and summer of 1644 he was engaged in hunt- 1644 ing down his former oppressor, Archbishop Laud, but in the autumn, sniffing a fresh quarry, he flung him self with all his might into the dispute between the Presbyterians and the Independents. The support His which he gave to the former party would indeed have tel-Luism. given dire offence to all true disciples of Calvin. Not only didshe refuse to allow that any ecclesiastical insti- *" tutions were of divine origin, but he argued that every nation acting through its Parliament and Assembly was at liberty to erect, within certain narrow though not clearly defined limits, whatever kind of Church it pleased. To this Church all persons were obliged ' in point of conscience and Christianity to submit.' Its discipline would no doubt be exercised, as in Scotland, by Church Courts and Assemblies, but it would be exercised under the supremacy of the 1 The doom of cowardice and treachery, E. 251, 6; The Popish Royal Favourite, 287, g, 20 ; Tlie sovereign power of Parliaments und Kingdoms, u 2 4 PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. chap. State, and with safeguards imposed by Parliament - — ,— — against clerical self-will. The doctrine that all ecclesiastical jurisdiction must proceed from the lay State was as firmly grasped by Prynne as it had been by Henry VIII., or by the framers of the Eoot and Branch Bill of 1641.1 its intoier- Against Independents and Sectaries of every kind the censures of the Church were, according to Prynne, to be freely employed. The congregational system, he held, was not merely irrational, but it would logically result in that toleration of all heresies which had been proposed by the author of The Bloody Tenent. He was not, however, content with denouncing the results of Independency. He attacked it in its substance when he asked triumphantly whether its root were not ' a pharisaical spiritual pride, vainglorious singularity, or self-conceitedness of man's own superlative holiness, as they deem it, which makes them to deem themselves so transcen- dently holy, sanctified and religious above others, that they esteem them altogether unworthy of — yea wholly exclude them from their communion and church society.' 2 Prvnnet, Spiritually Prynne stood at a far lower level than influence. Eoger Williams. The claim to think and to feel not after the fashion of the world, but as each man's brain and heart might dictate to him, was not merely ignored by Prynne— it was treated with contemptuous scorn. For that very reason his doctrine was a great power in the land. It was Prynne's Presbyterianism which was welcome to a world which fancied itself necessarily intelligent because it was educated. It 1 Hist, of Engl. 1603-1642, ix. 407. 3 Twelve considerable serious questions touching Church Government E. 257, 1, j). 7, vwnmem, MARY POWELL. 5 enlisted on the side of the average intellect of the chap. day, which on the one hand dreaded the intolerance > XXIrL. which is always latent in fanaticism, and, on the l644 other hand, looked with suspicion on ideas not yet stamped with the mint-mark of custom, the feeling, which unconsciously exists in the majority of man kind, of repugnance against all who aim at higher thinking or purer living than is deemed sufficient by their contemporaries, and who usually, in the opinion of their contemporaries, contrive to miss their aim. Prynne found controversialists enough ready to Prynne and i i • mi 1 ? • i Milton. take up his challenge. The only reply which attracts the modern reader is one never intended by its author to be a reply to Prynne's arguments at all. Not any deep interest in the war between the rival forms of church government, but strange domestic experi ences of his own, led the poet of The Comus to stand forward in defence of intellectual liberty. In May 1643 Milton visited the home of the „. i643 J ~J .... . Milti'ua Powells, a Eoyalist family living at Forest Hill, marriage. near Oxford, and after a month's stay brought back with him as his bride Mary Powell, a girl of seven teen, his own years numbering thirty-four. The month of courtship was followed by a month of marriage, waxing ever gloomier as the days passed by. The young wife soon discovered that her elderly husband devoted himself during the livelong day to his books and his studies ; and that his conversation, when she was admitted to share in it, turned upon subjects which were to her scarcely intelligible. One thing alone was clear to her, that her life's companion held opinions which, so far as she could under stand them, resembled those which she had learnt to regard as detestable and profane. The husband, on the other hand, found that the child whom he had 6 PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. ciiap. wedded had no sympathy with him iri his pursuit5, —L--r~^ no power of encouraging him or cheering him in 43 his appointed task. To both alike the yoke of matri mony was an intolerable burden. At the end of a juiy month the young wife asked leave to visit her parents, and, finding herself once more happy, refused to re turn to her tormentor. The husband, even before he was deserted,1 had sat down to write a tract on The Auff. i. Puhiication doctrine and discipline of Divorce, in which a noble dnctHne argument on behalf of true marriage as an association ",'iine ',f1' of soul and intellect was made to lead up to the conclu sion that it was the just prerogative of every husband to dismiss the wife who failed to answer his craving for mental and spiritual companionship, though he re fused to make any provision for the case of a woman burdened with a boorish or unsympathising husband. wasMiiton Those who have conjectured — for nothing but himself? conjecture is possible — the motive of the poet in making so untoward a selection, have usually been of opinion that he was thrown off his balance by the bright eyes and graceful figure of the cavalier maiden, and that he thus became false to that ideal of an inward beauty of soul embodying itself in the outward fonu which had given inspiration to The Comus. It may have been so ; but, though Milton's silence is far from being conclusive, there is at least -no hint in all his voluminous writings on the subject of divorce that he had been ensnared by beauty, or that he considered that a sober and sedate man was in any danger of being fascinated by the outward appearance. Even if, as is by no means unlikely, physical beauty revenged itself on its scorner more than he cared to acknowledge, is it not probable that, 1 The evidence has been collected and judicially weighed by Prof Masson in his Life of Milton, ii. 502 ; iii. 42. MILTON'S MARRIAGE. y in this instance as in all others, Milton was in the main chap. true to his nature ? May he not have dreamed, as J^L., many another sensitive idealist has dreamed, that it l6'43 would be well for him to choose some rustic, uncul tured maiden to educate for worthy companionship ? Something of this is perhaps implied in the only phrase in which he ever referred to his own court ship, when he complained that ' the bashful muteness of a virgin may ofttimes hide all the unliveliness and natural sloth which is really unfit for conversation.' As in so much else Milton had set his ideal too high for realisation ; too high, in the first place, because in his day women were never educated to be the in tellectual companions of men of independent thought ; too high, in the second place, because he had not learnt to pay due honour to womanhood, or to under stand that true companionship can never be had from one who is treated as an inferior, to be moulded and fashioned at the pleasure of a master. It may be that Milton was not yet prepared to write, as he afterwards wrote upon bitter and diversi fied experience, the harsh sentence that " God's universal law Gave to the man despotic power Over his female in due awe, Nor from that right to part an hour ; " but, in some modified form, the feeling was with him from the beginning. He had too little dramatic in stinct to enter into the . secret of a woman's heart, and too great contempt for all that was unlike him self to be happy in his marriage. His noble con ception of wifely virtue was unaccompanied by any equally noble conception of manly self-surrender. That Milton's tract should arouse opposition was opposition unavoidable. Even in an age in which almost every 8 PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. chap, received doctrine was subjected to question, an attack - — r-— - on the received doctrine on marriage was regarded 1 43 with unqualified detestation. Milton met the storm which his tract had raised by defiantly re-asserting his i64+. opinion. On February 2, 1644, he issued a new and ju]y jj. enlarged edition of his pamphlet, and in July he ap- mmtof9' pealed in a new work to the authority of Bucer as iw" justifying the position he had taken up. He had June, already in the previous month put forth a tract on cdtiL"' education, in which there is not the slightest allusion to the education of girls. It is not given to any man, however high-minded and far-sighted, to foresee the whole solution which a future age may apply to a complex difficulty, and if Milton's answer to the eter nal problem of the relation between the sexes was a blundering one — only, in truth, less blundering than the answer given by the Cluniac monks ofthe eleventh century — it was because he had failed to understand the conditions under which his high ideal of marriage as ' the soul's union and commixture of intellectual delights ' could be rendered attainable. So far as Milton was not personally at fault, the root of his error, like the root of the error of Hildebrand, lay in the complacency with which he regarded the existing low standard of female education. The women of the seventeenth century were well skilled in all house wifely arts, and were as capable as women of other centuries of patient and self-forgetful heroism ; but, except on the ground of religious consolation, they had very little intellectual companionship to give. In households in which the sons of the family were sub jected to severe mental discipline it was usually thought a waste of time to allow a girl to learn more than to scrawl an almost illegible letter, in which the spelling, even in those clays of vague and uncertain AREOPAGITICA. 9 orthography, might fairly be characterised as abom- chap. inable.1 J^L, Milton's consciousness that his main position was \ 44 _ J- Aug. sound led him to embark on a yet higher argument. Attacks on tt- • . it- p • • • Milton. xiis persistence m the publication of his opinions naturally brought upon him a storm of obloquy daily increasing in volume and in force. Prynne tersely characterised his doctrine as ' divorce at pleasure.' Preachers and pamphleteers assailed him as the advocate of all license and depravity. By issuing his tract without the permission required by the licensing ordinance of 1643 2 he had contravened the Parlia mentary law, and at one time it seemed likely that he would be called to account for the offence.3 Dropping for a time the subject of marriage and Nov. 24. divorce, Milton turned to the vindication of each >S*" man's right to assert unpopular opinions. On Novem ber 24 he issued, under the title of Areopagitica, a defence of ' the liberty of unlicensed printing.' Less concerned with practical politics than the author of Liberty of Conscience,4" and less careful of sectarian religiosity than Eoger Williams, Milton's spirit soars aloft in a purer air. The one lasting conviction of his life, that the free development of the individual — or at least of male individuals — was the indispensable con dition of a healthy commonwealth, found its noblest expression here. Milton perceived that the liberty which all professed to be ready to accord to good books could only be secured if it was also accorded to books which were reputed to be evil. Not only 1 This is distinctly to be recognised in the correspondence of the Yerney family. 2 See vol. i. p. 174. 3 The particulars, in far greater detail than I can spare room for, can be traced in Masson's Life of Milton, iii. 262-275. 4 See vol. i. 341. IO PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. CHAP. XXII. 1644 The prin ciple of liberty. Mentalactivity in England. was it impossible to prevent the circulation of bad books,1 but it would be actually injurious to attempt to do so. The presence of evil, thought Milton, tests and hardens the resistance offered to it by the good. He could not ' praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.' Holding such views, Milton was not likely to be well satisfied with the conduct of the Assembly of Divines or of the laymen who had fallen under its influence. " There be," he writes, " who perpetually complain of schisms and sects, and make it such a calamity that any man dissents from their maxims." To him every sign of mental activity was welcome. " Now, once again, by all concurrence of signs," he vehemently declared, " and by the general instinct of holy and devout men, as they daily and solemnly express their thoughts, God is decreeing to begin some new and great period in His Church, even to the reforming of reformation itself. What does He then but reveal Himself to His subjects, and as His manner is, first to His Englishmen ? . . . Behold now this vast city, a city of refuge, the mansion-house of liberty, encompassed and surrounded with His protection; the shop of war hath not there more anvils and hammers waking to fashion out the plates and instruments of armed justice in defence of beleaguered truth than there be pens and heads there, sitting by their studious lamps, musing, searching, revolving new notions and ideas wherewith to present, as with their homage and their fealty, the approaching reforma- 1 Milton reminds his readers that Mercurius Aulicus was in evervone's hands. J AN APPEAL TO LONDON. II tion : others as fast reading, trying all things, assent- CHAr. ing to the force of reason and convincement. . . . v.XXI'-_. Under these fantastic terrors of sect and schism, we l644 wrong the earnest and zealous thirst after knowledge and understanding which God hath stirred up in this city. What some lament of, we rather should rejoice at, should rather praise this pious forwardness among men, to re-assume the ill- deputed care of their re ligion into their own hands again. A little generous organisa- prudence, a little forbearance of one another, and through some grain of charity might win all those diligences llbei,y- to join and unite in one general and brotherly search after truth, could we but forego this prelatical tra dition of crowding free consciences and Christian liberties into canons and precepts of men." The buoyancy of heart with which these words were written was characteristic of Milton in those days. Like the French revolutionists, he was slow to measure the difficulties in the way of the realisa tion of his ideal, and as they fancied that organisation through law was readily attainable, so did he fancy that organisation through liberty was within easy reach. The idealist, usually in the right as to the thing which he desires, is always wrong as to the time within which the obstacles in his path can be swept away, and in thinking it possible in an instant to create a home of liberty out of the England of Laud and Prynne, Milton did but exhibit his own ignorance of the actual ways of men. No doubt the yoke of the Long Parliament upon The Long the press was less grievous than the yoke of the ^dihe611 Star Chamber had been. Milton, suiting the action press- to the word, had published Areopagitica without a licence, and no attempt had been made to punish him for his audacity. Men of note, like John Goodwin 12 PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. CHAP. XXII. 1644 Sept. Feeling in the Houses. Sept. 18. A City petition. Oct. 23. Request of the Lords. Oct. 24. The Com mons ask for a Directory. Nov. 1. A Scottish request. or Henry Burton, had no difficulty in obtaining a licence for their arguments on behalf of toleration,1 but less respected authors were not so fortunate. " The truth is," wrote one to whose pamphlet a licence had been refused, " if the book bear Indepen dent upon its front, and be thought to speak for that way ... it is silenced before it speaks." 2 In fact, it was only by connecting itself with some more widely-spread desire that this struggle for intellectual liberty could -be crowned with even temporary success for many a year to come. In both Houses the current of feeling ran strongly in favour of Presbyterian restraint. No single step was taken to give effect to that Accommodation Order which Cromwell had wrung from the Commons.3 On September 18 the thanks of the House were given to a body of petitioners from amongst the City clergy, who had asked that ' erroneous opinions, ruinating schisms, and damnable heresies ' might be suppressed.4 On October 23 the Lords urged the Assembly to 'hasten the settling of the government of the Church,' and on the next day the Commons requested the divines to apply themselves to the preparation of a Directory which might take the place of the Book of Common Prayer.5 On November 1, a few days after the capture of Newcastle was known in London, a letter was received from the Committee of the Estates of Scotland with the northern army, imploring the 1 Goodwin, Otonaxia, E. 12, I ; Goodwin, Innocency's Triumph, E. 4, 10; Burton, Vindication of Churches commonly called Independent, 2 Inquiries into the causes of our miseries, E. 22, I. In the third section (E. 24, 3, p. 22) the author states that the impression of the second section had been seized. 3 See vol. i. p. 482, where I have spoken of it incorrectly as a Tolera tion Order, a mistake which has been corrected in some ofthe later copies 4 Mushw- v- 78o. s.LJ. vii. 31 ; CJ. iii 675 XXII. 1644 LAY PREACHING FORBIDDEN. English Parliament so to settle the government of the chap Church as to remove ' those great prejudices raised against our cause by the abundance of variety of sectaries, separatists, and schismatics.' This time the Commons took the lead in the work of repression, asking the Lords to join in recommending this letter to the consideration of the Assembly.1 The Assembly was not slow to take the hint. On Nov. 8. the 8th it presented to the Houses a recommendation oftlT in favour of Presbyterianism as the only fitting go- Assem y' vernment for the Church.2 On the 1 5th the Commons Nov. 15. passed a resolution — which was indeed easier to preach who announce than to enforce — 'that no person be per- ordained. mitted to preach who is not ordained as a minister,' 3 and though consideration of the further question of the establishment of Presbyterianism was postponed till the objections of the dissenting brethren, now seven in number, had been heard, enough had been done to show that there was no intention of tolerating the preaching of a layman.4 In most questions relating to church government the Houses were ready to follow the lead of the Scots. On the still more pressing subject of opening nego tiations with the King, the influence of the Scots was no less discernible. On November 8 propositions PeacT for peace which had been drawn up under Scottish ^0Sl" influence were, with some slight alteration, unani- adoPted> mously adopted, and on the 20th were despatched to J57™ °to Oxford. 0xford- 1 Sinclair and others to the Com. of B. K., Oct. 23. L.J. vii. 44 ; C.J. iii. 684. 2 L.J. vii. 61 ; C.J. iii. 691. 3 C.J. iii. 697. 4 In the course of the debate some inquiry seems to have been made as to the effect of the words ' No person ' in excluding women. " Acriter disputatum if the word ' Person ' were ' Man '—No person in holy orders, ut prcevenirent mulieres." D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. 166, fol. 161. H PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. CHAP. XXII. 1644 The religiouspropositions. Part taken by the In dependents. The politi cal proposi tions. With respect to the Church, the demand made by the Houses was, that ' the reformation of religion according to the Covenant be settled by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses shall agree upon after consultation had with the Assembly of Divines,' and this demand was accompanied by a' recitation of the clause of the Covenant in which both kingdoms had bound themselves ' to endeavour the nearest conjunction and uniformity in matters of religion.' That this demand was framed in an ex clusively Presbyterian sense hardly admits of doubt ; but in giving at least a tacit approval to it, Vane and his allies might comfort themselves with the knowledge that nothing definite had as yet been: legislatively settled, and that, even within the lines now laid down, some expansion was still possible. Yet, though no evidence exists on the point, it is most probable that the absence of any resistance on the part of the Independents was mainly due to the conviction that Charles would save them the trouble of a fruitless opposition by peremptorily rejecting the proposal. To Charles, indeed, the political propositions would be as offensive as the ecclesiastical. Not only were all Papists who had taken up arms against the Parliament, and all persons who had had a hand in the Irish rebellion, to be excluded from pardon, but the names of fifty-seven of the King's most trusted supporters, including those of his two nephews, Bupert and Maurice, were placed on the list of pro scription, whilst an immense number of his less im portant supporters were to be excluded from office. The whole of the estates of those to whom pardon was refused was to be applied to the payment of the expenses of the war, whilst the forfeiture of a third PEACE-PROPOSITIONS. 1 5 part was to suffice as a penalty on those whose names chap. appeared in the second category. Besides this, a -¦* ¦ L~ crowd of unnamed delinquents were to be called ' ^ upon to sacrifice a tenth of their property. No at tempt was to be made to allow to Charles even a semblance of royal power. The militia and the navy were to be placed permanently under commissioners to be named by the Houses, and the nomination to all posts of importance was to be transferred to the Houses themselves, or to commissioners acting in their name. The transference of power thus sketched out was Liberty certainly not to be effected in favour of liberty. The ed! 8 ' propositions relating to the Church were of the most stringent and intolerant kind. Not only was an oath to the Covenant to be exacted from every subject in the three kingdoms, but, at the express desire of the Scots, the King himself was to be required to swear to it. It was almost certain that the system proposed to be substituted for Episcopacy would, as far as ecclesiastical institutions were concerned, be Presby terianism of the most rigid kind. In short, the aim a™ of the of the great Peace-party, so commanding in Parlia- party. mentary authority, but so fatally deficient in intelli gence, was to treat Charles much as Milton had treated Mary Powell. They asked him for his hearty co operation in a course of action which he regarded with loathing.1 As a matter of Parliamentary tactics, those who Military -r-. -i i i iir reorganisa- believed that the Peace-party needed only to be left tion. to itself to work its own destruction were doubtless in the right. Other considerations than those of Par liamentary tactics concurred in suggesting to the leaders of the War-party the wisdom of allowing the 1 L.J. vii. 54; Acts ofthe Pari, of Scotland, vi. 129. i6 PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. CHAP. XXII. 1644 Financial revolt of the Eastern Associa tion. Nov. 23. A New Model to be considered. negotiation to take its course. Believing as they did that a slackening of military effort would enable the King to dictate his own terms, they preferred to work with their Parliamentary opponents rather than against them. Becent events at Newbury had brought about a remarkable consensus of opinion that, if the war was to be carried on, the array must be reor ganised, and both Cromwell and Vane were suffi ciently shrewd to be aware that the sooner a practical attempt was made to procure Charles's acceptance of the Presbyterian terms, the sooner Manchester and Holies would discover the truth which they had been so slow to learn, that the war could only be brought to an end by victory. Even now it was generally understood that the present military anarchy must come to an end at once, as it would be too late to reduce the army to discipline when the time arrived for taking the field. The stone was set rolling on November 19 by the presentation of a petition in which the Eastern Association complained that they were no longer able to bear the charge of maintaining their troops, and called on Parliament to provide a remedy.1 The system of maintaining an army for general pur poses by local contributions had broken down where it was strongest, and the Commons, in referring the petition to the Committee of Both Kingdoms, not only instructed it to take into consideration the whole state of the Parliamentary armies, but, on the 23rd, reinforced their order with directions to the Committee to ' consider of a frame or model of the whole militia.' 2 An effort, it seemed, was at last to be made to give practical effect to Waller's 1 C.J. iii. 699; Perf. Diurnal, E. 256, 40. 2 C.J. iii. 703. CROMWELL AT WESTMINSTER. 1 7 suggestion of an army wholly at the disposal of chap. Parliament.1 - XXII-_ . It is possible that the promptness with which ' 44 these orders were given was in some degree owing at west- ^ minster. to the return of Cromwell to his place in Parliament. The 23rd had been fixed as the day on which he and Waller were to make their statements on the proceed ings at Newbury, the House not having been satisfied with an official defence which, had been offered by Hazlerigg on the 14th.2 Some members, however, were of opinion that further inquiry would only lead to useless recrimination, and the report of the two generals was therefore postponed to the 25th, per haps in the hope that it might be dispensed with altogether as injurious to the maintenance of mili tary discipline.3 If such was the expectation of those who had cromweii urged delay, it was likely now to be disappointed, man.3" Cromwell was already beginning to show himself a leader of men as well as a commander of armies. Political assemblies are always impatient of far-reach ing schemes which embrace the future as well as the present, and there can be little doubt that if Areopa- gitica had been delivered as an actual speech in Parliament, it would have been received with icy coldness. Then, as now, the House of Commons liked to be led on step by step, and took a peculiar pleasure in imagining that each move in advance was absolutely final. Cromwell, alike by temperament and calculated prudence, was the very man to afford the guidance which the House required. Widely as 1 See vol. i. p. 454. 2 Perf. Diurnal, Nov. 14. E. 256, 36. 3 C.J. iii. 703 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,1,16, fol. 175b. Ac cording to Whitacre the report was postponed ' because it was feared by many that the relating of it might tend to the increasing divisions in the army, which were now well quieted and appeased. II. 0 reticence. l8 PRYNNE, MILTON, AND CROMWELL. chap, his sympathies extended, he knew how to single out • — ,— '— amongst many objects the one which was supremely 44 important because most easily attainable at the moment, and whilst throwing himself with all the energy of his character upon the achievement of his immediate purpose, to maintain a complete silence on subjects which would have divided him from those whose help he needed. Cromwell's The combination of the power of enthusiasm with the power of reticence was the distinguishing note of Cromwell's character as a statesman — a note which, under malignant interpretation, led easily to charges of hypocrisy. Such charges appeared to have the better foundation in the uncertainty with which he felt his way to a great decision. No one, he said in 1647, rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going. Alike as a commander, as a speaker, and as a politician, Cromwell stands apart from those whose life-work has been moulded by self-sustained effort in pursuit of a regularly formed plan. The inward doubts and wrestlings, the instant urgency with which he sought God in prayer for a Divine light which should determine his course amidst the dark ness around him, were the truest expressions of the hesitation with which he approached each turning- point in the path of duty. The involved sentences of his oratory — if, indeed, oratory it can be called — and the absence of any strategical plan in his warfare are closely akin to the open-mindedness with which he gauged each political difficulty as it arose. There were so many evils which needed remedy, so many healing measures to be applied, that it was hard to choose a course. When the moment of decision came at last, all previous hesitation vanished. Crom well needed the impact of hard fact to clear his mind, CROMWELL AS A POLITICIAN. 1 9 but when once it had been cleared he saw his way chap. with pitiless decision of purpose. Old friends who -- \ '— crossed his path were thrown aside, and hopes which ' 44 he had once held out to them were withdrawn. The need of the moment was all in all to him, and what that need was he saw with unrivalled accuracy of vision. On his return to Parliament Cromwell instinctively cromweiis perceived that the reorganisation of the army was / the one thing needful. It was no time to be wrang ling over the discipline of the Puritan Church when the very existence of Puritanism was at stake, or to criticise the terms offered to the King when the opening of a negotiation could be avoided by no art of his. On these points Cromwell preserved for many months a resolute silence. The time would come when it might be useful to speak of them, but the time had not come yet. When the King had been beaten in the field other objects would be easier of attainment, and, like all true leaders, Cromwell fixed upon an aim which would unite rather than upon one which would distract. Cromwell's superb presence of mind boded no good to the ascendency of the Presbyterian leaders. They might safely have contemned the idealism of Milton, but their inability to make war or to conclude peace would before long deliver them over to the man whose capacity for practical action was unrivalled in his generation. 20 1 644 Cromwell Chester. CHAPTER XXHI. THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap. If it was in Cromwell's nature to avoid flying at XXIII. abuses in general, whilst he singled out some parti cular abuse which it was in his power to remedy, it prepares to was ai80 in his nature to connect that abuse with attackMan-^ some particular person. As a soldier, deserted by his comrades in the stress of battle, and surrounded by a ring of foemen, chooses instinctively some one hostile face at which to dash for dear life's sake, so Cromwell dashed at Manchester. Whatever might be pleaded on the part of that general — the difficulties arising from the deficiency of the commissariat, the inclemency of the weather, or the unwavering sup port of the majority of his fellow-commanders— was all forgotten now. Yet if Cromwell swayed the details of the past to his own side, the charge which he was about to bring was true in its application to the central fact of Manchester's conduct. Manchester, he rightly held, had erred not from mere inertness or in capacity, but from unwillingness to win such a victory as would stand in the way of a reconciliation With the King — a reconciliation which, to Cromwell's mind, would involve the abandonment of everything worth fighting for at all. When on November 25 Cromwell took his seat in the House, prepared to make the statement which had AN ATTACK ON MANCHESTER. 21 been fixed for that day,1 he had first to listen to the chap. adoption of a motion for a request to the Lords ' to -XX,In-- consider of bringing up the Scottish army south- N^44 ward.' 2 A Scottish army, to form a nucleus round The Scot- which the scattered fragments of the English forces invited"7 might gather, would be fatal to the realisation of souTh-8 Cromwell's aim. What he wanted was that the wards* English army might be strong enough to act inde pendently of the Scots. There was, therefore, all the more reason for proceeding witb the attack on Manchester, because it was only after the removal of Manchester that it would be possible to send into the . field an English force such as Cromwell desired to see. When at last the two generals were called on to statements declare their knowledge of the causes of the late andWaller miscarriages, Waller was the first to speak. No CromweU- record of his words has reached us, but there is some reason to suppose that he confined himself to a com plaint of Manchester's failing to come to his assistance at Shaftesbury.3 Cromwell followed with a far more sweeping attack. With every sign of bitter irritation he ascribed every mistake that had ' been committed to the personal wrong-headedness of Manchester.4 The affair was referred to a committee of which Zouch Tate was the chairman.5 As might have been expected, Manchester took Nov. 26. fire. On the 26th he asked leave of the Peers to asks to defend himself in the House of which he was a himself. member. On the 28th, having obtained the required permission, he assailed Cromwell in return. On 1 See p. 17. 2 C.J. iii. 704 ; L.J, vii. 73. 3 This, at least, is the burden of his subsequent deposition. S.P. Dom.[ 4 Cromwell's narrative, Quarrel of Manchester and Cromwell, 78, 5 C.J. iii. 704. 2 2 THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap. December 2 the Earl, by the direction of the Peers, XXIII ... - — , — 1- produced his counter-statement in writing, and the 1 44 Lords, adopting his cause as their own, not only sent Nov. 28. ' .r b ' J His his narrative to the Commons, but named seven peers Dee. a. to examine the affair, and asked the Commons to ap- eammtUonthe point some members of their House to join them in commons. ^e committee which was to take part in the inquiry.1 m m- The narrative thus laid before the Commons con- narrative, sisted of two sections. In the first, which related entirely to the military side of the dispute, Man chester passed lightly over his own part in the recent failure, painted Cromwell as a factious and somewhat inert officer, and laid stress upon his own habit of conforming himself to the resolutions of the Council of War, and upon Cromwell's acknowledgment that this had been the case. As a personal reply this section of the narrative was to a certain extent effec tive, but it offered no serious defence of those errors which had ruined the last campaign. In the second section Manchester attacked his accuser on the politi cal side. After urging that Cromwell's own position in the army was sufficient evidence that no attempt had been made in it to depress Independents, he held him up to scorn as the despiser of the nobility and the contemptuous assailant of the Assembly of Divines. Cromwell, it seemed, had actually spoken of those reverend gentlemen as persecutors. What was still worse, he had expressed a desire to have an exclusively Independent army, with the help of which he might be enabled to make war on the Scots if they attempted to impose a dishonourable peace on honest men.2 1 L.J. vii. 73, 76, 79, 80. 2 The first part of the narrative has long been accessible in Rushw. v. 733 j the second is printed in vol. viii. ofthe Camden Miscellany, from a copy amongst the Tanner MSS. See also a note by Major Ross in the Engl. Hist. Review, No. n, p. 519. A NEGOTIATION OPENED. 23 On both sides the larger political dispute threat- chap. ened to swallow up the question of military action. The Scots were especially irritated by Cromwell's , J 44 i Anger of attack upon themselves, now for the first time re- the Scots. vealed to them. " This fire," wrote Baillie, " was long under the embers ; now it's broken out, we trust, in a good time. It's like, for the interest of our nation, we must crave reason of that darling of the sectaries, and, in obtaining his removal from the army, which him self by his over-rashness has procured, to break the power of that potent faction. This is our present difficile exercise : — we had need of your prayers." l To break the power of Cromwell it was necessary to have a policy at least as practical as his. The success of the peace negotiation, which was especially the work of the Scots, was already becoming doubtful. The commissioners sent in charge of the propositions entered Oxford on November 23 amidst the execra- Nov. 23. tions of the crowd, and were personally insulted by a commis- party of officers after they reached their quarters, oxford. On the 24th, the King, who had returned on the previous day from the relief of Donnington Castle, listened with dignity to the long list of demands, each one of which insisted on a surrender of some point which he was absolutely pledged to make good. The names of Eupert and Maurice on the list of proscrip tion were received by the courtiers with contemptuous laughter. When at last the reading was finished, Charles briefly asked the commissioners whether they had power to treat. They replied that they had only authority to receive his answer. That answer, they were told, they should have, with all convenient speed. The short interval which had thus been gained 1 Baillie, ii. 245. 24 THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap, was used by Charles to sow division amongst his XXIII . ¦ — ^ antagonists. In the evening, taking Eupert with him, 1 44 he dropped in at the lodging occupied by Holies trieBtowin and Whitelocke, complimented them on their pacific over Holies • .. .. ,.,. and white- dispositions, and flattered them by asking their advice on the best means of ending the war. After some fencing, the two commissioners retired into another room, and, committing their opinion to paper, left it on the table. Whitelocke also took the precaution of disguising his hand.1 Whatever may have been the contents ofthe paper itself, the mere fact that two of the commissioners were ready to enter into a private negotiation with the King was enough to show him that some of them at least did not entirely approve of the harsh demands which they had been sent to lay before him. On the Tn^Kmg's 27tn ne offered a sealed packet to the commissioners. of'the'com- As ^ bore n0 address, they at first objected to receive it. " You must take it," said the King sharply, " were it a ballad or a song of Eobin Hood." " You told me twice," he continued, on their repeating their objection, " you had no power to treat. My memory is as good as yours. You were only to deliver the propositions. A postillion might have done as much as you." 2 On this the commissioners gave way, and cSes3°' wlien> on November 30, the packet which they carried Shis was °Pened bY the Houses, it was found to contain a answer. request that a safe-conduct might be sent for Eichmond and Southampton to bring the King's formal answer to Westminster. On December 3 both Houses con curred in assenting to the King's demand. 3 Although the resolution thus adopted did not 1 Whitelocke, 1 13 ; L.J. vii. 82. 2 Holles's narrative, Tanner MSS. lxi. fol. 203 ; C.J. iii. 710 8 C.J, iii. 710, 712. missioners. CROMWELL AND THE SCOTS. 25 bind the Houses to anything, it undoubtedly pointed chap. in the direction of further concession. " There are three things," Charles had said, in taking leave of the 'j44 commissioners, " I will not part with — the Church, cance ofthe my crown, and my friends ; and you will have much ado to get them from me." 1 Although these words were not included in the official report of the depu tation, it can liardly be doubted that they were privately circulated, and the resolution to allow the negotiation to proceed was therefore taken with a full knowledge that there was no chance of obtaining the King's consent to anything which, in the most distant way, resembled the propositions offered to him for acceptance. Whatever might be the ultimate result of the Anxiety of vote taken on the 3rd for carrying on the negotiation, overthrow it could not fail to be received by the Scots as an in dication that the influence of the War -party was de clining. Following, as it did, closely upon the charges delivered by Manchester against his Lieutenant- General on the 2nd, it stirred the hopes of all whose minds were set upon the destruction of the influence exercised by Cromwell in Parliament and the army. To prepare the way for the intended onslaught, a Dec- 3- conference was held at Essex House on the night of ence at Essex the 3rd.2 In this conference Essex himself, with Holies, House. 1 Holles's narrative, Tanner MSS. Ixi. fol. 203. s The account of this conference given by Whitelocke (116) has no date, but the position which he gives to it seems to fix it to the 3rd. It follows the order about the safe-conduct, which was made on the morning of the 3rd. Other notices, it is true, intervene, butyn Lord Bute's MS. this is not the case. In itself this argument is very far from being con clusive, but it is reinforced by the appropriateness of the time. Holies had to make, in the House of Commons, his report of Manchester's charges, and the Scots would naturally wish that arrangements might be made to follow it up by an accusation of Cromwell, if such was to be brought. On the other hand, a later date is impossible. At the conference at 26 THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. xxiii' Stapleton, and other leaders of the English Peace-party, " — 7 — ' met the Scottish commissioners, with Loudoun at their 1044 head, whilst Whitelocke and Maynard, who always voted steadily for peace, were present to give advice upon any legal questions that might arise. Already Essex and Holies had been won over by the Scots to Proposal to look favourably on a plan for accusing Cromwell as an cromweii. incendiary between the two nations, under the clause of the Covenant which provided for the bringing to justice of those who divided ' the King from his people, or one of the kingdoms from one another.' To Scotchmen accustomed to see their courts of justice used for political ends there was nothing The repulsive in this proposal. In his broadest Scotch lawyers Loudoun denounced Cromwell as an obstacle to ' the byeLo™e gude design,' and as one who, if he was permitted to go on as he had begun, might endanger the cause on which they had embarked. By the law of Scotland such a one was an incendiary who kindled coals of contention to the damage of the public. The question which Loudoun had to ask of the English lawyers was whether he was also an incendiary by the law of England, and, if so, in what manner was he to be brought to trial ? whiteifcke Loudoun and his supporters had probably counted narddMay" 0n t]ie attachment of Whitelocke and Maynard to their political party. They had forgotten to take into account the irresistible bias of English lawyers to subordinate political to legal considerations. The cautious Whitelocke replied that, though he was of one mind with Loudoun in his definition of the word incendiary, he should like to see the evidence against Essex House Maynard and Whitelocke disclaimed all knowledge of the positive facts charged against Cromwell, which they could not have done after the report made on the 4th. CROMWELL'S ESCAPE. 27 Cromwell before pronouncing him to be one. If that chap. evidence was sufficient to warrant an accusation, the -1-, — 1- accusation could only be brought in Parliament. To ' 44 this opinion Maynard adhered, but he added words which must have opened the eyes of those who heard him to the risk they were incurring. " Lieutenant- General Cromwell," he said, " is a person of great favour and interest with the House of Commons, and with some of the Peers likewise, and therefore there must be proofs, and the most clear and evident against him, to prevail with the Parhament to adjudge him to be an incendiary." x No impeachment of Cromwell on vague and un- Dec. 4- certain charges was possible after this. When the report. Commons met on the morning of the 4th, Holies con tented himself with making a bare report of the charges which had been brought by Manchester in the House of Lords ; and Cromwell, who had heard from some one— probably from Whitelocke himself2 — of the danger which he had escaped, replied by a cromweii-i fierce attack on the military inefficiency of the Presby terian general. In a long speech, of which all that is known is that it contained an absolute denial of the accusations brought against himself,3 he criticised Manchester's narrative with excessive severity. He had on his side the strong feeling which the Com mons always exhibited whenever a member of their House was attacked by a Peer, and the conviction which must have spread amongst the ranks of the Peace-party itself, that Manchester was undeniably an unsatisfactory commander. The Commons not only 1 Whitelocke, 116. 2 Whitelocke states that Cromwell received information, but does not give the name of the informer, 3 " Ipse omnia capita absolute negabat." D'Ewes's Diary, Harl, MSS. 483, fol. 120. reply. 28 THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap, refused to set aside their order for referring to Tate's YY[TT • — , — '- Committee the original narratives of Waller and Crom- 1 44 well ; but, entirely passing over the proposal of the monstake Lords that a joint committee should be appointed to the Lords' consider the charges against Cromwell, they directed ings. the formation of a committee of their own House to Formation consider whether their privileges had not been in- Committee. fringed upon by the support which the Lords had given to an attack upon a member of the House of Commons. At its first meeting the new committee placed John Lisle in the chair..1 Cromwell's Successful as Cromwell had been, it may well be hesitation. ^at his very success made him uneasy. He was hardly hkely to promote mihtary efficiency by bring ing about a rupture between the Lords and the Com mons, between the English and the Scots, between the Presbyterians and the Independents. If he really felt anxiety, it was not long before an opportunity was given him of retracing his steps and of realising his aim in a more promising manner. Dec.9. On December 9 Zouch Tate made the report TatPe"tof from the committee of which he was the chairman2 Committee. to a House of 200 members,3 who had come in un wonted numbers to listen to his statement. Instead of entering at length into the truth or falsehood of the accusations against Manchester, he contented himself with asserting in conclusion ' that the chief causes of our division are pride and covetousness.'4 As soon as Tate had sat down Cromwell rose. Though the suggestion that the commanders had ruined the army by their covetousness and jealousy 1 C.J. iii. 714 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 3l,n6, fol. 178. 2 See p. 21. 3 Perfect Occurrences. E. 258, 1. 4 Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 178. CROMWELL'S PROPOSAL. 29 XXIII. I( was not likely to proceed from himself, he could not chap. but know that the belief that this explanation was the true one was widely entertained. Unless the war -nn._1 Cromwell's was speedily brought to an end, he declared, the speech. kingdom would become weary of Parliament. " For ' what," he continued, " do the enemy say ? Nay, what do many say that were friends at the beginning of the Parliament ? Even this, that the members of both Houses have got great plans and commands, and the sword into their hands ; and, what by interest of Parliament, and what by power in the army, will perpetually continue themselves in grandeur, and not permit the war speedily to end lest their own power should determine with it. This I speak here to our faces is but what others do utter abroad behind our backs." He would not, he added, reflect upon any, but, unless the war could be more vigorously prose cuted, the people would endure it no longer and would force Parliament to conclude a dishonourable peace. It would be imprudent to insist on the over sight of any particular commander. He himself, hke all military men, had been guilty of oversights. " I hope," he ended by saying, " we have such true English hearts and zealous affections towards the Proposes general weal of our mother-country, as no members ^aii°a5ners of either House will scruple to deny themselves and themselves. their own private interests for the public good ; nor account it to be a dishonour done to them whatever the Parliament shall resolve upon in this weighty matter." x The debate rolled on, and at last Tate rose Tatemoves again to move in the sense indicated by Cromwell, ^nyTng " That during the time of this war no member of Ordinance. either House shall have or execute any office or 1 Rushiv. vi. 4, 30 THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap, command, military or civil, granted or conferred by JE^Il, both or either of the Houses of Parliament, or any 44 authority derived from both or either ofthe Houses." l The motion was seconded by Vane, and was warmly commended by many who usually acted in opposition to Vane. Those who wished to be rid of Cromwell were as ready to support it as those who wished to be rid of Manchester.2 Did he act Conjecture has busied itself with the question withcTom"" "whether Tate was from the beginning in collusion well? with Cromwell. Though certainty on this point is un attainable, it is very unlikely that he was. Himself a Presbyterian of the narrowest type,3 he Was hardly the man to play into Cromwell's hands. It is more probable that he did but repeat the platitudes about the selfishness of the generals which had of late been heard out of doors with increasing frequency, and that Cromwell, by a happy inspiration,4 utilised the prevalent feeling for his own purpose. However this may have been, it is in the highest degree unlikely that Cromwell craftily expected to retain his own command whilst Essex and Manchester descended to 1 C.J. ni. 718. 2 Baillie, it may be remarked, was pleased with the suggestion. At some time in the course of the debate Cromwell made a second speech (Perfect Occurrences, E. 258, 1), expressing his assurance that the change would not affect the fidelity of the army. In The Perfect Diurnal is what appears to be an abstract of the opinions expressed in the debate. They are not of a high order, being in consonance with the language of Tate's report, rather than with that of Cromwell's speeches. 3 He was afterwards one of two members who brought in the bill against blasphemy and heresy which is the high-water mark of Presby terian intolerance. 4 Clarendon's account (viii 191) of an intrigue conducted by Vane to influence the decision of the House in favour of the Self-Denying Ordi nance by stirring up the preachers on the day before to urge it is plainly inaccurate. He says that this took place on a fast-day "instituted bv the Houses. In the first place, no institution of a fast is to be found in the journals, and, in the second place, llie day named was a Sunda ' WHAT WAS CROMWELL'S INTENTION ? 3 1 a private station. As circumstances stood at the chap. moment when Tate's final proposal was made, Crom- — — '— well would have been more than a sagacious states man — he would have been an inspired prophet — if he had foreseen the course which events ultimately took. He had against him the Scots, the House of Lords, and a considerable minority ofthe House of Commons. If he wished personally to retain his command whilst expelling Manchester, he would surely have continued the prosecution of his adversary in the face of all obstacles, sooner than have sought to force his way back into military office in the teeth of the opposi tion he would have to encounter, after the doors had been closed against him as much as against Man chester by positive legislation. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that he was prepared to sacrifice not only his attack upon the commander whom he despised, but even his own unique position in the army.1 The Self-Denying Ordinance — it is convenient to , i • -, Progress of use the name by which it was ultimately known — the seif- was passed rapidly through the preliminary stages. orSfce. On December 18 it was proposed in committee to ^ T-i j? • • -i -Dec. 18. except Lssex from its operation; and, though the Essex not tO D6 CX— on which no fast was ever appointed. It is likely enough that political £?ptfe.d f™m sermons were preached on it, but some other evidence than Clarendon's nance" '" blundering account is needed to show that they anticipated Cromwell's speech rather than Tate's. Unless they did there would be nothing to show premeditation on Cromwell's part. Clarendon was, as far as Lon don was concerned, at the mercy of Oxford gossip. It may be noted that Rushworth (vi. 3) says that the House 'took into consideration the sad condition of the kingdom/ after which it went into committee. Neither the journals nor any other authority gives sanction to this statement, which was probably found by Rushworth in some ill-informed pamphlet. ^ ' Those who hold the contrary opinion have, I think, been uncon sciously influenced by a confusion between the terms of the first and second Self-Denying Ordinances. Here, as in everything else, there is nothing which clears up difficulties so much as a strict attention to chronology. 32 THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. CHAP.XXIII. 1644 Dec. 19. The Cove nant not to be required of officers. The Self- Denying Ordinance laid aside by the Lords. The militarysituation. motion was rejected, it was only lost by a majority of seven. A similar fate attended a proposal that no one should be employed who refused to take the Covenant or to promise submission ' to such govern ment and discipline in the Church as shall be settled by both Houses of Parliament upon advice with the Assembly of Divines.' Military proficiency was to take precedence of ecclesiastical propriety. On Decem ber 19 the Ordinance without further alteration was sent up to the Lords.1 On the question of military organisation Crom well had thus gained a commanding position in the House of Commons. It was purchased by the aban donment of all criticism upon the conduct of the negotiations with the King, and upon the neglect which had befallen the order adopted at his motion in September for the accommodation of the differences between the Presbyterian and the Independent divines. No skill or self-sacrifice of Cromwell's could win the House of Lords to his side. The Peers justly regarded the proposed Ordinance as directed against themselves, and for some time they quietly laid it aside as threatening the rights and privileges of their order. They might have known that a pohcy of mere resist ance would avail them little, and that their position in the State was threatened, not so much because their authority was questioned, as because they had shown themselves incompetent guides alike in the council and in the field. It is possible that the Lords were encouraged in their resistance by the knowledge that, in spite of the failures at Lostwithiel and Newbury, the military situation was by no means desperate. In September Lord Herbert of Cherbury, whose philosophic religion ' C.J. iii. 726. THE MILITARY SITUATION. 3; would have been equally denounced by the divines chap. of Oxford and by the divines of Westminster, and in whom the vaingloriousness of youth had passed in sensibly into the valetudinarian timidity of age, sur rendered Montgomery Castle to the Parhamentary sept. Mont- lastle sur- to commander, Sir Thomas Middleton. On September „, 1 8 an attempt made by Lord Byron and Sir Michael ^"ered Ernely to regain the fortress was signally defeated ^j*" by a combination of Parliamentary forces under the Sept. 18. command of Sir John Meldrum. The gate of the to^etuteit upper valley of the Severn thus remained in Parlia- fails" mentary keeping, and the brilliant and versatile owner spent the remainder of his days as a pensioner of that Parliament with which he was in little sympathy, but which at least appeared to be stronger than its opponents. Middleton was left behind to secure the fruits of T„nTe sie^e of Liver- Victory. Meldrum had other work on. hand. Por p°o!- some time previously he had been engaged in the siege of Liverpool, whither he hurried back in order to be on the spot to receive the surrender of the town. On November 1 , when the place was no longer capable Nnv- •¦¦ of resistance, the English soldiers of the garrison render. deserted in a body to Meldrum, while the Irish who were left behind, fearing that they would receive no quarter, seized their officers, and, offering them as prisoners to the Parhamentary commander, completed the surrender.1 The Irish soldiers were only just in time in bar- Oct. 24. gaining for their lives. There was one point on a^t'the which English parties were unanimous, and on Irish' October 24 an ordinance had been passed directing 1 Rushw. 747. The later part of the life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury has been carefully traced by Mr. S. L. Lee, in his edition of Lord Herbert's Autobiography. II. D 34 THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap, that every Irishman taken either at sea or on land in - — , — '-* England or Wales should be put to death without 1 44 mercy.1 Meldrum, however, had consented to spare the lives of the Irish soldiers at Liverpool before this murderous command had been notified to him. sept. Important as was the capture of Montgomery and Taunton?0 Liverpool, the maintenance of Taunton was of even greater importance. When the King's army, after its success at Lostwithiel, swept in triumph over the West, Taunton alone amongst the inland towns refused to acknowledge defeat. There Avas a stout Puritan spirit within its walls, and its governor was the lion- hearted Blake, who had contributed so powerfully to the defence of Lyme. After the weakness of the Parliamentary armies had been demonstrated by the operations round Newbury, grave anxiety was felt at Westminster for the safety of this isolated post, the more so as its continued resistance would give em ployment to royalist forces which might otherwise be available for Charles's next campaign in central England. Waller was therefore ordered early in Nov. e. November to send a detachment to its rehef.2 Wal- W aller -i -t ordered to ler, however, was too fully employed to allow him relieve i Taunton, to carry out these orders, and the promised help was long delayed. It was not till December that Major-General Holborn was directed to push west wards through Dorset towards Taunton. s^ In accomplishing this task Holborn had the assist- Mu!yy ance of a man who, whatever he chose to do, did it cooper. with all his might> gir Anthony Asllley Cooper, a young man of wealth and position in the county of 1643-3: Dorset, had just come of age when the Civil War xie remains X-. "I 4. tt • /» neutral at Drone out. lie was, if any man ever was, a born ninVofthe party leader. As a lad at Oxford he had headed a war. 1 L.J. vii. 34. 2 The Com. of B. K. to Waller, Nov. 6. Com. Letter Book. SIR ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER. 35 revolt of the freshmen of Exeter College against the chap. ... XXIII custom which prescribed submission to the indignity ¦ — , — '-* of having their chins skinned by the older under- l 43 graduates, and of swallowing a compulsory draught of a nauseous compound of salt and water. He had subsequently headed another revolt against an attempt made by the College authorities to weaken the under graduates' beer.1 Such a youth, it might be thought, would have been amongst the first to take arms on one side or the other when the war broke out, especially as he happened to be accidentally present at Nottingham ontheday on which theKing's standard was raised. Yet he returned unmoved to his own county, and during the first months of the war remained quietly at home. If Cooper's neutrality is to be judged in the light His of his later career, it may be thought probable that motives6 his vehement spirit was held in check by his want of sympathy with the enthusiasms of either party. Pugna cious as he was, he could not find either in Puritanism or in its opposite a fitting cause for taking up arms. His was the zeal for an ordered .secular freedom, which counted as impertinence the claims of presbyter or bishop to interfere in temporal affairs, and it is, therefore, little wonder that he should have felt dis inclined to side with either. It was impossible for any man of Cooper's position Hi3l643 to maintain neutrality long. The invasion of his R™.^9"ny county by the Eoyalists after the battle of Boundway Down compelled him to take a side. The example of his neighbours, and perhaps the fact that the Parlia mentary party was the more distinctly religious of the two, decided his course for him. He raised a regiment for the King, and was appointed Governor of Wey mouth and Portland. Yet he remained a Boyalist 1 Christie's Life of Shaftesbury, i. 17. v 2 36 THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap, for little more than six months. In January 1 644, 3x}nl, abandoning all his earthly possessions, he presented 1644 himself at Westminster as a convert to the Parlia- He goes over to the mentary faith. P 1 rl i s.- ment. It may fairly be believed that, in making this di=cussedVe3 change, Cooper was in the main actuated by con scientious motives. Much as he distrusted presby ters and bishops, he distrusted the Pope still more ; and Charles's attempts to strengthen himself with the aid of the French Catholics had disquieted others be sides the young baronet. In his own words, he had become fully satisfied 'that there was no intention of that side for the promoting or preserving of the Pro testant religion and the liberties of the kingdom.' Yet it does not follow that a sense of personal shght did not mingle with more public sentiments in his breast. In the preceding August Charles had written to Hert ford signifying his intention of conferring on Cooper the governorship of Weymouth, and, after speaking of him in slighting terms as a youth without experience in war, had suggested that he should be induced to resign the post after a brief tenure.1 If, as there is strong reason to believe, Cooper's resignation was already demanded before the end of the year, he would be hkely to take deep offence even though the stately glories of the peerage might be offered as a sop to his wounded vanity. He imagined himself capable of rising to distinction in active hfe, and he can hardly have been well pleased with the prospect of hanging about Oxford as the useless ornament of a discredited court.2 1 The King to Hertford, Aug. 10. Christie, i. 45, 2 The whole subject has been discussed by Christie (i 40-53) in a sense favourable to Cooper. The feeling about the grant of a peerage as no consolation for the loss of military position, which I have supposed to be that of Cooper, was undoubtedly that of Gerard under similar circum- THE STORMING OF ABBOTSBURY. Z7 Whatever Cooper's motives may have been, he chap. threw himself with all possible energy on the side which he had now adopted. On August 3 he was ^JA appointed to the command of a brigade, and took an ^e ^in active part in the reduction of Wareham. He was brigade at . Wareham, then placed on the committee by which Dorset was governed, and in September was appointed to the Sept. chief command of the forces of the county. During at the head • D of the the remainder of the autumn he took an active part Dorsetshire in the local operations. His most distinguished success was the storming of Sir John Strangways' fortified house at Abbotsbury. Yet it was owing to no merit of his own that the blackened walls of Abbotsbury did not stand up as the monument of his shame. It is the glory of our Civil War that the stern laws of war which aUowed the conqueror to put to the sword a garrison which had once refused quarter were rarely put in practice. If exceptions to the merciful custom of England undoubtedly existed, His in- Cooper stands out as the one commander who boast- cruelty at fully recorded that, with no plea of necessity to urge, bUbry°ts~ he had commanded that, after the house which he attacked was ablaze, quarter should be refused, and the gallant soldiers, whose only crime was that they had manfully performed their duty, should be thrust back into the flames to perish by a death of torture. Fortunately, his subordinates were too enured to the stances in the following autumn. Of one piece of evidence showing that Cooper was actually dismissed Mr. Christie was not aware. There is a letter from Cooper to Hyde, written from Weymouth on Dec. 29, 1643 (Clarendon MSS. 1,734), in which he asks permission to leave the county. If he had still been Governor of Weymouth he would either not have requested leave of absence or would have added reasons for so doing. The rest of the letter is filled with complaints of the low state of the King's affairs in Dorset, from which it may be gathered that he considered Charles's cause in the county to be almost hopeless. 3S CHAP. XXIII. 1644 AccompaniesHolborn. Dec. 14. Taunton relieved. Cooper'spart in the success. THE FIRST SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chances of military life to be carried away, like their young commander, by the excitement of the strife, and Colonel Sydenham, riding hurriedly round to the back-door, admitted the garrison to quarter.1 When Holborn moved through Dorset on his way to Taunton, Cooper was put in charge of the con tingent drawn from the garrisons on the Dorsetshire coast to accompany the expedition.2 On December 14 the relieving force reached Taunton, and, having scattered the besiegers before them, threw in the necessary supplies. Cooper's fertility of resource and his hold upon the men of Dorset must have been of the utmost use to Holborn. So completely indeed does he seem to have taken the upper hand, that it was by him and not by Holborn that the despatch announcing the success of the enterprise was penned.6 In a diary written about two years afterwards — apparently, it is true, without any thought of publi cation — he audaciously claimed for himself the title of commander-in-chief of the expedition. Whatever may have been the respective merits of 1 Cooper to the Committee of Dorset. Christie, i. 62. 2 Mr. Christie (i. 72) mates him commander-in-chief of the whole force on the ground of Cooper's distinct statement ' in his thoroughly reliable autobiographical sketch.' Certainly Cooper's statement is distinct enough. He says that he ' received orders to attempt the relief of Taunton, and a commission from . . . the Earl of Essex to command in chief for that design, which, having received the addition of some forces, under the com mand of Major-General Holborn . . . was . . . happily effected' (Christie, i. App. xxxi.). That this assertion is not ' thoroughly reliable ' appears from Essex's commission (Shaftesbury Papers, R.O. ii. 46), which ap points him commander-in-chief, but only over the troops drawn from the garrisons of Weymouth, Wareham, and Poole. Essex adds that Cooper is to obey orders 'from myself, both Houses of Parliament, or the Serjeant Major General of the Western Counties.' The latter person is, of course, Holborn, and Cooper's assertion is thus disposed of. 3 Cooper to Essex, Dec. 1 5. Christie, i. 72. The date of the relief of Taunton is supplied from D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. 166, fol. 169b. Compare Perfect Passages. E. 22, 7. of the relief of Taunton. THE RELIEF OF TAUNTON. 39 the commanders, the importance of the work per- chap. formed by them was beyond dispute. It was not - - - - merely that they had given fresh vigour to Blake and Imi?ortance his gallant crew. It might well be that Taunton would play the part in the operations of 1645 which had been played by Hull in the operations of 1643. Local feeling was as strong in Somerset as it had been in Yorkshire, and if Taunton could hold out, its resistance could hardly fail to detain for local purposes those western levies on which the King was counting. Charles must have been the more pro voked as the place was not one before which failure was to be expected. It had no regular fortifications, and it was from behind wooden palings and earth works thrown up on the emergency that Blake had bidden defiance to his assailants.1 1 «i 'It is almost a miracle," wrote Cooper in the letter just quoted, " that they should adventure to keep the town, their works being for the most part but pales and hedges, and no line about the town." 40 CHAPTER XXIV. THE EXECUTION OF AECHBISHOP LAUD. CHAP. XXIV. 1644 Dec. 17. The nego tiation with the King.A letter from Charles. Dec. 20. Negotiations to be opened. Dec. 28. Instructions to be drawn up. Amidst the strife of armies and of parties the nego tiation with the King dragged slowly on. On Decem ber 17, two days before the Self-Denying Ordinance passed through the Commons, Richmond and South ampton appeared at Westminster as the bearers of a letter in which Charles requested the Houses to appoint commissioners to agree upon reasonable terms of peace with others named by himself.1 The proposal was accepted on the 20th, but an excuse was found for sending the two peers back to Ox ford, to hinder them from placing themselves in communication with the London Royalists.2 In spite of the opposition of the Lords, who wished that the instructions to be given to the Parhamentary com missioners should be referred to a joint committee of the two Houses, the Commons succeeded in referring them to the Committee of Both Kingdoms, which was not likely to frame them in any more conciliatory spirit than they had shown in framing the propositions.3 It was, in truth, of very little importance whether the little knot of twelve or thirteen peers which now 1 L.J. vii. 103 ; C.J. iii. 726. 3 L.J. vii. 113, 116; C.J. iii. 731; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 181b. a See p. 13, LAUD AT THE BAR. 41 made up the House of Lords succeeded in softening chap. the terms which were to be offered to the King, -^— They were themselves engaged upon a work which March ia_ made reconciliation with him almost absolutely hope- T™j£»f of less. Week after week during the spring and early {J*^- summer of the year which was now passing away, Archbishop Laud had stood at their bar to listen to the voluminous evidence of treason which had been elaborated by Prynne, and which was now adduced against him by a committee of the House of Commons. Reiterated attempts were made to show that the old man had deliberately attempted to change the re ligion estabhshed by law, and even to subvert the law itself. It is unnecessary once more to argue here that, in one sense, the charge was historically true, and that, in another sense, it was historically false. Nor is it needful to inquire whether, even if the worst construction of Laud's conduct be made, his case was a fitting one to submit to a judicial tribunal. The Lords who formed that tribunal ne glected to preserve even the semblance of judicial impartiality. They strolled in and out of the House as fancy took them, and it was seldom that, with the exception of the Speaker, Lord Grey of Wark, any single peer who had listened to the accusation in the morning thought it worth while to remain in his place to hear the answer given in the afternoon.1 Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that The case of modern opinion, unfavourable as it has been to the ^with Archbishop, should have been stiU more unfavourable Stafford to his accusers. Why, it is said, should they not " have aUowed an old man who, if not innocent, was at least harmless, to descend into the grave in peace ? 1 History of the troubles and trial, Laud's Works, iv. 49, i2 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. chap. Between the cases of Laud and Strafford, it has been . XX1V- . urged, there was no similarity. Strafford had been 1644 put to death, not so much because he had been criminal as because he had been dangerous. No one could say that Laud was personally dangerous. His death would not check by one hair's-breadth the onward march of the royal army. Yet if the object of the Commons had been to mark with a sentence of infamy for example's sake the root of the evils under which they had suffered, it is hard to say that they were in the wrong in singling out Laud as their victim. Strafford had offered his brain and arm to establish a system which would have been the negation of political liberty. Laud had sought to train up a generation in habits of thought which would have extinguished aU desire for pohtical liberty. Strafford's power was hke a passing storm ; Laud's like a stony torrent from the mountain flank on which no verdure can grow. Laud's in- To give every man his due, it must be remembered not^ue?- that whilst the Independents probably shared the thTpreX- modern feehng that Laud was intolerant, the charge terians. Qf mtoierance COunted but little against him in the eyes of the Presbyterians. It is true that, if Laud had been intolerant, the majority in the two Houses were no less intolerant. If he had striven to suppress religious liberty, so did they. If he had attempted to force the whole of the English Church into an Episcopalian mould, they were attempting to force it into a Presbyterian mould. In truth, the charge which was brought against him was not that he was intolerant, but that he was an innovator. Yet here, too, his accusers appear to have been no less guilty Hisinno- than himself. What innovation can have been attacked, greater than the overthrow of episcopacy, and the WHO WERE THE INNOVATORS ? 43 substitution of extempore devotions for the Book of chap. Common Prayer ? Yet it is certain that the Presby- —^- terians in Parliament and Assembly would have been the last to admit the charge which, in our eyes, is fatal to their claim to sit in judgment upon Laud. They held that, whilst Laud's changes had been in contradiction with the spirit of the English Church, "£%**£ theirs were no more than the development of its hold that x , . they are no truest life. Nothing was further from their minds innovators. than to estabhsh a new church in the place of an old one. They were, as they firmly believed, but dealing with the historic Church of England as their fathers had dealt with it a century before. As one genera tion had rid itself of the Papacy and the Mass, another generation was ridding itself of episcopacy and the Prayer-Book. In their eyes, Laud's crime was that he had gone backwards, and their own virtue that they were willing to go forwards. With no feeling of injustice, therefore, in their hearts, the Commons pushed the charges home. On October n, the evidence on matters of fact Oct. n. having been exhausted, Laud's counsel was heard on counsel points of law. As in Strafford's case, the obvious points of argument was urged that, whatever the Archbishop might have done, he had not committed treason under the Statute of Edward IH.1 It is not unlikely that the argument had some influence on the Peers, always exposed more than others to impeachments for treason, and having amongst their number those who were unwilling to exasperate the King at a time when it was proposed to open negotiations with him. So apparent was the hesitation of the Lords, that the Archbishop's enemies resolved at last to 1 Laud's Works, iv. 386. law. 44 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. CHAP. xxiv. 1644 Oct. 28. A London petition. Oct. 31. An Ordi nance of Attainder. Nov. 22. Its dis cussion by the Lords. Nov. 28. A message to the Lords. Dec. 17. The Lords agree to the ordi nance in matter of fact. threaten a renewal of that popular pressure which had proved so effective in Strafford's case, and on October 28 a petition for the execution of Laud and Wren, having been largely signed in London, was presented to the Commons. On the 31st the Com mons, waiving their impeachment, resolved to pro ceed, as they had done in Strafford's case, by an Ordinance of Attainder, which, however, was not sent up to the Lords till November 22. On the 28th, though only six days had elapsed, the Commons lost patience, and bade the Lords execute justice on a dehnquent so notorious. " The eyes of the country and City," said Strode, who bore the message, " being upon this business, the expedition of it will prevent the demanding of justice by multitudes." 1 " Is this," asked Essex indignantly, " the liberty which we promised to maintain with our blood? ShaU pos terity say that to save them from the yoke of the King we have placed them under the yoke of the populace ? " 2 The House itself returned a dignified answer 3 in defence of its own independence ; but it had no strong ground of reason on which to fall back on the main question at issue. The Lords, therefore, could but interpose a brief delay. On December 1 7 they voted that the ordinance might be accepted as true in matter of fact,4 that is to say, that Laud had reaUy endeavoured to subvert the fundamental laws, to alter religion as by law estabhshed, and to subvert 1 L.J. vii. 76. Whitacre (Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 176) says that the word < multitudes ' was introduced by Strode without authority. 2 Agostini to the Doge, Dec. £. Yen. Transcripts, R O 3 L.J. vii. 76. * Laud (Worlcs, vi. 416) says that though there were twenty Lords present on the day before, only sixteen took part in the vote on the 17th. The journals give twenty-two and twenty respectively, but some may have left the House before the end of the sitting. CONFLICT BETWEEN THE HOUSES. 45 the rights of Parliaments. Of the arguments used on ^hap. both sides little is known, but it is said that Pern- l6'44 broke supported his denunciation of Laud with reasoning which, if it meant anything at all, implied something not far short of Papal infallibility in the House of Commons. " What," he said, " shall we think the House of Commons had no conscience in passing this ordinance ? Yes, they knew well enough what they did." x No one, indeed, expected wisdom to flow from the lips of Pembroke. It might be thought that, with the decision of ™el0ngrthe their own House in Strafford's case before them, the Jnren|^onf Lords, having once settled the question of fact, would tion of law- have speedily proceeded to settle the question of law by qualifying Laud's action as treasonable. With them, however, resistance was an affair of feehng and passion rather than of argument. On December 19, only two days after their first vote on the Ordinance of Attainder had been taken, the Self-Denying Ordi nance was brought up from the House of Commons, and its appearance was sure to increase the irritation of the Peers. With the two Houses in such a temper, questions Sentences which at other times might have been disposed of Court without difficulty were certain to lead to a conflict between them. Occasion for ill-will was now fur nished by a series of condemnations pronounced by the Court Martial out of the hands of which Edmund Waller had narrowly escaped with his life.2 No one, indeed, was found to take up the case of Sir Alex ander Carew, who was executed on December 2 3 for Dec- ?3- . . . -,-.., , . Execution his attempt to betray rlymouth to the enemy.d It of sir a. was otherwise with Sir John Hotham, who had been 1 Laud's Works, vi. 416. * See vol. i. p. 490. 3 See vol. i. p. 244. Curew. 46 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. CHAP. XXIV. 1644 Dec. 7. Sir J. Hotham sentenced. Dec. 24. CaptainHotham sentenced.Father and son. Dec. 31. The Lords extend the reprieve. sentenced to death on December 7. On the 24th his son, Captain Hotham, was sentenced to the same fate, though he had done his best to throw the blame of his own misconduct upon his father's orders.1 There was a general belief that the Houses would be con tent with a single victim, and the friends of Sir John, who were numerous among the Presbyterians,2 were anxious that he should not be that victim.3 It was at their instance that the trial of the son had been hurried on, and it was again at their instance that on December 24, as soon as the sentence on the younger Hotham was known, the Lords requested the Com mons to grant a reprieve to the father till January 6, in the hope that before the time of the reprieve had expired the son, whose execution was fixed for Janu ary 2, might be no longer alive. The Commons indeed granted the reprieve, but they absolutely refused to extend their favour beyond December 31. When that day arrived the Lords, without consulting the other House, ordered execution to be respited for four days more, and on the morning of January 1, 1 Rushxo. v. 798-802. 2 Cromwell acted as teller in two divisions (on Dec. 24 and 30) against reprieving Sir John. C.J. iii. 734 ; iv. 4. 3 In the long account of the affair of the Hothams in the Clarendon State Papers, ii. 181, the whole of the manoeuvre to save Sir John at the expense of his son is attributed to the friends of the elder prisoner, and the name of Hugh Peters is not even mentioned. Clarendon, who had this paper before him, throws the blame on Hugh Peters, who, being sent as chaplain to prepare them for death, told them ' that there was no pur pose to take away both their lives, but that the death of one of them would suffice, which put either of them to use all the inventions and devices he could to save himself; and so the father aggravated the faults of the son, and the son as carefully inveighed against the father.' This may be a mere piece of Oxford gossip ; but, even if it is true, it does not tell against Hugh Peters. He may very well have known, what seems to have been a matter of common talk, that both were not to die and it was no fault of his if, by conveying the information, he set them on mutual accusations. THE TWO HOTHAMS. 47 when Sir John was led out to die, the order of the chap. Peers for his reprieve was handed to Alderman Pen- - — ->— — - nington, who now acted as Lieutenant of the Tower. jan. i. The unfortunate man was restored to his prison, returned to being not without difficulty snatched from the hands the To,ver" of the infuriated multitude who had come to witness his execution.At this proceeding of the Peers the Commons naturally took umbrage. If the younger Hotham had ever any chance of escape — and he had freely offered io,oooL as the price of his hfe, as Waller had done before him — all hope was now at an end. On the 2nd he was beheaded on Tower Hill. In order Jan. 2. to secure obedience in future to the sentences of the of captain Court Martial, the Commons issued instructions to all ministers of justice warning them against paying attention to reprieves issued by a single House. On the 3rd Sir John was once more taken to execution. 17Jan.3- •J Execution After he had mounted the scaffold it was observed of Sir John. that he spent an unusually long time in prayer, and it was maliciously suggested that the prolongation of his devotions was owing to a lingering hope that the Peers might again intervene in his favour. The Lords, however, did not venture to repeat their audacious step, and Sir John followed his son to a blood-stained grave, unpitied alike by either party.1 The Lords asserted their independence in the only way open to refuse to s them. The ordinance establishing a court of martial orafnances law expired on January 2, and on the following day hw!""1"1 they rejected the request of the Commons to revive it.2 1 L.J. vii. 118 ; C.J. iii. 734, iv. 4-7. Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 183; Merc. Cfo., E. 24, 9; Pari. Scout, E. 24, 10. WL™ Pontefract Castle was taken in the following summer, fresh evidence against the Hothams was discovered. A new discovery of hidden secrets. E. 267, 2. 3 L.J. vii. i2i. 43 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. CHAP. XX1V. 1645 Plan for uuiiing the Houses. Jan 2. The Com mons' argument against Laud. Jan. 4. The Ordi nance of Attainderpassed. Jan. 7. A pardon tenderedand re jected. During the ensuing year ordinances were passed from time to time giving the power to execute martial law to the commanders of armies under special cir cumstances ; but it was not till the spring of 1646 that a court with authority to judge by martial law was re-established in London.1 In refusing to renew the ordinance for martial law the Peers had exhausted their power of resistance. Constitutional scruples were not likely to stand in the way of those who now led the Commons, should the Peers persist in their attempt to save Laud from the scaffold. For some days a plan had been freely discussed for rendering them innocuous by uniting the Houses in one body after the fashion of a Scottish parliament.2 One more appeal, however, was first made to their reason or their fears. On the 2nd a conference was held on the subject of Laud's attainder. The Commons boldly urged that there were treasons by the common law which were not treasons by statute ; and that, even if this rule did not apply to the case in question, Parliament had the right of declaring any crimes it pleased to be treasonable. On January 4 the resistance of the Lords was at last brought to an end, and their as sent to the Ordinance of Attainder was given in due form.3 Before the sentence could be carried out Laud made an effort, which he could hardly have expected to be successful, to save his life. He tendered a par- 1 L.J. viii. 252. * Letter from London, Jan. T25, Arch, des Affaires Etr. li. fol. 223 ; Salvetti to Gondi, Jan. &, Add. MSS. 27,962 K, fol. 392b; Agostini to the Doge, Jan. j»s, Ven. Transcripts, R.O. 3 The extracts from the journals relating to the proceedings against Laud are conveniently collected in the notes to his History of the troubles and trial, Lauds Works, iv. 384-425. LAUD ON THE SCAFFOLD. 49 don from the King, sealed as long ago as in April 1643. xxiv Upon its rejection, he asked that the usual penalty of ' — TT"" the gallows, with its accompanying butchery, might Laud's re- be commuted for the more merciful axe. Though his hemay'be request was backed by the Lords, the Commons not refused? only rejected it, but rejected it without a division. Presbyterians and Independents were of one mind in the bitterness of their hatred to Laud. Yet even in this case night brought counsel, and on the 8th the j™. 8. easy concession to humanity was made. Laud had mateV" already asked that three divines of his own selection glun might accompany him at the last scene. The Commons struck out two of the names, substituting for them those of two Puritan ministers in whose pious exhor tations they could confide.1 On the morning of the 10th the old man who had jan. ,0. once seemed to hold the destinies of the Church of Eng- exe'ctui.,.,. land in his hand prepared for his death. "I was born and baptized in the bosom of the Church of England," he asserted once more on the scaffold : " in that pro fession I have ever since lived, and in that I come now to die. This is no time to dissemble with God, least of all in matters of religion ; and therefore I desire it may be remembered I have always lived in the Protestant religion established in England, and in that I come now to die. What clamours and slan ders I have endured for the labouring to keep an uniformity in the external service of God according to the doctrine and discipline of the Church all men know, and I have abundantly felt." Then, in pray ing for himself, he prayed for the land of his birth Laud's last as well. " 0 Lord," he cried, "I beseech thee give pra->er" 1 L.J. vii. 127, 128; C.J. iv. 12, 13. II. E 50 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. chap, grace of repentance to all bloodthirsty people ; but ¦ — . — ^ if they will not repent, 0 Lord, confound their devices . . . contrary to the glory of Thy great name, the truth and sincerity of religion, the estab lishment of the King and his posterity after him in their just rights and privueges, the honour and con servation of Parliaments in their just power, the preservation of this poor Church in her truth, peace, and patrimony, and the settlement of this distracted people under their ancient laws, and in their native liberty." Troublesome questioners attempted to in terrupt the last moments of the dying man with inquiries into the basis of his religion, but, after vain endeavours to satisfy their importunity, he laid his head on the block. '"Lord, receive my soul," he cried. The words were preconcerted with the executioner as the sign that he was to do his duty. The axe fell and all was over.1 Fruit of Little as those who sent Laud to the block teaching, imagined it, there was a fruitful seed in his teaching which was not to be smothered in blood. If the Church of England was never again to assume a , position of authority independent of Parliament, and if the immediate object for which Laud had striven — uniformity' of worship for all subjects of the Crown- could never be permanently realised, his nobler aims were too much in accordance with the needs of his age to be altogether baffled. It is little that' every parish church in the land still — two centuries and a half after the years in which he was at the height of power— presents a spectacle which realises his hopes. It is far more that his refusal to submit his mind to the dogmatism of Puritanism, and his appeal to 1 Heyly"n, Qi/prianus Anglicus, 527. PAROCHIAL PRESBYTERIANISM. 51 the cultivated intelligence for the solution of religious chap. problems, has received an ever-increasing response, - — . — ^- even in regions in which his memory is devoted to l 45 contemptuous obloquy. For the moment those* who had been most bitter against Laud were the heirs of his errors. Whilst the Archbishop was preparing for death, Parhament was giving its assent, to a scheme for erecting a uni formity as absolute as that which it had censured when proceeding from him. Oh January 4 the Lords ThJeaDi^c finally accepted the Commons' amendments to the t<»yt?be J i- established. ordinance which was to declare the Book of Common Prayer . abolished for ever, and to set up in its place • a Directory of Worship after the most approved type of Puritanism.1 Parliament and Assembly were now face to face with the grave question of the enforce ment of uniformity. . The Dissenting Brethren, in deed, with whom the championship of liberty rested in the Assembly, had already thrown away what chance they ever had of convincing those to whom they appealed. On December 23 their arguments D^4 against the establishment of Presbyterianism were ^/f,''"16'1'9 produced before the House of Commons ; but they Dissenting proved to be so voluminous that the House sarcastic ally ordered that no more than- three hundred of their reasons should be* printed. On the main ques tion the House was decidedly against them. The Paroehi.ii . * and congre- basis on which ordinary Presbyterianism rested was national J ,. . ... . Presbv- parochial. Every person living within certain geo- terianism. graphical limits was to take his place in the parochial organisation, and to submit to the parochial authori ties. Each parish was to take part in the choice of 1 representatives to sit in the superior assemblies of the 1 LJ. vi. 121, 125 ; Rushw. v. 839. 52 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. chap. Presbytery or of the national Church, and no ecclesi- XXIV. . astical community except that of the parish was to 45 be allowed to exist. It was now urged on behalf of the Dissenting Brethren that the basis of the Presby terianism to be established should be congregational ; that is to say, that, in addition - to the parochial churches, there should be a toleration of congrega tions voluntarily formed by persons hving in different parishes, and that such congregations should be ex empted from parochial jurisdiction, but should be sub ordinated to presbytery and assembly, to which larger gatherings they were to send their representatives.1 The scheme thus proposed was one which, at least for a time, might have bridged over the gulf which separated the two Puritan parties. Neither of them, however, would have anything to say to it. It was too lax for the Presbyterians, too strict for Jan. 6-13. the more pronounced Independents. On January 6 parochial of its acceptance was negatived without a division. On ErianTsm. ^e 1 3tn tne House gave its assent to the ordinary Presbyterian system by a resolution that parochial congregations should be combined in groups under presbyteries, though as yet it did not proceed to Jan. 2. embody its resolution in an ordinance.2 Outside the Pp^e'a House Prynne was clamouring in a pamphlet which Triumph- bore the name of Truth Triumphing for the complete establishment of the ecclesiastical discipline fore shadowed in this vote, and for the absolute suppres sion of all heresies and schisms whatsoever. The Pres- Though the motives of the Independent members bytenan r .r -v a- • • organisa- lor tailing to offer opposition in the House to a vote relisted by which seemed to crush their hopes can only be the In- r J dependents Hot" ' °J- iiL 733 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,1 16, fol. 181b. C.J. 111, 733, iv. 12 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,1 16, fol. i8ih, 1 86b. JOHN LILBURNE. 53 matter of conjecture, it is probable that they pre- otap. ferred to take their stand on a wider and more '-;' complete toleration than would have satisfied the Dissenting Brethren, and that they thought it wiser to allow the establishment of the Presbyterian organisation to take its course whilst reserving to themselves the right to plead at some future day the cause of such as sought to worship entirely outside it. As the Parliamentary Independents were far in advance of the Independent members of the Assembly, they were in turn outstripped by men who in the army or elsewhere pushed the doctrine of individual liberty to the extreme. Of these men the mouthpiece was John LUburne, who had been a fellow-sufferer ^1dburna with Prynne in the days of Laud's supremacy, and Prynna. who, with aU Prynne's doggedness, possessed the power, which Prynne never had, of presenting his arguments in such a way as to impress themselves upon the vulgar understanding. The two men were in fact opposed to one another by their whole habits of thought. Prynne was the narrowest of conservatives, Lilburne the most extreme of revolutionists ; more dangerous, it might seem, than Milton, because he dwelt in the world of action rather than in the world of thought. To Prynne the very notion of individual liberty was hateful. Lilburne was so enamoured of it that he advocated something like the negation of law. Prynne regarded the ancestral rights of Englishmen as fully safeguarded if improper opinions were suppressed by Parhament instead of being suppressed by the Star Chamber and the High Commission. Lilburne had come with no less vehe mence to the conclusion that it was the birthright of every Englishman to refuse obedience to the law whenever it commanded him to do anything to which 54 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. CHAP. XXIV. 1645 Jan. 7. Lilburne'sLetter to Prynne. he had a conscientious objection. In his reply to Prynne's Truth Triumphing, he explained that it had been his original intention merely to inform him that he ' did err, not knowing the Scriptures.' He now found it necessary to be more explicit. " Being," l he continued, " that you and the Black-coats in the synod have not dealt fairly with your antagonists in stopping the press against us while things are in debate, yea, robbing us of our hberty ... in time of freedom, when the Parliament is sitting, who are sufficiently able to punish that man, whatsoever he be, that shall abuse his pen,2 so that while we are, with the hazard of our dearest lives, fighting for the subjects' liberty, we are brought into Egyptian bonds . . . by the Black-coats . . . and, truly, it argues no man hood nor valour in you nor the Black-coats by force to throw us down and tie our hands, and then to fall upon us and buffet us ; 3 for, if you had not been willing to have fought with us upon equal terms, namely, that the press might be open for us as for you, and as it was at the beginning of this Parliament, which I conclude the Parliament did on purpose that so the free-born English subjects might enjoy their liberty and privilege." This lengthy sentence never came clearly to an end, but Lilburne finally announced 1 ' Being ' is a word frequently used in the seventeenth century where we should use ' seeing.' 2 The anonymous author of Inquiries into the causes of our miseries (see p. 1 2) was ready to impose some limitations on the liberty of print ing. " Truly," he writes, after saying that truth and reason were the old licensers, " my spirit could never go forth with any other way of licensing, or midwifing such births as are books into the world, . . . and, if so be our conceptions and births want either one or both, let the parent smart for his lie, and be fast locked in Bedlam till he recover his wits again : and if he be libellous, as too many are, let his own place, the pillory, instruct him to better manners, but if he hath blasphemed God ... let him die.'7 3 This is almost a reproduction of Bastwick's language in the Star Chamber. THE PAYMENT OF TITHES QUESTIONED. 55 his readiness to argue that no Parliament or any chap. earthly authority had any jurisdiction over the - -XX,IY- kingdom of God, and that persecution for conscience' l645 sake is of the devil. He would concede to Parha ment the right to establish a State church if it pleased, but he refused to allow that he could be compelled to pay tithes in its support. Such pay ment, he affirmed, would ' be a greater snare than the Common Prayer to many of the precious consciences of God's people, whose duty is, in my judgment, to die in a prison before they act or stoop unto so dishonourable a thing as this is to their Lord and Master, as to maintain the Black-coats with tithes, whom they look upon as the professed enemies of their annointed Christ.'1 Some sympathy may be due even to the ' Black- importance coats ' if they were afraid of the consequences of bume's Lilburne's doctrine that his conscience was to be the view9- measure of his obedience to the law. ' Freeborn John,' as he was nicknamed — from his persistent appeal to the rights of the ' freeborn Englishman,' whom he supposed to have derived from the medieval law a claim to almost unfettered liberty, may fairly be regarded as a rough unpolished successor of Eliot in the ranks of those who have shown that, alongside of those precursors of human progress who think imaginatively, there is a place for those who dare to suffer rather than bend before injustice. Lilburne in the course of his career was, indeed, in prisons oft, and it is easy to condemn him as a fanatic who suffered on behalf of opinions which, even when they were true, were exaggerated by him out of all proportion to their value. The fact of his readi- 1 Copy of a Letter. E. 24, 22. 56 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. CHAP. XXIV. 1644 Lilburne as > et not u private j'ciyun. Nov. 28. Commis sion to reduce Lynn. Dec. 28. L'Estrange sentenced, 1645. Jan. 1. and re prieved. 1644. Nov.-Uec. Uigby's negotiation with Urowne. ness to suffer was — irrespective of the causes of his suffering — the offering which he had to make to a generation which was striving to break the bonds which law and custom had imposed on the energies of the individual. At the time Lilburne's utterances were regarded with special apprehension. He was not merely a private enthusiast. He was Lieutenant-Colonel Lil burne in the army of the Eastern Association, and there was a strong probability that men who shared his views would have even more influence over the soldiery than they had hitherto possessed. Upon these conflicts, pohtical and rehgious, Charles founded his hopes. Having faUed to capture the fortresses of the enemy by open attack, he had lately been attempting to use treachery with equal iU-success. On November 28 he issued a commission to young Eoger L'Estrange to reduce the town of Lynn with the co-operation of the inhabitants. L'Estrange, who offered money and rewards freely, was detected in the conspiracy, and was sentenced to death as a spy. The Eoyalists strongly protested that he had been engaged in an act of war, and Parliament, perhaps from fear of reprisals, spared his hfe.1 He remained long in prison, and hved to acquire more notoriety with his pen than he had succeeded in acquiring with his sword. The attempt on Lynn was paralleled by an attempt on Abingdon. Major-General Browne, who was in command of the place, was known to be discontented in consequence of the neglect of Parliament to furnish him with supplies, and Digby, always awake to the possibilities of an intrigue, opened a secret negotia tion with him in the hope of persuading him to 1 Ruxlm: v. 804. A PLOT AGAINST ABINGDON. 57 deliver up Abingdon to the King. Browne met craft chap. to XXIV. 1644 Farnham. with craft, professed to be inclined to betray his trust, and so gained time for strengthening his fortifica tions. As soon as his new works were completed he Dec. 19. defied Digby to do his worst.1 On January 10 Charles, finding that he had been l64S- mocked, despatched troops to surprise the place. The ,, r . x . L % Royalists rirowne was quite ready to receive them, and the repulsed at Eoyalists were driven back with heavy loss. Amongst the slain was Sir Henry Gage, the energetic Governor of Oxford.2 The failure at Abingdon was not the only evidence of Charles's military weakness. During the first days of January Goring, at the head of a considerable body of horse, swept over Hampshire, and on the 9th he Goring 9at even entered Surrey, and occupied Farnham. It was, however, easier for him to seize upon a post so far in advance of the main Royalist lines than to maintain himself in it, and he was soon in full retreat, not in consequence of the superiority of the enemy, but because his men were exhausted and he was left with out means to pay them.3 The poverty of the King was no greater than the Q°^y poverty of the gentlemen and noblemen who sur rounded him in Oxford. Whether their estates lay in the enemy's country or not, their rents remained unpaid, and the distress amongst this loyal class was marked by the increasing number of those who made their way to Westminster, took the Covenant, and compounded for their own property by the payment of a heavy fine. Amongst those who remained staunch at Oxford distress had almost led to a mutiny. The 1 Rushw. v. 808. 2 Browne to the Com. of B. K. Jan. n. Com. Letter Book. 3 Goring to the King, Jan. 9. Warburton, iii. 46. at Oxford. three peers. 58 THE EXECUTION OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD. chap. Oxford Parliament was in session, and its members XXIV ^- — , — 1- called loudly for peace. Charles could bear the 45 opposition no longer. On the nth he ordered the Arrest of arrest of three peers, of Percy, of Andover, and of the Lord Savile who, in 1640, had forged the letter of invitation to the Scots, and had recently been created Earl of Sussex. The grounds assigned for their imprisonment were that they had held intelli gence with the rebels and had spoken disrespectfully of the King,1 but it is probable that the original cause of Charles's displeasure was the persistency with which Percy and other lords had urged him not merely to open negotiations with the Parhament, but to treat in person in London.2 Charles With his usual sanguine assurance Charles was quick-sighted to perceive every sign of weakness in the enemy and blind to every indication of his own. " Likewise," he had not long ago written to his wife, " I am put in very good hope — some hold it a cer tainty — that, if I could come to a fair treaty, the ringleading rebels could not hinder me from a good peace ; first, because their own party are most weary of the war ; and likewise for the great distractions which at this time most assuredly are amongst them selves, as Presbyterians against Independents in reli gion, and general against general in point of command.' Jan. 9. His expectations were indeed of the highest. " The settling of religion and the militia," he again wrote, " are the first to be treated on ; and be confident that 1 Dugdale's Diary; The King's answer, Clar. MSS. 1,814; Reply of the Earl of Sussex, Camden Miscellany, viii. Compare for rumours in London, The London Post, E. 25, 13 ; Perfect Passages, E. 25, 17. 2 The King to the Queen, Feb. 15. King's Cabinet Opened, p. 7. E. 292, 27. 3 The King to the Queen, Dec. lb. p. 11. E, 292, 27. stillsanguine. CHARLES'S CONFIDENCE. 59 I will neither quit episcopacy nor that sword which chap. God hath given into my hands." l ^—, — '— Yet above all these reasonings Charles found his prin- J 45 cipal encouragement in the execution ofthe wronged Archbishop. " Nothing," he assured the Queen, " can Jan. 14. be more evident than that Strafford's innocent blood wood hath been one of the great causes of God's just judg ment upon this nation by a furious civil war, both sides hitherto being almost equally guilty, but now this last crying blood being totally theirs, I beheve it is no presumption hereafter to hope that the hand of justice must be heavier upon them and lighter upon us, looking now upon our cause, having passed through our faults." 2 1 The King to the Queen, Jan. 9. The King's Cabinet Opened, p. 1. 2 The King to the Queen, Jan. 14. lb. p. 23. 6o CHAPTER XXV. THE NEW MODEL ORDINANCE AND THE TREATY OF UXBRIDGE. CHAP. XXV. 1645 Jan. 4. The con flict be tween the Houses on military organisa tion. When, on January 4, the conflict between the Houses on the subject of the punishment of the Archbishop was brought to a close by the passage of the Attain der Ordinance through the Upper House, the conflict on the subject of mihtary organisation seemed to be no nearer to a settlement. Three times during the preceding week1 the Commons had caUed for the report of their committee on the charges brought against Manchester. Nothing, however, was done, and the proposal was probably only intended as a strong hint to the Lords that if they did not wish an impeach ment brought against the Earl, they must take the Self-Denying Ordinance into speedy consideration. Cromwell, indeed, seems already to have abandoned any serious thought of pursuing the attack upon which he had entered. In the senate as in the field, he was always ready to draw up when his charge was at the fiercest, and to vary his methods in accordance with the necessities of the moment. He knew far better than to become a mere ' Kupert of debate,' and a prospect of gaining all that he wanted, without the friction which would have attended an impeach ment of Manchester, now opened itself before him. 1 On Dec. 26, Dec. 30, and Jan. I. C.J. iv. 2, 4, 6. THE NEW MODEL DISCUSSED. 6 1 For some weeks the Committee of Both Kingdoms chap. had been employed discussing the scheme for the re- ¦ r-^— modelling the army which had been referred to it in The New November.1 It was universally acknowledged to be JJ;°^j £,s" necessary, not merely because Essex was sluggish or ^tg°™f Cromwell factious, but because the arrangements for BothKing- n doms. paying the troops had entirely broken down. At last, on January 6, the committee came to the conclusion Jan. 6. that, irrespectively of local forces, the army ought ofthe to consist of 2 1 ,ooo men, and that its pay, which was the all-important matter, should be dependent on the monthly payment of taxes regularly imposed, and not on the fluctuating attention of a political assembly, or the still more fluctuating goodwill of county com mittees. These taxes were to be assessed on the counties least exposed to the stress of war, whilst those in which the conflict was raging might be left to support the local garrisons and any special force which they might think good to employ in their own defence.2 The plan thus sketched out furnished the Lords Jan. 7. with a fresh motive for opposing themselves to the state their Self-Denying Ordinance. On January 7, abandoning toJthYs"u-- the calculated silence which they had hitherto ob- SrdinTme. served, they informed the other House of their objections. After an expression of dissatisfaction at the proposal to incapacitate the Peers — whose part in war had always been the foremost — from military service, they took the practical ground that it would be unwise to throw the army out of gear till the New Model had actually come into existence, espe cially as its creation would evidently be a work of time.3 The obvious answer to this final argument 1 See p. 16. 2 Com. of B, K. Day Book, Jan. 6. 3 L.J. vii. 129. 62 THE NEW MODEL ORDINANCE. CHAP. XXV. 1645 Jan. 9. The New Model in the House of Com mons. Jan. 11. It is adopted. Jan. 10. News of distractionsin the Parliamentary army Jan. 13. The Lords throw out the Self- Denying Ordinance. Jan. 15. Report orderedon the disputebetweenManchesterand Crom well. Jan. so. Lisle'sreport. was to make the greater speed, and the New Model, which was sent by the Committee of Both Kingdoms to the House of Commons on the 9th, was adopted without a division on the nth.1 Already signs were visible that there were other than Parliamentary reasons for dealing swiftly with the army. The divisions of the senate had spread to the camp, and on the 10th Cromwell informed the House that no less than forty of Manchester's officers had subscribed a petition asking Parliament to continue him in his command, and that at Henley a colonel, to whom orders had been sent to change his quarters, had refused to obey till he had heard what answer had been given to this demand.2 The Lords resolved at last to stand firm. On the 13th, with only four dissentient votes — those of Kent, Nottingham, Northumberland, and Say — they threw out the Self-Denying Ordinance.3 If there was to be a New Model they wished their own members to be at the head of it. Their motives were intelligible enough. Their prudence was less discernible. The first thought of the chiefs of the Indepen dents, in whose hands the leadership of the Commons now was, seems to have been to fall back on the old attack upon Manchester. On the 15th the two com mittees charged with the investigation of the points raised in the course of the dispute4 were ordered to make their report. On the 20th Lisle, speaking, as it would seem, on behalf of both committees, reported that the Lords, in nominating peers to take part in the examination of a member of the House of Commons 5 without previously obtaining leave from the House 1 C.J. iv. 15, 16. 2 Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 185b. 5 L.J. vii. 136. 4 See pp. 21, 28. s See p. 22. CROMWELL AND THE PEERS. 63 to which he belonged, had been guilty of a breach of chap. privilege. At the same time he recommended that - — ^— the charges brought on both sides should be thoroughly investigated, Manchester being allowed every opportunity of conducting his defence.1 It needs no evidence to show that the revival of incident at the attack on Manchester was bitterly resented by oVthe1"' the Peers. Yet one piece of evidence there is which 0f Both ee paints their exasperation to the life. On the day of me oms' Lisle's report, perhaps in consequence of the pro longed sitting of the House of Commons, no member of that House was present at the Committee of Both Kingdoms. The six peers who were in their places — Northumberland, Essex, Warwick, Manchester, Say, and Wharton — passed a resolution ' that the business of the opinion of some in Lieutenant-General Cromwell's regiment against fighting in any cause whatsoever be taken into consideration to-morrow in the afternoon.'2 When, on the following afternoon, Jan. 2I. the Commoners mustered in strength, no more was heard of this strange proposal, which was doubtless never intended to be more than an elaborate joke. On the other hand, the blow of the Commons intentions was well-timed. They did not bind themselves to common*. proceed with the inquiry into Manchester's conduct, but they would be ready to do so if the Lords rejected the New Model as they had rejected the Self-Denying Ordinance. In that case what was now but a reconnaissance in force might be converted into a real attack. For the present the New Model Ordinance was to Fairfax to , „ command be pushed on. On the 21st, by a vote 01 101 to 69, the New Cromwell and the younger Vane acting as tellers for 1 C.J. iv. 25. 2 Com. of B. K. Day Book, Jan. 20. 64 THE NEW MODEL ORDINANCE. CHAP. xxv. 1645 Skippon to he Major- General. The I.ieu- tenant-General shipvacant. Cromwell and Fair fax. Jan. 28 The New ModelOrdinance sont to the Lords. the majority, the House resolved that the com mander-in-chief of the new army should be Sir Thomas Fairfax. Skippon was then named as Major- General. The post of Lieutenant-General, carryino- with it the command of the cavalry, was significantly left unfilled. By rejecting the Self-Denying Ordi nance the Lords had torn down the barrier which the best cavalry officer in England had erected in the way of his own employment. Yet, on the other hand, there were grave reasons against according the highest military position to one who had taken so prominent a part in political strife. No such reason could be assigned against the promo tion of Fairfax, who had no seat in the House. He had aheady shown himself patient in disaster and full of vigour to turn disaster into victory. His rapid blows dehvered in the fight for the Yorkshire clothing towns at the opening of the war, and repeated on a larger scale when he threw himself upon the Eoyalists at Nantwich, marked him out as a general who would never wander aimlessly like Essex into Cornwall, or loiter, like Manchester at Newbury, on a stricken field. If he had a fault as a soldier, it lay in his habit of plunging unthinkingly into the thick of the fight, regardless of his duties as a commander. What was specially to the purpose was that he possessed to the full the civic virtues of obedience to the State, and that he had stood entirely aloof from the recent disputes. Most likely no one in England — probably not Fairfax himself — knew whether he was a Presby terian or an Independent. On the 28th the New Model Ordinance was de spatched to the Lords. The Lords were well aware that the charges against Manchester were held in re serve, to be proceeded in or dropped as circumstances CROMWELL AND THE SCOTS. 65 xxv. 164T might demand. If, however, Cromwell, in his con- c™$ troversy with the Peers, held the sword in one hand, he extended the ohve branch with the other. Between him and the Scots there had long been bitter anta gonism. Yet it was Cromwell who on the 30th Jan. 30. appeared in the House of Commons as the spokes- supports man of the Gommittee of Both Kingdoms to urge vanceof the necessity of bringing the Scottish army south wards.1 If, as must surely be the case, this implies that he was favourable to the proposal, it looks as if he wished to reassure the Lords by giving them security that the New Model would not occupy the whole field. If the New Model would be in a special sense the army of the House of Commons, the Scottish force would be in a special sense the army of the House of Lords. When once the negotiations at Uxbridge were at an end — and it did not need a tithe of Cromwell's shrewdness to give certainty that they would not produce a peace — the Scots would bear their part in the war as readily as the newly organised English army. Everything which Crom well had done, as well as everything which he had deliberately omitted to do, would thus conduce to'his primary object of defeating the King. When that was accomplished it would be time to think of that which was to follow. There can be httle doubt that, to Cromwell and J£^f the Independents, the negotiation which was now ^p^.1^ opening at Uxbridge was but one more step towards ,^[jid°e victory over the King. They were far more likely to be able to prolong the war if they allowed the Scots to try their hands at making peace. As a re cord of futile proposals and abrupt rejections of those > C.J. iv. 37. 11. 66 THE TREATY OF UXBRIDGE. CHAP. XXV. i645 The Treaty of Ux bridge a Scottish negotia tion. Jan. 29. Arrival of the com missioners. Motives of the Scottish commis sioners. proposals the Treaty of Uxbridge deserves but scanty recognition. Its importance in the history of the war lies in this, that it brought the Scots into line with the English War-party in the decisive campaign which was about to open. To all intents and purposes the Treaty of Uxbridge was a Scottish negotiation. The propositions offered to the King had originally been drawn up under Scottish influence. It was Henderson and no English divine who was appointed as the chief clerical assistant to furnish the needful theological arguments in favour of Presbyterianism, whUst Lou doun and Maitland — who now bore the title of Earl of Lauderdale in consequence of the recent death of his father — were foremost amongst the lay Parhamen tary commissioners in supporting the pleadings of Henderson. As far as our knowledge reaches, Vane and St. John, who represented the Independents at Uxbridge, if they were not absolutely sUent, took as little part in the debates as possible, and it is doing them no injustice to suppose that, hke Cromwell at West minster, they were keeping themselves in reserve till the Scots had played their game and lost it. The commissioners from both sides arrived at Uxbridge on January 29. Amongst those sent by the King were some, such as Hertford and South ampton, who were sincerely desirous of peace ; but they were bound by their instructions, and they could only toil in vain round the impossible task of reconciling the King's unbending devotion to Epis copacy with the equally unbending Presbyterianism of the Scots. To do Loudoun and Lauderdale justice, it was not by Presbyterian fanaticism that they were im pelled. They did not feel towards bishops as Prynne or Henderson felt towards them. The Scottish revo- THE SCOTS AT UXBPJDGE. 67 lution had been political as well as ecclesiastical, and chap. XXV though the nobles who had put themselves at its ¦ — r— - head had, with more or less conscientiousness, appro- ' 4S priated the ideas of the ecclesiastical wing of their party, they were principally concerned in maintaining the dominant position which their share in the re volution had given them. There are no signs that they were animated by the crusading spirit, or that they were conscious of a Divine mission to exterminate Episcopacy in the British Isles. They knew, however, that Scotland was a poorer and weaker country than England, and they believed that Scotland, or, to speak more plainly, their own authority in Scotland, would be secure only when a government was established in England which was homogeneous with that which they themselves wielded in Scotland. An Episcopahan and monarchical England or an Independent and republican England would be constantly tempted to interfere with that pecuhar compound of ecclesiastical democracy and political aristocracy which was the temporary outcome of the historical development of their own country. Such motives naturaUy led the Scottish commis- Their aims sioners to strive after the impossible. They knew ledgedto that a restored monarchy in England, surrounded by ambassa-0 Presbyterian institutions, would be a weak monarchy as far as Scotland was concerned, and they knew too little and cared too little about the wants of England or the mental characteristics of Charles to ask whether the object of their desire was practicable. They were not likely to reveal their whole secret to men of their own speech. In the presence of Sabran they felt no hesitation. Before setting out from Westminster they told him plainly that, though it was unnecessary to destroy Episcopacy in England on religious grounds, 1 645 68 THE TREATY OE UXBRIDGE. xxv" its overtnrow was an indispensable condition of the union and peace of the two kingdoms. If Charles would give way on this point, they would throw their weight into his scale on all other matters.1 Sn ofte" This attltude of the Scots, so far as it was known, war-party, could not fail to excite dissatisfaction in the War- party. It was the wish of the Scots and of the majority of the Peers that the question of religion should be settled first,2 but to this the Lower House, now under the leadership of the Independents, op- o™hition9 Posed an unshaken resolution. It was finally decided treaty. that the three points of religion, of the mUitia, and of 1 " Touttes leurs responces ont concouru que S. M. de la Grande Bretagne ayant consenty en Escosse la forme de Religion, par l'eschange des Evesques au Presbiteriat, laquelle n'estant point essentielle pour la foy l'estoit pour l'union et respos des deiix Royaumes, S. M. de la Grande Bretagne ne la pouvant reffuser, et qu'ils me pouvoient assurer que le Roy d'Angre y consentant touttes sortes de propositions seroient bientost accommodees au gr6 de S. M." — Sabran to Brienne, ^f. Add. MSS. 5,461, fol. 65b. 2 " J'ay sceu que les Escossois et la Chambre des Communes, ou plus- tost les Independants qui en sont, ont debattu longuement entre eux si l'on commenceroient ou fineroit par la Religion, les Escossois ont desire' de commencer par la ou est leur principal interest et attachement a leur Convenant, pour, s'ils obtiennent leur fin, se trouver puis arbitres du different par le poids qu'ils donneront du coste" ou ils voudront pancher, qui sera des lors celuy du Roy, et des Pairs, pour ne tomber dans un changement de forme de gouvernement qui leur prejudicieroit. Les autres voulloient finir par la, et voir tous les autres articles vuidez atiparavant ou ils s'interessent plus qu'en celuy de la Religion, et ceux de la Chambre Haute (qui ne parlent qu'apres les Escossois, et qui ne trouvent plus de salut a leur prerogatives qu'en l'espoir que les Escossois disputants pour l'authorite' du Roy, ils le feront aussy pour leur dignity particuliere et de tons) s'attachent entierement auxdits Escossois, et s'opiniastrent pour l'amour d'eux au poinct de la Religion, affin que ce contentement le acquiere au Roy et aeux. En sorte que j'en tire cette consequence que si S. M. de la Grande Bretagne se relasche de la Religion, les Escossois n'ayants plus d'iuterest qu'en une paix qui asseure ce qui leur est deuh, et leur pays, auront grand desmel6 avec la Chambre des Communes et Londres ; et si le Roy d'Angleterre s'obstine a, sa Religion et de ne la vouloir con- tester que tous articles ne soyent consentys, ladite Chambre des Communes est pour en estre d'accord, et s'opposer au desir des Escossois." — Sabran to Brienne, Feb. Tj. lb. fol. 76. THE PARLIAMENTARY TERMS. 69 Ireland should be discussed in rotation, three days chap. XXV being assigned to each subject. If, after nine days, no conclusion had been reached, three days more were to be devoted to religion, and so on with the other points. If at the end of twenty working days the two sides were still unable to agree, the negotiation was to be at an end.1 That any one should have expected a favourable result from this negotiation is indeed marvellous. The Three Propositions of Uxbridge, as thetermswhich The Three the Parhamentary commissioners were empowered to tions of offer on these three heads were afterwards called, showed that the incapacity of the leaders of the Peace- party to understand the excellence of compromise equalled if it did not surpass that of Charles himself. In the first, they asked that the King should take the Covenant, should assent to the abohtion of Episcopacy and the Prayer-book, to the estabhshment of Presby terianism and the Directory. In the second, they demanded that the militia and the navy should be permanently controlled by commissioners named by Parliament, joined by a body of Scottish commissioners not exceeding in number a third part of those of England, whilst the Scottish mihtia was to be at the orders of commissioners named by the Scottish Parliament, joined by English commissioners, not exceeding a third part of their own body. In the third, they insisted on the passing of an Act to make void the Irish Cessation, and on Charles's permitting the war in Ireland to be prosecuted by the English Parhament without hindrance from himself.2 After a few prehminary arrangements had been Jan. 31. made, the main proceedings were opened at Uxbridge ligious ' » , • -i -i- i difficulty. on January 31. A rhetorical discussion between 1 Rushiv. v. 861. 2 lb. t. 865, 879, 897. 7o THE TREATY OF UXBRIDGE. CHAP. XXV. 1645 The abolitionof Episco pacy de manded. A form of prayer sanctioned by the King. Feb. 6. A free- spokenletter. Henderson and a doctor from Oxford, on the respec tive claims of Presbyterianism and Episcopacy to Divine authority, caUed forth from Hertford the blunt remark that he believed neither the one nor the other to be of Divine right. The laymen then proceeded to business. Little was gained by the change. The Parliamentary commissioners had been instructed to insist that the King should take the Covenant and consent to the abolition of Episcopacy. On the other side, Hyde, knowing that there were differences of opinion amongst his opponents, did his best to stir up strife in their ranks by asking subtle 'questions on the nature of the Presbyterian system. It was not diplomacy of a high order, but, perhaps, nothing better was possible, unless Charles was honestly pre pared to meet the adverse proposal with something more than a blank negative.1 Charles's inteUect was not flexible, and he had recently shown how little he was able to enter into the feelings of the nobler spirits among his antago nists. He had authorised the use of a form of prayer in which the Divine assistance in bringing the war to an end was to be implored by aU loyal subjects, and in which God was to be asked to ' let the truth clearly appear who those men are which under pre tence of the public good do pursue their private ends.'2 In a letter which he despatched to Nicholas, who was one of his commissioners at Oxford, he clothed the same idea in freer language. " I should think," lie wrote, " if in your private discourses . . . with the London commissioners you would put them in mind that they were arrant rebels, and that their end must be damnation, ruin, and infamy except they 1 Rushw. v. 861 ; Whitelocke, 128; Clarendon, viii. 22 1. 2 A form of Common Prayer, p. 11. E. 27, 4. A TOLERATION SCHEME. 7 1 repented and found some way to free themselves chap. . XXV from the damnable way they are in ... it might do - — ^—- good."1 I64S Untoward as Charles's language was, there were influences around him in favour of peace which it was almost impossible for him directly to resist. The clergy at Oxford were consulted as to the limits of Fel>- *°- • ii ¦ ii i • ¦ i i Toleration possible concession, and the result was a joint decla- scheme of . i-ii p ••in "ie Oxford ration, which has the merit ot containing the first clergy. scheme of toleration on a national basis assented to in England by any pubhc body.2 A plan of Church reform was, in consequence, brought forward on the 13th by the King's commissioners at Uxbridge. At Feb. 13. least, it compared favourably with anything produced 0f Church on the other side. Episcopacy was to be maintained, reform> but the bishops were not to exercise coercive juris diction without the consent of presbyters chosen by the clergy of the diocese. Abuses were to be reme died by Act of Parliament. The Book of Common Prayer was to be retained subject to such alterations as might be agreed on, and — far more important than all this — freedom was to ' be left to all persons of what opinions soever in matters of ceremony, and ... all the penalties of the laws and customs which enjoin those ceremonies ' to ' be suspended.' 8 The Oxford clergy had, at least, made their inten- What was tion clear. " We think it lawful," they had declared, ingof these " that a toleration be given — by suspending the penalties of all laws — both to the Presbyterians and Independents." There is evidently here the germ, or more than the germ, of the great policy of 1689. In 1 The King to Nicholas. Evelyn's Diary (ed. 1879), iv. 149. 3 The clergy's paper tendered concerning religion, Feb. 10. Clarendon MSS. 1824. Printed in The English Historical Review for April 1887, P- 341- 3 Rushw. v. 872, 873. 72 THE TREATY OF UXBRIDGE. 'xxv' Passin§ trough Charles's mind the phrase had be- --"' '-- come more hazy, as it does not appear whether he meant to permit the clergy to vary the ceremonies in the one Church, or to allow the existence of congre gations outside the Church, provided that, however much they might differ from it in ceremony, they agreed with it in doctrine. Yet for all that, it is to him, and not to his antagonists, that the honour belongs of being the first to propound the terms of peace which ultimately closed the strife. The hid was one for the support of the Independents against the Presbyterians, and was perhaps the easier for him to make if, as may have been the case, he had no expectation that it would ever be accepted, and had only consented to the step in order to gratify his importunate supporters. The offer ft is not a matter for surprise that the Indepen- rejected by . „ , -, the inde- dents made no sign of accepting the proposed terms Of Charles, and of all that came from Charles, they were profoundly suspicious. Nor is it hkely that even if their distrust had been removed they would have closed with the present offer. Tolerationists as they were, they were not yet prepared to admit that the ceremonies of the Church of England were within the pale of toleration. They had suffered too much from Episcopal authority to regard its retention in any form as part of a possible solution of the diffi culties of the country. a Presby- If the Independents were not to be won, Charles's settlement proposal was doomed. The Scots, and the supporters urged' of the Scots, still fancied that it was possible for them to drive the King to assent to the establishment of the Presbyterian system. Pembroke, who was alwnys blurting out what other men were ashamed to say, and who was entirely indifferent to forms of IMPROBABILITY OF AN AGREEMENT. yT> church government, reminded one of the Eoyal com- chap missioners that if Charles would give way now, it ¦ — r— '¦— would be easy for him to recover his power here after.1 Such counsels of treachery were addressed in vain to Charles. He was an intriguer, but he was bu*rf" . ° ' jected. not a hypocrite. He was ready to bribe his oppo nents by offering to deserters offices, ' so that they be not of great trust ' ; 2 but he refused to abandon that Episcopacy which was in his eyes both a Divine institution and one of the strongest buttresses of his own authority. On the question of the militia a difference of opinion Th^ had manifested itself as distinctly as on the question of rehgion. The Parhamentary commissioners asked that it should be commanded in perpetuity by per sons named by the Houses, whilst Charles was only ready to place it temporarily under a body, one half of which was to be named by Parliament and the other half by himself. At the end of three years this compromise was to be abandoned, and the entire authority over the militia was to revert to himself. As for Ireland, the discussion soon degenerated into Ireland. a wrangle on the question whether the Cessation had been accepted to save the Protestants or to encourage the Papists ; and for those who took the latter view, it was an easy step to argue that Charles's proposed religious compromise was only intended to secure toleration for Papists.3 The growing divergence of opinion at Uxbridge Feb. 4. could not fail in producing its effect at Westminster, pass the As early as February 4, when it was known that Ordinance difficulties had been thrown in the way of the abolition v?soe:T0~ 1 Clarendon, viii. 243. 3 Memorial for Nicholas, Feb. 17. Evelyn's Diary (ed. 1879), iv. 152. 3 Perfect Passages. E. 269, 5 ; E. 270, 23. 74 THE TREATY OF UXBRIDGE. CHAP. XXV. 1645 Feb. 7 The pro visoesmodified by the Commons. Feb. 8. Feb. ra. Bad news from Wey mouth. of Episcopacy, the Peers offered to pass the New Model Ordinance with the addition of certain pro visoes x which would, as they hoped, render it inno cuous. They asked, first, that all officers above the rank of lieutenant might be nominated by both Houses, thus securing to themselves a veto upon every appointment; and, secondly, that both officers and soldiers should not only take the Covenant, but should submit ' to the form of Church Government that is already voted by both Houses of Parliament.' To the first proviso CromweU offered a stead fast opposition. He asked that the appointment of the officers should rest with the commander-in-chief alone. The Parhamentary spirit was, however, too strong for him, and the Commons, adopting a com promise, resolved by a vote of 82 to 63 that, though the appointment of officers should be made by the com mander-in-chief, the approval of the Houses should in all cases be necessary ; an approval which, unless in very exceptional cases, it would be difficult to refuse. With respect to the second proviso, the Commons agreed that officers and soldiers should take the Cove nant, but they absolutely refused to enforce submission to the form of Church Government voted by both Houses, on the plea that if the Covenant were taken such a submission would be unnecessary, and that the votes of the Houses on the subject were not yet complete.2 On the 1 2 th the Commons argued before the Lords in favour of their amendments. On the same day news reached Westminster that a party of EoyaUsts under Sir Lewis Dyves had seized one of the forts which guarded Weymouth.3 WaUer was at once ordered to 1 L.J. vii. 175. s C.J. iv, 43, 44 ; L.J, vii. 191. ' C.J, iv. 46; The True Informer, E. 269, 21. THE NEW MODEL ORDINANCE PASSED. 75 reheve the town, but though he would gladly have chap. obeyed, his cavalry, which had formerly served under • — ^— Essex, broke out into mutiny at Leatherhead. " We F'b4* will rather go," they said, " under any the Lord Gene- ?*u'jn>; of ral should appoint than with Sir William Waller, with cavalry. all the money in England." 1 When this mishap was known in Westminster, it was also known that the King's commissioners at Uxbridge had presented a scheme of Church reform, which, in spite of its intrinsic merits, was hateful alike to the Presbyterians of both nations. That scheme fused for a time the Peace-party and the War-party into one. Both ahke declared for war, which, as the mutiny at Leatherhead gave evidence, it would be impossible to carry on with a disorganised army. The Lords gave way at once, and on the 15 th they Passing of passed the New Model Ordinance as it had last come Model from the Commons without any further difficulty.2 nance. Formally at least the negotiations at Uxbridge Continued, still dragged on. An attempt which led to nothing at ux- was made to discover some compromise on the ques tion of the command of the militia. Time was run ning short when Charles's commissioners made an unexpected proposal. Let the armies on both sides Feb. 20. be disbanded, and His Majesty would then repair in proposes to person to Westminster.3 To this fresh suggestion the minster. Parliamentary commissioners returned a deaf ear. They were certainly in the right. " As for trusting the rebels," Charles had only the day before written to his wife, " either by going to London or disband ing my army before a peace, do no ways fear my hazarding so cheaply or foolishly ; for I esteem the interest thou hast in me at a far dearer rate, and 1 Com. qfB. K. Day Book, Feb. 15. " L.J. vii. 195. 3 Rushw. v. 920. 76 THE TREATY OF UXBRIDGE. riiAP. pretend to have a little more wit— at least by the ^— ~ sympathy that is betwixt us— than to put myself in the reverence of perfidious rebels." 1 Charles now, it seems, imagined that after a complete disbandment on both sides he would be able to secure the restoration of the excluded members to their places at West minster, and would thus be able to impose his own conditions on the reunited Parliament.2 isltio'nat' 0n February 22, as the days fixed for the negoti- w"pLd. ation were runnmg t0 an end, the royal commissioners made a final attempt to reopen the religious question. The King, they said, was ready to discuss the future settlement of the Church with Parhament and a National Synod summoned for the purpose. Neither this nor a repetition of the proposal to disband the armies met with any favourable response from the representatives of the Houses.3 End ofthe The negotiation, or, as it was commonly caUed, the Uxbridge. Treaty of Uxbridge, was thus brought to an end. No one except Cromwell and his adherents had gained anything by it. The active support of the Scots in the war against the King was secured now that they had made the discovery that Charles was unwilling to become a Presbyterian. The modern reader, indeed, is apt to brush aside the long argument on which the thoughts of contemporaries were fixed, and to concentrate his attention on the scheme of 1 The King to the Queen, Feb. 19. The King's Cabinet Opened, p. 6. E. 292, 27. 2 " Le Roy de la Grande Bretagne desire venant ici, que toutes personnes Farlementaires soient admises ez chambres, ce que le Parlement na garde de permettre, parce que le parti de S. M. seroit le plus puissant a cause des divisions et de l'affection que plusieurs y ont pour le Roi de la Grande Bretagne."— Sabran to Brienne, |^. Add. MSS. 5,461, fol. j 24b. 3 Rusluc. v. 922. CHARLES FAILS TO INSPIRE CONFIDENCE. 77 Church reform proposed by the Oxford clergy as c^y' the one object of interest in the whole dreary futility. " j6- Charles was himself the first to show how little he cared for it, by throwing it over in favour of another scheme for calling a National Synod. Yet if ever there was an idea which an earnest man would have cherished, it was that of toleration. To preach it in season and out of season, to render it palatable where it was unpalatable, to meet objections and suggest modifications, would have been a task for the highest statesmanship and the firmest courage. Even if Charles had possessed the necessary qualifi cations for the task, there was a fatal bar to its accomphshment by him. The convictions to which he clung with all the tenacity of his nature were opposed to the scheme which he had allowed to be put forward in his name. Not much more than two years were to pass when the same scheme was to be offered to him by some of the very men who now rejected it, to be rejected in turn by himself. 78 CHAPTER XXVI. TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. CHAP. XXVI. 1645 Feb. 19. News from the High lands. 1644. Montroses idealism. His aims. On February 19, when the negotiations at Uxbridge were drawing to a close, Charles received news 1 which, though without influence upon the resolution which he had already formed to reject the Parha mentary offers, undoubtedly inspired him with a fresh hope of gaining the mastery in the campaign about to open. In the Scottish Highlands a soldier of genius was carrying aU before him in the name of the King. Though Montrose was an ideahst capable of beheving in his heart of hearts that Charles was in deed ' great, good, and just,' it was not for the restoration of a dead past that he drew his sword. He stood up for that which was, in some sort, the hope of the future. He detested the bigotry of the Presbyterian clergy ; and he detested stiU more the despotic sway of the great nobles who had banded them selves with Argyle, and had risen to power by flatter ing the prejudices of the clergy. Though there can indeed be little doubt that his own buoyancy of self- reliance, with its accompanying love of pre-eminence, urged him forward in the path which he had chosen, yet his ambition was closely intertwined with a nobler sentiment. To him the King whom he served was 1 The King to the Queen, Feb. 19. The King's Cabinet Opened, p. 5. E. 292, 27. IDEALISM OF MONTROSE. 79 not the actual Charles, but an imaginary being who chap. was eager to free Scotland from a stern and relentless tyranny, and to make possible again the free and joy- 1 44 ous hfe of old. A clergy restraining themselves to their spiritual functions, and a nobility devoting them selves to their country without self-seeking, filled in the picture of the future as it was reflected in Montrose's mind, and it was to be realised, not by the restora tion to power of an absolute king, but by the sup port which the king would derive from the gentry and the nobihty of secondary position. Montrose, in short, was the champion, so to speak, of a diffused aristo cracy, rather than of that monarchy the name of which was so frequently on his lips.1 Unhappily for Montrose, the means of realising obstacles . , P i ri • i ..in his way. such aims were not to be found on Scottish sou. Argyle's Presbyterian supporters left much to be desired, but at least they had given to Scotland that discipline which had enabled the laborious middle class to assert itself in the face of what had but a short time ago been an anarchical nobihty. The well-founded beUef that the restoration to power of a nobility hostile to the ecclesiastical organisa tion of the middle class boded no good either to order or to liberty rendered Montrose's cause prac tically hopeless. Of aU this Montrose saw nothing. He did not, His like Cromwell, estimate at their true value, the means with which he proposed to gain his ends. He dashed at his high aim hke a Paladin of romance, conscious of the purity of his intentions, and trusting 1 In this respect he occupies much the same position in Scottish his tory as the authors of the petition of the Knights Bachelors to Edward, after the Provisions of Oxford, occupy in English history. In both cases the Crown was to be strengthened against the higher nobility, with no intention of restoring the old absolutism. 8o TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. CHAP. XXVI. 1644 July 3. He asks Eupert for help. Montrose and An trim. to his own genius to mould to useful purposes the ' intractable forces which chance might throw in his way. Self-confidence, indeed, he had to the full, but it was a self-confidence of which only noble spirits are capable, because it was founded on the belief that in the presence of a great effort base spirits would change their natures, and join with one heart in establishing the reign of truth and justice. His dream was more of a ' devout imagination ' than any had ever entered into the mind of the most fanatical Calvinist. Montrose's failure in his attempt upon the Lowlands in the spring of 16441 seemed at first to render hope less the realisation of his projects. When Eupert burst into the North, Montrose rode off to him to beg for troops. He found him at York, the day after his ruinous defeat at Marston Moor. Eupert carelessly offered a thousand horse, but night brought counsel, and on the foUowing morning he declared that he could not spare a single man. Montrose now knew that he must depend on himself alone. He was aware that Antrim had been commis sioned to bring over to the Highlands 2,000 Irish men, but for some time he had heard nothing of him. He therefore despatched young Lord OgUvy, the heir of the Earl of AirUe, and Captain EoUock to Scotland to spy out the country in disguise. In a fortnight his messengers returned with tidings that the Presbyterian Government was supreme, and that no man dared to move a hand against it. Yet Montrose, in spite of the adverse report of his own spies, could not throw off the belief that at least in the Lowlands beyond the Tay he might find support ; and in the spirit of his own lines — See vol. i. 395. AN ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY. 8 I "He either fears his fate too much, CHAP. Or his deserts are small, • , — 1- Who dares not put it to the touch, l644 And win or lose it all," he resolved to try what might be effected in those quarters by the magic of his presence. On August 1 8, sending away all of his remaining adherents except M„™|'0Je' EoUock and an officer named Sinclair, he set out from gctot°"nt/or Carlisle disguised as a groom in attendance upon his companions. On the 22nd he reached Tullybelton, a house near Perth, which belonged to Patrick Graham, a kinsman of his own. His first eager inquiries were directed to the condition of the loyal gentry of the North. The news which he received was as dis couraging as that which had been brought him by Ogilvy and EoUock. Huntly had given up all hopes of resisting the predominant party, and had fled to the hills, leaving the Gordons without a leader.1 Montrose's intention, there can be little doubt, had ^™tr^suis been to rouse to action the Gordons together with the Plaa- gentry of Angus and the Mearns.2 It is true that the past history of Scotland did not give much reason to think it possible to overcome with their help the sober population of Fife and the Lothians, which was the real centre of the pohtical life of Scotland. Montrose, however, had come temporarily to reverse the stream of history, and was not likely to be turned back by such considerations. It was more ominous that the gentry of the North gave no signs of being prepared to accept him as a leader, Everything around him boded failure, when a letter fell accidentally into his hands which changed the whole current of his enter - 1 Wishart, ch. iv. See vol. i. p. 395. 2 See vol. i. 350, note 1. It may also be remarked that the news brought to Montrose at Tullybelton turned on the condition of Huntly and the Gordons, not on the condition of the Highlands. 11. e 82 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY nup. prise. If the gentry of the northern Lowlands refused T647" t0 Stir' he f:rmld aPPeal t0 tne Highlands. ,i„ne. Antrim, it seemed, had not been unmindful of his -ndsmen Pn),11ise. Before the end of June he had overcome iiiSands. the srruPles of the Supreme Council, and had shipped oir some 1 ,600 men to the Western Highlands.1 This force was probably composed of his own Macdonalds, who had served in the Irish war, intermingled with a sprinkling of the northern Irish. Its leader was Aia-tcr Alaster Macdonell or Macdonald, whose father, Macdonald. , . ' known as CoU Keitache, the man who fought with either hand — in Lowland corruption, Colkitto2 — had been the stoutest champion of his race, the Macdonalds of Islay and Kintyre, against the terri torial aggrandisement of the Campbells. His stal wart son, an impetuous warrior but a bad general, had inherited the passions of the fierce old clans man. His Early in July Alaster Macdonald landed in Ardngamu?- Ardnamurchan. He came to bring Highland ven geance upon a Highland foe. The Campbell tenants dwelt on the soil which had once been counted as the inheritance of the Macdonalds, and for forty miles their land was now wasted with fire and sword. In order to keep open a way of retreat, Macdonald seized upon the castles of Mingary and Loch Alyne on the coast. Continuing his devastations, he called on his 1 Ormond put the number at 2,500 (Ormond to Nicholas, July 22, Carte's Ormond, vi. 178), but it appears from Antrim's own letter to Ormond of June 27 (Carte MSS. xi. fol. 301) that only 1,600 actually sailed. '' This appellation has popularly been given to the son, the meaning of Mac Coll Keitache being overlooked. It seems, on the whole, to be better in speaking of him and his men to call them Macdonald, than Macdonell or Macdonnell. Otherwise the unity of the clans of the name and the connection between them and their kinsmen in Ireland is apt to drop out of sight. chun. ALASTER MACDONALD 83 kinsmen, the Macdonalds, to join him, but the Mac- chap. donalds dared not stir against the overwhelming . ~-L. power of Argyle. Of Montrose he had no tidings, ' 44 and he therefore resolved to content himself with the Heproposes desolation which he had spread around him, and to Ireland™ ° carry his men back to Ireland. When he reached the Aug. place of embarkation he found that his retreat was f^os"^ cut off, as his ships had been burnt or captured by the Campbells. Nothing daunted, he made his way across glen and mountain to Lochaber, the western most of the districts which acknowledged the autho rity of Huntly. Like Montrose, he placed his chief His hope in the support of the Gordons, and, like Montrose, ^The™183 he now learnt that the Gordons had made their sub- Hiehlan.*X,VI1. the most absolute devotion. Between neighbouring l644 clans there was often a bitter feud, and the hatred handed down from father to son not rarely showed itself in deeds of inhuman cruelty. The instincts of savage life in which strangers are counted as enemies were stiU strong within the Highlander, though in the seventeenth century there had been some pro gress, especially amongst the clans dwelling on the edge of the Highland line. In that region the chief tains mingled more readily with the nobles and gentry of the Lowlands, and their dependants were settling down into a position not unlike that of the tenants of the Lowland nobility. Yet even here the poverty of the soil made it difficult to find sustenance for all the dwellers upon it, and any excuse to enrich themselves at the expense of their Lowland neigh bours was always gladly welcomed. To bind the clans together for a political object Difficulties was an impossible task. Neither any one chief nor them.ting any one clan would agree to serve under a neigh bouring chief.1 It was on this rock that Macdonald's enterprise had spht. He had summoned the clans in the name of Huntly and the King, but whatever he might say, he had failed to induce them to serve under a Macdonald. But for Montrose Macdonald's position would Montrose have been hopeless. Montrose, however, was as Macdonald prompt as Cromwell to seize the chances of the hour, aXi," and he no sooner heard of Macdonald's arrival in Badenoch than he summoned him to join him at Blair Athol. On his way to the place of meeting 1 I need not refer to Lord Macaulay's elucidation of this simple thesis. TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY CHAI'. xxvr. and snvi him I'nn Montrose met a Highlander speeding forward with ^r— - the licry cross which was to rouse the whole country to oppose the irruption of the strangers. He hurried forward, and it was well for him that he was not too late. He found the Stuarts and the Eobertsons gathered from the valleys of the Garry and the tion.'"' Tmnmel, and prepared to draw their swords against Macdonald's Irish.1 At the voice of Montrose all jealousies were hushed, and the Highlanders as well as the new-comers from Antrim placed themselves at the disposal of the Lieutenant of the King.2 Macdonald was snatched from the jaws of death. Something of the sudden change was no doubt owing to the personal glamour of Montrose's presence, but Montrose it was in the main the result of his appearance as a a leader, visitor from another world than that of the Highland glens. It was probably fortunate for his cause that he made the first experiment so near the border of the Lowlands. The Athol chiefs shared to a great extent the feelings of the gentry farther south. The component factors in Scottish royalism were hatred of Argyle and hatred of the equalising pressure of the Kirk, and Argyle and the Kirk found little favour amongst the gentry on either side of the Highland line. There could be no doubt that Montrose had fight ing before him. The apparition of Macdonald in the Highlands had stirred the apprehension of all whose property was exposed to plunder, and already three armies had been gathered by the national Government to make his escape impossible. Argyle 1 It is perhaps necessary to designate them by this name, let the word ' Irish,' was often used in Scotland to designate a Celt generally, and it also tends to obscure the fact that many, if not most, of Macdonald's follower* were of Scottish descent. 5 Wiih.nt, ch, v. ; Patrick Cordon, 72. Three Coveinmf- ng armies. AN IMPENDING BATTLE 87 1644 was on his march from the West, on the track of his chap. hereditary foe. A second force was gathering at Aberdeen to stop Deeside against him, whilst Lord Elcho collected a third from the men of Fife and of the lower lands of Perthshire, to keep him in check if he attempted to break out along the valley of the Tay. Montrose had to choose his enemy, and he chose Montrose's the nearest, the army under Elcho at Perth.1 On his Perth. way thither he came upon a body of some five hundred men marching under Lord Kilpont and Sir James Drummond to join Elcho against the proscribed Macdonald. When the two commanders learnt that they had to do with Montrose, they followed their instincts and rallied to the royal standard. Even after this reinforcement Montrose had compari- scarcely more than 3,000 men1 on foot. Cavalry he tweenths had none, save the three worn-out horses which had twoarmies borne himself and his two companions from England. On the other side Elcho's army fell little short of 7,000, including at least 700 horse,2 and accompanied by a park of artillery. Inferior in numbers and equipment, Montrose was vastly superior in the quahty of his men. Every one of them was a man of his hands, inured from boyhood to war and to the hardy exercises which are the school of war. On the other side were townsmen and peasants who had gone through no such training, and who had never been carried on, like their countrymen who fought at Marston Moor, to the higher disciphne of civilised warfare. On the afternoon of Sunday, 1 Patrick Gordon makes them 3,200, but this can only be done by giving 1,500 to Macdonald. He must have lost more than 100 since his landing. 2 Gordon makes the horse 1,000 and the foot 6,000. Wishart agrees with him as to the foot, but makes the horse only 700. 88 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. ( n ap. XXVI. September i, they were drawn up in the open valley about three miles west of Perth to oppose themselves to the approach of Montrose. All that could be done to stir up enthusiasm in their ranks was at- MONTROSE AT TIPPERMUIR 89 tempted, and one of their preachers even took upon Chap. himself to prophesy assured success. " If ever God," JH^L^ he declared, " spake word of truth by my mouth, I l644 promise you in His name certain victory this day." Montrose knew his adversary. Well aw^are that appearance goes far to intimidate an untried enemy, he stretched out his own line as far as possible, drawing them up only three deep, so as to present a front as long as that which was opposed to him. He had but little powder to spare, and his orders were that his men should march up close to the enemy before those who were provided with muskets fired a shot. Those who had no muskets must content them selves with pelting the Covenanters with stones. As soon as the enemy had been thrown into confusion they must all do their best with their swords. A battle fought under these instructions was not likely to last long. Elcho's raw soldiers took alarm at the first volley. Then there was a yell and a rush from behind the smoke, and in an instant the Covenanting infantry was converted into a flying mob. The horses of the cavalry, terrified by the shower of stones to which they were exposed, dashed from the field in headlong panic. The pursuit was hot, and two thousand of the fugitives were cut down before they reached a place of safety. Nine or ten died un- wounded from the effects of the unwonted exercise. Before nightfall Montrose was master of Perth.1 As vet Montrose had his men under control. Montrose at I*6rth They plundered the slain, and stripped the suburbs of every thing that they could carry off; but neither cruelty nor robbery was permitted within the walls.2 Montrose had two other armies to meet, and on the 1 Wishart, ch. iv. v. ; Spalding, ii. 385, 402 ; Patrick Gordon, 65, 2 Depositions in Napier's Memorials of Mont ruse, ii. 149. 90 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVEULOCHY. rii.vp. 4th he started for Aberdeen. On the way Lord """i^T" KllPont was murdered, and the assassin, James s,,„. 7. Sl l,wart of Ardvoirlich, fled to Argyle. The belief in ilrdK.i1/ the <;aml)» in a11 probability erroneous,1 was that i"""- Kilpont was put to death because he refused to join in murdering Montrose. The favourable reception given by Argyle to the supposed murderer was a sign that all who joined in a Highland rising might be assassinated with impunity, as far as the Covenanting authorities were concerned.2 It is seldom indeed that a civilised community metes out to a less civi lised one the measure by which it judges itself. When Argyle desolated the Highland glens with fire and sword, he was but inflicting due punishment on barbarians. When Montrose gathered the High landers to the slaughter of the burghers and the farmers of the Lowlands, he placed himself outside sept. 12. the pale of civilised warfare. On September 1 2 the A price set x . r on Mont- Government of Edinburgh set a price on his head. rose's head. i • -i -i t t lie was to be brought in dead or alive on the ground that he had 'joined with a band of Irish rebels and mass-priests, wdio had, this two years bygone, bathed themselves in the blood of God's people in Ireland, 1 See the letter in the postscript to Sir W. Scott's introduction to the Legend of Montrose. It is from a descendant of Stewart and looks as if it preserved a true family tradition. It is there stated that Stewart challenged Alaster Macdonald, and that Montrose, at Kilpont's advice, arrested them both and enforced a reconciliation. A quarrel between Stewart and Kilpont arising out of the part taken by the latter in the arrest, sprang up in the midst of a drinking bout, and ended in the assas sination. Some details of the story, however, are plainly incorrect, especially the statement that Stewart's quarrel with Macdonald arose from the plundering by the latter of the lands of Ardvoirlich, and that 1 hese lay on his line of inarch before he joined Montrose. This is certainly wrong, us Ardvoirlich lies on the south of Loch Earn, and the plundering, if effected at all, must have been carried out by some straggling parties of Mcdonald's men on the way between Blair Athol and Perth, as Mont rose's own line of advance did not approach it. " Aits of Pari of Scot I. vi. 359. MONTROSE DENOUNCED gi and in a traitorous and perfidious manner has in- chap. vaded this kingdom, taken possession of some of the ^— -r -^- royal burghs thereof, apprehended, killed, and cruelly l 44 murdered divers of His Majesty's subjects.' x It was easier to denounce Montrose than to lay changes in hands on him. As he marched on rapidly towards army. Aberdeen the character of his army changed. The greater part of his Highlanders returned home, as their manner was, to deposit their booty in their own glens. The Irishmen were always with him, and he was now also joined by the old Earl of Airlie with some of the gentry of Angus and the Mearns, who brought with them, in addition to a body of foot, a small party of forty-four horse". Montrose would Montrose gladly have welcomed the great Gordon following, Gordons. but Huntly was far away ; and two, at least, of his sons, Lord Gordon, the eldest, and Lord Lewis, the youngest, were still bound to the Covenanters as the nephews of their mother's brother, Argyle. Aboyne was in England, doing his duty on the King's side in the garrison of Carlisle. It was not merely their connection with Argyle which made it difficult for the Gordons to rally to Montrose's standard. Montrose was longing to gather the feudal aristocracy around him, and he had to discover that in a feudal aristocracy it was the pos session of broad acres and a numerous following of vassals which gave repute, not military genius or the authority of the King. Huntly was in his own dis trict a king in all but the name, and he scorned to Lord take orders from one whose estates were insignificant when compared to his own. He had received, too, from the King the Lieu tenantship of the North, and 1 Declaration by the Committee of Estates, Sept. 12. Napier's Memo rials of Montrose, ii. 163. 02 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. CHAP. XXVI. 1644 he could not make up his mind to subordinate him self to the new Lieutenant of all Scotland. Yet it was hard for him or his sons to desert the King's cause. Their neighbours, the Frazers, the Porbeses, the Crichtons, and the rest had adhered to the Cove nant as a protection against Huntly's power, and when Lord Gordon called on them to follow him against Montrose, they with one voice refused to place themselves under the command of their heredi tary enemy.1 Some eighteen or twenty horse, under Lord Lewis the orders of Lord Lewis, a youth, gaUant and daring, but without steadiness of character, formed the only contingent furnished by the Gordons to the Covenant ing army at Aberdeen. On the other hand Montrose was joined by a small force under Nathaniel Gordon, a tried and hardy warrior who had supported Huntly's abortive rising, and had refused to share in his submission. Thus it was that when on the morning of September 1 3 Montrose approached Aberdeen from the west, he found himself at the head of an army very different from that which had followed him at Tippermuir, in asmuch as it was more suited to the exigencies of the regular warfare of the day. The Highlanders were fewer and the trained men more numerous. On the other hand the enemy was strongly posted on the wide of a hill in advance of the town,2 having not only the advantage of the slope and of the possession of superior artillery, but the possession of a few scattered houses and gardens abutting on the lane which led to the centre of their position. Numbers too were on their side. They had 2,000 foot and 500 1 Patrick Gordon, 7g. 2 The town then ended at the Den Burn, which ran in the bottom of tbe valley now occupied by the line of railway and the Central Station. Gordon. NathanielGordon. Sept. 13. Montrose beforeAberdeen. MONTROSE AT ABERDEEN 93 horse, whilst 1,500 foot and 44 horse made up the chap. army of Montrose. - _XXYI1 Prudence as well as dislike to cause unnecessary 1 44 94 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. CHAP. XXVI. His drum mer killed Montrose's disposi tions. slaughter led Montrose to try the effect of negotiation. He summoned the magistrates to surrender, adjuring IIe them at least to send their women and children to a place A~n. of safety- The magistrates, though they governed ji town which had very little of the Covenanting spirit, had been chosen through the influence of the Cove nanting party, and they decisively rejected the offer.1 A horseman in their ranks wantonly slew a drummer- boy who had accompanied Montrose's messenger.2 Montrose was wild with fury on hearing of the poor lad's fate, and he promised to his followers the plunder of the town. Yet he did not omit the pre cautions of the coolest tactician. He placed his scanty body of forty-four horse on the wings, accord ing to the practice of the day, but he knew that such a handful would be incapable of charging the over whelming numbers of the enemy without disaster to themselves. At the very time when Eupert and Cromwell were making the cavalry charge the chief factor in battle,3 Montrose, with the instinct of genius, 1 Facsimiles of the letters are given in Spalding, ii. 406. The gap in the sixth and seventh lines in Montrose's letter is caused by a drop of rain falling on the paper as he was writing, as appears on inspection of the original, in the possession of the Town Council of Aberdeen. 2 Spalding, ii. 407, note I. 3 The invention of the replacement ofthe old cavalry tactics, accord ing to which a charge was preceded by the firing of pistols and carbines, by the shock of horse and man, is attributed by Captain Fritz Hoenig in his Oliver Cromwell to Cromwell. Colonel Ross, however, has pointed out to me a passage in Bulstrode's Memoirs (81) which assigns it to Rupert at Edgehill. " Just before we began our march, Prince Rupert passed from one wing to the other, giving positive orders to the horse to march as close as possible, keeping their ranks with sword in hand to receive the enemy's shot, without firing either carbine or pistol till we broke in amongst the enemy and then to make use of our fire-arms as need should require, which order was punctually observed." Here, therefore, if Bul- strode is to be believed, Cromwell, as in other matters, appears as au adapter and improver rather than an inventor. MONTROSE AT ABERDEEN 95 suiting his tactics to his conditions, guarded his in- chap. significant cavalry with musketeers interspersed — -¦ — - amongst them, so as to reserve it for use at a later period of the fight. Such adaptation of means to ends would have been of httle avail if he had not possessed in Macdonald's men a highly disciplined force which was armed with muskets and could be counted on to fight in a very different manner from the wielders of the Highland broadsword. Yet even Montrose's skill would hardly have availed him if there had not been an entire absence of command on the other side. Lord Balfour of Bur leigh, who" bore the name of general, knew nothing of war, and each of his subordinates, knowing equaUy little, did as he thought right in his own eyes. Montrose began the attack by driving the enemy The Battle out of the houses and gardens occupied by them, deen." After a while Lord Lewis Gordon charged with the small party of eighteen horsemen at his disposal on the right wing of the EoyaUsts ; but the boy knew of no tactics other than those which had long been abandoned in England. His men advanced, fired their pistols, and retreated to load again, instead of sweeping down on the enemy with aU the weight of man and horse. When Lord Lewis had retired, a fresh charge was attempted on the same wing by Lord Prazer and Lord Crichton, but being ill-seconded they failed to make any impression on the EoyaUsts. The remainder of the cavalry on the left wing of the Covenanters, partly from their own ignorance of war, and partly because their general sent them no orders, remained fixed in the position in which they had originally been drawn up. On his left wing, however, Montrose was near to a grave disaster. The Covenanters had sent a 96 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. CHAP. XXVI. party of a hundred horse and four hundred foot to l^T sweep round t0 their own right b^ a min road out of sight, by which they reached a position in the rear of Montrose's left flank. Had they made up their minds to attack at once they could hardly have failed to roll up the whole of the enemy's line. But they hesitated and held back, though Nathaniel Gordon, who was on that side, had but thirty horse and a hundred musketeers to oppose to them. Montrose had thus time to bring over EoUock with his twenty-four horse from the right wing to Gordon's succour, and to push forward a fresh party of a hun dred musketeers in support. The opportunity of the Covenanters was thus lost. Gordon took the offensive, and, falling upon them on the hillside, put their horse to flight and cut their foot to pieces. On the other side of the battle, however, Sir William Forbes of Craigevar, taking advantage, it would seem, of EoUock's absence, charged right upon the enemy. Horsemen there were none to resist him, the storm therefore feU upon Macdonald's musketeers. With cool discipline the trained men opened their ranks, and Porbes's horse swept Massacre in through the midst of them doing no damage as they the town. passe(j# Macdonald faced round and pursued the flying rout with a fire which emptied many a saddle. EoUock was now able to return to his original post. The Covenanting horse on both wings being thus disposed of, the battle was continued on more equal terms. The force of superior discipline prevailed, and the main battle of the Covenanters broke and fled.1 1 Wishart's account of the battle is miserably poor as compared with Patrick Gordon's. The latter, too, stands the test of an acquaintance with the locality. Wishart places Rollock on the left wing, and THE SACK OF ABERDEEN. 97 In the chase which followed the victors burst into chap. the open town with the flying rout. Then followed -XXN L ^ a scene of horror, the like of which had never been : 44 witnessed in the English war. Montrose, angered by the murder of his drummer, had promised his fol lowers the plunder of the town. The wilder elements of barbarism were aU let loose. Unarmed men were cut down in the streets ; and, by a refinement of cruelty, those who were somewhat better clothed than others were stripped before they were slain, lest the coveted garments should be soiled with their blood. Women who ventured to bewail the slaughter of a husband or a father were killed on the spot or dragged off for outrage worse than death.1 It was not amidst a Covenanting population that this wickedness was wrought. Again and again, dur ing the first years of the troubles, the townsmen of Aberdeen had shown that they were no meek disciples of the Kirk, as none knew better than Montrose him self.2 It is true that through the remainder of his career he showed himself merciful and generous to all who came personally in contact with him, and sparing ofthe bloodshed of unarmed populations when ever it was in his power to check the violence of his followers. Yet on this occasion he does not seem to have had any desire to avert the consequences of a rash promise made in a moment of exasperation. Nathaniel Gordon on the right, which is plainly wrong. But he can hardly be wrong in bringing Rollock from one side to the other, and the view that Rollock was really moved from the right to the left is borne out by the fact that when Forbes charged nothing is said of horse resisting him. On this account I have placed this charge after the flank march on the other side. 1 Patrick Gordon, 80 ; Spalding, ii. 406. 2 Spalding (ii. 411) gives a list of 118 men killed in the battle, and says that ninety-eight of them were ' no Covenanteris, but harllit out sore against their willis to fight against the Kingis livetennant.' II. II 98 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. CHAP. XXVI. 1644 Kollock asked to murderMontrose. Montrose in the Highlands. The savagery of the captors of Aberdeen height ened, as might well be, the violent hatred with which Montrose was regarded in the Lowlands. EoUock, having been despatched to carry the news of the victory to the King, was captured on the way and condemned to death. Life was offered him on con dition that he would engage to murder his com mander. EoUock gave the required promise, and then hastened back to Montrose. On his arrival he told of the shameless engagement which had been extorted from him, and which he thought it no shame to break.1 StartUng as was the intelligence from Tippermuir and Aberdeen, it did not create any immediate sense of danger at Edinburgh or in England. Not a man was withdrawn from the Scottish army which was then lying before Newcastle. It was known that Argyle was in pursuit of Montrose, and it was firmly believed that Argyle would succeed where the un trained levies of peasants and shopkeepers had failed. Once more Montrose appealed to the Gordons; but the Gordons refused to move against the positive orders of Huntly, and no course was open to Montrose but to take to the hills. Darting hither and thither with his lightly equipped force, he was soon beyond the reach of Argyle, who was no soldier, and who carried with him the impediments of Lowland war fare. Montrose marched westwards to Eothiemurchus, where he buried the cannon which he had taken at Aberdeen, and then made his way to Blair Athol, whence he had set out on his career of victory. He did not linger here. With Argyle lumbering behind him, he started once more eastwards, then northwards 1 Wishart, ch, xviii. ARGYLE'S PURSUIT. 9y across the Dee and the Don, and at last stood at bay chap at Fyvie Castle. Argyle fancied he had now a fair - -XXVI1- opportunity of crushing his deft antagonist, as Mac- q44 donald, with the bulk of his followers, was far away by the western sea, whither he had gone to secure from attack the two castles which he had seized on his landing. Montrose now showed himself as skilful The defence in defence as he had shown himself at Aberdeen to casue!16 be skilful in attack. Fyvie Castle, in itself incapable of holding out long against a formal siege, was surrounded to the north, the west, and the south by bogs through which only a narrow strip of hard ground allowed approach to an enemy. Argyle therefore proposed to attack the eastern side, where there were no such obstacles. On this side, however, a long but not very high ridge interposed a natural barrier, on which Montrose drew up his men. The pewter utensils of the castle were melted into bullets ; the powder had for the most part to be obtained from the pouches of slain enemies. Young O'Cahan, an Irish officer, left by Macdonald in command of such of his followers as remained with Montrose, animated the defenders by his high spirits and his courage. Argyle was warmly received, and after a prolonged struggle driven back. Before the Covenanters could again come within striking distance Montrose had slipped away ; Argyle following heavily from east to west till he had tracked Montrose to Blair Athol and back again from west to east, losing men in every march, amidst the autumn rains. He failed to come up with his active foe ; perhaps, indeed, he thought it better not to be too near him. At last, weary of his task, he turned his face to Edinburgh, and delivered up his commission to the Committee of Estates..1 1 Wisher! , ch. vii. IOO TII'PKRMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. ciap. December had now arrived, and with it all ex- -' V-- pectation of war came to an end. Even Montrose De!4 (loubtecl whether campaigning was possible in the a couniii Highlands, when the snow gleamed white on the mountain tops and choked the mountain passes. His heart was set on the conquest and organisation of Southern Scotland, and, summoning a council of war, he suggested a descent into the Lowlands. The chieftains would not hear of it. Macdonald had now returned, bringing with him five hundred Highlanders of the Macdonald name and blood. To Montrose flocked Camerons from Lochaber, Macdonalds of Clanranald, Macdonalds from Keppoch, Glengarry, and Glencoe. Every man of them hated Argyle with a bitter hatred, and they told Montrose that the time was come to track the Campbell to his lair in the valleys round Inverary. Those valleys, they said, were rich in herds of cattle, and within the memory of man had never known the presence of the spoiler. It had long been held by every Camp bell as an incontrovertible truth that the mountain ranges which guarded their homes were even in summer impassable by a hostile force. " I would rather," Argyle had been heard to say, "lose a hundred thousand crowns than that any mortal man should know the way by which an army can enter into my country." Montrose, after some resistance, accepted the proposal. A few horsemen from Angus under Sir Thomas Ogilvy were with him, as well as a certain number of Gordons who had been roused to join him by Argyle's ill-advised plunderings in the Gordon lands ; but the bulk of his force consisted of Mac donalds from whichever side of the Irish Sea they came. For them there was but one object of the THE HARRYING OF ARGYLE. IOI war, the destruction of the Campbells, whose march through their glen had been ever marked in fire and blood. Before these hardy warriors every natural CHAP. XXVI. 1644 pP^lEp "iyayajyt(\rr^- . ... >'l_iMf K CAMPAIGN ^ 0 p INVERLOCHY Ittontr-ose's March. « ENGLISH MILES obstacle gave way. Clambering over rocks and Dec. wading through snowdrifts, the Highland host poured inArgyie. down upon the Campbell valleys. Argyle, leaving his clansmen to their fate, sought refuge in his 102 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. I'ilAP. XXVI. 1645 fastness at Inverary. The vengeance of many gene rations was accomplished. Every head of cattle was destroyed, every homestead burnt to the ground. It was but dealing to the Campbells the measure which they had dealt to others, nor was the wrath of the Macdonalds to be satiated with the destruction of property. No quarter was given,1 and every Camp bell of age to bear arms who was unlucky enough to fall into their hands was butchered without mercy. Jan. On December 1 3 Montrose had burst into Argyle. leaves January had almost closed when, leaving a desert behind him, he marched leisurely northwards, spoil ing as he went. His track lay through the valley of the great lakes. When he reached Loch Ness he learnt that his way was barred by Seaforth at the head of some 5,000 men gathered from the northern shires. Seaforth had long professed himself a Boyal- ist, but his pohcy was always dictated by the personal interests and feehngs of the moment. Argyle at If Montrose had Seaforth before him he had inverlochy. ^.^yjg jn fos rear Argyle had summoned two hastily formed Lowland regiments to his assistance, and with these and such of his own clansmen as had escaped he took up his post with 3,000 men at Inver lochy, where the great glen reaches the salt waters of Loch Eil. Montrose, it might seem, was caught in a trap. His Highlanders were for the most part far away storing up their plunder in their mountain homes. But for Macdonald's regiments his force would have been scanty indeed. As it was, he had no more than 1,500 around him. 1 ' Although out of a generous disposition, he,' i.e. Montrose, ' would have spared the people, yet the Clan Donald, wheresoever they found any that was able to carry arms, did without mercy despatch them.'— Patrick Gill-dull, 98. •A DARING MARCH. 103 Weak as he was in numbers, Montrose flew at chap. Argyle. His chief fear was that Argyle would shun -i^Jil- the fight. He therefore avoided the easy route down l645 the valley, lest the knowledge of his approach might ^rch.086'3 drive the Campbells to retreat. Turning to the left, he climbed the rugged pass of Corryarrick. Onward the Highland host made its way through clefts in which a hundred men could easily have stopped the progress of an army. At last, after nightfall on February 1, as they pressed on in the bright light Feb- of the moon under the shoulder of Ben Nevis, they caught sight of the Campbells in front of them be tween the mountain and the shore. For the Campbells there was no escape from the next day's battle ; but Argyle was persuaded, too Argyie easily for his honour, to take refuge in a vessel lying refuge in a in the loch. He had recently dislocated his shoulder in consequence of a fall from his horse,1 and even if he had been more of a warrior than he was he could have taken but little personal share in the actual combat. Yet there have been men who, even in such a case, would have thought it shame to look on from a position of security whUst their followers were ex posed to wounds and death. It is possible that Argyle expected not disaster but victory. His men were numerous and well equipped. Montrose's were few and fasting. " The most part of them had not tasted bread these two days." The next morning Montrose himself, with the Earl of Airhe, ' had no more to break their fast before they went to battle but a little meal mixed with cold water, which out of a hollow dish they did pick up with their knives for want of spoons.' 1 Balfour's Annals, Hist. Works, iii. 256. I do not see any reasor for disbelieving the fact. 104 TIPPERMUIR, ABERDEEN, AND INVERLOCHY. chap. The command of Argyle's army had been given "~l(;r^ to Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchinbreck, a tried I'luL soldier from the Irish war. The CampbeU High- of'hfvc'.-10 lander8 ne placed in the centre with a newly-levied i«°iiy. Lowland regiment on either wing. Such an army had too little coherence to be really formidable, and Sir Duncan was, it would seem,1 compelled to hold back his Highlanders, lest, if they were aUowed to charge, they might disorder the ranks of their untrained and unwarlike comrades. Montrose had therefore the advantage of the attack. Nor was that all. He had contrived to bring a smaU body of horse under Lord Ogilvy over the mountain passes, and he knew that the fear of a cavalry charge would work wonders amongst infantry who were without cavalry to guard their flanks. His first order, therefore, was to Ogilvy's trumpeter to sound the charge. A peal long and loud carried dismay into the enemy's ranks. Then he let loose his whole force. Alaster Macdonald on the right and O'Cahan on the left wing dashed at the Lowland regiments, and the Lowland regiments, not knowing how soon the horsemen might be trampling them down, broke and took to flight. The whole weight of Montrose's army bore upon the Campbells in the centre. For some time they resisted stoutly, but at last they wavered and fled. For the Lowland runaways there was mercy, but there was none for any man who bore the name of Campbell. Out of 3,000 of which the army was composed when the battle began, no less than 1,700 perished under the very eyes of Argyle, and of these, by far the greater part were his own clansmen. For a time the 1 This is not directly stated, but it may be gathered from the position of defence taken up by the Campbells. .Lon.ch.jrL-. Hongmans .£ Co. EdWfWefler THE ROUT OF THE CAMPBELLS. 105 Campbells ceased to be a power in the western chap. Highlands.1 S^L. No wonder that after such an exploit Montrose l64S -. x Montrose's overrated the possible results of his achievement, and hopes. fancied that because the Macdonalds had combined enthusiastically to crush the Campbells they would be ready to combine with equal enthusiasm to recon stitute the King's government in the Lowlands. In announcing his success to Charles he adjured him to abandon that negotiation with his rebellious English subjects which he was then opening at Uxbridge. " Give me leave," he urged, " with all humility to Feb. 3. assure your Majesty that through God's blessing I despatch. am in the fairest hopes of reducing this kingdom to your Majesty's obedience, and, if the measures I have concerted with your other loyal subjects fail me not ¦ — which they hardly, can — I doubt not before the end of this summer I shall be able to come to your Majesty's assistance with a brave army, which, backed with the justice of your Majesty's cause, will make the rebels in England as well as in Scotland feel the just rewards of rebelUon. Only give me leave, after I have reduced this country to your Majesty's obe dience, and conquered from Dan to Beersheba, to say to your Majesty then, as David's general did to his master, ' Come thou thyself, lest this country be called by my name.' "2 1 Wishart, ch. vii., viii. ; Patrick Gordon, 85-102. Compare Napier's Memoirs of Montrose, ii. 460-488. 2 Montrose to the King, Feb. 3. Napier's Memoirs of Montrose, ii. 484. On the genuineness of this letter, see Mr. Napier's note at p. 488. io6 CHAPTER XXVII. THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. CHAP. XXVII. 1645 The Saxon and the Celt. 1644. Aug. 17. Maguire and Mac- mahonescape from the Tower, Sept. 19 . and are re captured. Nov. 17. Macmahontried, Nov. 22. and ex ecuted. In Scotland the Saxon distrust and abhorrence of the Celt had been quickened into new life by the cruelties of Montrose's followers at Aberdeen and in Argyle. In England they had, three years before, received a fresh impulse from the tale of the Ulster massacre. In London at least, j ust as the news from Inverlochy arrived, that tale was once more in all mouths. Two of the leaders of the Irish rebeUion, Lord Maguire and Hugh Macmahon, had been transferred to England soon after their arrest in 1641,1 and had been lodged in the Tower, where they long remained forgotten. Unluckily for them, in the summer of 1644 they drew attention to their existence by effecting their escape. For more than a month they concealed themselves in the house of a Catholic in Drury Lane. Their impunity made them careless, and one ofthe pair, being attracted by the cry of an oyster- woman, looked out of window to call for her wares. His face was recognised, and together with his companion he was carried back to prison. On November 17 Macmahon was indicted as a traitor, and being found guilty, was executed on the 22nd. Maguire pleaded that as an Irish peer he could only be tried by his peers in his own country. He obtained nothing more than a short delay. His 1 Hist, of Engl 1603-1642, x. 52. EXECUTION OF MAGUIRE. 107 plea was overruled, and on February 10, 1645, he chap. was brought to the bar before an English jury. -. — , — J- A trial thus conducted could have but one end. ' 4S Whatwas patriotism in Ireland was treason in England, Maguire's and the admission of the prisoner that he had plotted to seize Dublin Castle as a pledge for the redress of certain grievances, amongst which the denial of tole ration to the Catholics occupied the first place, was quite enough to secure his conviction. It would, however, have been little in accordance with the passions of the hour if the prosecution had contented itself with adducing the technical evidence of treason. The whole tale of the Ulster massacres, adorned with aU those exaggerations which had become an essen tial part of the accredited story, was once more unrolled in the hearing of Londoners, though the proof which connected Maguire with those massacres was of the slightest, as he was himself in prison when the mischief was done. The jury naturally took the view that to set going the movement which had culminated in the unhallowed work of slaughter ren dered Maguire responsible for all that followed, whilst the prisoner no less naturally saw in his own scheme for a national uprising a legitimate act of warfare against an ahen domination. The inevitable sentence was passed, and on Feb- MaKU'ir2e0at ruary 20 Maguire was drawn on a sledge, as so many TJburn- had been drawn before him, to taste the bitterness of a death at Tyburn. Sheriff Gibbs, whose duty it was to see to the execution of the sentence of the law, considered it to be his duty to weary the unfortunate man with questions intended to draw from him an acknowledgment in the first place that the Irish were murderers, and in the Second place that these murders had been committed with the complicity of the King. 1644. 108 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. xxvn Maguire pleaded in vain for a few moments of peace " l6",~" tnafc ne might prepare himself for death. Gibbs pur sued him with his questionings to the very end. The popi,. " Had you not engaged yourself by oath to the n'iMut'thf King ? " was the one amongst the Sheriff's demands complicity which revealed in the clearest light the belief which Irish.'11* had sunk deeply into the popular mind. At the very time of Maguire's death, Charles was doing all in his power to strengthen that belief. For nearly a twelve month he had entertained hopes of forming a vast combination in which the Irish Celts would play a leading part. In March 1644, when the Agents of the Supreme Council arrived at Oxford, he was already in close communication with the Catholic son of the Marquis of Worcester, Lord Herbert of Eaglan. It was impossible for Charles to forget how, in the early days of the Avar, Herbert and his father had poured their wealth into his empty treasury ; and he had recently acknowledged to them a debt of no less than 2 5o,ooo/.1 Although Herbert had hitherto proved unsuccessful as a commander,2 Charles hstened eagerly March (?) to his sanguine anticipation of future achievements, b^Eariof and conferred on him the title of Earl of Glamorgan Glamor- L,y warrant. Apparently in order to avoid drawing attention to the service on which Charles contem plated employing him, the warrant, though presented 1 I have, in an article in The English Historical Review for Oct. 1887, not only given the references to the evidence on which I rely for my account of Glamorgan's relations with the King, but have argued at length on the credence to be given to the various documents quoted. As space forbids me from repeating my arguments here, I shall refer my readers to the article during the whole of this chapter, both for the references and for the arguments founded on them. I have, since that article was written, seen a letter from the King to Worcester, written in 1642, in which large pecuniary obligations are acknowledged. It is in the possession of Br. AVebster, of Edgebill, near Aberdeen. '* iSeo vol. i. p. 120. GLAMORGAN'S COMMISSION. 1 09 at the Signet Office, was allowed to stay there, no chap. further steps being taken to procure the patent which — — — '" alone would confer validity on the new title. Glamorgan's plans were indeed such as it would be ciamor- D _ 1 _ gan s aims. prudent to veil in profound secrecy. His royalism, genuine as it was, was very different from that of Hyde, or of any English statesman. He lived and moved in the idea of vindicating his own Church from the bond age of the law, and he knew well that it was impossible to effect that object without also vindicating the au thority of the King from the bondage of Parliaments. His fantastic imagination took no account of the social and pohtical forces which made against the realisation of this complex project, whilst his chivalrous devotion to Charles's person was blended in his mind with his no less chivalrous devotion to his Church. It was nothing to Charles that Glamorgan was as incapable of executing a commission with discretion as he was of conceiving a plan which had any serious chances of success. Fhghty and sanguine, the new Earl had no difficulty in persuading Charles that any one thing was possible, because he believed in his heart that all things were possible." Under his in fluence, the plan for bringing over an Irish army grew into a plan for rousing half Europe to take arms on behalf of Charles and the Catholic cause. Naturally in such a scheme Glamorgan was to play the leading part. Scarcely had the Irish Agents arrived in the spring of 1644, when, on April 1, a commission was April 1 drawn up authorising him to take the command of mission! the 10,000 Irish soldiers whose appearance in Eng land was expected to be the result of the negotiation at Oxford. This Irish army was not, however, to be unsupported. Sir Henry Gage, then a Catholic officer in the Spanish army in Flanders, who was afterwards be raised. IIO THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. chap, killed at Abingdon,1 was to command a force which • — -. — — was to be raised in South Wales, where the Herbert influence was powerful ; whilst another army of 6,000 men composed of levies from Lorraine and Liege — and of such recruits of all nations as could be swept up in the Low Countries — were to be brought over to Lynn, where the officer in command for the Par liament was ready to betray his trust.2 The whole of these armaments were to be placed under Glamor gan as commander-in-chief. Money to Charles had no funds at his disposal wherewith to meet the expenses of so huge an undertaking. To some extent the difficulty was to be met by a grant to Glamorgan of authority to raise money by the sale of wardships, customs, and other property of the Crown, as well as by a lavish distribution of peerages and baronetcies. Glamorgan's chief reliance, however, was on the Pope and other Cathohc princes, who were expected to contribute largely to an enterprise from which their Church was to reap such extensive benefits. If it had been necessary to veil in secrecy the grant of an earldom to Charles's new champion, it was still more necessary to conceal the commission" which placed him in command of armies not yet in existence. Not only were the usual official conditions preliminary on a grant under the great seal not ful filled, but the Lord Keeper himself had to be kept in ignorance of the whole proceeding. A seal was indeed imposed by Glamorgan himself and Endymion Porter, but there is strong reason for believing that it was either cut off or imitated from some genuine patent. A document of this kind could never indeed be re- 1 See p. 57. 3 L'Estrange's subsequent attempt on Lynn gives probability to this. See p. 56. HONOURS FOR GLAMORGAN. I 1 I ceived as genuine in any court of law, but the stake chap. XXVII for which Glamorgan was playing was a victory which — -^ would have reduced aU courts of law to impotence. r 44 The parchment he now possessed was good enough to exhibit to Irish Confederates and to foreign courts, and of more than that he had no need. In return for the services which he expected, Charles was prepared to confer signal honours, and even to confer them by anticipation. He offered the hand of the Princess Elizabeth to Glamorgan's eldest son, and on May 4 he conferred on Glamorgan him- May 4. self the dukedom of Somerset. This patent, unlike tobe'Duke the commission, was sealed in the usual way with ^tSomer" the attestation of the proper officer of the Court of Chancery. As, however, it was not to be imme diately produced, and as it was desirable to avoid drawing attention to its existence, the usual prelimi naries had been again avoided, so that there might be some difficulty in substantiating its validity, if at any future time it were called in question. In short, the procedure in conferring the earldom was exactly reversed. In the one case the first step had never been followed up ; in the other cases, — in conferring the commandership-in-chief and the dukedom, — the final step was taken with nothing to lead up to it. The dukedom had not been granted many days GIamor- , i ¦ -11 gan s plan when Glamorgan s elaborate plan practically broke frustrated. down. Its backbone was the project of bringing over the Irish army, and when, towards the end of May, the Irish Agents were dismissed from Oxford, and the negotiation was placed by Charles in Ormond's hands,1 all present hope of obtaining the services of that army was extinguished. Of all men living Ormond was perhaps the least fitted to conduct that 1 See vol. i. p. 409. I 12 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. CHAP. XXVII. 1644 Ormondunfit to carry on the nego tiation. May 13. Monro seizesBelfast. The Supreme Council offers its arm}' to Ormond. negotiation even to the temporary success of which it was alone capable. His virtues and his defects alike stood in his way. He was too loyal to throw off his shoulders the load which Charles had placed upon them, but he was at the same time so completely wanting in initiative power that he never thought — as Strafford under similar circumstances would assuredly have thought — of suggesting a policy of his own, or even of criticising adversely the one im posed on him by his master. Yet it ought to have been evident to Ormond that an Irish army was not to be gained by haggling over the privUeges to be accorded to the true Irish Par liament and the true Irish Church. Even if the 10,000 men had really been forthcoming, they would have been of little avail unless the hearts of the Irishmen who composed it were engaged in Charles's cause ; and already before the breach of the Oxford negotiations an event had occurred which put Charles's power of winning the hearts of Irishmen to the test. On May 13 Monro, who had been appointed by the English Parliament to the command of the English as well as the Scottish forces in Ireland, proceeded to vindicate his authority by treacherously seizing Belfast and turning out Or mond's garrison. The Supreme Council immediately offered to place its whole army under Ormond's command if he would only engage to lead it against Monro.1 Ormond was too scrupulous to accept the overture unless he received positive orders from Charles, and those orders Charles never gave. No doubt there were good reasons why Charles should turn his back on the proposal, as acceptance 1 Carte's Ormond, iii. 118. The numerous documents on which the narrative is founded are amongst the Carte MS9i WAR AND DIPLOMACY. 1 13 of it would probably have cost him the service of chap. . . XXVII. nine-tenths of his army in England. What is, how- — '¦ ¦ — ¦ ever, to be thought of a policy which based itself on the co-operation of an Irish army in England, when it was impossible to grant to the Irish the co-opera tion of an English army in Ireland ? Accordingly, the old path which led to nothing had once more to be trodden by the weary Lord Lieutenant. On July 26 Ormond received information juiy26. that a commission had been sent to him, empower- ag™nntakes ing him to recommence that negotiation with the negotL- Supreme Council which had utterly broken down at tlon- Oxford. "I have httle ground of hope," he wrote juiy30. despairingly to Digby, " that the commission will ff^ ™ope effect that for which it was sent ; to wit, the con cluding of a peace as may be for his Majesty's honour, or for the just and reasonable satisfaction of his Pro testant subjects." x The course of that summer's war was such as to Campaignin Ulster. bring home conviction to every Irishman that he had but little cause for gratitude to Charles. In the north there was a long desultory warfare between Monro and the Confederates, in which Ormond's gar risons maintained a strict neutrality. In the south, Inchiquin, angry because Charles had refused to him i^'quii the presidency of Munster,2 had declared for the ter- English Parliament, and was leading an attack on the Confederates which threatened to be more serious than any to which they had hitherto been exposed in that part of Ireland.3 On September 6 the peace conferences were re- ThSept'f opened at Dublin. It soon appeared that even if the en™ ?4 pohtical difficulties could be removed, the ecclesiastical ' Ormond to Digby, July 30. Carte's Ormond, vi. 185. 2 See vol. i. p. 392. 3 Carte's Ormond, iii. 118. II. I ii4 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. CHAP. XXVII. 1644 Obstacles in the way of an under standing. Parties amongst the Con- lederates. Oct. Muskerry'sproposal. Dec. 15. It is ac cepted bj- the King. difficulties were well-nigh insuperable. The Irish de manded the repeal not only of all statutes impeding the freedom of their worship, but of others, such as that of Appeals and of a portion of the Act of Praemunire quoted in that statute, which restricted the exercise of the Papal jurisdiction. The King, on the other hand, though he was willing to engage that the laws against freedom of worship should not be put in execu tion, was not prepared to consent to their repeal, and, for the present at least, he was absolutely determined to leave untouched the Acts of Appeals and Prae munire.1 For the time, however, it appeared as if Charles would be allowed to have his way. Differences of opinion were already making themselves manifest amongst the Confederates, and the lay peers were drifting apart from the ecclesiastics. A party, of which Lord Muskerry was the chief, declared in pri vate to Ormond that they were ready to accept the King's terms, if only ample security were given that the lives and property of Irishmen would be safe. They would not press for the immediate repeal of laws which they expected wouldfall of themselves whenever Charleswasin a position to carryout his real intentions. On the question of the repeal of the statutes affecting the King's jurisdiction they were entirely silent, a silence which probably implied an undertaking that Charles should not be troubled further in the matter.2 With this proposal Charles was highly pleased. He, too, now moved a step in advance, and com manded Ormond to promise that the penal laws should be suspended as soon as peace was made, and that whenever he was restored to his rights with Irish help 1 Gilbert, Hist, ofthe Irish Confederation, iii. 289. 3 Browne's note, in Carte's Ormond, v. 10. GLAMORGAN TO GO TO IRELAND. "5 they should be absolutely repealed ; " but all those," chap. he added, " against appeals to Eome and Prasmunire - — ,— - must stand." x l644 The transmission of Muskerry's proposals had Nov. i4 been accompanied by a private message from Or- oShia mond, in which the Lord Lieutenant offered his resig- tionf1*" nation. In the first place he pleaded the straits to which he was reduced by poverty ; but his second reason doubtless had greater weight. If an English man, he said, were to do what he was required to do in the King's service, he would be subject to less misconstruction than an Irishman like himself in the same position. In other words, Ormond felt uncom fortable at the prospect of having to connive at the constant breach of unrepealed laws.2 Charles gaily Dec 15. replied that the Irish peace would remedy all com- refuses to plaints, and must be despatched out of hand.3 Yet though Charles did not think fit to displace Ormond, he resolved to find him an assistant. His thoughts naturally reverted to Glamorgan, who might now, if the peace was at last procured, carry out those wider plans which had been laid aside in the spring. Glamorgan's wife was a daughter of the Earl of Thomond, and it was easy to discover a reason why he should wish to visit Ireland at this conjuncture of affairs. On December 27 Charles informed Ormond Dec. 27. of Glamorgan's intended journey on private business, com- and assured him that the Earl would be ready to do ormcnd.0 1 The King to Ormond, Dec. 15. Printed from a duplicate with a later date in Carte's Ormond, v. 9. Compare Digby to Ormond, Dec. 16. lb. vi. 219. 5 Instructions for Barry, Carte MSS. xiii. fol. 162. They are undated, but there is a later copy in the same collection, xvi. fol. 211, dated Nov. 14, 1645. The year is plainly wrong, as we know from other sources that Barry was sent towards the end of 1644. 3 The King to Ormond, Dec. 15. Carte's Ormond, v. 9. 1 2 n6 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. Purpose of Glamor gan's mission. xx vn. eve]7thing in his power to promote the cause of peace. "~i644~ ' His nonesty or affection to my service," the King added in a postscript, " will not deceive you, but 1 will not answer for his judgment." x Charles was too often in the habit of employing those for whose judgment he could not answer. Yet even Charles was hardly likely to send a man whose judgment he distrusted to conclude secretly a peace on terms which he had positively forbidden Ormond to listen to. The best explanation of an intricate mass of evidence is always that which raises the least difficulty, and for those who know the circumstances under which Ormond's resignation was offered the explanation lies on the surface. What Charles was now bent on was to procure an understanding with the Confederates upon the terms oflered by Muskerry. It was with a fuU knowledge of these terms that Ormond had wished to shift the burden of complying with them from his own shoulders to those of an Englishman. Charles refused to supersede him, but he sent an Englishman to do the work, to use his power of persuasion with those amongst the Con federates who were not in Muskerry's councils, and to give assurance that the laws would not be put in force against them, even though they remained unrepealed. What was needed was energy and sincerity of purpose rather than judgment, and if, as there is every reason to believe, Charles instructed his agent to conform in everything to the advice of Ormond,2 his lack of judgment might not under Ormond's supervision be of much consequence. Yet so bent was Charles on driving on the peace that he actually gave to the 1 The King to Ormoi-d, Dec. 17. Carte's Ormond, v. 7. 2 " If you had advised with my Lord Lieutenant (as you promised me) all this had been helped." The King to Glamorgan, Feb. 3, 1646. Dircks, Life of the second Marquis of Worcester, 134. A STRANGE MISSION. 117 feather-brained Glamorgan a commission to succeed Ormond as Lord Lieutenant in the event of the death or misconduct of the latter ; in other words, in the event of his persisting in his refusal to carry out the negotiation on the lines indicated by his last in structions.1 With Charles eagerness to give peace to Ireland was altogether subordinated to his eagerness to obtain for the coming campaign in England those military succours which he had once hoped to obtain through Glamorgan for the campaign of 1644. It was this which had led him to entertain the idea of placing Glamorgan in Ormond's seat. Yet it is evident from the instructions which he gave to the Earl that he only contemplated the necessity of change as a re mote possibility, and that he much preferred that his two representatives should act in hearty co-operation. " You may engage your estate, interest, and credit," ^45 he wrote in the instructions which on January 2 he Giamw-' gave to Glamorgan, " that we will most readily and striatums. punctually perform any our promises to the Irish, and as it is necessary to conclude a peace suddenly,2 whatsoever shall be consented unto by our Lieutenant the Marquis of Ormond, we will die a thousand deaths rather than disannul or break it ; and if upon neces- 1 " For to endear myself to some, the better to do his Majesty service, 'tis true I did declare a promise from the King of his assent that after your Excellency's time he would make me Lord Lieutenant ; but 'tis no meaning of mine but to keep your Excellency in during your life, and not really to pretend unto it, or anything in diminution of your Excellency's honour or profit, or derogating from the true amity and real service which I have professed and will ever make good towards your Excellency. And my intention was ever to acquaint your honour herewith; and I once intended to do it before my going to Kilkenny, but never to conceal it totally from you." Glamorgan to Ormond, Sept. 29, 1645. Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 396. But compare Rinuccini to Pantilio, Sept. 29, 1646; Nun. matura, 166. 2 i.e. soon. n8 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. Their meaning, x" vn S^ anytning be to be condescended unto, and yet the ~~r~~' Lord Marquis not willing to be seen therein, or not fit for us at the present publicly to own, do you en deavour to supply the same." Eead apart from the correspondence between Charles and Ormond, this clause might possibly be subject to a variety of interpretations. Eead in its proper chronological sequence, it can bear but one meaning. Glamorgan was to act in strict subordina tion to the Lord Lieutenant, and to assure the Irish that the penal laws would be suspended after the signature of a treaty of peace, and repealed as soon as victory made it safe for Charles to take that course. It was the prospect of having to complete the nego tiation on these terms which had driven Ormond to send in his resignation. More than this Charles was for the moment determined to refuse. The remainder of the instructions were taken up with directions for the management of the army, which was soon to be under Glamorgan's command,1 couched in terms which imply that, as far as Ireland was concerned, the commission of the preceding April was still in force.8 The informal patent conferring a dukedom on Gla morgan was allowed to fall asleep. There is reason to believe that his father was displeased that his son should be a duke whilst he himself remained a mar quis, and though the steps of the process cannot be distinctly traced, it is plain that the intention was already formed of making the old man a duke instead of his son. In February a warrant to that effect was actually sent to Worcester ; but, as in the case of his son's earldom, complete secrecy was both enjoined and observed, no attempt being made to carry the grant beyond the initial stage. 1 Instructions to Glamorgan, Jan. 2. Dircks, Life of the Marquis of Worcester, 72. 5 See p. 109. Feb. 12. Worcester to he a duke. EXTENSIVE POWERS. 119 On January 12 the King's confidence in Gia- chap. morgan received a fresh attestation. " So great," he ¦- — , — '- wrote, " is the confidence we repose in you, as that ' 4S2 whatsoever you shall perform, as warranted under The King , • . -, promises to our signature, pocket signet, or private mark, or confirm even by word of mouth, without further ceremony, gan's we do, on the word of a king and a Christian, promise to make good to all intents and purposes, as effectually as if your authority from us had been under the great seal of England, with this advantage, that we shall esteem ourself the more obhged to you for your gallantry in not standing upon such nice terms to do us service, which we shall, God willing, reward. And although you exceed what law can warrant, or any powers of ours reach unto, as not knowing what you have need of, yet it being for our service, we oblige ourself, not only to give you our pardon, but to maintain the same with all our might and power ; and though either by accident, or by any other oc casion, you shall deem it necessary to deposit any of our warrants, and so want them at your return, we faithfuUy promise to make them good at your return, and to supply anything wherein they shall be found defective, it not being convenient for us at this time to dispute upon them ; for of what we have here set down you may rest confident, if there be faith and trust in men. Proceed, therefore, cheerfully, speedily, and boldly, and for your so doing this shaU be your sufficient warrant." x Perilously wide as these words were, it is not Expiana- likely that they referred to the conclusion of the these0 Irish peace. They are more appropriate to the other powers- negotiation with which Glamorgan was entrusted, the negotiation with the Pope and the Catholic powers 1 Dircks, 79. 120 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. CHAP. XXVII. "164T Glamor gan's ex planation. Jan. 6. Com mission to Glamorganto levy troops in Ireland and on the Continent, for money to pay the armies which were to be brought from the Continent in support of the troops from Ireland. " The maintenance of this army of foreigners," wrote Glamorgan in explanation many years after wards, " was to have come from the Pope and such Catholic princes as he should draw into it, having engaged x to afford and procure 30,000^. a month, out of which the foreign army was first to be provided for, and the remainder to be divided among other armies. And for this purpose had I power to treat with the Pope and Catholic princes, with particular advantages promised to Cathohcs for the quiet enjoy ing of their religion, without the penalties which the statutes in force had power to inflict upon them. And my instructions for this purpose, and my powers to treat and conclude thereupon, were signed by the King under his pocket signet, with blanks for me to put in the names of the Pope or princes, to the end the King might have a starting hole to deny the having given me such commissions, if excepted against by his own subjects ; leaving me as it were at stake, who for his Majesty's sake was willing to undergo it, trusting to his word alone." In all probability the powers referred to in this explanation are the warrants mentioned by Charles as those which he was ready to make good, the names comprised in which would have to be filled in by Glamorgan in accordance with the instructions which had been given him by word of mouth. This interpretation of the meaning of Charles's warrant of the 12th is the more probable as that warrant followed closely on a commission granted on the 6th under the great seal — though without the 1 i.e. I having engaged. THE QUEEN IN PARIS. 12 I xxvr 1645 customary formalities of sign-manual and privy-seal chap, ' — by which Glamorgan was empowered to levy troops not only in Ireland but on the Continent as well.1 Much as Charles trusted Glamorgan, he had another agent abroad even more devoted to his service and bound to him by nearer tics. When, early in November 1644, Henrietta Maria arrived in ^44- Paris she was still weakly, but sufficiently recovered TheQueen from her long illness to apply herself intermittently to business. Mazarin, for the time, kept her at a distance, but the Queen Eegent welcomed her with all the effusiveness of her nature. Kindly words, however, were not closely followed by helpful deeds. Anne, it is true, presented her distressed sister-in-law with a small quantity of arms, which Henrietta Maria at once converted into money; but she frankly ex plained that she could do no more. The only com forting word which the Queen of England could send to her husband was that so soon as a cargo of Cornish tin, which was beheved to be on its way, arrived at a French port, she would be able without difficulty to sell it, and would forward the purchase money to England.2 France, in fact, was in no position to expend money from a sentimental interest in the fortunes of Charles. She was engaged in a struggle which taxed her re- The °° campaign sources to the uttermost. In the early summer of 1 644, on the when the siege of Gravehnes was drawing to an end,3 Mazarin launched Enghien to the succour of Turenne, who was outnumbered by the Imperialist general, Mercy, on the Upper Ehine. After a week of battles 1 Commission to Glamorgan, Jan. 6. Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 713. The levies were to be made ' vel in nostra Ibernise regno aut aliis qui- busvis partibus transmarinis.' 2 The Queen to the King, Nov. \\. Letters of Henrietta Maria, 266, 267. 3 See vol. i. p. 492. Rhine. 122 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. 1644 July 24-30, Aug. 3-9. Battles of Freilurg. Oct. The Upper Rhine occupiedby the French. O'Hartegan at Paris. Nov. 24. The Queen supports O'lhirte- gan. round Freiburg in the Breisgau, Mercy drew off the shattered remains of his defeated army. Before the end of October the Ehine valley from Basel toBacha- rach was in the hands of the French. The design of Eichelieu was at last accomplished. No slight exertions would be needed to maintain so vast an achievement, and, for some time to come, Mazarin was unlikely to have the power, even if he had the will, to do much for the English Queen. His policy with regard to England was to perpetuate its distractions, and to render it too weak to be an obstacle to the designs of France on the Continent, especially if he could attain his object without much trouble or expense to himself.1 Under these circumstances Mazarin was therefore quite willing to listen favourably to the proposals which were at this time made to him by Father O'Hartegan, a Jesuit who represented at Paris the Confederate Catholics of Ireland, and who was anxious that the protection of France should be extended to his native country.2 Neither Mazarin nor O'Hartegan wished too openly to avow the sup port given by France to a policy which, if success ful, would practically result in Irish independence. What was to be done must be done in the name of Charles, and with the full approbation of the Queen. That approbation they had no difficulty in securing. On November 24 O'Hartegan was able to report that the Queen had thrown herself vehemently on his side, and that Mazarin had promised him a considerable sum in money. Henrietta Maria, in listening to O'Hartegan's 1 I derive my view of Mazarin's policy from his correspondence with Montreuil, at a somewhat later date. 2 Letter from Paris, Dec. jsg, 1645. Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 2927 Catholics. SIR KENELM DIGBY'S MISSION. 1 23 proposals, was true to the only objects for which chap. she really cared — the restitution of her husband's >-— , — '-> authority and the concomitant liberation of her l 44 Church. At Paris she found herself in the midst of influences which carried her on insensibly in the path which she was willing to tread. A joint com mittee of English and Irish Catholics had been formed in that city in September, and had ever since sept. been busily engaged in formulating its designs. The committee first resolution of this committee had been that, and'irish though the cause of the Catholics of both countries should be treated as indivisible, its first efforts should be directed to the establishment of the Catholic Church in Ireland, as a preliminary to the commence ment of operations in England. Sir Kenelm Digby was to be despatched to Eome to lay the state of affairs before the Pope. If O'Hartegan is to be trusted — and he had doubtless reason to exaggerate the amount of support he was likely to receive — money would not be wanting when the time for the great enterprise arrived. Lady Banbury promised \o,oool. ; Lord Montague and others had offered largely. The Nuncio, Cardinal Bagni, offered to pledge all that he was worth. Father Wadding wrote from Eome that he had ' the Pope's word for a considerable sum.' In giving hopes to the Supreme Council of powerful succour, O'Hartegan recom mended that after the enemy had been expelled from Ireland, and the greater part of the strongholds of the land had been placed in Catholic hands, the long- talked of Irish army might be sent across the sea to replace Charles on the English throne.1 Practically there was to be an Irish conquest of England. 1 O'Hartegan to the Supreme Council, p°^'244. Carte's Ormond, vi, 216. Bagni to Barberini, Sept. §§. Roman Transcripts, R.O. 124 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. CHAP. XXVII. 1644 Nov. 23 The Duke of Lorraine to be gained. O'Hartegan's scheme was not the only one to which Henrietta Maria lent her ear. Amongst the enemies of France was Charles, Duke of Lorraine. He had been expelled from his duchy by Eichelieu, and the exile, as a Catholic prince of the Empire, had placed his sword at the disposal of the Emperor. Having no territorial army athis command, he fought — like Mans- feld at an earlier stage of the war — at the head of a band of adventurers who subsisted on plunder alone. Eapacious as his followers were, they bore themselves well in the day of battle, and at Freiburg they had contributed much to the tenacity of Mercy's resistance. Mazarin was therefore anxious to divert their energy to other fields, and he now informed Henrietta Maria that if she could induce the Duke to transfer his services to England, there would be no difficulty in finding the money necessary to enable him to carry on the operation.1 Little recked the French-born Queen of England of the cruelty of letting loose such a pack of wolves upon the soil of that England which she regarded as the inheritance of her husband and her children. She at once closed with the proposal, and on January 2, before the Duke's answer could be received, she instructed Dr. Goffe, her agent at the Hague, to the Hague, urge the Prince of Orange to take a forward step in the marriage treaty which had been the object of nego tiation in the preceding summer.2 Frederick Henry was to pay dearly for the honour of having the Prince of Wales as a son-in-law. The States General and France — the Queen acted as though the consent of Anne of Austria and Mazarin had been already secured 1 The Queen to the King, ~^|?. Letters of Henrietta Maria, 268. 2 Vol. i. 409. 1645. Jan. a Goffe's mission to AN APPEAL TO FOREIGN POWERS. j.25 — weie to send a joint embassy to London to inform chap. Parliament that armed assistance would be given to -1^-L- Charles unless he were restored to his rights. The l645 Prince was also to be asked to make compensation for assistance . pai i ot demanded. the massacre ot Amboyna, to state the amount of the portion which he intended to give with his daughter, to lend 3,000 soldiers for service in England, and to sup ply vessels in sufficient numbers, not only to transport this contingent, but also to carry across the sea such forces as might be obtained from France or Ireland.1 In less than a fortnight after these requests had Jan ]6 been forwarded to the Hague the answer of the Duke The, , o liuke of of Lorraine reached Paris. To the Queen's great ioy, Lorraine 0 ° J ' promises to it was entirely favourable. The Duke engaged to enter come- Charles's service with 10,000 men.2 Goffe was there fore bidden to urge the Prince of Orange to find ship- Jan. I7 ping to transport this army as well as the others, and to ^orange* commute the suggested loan of 3,000 soldiers for that ^ei^° of a fleet of warships to be employed in an attack upon ^atfc.™55" the Parliamentary navy in the Downs, or in the Med- way. The help of the Dutch transports would be especially needed in another quarter, as the Queen had been assured by private persons in France that an army of 5,000 men would be placed at her disposal.3 It is now possible to understand why powers had been given to Glamorgan to raise troops on the Conti nent as well as in Ireland. Charles indeed discovered before long that O'Hartegan's projects had not sprung merely from a loyal devotion to the throne. The 1 Note by Jermyn, -3~™ ; Jermyn to the Prince of Orange, Jan. T22- ; instructions for Goffe, Jan. ; Note on the negotiation, Jan. ; Groen van Prinsterer, Ser. 2, iv. 118. 2 The Queen to the King, Jan. §£. The King's Cabinet Opened, p. 31. E. 29^, 27. 3 Additional instructions for Goffe, Jan. \l ; Note on the negotiation, Groen van Prinsterer, Ser. 2, iv. 1 18. 126 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. 1645 0 Harte- gan's despatchintercepted Feb. 19. Charles warns the Queen againsthim. He learns that the Prince of Orange will lend ships. Jan. 22. Charles repeats his terms to Ormond. Feb. 27. The penal laws to be repealed if help be given, Irishman's despatch in which he artlessly expressed his real hopes was intercepted by a Parliamentary cruiser, and was for obvious reasons forwarded by the captors to Ormond.1 Charles accordingly warned the Queen . that O'Hartegan was a knave, but he does not seem to have drawn the general inference that the Dutchmen, Frenchmen, and Irishmen who professed themselves willing to assist him were more likely to provide for their own interest than for his. He recorded with satisfaction a message which he had recently received from Goffe, to the effect that the Prince of Orange had consented to furnish shipping for the transport of the Lorrainers,2 and his correspondence with Ormond shows that he had no intention of dropping his nego tiation with the Supreme CouncU at Kilkenny because their agent at Paris had written unadvisedly. On January 22 Charles once more urged on Ormond the necessity of concluding a peace. If nothing less would serve, Poyning's Act might be sus pended. As to the penal statutes, he would not go a step further than he had gone already, that is to say, than the promise of their suspension when the treaty was concluded, and of their repeal when victory had been secured with the help of an Irish army.3 On February 27, however, when the Treaty of Uxbridge was fairly at an end, he did go a step further. " If," he wrote to the Lord Lieutenant, " the sus pension of Poyning's Act for such bills as shall be agreed on between you there, and the present taking away of the penal laws against Papists by a law will do it, I shall not think it a hard bargain, so that freely 1 Ormond to Clanricarde, Feb. 3. Carte's Ormond, vi. 241. 2 The Queen to the King, Feb. §§, Letters of Henrietta Maria, 290; the King to the Queen, Feb. 19, The King's Cabinet Opened,^. 5, E. 292,27. 3 The King to Ormond, Jan. 22. Carte's Ormond, vi. 233. THE BEST BARGAIN TO BE MADE. 127 and vigorously they engage themselves in my assist- chap. ance against my rebels of England and Scotland." --% -- Yet the concession was not to be frankly made. Or- 1 4S mond was to conceal the fact that these new powers had been sent to him, and was to make the best bargain he could.1 The attempt to hold back what he was ready to give was hkely to be the more injurious to the course of Ormond's negotiation, as it would convey to the Irish the idea that he was not in earnest in the matter. Charles, however, was by this time reconciled to the idea of a repeal of the penal laws as soon as he was strong enough to carry it out with impunity. M%rchS. On March 5 he authorised the Queen to consent fevourto in his name to the repeal of the laws against the tended to Catholics in England as well as in Ireland, ' so as, by Ensland- their means, or in their favours, I may have so power ful assistance as may deserve so great a favour and enable me to do it.' 2 It was now time for the despatch of Glamorgan to Ireland. Primarily the object of his mission was to take the command of that Irish army which Charles now counted on obtaining, and to organise the forces which were to be raised by the Queen's supporters in France. He would also be useful in smoothing the way of Ormond's negotiation. That he had any secret instructions to abandon the Acts of Appeal and Prae munire is an idea which may be rejected as incredible. Charles in his last letter to Ormond had aUuded to their abandonment as prejudicial to the royal authority, and when once a notion of that kind had fixed itself in his head it was hopeless to expect him to reject it. For aU that, there would be much need 1 The King to Ormond, Feb. 27. lb. vi. 257. 2 The King to the Queen, March 5. King's Cabinet Opened, p. 7. E. 292, 27. 128 THE PROJECTS OF THE EARL OF GLAMORGAN. CHAP. XXVII. 1645 March 12. Glamor gan's com mission to treat. An accom panying explana tion. of an adroit negotiator in Ireland. Ormond's diplo macy was carried on with the help of councillors of State, who did not regard Charles's concessions with a favourable eye. It was to be feared that he might not make the promise about the repeal of the penal laws at the right moment — might not, it was possible, even care to make it at all. Glamorgan must there fore have powers not merely to command but to treat, not indeed without Ormond's knowledge, but in sub stitution for him if it proved to be necessary. " We," wrote Charles in the commission which he issued on March 1 2 under his private signet, "... do by these as firmly as under our great seal, to all in tents and purposes authorise and give you power to treat and conclude with the confederate Eoman Catholics in our kingdom of Ireland, if upon necessity any be to be condescended unto wherein our Lieu tenant cannot so well be seen in, as not fit for us at present publicly to own. Therefore we charge you to proceed according to this our warrant with all possible secrecy, and for whatsoever you shall engage yourself upon such valuable considerations as you in your judgment shall deem fit, we promise on the word of a king and a Christian to ratify and perform the same that shall be granted by you and under your hand and seal, the said confederate Catholics having by their supplies testified their zeal to our service." x If there be any doubt whether Glamorgan was intended to act independently of Ormond, it is re moved by the explanations which accompanied this commission. " On the word of a king," wrote Charles, after begging Glamorgan to deal with Ormond ' with all freedom and ingenuity,' u I will make good any thing which our Lieutenant shall be induced unto 1 Commission, March 12. Dircks, 80. 129 A FALSE START. upon your persuasion ; and if you find it fitting, you may privately show him these, which I intend not as obligatory to him, but to myself ; and for both your encouragements and hopes, not having in all my king doms two such subjects ; whose endeavours joining, I am confident to be soon drawn out of the mire I am now enforced to wallow in." x If this be not enough, it must be remembered that Glamorgan was still bound by the instructions of January 2,2 which contemplated no independent action on his part, and which had never been superseded or changed. It was mainly on military action that Glamorgan's March 21. heart was set. On the 21st, after making preparations gan's in South Wales for raising a force to join his levies thtxing0 from beyond the sea, he despatched a messenger to assure Charles ' that, God willing, by the end of May or beginning of June, he will land with 6,000 Irish.' 3 On the 25th he sailed from Carnarvon on this hopeful enterprise. A storm drove him northward, and on the 28th he was wrecked on the Lancashire coast, March 28. whence, slipping past the Parliamentary forces in the wrecked. neighbourhood, he made his way to the safe refuge of Skipton Castle.4 The burden of Ireland remained, where it had been before, on the shoulders of Ormond. 1 The King to Glamorgan, March 2. Dircks, 75. 2 See p. 117. 3 Glamorgan's instructions to Bosdon, March 21. King's Cabinet Opened, p. 19. E. 292, 27. 4 J. Bythell to his father, April 6. Dircks, 88. Dircks's notion that Glamorgan was lodged in Lancaster gaol arose from his mistaking a note by an ignorant scribe for part of the original document. See Add. MSS. 1 1,331, fol. 596. 11. 130 CHAPTEE XXVIII. THE SECOND SELF-DENTING ORDINANCE AND THE NEW MODEL ARMY. CHAP. XXVIII. 1645 Result, of Montrose'svictoriesand Gla morgan'sschemes. Feb. 25. The national feeling roused in England. Montrose and Glamorgan were subjects after Charles's own heart, but, for all that, he had no worse enemies. Montrose's successes gave point to the feehng of ex asperation which was uniting the Scottish Lowlander with his English kinsman against the King who was striving to recover his crown with Celtic aid, whilst Glamorgan's wild projects, if ever they came to be fully disclosed, would go far to merge the struggle between King and Earliament in a struggle between Englishmen and aliens. " We have no reason to lay down arms," declared a London news-writer, in refer ence to the proposal for a mutual disarmament which had recently been made by Charles,1 "till the- King yield to peace ; for so indeed the French and Irish may surprise us when they please." 2 The national spirit, always potent when it is stirred, was roused by Charles's bargainings with foreigners, and with races which the Enghsh looked down upon as inferior to their own. The proposed New Model army was no longer regarded as the instrument of the Indepen dents. It was a national body raised for national ends. There was no longer any question that a new and highly disciplined force was necessary. The existing 1 S>'i> p. 75. '2 Perfect Passages. E. 270, 23. MILITARY INSUBORDINATION. 131 army was falling to pieces from sheer disorganisation. On February 20 a mutiny broke out at Henley.1 In Buckinghamshire Crawford's men were stinging the F'b420 county into angry protest by living at free quarters.2 Mutiny at The cavalry, which had recently been transferred from and of ' Essex to Waller, continued to cry out for Essex,3 and ^airy.3 refused obedience to their new general. They de serted their posts and moved off northwards, finally quartering themselves at Beaconsfield. A fortnight's i?el3. 28> pay was sent down to quiet them, but they refused to return to their duty unless they were paid for another month as well.4 At such a crisis men's thoughts turned instinctively Good to the tried warriors of the Eastern Association. " For cromweii'^ Colonel Cromwell's soldiers," boasted a London news- soldie,s- writer, "it was informed that in what posture so ever they were, that were it at midnight, they were always ready to obey any ordinance of Parliament, and that there was none of them known to do the least wrong by plunder or any abuse to any country people where they came, but were ready to advance with Sir William Waller." 5 Yet even upon these trusted soldiers the x . Feb. 21 general disorganisation produced its effect. The They refuse X, ... -it i • 1 • to march. Eastern Association, seeing that the troops which it had raised for its own defence were quartered in Surrey or Hampshire, grew unwilling to bear the expense of supplying them. The men were left penni less, and an order that they should be ready to march with four days' provision was received with sullen 1 Grymes to Montague, Feb. 20. S.P. Dom. The valuable series of letters received by the Committee of Both Kingdoms unfortunately comes to an end on Feb, 17. 8 Com. of B. K. to Crawford, Feb. 21. Com. Letter Book, 5 See p. 75. 4 Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 196b. 1 Perfect Passages. E. 270, 5. 132 THE SECOND SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. CHAP. XXV 11 1. 1645 March 3. Cr-inweJl to join Waller. Feb. 22. Shrews bury surprised. Scar borough taken. The sur prise and recoveryof Wey mouth. murmurs. They declared that they must have money, pistols, and recruits before they could take the field.1 It was felt at Westminster that Cromwell was the only man capable of allaying the storm, and the rejection by the Lords of the Self-Denying Ordinance had made Cromwell's services once more available. The neces sary money and arms were quickly found, and Crom well was ordered to place himself at the head of the cavalry which had formerly been his own, and with them to attach himself to Waller's army.2 Difficulties were smoothed away on his arrival, and in a short time Waller was placed in a condition to set out for that Western campaign for which he was designed. If the Parliamentary troops round London had been in a state of distraction, the local forces at a greater distance had acquitted themselves weU. In the early morning of February 22 Colonel Mitton surprised the EoyaUst garrison of Shrewsbury. An invaluable position on the Severn was thus acquired for the Parliament. Unfortunately the victory was stained by the execution of a dozen Irish prisoners, in accordance with the recent ordinance 3— a barbarity for which Eupert retaliated by hanging an equal number of his Parliamentary prisoners.4 Almost at the same time the town of Scarborough fell into the hands of Meldrum, though the castle held out for some weeks longer. In the South, on the other hand, Weymouth was surprised by a party of Eoyalists under Sir Lewis Dyves. They did not, however, long enjoy their success. Melcombe Eegis, the adjoin ing town, was still held by a Parliamentary garrison, 1 Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 195. s Com. of B. K. Day Book, Feb. 27 ; the Com. of B. K. to Cromwell, March 3, Com. Letter Book. 3 See p. 33. 4 Shrewsbury taken, E. 270, 26 ; L.J. vii. 329, ROYALIST PLANS. 1 33 which, having been reinforced by a party from Port- chap. land under Captain Batten, assumed the offensive and — . — '- stormed one of the captured forts of Weymouth. By February 28 the Eoyalist intruders had been com- Feb. 28. pletely expelled from the whole place.1 Whatever might be Charles's hopes from Celtic Charles's Scotland and Celtic Ireland, from France, or the campaign. Netherlands, it was plain that before help could reach him from afar he would have once more to fight for his crown with such forces as England could supply. His principal army, now under Eupert's command, had served him well in the last campaign, and he re solved to pursue once more the strategy which had already stood him in good stead in the past summer. Once more Oxford was to be the basis of operations from which Eupert might dash out from time to time to relieve beleaguered garrisons, and to swoop down upon any weak point in the enemy's defences. Excel lent as the plan would have been if Oxford had been sufficiently supplied with provisions and warlike stores to be a true basis of operations for an army on the march, it might easily break down if this central fortress should prove a source of weakness rather than of strength. How weak it was no one knew weakness better than Charles. Far from the sea, and, unlike London, having no trade or commerce of its own, it depended for supplies upon the district, ever growing narrower, in which the Eoyahst commanders of gar risons were still able to enforce the payment of con tributions and the levy of supplies. Hence it was that the eyes of Charles and his ProposedWestern counsellors turned wistfully towards the West. South Association Wales had for some time been the chief recruiting ground of the Eoyalist infantry, and it was now 1 Sydenham to Essex, March 1. L.J. vii. 262. 134 THE SECOND SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap, thought possible to establish a fresh basis of opera- • — . — - tions to the south of the Bristol Channel. During 45 the winter there had been much talk of the formation of a Eoyalist Western Association, which was to com prise the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, to counterbalance the Eastern Association on the Parliamentary side. From the first the scheme was not a hopeful one. Not only had nature interposed difficulties of com munication between the western peninsula and the other Eoyalist districts further north, but experience had shown that local forces were not to be trusted to advance beyond tlieir own borders, unless their homes were freed from all danger of an attack in their absence from the enemy's garrisons. It would therefore be necessary, before the troops of the new association could be utilised for general purposes, to render Elymouth, Lyme, and Taunton innocuous. Plymouth and Lyme could only be blockaded, but hopes were entertained amongst the Eoyalists that Taunton might even yet be reduced to surrender. March s To give encouragement to the new association, as JfhWaiesCe wen as t0 avert the danger of his falling into the thegWe°st hands of the enemy at the same time as his father, the young Prince of Wales, who had nearly com pleted his fifteenth year, and who, as Duke of Cornwall, was closely connected with one of its counties, was despatched to hold his court at Bristol.1 The boy was accompanied by a body of councUlors, amongst whom Hyde, Capel, Hopton, and Culpepper were the most eminent. It is possible that their services at Oxford were the more easily dispensed with as they were notoriously opposed to Charles's Irish schemes. ' Clarendon, \\. 6, ;\ See also the suppressed passage in a note. THE OXFORD PARLIAMENT ADJOURNED. 135 Five days after the departure of the Prince, chap. XXVIII. Charles adjourned the Oxford Parliament till October 10.1 Before and during the Treaty of Uxbridge its members had subjected him to considerable pressure by their urgent entreaties that he should come to terms with the Parliament at Westminster,2 and he Adjourn-' now resolved to be cumbered with them no longer, thebxford In the next letter which he wrote to the Queen he ment.a congratulated himself on being ' freed from the place of base and mutinous motions — that is to say, our mongrel Parliament here.' 3 He had already rid himself of some of those who had been the loudest in their cry for peace. Lord Percy and the Earl of Percy and Sussex Sussex were now set free on an engagement to trans- liberated. port themselves at once to France, as Wilmot had done before.4 Percy complied with the condition affixed to his liberation, but Sussex made his way to Westminster and professed himself a convert to the true Parhamentary faith. As his new associates refused to acknowledge the earldom recently con ferred on him, he sank once more into the Lord Savile of earlier days. After his frequent changes he found himself as much distrusted at Westminster as he had been at Oxford. When the Prince arrived at Bristol he found every- ^p^e thing in confusion. The Western Association, of which at Bristol. so much had been expected, was still to be formed. The Committee of Somerset had promised much but had performed nothing. The Prince could only ob- 1 Dugdale's Diary, March 10. 5 See p. 58. 3 The King to the Queen, March 13. King's Cabinet Opened, p. 12, E. 292, 27. The records of this Parliament were burnt before the sur render to Fairfax in 1 646, and we have therefore no knowledge of its proceedings, and scarcely any notice of it after its first session ; but there are occasional indications which show that it met from time to time. 4 See vol. i. p. 462. 1 3 6 THE SECOND SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. tain bread by borrowing it of Hopton, who was in command of the garrison of Bristol. Not a horse nor a man had been levied, and the gentry of the county were occupied in quarrelling amongst themselves. ¦Feb. Goring, self-sufficient and licentious, though he had fhTwes't! no authority from the King to exercise command in the West, was practically master of the country. After his retreat from Farnham in January,1 he had settled down at Salisbury, ' where his horse committed such horrid outrages and barbarities as they had done in Hampshire.' It was to his neghgence that the Eoyal ists ascribed the capture of Weymouth. As soon as the quarters round Sahsbury were exhausted he moved westward, ravaging the country as he went. March. Early in March he was at Exeter, where he and his principal officers ' stayed three or four days in most scandalous disorder, a great part of his horse living upon free quarter, and plundering to the gates of Exeter.' 2 He resolves To the local commanders Goring gave personal Taunton.6 offence which they resented almost as much as the tillers of the soil resented the exactions of his troopers. Having made up his mind to lay siege to Taunton, he wanted infantry for the purpose, and therefore His treat- summarily called on Sir John Berkeley, the Governor Berkeley of Exeter, to send him as many men as he could viie.Gren" spare. He also gave orders to Sir Eichard Grenvile, the most insubordinate of generals, to come in person with the bulk of the forces with which he was then besieging Plymouth, leaving only sufficient men before the town to block it up. The orders may have been good in themselves, but Goring had no commission empowering him to give them, and he had no idea of condescending to entreat a favour where he had no 1 Sec p. 57. 3 Clarendon, ix. 7-9. WALLER AND CROMWELL IN THE WEST. 1 37 right to command. Berkeley, an honourable and loyal soldier, did as he was bidden ; but Grenvile, at least for a time, hung back.1 On March 1 1 Goring appeared before Taunton, March n. where Blake had made every preparation to stand a before5 second siege. As his suppUes were inadequate for the Taunton- maintenance of a large garrison, he dismissed Holborn and the force which had relieved him in December. Holborn contrived to make his way safely through the open country, and finally succeeded in joining Cromwell, who was now serving under Waller, and was watching for an opportunity to succour Taunton.2 The news of Holborn's safety was not the only disquieting intelUgence which reached Goring. On the nth a Wiltshire party on its way to join him was Royalists surprised by Waller and Cromwell near Devizes. "Of atUevLs j 400 horse," wrote Waller, " there escaped not thirty."3 In spite of this success, however, want of supphes forced the small Parliamentary army to fall back through Dorset. There was constant manoeuvring on both sides and occasional skirmishes. Whenever Goring suffered loss he discreetly avoided mentioning it in his despatches. Whenever he gained a success he magnified it into an important victory. " For ^'rch,622- pursuing Waller," he characteristically boasted, " if hoa^- he go as fast as Cromwell, I cannot overtake him." 4 Waller indeed had brought off Holborn safely, but it was impossible to deny that he had abandoned not 1 Digby to Berkeley, March 1 1 ; Goring to the Prince of Wales, March 12; Berkeley to Digby, March 23; Clarendon MSS. 1833, 1834, 1842. 2 The Moderate Intelligencer. E. 277, 14. Clarendon (ix. 9) speaks of these men as being under the command of Vandruske, but Yandruske seems to have been Holborn's subordinate. 3 Waller to Lenthall, March 13. Sanford, Studies of the Rebellion, 616. 4 Goring to Culpepper, March 22-30. Clarendon MSS. 1841, 1856. Wallerfalls back 138 THE SECOND SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE. chap, only Somerset but Dorset as well. On the 27th he XXVIII . - — , — '- wrote from Eingwood to Lenthall. " I cannot but 45 advertise you," he complained, " that, since my coining March a7. hither> I have observed a great smoke of discontent Waller's rising among the officers. I pray God no flame break complaints. o D r j out. The ground of all is the extremity of want that is among them, indeed, in an insupportable measure."1 Causes of The failure of the Parliamentary army of the West failure . J J on both arose from financial disorganisation at Westminster. The failure of the Eoyalists arose from the defects of March 29. the character of their commander. " Dear general," warning to wrote Digby from Oxford to Goring, " I have nothing to add but to conjure you to beware of debauches ; there fly hither reports of the Uberty you give your self, much to your disadvantage." 2 The King's H Charles's main army was relieved from the mamarmj. kurcjen 0f a Q0Y[ng {Q command, the pressure of financial need was felt there as strongly as it was by Financial Waller. The best planned schemes had to be distress. abandoned because the money needed for the pur chase of arms and ammunition was not forthcoming. Even when arms and ammunition could be had, there was irregularity of pay, followed by its inevitable consequence, irregularity of discipline. Detached parties were especially liable to be left to their own resources, and consequently to become a scourge to the country. Early in March Sir Marmaduke Lang- dale successfully relieved Pontefract,3 but the out rages committed by his followers, especially upon the women who were so unfortunate as to live on his hne of march, must have effectually quenched any spark 1 Waller to Lenthall, March 27. Sanford, Studies of the Rebellion, 618. 2 Digby to Goring, March 29. lb. 620. 3 On the military history of Pontefract in the Civil War see Holmes, The Sieges qf Pontefract. A HEREFORDSHIRE RISING. 139 of loyalty which remained in the districts through chap. 1 XXVIII which he passed.1 Prince Maurice had been sent to - — , — '- hold out a hand to the beleaguered Eoyalists in „ , c •> Maurice s Cheshire, but he too was reported to be ' plundering pi™t i • Bleching- State, shaken, it is said, by the terrors of his young ton House. wife, and of a party of ladies from Oxford whom he was entertaining, lost heart and surrendered the fort ress entrusted to his care. On his arrival at Oxford Apri] 25i he was hurried before a council of war and condemned ^{f^' 1 The Com. of B. K. to Cromwell, April 20. Com. Letter Book. 158 THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. CHAP. XXIX. 1645 May 3. and shot. April 27. Cromwell defeats Sir Henry Vaughan. The'King'splans dis arranged. Failure of his diplo macy. The army of Lorrainers not to pass througli the Nether lands. to death. This time Charles, often- so merciful, was obdurate, and on May 3 the young officer was shot in the Castle garden.1 After this exploit Cromwell swept round Oxford, defeating Sir Henry Vaughan at Bampton, and at tempting by sheer force of audacity to drive Farring- don Castle to surrender. The commander of the castle, unlike young Windebank, kept his head cool, and Cromwell not having the means at hand to suit the action to the word, was compelled to leave the achievement unaccompUshed. Yet, in spite of this rebuff, his raid had been completely successful. By sweeping off all the draught horses in the country through which he passed he had rendered it impossible for Maurice to remove the heavy guns from Oxford for some days to come. Charles's plan for an early opening of the campaign was entirely disarranged, and Cromwell, knowing that it was no longer neces sary for him to expose himself to Eupert's attack by remaining between Oxford and Hereford, rode off towards Fairfax's army, prepared to hand over the command of the cavalry to his successor as soon as his own term of office was at an end.2 It was not Charles's military projects alone which were baffled. The fine web of diplomacy in which he took delight was giving way in all ' directions. The Prince of Orange, indeed, still professed his readiness to serve him, but Frederick Henry was but the first magistrate of a republic. The Dutch states men set themselves strongly against a proposal which Charles's agent, Goffe, had been instructed to make, 1 Cromwell to the Com. of B. K. April 25 ; Cromwell to Fairfax, April 24 ; Carlyle, Letter XXV. and App. No. 5 ; Dugdale's Diary. 2 Perfect Occurrences, E. 260, 27 ; Cromwell to Burgess, April 29 ; Carlyle, Letters XXVI. and XXVII. ; Digbv to Rupert, April 29, Add. MSS 18,982, fol. 46. CHARLES AN UNENGLISH KING. 159 that the Duke of Lorraine's army should pass through chap. Dutch territory, and be transported to England in ¦ — ^ — 1- Dutch shipping.1 Goffe was accordingly bidden to ' 45 ask Mazarin to allow the Duke to embark at Dieppe ; but there was not much probability that Mazarin would agree to a scheme which would compromise him with the Enghsh Parliament.2 Nor was much more to be expected from the Queen's machinations at Paris. Henrietta Maria was driven to acknowledge that her husband was in the right when he described O'Hartegan as a knave. The Eoyalists of her court Despond- were far more despondent than she was herself. " I Royalists cannot see," wrote one of them to a friend in Eng land, " that you can expect any considerable help from abroad." The French clerg)^ indeed, had pro mised large contributions ; but it was more than doubtful whether they would fulfil their engage ments. " The Irish," he continued, " promise great matters. They are false, and your condition there will be little better than in England." 3 Irish, French, Dutch, or Lorrainers were all one Wantof's to Charles if only they would help him to regain his "e^i°"al crown. Born of a Scottish father and a Danish mother, with a grandmother who was half French by birth and altogether French by breeding, with a French wife, with German nephews and a Dutch son-in-law, Charles had nothing in him in touch with that English national feeling which is too often the mother of much narrowness of view and of much 1 See p. 125. 2 Jermyn to Digby, ^f>; Goffe to Jermyn, April & {7- Dom. 3 The Queen to the King, "^f , Letters of Henrietta Maria, 299 ; Wood to Webb, ^^|-0, S.P. Dom. i6o THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. CHAP. XXIX. 1645 His hopes from Montrose. March. Charlessends a message to Montrose. cruelty and injustice to alien races, but which no ruler of England can afford to despise. Of all the hopes which Charles set upon dis tant aid, his expectation of assistance from Mont rose was the one upon which he counted the most. Scarcely had he received the despatch which an nounced the defeat of Argyle at Inverlochy before he sent off a letter to the victor. The bearer was a Scottish gentleman named Small, who made his way safely through England and the Lothians in the dis guise of a beggar. The letter has not been pre served, but, so far as its purport can be discovered, it seems to have held out hopes that Charles would make his way northward at the head of his army, and that he expected Montrose to join him in the Lowlands.1 A body of 500 horse under Sir Philip Musgrave was to be despatched to strengthen Mont rose in the arm in which he was most deficient.2 Whether Montrose were successful or not in breaking through into the Lowlands, he had already affected the course of the English war. Neither Tippermuir nor Aberdeen had so alarmed the Scot tish Government as to induce them to withdraw troops from England. Inverlochy was a defeat of far greater proportions. Leven was accordingly 1 " By these letters " — i.e. by Montrose's reply which was intercepted — " the Committee came to know, what they never had thought on, viz. how (the King's business being so forlorn in England that he could not make head against his enemies there) his Majesty designed to come with his army to Scotland, and to join Montrose: that so this country being made the seat of war, his enemies might be forced to an accommodation, to free their land from a burden which it could not stand under." Guthry's Memoirs, 147. 2 " Had I but for one month," Montrose wrote subsequently to Charles, " the use of those 500 horse, I could have seen you before the time that this could come to your hands with 20,000 of the best this kingdom can afford." Montrose to the King, April 20. Merc. Aulicus. E. 286, 17. CHARLES FIXED AT OXFORD. l6l directed to despatch part of his force under Baillie chap. and the double renegade Hurry to deal with Mont- -- f J— rose as only disciplined soldiers could deal with him. M ' Leven's army in England was thereby weakened, and Hurry » <-> J . despatched an opportunity was afforded to Charles of striking a to oppose blow in the North of England at the diminished forces of the Scots before Fairfax was ready to stir. It was this hopeful plan which had been frustrated KApril.24- by Cromwell. On April 24 Eupert adjured his uncle urges J . . . -1^1r.1 1 • i ¦ Charles to to join him at once, in order that the combined armies join Mm. might march to deliver Chester and Pontefract, as weU as the other garrisons of the North. To defeat Leven's army was an almost necessary preliminary to the accomplishment of this task. Whether Eupert intended to follow up this enterprise with a march into Scotland or with an attack upon the isolated New Model army in England must remain uncertain, though, as far as can be judged from his subsequent conduct, the latter plan would have had his personal preference.1 However this may have been, an immediate start April 29. from Oxford was out of the question. Charles ^nnoVstir. mournfully answered that the draught horses on which he had relied to drag his artillery had all been carried off, and that more than four hundred were needed for his heavy guns and waggons. Eupert must therefore hasten to Oxford collecting the neces sary horses on the way. As even Eupert's cavalry would be insufficient to protect the King's march when at last it was undertaken, Goring must be directed to abandon the operations round Taunton, and to come to the support of the royal army.2 1 Rupert's letter is only known through Digby's answer. Digby to Rupert, April 29. Add. MSS. 18,982, fol. 46. 2 " The late ill accidents here by Cromwell . . . have for the present totally disabled the King to move towards your Highness, both by want II. il 1 62 THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. chap When the King's orders reached Goring they found • — , — 1- him once more at his duty. The prospect of relieving 1 .^s the King in his difficulties may have tickled his vanity, Goring sets and he probably counted on the favour likely to ac- out for . . „ ...... oxford. crue to him in case of success to bring him within easy reach of the chief object of his ambition, the supreme command in the West. On the 30th he announced that in two days he would be between Far- ringdon and Oxford with 2,000 horse.1 It is by no means unlikely that Goring's alacrity was quickened by his knowledge that steps were being taken to levy an army in the West under influences other than his own. • April. 23. On the 2 3rd the Prince of Wales arrived at Bridgwater, othw^ies°at where he was met by the commissioners of the four w'ate?" western counties. On the next morning the com- Aprii 24. missioners declared their readiness to raise an army of ber.nisedin 8,000 men in addition to the guard which was to accompany the Prince and to the forces in the garri- of a strength to convey him and the train safe [to ?] you and by making it impossible to get draught horses in these parts . . . we wanting as yet, though all diligence hath been used, four hundred, though we should leave the four field pieces behind us. The first difficulty of convoying the King and train safe, I hope, may be removed by Goring's advance with his horse, who is sent for ; hut how to be supplied with teams unless you furnish them out of those parts, I cannot imagine. Upon the whole matter, Sir, I do not think it possible for the King to move towards you unless you can advance such a body this way as may make us masters of the field, and sweep before you these necessary draught horses through the countries which you pass, or that you can find means for raising and convoying them safe to Oxford with a less force, whilst Goring, coming up to us, shall entertain this field power of the rebels, in either of which cases we shall be ready at a day's warning to move which way soever you shall judge advantageous; whereas otherwise the reputation of Cromwell's successes is already likely to draw such swarms out of London upon us, and the King will be in hazard of being suddenly besieged in this place." Digby to Rupert, April 29. Add. MSS. 18,982, fol. 46. The greater part of this quotation is in cipher. Compare Digby to Rupert, April 27 ; Warburton, iii. 77 ; and Nicholas to Rupert, April 29, Add. MSS. 18,982, fol. 48. 1 Goring to Berkshire, April 30. Clarendon MSS, 1870. the West. MOVEMENTS OF RUPERT AND GORING. 163 son towns.1 Even if this army never came into exist- chap. ence, there were forces in Somerset over which --XXIX1- Goring found it difficult to exercise control. Sir l64S l Eichard Grenvile had at last arrived to besiege Taunton, and though he was seriously wounded in sir r. an attack on Wellington House and forced to leave -wounded. the field, the Erince's council disappointed Goring by conferring upon Sir John Berkeley the command Berkeley over the besieging force.2 Taunton The opening of a second siege of Taunton was too time. serious a matter to be passed over lightly at West minster. Fairfax was at once ordered to relieve the town with as many regiments of the New Model as he was able to muster. On April 30 the ' rebels' new April 30. brutish general,' as Charles contemptuously styled sets'outto him,3 set out from Windsor at the head of 1 1 ,000 men. On the evening of May 2 he met Cromwell at New- May 2. bury.4 On the same night a party of Cromwell's horse MaTrfax °f was surrounded in the dark by Goring's advancing *neuCrom~ troopers, and a loss inflicted on them which was magnified at Oxford into a considerable disaster.5 May3. Whilst Goring halted at Faringdon, Eupert and Farin|-at Maurice with 2,000 horse and foot made their don' appearance at Burford. On the foUowing morning May 4_ the two princes rode into Oxford to confer with oXrd"' the King.6 The movements of Goring and Eupert had changed Change 0 a <^ in the the whole military situation. For some weeks Charles militarysituation. 1 Minute of the commissioners' declaration, April 24. Warburton, iii. 80.2 Clarendon, ix. 1 5. 3 The King to the Queen, May 4. King's Cabinet Opened, p. 3. E. 292, 27. 4 Yonge's Diary, Add. MSS. 18,780, fol. 15. s Sprigg's Anglia Rediviva, 18 ; Clarendon, ix. 28. 11 Dugdale's Diary. 1 64 THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. chap, had been strong in Somerset and on the Welsh XXIX • — ^- border, and weak at Oxford. He was now strong at Oxford and weak in Somerset and on the Welsh border. A general worthy of the name holding an independent command over the Farliamentary army would not only have seen at a glance that the alte ration of the enemy's dispositions necessitated an Fairfax alteration of his own, but would at once have acted his march, upon his knowledge. Yet Fairfax plodded on with his whole force to the relief of Taunton as if it still needed the presence of 1 1 ,000 men to set free May 7. the beleaguered town. On May 7 he arrived at and arrives ° »t. Biand- Elandiord. It was not, however, the fault of Fairfax that so great a folly was committed. He had no real Fairfax has control over the movements of his army. The Com- uverrh^0 mittee of Both Kingdoms, indeed, had not repeated Tms"™ 8 its blunder of the preceding year by placing the ar""'' actual command in commission, but it had retained the management of the campaign in its own hands. With Essex and Manchester as -members of their He is sub- body they were hardly likely to err in the direction committee of rashness ; but even if their generalship had been Kingdoms, all that was to be desired, it was impossible for a body fixed at Westminster to keep touch of the enemy or to provide for those sudden changes which task the alertness even of a general in the field. Although it was known to the Committee on April 29 that Goring was setting out for Ox- Mny3. ford,2 they did not take alarm till May 3, when they Fairfax to prepared orders for Fairfax to halt. Even then halt. 1 Sprigg,T,yi. 2 The Com. of B. K. to Cromwell, April 29. Com. Letter Book. The Committee must have had secret intelligence from Oxford to have known it so early, or Goring must have been on the move before he wrote from Wells on the 30th. SECOND RELIEF OF TAUNTON. 165 the official delays in communicating their decision chap. to the Houses were such that it was not till the 5th — ^2L- that positive directions were transmitted to him to ' 45 hasten back eastwards, sending forward a mere de- Positive tachment for the relief of Taunton.1 In the mean- to him. while the King was left at Oxford unembarrassed by the presence of any enemy whom he dared not face. From Blandford a body of five or six thousand men , May 7- A relieving under Colonels Weldon and Graves were despatched force sent m m1 . , ~ to Taunton. to Taunton. Ihere was no time to be lost. On the Ma 8 8th the besiegers delivered a general assault and repulsed"1' scaled the wall. Blake had already prepared for the misfortune, and the assailants found themselves confronted by an inner line of defence. Unable to pass over the obstacles in their way, they contrived to set fire to some houses ; but the wind blew the flames into their faces and compelled them to with draw. On the following morning a fresh attempt partial9" was more successful, and a third part of the town Sl,cc6ss- perished in the flames. Yet, sorely bestead as he was, the indomitable Blake continued his resistance. Whether he knew or not that relief was at hand, the besiegers knew it, and even exaggerated the numbers of the approaching force. On the 1 ith, just as Blake had exhausted his ammunition, the Eoyalists, for the s?cond 1 »> ? siege ot second time, broke up the siege and moved hastily Tauntcn. away. Outside the walls the relieving force was saddened by the spectacle of devastated fields and deserted villages. Inside was the heroic garrison under its trusty leader.2 Blake's achievement had been no useless display of chivalry. To preserve Taunton 1 Com. of B. K. to Fairfax, May 3, 5. Com. Letter Book. 2 Weldon to Fairfax, May u, Two Letters, E. 284, 9; A great victory, E. 284, II ; Culpepper to the King, May 11 ; Sir J. Digby to Digby, May 18, S.P. Dom. May 11. End of the i66 THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. CHAP. xxix. 164s Mav 7. The King leavesOxford. Mav 8. The council of war at Htow-on- the-Wold. was to paralyse the royal forces in the West, and to paralyse those forces was to deprive Charles of that help without which he could hardly hope to preserve himself from desperate failure. Charles was now able to march whither he would. On May 7, three days before the fate of Taunton was decided, he rode out of Oxford with Eupert and Goring. A courtly astrologer predicted a splendid victory for him, and announced the deso lation which was about to faU on the rebellious city of London.1 Yet even after the accession of the forces under Eupert and Goring, the King could count in his army no more than 11,000 men, and it was only by the ablest generalship that such an army could be made available against the far superior forces amidst which it was placed. How little authority Charles possessed to control the discordant purposes of his generals was seen at the first council of war, held at that same Stow-on- the-Wold where Essex and WaUer had agreed to part nearly a year before.2 He was now urged to postpone his northern march, and to throw himself with his whole force upon Fairfax, who was still be- Ueved to be marching upon Taunton. The advice may have been good, and the hope that it might be with Fairfax as it had been with Essex weighed with the greater part of the commanders to press for its adoption. Eupert, who had conceived the other plan, and Sir Marmaduke Langdale with the officers of his northern horse, who longed to free their own homes from the enemy, were eager for a northward march. The old local spirit which had been exorcised from the Parliamentary ranks was still as strong in ' Wharton, An Astrological judgment. E. 286, 31. 2 See vol. i. 415. GORING DISMISSED TO THE WEST. 167 the Eoyalist armies as when in 1643 it held back Newcastle from advancing southwards after his victory at Adwalton Moor, or when it fixed the King before the walls of Gloucester. Charles, finding no con current eagerness in favour of either scheme, weakly consented to try both. He and Eupert would turn to the North, whilst Goring was despatched to prove THE CAMPAIGN O F NASEBY ENGLISH MILES Eaj^-WeUor CHAP. XXIX. 1644 his fortune in the West, with directions to return to the main army as soon as he had achieved the victory which he was ready to claim by anticipation. Fatal as the division of forces was, it was made more fatal by the personal jealousies of the com manders. Goring, unless the evidence of those who Eupert knew him well is to be distrusted, was far more *nd. „ anxious to obtain an independent command than to 1 68 THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. CHAP. xxix. 1645 Goring to have supreme command in the West, llav 9. Tlic King's march. CampdenHon si ll urnt. Mav 11. The King at Droit- wich. Mav 13. Digby-s confidence. Tho Irish penal laws to be re- } ealcd. advance the King's service, whUst Eupert supported him in gaining his object because he feared the presence with the King of so glib-tongued a rival. However this may have been, Goring returned to the West with authority virtu aUy to exercise the supreme command. The Prince's councUlors were now to be his humble servants, unable to withstand his pleasure. Charles's knowledge of mankind must indeed have been scanty if he thought that good would result from such an arrangement.1 As Charles marched northwards with diminished numbers, it became necessary for him to gather re inforcements from every avaUable quarter. He drew off the garrison from Campden House as he passed, and the stately mansion, buUt at an expense of 30,0001". by King James's silk mercer, the first Lord Campden, was burnt by Eupert's orders, lest it should afford a shelter to the enemy.2 On the 1 ith the King arrived at Droitwich. Those who were about him felt, or affected to feel, the strongest confidence. " We have great unanimity amongst ourselves." wrote Digby, " and the rebels great distraction." Charles was more despondent. On the day on which Digby wrote these words he despatched to Ormond an order once more commanding him, in more positive terms than before,3 to consent to the repeal of the penal laws rather than frustrate his hope of an Irish peace. " The Irish peace," he added, in a private letter accompanying this despatch, '• is of so absolute necessity that no compliments nor particular respects whatsoever must hinder it." 4 If there was not — in spite of Digby's assertion — 1 Walker, 125 : Clarendon, ix. 31. s Walker, 126. 8 He had already given permission on Feb. 27. Carte's Ormond, v. 13. * The King to Ormond, May 13. Clarendon MSS. 1875, 1876. A CIVILIAN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. 1 69 great unanimity amongst the Eoyalists and great chap. distraction amongst their adversaries, there was at ^— least a failure in adequately conceiving the military Conditign position on the part of the Committee by which the £f ®? movements of the Earliamentary armies were con- mentary trolled. If there was one lesson more than another Necessity taught by the past history of the war, it was the the Kng^ uselessness of undertaking sieges whilst the enemy's main army was unbeaten in the field. It was the victory at Marston Moor which had delivered almost every northern fortress into the hands of the Parlia mentary generals, whilst the want of any similarly decisive victory in the South had rendered the sieges of Donnington Castle, of Basing House, and of Ban bury of no avail. Yet the Committee of Both King- May 10. J ° Oxford doms now proposed to employ Fairfax and the New to be besieged Model army in the siege of Oxford, leaving to Leven by Fairfax. and the Scots the main burden of marching south- May 13. wards to meet the King in the field. It is true that to march -1 . • c -r -i south- orders were given to reinforce Leven by a com- wards. bination of detachments from various counties — a combination which it might be somewhat difficult to effect — and by a force of 2,500 soldiers of Fairfax's army to be sent under the command of Colonel Vermuyden. It was expected that Yermuyden would meet the Scots on their advance southwards, some where in the neighbourhood of Nottingham. Crom well and Browne were to join Fairfax in the projected investment of Oxford.1 A plan depending for its success upon the rapid weakness concentration of forces of twro different nationalities plan. and of local levies which had never yet worked 1 Com. of B. K. to Fairfax, May 10 ; Com. of B. K. to Leven, May 13; Com. of B. K. to Cromwell and Browne, May 13; Com. of B. K. to Yermuyden, May 13. Com. Letter Book. 170 THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. CHAP.XXIX. 1645 It is sup ported by the Inde pendentleaders. Lord Savile's intrigues. Newport's information. Improba bility of its truth. together, whilst the main Enghsh army was fixed immovably round Oxford, needs only to be stated to be condemned. Yet, strange as it may appear, the plan was supported in the teeth of the opposition of the Scottish commissioners 1 by- those very Inde pendent leaders who had shown themselves most anxious to bring the war to a close by a victory in the field. The fact was that the extraordinary directions given by the Committee were the result of the not uncommon tendency of politicians to subordinate mUitary action to political intrigue. That old schemer Savile had been at his accustomed work. It is un necessary to deny that Savile had a genuine desire for peace, but it is no less certain that he sought it in the dark and underhand ways which befit a con spirator. No sooner had he arrived at Westminster, a fugitive from Oxford, than he sought to come to an understanding with the Scots. Finding himself coldly received by them, he turned to the Independents. His chief correspondent at Oxford was Lord Newport, and Newport was eager to throw himself upon the winning side. He now informed Savile — if at least Savile is to be believed — that, could he be assured that the monarchy would be preserved, there would be no difficulty in bringing about such a military defection in the King's ranks as would bring the war to a speedy end. Goring would Iransfer his services and those of the cavalry which he commanded to the Parliament, and Legge, who had recently been ap pointed Governor of Oxford, would open the gates of the city to a besieging army. What truth there may have been in Newport's tale about Goring it is impossible to say. That Legge 1 The remonstrance ofthe Scottish commissioners. L.J. vii. 390. THE FIRST SIEGE OF OXFORD. 171 ever thought of betraying the trust reposed in him chap. is in the highest degree improbable. Yet in spite of ¦ ^- the improbability of Savile's information, Say, who J 45 was an influential member of the Committee of Both Kingdoms, obtained the appointment of a sub-com mittee to receive propositions for the surrender of the King's fortresses. Though this sub-committee never met for business, Say, speaking in its name, encouraged Savile in his treachery. It was also, according to all appearance, on the ground of hopes founded on that treachery that Say carried with him his colleagues of the Committee itself in sending Fairfax to besiege Oxford.1 Whatever risk the Parliamentary authorities might Discipline be running from a defective plan of campaign, they had no longer any to fear from the indisciphne of their army. Deserters, mutineers, and plunderers were freely hanged. A blasphemer had his tongue bored through with a hot iron. The commander was as prompt to obey as he was to exact obedience. Uncongenial as his task was, Fairfax submissively Fairfax carried out his instructions. On May 22 he joined orders. Cromwell and Browne at Marston. The preparations oxford22 for surrounding the Eoyalist stronghold were promptly besiesed- made. During the following days shots were ex changed, but it was impossible to commence the attack in earnest tUl the necessary siege artillery arrived from London.2 On the 14th, long before Fairfax arrived before Mayi4. Oxford, the King moved forward from Droitwich. mote-IDgs Good news greeted him on either hand. In Wales ments' Sir Charles Gerard had routed Laugharne, had gained 1 Compare Savile's examination, Add. MSS. 32,093, fol. 211, with the documents printed in Baillie, ii. 487. 2 Sprigg, 17, 21 ; A copy of a letter, May 24, E. 285, 17 The Weekly Account, E. 285, 19; A Diary, E, 286, 10. 172 THE NEW MODEL ARMY IN THE FIELD. CHAP. XXIX. May 18. The siege of Chesterraised. Failure of the plan of the Com mittee of Both King doms. Lord Fair fax appeals to Leven. May 21. Leven resolves to march by ¦way of Westmore land. Haverfordwest, and was in good hope of making him self master of Milford Haven itself. At Scarborough, Cholmley had salhed out of the castle. In the fight which ensued Sir John Meldrum, who, after the re duction of Liverpool, had been sent to command the besiegers, received a wound of which he ultimately died.1 Charles's own march impressed with dismay the Parliamentarians in Cheshire. On the 18th Brereton hurriedly raised the sieges of Chester and Hawarden Castle. This important news reached Charles on the 22nd just as he was leaving Drayton.2 The first part of his scheme was thus successfully accomplished. Whilst Charles was reaping the fruits of his own energetic action, the plan of the Committee of Both Kingdoms was ignominiously breaking down. No sign of treachery had manifested itself at Oxford, whilst the Scots in the North had shown no eagerness to measure swords with Charles. For some days Lord Fairfax, who was in command of the Parliamentary forces in Yorkshire, had been appeaUng to Leven to hurry to Manchester in support of Brereton.3 On May 2 1 Leven replied that he intended to take a circuitous route by way of Westmoreland. By no other road could he drag his cannon across the hills. The King, he said, probably intended to invade Scotland, and when once the Scottish army was in Westmore land, it might support Brereton and cover Scotland as well. Whatever ground was lost by his present 1 Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 211 ; D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. 166, fol. 211. 2 Resolutions of the council of war, May 1 7 ; Brereton to King, May 20, Add. MSS. 11,331, fol. 119b, 138; Walker, 127; Digby to Nicholas, May 25, S.P. Dom. Walker's statement that the King heard the news at Stone on the 23rd is plainly wrong. 3 Lord Fairfax to Leven, May 20. S.P. Dom. LEVEN DRAWS BACK. 1 73 course might be subsequently recovered. By march- chap. ing in any other way, he added, in a letter written ^_V-1- on the following day, 'we should have left our M' 4J2 country altogether naked.' 1 Leven's anxiety, strange His fears of J ° J ' ° an invasion as it appeared to Fairfax, was not merely assumed. ofScotiand. Tidings had reached him from Scotland which were of such a nature as to impose caution upon the most adventurous commander. 1 Leven to Lord Fairfax, May 20, 21. S.P. Dom. i74 CHAPTEE XXX. CHAP. XXX. 1645 Feb. Montroseafter Inver lochy. Seaforth'sarmy dis persed. Lord Cordon joins Montrose. DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. Though the proud boast with which Montrose had closed his despatch from Inverlochy x was not yet fulfilled, he had not loitered over his task. Scarcely was the battle won, when he turned sharply back upon Seaforth and the northern clans who had blocked his way at the north-eastern end of the great lakes. Not a man of them ventured to await the coming of the warriors who had smitten down the Campbells in their pride. When Montrose reached Elgin he was rejoiced at the arrival of Huntly's eldest son, Lord Gordon, and also of Lord Lewis Gordon, who had fought so in effectively at Aberdeen.2 If Huntly still kept aloof, his absence was more than compensated for by the presence of his heir. Lord Gordon had attempted to lead the Covenanters, and had found that they would have none of him.3 He now threw himself heart and soul on the side of Montrose, and became one of his warmest personal admirers. His coming, however, was more than the gain of a gallant com rade. The gentry of the name and following of Gordon supplied Montrose with a small but efficient body of cavalry. To Montrose this was everything now. However eager he might be to press forward See p. 105. 2 See p. 95. 3 See p. 92. MONTROSE AND BAILLIE. I 75 into the South, and to come to the help of Charles, he chap. was incapacitated from playing a serious part in - — r_L- Lowland warfare with infantry alone, especially as .' 45 a discipUned force, far different from the raw levies Hurry on which he had crushed at Tippermuir and Aberdeen, was on the way against him under Baillie and Hurry. The submission of Lord Gordon was an example Submission ci- t of Seaforth not lost upon waverers. Seaforth and Sir James and Grant. Grant followed Montrose to Elgin as supplicants for pardon, and did not sue in vain. At least they saved their estates from plunder. Montrose, as he passed into the South, had no pay to give to his followers, and let them loose upon the lands of the Covenanters piunijer of of the North. From Inverness to Kintore their farms theNorth- and houses were given over to the spoiler.1 Montrose's, like Argyle's before him, was a calcu- Montrose lated cruelty. In the Lowlands, however, Argyle's Argyie. wasting of Highland glens and burning of the houses of Eoyalist noblemen aroused no resentment, whilst the sufferings of the farmers and burghers of the northern counties excited fear and indignation in the same classes in the South. Of their anger the Kirk was the mouthpiece. On the first news from Inverlochy it hurled its excommunication at Montrose's head. On Montrose February 11 the Scottish Parhament declared both mS^a him and his chief supporters to be guilty of treason. From that time Montrose was styled at Edinburgh ' that excommunicated traitor, James Graham.' In the eyes of the clergy and of the Parliament he was not merely the assailant of the ecclesiastical and political institutions of the realm. He was also the man who threatened, with the help of Celtic bar barism, to blot out the long results of patient toil. It was, in all probability, at some point in his 1 Wishart, eh. ix. ; Spalding, ii. 446 ; Patrick Gordon, 105. and de clared a traitor. 176 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. CHAP. XXX. 1645 Montrose receives Charles'smessage. southward march that Montrose received the message in which Charles promised him the aid of 500 horse under Musgrave, and conjured him to hasten his march to the Lothians.1 Day after day, however, He is op posed by Baillie and Hurry. passed away without further intelligence of Musgrave's coming, and when Montrose reached Forfarshire he found his way to the South blocked by Baillie and Hurry. Many days were spent in manoeuvring. 1 See p. 160. MONTROSE AND BAILLIE. 177 Hurry's cavalry was on one occasion driven in head- chap. long flight, but it was a more difficult matter to over- — xxx'— power Bailhe, a methodical soldier, who avoided an l64S engagement, and sought to wear his opponent out by forcing him to keep on the defensive. One day when the two armies were posted near Cupar Angus on opposite banks of the Isla, Montrose, in the chivalric fashion ofthe antique world, sent Baillie a challenge, a challenge He would allow his antagonist to cross the river t0 unassailed if he wished to take the offensive, or he would himself cross the stream on the same condi tions. BaUlie replied that he would fight when he thought fit, not when it pleased the enemy.1 In the end Baillie marched away, in full retreat for Fife. Instead of following him across the Isla, Montrose turned aside to Dunkeld. By crossing the Montrose at Tay there he would have a straight course south- Uunkeid wards. If he were once over this obstacle, the Forth would hardly keep him back. Already in imagina tion he saw thousands of Lowlanders weary of the yoke of the Kirk flocking to his standard as it streamed across the Border.2 Montrose was far too sanguine. His antagonist had almost gained his object without firing a gun. The Highlanders understood a warfare which con sisted in a fierce charge and a hasty pursuit followed by a speedy return with their plunder to their native glens. They did not understand a war of manoeuvre, of the weary occupation of posts, and of patient endurance of suffering. At Dunkeld Mont- Montrose's rose's host melted away almost as rapidly as a High land host was wont to do after the winning of a 1 Wishart, ch. ix. 2 " Taum versus tendit : Fortham etiam, si qua fieri posset, trans- gressurus, unde auxilia Regi non defutura sperabat." Wishart, ch. ix. II. N army melts away at Dunkeld, 178 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. chap, signal victory. Even the Gordons were discontented, ¦ — -Al— and not a few of them deserted a leader who had led 45 them so far from home and who had not as yet re peated the marvels of Inverlochy.1 Before long Montrose had with him no more than 200 horse and 600 foot upon whom he could count. The march into the Lowlands must be for the present abandoned. His little force must not be left longer without that booty which was its best reward. News — false, as it afterwards appeared — • that the enemy had crossed to the western side of the Tay, led him to suppose that all to the east of April 3. the river was at his mercy. Taking with him a He leaves . ounkeid. picked force of 600 musketeers and 150 horse, he started from Dunkeld before dawn on the morning of April 3. Crossing the Isla, he marched through April 4. Cupar Angus on Dundee. On the 4th he was out- take!^ side the walls. The citizens, being surprised, opposed but a feeble resistance. Houses were fired, the market place was occupied, and the sack begun. Irr the midst of the tumult a messenger brought tidings that Baillie and Hurry with their whole army were hastening to the relief of the town. To fight them was madness, but those advisers who urged Montrose to consult his own safety by flight little knew the man to whom they addressed such unworthy counsels. Cutting off the spoilers from the prey on which they had flung themselves — a feat beyond the power of any other 1 Patrick Gordon (115) denies that Lord Lewis caused the move ment by his own desertion, as is asserted by Wrishart, but he acknow ledges that he wanted to leave the army temporarily on private business, though he stayed for a time and was present at the retreat from Dundee. W. Gordon, in his Histoiy of the illustrious Family of Gordon, ii. 453, asserts, on the authority of one who was present, that Lord Lewis fought well in the retreat from Dundee. Wishart cannot be considered accurate, and I suspect that Lord Lewis left after Montrose had taken and abandoned Dundee. THE RETREAT FROM DUNDEE. 1 79 commander in Europe — he marched out of the eastern chap. gate almost as Baillie was entering the western. Keeping his 1 50 cavalry as a rearguard, he placed 200 ' 45 of the best appointed musketeers in the last ranks of retreat. the foot, with orders to face about in support of the horse in case of an attack.1 Night was drawing on, but before its shadows fell BaiUie, who had continued his pursuit through the town, ventured a charge. His charge was re- peUed, and he deemed it the better part to out manoeuvre an enemy so hard to defeat. Whilst Montrose's 750 were hurrying onwards in the dark in the direction of Arbroath, BailUe was pushing for- Baiiiie's ward to the left of their line of march, anxious to cut manceuvre- them off from the hills to the north-east, and to pin them against the sea when they reached Arbroath. With many antagonists Baiiiie's plan would have been successful, but it did not succeed with Montrose. Divining his adversary's strategy, he halted his men Montrose's before Arbroath was reached, and bade them retrace manoeuvre. their steps. After a while he wheeled to the right, shpping past BailUe, who was now well in advance stUl heading towards the east. He reached Careston April 5. Castle on the South Esk as the sun was rising. At last Baillie discovered his error, and started in Montrose .... t -, . , escapes to pursuit with his cavalry on the right track. When the hiiis. he caught sight of the enemy, only three miles se parated Montrose from the shelter of the hills, but it seemed for a moment as if those three miles would be enough to destroy him. His men had been marching, fighting, and plundering for three whole 1 Napier turns Montrose's wonderful performance into a miracle by saying that these men in front were drunk. All that Wishart says is that the soldiers after the taking of Dundee were 'vino paululum in- calescentes.' Afterwards he speaks of them as ' vino prsedaque graves.' At all events drunken men cannot march as these did. H 2 i8o DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. CHAP. XXX. 1645 His skilful general ship. Charles's plan of campaignrevealed. days and the two intervening nights. They had fallen on the ground in a sleep so dead, that when Baiiiie's horse approached, the officers could not rouse more than a very few of them. Yet those few were sufficient to show a front to the enemy. The hostile cavalry drew off, and as soon as the sleepers could be awakened, they were speedily led to a place of safety. Horsemen were not likely to follow them amongst the hills. Never had Montrose's skill as a commander been more clearly manifested. In the camps of Germany and France, when his name was mentioned, soldiers of no mean authority were heard to extol his retreat from Dundee. above all his victories.1 Though Montrose's last achievements might bring glory to himself, they augured ill for the help which he had counted on being able to afford to Charles. His Highlanders, perhaps even the Gordons, could not be trusted for the purposes of warfare in the South, and now, if not earlier, Lord Lewis Gordon rode home with a considerable following. With his reduced numbers, Montrose, in spite of his masterly generalship, could not hope, till fresh reinforcements had joined him, to effect anything considerable in Scotland.2 At Oxford little was for some time known of these achievements of Montrose. It was difficult to open up communications between the two armies. Though Small, who had borne the tidings of the victory of Inverlochy, had reached Charles in safety, he had been captured by the Covenanters on his return. The letters seized upon his person revealed the King's plan of campaign to his enemies. On Wishart, ch. ix. Montrose to ? April 20. Merc. Aulicus. E. 286, 16. A MARCH INTO THE NORTH. l8l May i the unfortunate messenger was hanged at Edin- chap. burgh as a traitor and a spy.1 • — ^— For some days Montrose had little that was . l6,45 , April 10 ? hopeful to impart. The old weary work of collecting A letter forces had to be begun afresh, and Lord Gordon Montrose. was despatched home to undo the mischief caused by his brother's desertion. Montrose himself, wan dering about Perthshire, wrote again to the King, and, by whatever channel it passed, this letter reached Oxford uninjured. In it he expressed his regret that he had heard nothing of the promised succour of cavalry, and contented himself with holding out hopes of being able to neutralise such of the enemy's forces as were in Scotland. He no longer spoke of marching to join the King in England.2 At Balquhidder Montrose's spirits were cheered Heufained by the arrival of Aboyne, who had cut his way out by AboJ'ne- of Carlisle through the besiegers' lines. Scarcely less acceptable was the news which reached him on the shores of Loch Katrine a day or two later, that the enemy had divided his forces. Whilst Baillie was watching the Highlands from Perth, Hurry had gone north to collect the Covenanting forces for an attack upon the Gordons. For BailUe Montrose with his scanty following was no match, though if he could effect a junction with Lord Gordon he would be again in a condition to fight a battle. Swiftly, as his manner was, he sped northwards, slipping past Montrose Baillie on the way. Macdonald rejoined him on the north- march, and on the banks of the upper Dee he 1 Guthry's Memoirs, 1 47. 2 The letter was published in Merc. Aulicus. E. 286, 17. It arrived in Oxford on May 10, and is dated April 20. On this day, however, according to Wishart, Montrose was at Balquhidder receiving Aboyne. Wishart may be wrong, but it is, on the whole, more probable that the date on the newspaper is a misprint, perhaps for the 10th, 1 82 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. chap, found Lord Gordon at the head of a body of horse, XXX - — ^— raised amongst the gentry of the Gordon name. He was now between the two hostile armies, and to attack™3 could choose his antagonist. To save the Gordon lands Hurry. fr0m plunder, he singled out Hurry as his victim. Hurry, though he had retired to Inverness to tree's'8 gather his forces round him, imagined himself to stand in no need of Baiiiie's help. Seaforth had once more changed sides, and was ready to bring up his Mackenzies, whilst Sutherland had marched with his followers from the extreme North. The Frazers, too, and others of the Covenanting gentlemen of Moray, were on Hurry's side, in addition to Hurry's own trained soldiers from the army in England. The numbers in both armies are variously given, but there can be no doubt that Hurry far outnumbered Mont rose. Few as Montrose's horse were, it was the first time that he had horsemen enough to use as a cavalry force should be used in battle. Hum's As soon as Hurry heard that Montrose was de scending the valley of the Spey, he formed a plan which was at least worthy of a commander trained in a better school of warfare than that of the Elchos and the Balfours. With the object of luring Montrose into a hostile country, the Covenanting general advanced to meet him near Elgin, and upon his approach con ducted his retreat so skilfully that Montrose, though following hard, was never able to do him any serious damage. On the evening of May 8 Montrose reached the village of Auldearn, expecting to follow Hurry on the following morning through Nairn to Inver ness. In the meanwhile he sent out sentinels to guard against surprise. He was, as Hurry intended him to be, in the midst of a hostile population, from which not a word of intelligence was to be had. plan HURRY'S GENERALSHIP. 183 Before dawn on the morning of the 9th, Hurry had fronted round, hoping by a night march to surprise the Eoyalists. He almost effected his "%0 'www- -' THE BATTLE OF AULDEARN Montrose — JH Hurry. Q S»ucure'l troapa . m * Tc/tmvn. ruu~i.Tnjxn*i Wood, ' SCALE Of HALT A MILE K CHAP. XXX. *— - - , • 1645 May 9. Anattempted surprise. Uv'Wjdhx, object. The night was wet and gusty, and Mont rose's sentinels did not care to go far afield. For tunately for Montrose, the rain which drove them in wetted the powder in the muskets of Hurry' 184 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. chap, soldiers, some of whom — they can hardly have been - — r^-" found in his own disciplined regiments — tired a volley to clear the barrels. They were still four or five miles from the enemy, and they fancied that the sound would not reach him. Montrose's As it happened, some of Macdonald's sentinels menta!6" caught the sound. Montrose had scarcely time be fore the enemy arrived to draw up his little force in battle array. No long study of the ground could have served him better than his swift glance in the early morning. The line of cottages in the viUage of Auldearn lay north and south along a ridge at right angles to the road by which Hurry was approach ing.1 Below these cottages, towards the west, the gardens and inclosures of the viUagers fenced by low stone walls afforded a natural fortress, beyond which was a tolerably level stretch of ground, at first rough and covered with bushes, and then sinking gradually into a marsh caused by a brook away at some dis tance from the slope. The northern part of the rough ground behind the bog he entrusted to the guardian ship of Macdonald and the Irish, giving them the royal standard, in order that the enemy might imagine that the King's Lieutenant was there in person, and might direct the bulk of his forces against so defensible a position. The remainder of his infantry and the whole of his cavalry he kept aloof out of sight to the south of the village behind the crest of the ridge. Centre he had none, but he posted a few men in front of the cottages in order to lead the enemy to believe that they were held in force. If only Hurry could be induced to make his chief attack on Macdonald, 1 Shaw, Hist, of the Province of Men-ay (ed. 1882), ii. 260. The line of the present village lies more east and west, old houses having been pulled down, apd new ones built along the modern high road, THE BATTLE OF AULDEARN. 185 xxx. 164T Montrose, by sweeping down upon the right wing of chap. the assailants, might easily decide the fortune of the day, especially as the Eoyalist horse would have firm ground before them, and would not be troubled with the enclosures in front of the whole line of the village, which would have made a charge impossible if Mont rose's owm force had kept nearer to Macdonald.1 1 We have the two accounts of this battle from Wishart and Patrick Gordon. Patrick Gordon's account of the ground in front of Macdonald is elaborate and may be taken as accurate. Wishart's says of Auldearn that •oppidulum eminentiori loco situm convallem vicinam operiebat. Et coUiculi a tergo supereminentes oculorum aspectum adimebant nisi quam propissime astantium. In istam convallem copias suas educit, hostibus minime spectandas.' This is not very intelligible, and there is no valley answering to the description, but it may perhaps be taken as a way of putting the fact that, by placing his men behind the crest, Montrose would have them out of sight of an enemy approaching from Nairn. It is evi dent, however, that Wishart, who was not present, had no knowledge of the formation of the ground. When we reach the descriptions of the battle itself, both writers are agreed about Macdonald's proceedings, but Gordon is vague where Wishart gives details. Gordon has the Royalists drawn up in the ordi nary fashion with horse on both sides, the right wing under Lord Gordon and the left under Aboyne. The narrative which follows is too com pletely wanting in detail, as far as the fighting is concerned, to inspire confidence, though one or two anecdotes were evidently derived from some who were present. Wishart's narrative is much more in agreement with the probabilities of the case, and is in much greater detail. He does not mention Aboyne at all, and only speaks of the Gordon horse a9 a body on Montrose's left. It seems exceedingly improbable that Montrose should have put any horse on the right side. The hill is very steep there — too steep, I should imagine, for a charge down— and the rocky and boggy ground below wa3 unfitted for cavalry. Again, the skeletons which are now under the modern plantation called Deadman's Wood were described to me as all brought together from the ground in front of Montrose's own position. Those killed in Macdonald's fight would lie in or about the en closures, and would naturally he taken up after the fight by the villagers and buried probably in the churchyard, whilst, if there had been any killed in that part of the field after a successful cavalry charge, they would have been found much farther off from the village, and have been buried where they fell, like their comrades on Hurry's right. Though I have no other evidence than Wishart's bungling statement for placing the left wing of the Royalists behind the crest, my view is supported by the fact that Montrose was able to conceal Macdonald's defeat from Lord Gordon, as the place where Macdonald was fighting is visible from the western earn. 1 86 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. c iap. Admirable as were Montrose's arrangements, they • — r-^-' were nearly foiled through the smallness of Mac- „. a\, donald's force. Macdonald, himself outnumbered by The Battle J ofAuid- the enemy, was, in spite of his vigorous charges, driven back amongst the walled gardens in his rear. In vain he dashed out again, only to be again pressed back. Performing prodigies of valour, the last man to retreat, he sliced off the heads of the pikes which were thrust into his target, keeping off the foemen with the swing of his broadsword. Yet, in spite of all his valour, he and his would have been doomed to slaughter if help had not been at hand. No sooner had Montrose heard of the recoil of his right wing than he turned to Lord Gordon. " Why," he cried, " are we lingering here ? Macdonald is driving all before him. Is he to have all the glory of the day?"1 The command was given, and the Gordon horse were launched over the crest and down the slope against the enemy. The Gordons were in no placable mood. James Gordon of Eynie had been left wounded in a cottage, and had been butchered by a party of Hurry's men. Not long before Donald Farquhar- son, one of Montrose's colonels, had been slaughtered at Aberdeen. With the words " Eemember Donald Farquharson and James of Eynie," the Gordons dashed down the hill. They had skill as weU as ven geance to direct them. For the first time in Scottish warfare the old practice of preluding a cavalry charge by the firing of pistols was abandoned, and Crom well's tactics of rushing at the enemy with sword and horse were adopted.2 Anything more different from slope, and it may, therefore, be fairly argued that Montrose's men could not have been deceived if they had been on it. The thing too was so easy to do, and so advantageous, that Montrose can hardly have failed to do it. 1 This is abbreviated from Wishart. 1 " My Lord Gordon by this time charges the left wing, and that with THE BATTLE OF AULDEARN. 1 87 the waiting tactics by which he had kept in hand the chap. poor handful of mingled horse and foot at Aberdeen it is impossible to conceive. Montrose had at last got a sufficient force of cavalry, and he knew what to do with it. The Gordon horse, finding Hurry's cavalry with their minds preoccupied with the fighting on their left, broke them, and drove them off the field. Whilst some were following the pursuit, Aboyne remained behind to charge the now exposed flank,1 Hurry's right wing of infantry, already thrown into disorder by the flight of his horse.2 Montrose himself led a body of foot against it, and after a short struggle drove it off the ground. The flight of the right wing of the Covenanting army determined the fate of the battle. Montrose turned fiercely on the centre and left wing of the enemy, which was entangled in the rough ground in front of Macdonald's position. Macdonald, feeling the weakening of the attack, again pressed forward. Hurry, at the head of the horse which re mained to him, took to flight, whilst the greater part of his veteran infantry stood their ground and were slaughtered on the field.3 Montrose had shown himself a master of cavalry a new form of fight, for he discharges all shooting of pistols and carbines only with their swords to charge quite through their enemies." Did Gordon think of this, or did Montrose, who had talked to Rupert's beaten men after Marston Moor, suggest it to him ? 1 This is not distinctly stated, but may be gathered from Patrick Gordon's ascription of all the success on this side to Aboyne. 2 The officer who commanded the horse who did the mischief was after wards shot as a traitor at Inverness. (Spalding, ii, 473.) There is a long 'story printed in Mackenzie's Hist, of the Mackenzies (p. 1 87) , taken from a document which the author calls the ' Ardintoul MS.,' according to which Hurry was himself a traitor, and shot the officer to prevent his telling tales. The story has no appearance of credibility in it. Hurry, it; is said, wishing to spare Seaforth, placed him opposite to the weak centre of Montrose's position ; as if Hurry could have known at the time that Montrose had not men behind the houses. 6 Wishart, ch. x. ; Patrick Gordon, 123. 188 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. CHAP. XXX. 1645 Montrose'sversatility. Mav 3. Baillie ravagesAthol. Effect of Auldearn upon Leven'smove ments. Unfairtreatment of Leven's army. tactics, as he had shown himself elsewhere to be a master of the tactics of Highland war. In whatever form the enemy attacked him, whatever might be the varying components of his own army, he was always ready to take advantage of the weakness of the one and of the strength of the other. Yet, splendid as the victory was, it was not decisive. On May 3, when Montrose was on the Spey, Baillie had burst into Athol, and had since been ravaging it by fire and sword.1 If the men of Athol were to be available for Lowland warfare, Montrose must show that he had the power to give them security at home. Yet though the day when Montrose could de scend into the Lowlands had not yet arrived, it is no wonder that the news from Auldearn startled Leven in Yorkshire, and drove him to that retreat into Westmoreland which had alarmed the English leaders.2 To Leven the plain path of duty was to throw himself in the way of any possible junction between Charles and his lieutenant. Other reasons doubtless there were to make him sore at the pro ceedings of the Government at Westminster. Whilst that Government had thrown upon him the burden of the conflict with the King's army, it had kept its own forces out of harm's way, ' tied by the leg ' round Oxford.3 Though the hard work thus devolved upon the Scots, nothing had been done to pay or to supply them. An assessment, indeed, had been made upon certain English counties for the support of their army, but not a penny had been raised, whilst Fairfax's troops received their pay fortnightly with the utmost regu larity. Left to their own devices, the Scottish soldiers had pressed hardly upon the districts in which they ing, 11. 471. The Moderate Intelligencer. 2 Seep. 172. E. 286, 9. A SCOTTISH REMONSTRANCE. 189 were quartered, to the detriment of their own discipline chap. as weU as to the exasperation of the sufferers. ~- , '-* Accordingly, two days after the news of Leven's ' 45 retreat reached Westminster, the Scottish commis- Remon- HTTfl-TIPP Ox sioners presented a serious remonstrance to the theScot- Enghsh Parliament. Not only did they complain missioners. bitterly of Leven's treatment, but they raised their voices clearly against the plan of campaign adopted by the Committee of Both Kingdoms. The one thing needful, they rightly said, was that Fairfax should be set free from control. Then the two armies might crush the King between them, and the war would be brought to an end.1 The efforts of the united armies, if they could be brought to co-operate with one another, would be the more formidable as the King's chance of receiving help from Goring was growing less every day. On May 1 7 that boastful commander mustered 1 1 ,000 May 17. men on Sedgemoor. With these he hoped to prevent sedgemoor. the troops which, under Graves and Weldon, had re lieved Taunton from leaving the town, in the hope that, if the numbers within its walls were not suffered to be diminished, a surrender would be inevitable in the case of a fresh blockade. On the other hand, he felt no doubt that, if the Parliamentary com manders succeeded in making their escape, he would be able, with his superior numbers, to crush them in the open country.2 As soon as he was master of the field, he would — so at least he said — hasten to the succour of the King. "I am very fearful," he wrote on the 19th to Eupert, "lest Fairfax May 19. and Cromwell may disturb your Highness before tions. 1 Remonstrance of the Scottish commissioners, May 24. L.J. vii. 390. 2 Sir John Digby to Digby, May 18. S.P. Dom. 190 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. chap, we can despatch these people to attend them " l ¦ — r-^~ On the very next day he had to acknowledge that he J 4S had failed completely either to keep Graves and May 20. l j ir He fails to Weldon at Taunton or to destroy them in the open defeat the enemy. country. " I shall beseech you," he characteristically wrote to Culpepper, " to inform the Prince that I am kept from destroying the greatest part of the rebels' army by the most fantastical accident hath happened since the war began." It is hardly necessary to re peat Goring's story, as it was flatly contradicted by a narrative which reached Culpepper from another source, and as in such a case it is safe to conclude that truth did not lie on the side of Goring.2 Great as had been the error of the Committee of Both Kingdoms in persisting in the siege of Oxford, they were fully alive to the necessity of keeping May 25. Goring employed in the West. On the 25th they toacom- appointed Massey to lead a force against him which SeIw™t. would place Taunton beyond the reach of further accidents. Before he left the district in which he had accomplished so much, Massey rendered one last service to the Parliamentary cause in Gloucestershire May 26. and its neighbourhood. On the 26th he stormed stormeT Evesham, thus interposing a barrier between Oxford and Worcester, and dislocating the King's line of defence in a region in which the Eoyalists had hitherto been supreme.3 Weakened as he was in territory, and in the strength which territory brings, Charles was never theless in a position to march whither he would in the Midlands. On the 22nd he heard, just after 1 i.e. ' Send on my soldiers to follow them up.' Goring to Rupert May 19. Add. MSS. 18,982, fol. 61. 2 Goring to Culpepper, May 20 ; Culpepper to Digby, May 22. S.P. Dom. 3 L.J. vii. 393 ; D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. 166, fol 213b. THE KING'S MARCH. Jgi leaving Drayton, that Brereton had broken up from chap. before Chester, and he had now to decide upon his ^X-*~— next step. Though he could not as yet know that l64S Leven had thrown himself in the way of a march The^frfg through Lancashire in search of Montrose, he resolved t^IlZl to avoid the rough and hilly roads by the western *° ??arch . j . ^ J J to the east. coast, and to aim at reaching Scotland by the easy route through the Vale of York.1 He was the more readily induced to take this course as he did not feel confident in the power of Oxford to hold out, and the few marches to the east which would place him on the track to the north which he had now selected would also enable him to defer turning his back on Oxford for some days longer. If, on the other hand, it appeared desirable to pursue his way towards Scotland, he would have no difficulty in obtaining con siderable reinforcements as he passed through York shire, where the population was deeply exasperated against Leven and his Scottish soldiers. Charles was now at the head of a force of at least He expects 11,000 men, and he calculated that before long by coring. he would be followed by an army of overwhelming strength. He had summoned Goring from the West, and Gerard from South Wales. The appointed ren- dezvouswas in Leicestershire. Should he resolve in the end to turn northwards, he might find time before he recommenced his march to do enormous damage in that region.2 When the news that the King was marching Excitement through Staffordshire reached Westminster, the in- minster!" terpretation put upon his movement was that he 1 See the map at p. 167. 2 Walker, 127 ; The King to the Queen, May 23, Hist. MS. Com, Reports, i. 9 ; Digby to Nicholas, May 26, S.P. Dom. ; Symonds' Diary, 166, 182. 192 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. CHAP. XXX. 1645 May 26. Cromwell sent to Ely. May 31. Supplies for Leven. May 22. Oxford in straits. May 26. Dighy'sappeal for time. intended to throw himself upon the Eastern Associa tion. On the 26th Cromwell, although his term of command had now expired, was sent to fortify the approaches to the Isle of Ely, and on the 31st, as no money was available for Leven's army, orders were despatched to the northern counties to supply his soldiers with provisions as soon as they had completed their circuitous march through Westmoreland, and had started in pursuit of the King. Yet of what avail was such tardy strategy if Charles was aUowed to roam freely through England, choosing when and where his blows should faU ? Three or four days after Charles left Drayton he learned that he was no longer master of his own movements. A serious despatch from Nicholas warned him that Oxford was so short of provisions that it could not hold out long.1 Whatever he had gained by the strategical superiority of his own commanders or by the blunders of his opponents was rendered useless by the want of material suppUes, which made it impossible for him to rely on the continued resist ance of Oxford during a few weeks' campaign. With his usual versatility Digby threw himself into the situation thus created. He could not believe that in face of the actual situation the Parliamentary army could remain fixed round Oxford. " If Crom well and Fairfax advance," he wrote to Nicholas from Tutbury on the 22nd, " we shall endeavour to fight with them. I beheve it will be about Leicester. I hope by this time Goring is about Oxford with his horse. If we can be so happy as that he comes in time, we shall infallibly crush them between us For God's sake quicken his march aU that's possible." Late at night a second letter, written by the orders 1 Nicholas to the King, May 22. Hist. MSS. Com. Reports, i. 8. A STRATEGICAL COMBINATION. 193 of the King and Eupert, assured Nicholas that in case c™£- 01 necessity Oxford should be relieved, but at the - ¦*' same time urged him not to represent the wants of ' 4S the garrison as more pressing than they were. If only it could hold out for a month or six weeks, or if Goring could relieve it without help from the King, all would yet be well. " I say," continued Digby, " if either of these can be, we never had more cause to thank God since this war began, than for putting it into their hearts to engage in that stop, there being nothing more probable than that within the time mentioned, the King having such an army as he hath, we shall be able to put His Majesty's affairs into such a condition as that the relieving of you then shall do both all and the whole work at once. For God's sake lay this to heart and give us all the time you can." J In three days, he ended by saying, the army would be close to Leicester. On the day on which this letter was written, fresh FreBh orders were despatched to Goring. He was to march, Goring. not, as had been previously arranged, to Harborough, but to Newbury, from which point he was either to relieve Oxford, or, if that proved impracticable, so to embarrass the besiegers as to impede their operations. The King, Goring was informed, expected to be joined by Gerard in the neighbourhood of Leicester. After that his course would depend on information from Oxford. "If the Governor of Oxford," wrote P'Ws ... . hopes. Digby, " assure us that he is provided for six weeks or two months, we shall then, I make no question, relieve our northern garrisons, beat the Scots, or make them retreat, and march southwards with a 1 Digby to Nicholas, May 26. S.P. Dom. The greater part of these letters is in cipher, but it is easy to read them with the help of the deciphered letters in Add. MSS. 18,982. II. 0 194 DUNDEE, AULDEARN, AND LEICESTER. CHAP. XXX. 164s Leicester to be at tacked. May 28. Approach of the King's army. May 30. Preparations for a storm. May 31. Leicestertaken. gallant army indeed. Eontefract once succoured, we are assured of great things from Yorkshire." If, on the other hand, it appeared that Oxford was unable to hold out, the King would march southwards at once, join Goring between London and Oxford, and thus not only save the besieged city, but cut off the besiegers from their own basis of opera tions.1 If some days must pass before an answer could be received, they could be utilised by a sudden blow at Leicester. Such an undertaking was fully after Eupert's heart. Important as the place was, its fortifications were incomplete and its garrison small. Between the soldiers and the committee which repre sented the civilian population there was no good understanding. On the 28th the first parties of the King's armies approached the place, and for three days citizens and soldiers were kept in constant alarm. On the evening of the 30th Eupert's batteries played upon the walls and a breach was effected. Shortly before midnight the storming parties rushed forward to the assault. Before two in the morning of the 31st all resistance was at an end. About a hundred of the defenders were slain either in fair fight or in the heat of victory, and some women and children were found amongst the dead. There was, however, no general massacre. As a matter of course, the town was given over to plunder. The shops were stripped of their wares, and the hovels of the poorest fared no better than the dwellings of the richer townsmen. In the course of the day a hundred and 1 Digby to Goring, May 26. Clar. MSS. 1889. The paper is torn at the word ' Pontefract,' only the initial remaining, but I have filled the blank without hesitation. THE SACK OF LEICESTER. 1 95 forty carts laden with the spoil of Leicester rolled off chap. to Newark.1 1645 1 Merc. Aulicas, E. 288, 48 ; A perfect relation of the taking of Leicester, E. 288, 4 ; A narrative of the siege, E. 288, 6 ; An examina tion of a printed pamphlet, E. 261, 18. It is a Parliamentary news paper (The Moderate Intelligencer, E. 261, 18) from which we learn that ' some women also were seen dead, which was casual rather than on purpose.' For a refutation of the supposition that Bunyan was in the Royal army, see Brown's Life of Bunyan, 50. 0 2 196 CHAPTEE XXXI. NASEBY. CHAP. XXXI. 1645 May 31. Charles's apparentprosperity. Real weak ness of his situation. Never to all outward appearance had Charles's prospects been brighter than when he was nearing his sudden and irreparable overthrow. A con currence of circumstances — the holding back of Leven's army by Montrose's victory at Auldearn, and the ill-judged retention of Fairfax and the New Model at the siege of Oxford — had given him for the moment a free hand, and the storm and sack of Leicester had been the result. Yet the very fact that Charles was at Leicester at all was fatal to his prospects. His march thither had been a com promise between Eupert's plan of rallying the York- shiremen for an attack on Leven and Digby's plan of rallying Goring and Gerard for an attack on Fairfax. The capture of Leicester was followed by a fierce conflict between the advocates of the rival schemes. It may reasonably be doubted whether either of the schemes was really feasible. Each of them left out of account one or other of the cardinal facts of the situation. It would be known before long that Eupert's plan was ruined, because Oxford could not hold out for six weeks, and that Digby's plan was ruined, because Gerard could not and Goring would not come to Charles's aid. The rash ness with which the Committee of Both Kingdoms had pinned their best army round Oxford on the THE RELIEF OF OXFORD. 1 97 faith of such old intriguers as Savile and Newport, chap. had been surpassed by the still greater rashness with -—^—— which Charles and Eupert had undertaken a distant enterprise without previously ascertaining whether the city which was their base of operations was sufficiently provisioned to stand a siege.1 As usual the vacillation of the commander pro- The rork- duced divisions in the army. The Yorkshire horse dissatisfied under Langdale were touched by the same spirit of local patriotism which had proved fatal to New castle's success in 1643. They petitioned the King, probably whilst he was still at Leicester, for leave to betake themselves to the North, ' so far forth as' his 'occasions in these parts will give leave.'2 On June 4 jUne4. they received orders in common with the rest of the mutiny, army to march in the direction of Oxford. They positively refused to stir, though Charles personally gave them his word that as soon as Oxford was re lieved he would lead them into their own country. It is true that on the following day they consented June s. to return to their duty, but the temper which they to their had manifested might have dangerous consequences uy' yet.3 On June 7 the Eoyal army entered Daventry, C1^s7;it where the news reached Charles that his immediate Daventry. purpose was accomplished, and that the besiegers oxford had of their own accord abandoned the siege of r Oxford. Yet in spite of the good news some time must elapse . before Charles could again set forward on his northern march. Oxford must not only be 1 The words of Nicholas, in the letter cited at p. 192, seem to esta blish the point that Oxford was poorly supplied, though it is true that neither Southampton nor Dorset concurred with him. The King to Nicholas, June 9. Evelyn's Memoirs, ed. Bohn, iv. 149. 2 Petition, undated. Warburton, iii. 71. 3 Syraonds, Diary, 186 ; Slingsby, Diary, 149. 198 NASEBY. CHAP. XXXI. 1645" June 8. The King tlie New Model. June 2. Fairfax to leave the siege of Oxford, June 3. and to de fend the EasternAssociation. relieved from immediate danger, but it must be so supplied as to make it unnecessary to relieve it again for some time to come. Droves of sheep must be collected and despatched to feed the garrison. Some days must pass before the work could be accom plished, and the advantage of freedom of action which had hitherto been on the side of Charles would pass over to the side of the enemy. Charles was now pinned at Daventry, as Fairfax had formerly been pinned round Oxford. If Charles did not realise the change which had come over his prospects, it was because neither he nor any of his followers had any conception of the strength of the New Model army. It was the fashion at Oxford to ridicule it in every way. " I believe," wrote Charles to his wife, " they are weaker than they are thought to be, whether by their distractions, which are very great — Fairfax and Browne having been at cudgels, and his men and Cromwell's likewise at blows together where a captain was slain — or wasting their men, I cannot say." x At Westminster the real qualities of the New Model were perhaps hardly better known. Yet on June 2, after the sad news from Leicester, the Com mittee of Both Kingdoms, abandoning its blundering policy, had advised the Houses to direct Fairfax to take the field at once. On the following day, under the impression that the Eastern Association was threatened, orders were sent to him to march to its defence.2 Outside the walls of Parliament even stronger measures were demanded. On the 4th the Common 1 The King to the Queen, June 8. E. 292, 27. 2 L.J. vii. 403, 404. The King's Cabinet Opened,^. 14. FAIRFAX IN PURSUIT. 1 99 Council forwarded apetition to the House of Commons, chap. • VYYf requesting among other things that a committee • '-^—L. might accompany Fairfax to give him encouragement 1 4S 1 • 1 t ? i- June4- on the spot, ' without attending commands and direc- PeHtion tions from remote councils,' and asking that Cromwell common Council. might be placed, at least for a time, at the head of new forces to be raised in the Eastern Association, though forty days had elapsed since the passing of the Self-Denying Ordinance. No wonder there was a hot and long debate for nearly three hours, when the daring request was thus lightly made.1 Yet the crisis was too imminent to allow any, who were not wilfully blind, to ignore the absolute necessity of post poning political to military considerations. For the present the deputies of the Common Council were thanked by the House. It would not be long before their petition would be answered in the spirit in which it was conceived. On the 5th Fairfax broke up from Oxford. After jUneS. an unsuccessful attack on Boarstall House, he marched Marches in a north-easterly direction, in order to meet Ver- ^h-tast'.6 muyden, who had been despatched to reinforce Leven, and had now returned from his ineffectual mission. On the 7th Vermuyden joined the main army at Slier- June 7. ington, in the close vicinity of Newport Pagnell. vi°muy- 7 The combined forces numbered about 13,000 men.2 den- On the 8th Fairfax learnt that the King was still j„ne 8. at Daventry. A council of war was called, and de- prepares clared for the simple plan of seeking out the enemy and lighting him wherever he could be found. Skip pon was directed to draw up a plan of battle so that 1 C.J. iv. 163; L.J. vii. 411 ; D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. 166, fol. 216. 3 The Scottish Dove, E. 288, 11 ; Sprigg, 31. The next day Ver muyden resigned his command and went to the Netherlands. to fight. 200 NASEBY. CHAP.XXXI. 1645 Cromwell's appoint ment as Lieut.-Generalasked for. June 9. All restric tions taken off Fair fax's authority. June 4. Ciomwell and the Associa tion. each regiment might know the post to which it was assigned. Urgent letters were addressed to the commanders of all the scattered forces within call, to hasten to aid in the great struggle which was im pending. At such a moment the name of the man whose courage and conduct had scattered the army of Eupert and Newcastle at Marston Moor could not fail to be on every lip. The London petition for Cromwell's employment must by this time have been known in the army, and the officers present at the council of war now unanimously signed a letter to the Houses asking that the first cavalry officer in England might be appointed, not to the command of the Eastern Association, but to the vacant Lieutenant- Generalship of their own army, an office which by long prescription carried with it the command of the cavalry.1 When Colonel Hammond, who was the bearer of the letter, arrived at Westminster, he found the opinion of the Commons more favourable to any step recommended on purely military considerations than it had been a few days before. On the 9th all former restrictions were taken off Fairfax's authority, and he was directed to march whither he would, so long as he had the advice, not of a committee of politicians, but of his own council of war. Military questions were at last to be decided by military men.2 Having taken such a resolution, it was hardly possible to pass over the request of the council of war. During the last few days Cromwell had shown 1 L.J. vii. 420 ; Sprigg, 32. Wogan in his narrative (Carte, Orig. Letters, i. 127) says that Cromwell had himself ridden over to take leave of the army ; but Wogan's story was written long afterwards, and there is no hint of such a thing in any contemporary pamphlet or in Sprigg. 2 Com. of B. Iv. to Fairfax, June 9. Com. Letter Book. CROMWELL TO COMMAND THE HORSE. 201 what marvels could be effected by his presence, chap. Since his arrival in Cambridgeshire he had put the ~-^-> Isle of Ely in a state of defence, and had roused the l64S committee of the Association to bestir itself to raise the necessary troops. He was soon able to announce that 3,000 foot and 1,000 horse would before long be available in support of Fairfax. Volunteers came pouring in, ' threescore men out of one poor petty village in Cambridgeshire, in which, to see it, none would have thought that there had been fifty fighting men in it.' 1 The man who had done these things was, in June 10. reality, indispensable. The Commons at once agreed mons con- to appoint him Lieutenant-General as long as circum- appoint stances might require his presence in the army. It Lieutenant was true that there was nothing in the Self-Denying General- Ordinance to stand in the way of Cromwell's reap pointment, as he had fulfilled its only condition by abandoning his post at the end of forty days after the passing of the Ordinance. For a formal reappoint ment, however, the consent ofthe Lords was necessary, and the Lords, though they did not positively reject the proposal, postponed the consideration of so unwelcome a subject to a more convenient season. Both Fairfax and Cromwell considered that, for all practical purposes, the vote of the Commons was sufficient.2 Among the Parliamentary officers the utmost Divisions harmony prevailed. It was far otherwise in the Royai King's councils at Daventry. Eupert, urged on by the Yorkshire officers, and fretting at every hour's delay, pleaded for the resumption of the old plan of 1 The Exchange Intelligencer, E. 288, 3 ; A diary, E. 288, 5 ; Perfect Occurrences, E. 288, 7. 2 CJ, iv. 169. 202 NASEBY. CHAP.XXXI. 1645 June 10. The Council at Oxford recommends an attack on the Associa tion. marching to the North with the least possible delay. Digby and the civilians did their best to retain the army in the South, and to prepare for a raid upon the Eastern Association, with a just appreciation of the advantages which would follow on the ruin of these hitherto undevastated lands, but with a rash contempt for the Parliamentary forces which might be brought to their defence. To carry his point, Digby even proposed that Charles should visit Oxford, where he would be in personal communication with the councillors who, having been left behind in that city, were naturally desirous of keeping in their own immediate neighbourhood the army on which they relied for their defence.1 It was thus that Charles was becoming more subject than he had been before to other than military considerations, just at the moment when the interference of civilians with the movements of the Parliamentary army was being dis credited at Westminster. Though Charles refused to stir from Daventry, his councillors met at Oxford on the 10th. It is needless to say that they arrived at a conclusion in which Eupert's plan of campaign was utterly con demned, and the opposite proposal of an attack on the Association was warmly supported. Their letter to the King was supplemented by a private communi cation from Nicholas to Eupert, in which the Prince was adjured, if he hoped for future advancement in England, to take care how he set himself against the unanimous opinion of the Privy Council.2 Eupert does not seem to have had much difficulty in rousing the King's displeasure against his officious advisers at Oxford. " You know," replied Charles to Nicholas, 1 Rupert to Legge, June 8. Warhurt.on, iii. 100. 2 Nicholas to Rupert, June 10. Add. MSS. 18,982, fol. 64. MOVEMENTS OF THE ARMIES. 203 " that the Council was never wont to debate upon chap. XXXI any matter not propounded to them by me, and ¦ — ^—- certainly it were a strange thing if my marching A army — especially I being at the head of them — should A sharp be governed by my sitting Council at Oxford, when it is scarce fit for myself at such a distance 1 to give any positive order. ... I desire you to take the best care you may that the like of this be not done here after." 2 It was to little purpose to maintain the supremacy June 13. of the military element over the civilian in matters of dence of war if the commanders of the army neglected even upei those ordinary precautions which in similar circum stances would be taken by a civilian of average common sense. That the King should be hunting in Fawsley Park on the evening of the 12th is a fact hardly worthy of the condemnation which it has received. It was not on his shoulders that the weight of ordering the movements of the army rested. It was Eupert, who, if he had not underestimated his ojjponents, would have acknowledged it to be his duty to seek information on every side as to the position and num bers of the enemy. So great, however, was his con tempt for the New Model army, that he knew no more of Fairfax's movements than if he had been in another island. In fact, on the morning of the 12th Fajrfax Fairfax had established himself at Kishngbury, a »t Kisiing- village about eight miles 3 from Daventry, on the Northampton road. In the evening the appearance of a party of Barliamentary horse gave the alarm. 1 i.e. ' if I were at such a distance.' 2 The King to Nicholas, June 11. Evelyn's Memoirs, ed. Bohn, iv. 1 ;o. 3 Sprigg incorrectly speaks of it as being five miles from Borough Hill, instead of seven. His geography, too, is in fault amongst the Northamp tonshire villages. He calls Kishngbury, Gilsborough, and Guilsborough, Gilling. XXXI. 1 645 204 NASEBY. chap. The King was summoned from the chase, and the scattered regiments recalled to their central post on Borough Hill, an eminence which in the days of old had been guarded by the Briton and the Eoman. In the minds of the King's soldiers this sudden and un- expected danger could have but one explanation. Ironside, they said to one another, was now in the Parliamentary army.1 Fairfax's Natural as it was to imagine that every vigorous merits as a i r> /-n 1 ^ o com- effort was a token of Cromwell's presence, the thought did less than justice to Fairfax. If he had not Crom well's eye for the chances of a battle, or Cromwell's mysterious power of rousing the energies of others, he had the homely sense of duty which, combined with dashing courage and a practical acquaintance with the military art, goes far, except in the direst emergencies, to supply the place of genius. On his return to Newbury, after he had despatched Graves and Weldon to the relief of Taunton, he had given orders that the arduous work of forming a rearguard should be taken by each regiment in turn. When his own regiment was called on to fulfil the task it refused to obey orders, on the plea of its connection with the General. Other commanders might have picked out the ringleaders of the mutiny for punish ment. Fairfax sprang from the saddle, placed himself at the head of the recalcitrant regiment, and marched with them through the mud in the rear. After this there was no further resistance. How well his men were inured to discipline was shown at Kishngbury. Biding out to view the outposts in the depth of the 1 A more exact and perfect relation of the great victory. E. 288, 28. The word is Ironsides in the pamphlet, but I have kept the original form (see vol. i. p. 449). It will be observed that the nickname is still used by Royalists only. CROMWELL JOINS THE ARMY. 205 night, a sentry stopped him and demanded the word. chap. Fairfax had forgotten it, and the soldier refused to -—'f—^- allow him to pass till he had himself obtained the ' 45 permission of his immediate officer. The commander- in-chief, well pleased under such conditions to be kept standing in the rain, rewarded the sentry for his obedience.1 Before Fairfax returned on the morning of the 1 3th June 13. from his midnight ride there were signs of movement marches'' 'to1 away. on the top of Borough Hill. The huts were fired, and when the morning dawned the Eoyal army descended the hill, making its way westwards in the direction of Warwick. Soon, however, it swung round to the right, and by the evening had taken up its quarters in the villages about Harborough, the King himself sleeping at Lubenham.2 The northern march, it seemed, was to be persisted in. Yet before leaving Daventry it was unanimously acknowledged by all present at a council of war held there that, if Fairfax followed hard, a battle was unavoidable.3 That Fairfax would follow hard was beyond doubt, and Fairfax had on that morning received a rein- fax forcement of unspeakable value. Not tarrying, when a battle was so imminent, for the 4,000 men whom he had hoped to bring with him,4 Cromwell hastened to Kishngbury at the head of only 600 horse.5 Fair fax's troopers welcomed him with ' a mighty shout.' 6 They knew now that they would not want guidance in the clay of battle. For that day they were longing earnestly. All who had a heart to feel were bitterly indignant at the spoils and outrages committed by Charles's soldiers as they swept over the country, 1 Sprigg, 22, 34. 2 Sprigg, 35 ; A true relation, E. 288, 22. 3 Digby to Legge, June 30. Warburton, iii. 125. 4 See p. 201. 5 Sprigg, 35. 6 A more exact and perfect relation. E. 288, 28. Cromwell joins Fair- 206 NASEBY. ' CHAP. XXXI. 1645 Thepursuit. Fairfax at Guilsborough, Nasebyoccupied by Ireton. A letter fromGoring in tercepted. The King doubtful about his gathering in the sheep and oxen which they needed for the support of the Oxford garrison. Baser souls — and such were not altogether wanting in the New Model army — were encouraged by the prospect of re covering some part at least of the spoil. It was said that scarcely a prisoner was brought in who had less than forty or fifty shillings in his pocket.1 The battle could not be much longer delayed. Harrison, eager to smite the enemies of the Lord, was sent towards Daventry to gather intelligence, and Ireton, thoughtful as he was brave, was bidden to ride in advance, to outmarch the enemy if possible, and to fall on his flank if it seemed advisable. The bulk of the army pushed more slowly northwards. On the evening of the 13th Fairfax's headquarters were at Guilsborough. Ireton was three miles in ad vance. Dashing into Naseby, he made prisoners of some twenty of Eupert's horsemen who were playing quoits at their ease, as well as of another party which was sitting at supper in a neighbouring house. Before the night was over Fairfax learnt that he was freed from one danger which had of late been imminent. Scout-master Watson brought in an intercepted letter which proved to be a despatch from Goring to the King, announcing the impossibility of his leaving the West, and begging Charles to postpone a battle till he was able to join him.2 Whilst all men's thoughts in the Parliamentary army were bent to the coming battle, Charles had once more fallen a prey to his accustomed vacillation. " I assure you," he wrote to Nicholas, after announcing his intention of pushing on to Belvoir, " that I shall 1 Perfect Diurnal. E. 262, 8. 2 God's Doings and Man's Duty, by Hugh Peters, p. 19A, 114, e, 15. Goring's letter is in Perfect, Occurrences, E. 262, 10. CHARLES AT HARBOROTJGII. 207 look before I leap farther north." 1 In the depth of the night he was roused from his sleep at Lubenham to learn that the advanced guard of the Parliamentary army was too near to allow him even to make for Belvoir. Eising early, he rode to Harborough, where, CHAP.XXXI. 1645 THE BATTLE OF NASEBY rfflllimnlmW A . IrehcdtteJt^posbiorwrraAianhaanjyArny. Scale of Miles -% i /- ^i. 3^7, 599- ' A copy of a letter. E. 289, 42. 220 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. political reasons, there was in some quarters a strong disposition to bring the Scottish army southwards, The Scots to advance. either to supplement or to counterbalance the success of the New Model. Soldiers might remember that THE SCOTTISH ARMY. 22 1 Fairfax could not at the same time follow the King and besiege his fortresses. The Presbyterians, on the other hand, had already begun to depreciate Naseby. " We hope," wrote Baillie, " the back of the malig nant party is broken. Some fear the insolence of others, to whom alone the Lord has given the victory of that day. It was never more necessary to haste up all possible recruits to our army." x The same sentiment was in the minds of Baiiiie's Enghsh friends. The Scottish army was by this time available for Leven's service in England. The King's march eastwards mems. from Drayton had removed all apprehension of an attack upon Scotland by way of Lancashire, and, whilst the King had been marching upon Leicester and Naseby, Leven had carefully retraced his steps through Westmoreland into Yorkshire. Having re quired and received assurances that his army would no longer be neglected by the Houses, he continued his march southwards, and on June 20 he was able to Jnne 20. announce his arrival at Mansfield.2 When the news atMans- arrived, a month's pay of 31,000^. had already been voted for the Scots, and the City at once agreed to supply the money in advance.3 The City was for the moment in an excellent The city in 0 llV)PT3,l humour. The free hand which had been given to mood. Fairfax had been given at its bidding, and it might reasonably attribute to itself some part of the glory of Naseby.4 The citizens felt no inclination to close their purses now that they saw a chance of the speedy termination of the war. On the 19th, the junei9. clay appointed as a thanksgiving day for the great banquet victory, the City entertained the two Houses at a 1 Baillie, ii. 287. 2 L.J. vii. 449. s L.J. vii. 441. 4 Sabran to Brienne, June 19. Add. MSS. 5,461, fol. 269. 222 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. CHAP. XXXII. 1645 Juue 21. Entry of the prison ers. Their treatment. sumptuous banquet. Two days later the scene of interest was transferred to the streets. On the 21st the prisoners from Naseby were to enter London. The Eoyalists predicted that the show would be but a poor one. Though prisoners had been collected from all quarters it would be difficult to bring as many as seven hundred together.1 When the day arrived no less than three thousand were led through the streets thronged with a triumphant multitude.2 Most of these unfortunate men were of Welsh origin. The Houses were by no means anxious to be burdened with their maintenance, and after an effort to bring home to them the misery of their condition, by forcing them to pass some nights in the open air in Tothill Fields, they sent Dr. Cradock, a Welsh clergyman, to preach to them two sermons in their own language, after which they were invited to take the Covenant in order to qualify themselves Disposal of for employment in Ireland. About five hundred the prison- x J eis- only accepted the offer at once, and two or three hundred more followed their example after the in terval of a few months. The Spanish ambassador picked up some recruits for his master's service in the Netherlands, but the greater part remained in custody till the end of the war brought with it a general release of prisoners.3 Welsh sermons. 1 Nicholas to Rupert, June 23. Add. MSS. 18,982, fol. 65. 3 The manner how the prisoners are to be brought into London. E. 288, 48. 4,000 had been taken, but some of the prisoners had escaped on the road, and others were for various reasons kept back. It is not easy to say what became of Irish prisoners. An order was given by Parlia ment that they should be put to death without mercy, and that too at Fairfax's special request. I.J. vii. 433 ; C.J. iv. 182 ; Nicholas to Rupert, July 11, Add. MSS. 18,982, fol. 68. On the other hand, there is a later order that the mere Irish were to be committed to prison. C.J. iv. 21. s The Moderate Intelligencer, E. 292, 3 ; Sabran to Brienne, July T'5, Sept. j\, Add. MSS. 5,461, fol. 284, 368b. THE KING'S CABINET TAKEN. 223 That the war must be carried on with unflagging chap. energy was now on the lips of all who were not — ^-C — '" Eoyalists. Yet the very greatness of the success The arto could not fail to encourage in some minds the hope te r'g" 0 _ -i ously prose- that the King would be at last sufficiently conscious cited. of weakness to accept the proposals which he had rejected at Uxbridge. On the 20th the Lords took June 20. « J , . . fe „ . . -. , The Lords fresh propositions of peace into consideration, and suggest a on the following day they received the support of tiation.e°° the Scottish commissioners, who even added a re quest that the war might be vigorously prosecuted during the negotiations, and that there might be a ' speedy settling of religion and the House of God.' The rift between Presbyterians and Independents was stiU open.1 However anxious the Lords might be for the resumption of negotiations, it was impossible for them to proceed further in the teeth of the excite ment caused by the revelation of the King's most secret intrigues. The King's cabinet had been The King's captured at Naseby, and had been sent up to West minster by Fairfax. The greater part of the letters contained in it were drafts or copies of those written by Charles to his wife. From these and from other papers in the same collection it appeared beyond a shadow of doubt that Charles, whatever had been Reveia- declared in his name at Uxbridge, had never really ?2l&™~ acknowledged the Houses at Westminster as a lawful ^"H, Parliament. Worse still, in the eyes of contem poraries, was the King's negotiation for the landing ' of an Irish army in England, and his readiness to abolish the laws against the English Catholics. Nor was it easy to forgive his attempt to introduce 1 L.J. vii, 441, 442- 224 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. chap, upon English soil the wild soldiery of the Duke of XXXII Lorraine 1 1 ^ The papers justifying these grave accusations Pabii-" were for the most part read first in the two Houses the letters, and then at a Common Hall in the City. Shortly afterwards they were printed for the reading of all men. That no doubt of their genuineness might be entertained, any persons who wished to put it to the test were invited to examine the originals. The effect of their publication was enormous.2 It seemed hopeless to treat with a King who was at heart so httle of an Englishman, and whose professions were They so little in accordance with his practice. "The key present of the King's cabinet," wrote a London pamphleteer, negotiation . . . impossihie. " as it hath unlocked the mystery of former treaties, so I hope it will lock up our minds from thoughts of future." 3 It was no mere record of a dead past which had been suddenly unveiled. One of the captured letters had been written as late as June 8. There was no reason to suppose that Charles's conduct in July would differ from his conduct in June. Charles, in fact, was far from being discouraged by his overthrow at Naseby. His cavalry, though defeated, was almost intact, and he could not believe that there would be much difficulty in levying foot amongst the rugged Welsh hills which had supplied The Kin9' nim s0 we^- before. On June 19 he reached Here- atHere- ford. The news which met him there was disquiet ing. A large party of his supporters had been defeated at Stokesay on the 8th, and Sir William Crofts, the ablest of the Herefordshire Eoyalists, had 1 The King's Cabinet Opened. E. 292, 27. 2 L.J. vii. 465 ; C.J. iv. 190. Thomasson bought his copy on July 14. 3 The City Alarum. E. 292, 12. CHARLES STILL SANGUINE. 225 been slain in action.1 Yet the county professed its willingness to support the King in his misfortune. Gerard too at last arrived with 2,000 men from Wales. Charles was thus able, with reinforcements which he had picked up on the way, to muster 3,000 foot and 4,000 horse, and might therefore He hopes to ^" . repair his hope soon to find himself at the head of a force not losses- inferior, numerically at least, to that with which he had fought at Naseby. In the West, Goring could dispose of a considerable army, and if the siege of Taunton could be brought successfully to an end he would be able to advance — so at least it was fondly hoped at Hereford — with a force of 8,000 foot and 6,000 horse.2 If the two armies could only be brought together, Charles would be far stronger in numbers than he had been at the beginning of the campaign. It would not have been characteristic of Charles June 18. to depend on English troops alone. " The late mis- toOrmond. fortune," he wrote to Ormond the day before his arrival at Hereford, " makes the Irish assistance more necessary than before. For if within these two months you could send me a considerable assistance, I am confident that both my last loss would be soon forgotten, and likewise it may, by the grace of God, put such a turn to my affairs as to make me in a far better condition before winter than I have been at any time since this rebellion began." 3 Charles, in fact, had persuaded himself that his He feei« last concessions to the Irish must by this time have pTace^f brought about a conclusion of the long-desired conclud8d- peace. " We all," wrote Digby, " take it for granted 1 Intelligence from Shropshire. E. 290, 11. For the date of the action, see Webb's Civil War in Herefordshire, ii. 193-196. 2 Digby to Ormond, June 19. Carte's Ormond, vi. 301. 3 The King to Ormond, June 18. lb. v. 14. II. Q 226 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. CHAP. XXXII. 1645 Glamorgan sets out. Mission of ColonelFitzwilliam. June 26. Langdaie sent to North Wales. June 27. DanielO'Neillpent to Cornwall. that the peace of Ireland is concluded." x Glamorgan had now finally set out for Dublin to smooth away all remaining difficulties.2 Lest Glamorgan's inter vention might prove insufficient, another emissary, Colonel Fitzwilliam, was almost at the same time despatched to Ireland. Like Glamorgan, he was ready to take the command of 10,000 Irish soldiers, and to transport them into England. He had recently arrived from France with a letter of recommendation . from the Queen. His only stipulation was that the Irish were to have ' free use of their religion, a free Parliament, and the penal laws to be taken off.' Charles, who had already expressed his readiness to grant all these things, raised no objection.3 In ex pectation of a successful result, Langdaie was appointed Governor of North Wales, to be ready to receive the Irish when they landed, and was directed in the meanwhile to cross the sea to confer with Ormond on the most suitable way of shipping them. Almost at the same time Daniel O'Neill received in structions to repair to Cornwall to get transports ready for the purpose.4 1 Digby to Ormond. June 19. Carte's Ormond, vi. 301. 2 The King to Glamorgan, June 23. Harl. MSS. 6,988, fol. 114. I gather from this letter that Glamorgan started without any fresh direc tions, as the King merely writes, " I am glad to hear that you are gone to Ireland." The language of Byron supports this view. " Upon these considerations," he writes — i.e. upon the necessity of obtaining aid after Naseby — " my Lord of Glamorgan hath thought fit to hasten his journey into Ireland." Digby to Ormond. Carte MSS. xv. fol. 99. 3 Propositions offered by Fitzwilliam, May ||, The King's Cabinet Opened, p. 2.1, E. 292, 27; Fitzwilliam to Digby, July 16, S.P. Dom.; the King to Ormond, June 18, Digby to Ormond, June 19, Carte's Ormond, v. 14, vi. 304. 4 Digby to Ormond, June 26, lb. vi. 302 ; Instructions to O'Neill, June 27, Ludlow's Memoirs (ed. 1751), iii. 305. The King was at this time confident that Ormond would do his best to send the Irish over. " As for my letter to Ormond," he had written to the Queen about a month before Naseby, " he understands it clearly enough, but he is some- AN APPEAL TO THE IRISH. 227 Sanguine as Charles was, he could not but have chap. moments of despondency. In a letter written to his .XXXIL son on June 23, he faced the possibility of his own l64S t i -1 -r-> • June 23. capture. In such a case the Prince was never to The King's yield to any conditions that were dishonourable, tions to his unsafe for his own person, or derogatory to regal authority, even to save his father's life.1 The outlook on Charles's side was indeed more Effectof gloomy than Charles, even in his most despondent ^^"f" moments, could possibly imagine. His persistent the Irish. efforts to master his rebellious subjects by Irish and foreign aid were converting the New Model into a national army. It was all very well for mere soldiers like Byron and Langdaie 2 to applaud any means which would bring recruits to their diminish ing forces. To them an Irish soldier was as good as one of EngUsh birth, if only he knew how to handle a musket or a pike. To civilians who were Englishmen first and Eoyalists afterwards the difference was immense. Even in Eoyalist districts the hearty co operation of the mass of the people was hardly to be expected after the revelation of Charles's secrets in the letters captured at Naseby. In the meanwhile Fairfax was pressing on June 21. towards the West. On June 2 1 one more attempt su'bordi'- was made in the House of Commons to subject him "aVtotiie Commitree of Both what fearful to take that burden upon him without the Council there ; Kingdoms, but I have now so cleared that doubt likewise to him that nothing but his disobedience — which I cannot expect — can hinder speedily the peace of Ireland." The King to the Queen, May 12. Letters of Henrietta Maria, 3°3- L Clarendon, x. 4. 2 " It is in your power," wrote Langdaie to Ormond, " to make your self famous to all ages for your loyalty to His Majesty, and for the deliverance ofthe English nation from the greatest rebellion and anarchical » government that ever yet threatened the ruin thereof." Langdaie to Ormond, July 3. Carte MSS. xv. fol. 190. Q 2 2 28 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. chap, to civilian authority. The members who sat for XXXII • — v — '" eastern and southern constituencies wished to confer upon the Committee of Both Kingdoms authority to recall him, if they thought fit to do so. Their proposal was couched in the interests of their own districts, though the form in which it was made gave it the appearance of being inspired by a wider patriot ism. Their motion was rejected, but the Committee was instructed ' to take care for the safety of the June 25. West, and with regard to the whole kingdom.' The do'what'he Committee, wiser than the House, simply directed bestka Fairfax to act according to his own judgment.1 June 26. Fairfax had not altogether an easy task before difficulties him. On the 26th he reached Lechlade on his way condition to Marlborough. His army was in much distress. is army. jjorgeg ancj arms were wanting, and desertions had been frequent. The associated counties, having been called on to supply the full tale of men which they were bound by the New Model Ordinance to furnish, were slack in complying with the demand, and when at last they pressed the recruits and sent them off, they took no pains to stop desertion, or to seize the runaways after their return to their homes. Fairfax now appealed to the Houses to remedy this mischief, and the Houses at once complied with his request as far as it was in their power to do so. Themiii- Even after tne efficiency of the Earliamentary tio? p°si" army had been restored, the difficulties of the military position which Fairfax was called on to face were by no means slight. He had only one army to dispose of, whilst the enemy had two. He could not afford to divide his own force, and whether he turned upon Charles or Goring, he would leave the way open 1 C.J. iv. 182; D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. 166, fol. 220b; the Coin, of B. K. to Fairfax, June 25, Com. Letter Book. FAIRFAX TURNS WESTWARDS. 229 for plundering raids upon the Parhamentary dis- chap. tricts by whichever army he left unopposed. He . XXXIT- . now announced to both Houses that he had made his l64S choice. Of the two hostile armies he considered Goring's to be the more dangerous. Taunton was for the third time straitened, and Massey 's force, pre viously ordered to keep the country open around the town,1 had, since Goring's return to the West, been found quite inadequate to the task. Fairfax therefore resolved to make the relief of Taunton and the defeat of Goring his immediate care. It was for the Houses to devise a mode of keeping the King in check.2 Fortunately for the Houses they had now the Scottish army to fall back upon. As long as Carlisle June 28 held out there would be difficulty in inducing Leven s""en14e,r J ° of Carlisle. to move farther south. The governor, Sir Thomas Glemham, made a desperate resistance, and for some time the garrison had been reduced to the scantiest and most loathsome food. At last, on June 28, its power of defying starvation was at an end, and Glemham capitulated to David Leslie.3 In spite of the objections of his English auxiliaries, Leslie placed Carlisle in the charge of a Scottish garrison. At Westminster this addition to the material pledges in the hands of the Scots was viewed with grave dissatisfaction, but it was not a moment when the Houses could afford to quarrel with their allies. They invited Leven to march forward and to lay siege to Hereford, thus performing the double task The Scots of assailing an important garrison and of oppos- H^ford? ing Charles in a district in which his influence was still great. Leven rested at Nottingham till he had 1 See p. 190. 2 Fairfax to the Houses of Parliament, June 26. L.J. vii. 463. 3 Rushw. vi. n 8. 230 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. CHAP. XXXII. 1645 July 8. Leven at Alcester. July 1. Fairfax near Salis bury. Mav 25. The Club men in Wells and Dorset, June 2. and in Somerset. ascertained that money was really being provided for the pay of his men. He then pushed forward, and on July 8 he established himself at Alcester. He had been joined by an English force under Sir John Gell, and after this reinforcement his army numbered somewhat more than 7,000 men.1 It was hardly capable of rapidly manoeuvring, if it is true that it was followed by no less than 4,000 women and children. Till the promised money arrived the army was compelled to live at free quarters, a system which was always accompanied by wastefulness and oppression out of all proportion to the gain of the soldiers.2 Fairfax was already far advanced towards the West. On July 1, when not far from Salisbury, he found himself confronted by an unexpected obstacle. The burdens of the war lay most heavily on the agri cultural population. On May 25, 4,000 farmers and yeomen from the counties of Wilts and Dorset had met to appoint an organised body of watchmen to seize plunderers, and to carry them for punishment to the nearest garrison of the party to which the offenders belonged.3 On June 2 a similar body in Somerset presented to the Prince of Wales a petition asking for redress of grievances.4 Further experience showed 1 C.J. iv. 205. 2 "They plunder notably in the country," writes Nicholas of the Scottish women, " nothing inferior to the Irish women slain at Naseby. I hear that the Earl of Leven is troubled that the rebels gave no quarter to the Irish at Naseby, and saith that he will not engage his Scots but at good advantage, for he finds the country not well satisfied with their coming southward, and if the King's generals should give private order that no quarter be given to his Scots soldiers . . . which he confesses were but equal, the small number which he hath would be soon destroyed, and he should speedily he at the mercy of the English." Nicholas to Rupert, July n. Add. MSS. 18,932, fol. 68. 3 The desires and resolutions of the Clubmen. E. 292, 24. 1 Answer ofthe Prince of Wrales. Clar. MSS. 1,894. THE CLUBMEN. 231 that it was useless to expect the officers of the chap. garrisons to do justice on their own men. On June *— -4 — . 30 they resolved not only to inflict the punishment *45 themselves, but to offer protection to pressed men who Further 'DroccGd.— had deserted the service into which they had been ings. driven.1 The men of Wilts and Dorset took a still more daring step. They resolved to send messengers both to King and Parliament to request them to make peace, and they gave a testimony of their earnestness by subscribing a sum of money to enable the neighbouring garrisons to subsist without plunder till an answer had been received. The movement set on foot in three counties by the Clubmen — as the countrymen were called from their appearance without pikes or firearms at the county musters — had already assumed a distinctly pohtical aspect. On June 29 a quarrel broke out between some of jime29. them and a party of Massey's men at Sturminster tithnMas- Newton, and lives were lost on both sides. ^Ps. No man living was better qualified than Fairfax to deal with such a movement. On July 2, when he July 2. was on his way to Blandford, he showed his deter- executed. mination to meet with fairness the only demand of the Clubmen of which it was possible to take account, by executing a soldier who was caught plundering. On the 3rd, when he reached Dorchester, he received juiy 3. a deputation from the Clubmen of Dorset. Their tionetoUta" leader, Holies,2 demanded a passport to enable him iaartax- to present a petition to King and Parliament. In this petition the Clubmen asked that there should be a cessation of hostihties, that all soldiers who wished to return to their homes might be allowed to do so, 1 Perfect Occurrences. E. 262, 20. 2 He was a brother of Thomas Holies, of Salisbury, who led the Wiltshire Clubmen. 232 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. CHAP. XXXII. 1645 July 4. Fairfax replies. A body of Clubmen routed. State of the. King's army in the West. Conduct of Sir Richard Grenvile, and that they might themselves have the custody of all places in the county garrisoned by either party. In making these requests Holies spoke in a tone of menace. If they were rejected, he said, the Clubmen were strong enough to enforce obedience. Fairfax would soon be engaged with Goring. If he got the worst, every fugitive would be knocked on the head without mercy. Fairfax answered with admirable temper. He desired peace, he said, as much as they did themselves. It appeared, however, from the King's letters taken at Naseby ' that contracts are already made for the bringing in of 10,000 French and 6,000 Irish.'1 How could they ask him to agree to a cessation and to loose his hold on the port-towns at a time when a foreign invasion was expected ? Good discipline was all that he could promise them, and with that they must be content. Fairfax's argument was enforced by the arrival of news that a body of Clubmen had been routed with some loss by the Governor of Lyme, and the Parhamentary army was allowed to continue its march without hindrance.2 The danger which Fairfax had apprehended from the western Eoyalists seemed less formidable as it was approached. Their forces were without the coherence which discipline alone can give. The rapacity of the generals had alienated all but the King's most devoted partisans. In Devonshire the greedy and unscrupulous Grenvile, now recovered from his wound,3 was placed in command of the troops blockading Plymouth. He used his authority to bring into his own hands the sequestered estates of the few Parliamentarian gentle men of the county. The tenants soon learnt to 1 The numbers appear to be inverted. 2 Sprigg, 61-66. 3 See p. 163. GRENVILE AND GORING. 233 regret the change. As a landlord he rack-rented them. As the King's officer he forced them to pay out of their own pockets every penny of the con tribution to military purposes which had been laid on the estate. He insisted on keeping in his own hands the whole of the contribution of the county, though some of it might fairly have been spent in providing- for the soldiers engaged in the siege of Taunton. Inoffensive Eoyalists who were rich enough to be fit subjects for his extortions were flung into gaol at Lidford, and one unlucky lawyer, whose only offence was that he had many years before taken part in a suit against the resentful tyrant, was hanged without mercy as a spy. At last, to the great joy of the whole neighbour hood, Grenvile was induced to leave the task of keep ing watch over Elymouth to Sir John Berkeley, whose sterling quahties were in glaring contrast with the vices of the man whom he superseded. To Grenvile was assigned a post under Goring, which, however, gave him what was practically an independent com mand in East Devon. Yet it was impossible to satisfy him. Finding that his troops were less numerous June 29. than he wished them to be, he wrote to the Prince's secretary, demanding a court-martial on his con duct, or, as an alternative, permission to leave the country.1 Goring's misconduct was no less glaring than and of Grenvile's. When he was not drinking or gambhng, he spent his time in disputes with the Prince's council and with the governors of the neighbouring garrisons. If he had any pohcy at all, it was that of conciliating 1 Clarendon, ix. 52, 59 ; Grenvile to Fanshaw, June 29 ; Grenvile to the Prince's council, July 3, Clar. MSS. 1,910, 1,911 ; Grenvile's Nar rative, Carte's Orig. Letters, i. 96. 2 34 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. chap, the Clubmen in order to induce them to enrol them- ¦- — ¦ — '- selves under him. He promised solemnly that if the contributions were duly paid he would allow no plundering, and in order to take hold of the popular imagination he requested that prayers might be offered in all the churches for the success of his undertakings. The simple peasants flocked to him with their contri butions, only to find themselves plundered more cruelly than before. Yet he could not understand that he had alienated them past recall. Abominably as he had behaved to the Clubmen, he again spoke fairly to them, and reproached Sir Francis Mackworth, the Governor of Langport — who happened, it is true, to be one of his numerous personal enemies — with venturing to defend himself against their attack. At the same time he kept the garrison at Langport so straitened for provisions that it could only subsist by plunder, and was, even then, incapable of offering a prolonged resistance to the enemy.1 June 29. For some time, as his manner was, Goring had been dons an~ boastfully confident of reducing Taunton. On June 29 taking he announced that, in consequence of the approach Taunton. Q£ ^ enemy) ^ would be necessary to retreat.2 On July 4. July 4, on his arrival at Beaminster, Fairfax learned hears that that the siege had, for the third and last time,, been the siege is . - , raised. raised. His line of Fairfax's march, like that of all the Parliamentary commanders, had been deflected more to the south than any route which a modern traveller would be likely to take, possibly in order to keep up his com munications with the seaports of Weymouth and 1 Clarendon, ix. 46. 2 Goring to Culpepper, June 29. Clar. MSS. 1,909. 3 Sprigg, 67. Sprigg calls this the raising of the siege[for the second time, not counting the relief by Holborne. march. The OPERATIONS round. LANGPORT March. ctEfairiai- iO — ,.- „. -Massey.. 236 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. 1645 Lyme. He thus turned the defences on the line of the Yeo and Parret, the bridges over which rivers jui"" were entirely in Goring's hands. On the 5th, as he u ewith8the was Pusnmg through Crewkerne, he first came in con- enemy.^ tact with the enemy, and learnt that his opponent had position. taken up his position on the north bank of the two rivers. Goring would thus be in communication with the King, if Charles should by any possibility be able to advance to his succour ; whilst if he were compelled to retire by the road down the valley, guarded as it was by the fortifications of Langport and by a less important fort at Borough Bridge, he would have an easy way of retreat to the strongly guarded fortress of Bridgwater. Vaiiey of In the meanwhhe the Eoyalist position was easily the Panet. guarded against an attack from the south. The Yeo runs, during the greater part of its course, in a channel cut through the peat, which can only be crossed by bridges erected at the points where higher land projects towards the stream from either side. Such bridges were to be found at Uchester and at Long Sutton, the one leading from the latter village being know as Load Bridge, while there was a third over the Parret at Langport below its junction with the Yeo. All three were held by Goring, the whole hne from Uchester to Langport being about seven miles in length. July 7. Fairfax was hardly likely to succeed by a direct outman- attack on an army nearly equal in numbers to his own, and so strongly posted. He resolved to outman oeuvre Goring rather than to storm his position. On the morning ofthe 7th, leaving a strong force near II- chester and Load Bridge, as if he intended to force his way across the stream at one oi* other of these points, he despatched a strong body of foot to seize oeuvred. FAIRFAX AND GORING. 237 Yeovil, higher up the stream, where the enemy had contented himself with breaking down the bridge without occupying the town. In Goring there was „. T 45 , . % His line no resourcefulness in danger, no grasp of a compli- forced. cated situation as a connected whole. Making no attempt to throw himself upon any part of Fairfax's divided force, he at once gave up all hope of main taining the line of the river. In the night of the 7th, as soon as he heard that Yeovil bridge had been re paired, he evacuated Long Sutton and Uchester, thus leaving two more bridges over the Yeo free to Fairfax to cross at his pleasure. Yet he could not resolve upon the only practicable alternative policy of throw ing himself into Bridgwater to await rehef. Leaving a considerable part of his force at Langport, he gal loped off on the morning of the 8th with a large body July 8. of cavalry towards Taunton, in the mere hope that tempts to he might be able to surprise the town, now that its Taunton, garrison was thrown off its guard by the withdrawal of the besiegers. Fairfax was too quick for him, and despatched Massey in pursuit. Massey overtook him juiy 9. the next morning by the side of a stream near priselby" Ilminster where his men were bathing and disporting Masse5'- themselves, as if they had been out of the enemy's reach. They were soon scattered with heavy loss, and Goring, who had himself been wounded in the affair, fled back to Langport with such of his men as he could collect around him. In the meanwhile Fairfax, having nothing now to Fairfax gain by crossing the bridge at Yeovil, retraced his £^sesthe steps to Hchester. Crossing the Yeo there, he pushed on to Long Sutton, on the north bank of the river, and found that Goring, who had by this time returned from his misadventure, had drawn up his army about a mile in advance of Langport, on a hill sloping down 238 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. CHAP. XXXII. 1645 July ro. The position at PisburyBottom. to Pisbury Bottom, a small marshy valley through which a little stream runs into the Yeo. There was some skirmishing in the evening, but it was not till the morning ofthe 10th that Fairfax advanced with his army to force the position. The position was not ill chosen. The lane along which Fairfax's horse would have to pass, to avoid the marshy ground on either side, led across the little stream by a deep but narrow ford, while the hedges on the slope of the hill beyond were lined by Goring's musketeers. Yet, strong as the ground was,1 Fairfax had hardly any choice but to fight. He did not know that the conditions were more favourable to him than they appeared to be. Goring had already sent off to Bridgwater his baggage and the whole of his artillery except two guns, and the Eoyalists would, therefore, enter upon the combat depressed by the knowledge that their commander had already determined upon a retreat, and that he now called on them to shed 1 In the summer of 1887 I examined the ground in the company of Mr. F. H. Dickinson, of King "Weston. At present there are two bridges across the stream, one at the hamlet of Wagg, the other opposite Huish Episcopi lower down. The slope of the hill is so slight at the latter place as to put out of the question the view that it was the scene of the battle, which I had adopted before examining the locality, having been misled by the dark shading of the Ordnance map. The site of Wagg Bridge, to which Mr. Dickinson called my attention, answers every requirement. All the authorities except Baxter (Reliquim Baxteriance, 54) describe a ford and not. a bridge, and as Baxter did not write till after the Restora tion, his evidence on a point of this kind need not be taken into account. Whether there was a ford at Huish I have not been able to ascertain. Local tradition does not go very far back. It asserts, however, that the ground about the stream was once more boggy than it is now. The weather at the time of the battle had been hot and dry for some time, and the notion that the stream was swollen by rain is therefore a modern invention. The ford was probably across a deep hole with a natural or artificial hard bottom. The stream is now a very small one, and, as its course is short and it comes from comparatively high ground, it can hardly have had much more water in it in 1645 than it has at present. AN ATTACK UPON GORING. 239 their blood for no visible object. His purpose could £5~?[ hardly have been merely to secure the passage of his ¦ — 7-— ' stores, as, in that case, his obvious course would have been to send them with his whole force across the bridge at Langport, breaking it down after he had passed. Whatever Goring might have done, Fairfax could The Battle not afford to decline the challenge. The battle port. commenced by a brisk fire from the Parliamentary artillery, posted on the crest of the slope on the eastern side of the stream. Goring's two guns were soon silenced, and musketeers were then sent down to clear the hedges on either side of the ford. As soon as this had been accomplished it was possible for cavalry to charge. Yet even then a charge could only be executed at every possible disadvantage. The ford was deep and narrow, and the lane up the hill was scarcely less narrow. On the open ground at the top Goring's cavalry were collected in seemingly overwhelming numbers, ready to fall upon the narrow stream of horsemen as thejr struggled up the lane before they had time to form. Desperate as the enterprise appeared, the officers of the New Model army were never wanting in audacity. Major Bethel, whose name stood high amongst the mihtary saints, was ordered to make the perilous attempt at the head of a small force of 350 men, and Desborough, with another small force, was told off to second him.1 Through the ford and up the narrow lane this handful of heroes charged. If an army equal in spirit and discipline to their own 1 Baxter complains that Bethel got the credit of the achievement because he was a sectary, and Evanson got no credit because he was not. But by Baxter's own showing Bethel was a major, and Evanson only a captain. Commanding officers usually, though sometimes unfairly, get more credit than their subordinates. 240 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. chap, had been ranged on the heights, they could hardly ¦ — . — '" have escaped destruction. As it was, they had to do with an enemy irresolute and fonder of plun dering than of fighting. Bethel, when he arrived at the end of the lane, flew at a body of horse more than three times his number. He was checked at first, but Desborough soon arrived to his succour. Together they broke the regiments opposed to them, whilst at the same time the Parliamentary musketeers, stealing up amongst the hedges, poured a galling fife upon the enemy. The EoyaUsts, horse and foot alike, turned and fled, A few troops of horse and a small force of musketeers had beaten the whole of Goring's army. No wonder that Cromwell, as from the opposite height he watched the dust-clouds rolling away, gave glory to God for this marvellous overthrow of His enemies, or that Harrison, the most enthu siastic of enthusiasts, broke ' forth into the praises of God with fluent expressions, as if he had been in a rapture.' The pur- Then came the pursuit. Of the enemy's horse, some fled through Langport, setting fire to the town as they passed to cover their retreat. Cromwell was not to be stopped so easily. Charging through the burning street, he fell on them as they hurried across the bridge, where most of the fugitives were slain or captured. The larger part of the Eoyalists retreated by the northern bank of the Parret. Though they made a stand near Aller, they dared not await an attack from their pursuers. Goring's foot, entangled in the ditches of the moor, surrendered as the King's foot had surrendered at Naseby. His army, as an army capable of waging war, ceased to exist. On the 1 ith, scantily attended, he retired to suit. FAIRFAX AT BRIDGWATER. 24 1 Barnstaple, leaving Bridgwater, as he hoped, in all chap. points prepared to stand a siege.1 - — ,— '- Unless Bridgwater could be taken the Battle of T\ 4S o July n. Langport had been fought in vain. The line of the Goring *- x ° returns to Yeo and Parret could not be held without its pos- Barnstaple. session. Yet the place was strong both by nature strength of and art, and, as it might seem, beyond the reach even water. of Fairfax's victorious army. The first step to its capture was, however, taken on the nth, when Fair fax won over the Clubmen to his side by promises of mensatis- that fair dealing and punctual payment which they fied- could no longer expect from any Eoyalist commander. On the 13th the small fortress at Borough Bridge surrendered to Okey, and on the 16th, every other siigeof5' suggestion having been rejected as impracticable, it ^f~ was resolved to storm the fortifications. In the early morning of the 21st the attack was made on the mJuIrai- . IT". quarter of the town lying on the east of the Parret. eastern D suburb The ditch was speedily crossed on portable bridges, taken and the wall scaled in the teeth of a stout resistance. The assailants rushed for the drawbridge and let it down. The Parliamentary horse poured in, and the conquest of the eastern suburb was accomplished. The defenders of the western and more important part of the town, on the other side of the Parret, still held out vigorously. They were resolved that, although Fairfax had gained the suburb, he should hold no more than its fortifications. Gren- and burnt ades and red-hot shot poured upon the houses. By Royalists. the morning of the 22nd the place was, with the July 22. exception of three or four houses, reduced to ashes. 1 Sprigg, 71 ; An exact and perfect relation of tlie proceedings of the army, E. 292, 28 ; A true relation of a victory, E. 292, 30 ; A more full relation of the great battle, E. 293, 3; Cromwell to ? Carlyle's Crom well (ed. 1866), iii. App. No. 8 ; The Parliament's Post, E. 293, 2 ; Fairfax to the Speaker of the House of Lords, July 12, .,.J. vii. 496. II. R 242 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER xxxii. Alwa^s averse t0 bloodshed, Fairfax summoned the "T^iT" western town t0 surrender, and on the rejection of Th0 his offer by the governor, Sir Hugh Wyndham, he .own'™ suspended his attack till the women and children had summoned, been sent out beyond reach of danger. Then at attacked, length Fairfax's cannon began to play upon the town with grenades and hot shot, as the Eoyalist artillery had played on the eastern suburb two days before. The frightened citizens aUowed the governor no peace till he gave up a contest of which their property was July 23. to bear the burden, and on the morning of the 23rd render. Fairfax was in possession of a fortress which the Eoyalists had believed capable of prolonged resis tance,1 and to which they had looked to keep in check the New Model in the West till Charles had gathered sufficient strength to enable him to take the field once more in the Midlands with effect. stores The material acquisitions of the victorious army Brmu-edm were very great. Large stores of ordnance and water. ammunition, together with considerable stores of provisions, were captured in the town. It was of even greater importance that Fairfax was now nminof m possession of a chain of fortresses from Lyme fortresses through Langport to Bridgwater, which, with the Fairfax. advanced post at Taunton, would enable him to hold in check the Eoyalist troops still in the field in the western peninsula. He would thus be free to devote himself to service elsewhere, and to make it im possible for the King again to hold up his head in Eno-land. He was not likely to repeat the blunder of Essex, and to march into Cornwall with an enemy unconquered in his rear. 1 Sprit/a, 26 ; Sir T. Fairfax entering Bridgcwater , E. 293,27 ; Three areat Victories, E. 293, 32 ; The continuation of the proceedings of /lie army. E. 293, 33 ; A fuller relation from Bridgewater, E. 293, 34 ; Goring lo Digby, July 12, Warhurton, iii. 137. Berwick. rmTVeed. c^SoVy I. ENGLAND & WALES .EKJCWUWT ¦ T.Forela^ Doverp-35. ForehtnA Longi.ta.ae Vest Londorv.- Lonamxtns & Co. Eaw^-WelleL- AN APPEAL TO WALES. 243 The capture of Bridgwater had indeed been a chap. heavy blow to Charles. Whilst Fairfax had been '—.—- '- fighting in Somerset, the King had been attempting ' 45 to raise an army in South Wales which would redress the balance of the war on the Parret. On July 1 ChJa"^s1- he reached Abergavenny. He had already received at Auer- 0 J ¦ J gavenny. promises from the gentry of Herefordshire to levy troops for the new campaign, and the gentry of South Wales now flocked in with similar promises.1 On the 3rd he betook himself to Eaglan Castle to juiy 3. await the result. In that magnificent palace-fortress t0 Ragi^n. of the Herberts he was received with stately courtesy by the old Marquis of Worcester, whose son Glamor gan had constituted himself Charles's knight-errant, and was already on the way to do his bidding in Ireland. To those who judged by the outward appearance, Charles's stay at Eaglan was but a waste of precious time. In reality his days were spent in active negotiation with the Welsh, and in eager pre paration for the days of activity to which he looked. He could not understand how hard it is to rally men round a defeated cause, and when the bad news from Langport surprised him whilst the Welsh levies He hears were still hanging back, he had to learn with difficulty from that each additional disaster makes recovery harder ansp°r- than before. At a council of war held on the 13th it was resolved still to struggle on. Goring was to be encouraged to hold out in Devonshire. As long as Bristol and Bridgwater were held for the King, it would always be possible for Charles's army, when it was at last complete, to move to the succour of the West.2 Whilst Charles continued at Eaglan disappoint- 1 Clarendon, ix. 67. 2 Di^hy to Rupert, July 13. Warburton, iii. 141. 244 LANGPORT AND BRIDGWATER. xxxn ment followed disappointment. In Herefordshire, ' — 7 — ' where an attempt had been made to press men for Desertion his service, the new levies deserted almost as soon as i°ev?M?rlea's they were raised. In Wales things were little better. The gentry promised fairly, but ordinary Welshmen had little enthusiasm for a falling cause. Few offered themselves willingly, and though compulsion was not without effect, the pressed men took every opportu nity of running away.1 As time passed, Charles, rather than continue in inaction, was inclined to cross the Severn with what forces he was able to muster, and to attach himself to Goring. July 22. Before taking a final resolution, Charles thought confers3 it well to confer with Eupert. The meeting took Rupert, place at Blackrock, at the northern end of the New Passage. On the whole, Eupert approved of the design, though he refused to be answerable for its success.2 In fact, Charles's position at Eaglan, if the new levies failed him, would soon be untenable. Leven's army was now in the neighbourhood of Worcester, and it would shortly be reinforced by a body of 1,200 horse under David Leslie, which had been set free from service in the North by the surrender of Carlisle.3 It is probable that Eupert's military judgment had already convinced him that victory was no longer attainable, and that in faintly recommending Charles to try what he could do in Somerset, he meant little more than to indicate his opinion that the final defeat might as well take place in one part of England as in another. It was therefore arranged that Charles should in o^ 1 Clarendon, ix. 67; Dighy to Ormond, Aug. 2, Carte's Ormond, vi. 306. 3 Clarendon, ix. 68 ; Symonds, 210. 3 The Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer. E. 293, 1. CHARLES TOO LATE TO HELP GORING. 245 a few days betake himself to Bristol, and that from chap. XXXII Bristol he should make his way to Bridgwater. On • — I — '- the 24th he returned to Blackrock to cross the ferry. TheKin The Welsh gentry, however, gathered round him, ^|°toth9 and urged him to rely on their help. His vacUlating jn\y 24. mind was already giving way, when tidings that hismmdf68 Bridgwater had fallen the day before arrived to and hears i -1 • ^ 1 r- thatBridg- strengthen their arguments. On the edge of the water water is a council was held, and Charles, drawing back from what had now become an evidently hopeless enter prise, rode off to discover whether Welsh promises could be better trusted than before.1 In a few days he would have to defend himself against Fairfax as well as against Leven. 1 Clarendon, ix. 68 ; Symonds, 211. 246 CHAPTEE XXXIII. ALFORD AND KILSYTH. 1645 July. An invita tion from the Xorth. Charlesthinks of sending Langdaie, and of going in person. Each successive failure only made Charles turn with fresh confidence to some new scheme as hopeless as the last. He now thought of taking up again the plan which had miscarried in May. The gentlemen of the North had long been pressing for aid. Bonte- fract and Scarborough — so at least it was fondly believed in the King's quarters — occupied the forces of the enemy. Charles had cavalry enough to spare, and the gentry of Yorkshire assured him that, if only he would bring cavalry with him to give consistency to their levies, they would soon raise an army in his service.1 Means would thus be found of opening communications with Montrose and of forcing a way into Scotland. At the time when Charles was bent upon a combination with Goring, he had directed Langdaie to carry out this suggestion.2 Now, when this project was abandoned, he inclined to go in person. On the 28th the encouraging news reached him that Montrose had won yet another victory. Even after his success at Auldearn, Montrose had to contend against forces numerically superior to his 1 Dighy to Ormond, Aug. 2, Carte's Ormond, vi. 306 ; Rupert to Lennox, July 28. Warbuiton, iii. 149. 2 Note of the King's letter to Langdaie, July 1 9, in Yonge's Diary, Add. MSS. 18,780, fol. 148. BAILLIE OUTMANOEUVRED 247 CHAP. XXXIII. 1645 May. own. The cautious Baillie, leaving the plunder of Blair Athol, crossed the Dee with some 2,000 men, and was joined near Strathbogie by Hurry with a hundred horse, the poor remains of the host defeated ^°°tr0E' at Auldearn. Montrose's own force was, as usual Baiiue, after success, sadly diminished by the desertion of the Highlanders. He was therefore in httle case to CAMPAIGN of ALFORD fight, especially as he knew that Lindsay, who, in consequence of the Parliamentary forfeiture of his kinsman's earldom of Crawford, now bore that title in addition to his own, was advancing from the southern Lowlands with a newly raised force. He therefore determined to shift his quarters. Out marching and outmanceuvrin— ^ — '- another, it would not avail in the stress of battle, and Montrose was therefore obliged to content himself with manoeuvring round Perth without making any attempt to bring on a general engagement. In the skirmishes which followed the advantage was always on his side, and when at last he retreated the soldiers of the Covenant consoled themselves by butchering a bevy of women, wives or followers of Montrose's men, whom they lit upon in Methven Wood, not far from Perth. As at Naseby, the notion of avenging injured morality probably covered from the eyes of the murderers the inherent cowardice of their act.1 The ill-starred Baillie would gladly have thrown Baiiiie's off the responsibility of coming failure. Not only hodings. were his troops for the most part mere raw levies, ill suited to cope with the hardy clansmen of Montrose, but he was himself subjected to a committee which hampered him at every turn, and the members of which frequently quarrelled with one another. On August 5 he again offered his resignation, and again B^£ 5- reluctantly gave way on the assurance that the com- compelled i-i •ic'-ii it to remain mittee would content itself with the general direc- as general. tion of the war, and that he should be left to his own judgment in carrying out the orders which he received.2 Montrose was not long in reappearing. Aboyne Ahoyne had joined him at Dunkeld with a strong body of Montrose. horse and foot,3 and at the same time the old Earl of "> 1 Wishart, ch, xii. ; Patrick Gordon, 136. 3 Acts of Pari, of Scotl. vi. 447, 448. 3 Wishart reckons them at 200 horse and 1 20 muskrteers ; Patrick Gordon asserts that there were 800 foot and 400 horse, 266 ALFORD AND KILSYTH. 1645 Montrose's plan. Aug. 14 Mmitrose at Kilsyth. Condition of the Covenant ing army. Aug. 15. Its advano towards Kilsvth. Airlie rode in with eighty horsemen, for the most part of the name and race of Ogilvy. Montrose knew that Lanark was raising against him the Hamilton tenants in Clydesdale, and he resolved to fight Baillie before so powerful a reinforcement reached him. Yet it did not suit him to give battle anywhere near Berth. He wished to drag the Fifeshire levies away from their homes, being well aware that they would either march with little heart or would refuse to march at all, Throwing himself upon Kinross, as if he were about to plunder Fife, he then turned sharply westwards, crossing the Forth above Stirling, and reached Kil syth, half way to Glasgow, by the evening of August 14. Baillie, unless he were prepared to give up Lanark to destruction, had no choice but to follow. The Covenanting commander was, however, naturally anxious to avoid a battle, at least till he could effect a junction with Lanark. The Fifeshire levies proved as difficult to manage as Montrose had foreseen, and the noblemen of the committee were even more troublesome than the men of Fife. The spirit of the committee descended upon the inferior officers, and Baillie, finding his orders slighted, dis claimed all further responsibiUty, though he still professed his readiness to carry out such orders as the committee might be pleased to give. On the morning of the 15th the committee, thus strangely entrusted with the command, broke up from Hollinbush, a hamlet on the road from Stirling about two and a half miles from the spot where Montrose had bivouacked. Contrary to Baiiiie's advice, they left the road and made straight for the enemy across the hills. The ground at last became so rough that pro gress in orderly ranks was impossible, and Baillie, .assuming the authority which he had quitted, gave MONTROSE AT KILSYTH. 267 orders to halt in a position which he considered to chap. be unassailable. — ^A — - Whilst the Covenanters were toiling over the Montrose rugged ground, Montrose was preparing to receive KattL them. He knew now that Lanark with 1,000 foot and 500 horse from Clydesdale was but twelve miles distant, and would be ready in a few hours to fall on 268 ALFORD AND KILSYTH. chap, his rear. The spot on which he had halted was a XXXIII -— --, — '* large open meadow surrounded by hills. To draw up an army in such a position, with an enemy posted anywhere on the heights, would have been to court destruction, had the enemy been supplied with modern weapons. As it was, with muskets which could only do execution at close quarters, the danger was of the slightest. Moreover the slope was not a gentle declivity like the slope above Marston Moor, down which an army could charge with advantage. If the Covenanters chose to march down the hillside towards the level where Montrose was posted, they would arrive with their infantry in disorder, and with their cavalry in still greater disorder, througli the steepness and ruggedness of the ground. If, on the other hand, they awaited the attack, they must do so on ground on which a single Highlander was worth at least three of the peasants from Fife or the Lothians. In numbers alone was the superiority on the side of the Covenanters. They had 6,000 foot and 800 horse, whilst Montrose disposed of only 4,400 foot and 500 horse. To raise the spirits of his men, the Eoyalist commander put the question to them whether they would fight or retreat. The answer could not be doubtful for an instant, and as soon as the cry for battle was heard, he bade his footmen to strip •themselves to the waist and his horsemen to throw their shirts over their clothes to distinguish them from the enemy. The day was likely to be hot, and it was important that the footmen at least, who would have to charge up a hillside, should be as lightly equipped as possible.1 1 There is a discrepancy between Wishart and the author of the Clanranald MS. According to the former, Montrose, ' suis insuper om nibus, equiti juxta ac pediti, iuiperat, ut positis molestioribus vestibus, A HAZARDOUS OPERATION. 269 It can hardly be doubted that Montrose was pre- chap. XXXIII pared for a struggle amongst the hills. He cannot pos- -1^- -^ sibly have expected that the enemy would commit a Th: 45 blunder so enormous as that of which they were guilty blunder of •> b J the Cove- at the moment when he was drawing up his men. nanting The sapient leaders of the committee, Argyle, Elcho, and Balfour of Burleigh, the captains who had respec tively been crushed by Montrose at Inverlochy, at Tippermuir, and at Aberdeen, together with the Earls of Lindf ay and Tullibardine. had made up their minds that the one thing to be guarded against was Mont rose's flight, and they imagined that they saw a way of making his flight impossible. At right angles with their own position, and separated from it by a brook running through a glen, was a long hill, smoother and more fitted for military operations, which sloped down upon Montrose's left flank. They thought that if only their army could reach that hill, it would be as far west as he was, and would be able to hinder his escape. In vain Baillie protested. The loss of the day, he said, would be the loss of the kingdom. In the whole committee Balcarres alone, who had led the cavalry at Alford, took his part. The unfortunate soldier who bore the name of commander-in-chief was compelled much against his will to carry out the injunctions of his masters. et solis indusiis superne amicti, et in albis emicantibns, hostibus insul- tarent.' The latter says that ' the Royal army were .... barefooted, with their shirt-tails tied between their legs ; the cavalry had white shirts above their garments.' The bard of the Macdonalds of Clanranald was present, and must have known what the Highlanders looked like. Their shirts, which he does not speak of as white, were probably some under- dress of tartan. He does not say tbey were stripped to the waist, but unless they were, it is difficult to see how the garments could be tied between their legs. Patrick Gordon says that Montrose ordered that ' for their cognizance every man should put on ane white shirt above his clothes.' 270 ALFORD AND KILSYTH. 1645 A flank march. The Battle of Kilsyth. To move an army across the front of an enemy within striking distance is one of the most hazardous operations of war. Baiiiie's only chance of escape from destruction lay in his being able to conceal his movements by keeping behind the brow of the hill. That chance was lost to him by the indiscipline of his men. A party of soldiers stole down into the meadow and attacked some cottages in which Mont rose's advanced guard under Macdonald was posted. They were easily repulsed, but Macdonald could not endure to see an enemy retreat unpunished. With out orders from Montrose he pushed forward his own special followers in pursuit, together with the Mac leans and the Macdonalds of Clanranald. Between these two clans there was fierce jealousy, and the bard of Clanranald recounted with triumph that though his clansmen were in the rear when they started they were first at the place of slaughter.1 No generalship could, as it happened, have directed the course of the assailants with better aim, as with targe and claymore the Highland warriors pushed up the hillside amongst the bushes of the glen which cut right across the enemy's line of march. If the charge thus undertaken at random proved successful the hostile army would be cut in two. In the meanwhile Montrose, who had learned what was passing, despatched Adjutant Gordon with a body of foot to mount the hill on his left, and thus to anticipate the attempt of the Covenanters to seize upon the high ground.2 At first Gordon was suc- 1 Clanranald MS. in Nimmo's Hist, of Stirlingshire, i. 226. 2 The topography of the battle rests on the determination of the locality of the bill to which the Covenanters were marching. For all geographical purposes Wishart may be thrown aside. His battle is a mere vague story told on the recollections of other people. Baillie and Patrick Gordon, though sadly wanting in precision, yet tell the story A CRUSHING VICTORY. 27 1 cessful, but numbers were against him. and he was chap. ' XXXIII. in danger of destruction. Aboyne, who had been placed by Montrose in the rear with a guard of twelve horsemen lest he should share the fate of his brother at Alford, unable to endure the sight, dashed to his kinsman's rescue. When he too was ingulfed in the tide of war, Montrose sent up Airlie and his Ogilvys, and commanded Nathaniel Gordon to second him with the whole remainder of the cavalry. By this time the battle was practically won. The High landers, with their heads down behind their targets, had taken in flank the thin line of the Covenanting advance in its very centre, whilst the Gordons, horse and foot, were wrecking the head of the column. All thought of discipline or of any general plan of resistance was lost. Each colonel drew up his men as fancy or the immediate danger of the moment bade him. There was no longer the cohesion of an army, and in a few minutes there was no longer the cohesion of any single regiment. Baillie hurried back across the glen to bring up his reserves of the Fifeshire men. The Fifeshire men had already taken to flight. Flight brought no safety to that doomed host. from opposite sides in such a way that it is possible to form a general impression of what went on. That the hill was the one on Montrose's left appears (1) from the name of ' Slaughter Howe ' borne by a spot on it ; (2) by Baiiiie's statement that after his advanced regiments had been routed he rode back to find the reserve, and that he found certain officers (Baillie, ii. 422 t) ' at the brook that not long before we had crossed,' and it seems impossible to suppose that this brook can be other than that which flowed through the glen ; (3) by Patrick Gordon's statement that Adjutant Gordon was sent to gain the high ground to which the Covenanters were advancing, and that when he reached it the Highlanders (who, as we know, had gone up the glen) ' stood at so large a distance as they could give no aid, to the adjutant thus engaged.' If the Coven anting army had simply pushed on. towards the glen without crossing it, Gordon's attack on their van would have brought him close to the High landers' attack up the glen. 1645 272 ALFORD AND KILSYTH. CHAP. XXXIII. 1645 The pursuit. The escape of the nohiemen. Highlanders were not accustomed to give quarter after battle, and the soldiers whose wives had been slaughtered in Methven Wood were not likely to spare the murderers. Of the 6,000 footmen who reached the field of battle in the morning, scarcely more than one hundred escaped. The horsemen were in better case for flight ; yet even of them there were some who fell beneath the swords ofthe pursuers, whilst others were swallowed up in an attempt to cross the bog of Dullatur.1 The noblemen who had been the principal cause of the disaster were better horsed than their fol lowers, and had therefore less difficulty in escaping. Some of them made their way to Stirling ; others, with Argyle amongst them, took refuge on board the shipping in the Firth of Forth, and did not hold themselves safe till they were under the protection of the Scottish garrison at Berwick. Others again fled to Carlisle, or even to Ireland. Montrose was now, what he had believed himself to be after Inver lochy, the master of aU Scotland. 1 Wishart, ch. xiii. ; Patrick Gordon, 139; Baillie, 420. 273 CHAPTEE XXXIV. SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. The news from KUsyth reached Charles on August 24, shortly after his arrival at Huntingdon.1 Yet in 1645 spite of the brilliant prospect opened to him in Scot- A land, his own position in England was so desperate, ^ari f that the success of his Lieutenant-General afforded K"syth. him but little pleasure. A letter which he ad- Htdtciar'es dressed to Nicholas on the day after he received the h.is resoiu- . tion to intelligence showed no signs of his usual hopefulness, support the " Let my condition," he wrote, " be never so low, my successes never so ill, I resolve, by the grace of God, never to yield up this Church to the government of Fapists, Eresbyterians, or Independents, nor to injure my successors by lessening the Crown of that military power which my predecessors left me, nor forsake my friends ; much less to let them suffer, when I do not, for their faithfulness to me ; resolving sooner to hve as miserable as the violent insulting rebels can make me — which I esteem far worse than death — rather than not to be exactly constant to these grounds ; from which whosoever, upon whatsoever occasion, shall persuade me to recede in the least tittle, I shall esteem him either a fool or a knave." 2 1 See p. 260. 2 The King to Nicholas, Aug. 25. Evelyn's Diary (ed. 1852), iv. 159- II. T 274 SHERBORXE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. CHAP. XXX IV. 1645 Charles is unable to remain at Huntingdon. Royalist plunder ings. Aug 27. A soldier hanged.Digby's hopeful- After such a declaration there was nothing for Charles to do but to possess his soul in patience, leaving the floods of the world to go over his head without resistance. It was the one thing which, without compulsion, he was unable to do. He must fight on, even if defeat were certain. Yet, whatever plans he might entertain for the future, he could not now tarry at Huntingdon.1 Eoyntz was on his track with a superior force, which had indeed been mutin ous in consequence of want of pay, but which was now expecting treasure from London, and would fight well enough when it arrived. The King's soldiers had no treasure to expect. They plundered Huntingdon, and when Charles, who was cut off from the North by Eoyntz, set out on his return to Oxford, roving parties of his cavalry stripped the country round of everything valuable on which they could lay their hands. It was aU one to them whether the men whom they despoiled were Eoyalists or Parliamentarians. " To say the truth," confessed one of the King's warmest supporters, " our horse made all men delinquents where they quartered there abouts." 2 Charles probably could not stop the mis chief if he would, . but it is characteristic of him that the only case in which he exercised severity was that of a soldier who had stolen a chalice from a church. He ordered the man to be hanged on the nearest signpost.3 Even when Charles's sanguine disposition gave way in the flood of calamity which had come upon him, Digby was still ready to encourage him with hopes of assistance from the most distant quarters. In addition to the one solid fact of Montrose's 1 See map at p. 217. * Walker, 136. 3 Slingsby's Diary, 161. DIGBY'S EXPECTATIONS. 275 victory at Kilsyth, there were shadowy expectations chap. enough, which Digby was almost able to persuade • — ^ — - himself to regard as foundations upon which a solid ! 45 policy could be built up. With him the Irish auxiliaries were always just about to start, and there was always cause for fresh hope in the ever-increasing French preponderance of the French arms on the Continent, o^the68 Though the fortunes of the campaign of 1645 Continenfc- were more chequered than those of the campaign of 1644, the French had on the whole been gaining ground. On their northern frontier they had ac quired the important fortress of Mardyk. On their southern frontier they had defeated the Spaniards in Catalonia. In Germany the skill of Turenne and the valour of Enghien had won another blood-stained ^Jf' victory at NordUngen. In the meanwhile the diplo- NBrdHn- niacy of Mazarin had not been idle. Ever since gen- the spring of 1644 a congress sitting at Munster TheCon- had been languidly attempting to restore peace to Munster. Europe. Mazarin was more anxious that the peace when it came should be favourable to France than that it should be soon concluded, and he had thrown his energy into the work of reconciling Denmark and Sweden, in order that Denmark might be useful to France. By the treaty of Bromsebro, the war Aug. .J- between the northern Powers was brought to an end T„b?,p.eace o 01 Krom- — a treaty of which the chief effect in England was se,,ro to afford Digby a gleam of hope that Charles might Digby yet receive assistance from his uncle, the King of tidTover Denmark. The Queen too, he thought, would be able to collect money in France. Desperate as the King's prospects appeared, if only he could hold out to the winter — and of that Digby entertained little doubt — all might be well when spring arrived. Even Digby, full of trust in the future as he was, T 2 276 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. CHAP. XXXI?. 1645 General despon- dencv. Aug 28. Charles arrives at Oxford, Aug. 30. and marches to the West. could not deny that his hopes were shared by few. " Alas, my lord," he complained to Jermyn, " there is such an universal weariness of the war, despair of a possibility for the King to recover, and so much of private interest grown from these upon everybody, that I protest to God I do not know four persons living besides myself and you that have not already given clear demonstrations that they will purchase their own and — as they flatter themselves — the king dom's quiet at any price to the King, to the Church, to the faithfullest of his party ; and to deal freely with you, I do not think it will be in the King's power to hinder himself from being forced to accept such conditions as the rebels will give him." Digby then proceeded to name three persons as the leaders of the party which intended to force the King to make peace. Though their names are carefully blotted out, it is still possible to read two of them. They are the names of Eupert and Legge.1 The mass of the Eoyalists, in short, were not in clined either to ruin themselves with Charles for the sake of an unattainable ideal, or to trust to Digby's foreign combinations to revive the cause for which their own swords had been drawn in vain. Charles reached Oxford on August 28. He left it again on the 30th. The faithful Eichmond and a large number of noblemen and gentlemen who had hitherto clung to his fortunes remained behind, and refused to accompany him farther in pursuit of adventures.2 He directed 1 Digby to Jermyn, Aug. 27. Warburton, iii. 157. In the copy from which Warburton printed the names are omitted. They occur in the way described in the text in a copy which was kept by Digby, and having been afterwards captured at Sherburn, in Yorkshire, is now amongst the Domestic State Papers. I am rather inclined to read the third name as Culpepper's. 2 Iter Carolinum ; Walker, 136. FAIRFAX'S MOVEMENTS. 277 his course towards the West, where events had been chap. XXXIV occurring which threatened, during his absence in . — ^ the North, to deprive him of his hold on aU that still I 4S remained to him in England. After the capture of Bridgwater in July Fair- Fairfax turns 6ast- fax had turned back eastwards,1 to make himself wards. thoroughly master of the country in his rear before attempting the reduction of the districts west of the Parret. He directed his march upon Sherborne, where the castle was held by a strong garrison under Sir Lewis Dyves, the stepson of its owner, the Earl of Bristol. Bristol himself, in order to avoid the ob- „,. T, . , ' Phe liarl of loquy which had marked him out as the fiercest Bristol at -i J _ Exeter. opponent of all peaceful measures, had retired from Oxford to Exeter in the spring of 1644, and had thus withdrawn from consultations in which he had had, in reality, but little influence.2 On his way to Sherborne Fairfax heard that the T . J July 30. garrison of Bath was weak and in disaccord with Surrender ... ... °' Bath. the citizens. Taking with him a mere detachment of cavalry he secured its surrender, and then continued his march.3 On August 2 he opened the siege Au of Sherborne Castle. Difficult as was the task of SherborneCastle mastering its strong defences, Fairfax found it no besieged. less difficult to keep open his communications. In Somerset he had easily won over the Clubmen to his side, because it was impossible for the most ignorant peasant to imagine that he could attain to peace and order by giving his support to Goring. In Dorset The CUlb. there was no Eoyalist army to plunder the homesteads ^x&L of the people, and the garrisons, being commanded by the gentry of the county or by persons acting in 1 See map at p. 217. 2 Bristol to Grey of Wark, May 22, 1646. L.J. viii. 342. 3 A full relation of the taking qf Bath, E. 294, 21 ; A fuller relation ofthe taking of Baih, E. 294, 30. 278 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. Aug. 3. Seizure of the leaders at Shaftes bury. The Club men on Hambledon Hill. their name, were not likely to commit outrages as long as the contributions for their support were dulv paid. The Clubmen consequently here feU under the influence of the Eoyalist gentry and clergy, and looked upon a Parliamentarian invasion as the onlv source of trouble. As soon as Fairfax crossed the border of the county the Clubmen swarmed around him, cutting off his supplies and threatening to starve him out. It was impossible for any commander to tolerate proceedings of this kind. On August 3 Fleetwood, who had been despatched by Fairfax to stamp out the fire, seized about forty of their leaders at Shaftesbury. The word was passed through the district to rise in force to rescue the prisoners. On the 4th Cromwell himself was sent to put a stop to the agitation. On his way to Shaftesbury he fell in with a large party of the Clubmen, but these he persuaded to disperse peace ably, partly by a display of force, but still more by his assurances that any of his soldiers who plundered would be severely punished. A more formidable body, some 2,000 strong, was found posted within the ancient earthworks on the top of Hambledon Hill, whither, in all probability before even the Celt had set foot on the soil of Britain, the inhabitants of the rich valley of tho Stour had been accustomed to climb for refuge. Cromwell's soldiers were, indeed, armed in a very different fashion from the foes of those ancient tribes, but the hillside was as steep as it had been in prehistoric times, and it was still crowned with fold upon fold of mound and trench. Cromwell, it is true, had other than military reasons for wishing to be spared the necessity of an assault. He had pity for the peasants who to.ok him for an enemy, when he came as a friend. Three times he sent messages CROMWELL AND THE CLTJEMEN. 279 of peace up the hill, and three times the messengers chap. were repulsed. There were clergymen amongst the -^-^ — -^ defenders, animating them to resistance. At last * 45 Cromwell ordered an attack ; but the only opening in the earthworks was narrow and strongly guarded, capture of and it was not tiU Desborough, who had climbed the g^016*1011 hill with a body of horse on the other side, charged the peasants in the rear, and about a dozen of them had been slain, that they threw down their arms and either submitted or fled Three hundred prisoners were taken, most of whom, as Cromwell informed Fairfax, were ' poor silly creatures, whom if you please to let me send home, they promise to be very dutiful for time to come, and will be hanged before they come out again.' With as little expense of life as possible a suppres- dangerous movement had been arrested. The Club- cTubmenbe men of Dorset, indeed, professed to come out merely in defence of their properties. The doggrel upon one of their flags which was captured — " If you offer to plunder or take our cattle, Be assured we wilf give you battle," did not indicate any political feeling whatever. Yet, They are for aU that, they were practically EoyaUsts. Some Eoyalists. of them had been heard to boast that Hopton was on his way from the West to command them ; that multitudes were about to join them from Wiltshire ; and that, with their combined forces, they would raise the siege of Sherborne. There was no room for a third party in England, and even the Clubmen had ceased to claim to be anything of the sort.1 Whilst Fleetwood and Cromwell were clearing the line of communication, Fairfax was vigorously push- 1 Sprigg, 86 ; Carlyle, Letter XXX. ; Two great victories, E. 296, 6 ; Tuo Letters, E. 296, 7 ; The proceedings ofthe army, E. 296, 14. 280 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. CHAP. XXXIV. 1645 Aug. n. Arrival of a siege- train at Sher borne. Aug. 15. The eastle taken. A council of war resolves to attackBristol. ing on the attack upon Sherborne Castle. On the nth money arrived to pay his soldiers, and a train of siege-guns to batter the walls. On the 14th a serious breach was effected and a mine was ready for explosion. Early on the following morning, before the mine was fired, the soldiers drove the defenders from their works, leaping over the walls and rendering further resistance hopeless. Dyves hung out the white flag, too late to save the castle from plunder, though quarter was given to all within. Evidence was discovered which placed it beyond doubt that the EoyaUsts had used the Club men for their own purposes.1 The capture of Sherborne Castle gave to Fairfax the command of a shorter road to the West than that through Blandford and Dorchester. A council, of war was at once assembled to decide on the next step to be taken. There were some who urged the im portance of returning to the West before Goring could recover strength, but the majority were of opinion that Bristol must first be taken. The position of Bristol, near the head of the channel which divides the western counties from Wales and the Enghsh borderlands of Wales, was of the very greatest importance, and, guarded as it was by more than 2,000 men with Eupert at their head, it might easily, if the King saw fit to join his troops to those of his nephew, become a basis of operations which would be very dangerous to an army advancing into Devon and Cornwall. It was true that the defences of the city were understood to be formidable, and that, as the plague was raging within it, the danger to the army even in the case of success would be to the full as great as whilst it was still exposed to the fire of the artillery of the garrison. All these objections were, however, overruled. " See- 1 Sprigg, 90-96. XXXIV. "1645 THE SIEGE OF BRISTOL. 28 1 ing," said Fairfax, as soon as the vote had been taken, ch ap. " our judgments lead us to make Bristol our next design, as the greatest service we can do for the public ; as for the sickness, let us trust God with the army, who will be as ready to protect us in the siege from infection as in the field from the bullet." There was a simplicity of piety in Fairfax which bound the soldiers to him as much as his conspicuous bravery in action. On August 18, the day on which the King Aug. 18. turned back from Doncaster, the Barliamentary army leaves set out on its march to Bristol.1 On the 23rd Fairfax bome. fixed his headquarters at Stapleton, and the invest- TiuTlege ment of the city was completed. The capture of a opened.0 fort at Portishead on the 28th closed the mouth of the Avon against all relief by sea. It was of quite as much importance that Fairfax's habit of paying in ready money for all that his army consumed won over the population, not only to supply the be siegers with provisions, but even to render armed assistance.2 Fairfax was the more anxious to reduce Bristol as speedily as possible, as Hereford was as yet Danger untaken, and if Leven were detained before it, the Kingly King might easily slip past him and bring his avail- reUeveit- able forces to the assistance of his nephew. The siege of Hereford had, indeed, lasted longer The siege of Uor©- than had been expected at Westminster. The ford. governor, Sir Barnabas Scudamore, defended himself with vigour and abihty, and the Scottish attack was proportionately weak. Leven complained with j ustice that, although everything was done to supply the wants of the English army, the very pay which had been solemnly promised to the Scottish soldiers had been kept back, and that he was therefore reduced to provide himself by force with provisions — a course 1 Sprigg, 97. 2 lb. 98-103. Leven's complaints. 282 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. CHAP. XXXIV. 1645 Hereford shireplundered. The siege- -works flooded. which both exhausted his own soldiers and exasper ated their victims. The departure of David Leslie with the whole of the cavalry in pursuit of the King brought matters to a crisis, it being impossible that Leven's infantry could take their part effectively in the siege and scour the country for supplies at the same time. As no payment was to be expected, the peasants of the neighbourhood refused to bring in their provisions to his camp, and those of his soldiers who were kept to serve the batteries were therefore compelled to keep themselves alive by eating the apples, the peas, and the wheat which were still growing in the fields round the city.1 Barliament, when these facts were brought to its notice, might re gret that its engagements were unfulfilled, but having no power to provide constant pay for more than one army, it gave Leven good words, but nothing more.2 The result of the continued detention of the soldiers' pay was quickly seen. Herefordshire was systematically plundered by roving bands. Against the Scottish soldier, indeed, no attacks upon hfe or upon female honour are recorded, but the soberest men quickly learn to rob rather than to starve. The cattle and horses of the farmer, and the loaves out of the oven of the housewife, were mercilessly swept into the Scottish camp, and as a natural con sequence the men of Herefordshire, never friendly to Puritanism, now became bitterly hostile to its supporters from the North.3 The necessity of subsisting upon plunder rapidly deteriorates an army, and in this instance bad weather came to render more desperate an already difficult 1 L.J. vii. 538 ; The Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer, E. 297, 2. 2 The Parliament Post, E. 300, 9. 3 Webb's Civil War in Herefordshire, ii. 391. THE RELIEF OF HEREFORD. 283 situation, the siege-works being flooded by heavy chap. rains.1 Yet, in spite of all obstacles, Leven did not -^A — '- lose heart, and he made preparations for a storm. „ 1 i- Prepara- On September 1, however, news arrived that the tions for an King, who was on his way from Oxford2 to raise the Sept. 1. • i-i 1 -1 rrr • i 1 The King siege, had reached Worcester with 3,000 horse, at Worces- Since David Leslie's departure Leven had had scarcely a single horseman left, nor had he any hope of making good his loss. David Leslie had recently written Pj^rfd from Nottingham, telling him that, on receiving resolves & • ' & ' b to go to the bad news from Kilsyth, he had resolved to march Scotland. with only half his force into Scotland. He had, however, found it impossible to carry out his intention. Now that Scotland was in peril, not a single man under his orders would remain behind in England, and he had therefore been compelled to take them all.3 To await a strong cavalry force with infantry embarrassed by the investment of Hereford would be simple madness, and Leven had no choice but to abandon his enterprise. On September 1 he directed Syp*-1-, . . . liaising of the raising of the siege, and on the following morning the siege of o fc> ' o & Hereford. his whole army was on the march for Gloucester. His Majesty, as the Governor of Hereford expressed himself, drawing near ' like the sun to the meridian, this Scottish mist began to disperse, and the next morning vanished out of sight.'4 In sober earnest, Leven's failure at Hereford was but a distant result of Montrose's achievement at Kilsyth. On the 4th Charles entered the city amidst the sept. 4. joyful acclamations of a delivered people. He had ^e^ thf indeed accomplished something, but his task was less 01ty- than half done unless Bristol could be rescued as 1 The Parliament Post, E. 300, 9. 2 See p. 276. 3 David Leslie to Leven, Aug. 26. A Declaration. E. 301, 8. 4 Scudamore to Digby. Webb, ii. 385. 284 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. CHAP. XXXiV. 1645 Sept. 4. Digby hopetul of the future. Sept. 7. well as Hereford. For that purpose his force was miserably inadequate. The horse which he had brought with him was exhausted by long marches, and even if it had been in the best condition it could not have ventured to cope with the more numerous and better disciplined horse of Fairfax's army, the move ments of which were directed by Cromwell himself. With Digby, indeed, the difficulties in the way counted for Uttle. The Scots, he wrote on the 4th, were in full retreat for their own country, where Montrose would complete God's judgment on them. Fairfax's whole army was likely to be ruined before Bristol.1 Even more triumphant was the tone of a letter which he despatched on the 7th to the Prince of Wales. " These things, sir," he wrote in ecstasy, after recounting Montrose's successes, " are things rather like dreams than truths, but all most cer tain. God is pleased to point out the way by which He will bring upon the rebellion of both kingdoms the judgments that are due upon it, having already brought so heavy a vengeance upon that which hath been the original of all our misery. You see from what a low condition it hath pleased God to bring his Majesty's affairs into so hopeful a one again, as that if, while Fairfax's army is entertained before Bristol, your Highness can but frame a considerable body, such as may give his Majesty leave, with the forces he hath together, to play the fairest of his game in these countries, and northward for the assistance of Montrose with horse, or, at least, for the withholding Leslie's 2 army of foot from him, I see no cause to doubt but that, upon the whole matter, his Majesty may conclude the campagna more prosperously than 1 Digby to Jermyn, Sept. 4. S.P. Dom. 2 i.e. Leven's. EVIL OMENS. 285 1645 any, and with fairer foundations for a mastering power the next year than ever." 1 The very day after these exulting lines were penned Charles learnt that his old recruiting ground in South Wales was closed against him. Astley had, sept. 8. indeed, succeeded in keeping the Welshmen from faj"^8 openly siding with the enemy, but they refused to armvln113 make further exertions on the King's behalf.2 In ^*a order to convert disaster into success, it was necessary to inspire others besides Digby with the belief that success was attainable. In Oxford incredulity as to the possibility of con- Eagerness verting defeat into victory was as strong in Charles's absence as it had been in his presence. Hitherto no one had been more cheery than Nicholas, or more inclined to exaggerate the weaknesses of the Parha mentary army. On August 31 he told his master Aug. 31. plainly that he was lost, unless he could induce his gr™°las Continental alUes to declare in his favour and bring ^nt°n" the rebels to reason by placing an embargo on their shipping. Actually to invite foreign forces into England, he added, would be hazardous. On Septem- s t ber 4 the trusty Secretary had a still more ominous ^J™Jer communication to make. A lawyer had actually promotion. refused to take promotion from the King. Lord Keeper Lyttelton had lately died, and Charles, when he last visited Oxford, had appointed the Chief Baron, Sir Eichard Lane, to the office thus vacated. Lane's post was now offered to Sir Edward Herbert, the Attorney-General. Herbert, however, explained to Nicholas that he was disqualified for a place on the bench by a vote of the Parliament at Westminster, and that, as matters stood, he was not prepared to 1 Digby to tbe Prince of Wales, Sept. 7. S.P. Dom. 2 Desires of the gentlemen of Carmarthenshire, Sept. 8. S.P. Dom. 286 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. A peerage not taken up. Sept. 9. Digby continuessanguine. face the consequences of insulting even a rebel Parlia ment. It was no less significant, in another way, of the decline of Charles's fortunes that the Earldom of Lichfield having been conferred on the brother of the Duke of Eichmond, Lord Bernard Stuart, that gallant soldier was unable to take advantage of the honour, because he had not sufficient money to pay the neces sary fees.1 Digby's sanguine expectations were, however, not to be measured by the standard of other men. On the 9th he was to the full as elated as he had been on the 4th. " I must confess," he wrote with a fervour which would almost have gained him accept ance amongst the zealots at Westminster, " that these miracles, besides the worldly joy, have made me a better Christian, by begetting in me a stronger faith and reliance upon God Almighty than before, having manifested that it is wholly His work, and that He will bring about His intended blessing upon this just cause, by ways the most impossible to human under standing, and consequently teach us to cast off all reliance upon our own strength." Gerard, added Digby, was collecting troops in Shropshire, and the Welsh difficulty would soon be settled. Goring too was reported to be advancing to the relief of Bristol with a considerable force. Eupert was wearing Fairfax out with frequent sallies, and Poyntz and Eossiter, who had arrived at Tewkesbury in pursuit of the King, would, in consequence of the distress to which the besieging army was reduced, be com pelled to turn aside towards Bristol to supply its deficiencies.2 At the very moment at which Digby was writing, 1 Nicholas to the King, Aug. 31, Sept. 4. S.P. Dom. 2 Digby to Byron, Sept. 9. S.P. Dom. AN APPEAL FROM FAIRFAX. 287 this house of cards was falUng to the ground. On chap. XXXIV August 31 Fairfax had intercepted a letter from -- — , — '- Goring, from which he learned that three weeks would elapse before the western Eoyalist army could Fairfax31- arrive to raise the siege. As it was known that the anieetrtCe6rPts King had already left Oxford, and would therefore, |°™n after Uberating Hereford, be ready to co-operate with Goring when he at last appeared, it was resolved not to trust to the slow effects of a blockade, but to storm the works whilst yet there was no enemy to take the besiegers in the rear. On September 4, as a preparatory step, Fairfax Sept. 4. summoned Eupert to surrender his trust. The word- summons ing of the missive was unusual. The Parliamentary upei ' general had eagerly seized the opportunity of urging the soundness of the principles on which he had taken up arms. " Sir," he declared, " the crown of England He deci is, and will be, where it ought to be. We fight cipies™ to maintain it there ; but the King, misled by evil counseUors, or through a seduced heart, hath left his Parliament, under God the best assurance of his crown and family. The maintaining of this schism is the ground of this unhappy war on your part ; and what sad effects it hath produced in the three kingdoms is visible to all men. To maintain the rights of the crown and kingdom jointly, a principal part whereof is that the King in supreme acts is not to be advised by men of whom the law takes no notice, but by his Parliament, the Great Council of the kingdom, in whom — as much as man is capable of — he hears all his people, as it were, at once ad vising him, and in which multitude of counsellors is his safety and his people's interest ; and to see him right in this, hath been the constant and faithful en deavour of the Parliament, and to bring these wicked ares 288 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. 1645 and appeals to the Prince. The country people support Fairfax. Imperfec tion of Fairfax's reasoning. Difficulties of Eupert's position. instruments to justice that have misled him is a principal ground of our fighting." Fairfax ended with a personal appeal to Eupert himself. " Let all England judge," he wrote, " whether the burning of its towns, ruining its cities, and destroying its people, be a good requital from a person of your family, which had the prayers, tears, purses, and blood of its Parliament and people." On the day on which this appeal was despatched, two thousand countrymen flocked in to the Parliamentary camp, offering to share with the soldiers the dangers of the siege. Their presence must have served to justify to Fairfax his assertion that the heart of the country was with him and not with Eupert.1 Men of action rarely succeed in grasping the whole of the issues of the conflict in which they are engaged, and Fairfax was no exception to the rule. It is not likely, however, that, if his argument had been more perfect than it was, it would have made any impression upon one who, like Eupert, had little comprehension of English political or religious con troversies. Yet if Eupert cared little for the argu ment, he was in a mood to take into consideration the practical conclusion to which it led. His own position was one of exceeding difficulty. Bristol lay in a hollow, and Fiennes, by whom the greater part of the existing fortifications on the north of the Avon had been raised, had, in order to take advantage of the high ground to the west, placed them at a con siderable distance from the city. The whole circuit of the fortress thus created was about four miles, and though attempts had been made to strengthen the works, they were in many places slight and defective. For the defence of such a place Eupert's forces were ' Sprigg, 108. RUPERT'S DIFFICULTIES. 289 entirely inadequate. He had reckoned on having chap. 2,300 men under his orders, but only 1,500 appeared to man the walls at the beginning of the siege, and 1645 SIEGE OF BRISTOL Sept..3,164S The figures ienjott. theinnriber oforansnjx a&eaxhjSoit&y. every day this force, insufficient as it was, was thinned by desertion. Material weakness was accompanied by moral Weakness discouragement. In the immediate future all was rison. ° 11. u 290 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. chap. dark. A considerable number of the citizens were •^-i; — J- disaffected, nor were there tidings from Charles, or 1- 45 promise of relief from any quarter whatever. The superior officers were as despondent as the soldiers, and, at a council of war, gave their opinion that, though they might resist a first assault, they must inevitably succumb to a second. That Eupert shared in the belief of his officers there can be no reasonable doubt. Even if it had not been so, he was hardly the man, dashing cavalry officer as he was, to conduct a stubborn defence in s t a cause which he knew to be lost. On the 5th he ieavertoasks repHed to Fairfax by a request for permission to semi to the communicate with the King. When this request was King. O -i Anegotia- necessarily refused, he opened negotiations for a opened. surrender, spinning out the time by haggling for the most favourable terms, in the hope that before any thing was concluded he might hear of approaching relief. At last Fairfax lost patience. In the dark Prttoi10' nours °f tne morning of September 10 the besieging stormed. army was let loose for an assault upon the southern and eastern defences. On the south the storming parties were repulsed, but the whole of the eastern line, in some parts of which the wall was no more than five feet high, was carried without difficulty. The horse broke in, and routed a body of cavalry sent by Eupert to drive back such of the enemy as might succeed in effecting an entrance. The western line of wall was thus turned, but the garrison of Prior's Hill fort, at the northern angle of the two lines, refused to acknowledge defeat. For two hours the resistance was kept up, and when at last the Parliamentarians broke in they slaughtered well-nigh every one of the gallant band, on the plea that they had already refused to accept quarter when summoned THE SURRENDER OF BRISTOL. 29 T to yield. The few that escaped owed their lives to the chap. entreaties of the Parliamentary officers. . — ^ The city itself was surrounded by an inner waU, „ X . Rupert but it lay in a hollow and was incapable of a long surrenders, defence. The Eoyalists, as soon as they knew the greatness of their disaster, fired the town in three places. Fairfax, unwilling to involve citizens and soldiers in useless slaughter, sent once more to offer terms, which Eupert now readily accepted. Articles honourable to the garrison were soon agreed on, and on the morning of the nth the Prince passed out of anapt-11' the gate on his way to Oxford.1 "^ The news of the surrender of Bristol reached Westminster on the 12th. The Commons, smitten sept. 12. with compunction, at once voted that Nathaniel restored to Fiennes should return to the seat which he had occu- hl3seat- pied before his surrender of Bristol in 1643.2 The general feeling was that he had at least acquitted himself better than Eupert. If the first thought of the House of Commons had Sept. i4. been depreciatory of Eupert, what was to be expected tb/snr" of the King ? On him the loss of the city must, in ujTorT any case, have fallen heavily. Viewing, as he did, the whole situation through the rosy medium of de lusive imagination, it was a blow all the more crush ing because it was so absolutely unexpected. The surrender, in fact, had taken place only one day after Digby had written the triumphant letter in which he had chanted the song of victory to come.3 Only one explanation — the explanation of gross dereliction of duty — seemed possible to Charles. What were the 1 Sprigg, 1 10 ; Rupert's Declaration, E. 308, 32 ; Cromwell to Lent hall, Sept. 14 ; Carlyle, Letter XXXI. 2 C.J. iv. 272. See vol. i. 210. 3 See p. 286. v 2 Charles. 292 SHERBORNE, HEREFORD, AND BRISTOL. CHAP. XXXIV. 1645 Eupert dismissed.The King' letter to Rupert. Legge's arrest. hard facts of the case he did not stop to inquire, but he at once dismissed Eupert from all his offices, and bade him seek his fortune beyond the sea. Violent as Charles's action was, there was more of wounded affection than of anger in the letter in which he announced his resolution. " Nephew ! " he wrote, " though the loss of Bristol be a great blow to me, yet your surrendering it as you did is of so much affliction to me, that it makes me not only forget the consideration of that place, but is likewise the greatest trial of my constancy that hath yet befallen me ; for what is to be done, after one that is so near me as you are, both in blood and friendship, submits him self to so mean an action ? " l The King's letter was sent to Oxford to await Eupert's arrival, and was accompanied by another in structing Nicholas to put Legge under arrest, and in forming him that Glemham was appointed to succeed Legge as governor of Oxford. That Legge had done nothing to deserve this treatment was subsequently admitted by all, but he was known to be a confidant of Eupert's, and, like Eupert, to be favourably dis posed to peace. At such a moment Charles was likely to call up again before his mind the knowledge which he possessed that Legge lay under suspicion of having earlier in the year intrigued with Savile for the delivery of Oxford,2 though at the time he had 1 The King to Rupert, Sept. 14, Clarendon, ix. 90; Passport for Rupert, Warburton, iii. 186. Compare Digby to Nicholas, Sept. 15, Nicholas Papers, i. 64. The testimony of Colonel Butler, who commanded the convoy assigned by Fairfax to protect Rupert on the way to Oxford, is interesting. " I am confident," he writes, " we are much mistaken in our intelligence concerning him. I find him a man much inclined to a happy peace, and will certainly imploy his interest with his Majesty for the accomplishing of it. . . . On my word, he could not have held it " — if. Bristol — "unless it had been -better manned." Butler to Sir W. Waller, lb. i. 65. 2 See p. 170. DISTRESS OF CHARLES. 293 treated the suspicion lightly. His own heart was xxxiv very sore. " Tell my son," l he added in a postscript "~~7677^ to these instructions, " that I shall less grieve to hear that he is knocked on2 the head than that he should do so mean an action as is the rendering of Bristol castle and fort upon the terms it was." 3 1 i.e. the Duke of York. 3 " in the head " as printed. 3 The King to Nicholas, Sept. 14. Evelyn's Diary (ed. 1859), iv. 163. 294 CHAPTEE XXXV. CURRENTS OP OPINION. chap. On the day on which Charles signified his displeasure XXXV or - — ^ — '— to Eupert, Cromwell, by Fairfax's orders, was giving Se t j to LenthaU a long account of the siege of Bristol. To Cromweir s ^[jjy the success achieved was but a step to the higher despatch. _ . object which he had continually before him. If there was nothing in his letter of the conciliatory feeling which had led Fairfax, in summoning the garrison of Bristol, to dream of Eupert, and even of Charles himself, as rallying to the great principle of Parhamentary counsel and control, Cromwell grasped more fully than Fairfax had done the higher spiritual issues of the war. " All this," he wrote, as Fairfax might have written, "is none other than the work of God : he must be a very atheist that doth not acknow ledge it." The remainder was all his own. " It may be thought," he continued, " that some praises are due to those gallant men, of whose valour so much mention is made : — their humble suit to you and all that have an interest in this blessing is that in the remembrance of God's praises they may1 be forgotten. It's their joy that they are instruments of God's glory and their country's good. It's their honour that God vouchsafes to use them Our desires are that God may be glorified by the same spirit of faith by 1 This word is omitted by Carlyle. CROMWELL ON TOLERATION. 295 which we ask all our sufficiency, and have received chap. XXYV it. It is meet that He have all the praise. Eresby- — A— '- terians, Independents, all have here the same spirit of faith and prayer ; the same presence and answer : they agree here, have no names of difference ; pity it is it should be otherwise anywhere ! AU that believe have the real unity, which is most glorious because inward and spiritual, in the Body and to the Head. For being united in forms, commonly called uni formity, every Christian will, for peace' sake, study and do as far as conscience will permit. And for brethren, in things of the mind we look for no com pulsion but that of light and reason. In other things, God hath put the sword in the Parliament's hands, for the terror of evildoers and the praise of them that do well. If any plead exemption from that, he knows not the Gospel; if any would wring- that out of your hands, or steal it from you, under what pretence soever, I hope they shall do it without effect." 1 To Cromwell's warnings the Commons took little heed. They indeed ordered that his despatch should sept. 17. be printed, but they took care to mutilate it as they d£™itehIs had mutilated his despatch from Naseby.2 No word muti,ated- of his referring to the difference between Presby terians and Independents was for the time suffered to meet the pubhc eye.3 Out of the heart of the present, Cromwell had already grasped the promise ofthe future, not indeed contrast in aU its breadth and fulness, but as far as it was given cromTv'11 to a human soul to grasp it. Fairfax had spoken in fox.I'au" 1 Cromwell to Lenthall, Sept. 14. Carlyle, Letter XXXI. 2 See p. 215. 3 Lieut. -General Cromwell's Letter. E. 301, 18. The omitted para graph was afterwards printed in a pamphlet entitled Strong Motives. E. 304, 15. Thomasson's date of his purchase of this later tract is Oct. 8. 296 CURRENTS OF OPINION. CHAP, xxxv. 1645 Cromwell a man under authority. The New Modi-1 a Parliamen tary army. his message to Eupert of a Earliamentary foundation for a constitutional monarchy. Cromwell traced the limits outside which Earliamentary control is merely noxious. For a while the two men could heartily co-operate with one another. Yet in one is already to be discerned the" future Lord Protector ; in the other the man who more than any single person, except Monk, brought about the Eestoration. That Cromwell could work so long, not only under Fairfax, but under the Earliament, is in no way wonderful. He loved to be, as he said when he strode into Ely Cathedral, a man under authority. He had used no empty phraseology when he declared his belief that God had put the sword in the Parlia ment's hands. These words represented at this time his constant and unfeigned conviction. As in the long years of unparliamentary government he had waited silent and reserved, without taking part in such resistance against the King as was then possible, till the moment of crisis brought it home to his mind that God's ordinance was not in the King, so it would be now. Duty retained him in fidelity to Parliament till the moment came when duty bade, or appeared to bid, otherwise, and he would then be con vinced, as by a flash of divine inspiration, that God's ordinance was not with the Parliament. For the pre sent he would fight on, and watch for the time when Parliament might clear away the mist which obscured its vision. Cromwell's temper of obedience to authority was the temper of the New Model army. From Fairfax to the meanest pikeman there was no thought of re sistance to the will of Parliament, no breath of that contempt for the interference of civilians which is so rarely altogether absent where soldiers meet. The A PARLIAMENTARY ARMY. 297 New Model was in very truth a Parliamentary army, chap. as the armies of Essex and Manchester had never -H."— - been. ,645 Yet if the New Model was Cromwellian in its reverence for authority, it was Cromwellian also in . its large-heartedness. "Presbyterians, Independents, all," as Cromwell said, "... agree here, have no names of difference." Even those — and they were not a few — who had no special religious bent were ac cepted without contempt as fellow-soldiers. A man after Cromwell's own heart was Hugh ^ , Peters,1 the chaplain to the train — that is to say, to the regiments in charge of the baggage-waggons and the artillery. Hugh Peters, who was born at Fowey in 1 The reputation of Hugh Peters has perhaps suffered more than that of any other man from the neglect of Mr. Spedding's dictum that, if you wish to know whether a statement is true, you should ask who said it first, and what opportunity the sayer bad of knowing the truth. The personal charges brought against him accused him of being a mountebank and a loose liver. With respect to the former charge, there can be no doubt that he was fond of jesting, though it may be seen by the MS. notes appended to an ed.tion of his tales and jests in the British Museum ( 1 2,3 1 6, p. 5) that many of those ascribed to him were certainly, and many more probably, in circulation before he was born. The other charge is more serious. Against the tales told after the Restoration we have to get bis own statement made to his daughter just before his death: " By my zeal, it seems, I have exposed myself to all manner of reproach ; but wish you to know that — besides your mother — I have had no fellowship ¦ — that way — with any woman since first I knew her, having a godly wii'e before also, I bless God" (A dying Father's last legacy, 106). The denial is not explicit concerning the writer's earlier years, but on the other hand it may be merely awkwardly expressed, Peters intending to refer to his first marriage, or it may be held to imply the acknowledgment of sins of his youth committed before conversion. Even if we take them in their best sense, there still remains the question whether Peters was speaking the truth. It is certain that the scribblers of the Restoration had no means of knowing whether Peters was guilty of committing adultery about thirty or forty years before they wrote, unless indeed it had become matter of public fame. Dr. Yonge indeed only insinuates instead of directly stating this (England's Shame, 19), but he puts himself out. of court by the assertion that Peters continued a lecturer at St. Sepulchre's for near twenty years, i.e. from some date not much later than 1620 to nearly 1640 298 CURRENTS OF OPINION. chap. 1598, was descended from a family which had emi- — ^ — '- grated from the Netherlands in consequence of reli His1 eari gi°us persecution.1 He entered Trinity College, lite. Cambridge, in 161 3, at the age of fifteen.2 About 1620 he visited London, and was there convinced of — a statement notoriously untrue. On the other hand it may safely be said that a man who was treated as a friend by Thomas Hooker, Ames, Win- throp, and Cromwell cannot have been known as an evil liver. Even those who believe Cromwell to have been a hypocrite have never suggested that he was a fool, and what could be more foolish than for him to risk his reputation by giving his confidence to Peters if his character had been no better than the Royalist pamphleteers afterwards represented it P If the evidence of Noscitur a sociis is favourable to Peters, another line of evidence is also in his favour. A man may give a false account of his own life, but he cannot lie in those unconscious revelations of himself which spring to the surface when he is neither writing nor talking of himself. For this indirect knowledge of Peters's character there are three sources : (i) a series of letters written in America and published in the collections of The Massachusetts Historical Society, series iv. vol. vi. p. 91 ; (2) a sermon entitled God's doings and Man's duty, preached on April 2, 1646 (E. 330, 11) ; and (3) Mr. Peters' Last Report of the English Wars (E. 351, 12). Unless I am mistaken, any candid reader of these will find that there is little difficulty in understanding the character of the writer, especially as the character here unconsciously drawn is just the one to give rise to the libellous attacks which have been made upon it. It is on these self-revelations that I have based my account of the man. In spelling the name I have adhered to the form Peters, which was usually adopted at the time, though in his own signa ture his name appears as Peter. The omission of the final ' s ' seems to have been a mere matter of habit, as in the cases of Bate for Bates, and Dyve for Dyves. I may add that Peters's last production, A dying Fathers last legacy, appears to me a pious, sensible, and veracious work. 1 He was baptized June 11, 1598. His father's name was Thomas Dyckwood, alias Peters. Parochial Hist, of Cornwall, ii. 31. 2 He took his degree of B.A. from Trinity in 1617- 18, and his M.A. in 1622. (Felt's Memoir and information supplied by Professor Mayor.) The date of his birth contradicts the assertion of the Royalist pamphlet eers, that he was a Fool in Shakspere's company. His entry at Trinity is not given in the college registers, which do not notice the entry of pensioners so early, but his graduation from that college may be set against the statement of Dr. Yonge in England's Shame that he was 'sent from school to the University of Cambrige, and there was admitted into Jesus College,' and that being 'obdurate and irrefragable to the civil government of that collegiate society ' he was ' expitbed the University,' If writers blurider about matters concerning which the truth was ascer- HUGH PETERS. 299 sin by a sermon which he heard at St. Paul's. Ee- tiring to Essex, he fell under the influence of Thomas Hooker, and it was there that he married a widow, whose daughter by her first husband was afterwards the wife of the younger Winthrop. Upon his return to London he entered the ministry, and was licensed to preach by Bishop Montaigne. He became a lec turer at St, Sepulchre's, where according to his own statement he preached to an overflowing congrega tion, and where ' above an hundred every week were persuaded from sin to Christ.' The days of Laud's influence were approaching, and shortly after Laud's translation to the see of London Peters found it expedient to remove to Peters in i- Holland. Eotterdam, where he became the minister of a Separa tist congregation, and was not long in showing how little bigotry was in him. Both Ames, the English Separatist, and John Forbes, the Scottish Presby terian, found in him a friend with whom they could converse on things which stand above the divisions of the churches.1 Laud's arm was, however, long enough to reach Peters even in Eotterdam, and in 1635 the same ship which bore the younger Vane carried Peters to New England. With Peters, who was soon engaged as a preacher at Salem, there was no impassable gulf between divine -p^ifn things and the ordinary ways of human life. Never f^ Ens- had any minister less of the professional clergyman tainable without difficulty, no credit is due to them when they tell us what passed in the bedroom of the first Mrs. Peters before her marriage. 1 " I lived about six years near that famous Scotchman, Mr. John Forbes, with whom I travelled into Germany, and enjoyed him in much love and sweetness constantly, from whom I never had but encouragement though we differed in the way of our churches. Learned Amesius breathed his last breath in my bosom." Mr. Peters' Last Report of the English IVars. E. 351, 12. 300 CURRENTS OF OPINION. than Eeters. His letters show him as he really was — fond of a jest, much concerned in the price of corn and butter, and taking the opportunity of a sermon to recommend the settlers to raise a stock for fishing,1 but anxious withal for the righteousness as well as for the material prosperity of the colony. This idea of righteousness was not, indeed, altogether in advance of his age. There had been a war with the Eequod Indians, and Peters had learned that captives had been taken. " We have heard," he wrote to Winthrop, " of a dividence of women and children in the Bay, and would be glad of a share, viz. a young woman or girl and a boy if you think good." Probably the children, if, as was very likely the case, their parents had been slain, would be better off in Peters's family than if they had been left to the chances of the woods. On another point at least he was altogether for self-sacri fice. " We are bold," he continued, " to impart our thoughts about the corn at Pequoit, which we wish were all cut down or left for the Naragansicks rather than for us to take it ; for we fear it will prove a snare thus to hunt after their goods whilst we come forth pretending only the doing of justice, and we beheve it would strike more terror into the Indians so to do. It will never quit cost for us to keep it." 2 It is cha racteristic of the man that, although he was at one with Vane on the great question of religious liberty, he was shocked by the intolerant spirit of the party of toleration to which the young Governor had attached himself.3 He told Vane plainly that 'before he came the churches were at peace.' 4 1 Winthrop 's Life of Winthrop, ii. 132. 2 Peters to Winthrop. Mass. Soc. Hist. Collections, series iv. C. p. 95. 3 See Hist, of Engl. 1603-1642, viii. 175. 1 Winthrop's Hist, of New England, 209. HUGH PETERS. 301 Peters's love of liberty was not a high intellectual chap. XXXV persuasion like that of Vane or Milton, nor did it - — - — '-* arise, like that of Eoger Williams, from Biblical study Peterg,8 undertaken under the stress of persecution. It sprang T.ie™ onf from the kindliness of a man of genial temper to conscience. whom minute theological study was repulsive, and who, without disguising his own opinions, preferred goodness of heart to rigidity of doctrine. Peters could not handle a religious subject without attempt ing to apply it in some way to the benefit of men in the world. Three things, he declared in his last apology for his life, he had ever sought after: 'First, that goodness, which is really so, and such religion might be highly advanced ; secondly, that good learn ing might have all countenance ; thirdly, that there may not be a beggar in Israel — in England.'1 With Peters the difficulty was not to avoid quarrels, but to understand why men should quarrel. " Truly it wounds my soul," he wrote at a time when, though the civil war was at an end, ecclesiastical bitterness was at its height, "when I think Ireland would perish and England continue her misery through the dis agreement of ten or twenty learned men. . . . Could we but conquer each other's spirit, we should soon befool the devil and his instruments ; to which end I could wish we that are ministers might pray together, eat and drink together, because, if I mistake not, estrangement hath boiled us up to jealousy and hatred." 2 There must have been an absolute hos tility to cant in a Puritan divine of the seventeenth century who could recommend dining together as a remedy for the disputatiousness of the clergy. His own evident enjoyment of a good dinner when it 1 A dying Father's last legacy, 112. 2 Mr. Peters' Last Report. E. 351, 12. 302 CURRENTS OF OPINION. CHAP. XXXV. 1645 Hugh Peters as an army chaplain. Peters emplo\ ed by Faii- fax and Cromwell. came in his way led, in the natural course of things, to the charges which were brought against him by his enemies of being a glutton, if not something worse.1 Such was the man who, at the opening of the civil troubles, returned to England, and ultimately drifted into the position of an army chaplain in the New Model. It was a post for which he was eminently fitted. It is easy to imagine how he could chat and jest with the soldiers, and yet could seize an oppor tunity to slip in a word on higher matters. His influence must have been such as Cromwell loved — an influence which in every word and action made for concord. The wildest vagaries, the most rigid orthodoxy, were equally secure of a mild and toler ant judgment from Eeters. On the other hand Peters was not the man to slacken the arms of the soldiers. For Eoyalism and the religion of Boyalism he had a hearty detestation, and whenever there was a battle to be fought or a fortress to be stormed, he was always ready with a rousing appeal to the warriors of God's army to quit themselves like men in the struggle against wickedness in high places. It was one of the saddest results of Laud's despotism that it had taught one who seemed born for the widest practical sympathy to regard the piety of the Church of England as absolutely outside the bounds of charity. Whatever judgment may be passed on Eeters, there can be no doubt that he was in high favour with both Fairfax and Cromwell. It was Eeters who had been selected to unfold at Westminster the tale of the surrender of Bridgwater ; and he was now again employed to explain to Earliament, as an eye witness only could explain, the full details of the surrender of Bristol. 1 See a satire entitled Ilosanna. E. 559, 11. ' ' RICHARD BAXTER. 303 Hugh Peters was in his place as a chaplain of the chap. New Model.1 Eichard Baxter would have been in his — " ,' -- place as the minister of a large town congregation. Some little time after the war broke out he had been Coventry. compelled to retire from Kidderminster by the attack of a Eoyalist mob, and had shortly afterwards removed to Coventry, where he preached to the townsmen and the soldiers of the garrison. His strong sense of the reality of the spiritual wTorld and his tenderness in dealing with individual cases endeared him to his congregation. Yet Baxter was above all things a His mental controversialist, one who loved to set forth the gospel as addressed indeed to the hearts of men, but as guarded by all the minute distinctions of Buritan theology. For forms of church government he did not care much. He did not altogether approve of the system which Parliament and Assembly were at tempting to set up, and he would probably at any time of his life have been content with a compromise, if such could be found, between Presbyterianism and Episcopacy. His mind, in fact, was essentially unpolitical. He could comprehend ideas, but he could not comprehend men, and even in 1645 *ne common place about fighting for King and Parliament was still for him a stern reality, which every man in England was bound to do his best to carry into effect. A visit to some old friends in the army two days Baxter after the fight at Naseby opened Baxter's eyes to the Irrriy.the temper which prevailed there. All manner of opinions made themselves heard amongst the soldiers. Armi- nians and Anabaptists, Independents and Antinomians 1 Under the date of 1649 Whitelocke states that letters from Ireland affirmed of Peters that at the beginning of the troubles in Ireland he led a brigade against the rebels, and came off with honour and victory. The evidence is not very good, but the thing is likely enough if it means that he suddenly urged on a brigade to fight, 304 CURRENTS OF OPINION. chap, discoursed freely in favour of their special views. It - — ^ — '- was perhaps against these men less as sectarians than 45 as heretics that Baxter was disposed to wage war. He regarded them, doubtless not without reason, as men who, being uneducated in theological lore, threw themselves into the exposition of the most delicate mysteries without adequate preparation, and who added to their rash ignorance a no less rash contempt for the authorised clerical exponents of truth. Eough military jokes about the Eriest-biters, the Dry-vines, and the Dissembly men filled him with horror. He resolved to be the St. George who should slay this dragon with the sword of the Spirit, and he fancied his work would be the easier because he dis covered that there were plenty of orthodox Christians in the army, and still more who were, in his sense, hardly Christians at all. The sectaries, he thought, were not one in twenty in each regiment.1 Baxter as Without difficulty Baxter obtained an appointment w'haHey's0 as chaplain to Whalley's regiment, and for some regiment. months ^g accompanied the army on its marches. His whole time was spent in fruitless disputations with men who were as resolute as they appeared to him to be unintelligent. Each one had his own petty theory of the relations between God and man to maintain, and what was worse was that ' their most Libert of freciuent and vehement disputes were for liberty of conscience conscience, as they called it ; that is, that the civil in the . 1 -1 -i • army. magistrate had nothing to do to determine of anything in matters of religion, by constraint or restraint, but 1 " For the greatest part of the common soldiers, especially of the foot, were ignorant men of little religion, abundance of them such as had been taken prisoners, or turned out of garrisons under the King, and had been soldiers in hie army ; and these would do anything to please their officers." Rel. Baxteriana;, 53. This passage ought to have been suf ficient to put an end to the popular notion about the New Model. MILITARY REPUBLICANS. 305 every man might not only hold but preach and do in matters of religion what he pleased ; that the civil magistrate hath nothing to do with but civil things, to keep the peace and protect the Church's liberties, &c.' No wonder that Cromwell, as Baxter, much to his Cromweii ' is cool astonishment, discovered, looked askance on a man towards Baxter. who controverted the doctrine which alone enabled the army to hold together. Already, when Baxter had announced at Coventry his intention of setting forth to reform the army, Colonel Purefoy had warned him to abstain from the rash . enterprise. " Let me hear no more of that," he said. " If Noll Cromwell should hear any soldier speak but such a word, he would cleave his crown. You do them wrong: it is not so." As often happens, the subordinate had exaggerated the intentions of his superior, and Cromwell contented himself with leaving the new chaplain without the notice which he conceived to be his due. Nor was it only the religious opinions of the The soldiers which struck Baxter with horror. Those ™ilita7view of who had strange views about religion had also Royalty, strange views about the State. " I perceived," de clares Baxter, " they took the King for a tyrant and an enemy, and really intended to master him or to ruin him, and they thought if they might fight against him they might kill or conquer him, and if they might conquer, they were never more to trust him further than he was in their power ; and that they thought it folly to irritate him either by wars or con tradictions in Parliament, if so be they must needs take him for their King, and trust him with their lives when they had thus displeased him." These audacious reasoners, too, had more to say on another ami of head. "What," they argued, "were the Lords of 11. x 306 CUP, RENTS OF OPINION. chap. England but William the Conqueror's Colonels, or xxxv . . -^— , — '-' the Barons but his Majors, or the Knights but his Captains ? " " They plainly showed me," continued the bewildered chaplain, " that they thought God's pro vidence would cast the trust of religion and the kingdom upon them as conquerors ; they made no thing of all the most wise and godly in the armies and garrisons that were not of their way. Per fas aut nefas, by law or without it, they were resolved to take down, not only bishops, and liturgy, and ceremonies, but all that did withstand their way. They .... most honoured the Separatists, Anabap- Cromweii tists, and Antinomians ; but Cromwell and his council n'.ertyof took on them to join themselves to no party, but to be for the liberty of all."'1 To be for the liberty of all was so truly the highest wisdom that there is some difficulty in turn ing the attention to the weakness which underlay Danger of tne aspirations of these military sectaries. There revolu- -1 . J tionary was m them much vigour and moral earnestness, but charges. - , .. . . there was also much ignorance and fanaticism. It was not merely that they could not satisfy the theo logical niceties of Baxter. They were too sternly moral to commend themselves to a nation content with laxer habits, and too deficient in broad culture to satisfy its intelligence. To liberty they had a claim, but they had no claim to rule. Yet it was upon ruling that their hearts were set. They wanted to cut across the old lines of progress without the power of establishing new ones. They wished to cast down king and nobility^ with no nation inspired by the spirit of democracy behind their backs. It could cr.,niweirs hardly be otherwise, but the fact that it was so goes moderating . 1 i ¦ ' influence. far to explain the long patience with which Cromwell 1 Rel. Ba.rterianee, 51. LILBURNE AGAIN IN TROUBLE. 307 pleaded with Parliament to grant liberty of con science, but to keep the control of the army in its own hands.1 It is possible that the House of Commons was the more unwilling to comply with Cromwell's request because it had recently been irritated by Lilburne, who had forfeited his position in the army through his refusal to take the Covenant, but who, neverthe less, embodied more than anyone else the revolu- ^htl?oae™r" tionary spirit by which the army was pervaded, spirit ofthe Prynne had not forgotten Lilburne's attack upon him in the winter, and Prynne, like Laud, was by no means indisposed to call in the arm of the flesh to rid him of his adversaries. On May 16 Lilburne was arrested TMuayi6' J Lilburne and carried before the Committee of Examinations to arrested. give account of the letter in which he had declared against the payment of tithes.2 His reply was a May 17. ° . . , L . . „ . 1 • -i t He justifies scathing denunciation of the treatment to which good himself. Christians and sturdy defenders of the Parliamentary cause were frequently subjected, if they refused to comply with the prevailing system of religion. Some had been thrust into prison, others set in the stocks, or driven from their homes, by order of magistrates or of mihtary commanders. Private violence was sometimes as dangerous as the abuse of authority. A man with a crossbow had lately shot bullets at the noted leader of the Baptists, Hanserd Knollys, though in this case Lilburne honestly acknowledged that the offender had been apprehended.3 Upon this the committee declared that the arrest of Lilburne had been a mistake, and declined to trouble him further. 1 See p. 295. 2 See p. 55. 3 The reasons of. . . . lilburne's sending his letter to Mr. Pitjnne. E. 288, 12. 3o8 CURRENTS OF OPINION. CHAP. XXXV. 1645 June 13. Lilburne prints his reasons. •Tune 18. He is again arrested. Lilburne'schii ns on Parliament. July 14. Cromwellsupports him. Here the matter might have ended if Lilburne had been content with a merely dialectical victory. Lilburne was, however, inspired with all Cromwell's devotion to the service of the public, without Crom well's reticence or sense of the limit which divides the practicable from the impracticable. Silence was impossible for him as long as there were grievances to be redressed and oppression to be assailed. On June 13, when all London was in suspense on the eve of Naseby fight, he printed, without submitting his pamphlet to the licenser, the arguments in favour of the oppressed which he had urged before the com mittee. In so doing he had committed an offence in comparison of which the unlicensed publication of Milton's Areopagitica was as nothing. His was no philosophical argument in behalf of liberty of speech and writing. He had used the unlicensed press to stir up public feeling in favour of men whom he alleged to be ill-treated, instead of contenting himself with appealing to Parliament as a court of final resort. Accordingly, on June 18, Lilburne was again arrested and brought before the committee, though even on this occasion there was no attempt to press the charge home, and his imprisonment does not seem to have lasted more than a single night. Be- sides public grievances Lilburne had a private griev ance of his own. The money which had been voted to him by Parliament in compensation for his suffer ings at the hands of the Star Chamber had never been paid, and his arrears of pay as an officer were still unsatisfied. He accordingly rode down to the Western army to obtain a good word from Cromwell. On July 14 he witnessed the Battle of Langport, and brought back the news ofthe victory to Westminster, as well as a letter from Cromwell urgin« the House SAVILE'S CHARGES. 309 of Commons to take up the cause of a brave and chap. honest man who was asking no more than his due.1 — . — - Almost as soon as Lilburne was back in London, „ ' 4; State of he was again in trouble. Before Naseby had been Pariiamen- fnught, whilst anxiety as to the issue of the strife ™j. prevailed at Westminster, there was enough combus tible matter in Parliament to produce a conflagration . The Independents threw the blame for all that went wrong upon the Presbyterians, whilst the Presby terians cast it back upon the Independents. After the great victory the wrath of the rival parties cooled down, and there was, for the time, a common desire to extinguish the embers of strife. Of this change s.ivuvs . . . . charge of feehng Savile was the first victim. He charged against tx n • 1 i ¦ 1 ¦ -1 • 1 Holies. Holies with having been in correspondence with Digby, but the only evidence which it was in his power to adduce was that of a correspondent at Oxford, whose name he declined, from motives of honour, to betray. Many months later he alleged that his correspondent was the Duchess of Bucking- • ham, and, though Savile's character for truthfulness did not stand high, it is likely enough that the charge was well founded. At all events, Savile had juneao. no friends at Westminster, and the Lords sent him t.-athe"e to the Tower for refusing to name his informant.2 The imprisonment of Savile could not stop men's Liibume mouths, and when Lilburne returned from Langport rumours he not only found that Holles's alleged negotiation Hdielufu with Digby was the subject of common talk, but that LenthaI1- it was also noised abroad that the Speaker and his brother, Sir John Lenthall, in the dark days of the plots at the opening of 1644, had had a hand in for- 1 Innoceney and truth justified. E. 314, 21. 2 L.J. vii. 440; viii. 302. There was also a charge brought by Savile against Holies and Whitelocke. 3io CURRENTS OF OPINION. CHAP. xxxv. "1645 July 19. Lilburne again taken into custodv. His Letter to a FHend. His view on the authority of Parlia ments. and on the Committee ot Ex aminations. warding 60.000/. from Sir Basil Brooke in London to the King at Oxford. Though there was nothing in trinsically improbable in the charge,1 Lilburne had no means of testing its truth. Nevertheless he blurted out the story without compunction. The Speaker of the House of Commons was a dangerous man to pro voke, and Lilburne was at once, taken into custody by order of the House.2 Once more from his captivity Lilburne appealed to the people through the press. In a Letter to a Friend he justified his conduct in every respect. In his advocacy for liberty of speech in its extremest form, Lilburne rejected the despotism of Earliament as he had rejected the despotism of the King. " Por my part," he wrote, "I look upon the House of Commons as the supreme power of England, who have residing in them that power that is inherent in the people — who yet are not to act according to their own wills and pleasure, but according to the funda mental constitutions and customs of the land, which, I conceive, provide for the safety and preservation of the people — unto whom I judge I am bound in conscience to yield either active or passive obedience ; that is to say, either to do what they command, or to submit my body to tlieir pleasure for not yielding active obedience to what I conceive is unjust. And truly I should much desire to know of you what you conceive of the Committee of Examinations : for either it is a court of justice or no court of justice, and either it is tied unto rules or not tied ; but if it be a court of justice and tied unto rules when it sits upon criminal 1 We know from the Verney MSS. that in 1647 Sir John took a bribe of 50Z. from Lady Verney for favouring her case before a committee, which he could hardly do except by using his brother's influence. 2 C.J. rv. 213. LILBURNE'S PROTEST: 311 XXXV. 164s causes betwixt man and man concerning Hfe, liberty, £xxv or estate . . . methinks they should observe the method of other courts of justice, and that which they themselves did in aU or most of their committees at the beginning of this Parliament, that the doors might be open to all the free people of England that have a desire to be present to see what they say or do, not kept close to keep out men's friends and sufler their enemies to be in ; and that men should have the liberty of Magna Carta and the Petition of Eight — for which I have fought l all this while — and not to be examined upon interrogatories concerning them selves as we used to be in the Star Chamber and High Commission, and for refusing to answer to be committed." 2 New Parliament, in short, was but old King writ Lilburne's large. Eevolutions raise fresh questions every day, uonai and Lilburne was but the first to ask what would po"tlon' soon be in many mouths. Yet it was a question which could receive no adequate answer as yet. In 1645 Lilburne's was a cry raised out of due time. As Cromwell well knew, so long as there was war in the land, no responsible politician could venture to narrow the sphere within which Earliamentary authority was exercised. For all that, a later generation, to whom Lilburne's dreams have become self-evident truths, does well in honouring the man who, wrong-headed and impracticable as he was, took his stand in advance with the framers of the Kentish Petition in the days of Anne, with the supporters of Wilkes's election and of the pubUcity of Parliamen tary debate in the days of George III. The remainder of the story of Lilburne's present , Aue-.g. J l Lilburneret uses tc 1 Printed ' fought for.' , answer. 2 The Copy of a Letter to a friend, p. 41. E. 296, 5. 312 CURRENTS OF OPINION. CHAP. XXXV. 1645 Aug. 11. His prose cution ordered, and dropped. Oct, 14. His libera tion. July 19. Cranfordcommittedto the Tower. struggle is soon told. Suiting his action to his words, he refused to answer before the Committee of Examinations unless the cause of his committal were shown, in accordance with the Eetition of Eight. The House of Commons at once ordered his prosecu tion at quarter sessions on the ground of notorious scandals contained in his Letter to a Friend, but it either soon forgot its indignation in the multiplicity of its affairs, or discovered the folly of making a martyr of its critic. When the sessions were opened no charge was preferred against Lilburne, and the prisoner at once asked to be liberated on the ground of the silence of his accusers. Though the magis trates refused to interfere, the House of Commons itself on October 14 directed his discharge.1 Lilburne's case was not the only one which, though threatening at one time to breed a political storm, was allowed quietly to sink into oblivion. The circum stances under which the Independent leaders had attempted to negotiate for the surrender of Oxford2 had been such as easily to give fair ground for a suspicion that they had betrayed their trust. In July a Scotch minister named Cranford, having been detected in asserting that Say and his friends had carried on unauthorised negotiations with persons at Oxford, was promptly sent to the Tower. It soon, however, appeared that Cranford was a harm less retailer of gossip, and without any long delay he recovered his liberty.8 It was plain that the Commons had no wish to proceed to extremity against offenders on either side. 1 C.J. iv. 235, 236, 239, 253, 307; A just defence of J. Bastwick, E. 265,2; The Liar Confounded, by Prynne, E. 267, 1. Bastwick's pamphlet is as amusing as one of Lilburne's. He explains how he had taken the trouble to teach Lilburne manners in his youth. 8 See p, 170. s C.J. iv. 212, 213; Baillie, ii. 311. 1645 July 29. NEWr ELECTIONS TO BE HELD. 313 No such conciliatory feeling manifested itself in chap. XXXV. Parliament so far as the King was concerned. Before the end of July, indeed, the Scottish commissioners had again urged the importance of reopening nego- ™%haf8 tiations for peace. It was difficult for the Houses to negotia- r> -i iii a i tions may refuse the request abruptly, but on August 18 they be opened. resolved that the negotiation should take the form of b^"/,-,,1®; definite propositions contained in Bills to which j?"['"e_d Charles should be requested to signify his assent jh"t^-°n t0 without discussion. As, however, the preparation of these Bills would of necessity occupy considerable time, the proposed negotiation would have to stand aside for the present.1 The mistake was perhaps made of thinking that a few more victories might induce Charles to accept Bills which he would at present be certain to reject. There was one way in which the House of Com mons might strengthen its position in dealing with the King on the one hand and with the Scots on the other. It had long been reproached with being no more than a mere fragment of the national representation. On August 21 it was resolved, j^^vrits though only by the narrow maiority of three, that a !obeJ o J J j j ' issued. new writ should be issued for the borough of South- wark. During the following week a large number of constituencies received favourable answers to their petitions for permission to hold fresh elections. It is noticeable that, in the course of debate, the issue of the new writs was opposed by the Peace- party and supported by the War-party. The dis cussion turned on points too technical to bring to light the real motives of the speakers. It can, how ever, hardly be doubted that those who wished to see the benches filled with new members were ac- 1 L.J. vii. 515, 530; C.J. iv. 232, 245. 314 CURRENTS OF OPINION. CHAP. XXXV. 1645 SafeguardagainstEoyalistelections. tuated by the belief that in the existing state of affairs the constituencies would send to Parliament members favourable to a vigorous prosecution of the war as the shortest road to peace, whilst their oppo nents feared lest members elected in the temper engendered by the recent victories would re-echo the revolutionary feelings prevaihng in the army. Significant as was the step thus taken, it must not be imagined that the House of Commons had adopted the modern doctrine ofthe supremacy ofthe majority in the constituencies, on whichever side its vote might be thrown. Special care was taken to exclude the Eoyalist element. Not only was a reso lution passed that none who had borne arms for the King should have a seat, but a writ was refused to Beverley, where the Yorkshire Eoyalists seemed likely to influence the election.1 The business of Earliament was still to carry on war, and so long as war was waged it was impossible to admit enemies into the camp. 1 C.J. iv. 249; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 227, Yonge's Diary, Add. MSS. 18,780, fol. 104. 3i5 CHAPTEE XXXVI. R0WT0N HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH. The confidence with which the House of Commons xxxv'i. was appealing to the constituencies was in marked ' ~ify{" contrast with the increasing despondency of the other Aug. side. The great majority of the Eoyalists were evi- Eoyalists dently anxious to submit to necessity. In the West peace.""' especially the oppressions of the King's army were intolerable. Early in August Goring boasted of the Gorin victories he was to win as loudly as if he had never after i.ang- J port. been beaten at Langport. Before many days he was throwing all the blame of his inaction upon his fellow- officers, and declaring that nothing would be done unless he were appointed Lieutenant-General to the Prince, with full power over the whole of the Western armies. If Goring had been fit to command even a regiment his request would have been reasonable. As it was, it is difficult to decide whether the King's service would have suffered most by complying with his wishes or by disappointing them. He remained at Exeter for some weeks carousing at his ease, and replying with flippant jests to all who complained of the outrages committed by his soldiers.1 It is not unhkely that he considered the King's cause to be lost, and that he had no other object in view except to enjoy himself, in his own peculiar fashion, as long as possible. 1 Clarendon, ix. 76. 3i6 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUOH. CHAP. XXXVI. 1645 Aug. 29. The Prince at Exeter. The gentry ask him to .open nego tiations for peace. Sept. 15. The Prince writes to Fairfax. Mazarin's rela' ions with Eng land. The Prince's councillors who, with their young master, had retreated to Launceston after the Battle of Langport, but who, so long as Bristol held out, imagined that there were still some chances in their favour, were almost brought to despair by Goring's misconduct. As a last resource they recommended young Charles to go in person to Exeter to bring his authority to bear on the unruly general. His ex hortations had little effect on Goring,1 but his appear ance at Exeter brought him face to face with an unexpected difficulty. The secret of the letter in which his father had commanded him to leave the country if he was exposed to danger 2 had oozed out, and was taken by all who heard of it as implying a confession that further resistance was hopeless. The gentry assembled at Exeter openly talked of asking the Prince to make overtures to Parliament without consulting his father. To avert the necessity of engaging himself in so unseemly a course, he was recommended, as soon as the loss of Bristol was known, to ask Fairfax for permission to send Hopton and Culpepper to the King to urge him to entertain proposals for peace. Fairfax replied with courtesy, and forwarded the letter to Westminster, where, as might be expected, no action was taken upon it. At Exeter its sole object had been obtained in quieting for a time the minds of the gentry of Devon.3 To Englishmen the best course open to Charles seemed to be that he should come to terms with Earliament, and should thus restore the national unity on the most advantageous terms procurable. The able minister who was himself the Government of 1 Clarendon, ix. 81. 2 Seep. 259. & L.J. vii. 600; Fairfax to the Prince, Sept. 19, Clar. St. P. ii. 192; Clarendon, ix. 82. MONTREUIL IN ENGLAND. 3 I? France took a very different view, Mazarin had no chap. wish to see a monarchy, such as he was accustomed — ^ — ^ to deal with, succeeded in England by a vigorous : 4S and military republic, and as the embodiment of the authority of the Crown of France he had doubtless some sympathy with the sorrows of a Court. His main object, however, in his relations with England was undoubtedly to keep England weak and divided, in order that it might be unable to interfere in Continental affairs to the detriment of France. To strengthen the power of the Scots, with whom France had, for more than three centuries, been on excellent terms, and to induce the King to throw himself upon their support and upon that of their Fresbyterian allies, seemed to him to be the shortest road to the end at which he aimed. It would at least serve to keep in check the New Model army and its supporters in Par liament. Eeasonably distrusting the qualifications of the resident ambassador, Sabran, for so delicate a task, he despatched, at the end of July, a young diploma tist, Montreuil, to England, nominally as an agent to the Scottish Government and its commissioners in London, but in reality to negotiate a settlement of the English troubles which might be satisfactory to France. Whether an alliance between the King and the MonV'w.ii Scots was reached by Charles's abandoning Episcopacy, in London- or by the Scots' ceasing to insist upon imposing Presbyterianism upon England, was a matter of ab solute indifference to Montreuil or his employer. The new diplomatist first tried his powers upon the Scots. Hisneg*. Finding that they were impervious to his arguments, wfththe he hoped to find Charles more yielding. " The King," Scots- he wrote, " ought to prefer the preservation of his crown to that of all the mitres in the country." In 318 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH, chap, this anticipation he was supported by the Earl of — — , — '^ Holland, who, vexed at his long seclusion from poli- 1 45 tical power and its material advantages, was glad enough to renew his old friendly relations with the French embassy.1 TheSscots I11 tne middle 0I" September the time seemed to anxious for have arrived when a forward step might be taken. peace. i ° The Scottish commissioners supposed that, after the surrender of Bristol, the King would be ready to concede what he had refused before, whilst the know ledge that their own country had fallen under the sway of Montrose made them desirous of obtaining such a position in England as would enable them to turn their attention to the expulsion of the victor of Kilsyth. At the same time the ill-feehng between themselves and the English Earliament was on the Sept. i3. increase. On September 13 Loudoun not only in- the English formed the Houses that Leven must follow David against em Leslie across the Tweed, but summoned them to send assistance to Scotland in virtue of their obligations under the Covenant, as Scotland had formerly assisted England. The House of Commons was in no hurry to comply with the demands of their brethren in the a counter- North. It retaliated by asking whether .the whole of demand. J ° the Scottish army was to leave England, and whether in that case the Scots intended to withdraw their garrisons from Newcastle, Berwick, and Carlisle, and to make over those strongholds to English troops.'2 i.oudoun As might have been expected, in his conversation toMon'"3 with Montreuil Loudoun launched forth into un measured denunciation of the English leaders. The 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, Aug. §£, §1. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, ii. fol. 539. 546 ; Montreuil to Brienne, Aug. §1, Carte MSS. lxxxiii. fol. 94. 2 Paper of the Scottish commissioners, in Divers papers presented, p. 1 1, E. 307, 4 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,1 16, fol. 232 ; C.J. iv. 273. treuil. FRENCH INTERVENTION. 3>9 Scots, he said, were anxious for peace, and he believed CH \ p. that all parties in England were of the same mind. ,XXXVI- Under these circumstances Holland offered himself as l645 an intermediary between the commissioners and the lentionot Presbyterian party in the English Parliament, and it offered6 and was finally agreed that terms should be drawn up to aonePted- be despatched to Henrietta Maria. If she agreed to them, and was also able to obtain for them her hus band's approval, France would compel their accep tance by the English Parliament. Balmerino, who was one of the Scottish commissioners, reminded Montreuil that it was to the interest of Mazarin to support Scotland in order to be sure of her assistance if ever the time came when he needed aid against England.1 Such was the project on which, with blinded eyes, men like Holies and Stapleton were ready to embark. Though able to command a majority in the Commons whenever there was any question of imposing fetters on sectarian preaching, they were so hopelessly in a minority whenever they wished to impede the ener getic prosecution of the war, that they did not at this time venture to divide the House in favour of any open overture to the King.2 They preferred to take refuge in a secret intrigue with the Scots and the French. They did not perceive what strength they were adding to their opponents, the Independents, by enabling them to stand forth more evidently than before as the guardians of the national interest and the national honour. 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, Sept. if, Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, ii. fol. 568 ; Montreuil to Brienne, Sept. ||, Carte MSS. lxxxiii. fol. 100. 2 At first sight the reader is puzzled to find Montreuil writing as if the Independents were in a constant majority in the House, till he re members that a Frenchman cared nothing for their attitude towards the sects, and a great deal for their attitude towards the war. There was a 320 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH. For the present, however, in spite of the loss of Bristol, Charles was not brought so low as to despair ™ x i5 , of success. Under the guidance of the restless Digby, The King s _ ~ . ... projects. he was aiming for the third time at a junction with the victorious Montrose. In a letter written on Sept. 18. September 18 from Barnstaple, Culpepper, who had Culpepper's -^^ vigited Digby ^ Q^ftQ and had drurjk in witl] pleasure some of the notions of that sanguine schemer, laid down a complete plan of action. If Bristol had been lost, why should they not endeavour to get London instead of it ? Goring undoubtedly could not long hold out where he was. Let him, therefore, join the King at Oxford or Newark. Let Montrose come south and add his strength to the united armies. One battle gained would place London in the King's hands. French or Irish soldiers might be brought in to occupy the West after Goring had deserted it. One piece of advice Culpepper added. " The next in - gredient," he wrote, " must be a severe and most strict reformation in the discipline and the manners of the army. Our courage is . . . enerved by lazy licentious ness, and good men are so scandahsed at the horrid impiety of our armies that they will not believe that God can bless any cause in such hands."1 Whatever may have been the value of Culpepper's strategical disquisitions, a plan requiring the endowment of Goring and Grenvile with all the virtues of the New Model was ruined before it was attempted. s°pt. 19. In part, at least, Digby had already anticipated orderaito this advice. He had written to the Erince's Council King'!16 m the West directing them to send Goring to join the King with a picked body of horse. On the 19th cross division of parties, as there had been in the earlier days of the Parliament. 1 Culpepper to Digby, Sept. 18. Clarendon St. P. ii. 1 88. ANOTHER MARCH TO THE NORTH. 321 Goring was directed to carry out these orders.1 But chap, • XXXVI it was one thing to give instructions to that self-willed • — , — '- officer and another thing to induce him to execute ' 4S them. Whilst Bristol was besieged he had spent weeks in haggling with the Council over the terms on which he was to march to its reUef, and in this supreme hour of the King's necessity he could think of nothing except his own position in the army.2 Charles's position at Eaglan, whither he had re- Charles at tired after the relief of Hereford, was rapidly becom ing untenable. To the east was Poyntz ; to the west were the Welsh levies, which since the loss of Bristol Temper of threatened at any moment to exchange their smoulder- the Welah-m ing discontent for open hostility.3 There was nothing for it but to set out once more in search of the victor of Kilsyth. It was probably before the King started that Digby made an appeal to Leven and the other Scottish commanders to join their forces with his own and with those of Montrose, on the understanding that, whatever might be done in England, the Scottish Church and State should be unassailed.4 It seems that the letter never reached Leven,5 and, though we have no information on the subject, it is possible that it was dehvered to the friendly Callander,6 and was suppressed by him as hkely to render the prospects of accommodation more hopeless than they were already. On September 18, after some days of hesitating gept l8 movements, Charles set out once more on his quest marches to in the North. Eluding Poyntz, he reached Presteign the XorlJl> 1 Berkshire to Goring, Sept. 19. Clar. MSS. 1,965. 2 Goring to Culpepper, Sept. 28. Lb. 1,974. 3 Symonds, 239. 4 Digby to Leven, Callander, &c, in Clarendon St. P. ii. 189. 5 Leven to the commander of the King's forces, Oct. 9. L.J. vii. 638. 6 Seep. 255. II. Y 322 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH. chap, that evening, and after long and weary marches over the Welsh hills, rested at Chirk Castle on the night of the 22nd.1 1645 Sept.22, and reaches Chirk Castle. fienhuj. Edw-? Waller. W. 1 Digby was as usual buoyant with hopefulness. " The Scots army here in England," he wrote on the 21st, "is drawn into the North, but doubtless dares not look into Scotland unless to submit to Montrose. . . . LANGDALE ON ROWTON HEATH. 323 At Chirk Castle Charles learnt that his presence chap. xxxvi. was sadly needed at Chester. Though the' city had not been completely invested, a local besieging force g J 45 under Colonel Michael Jones had carried the eastern Chester. suburbs on the 20th, but had been repulsed in an attempt to storm the city itself on the night of the 22nd. The approach of the King filled the garrison with fresh hopes. On the 23rd Charles with his Sept. 23. hfe-guard, some 340 strong, rode into the city, whilst overthrow6 Sir Marmaduke Langdaie with a party of horse was DeSjgeer3 despatched over Holt Bridge to take up a position on Eowton Heath, about two miles from the south-eastern side of the fortifications. In this way it was hoped that Jones would be caught and ruined by simultaneous blows from Langdaie and the reinforced garrison. Well laid as the King's scheme was, he had poyntz>3 omitted Poyntz from his calculations. That active ™^~ commander had started in pursuit as soon as he learnt that Charles had given him the slip, and had reached Whitchurch on the 23rd, the day on which the King entered Chester. Here he was met by a messenger from Jones, and, on hearing from him of Charles's arrival, he pushed on all night, arriving Anight .,, 1 march. on the morning of the 24th at an open space known Sept 24 as Hatton Heath. Langdaie had already posted ^"torf himself on Eowton Heath, about two miles nearer Heath- Chester,1 and being already warned of his danger, had faced round to meet the advancing enemy. Both the opposing forces were almost entirely My dear Lord, are not these miracles of Providence able to make au atheist superstitious P For my part I profess to you I never did look upon our business with that assurance that I do now, of God's carrying us through with His own immediate hand, for all this work of Montrose is above what can be attributed to mankind." Digby to Jermyn, Sept. 2 1 . Bankes MSS. 1 The south-east end of Rowton Heath, which is the one towards t 2 324 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILTPHAUGH. chap, composed of cavalry, and Poyntz would therefore XXXVI - — , — ^ gladly have remained on the defensive, as a narrow lane with hedges on either side separated him from Langdaie. As, however, the Eoyalists, having no mind to place themselves at a disadvantage, re frained from making an attack, Eoyntz at last gave the word to advance. With one vigorous charge be drove the enemy before him, but Langdaie soon ralUed his men, and after repeated efforts Poyntz was compelled to draw back. Eepulsed as he was, the Parhamentary commander did not abandon hope. Keeping the enemy in constant alarm by a series of feints, he despatched a courier to Jones to beg for assistance. Jones sent him a few horsemen and, what was far more welcome, a small body of mus keteers. Poyntz had now the advantage of the enemy. His musketeers occupied the defensible ground on either side of the road, stealing forward from hedge to hedge. Having thus secured command over the passage between the two heaths, he ordered the horse to make one more attempt to charge down the road. As the horsemen emerged on Eowton Heath, they again engaged in a desperate struggle, but this time they were supported by foot, and a well-directed volley of musketry from behind the hedges scattered Langdale's reserve and decided the fortune of the day. The Northern horse, whose mis conduct at Naseby had brought disaster upon their master's cause, turned round and fled, and the re mainder of the cavalry imitated their example, with Poyntz's victorious troopers in hot pursuit behind. Poyntz's advance, was known as Miller's Heath, and is so called in some of the narratives of the battle, but the whole was also known as Rowton Heath, and I have therefore, for convenience' sake, dropped the name of Miller's Heath. langdale's defeat. 325 Whilst Langdaie had still been holding his own on Eowton Heath, Lord Lichfield, the gallant soldier who had found it impossible to pay the fees of his Sall.flom new peerage, headed a sally from the city.1 For a Chester. time he was successful, but in the end his men were driven back and he himself was slain. A tablet in the city wall still marks the spot from which Charles looked down to watch the attack upon the besiegers.2 The blow was a crushing one. Not only was Results of Chester, the one port of importance through which defeat!83 supplies could arrive from Ireland, endangered, but, girt about with enemies as he was, Charles could no longer entertain the hope of reaching Scotland by a march through Lancashire. It was not without sur prise that his bewUdered followers scrutinised the cold unimpassioned features which showed no signs of grief or depression. It was difficult for them to realise the thoughts which moved in a sphere un troubled by the reverses or the successes which counted for so much with other men.3 Yet even Charles did not live wholly in the spiritual world. In the worst of times he never lost confidence in mundane resources, and as long as he had Digby at his side he was never hkely to give himself com pletely up to blank despair. On the 25th he rode Jkpt.25. out of Chester, and, with the 2,400 horse which re- Denbigh. mained to him, established himself at Denbigh. Digby, at least, was in high spirits. In writing sept.26. to Ormond on the 26th, he almost succeeded in sanguine representing the conflict on Eowton Heath as a vic tory. Five hundred Welshmen, he informed his corre- 1 See p. 286. 2 Walker, 139 ; The King's forces totally routed, E. 303, 18 ; A letter from Poyntz, E. 303, 24 ; Digby to Ormond, Sept. 26, Carte's Orig. Letters, i. 90; Slingsby's Diary, 169 ; Iter Carolinum. 3 Slingsby's Diary, 169. report s. 326 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH. chap, spondent, had now been added to the garrison of • , — '- Chester, and with the fortified ports on the western side of the Dee in their hands, it would be easy for the Eoyalists to hinder the enemy from blocking up the city. Nor was there any reason to despair of success elsewhere. According to report, Montrose had sent a large force under the Earl of Crawford and Lord Ogilvy into Westmorland, and David Leslie, who had met them there, had been deserted by his own soldiers and miserably routed. Whatever might be the truth of this rumour, it was essential that Charles should join Montrose. " If," wrote the enthu siastic Secretary, " his Majesty can once see his person secure from being thus daily hazarded and chased about, I see no reason why we should be at all dismayed with our many late misfortunes here, since no man can think England divided — though the major part against the King — able to resist Scotland and Ireland entire for him with any considerable party here." All this was followed by a postscript containing the latest news. It was quite true, accord ing to Digby, ' that the rebels were much more broken ' than the King's troops. They had ' retreated northwards.' Crawford had ' advanced as far as Kendal with a brave army.' x On the same day, in Charles's writing to Nicholas, Digby revealed Charles's plan action. of action. Eeports were being spread abroad that he was about to take refuge in Anglesea or to take ship for some port in Scotland. His real intention was ' to steal or break through to Newark, from whence, by God's blessing,' they would without doubt be able to join Montrose.2 The project which 1 Digby to Ormond, Sept. 26. Carte's Oi-ig. Letters, i. 90. 2 Digby to Nicholas, Sept. 26. S.P. Dom. This copy so dated was the one preserved by the writer. In The Nicholas Papers, p. 66, the letter is MONTROSE AT GLASGOW. 327 had failed in August 1 was to be again attempted in September. On the very next day the edifice of fancy so lightly reared was roughly shattered. A letter from Byron, £^7' the governor of Chester, informed Digby that Eoyntz was preparing to follow the King across the Dee, and that, unless Charles were able to cut off the enemy's supplies, the Barliamentarian army would have little difficulty in estabhshing a complete blockade of the city. If this were accomphshed a speedy surrendei was inevitable. To this doleful intimation Byron added inteUigence stUl more doleful. A deserter who had come in had told him that there had been great rejoicings in Poyntz's army for a victory over Mont rose.2 The news, as Digby subsequently learnt, was true, whilst his own news of Crawford's victory over David LesUe was a pure fabrication. In point of fact, never had Montrose's difficulties ^"^f.g been greater than when the victory of Kilsyth appeared difficultie3- to have placed him at the height of power. He was weU aware that with his loosely compacted following he could not even hold the Lowlands, much less re conquer England for the King. Before his sanguine mind indeed there arose the vision of a mighty host of Lowlanders weary of the tyranny of Argyle and the Kirk, hastening to take service under the King's Lieutenant. Yet it was hard to see how any hearty co-operation was to be expected between the hard working peasants and farmers of the South and the untamed clansmen of the North, who boasted that in printed with the date of Sept. 28. In the original (Ego-ton MSS. 2,533, fol. 401) the 26 is altered to 28. I suppose therefore that the letter was written on the 26th, before the news from Philiphaugh had arrived, but not sent off. A postscript is dated Sept. 29. 1 See p. 261. 2 Byron to Digby, Sept. 27. S.P. Dom. 328 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH. CHAP. XXX VI. 1645 Aug. 16. Montrose at G asgow. He finds it difficult to maintain discipline, Aug. 18, and goes out to Bothwell. the course of twelve months no less than 15,000 Lowland Scots had fallen beneath their swords. Montrose's first difficulty was with his Highlanders. At some time— it would seem before the Battle of Kilsyth had been fought 1 — he had promised them the plunder of Glasgow in the belief that the town was unalterably devoted to the interests of his enemies. As he approached the town he was met by a deputa tion of citizens, who assured him of their submission, and offered him a sum equivalent to 500/. of English money to be divided amongst his followers.2 Though Montrose in return offered them his protection, he found, when he entered Glasgow, that he had enough to do to maintain discipline. The untold wealth, as it appeared to the simple mountaineers, which was displayed in the stalls and in the streets was too tempting to be foregone. Yet, unless the goodwill, not only of Glasgow, but of every town in the Low lands, was to be forfeited, plundering must be sup pressed with a heavy hand. Montrose did what he could, and some of the worst offenders he hanged upon the spot. After two days, however, finding it impossible to maintain order as long as his rude soldiery remained in the town, he led them out to Bothwell, where they would be out of the reach of temptation. For a few days all seemed to go well. Alaster Macdonald scattered some bands which Cassilis and Eglinton had raised in the West. On the 20th Mont- 1 See his letter to the town of Glasgow, in which he promises pro tection, written just after the battle. Napier's Memorials of Montrose, ii. 222, "A thousand double pieces." Patrick Gordon, 153. Mr. Oman, of All Souls College, informs me that the double piece was probably the ' double crown ' of James VI. and the ' half-unit ' of Charles I., and was a gold piece value 61. Scots, i.e. ten shillings in the English coinage. THE DESERTION OF THE CLANS. 329 rose summoned a Parliament to meet at Glasgow in chap. October. Within a few days Edinburgh and all the ¦ — ; — '* South had acknowledged the authority of the King's J 45 Lieutenant. Edinburgh was grievously visited by the Mon'rose ¦1 -, ,, . ...... .... summons a plague, and could not, therefore, invite him within ner pariia- waUs, but the prison-gates were thrown open, and ™^er'ation Lord Napier, Lord Crawford, Lord Ogilvy, Stirling ofprison- of Keir, with many more of Montrose's friends, stepped forth into liberty. Montrose despatched a messenger to the King to assure him that he would soon cross the Border at the head of 20,000 men.1 The determination to summon a Parhament Montrose brought matters to a crisis. To gain the support of th^High-3 a Parliament it was necessary for Montrose to have lander8- the good-will of the towns and of the middle class in the country, and this was not easily to be had on terms which would satisfy the Highlanders. The Glasgow citizens reminded him that the holding of a Parhament within their walls would compel them to incur a considerable expenditure, and begged for the remission of the 500Z. which they had promised to raise. Montrose could not but comply with their request, and, assembhng the Highlanders, begged them to forego the money for the present, assuring them that before long they should be even better rewarded for their toils. Montrose's address was received with murmurs of Their discontent. Each Highland clan discovered pressing reasons which necessitated its return to the mountains. The Macleans had to rebuild their ruined habitations. The Macdonalds, with the redoubtable Alaster at their head, had yet to fill up the measure of vengeance due to the tyrannical Campbells. The necessity of storing up the plunder which they had acquired in a place 1 Digby to Jermyn, Sept. 21. Bankes MSS, returnhome. 330 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGIL of safety could always be pleaded as soon as there was no hope of acquiring more ; and after three or four days not a Highlander was to be seen in Mont rose's camp. It is true that all, or most of them, loudly professed their intention to return, and that on former occasions professions of this kind had been fulfilled. Never before, however, had the deserters taken offence at their leader, and a Highlander who had taken offence was not hkely to be lured back, especially if he had reason to believe that the service of the commander at whose conduct he had taken umbrage would be profitable no longer. Gordons Aboyne was as capricious as the Highlanders. In response to Montrose's call the lords and gentlemen of the Lowlands who were dissatisfied with Argyle's government flocked in to BothweU. Aboyne com plained that neither the new-comers nor Montrose himself treated him with sufficient respect. The Earl of Crawford, just released from prison, was to command the cavalry, a post which Aboyne regarded as due to himself. Sir William EoUock had written a narrative of Montrose's campaigns, in which the exploits of the Gordons were passed over with insufficient mention, and Montrose, when appealed to on the subject, had refused to recall the book. Aboyne, therefore, rode off at the head of 400 horse and a not inconsiderable number of foot. Of the whole army which had fought at Kilsyth there remained but three or four score horsemen, under the old Earl of AirUe, and about 500 foot, the remains of the 1,600 who had crossed from Ireland twelve months before, and who still clung to Montrose, though their own leader had deserted him.1 1 Wishart, ch. xiv.; Patiick Gordon, 153; A more perfect. . . . re lation, E. 303, 4. MONTROSE'S IDEALISM. 33 1 It was no accidental mishap that had befallen chap. XXXVI Montrose. With the means at his disposal no genius . — - short of his own could have gained victory in the „ , o J Causes of field. It was impossible for any man to use them Montrose's effectively in the organisation of a government. Montrose, therefore, had to change the basis of his operations in more than a military sense. He had to appear as a Uberator and a statesman where he had hitherto been known only as a destroyer. The principles on which Montrose wished to act Montrose's A \ _ Bemon- were set down in a Eemonstrance, which he probably strance. intended to lay before the new Parliament at its meet ing, but which did not see the hght till after the lapse of two centuries. In this Eemonstrance he announced himself as a foe to Episcopacy and a true Presbyterian, but at the same time declared himself as being stUl the resolute champion of the royal authority against usurping churchmen as much as against their alUes, the usurping nobles.1 Such a remonstrance was the work of an idealist, Montrose not of a statesman. On the battle-field Montrose had well. all CromweU's promptness of seizing the chances of the strife, together with a versatility in varying his tactics according to the varying resources of the enemy, to which CromweU could lay no claim, whilst his skill as a strategist was certainly superior to that of his Enghsh contemporary. His mind, however, in its intellectual working, was the very antithesis to that of Cromwell. Whilst Cromwell always based his action upon existing facts, and contented himself with striving to change them for the better with due regard for the possibilities of the case, Montrose fixed his eye upon an organisation in Church and State 1 Montrose's Remonstrance. Napier, Memoirs of Montrose, i. App. xliv. 332 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUQH. chap, which had not only no real existence, but which was XXXVI. ¦ . — '- very far removed from anything that, in his day at least, could possibly come into existence. There was, as he fancied, to be a king in Scotland — and that king Charles — -who would rule in righteousness and support an unpolitical Eresbytery. There was to be a clergy content with the fulfilment of its spiritual duties, and a nobility forgetful of its own interests and eager only to support the authority of the king. All loyal Scotsmen were to be as generous, as un selfish as himself. Character The absence of all grasp on the concrete facts of ros^s°nt" politics is the more astonishing because it was co- foiiowers. incident in Montrose with the most intense reahsation of the concrete facts of war. He seems, indeed, to have had no conception of the temper in which Scotland, after the slaughter of her sons in the battles in the North, regarded the leader of those who had done them to death. It was no Euritan or Covenanter who passed the strongest condemnation upon the license of Montrose's followers. " This, indeed," wrote Patrick Gordon, it may be hoped with con siderable exaggeration, after ascribing Montrose's victories to the miraculous intervention of God, " from mortal men to the immortal God deserveth a great deal of thankfulness . . . which, it seems, they were not careful enough to perform, ascribing too much to their own merits, as if a man were able to hft up his arm against an enemy if God work not with him. This also could not but offend the Holy of Holies that, when God had given their enemies into their hands, the Irishes in particular were too cruel ; for it was everywhere observed they did ordinarily kill all they could be master of, without any motion of pity or any consideration of humanity; nay, it EXCESSES OF MONTROSE'S FOLLOWERS. 333 1645 seemed to them there was no distinction between a man and a beast ; for they killed men ordinarily with no more feeling of compassion and with the same careless neglect that they kill a hen or capon for their supper ; and they were also without all shame, most brutishly given to uncleanness and filthy lust. As for excessive drinking, when they came where it might be had, there was no Umits to their beastly appetites. As for godless avarice and merciless oppression and plundering the poor labourer, of these two crying sins 1 the Scots were also guilty as they." If Montrose knew little of the loathing with which Montrose his connection with these men was regarded, he knew Kirk. e as little of the hold which the Kirk had gained upon the Southern population by its popular organisation and its services in the cause of national independence. The one actual feeling to which he could possibly new sup-83 appeal was the jealousy entertained by many of the gentry and nobility of clerical interference with the freedom of their lives, and it was this jealousy which had in all probability brought so large a number trooping into Bothwell. Yet so many of the more powerful nobles had found that their interest was 1 In the records of the Presbytery of Turriff, shown me by Dr. Milne of Fyvie, is an entry which shows how Montrose's presence interfered with clerical work. With the exception of a single entry about the death of a minister, there is nothing in the book from August 14, 1644, to May 13, 1646. At its recommencement the record begins as follows: " The next day convened the brethren of the Presbytery of Turriff, and praised God from their hearts for granting them liberty in health and peace to meet for promoving of the Lord's work ; from the which benefit they have been restrained by reason of the enemy lying and tyrannising within the precincts [?] ofthe Presbytery for the space almost of ane year and ane half, except some three or four diets they had met together in great fear and hazard, both of their lives and fortunes. The rolls of which meetings was left with Mr. Thomas Mitchell, and rent and de stroyed by the enemy when his books, papers, and goods were plundered and destroyed ." porters. 334 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH. CHAP. XXXVI. 1645 The Border lords. Sept. 6. David Leslie in Scotland. Sept. 9. Imprison ment of Home and Koxhurgh. Traquairand Douglas. better served by leading the Kirk than by opposing it, that, even as an aristocratic party, Montrose's new supporters were singularly weak, and even those who willingly proffered loyal service to him joined him in a half-hearted fashion as men well aware of the real strength of the government which to all outward appearance he had utterly destroyed. Conspicuous in their offers of assistance were the Border lords, the Earls of Eoxburgh, Home, and Traquair. Their past history was sufficient testimony that they would have preferred a government by the King to a government by Argyle and the Kirk. Though they were hardly the men to expose them selves to ruin for the sake of any cause, they now urged Montrose to come amongst them to give his countenance to the levies which they were making. Home and Eoxburgh played a double game from the first. Whilst Montrose believed them to be raising levies for himself, his opponents imagined that they were raising them for the Covenant. David Leslie, however, by September 6 had crossed the Border, and Middleton, who was despatched by him in ad vance, came, as he gave out, upon evidence of their treason. He arrested them both, and on the 9th they were lodged as prisoners in Berwick. Amongst Montrose's supporters it was afterwards believed that they had themselves asked Leslie to take them prisoners.1 Traquair, for the present at least, maintained an apparent fidelity, and directed his son, Lord Linton, to join Montrose. The Marquis of Douglas, who, 1 Wishart, ch. xv. Wharton in his letter of Sept. 10 (L.J. vii. 581) simply mentions that they were brought prisoners ' upon suspicion, or some discovery of their holding intelligence with Montrose.' A fuller account is given out of a letter from Scotland in The Weekly Account, E. 301, 17. It is here that Middleton's part in the matter is stated. DAVID LESLIE AND MONTROSE. 335 without any afterthought, had declared for Montrose, had actually levied the force which he had promised to raise ; but great as was still the influence of a Scottish lord over his tenants, he was unable to keep them from deserting in masses a cause which they de tested. When, shortly after the arrest of the two earls, Montrose appeared at Kelso, he found himself at the head of his 500 Irish foot and of a body of cavalry 1,200 strong, which was entirely composed of noblemen and gentlemen. Not a man of the lower Quality of and middle classes would serve under him. No army™363 wonder that Traquair saw that Montrose's cause was lost. He recalled his son from the Eoyalist army, and, unless common fame is to be distrusted, sought to purchase immunity by betraying Montrose's weak ness to the enemy. Ignorant though the Eoyalist commander was of Traquair's treachery, he found so little encouragement in the Eastern Borders that he resolved to transfer himself to the West in hope that he might there meet with better success. David Leshe had almost missed his prey. Having David been reinforced as he passed through Newcastle, he march.3 was now at the head of some infantry in addition to the 4,000 horse which he had brought with him from Hereford. Marching along the sea coast towards Midlothian, where Montrose had been a few days before, he determined, after due consultation with his officers, to pursue his course up the Forth, and to lay in wait for Montrose's inevitable retreat to the Highlands. The letter from Traquair, if Traquair was indeed the sender of it, changed his purpose, and marching rapidly southwards along the course of the Gala Water, he reached the little viUage of Sunder- 1 Wishart, ch. xv. ; Patrick Gordon states that Montrose had at Philiphaugh 1,200 horse, ' all gentlemen, barons, and noblemen.' 336 ROWTON HEATH AND PHILIPHAUGH. chap, land on the night of September 12. Montrose with XXXVI -— - — '- his scanty force was at Selkirk, not four miles distant. „' 4S Montrose had ordered his army to rendezvous the Battle of next morning on the long level meadow which lies Philip- b " haugh. along the Ettrick Water below the hillside on which Selkirk stands, and which bears the name of Bhilip- haugh. His men were still in disorder when David Leslie burst upon them with 4,000 horse out of the mist which lay heavUy on the flat. The 500 veterans who had once followed Alaster Macdonald were faithful to the last. For them in a foreign land there was no safety but in the grave. Of the 1,200 mounted gentry who should have given them the support of cavalry, only 150 under the old Earl of Airlie and Nathaniel Gordon rallied round their leader. The others, bewildered and confused, without confidence in themselves or in their cause, gathered in knots far in the rear without making an attempt to take part in what, to them at least, seemed to be a hopeless struggle. In spite of their defection, Montrose, with Crawford and Ogilvy at his side, did his best to guide the unequal battle. Twice he drove back with his scanty numbers the rush of Leshe's horsemen, but at a terrible cost. Soon, out of the 1 50 who followed him in the first charge but forty or fifty were left. Further resistance was use less, and the hitherto unvanquished captain fled for his life. Crawford and Airlie also escaped, as well as the Marquis of Douglas, the only one of the Southern nobility who drew sword on that field of destruction. The remainder of the combatants were slain or taken. Those who had stood aloof at the beginning of the engagement had already dispersed, and were in full flight towards their homes. The victors, having thus disposed of Montrose's scanty cavalry, turned upon his foot. Three hundred THE MASSACRE OF PHIL1PHAUGII. were still standing in the ranks. After 2 so of them chap. xxxvi. had perished as they stood, Stuart, the adjutant, asked for quarter, and quarter was granted to the ! 45 remaining fifty.1 Then ensued a butchery more horrible than any Butchery of that had followed upon any of Montrose's victories, women. The wild clansmen of the North had contented them selves with taking vengeance upon men. The trained and disciplined soldiers of the Covenant slaughtered with hideous barbarity not only the male camp followers but 300 Irish women, the wives of their slain or captured enemies, together with their infant children.2 To the Scotchman every Irish man or woman was but a noxious beast. It soon repented the conquerors that they had spared the lives of fifty soldiers. The churchmen and the noblemen of the Covenant remonstrated warmly against the act of clemency. Quarter, it was said, by a vile equivoca tion, had been granted to Stuart alone, not to his men. As the triumphant army passed through Lin lithgow, Leslie weakly gave way, and stained his honour by abandoning his prisoners. The soldiers were bidden to fall on, and they did as they were bidden.3 According to a later tradition, fourscore women and children, who had perhaps escaped from the general massacre, were thrown from a bridge near Linlithgow, to be drowned as English Protestants had been drowned at Portadown.4 1 Wishart, vi. ; Patrick Gordon, 156. * " Three hundred women that, being natives of Ireland, were the married wives of the Irishes." Patrick Gordon, 160. The quotation at p. 331 shows that Gordon was not likely to be too lenient in his judg ment of the Irish. 3 Guthry. Memoirs, 162; Patrick Gordon, 160. 4 Wishart (ch. xvii.) states the fact, but does not give the place. According to a statement quoted by Napier (ii. 587) from a speoch of Sir G. Mackenzie, the place was Linlithgow. IT. 7 333 CHAPTEE XXXVII. BASING HOUSE AND SHERBURN. CHAP. XXXVII. 1645 Sept. 28. Effect of the news from Scot land upon Charles. Plan for bafflingPoyntz and savingChester. Maurice bringsreinforcements. Sept. 29. Fresh orders to Culpepper. The news from Phihphaugh failed to convince Charles and Digby of the hopelessness of further resistance. Their idea of making their way to Newark was not abandoned, though, as far as their plan for reaching Scotland was concerned, there was no longer any reason why they should be at Newark rather than anywhere else. The march, however, it was thought, might be converted into a means of saving Chester. Charles calculated that Poyntz would be sure to follow him with the bulk of his cavalry, and would leave the forces engaged in the siege weakened by his absence. If, therefore, as soon as the King was safe in Newark, Sir William Vaughan were sent back towards Chester with a strong de tachment he would be able to make short work of the besiegers.1 Charles felt the more hopeful when on September 28 Prince Maurice brought him a rein forcement from Worcester of six or seven hundred horse.2 Charles, however, if he resembled Digby in hoping for the best, differed from him in being also prepared for the worst. On the 29th he wrote to Culpepper peremptorily ordering him to send the Prince of Wales to France, and to despatch Gorin' 0 . J scene. which had been named for his journey, Eupert, fol lowed by Willis and Gerard, walked sullenly up to the table at which he was seated.1 'The King, seeing in what mood his nephew was, rose and drew him into a corner of the room. Willis began by respectfully asking to know his accusers, and to be dismissed only upon trial. Here Eupert broke in. " By God," he said, " this is done in malice to me because Sir Eichard hath been always my faithful friend." The discussion threatened to grow warm, but Willis again brought it back within the limits of loyalty and reverence. Gerard had no such self-restraint. Beginning with a 1 This scene has hitherto only been known from the mutilated copy in Symonds's Diary, p. 268. Symonds tore part of the pages out of his book. " Such stuff was printed," he says, " as 1 have torn out, for, being many times since iu Sir Richard Willis's company, 'tis all a feigned formed lie, for he said not one word to the King all that while, and Lord Gerard said most, and that was concerning Lord Digby. This Sir Richard told me Oct. 28, 1659." The word ' formed,' from the original Harl. MSS. 944, fol. 66, is omitted in the printed book, but was read for me by Mr. Kensington, of the British Museum Library. The stuff which ' was printed' was copied by Symonds from The Bloody Treaty. E. 211, 27. "We are therefore now able to read the whole report untnutilated. Is it, however, all ' a feigned formed lie'? On Oct. 28, 1659, "Willis, who had been acting as a spy for Cromwell, had every reason to clear himself from any part in a scene in which the King was treated with disrespect, and bis denial must not therefore be held to be of much weight. It is not to be supposed that the report was taken down in the room, but it is so characteristic of the speakers that it may fairly be held to be sub stantially accurate. The pamphleteer at least was too dull a man to invent it. 358 BASING HOUSE AND SHERBURN. chap, defence of Willis, he was soon hurried away by passion XXXVII - — . — - into an unseemly altercation with the King on the subject of his own dismissal from his Welsh command. Once more Eupert intervened. " By God," he said plainly, "the cause of all this is Digby." Hot words were launched backwards and forwards. " Why do not you obey," pleaded Charles, " but come to ex postulate with me ? " "Because," said Gerard, "your Majesty is ill informed." Gerard had struck home. It was but what the Westminster Parliament had been saying for so many years. " Pardon me," answered Charles with plaintive indignation. " I am but a child ; Digby can lead me where he list. What can the most desperate rebels say more ? " Presh attempts to change his resolution proved fruit less. " I beseech your Majesty," said Eupert at last, " to grant me your gracious leave and pass to go beyond seas." " Oh, nephew," replied Charles, " it is of great concernment, and requires considera tion." Something was then said by Eupert about Bristol. " Oh, nephew " Charles began. He could not finish the sentence. Eupert had no such hesitation. " Digby," he reiterated, " is the man that hath caused all this distraction betwixt us." Charles was nettled. " They are all rogues and rascals that say so," he sternly replied, "and in effect traitors that seek to dishonour my best subjects." After this there was no more to be said. Gerard bowed and left the room. Eupert departed without any sign of reverence. Willis remained to utter a contemptuous remark on the Newark commissioners, the only in temperate remark to which he had given utterance during the whole of the proceedings. a petition Iii the evening a petition signed by the two princes, 'mff' Eupert and Maurice, and twenty other officers, was RUPERT TAKES LEAVE. 359 handed in to the King, asking that no commission chap. might be taken from anyone who had not been £?i$Zl!: heard in his own defence by a council of war, or 45 that, if this were refused, passes to leave Newark might be granted to the petitioners. After this there was no setting out to be thought Charles's of for Charles on that night. He would not, he postponed. replied to the petitioners, make a council of war the judge of his actions. On the following day R°c^7- Eupert followed by 200 horsemen rode off in the ^aves the direction of Belvoir Castle, whence he sent Colonel and re- QU.6Sts Osborne to Westminster to ask for passports to enable Parliament the whole company to leave the country.1 him to If the meeting at Newark reflected no credit on Counetry.e any of those who took part in it, this was but the natural outcome of Charles's incapacity for- the direc tion of armies. Unable to form any consistent scheme of operations, he had thrown himself into the hands of an adviser who was not only no soldier, but who, with some of Buckingham's brilliancy, reproduced only too faithfully Buckingham's extravagances. The revolt of the officers was the result of the natural dis like of military men to be subjected to the control of an incompetent civilian. Yet, true as this explanation is, it is not the whole truth. If Charles found him self isolated, it was not merely because soldiers looked askance upon him. It mattered indeed but little except to the officers concerned whether Gerard or Willis retained their commands or not, but it mattered a great deal to all Charles's followers whether a hope less war was to be any longer persisted in. In op posing Digby as the fountain of promotion Eupert spoke on behalf of the officers. In opposing him as 1 Symonds, 270 ; Walker, 147 ; Rupert to the Houses of Parliament, Oct. 29, Warburton, iii. 207. 360 BASING HOUSE AND SHERBURN. CHAP. XXXVII. 1645 Nov. 3. The King leavesNewark, Nov. 5. and enters Oxford. South Wa'es lost to the King. Nov. 1. Vaughan'sdefeat. the advocate of the prolongation of the war he spoke on behalf of well-nigh the whole of the Eoyalist party. Soldier and civilian were of one mind in demanding peace. It was not long before Charles was made to feel how truly he was alone. At last, on the night of November 3, he left Newark, leaving Bellasys behind him as governor of the fortress. With some difficulty he made his way across a country infested by the enemy, and entered Oxford on the 5th. It was almost a year since he had returned to that city after the modified success of the campaign of Lo'st- withiel and Newbury, when he had been able to per suade himself, not without some show of reason, that he had the promise of victory in his hands. He was under no such delusion now. Eresh disasters were of weekly, almost of daily, occurrence. Before the end of October Morgan, Massey's successor as governor of Gloucester, had captured Chepstow and Monmouth, and Laugharne, having entered Carmarthen, had persuaded not only Carmarthenshire, but Cardigan, Glamorgan, and Brecknock, to submit to the obedience of Parhament. In all South Wales and Monmouth shire — the country from which Charles had drawn the infantry which had surrendered at Naseby — Eaglan Castle alone preserved its allegiance to the King.1 Sandal Castle and Bolton Castle in Yorkshire had also fallen. On November 1 Sir William Vaughan, having been despatched to the relief of Chester, had been defeated near Denbigh.2 On the 3rd, the very 1 Two letters from Col. Morgan, Oct. 23, 24, E. 307, 14 ; Laugharne's letter, Oct. 12, E. 307, 15 ; The Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer, E. 307, 16; C.J. iv. 320; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 239. s Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 240b; Symonds' s Diary, London ¦ Longmans & Co. Eaw4WeHer CHARLES RETURNS TO OXFORD. 36 1 1645 Nov. 3. day on which the King left Newark, Shelford House, an outlying garrison between Newark and Nottingham, was stormed, and of the 200 men who composed its garrison, all except forty were put to the sword.1 sheiT jd Yet, when Charles arrived at Oxford, his soul was stormed. wrung by sorrows even more bitter than those which c^ies'l' were aroused by the crash of his military strength, [^'oxford He could well detect^ the lip-service of those who bowed before him in outward sign of welcome, but whose hearts in their longing for peace were turned against him. To Dorset, who congratulated him with effusion, he replied sharply, "Your voice is the voice of ms reply Jacob, but your hands are the hands of Esau."2 He knew full well what was passing in Dorset's mind. There was scarcely a Eoyalist in Oxford who did not Desire for o -i iii peace at wish overtures for peace to be openly made, and as oxford. far as can be judged from existing indications, they , would rather have made overtures to the Independents and the army than to the Presbyterians and the Scots. Another policy there was, far more attractive to Charles. " Sir," Glemham is reported to have said Giemham's to him about a month before, as he was leaving him to take up his command at Oxford, " although you be too weak for your enemies, yet they are strong enough to light one with another, the Independents against the Presbyterians, and doubt not but that will be a means for your recovery."3 Charles had neither the freedom from scruples of conscience nor the flexibility of intellect requisite to enable him to play the game thus indicated by Glemham. 1 L.J. vii. 678 ; Hutchinson's Memoirs (ed. Firth), ii. 81. It is here stated that 140 prisoners were taken ; Poyntz, writing at the time, gives only forty, which is far more likely to be accurate. 2 Montreuil to Brienne, Nov. §§. Carte MSS. Ixxiii. fol. 109b. 1 Letter printed in Merc. Civicus. E. 305, 5. " This discourse,'' says the writer, " I had from one that heard it." 362 CHAPTEE XXXYIII. A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. xxxvui Already, before his return to Oxford, Charles had — z- — been playing with each of the two parties into which Charles his opponents were divided. The attempt to open a hotriswul1 correspondence with Leven and the Scottish army parties. ^yg^ now 0f q}^ fjate.1 There is more obscurity as regards the intercourse between Charles and the Independents, but there is strong reason to believe that he had given a favourable response to overtures made to him from that quarter for an understanding on the basis of liberty of conscience.2 On the whole, however, the King inclined to the Presbyterians. He was afraid of the democratic tendencies of the army, and he underestimated the tenacity with which the Presbyterians clung to their ecclesiastical system. Circumstances were bringing both the Scots and the English Presbyterians to contemplate an under- terians'and standing with the King, as affording them a rallying- pendentsin P011lt against the Independents. Though, as far as the com- liberty of conscience was concerned, the Presbyterians mons. J J had the mastery in the House of Commons, the 1 See p. 255. 2 It is true that nothing of this appears in the printed papers taken at Sherburn, or in the notes in Yonge's Diary of others read in Parliament. The Scottish Dove, however (E. 308, 25), says that ' the chief champions of our sectaries, or furious factious men, have been tampering with the Royal party,' and this, which in itself would not be of much weight, is confirmed by the reiterated allegations of Montreuil. armv to come CHARLES AND THE SCOTS. 363 Independents carried all before them whenever any chap. . . XXXVIII. question arose bearing on the conduct of the war, or - — . — ' on the relations between the English Parliament and its Scottish auxiliaries. Towards the end of Sept ember there was much bickering between the House and the Scots. On the 23rd the Commons voted that Sept 23 Leven should be asked to lay siege to Newark, that Lre^™'s 1,400/. a week should be paid to his infantry, and that ^ked he should not be allowed to levy taxes or contribu- south- tions in any part of England. The Scottish com- Sept. 3o. ¦ • • 1 1 T TT 1 ¦ Eep'v of missioners reminded the House that it was one the Scots. thing to vote money and another thing to pay it, and that of the large sums which had been already voted, very little had ever come into their hands. If their soldiers were neither paid nor allowed to levy contributions, they must either .starve or disband. This sharp reply was accompanied by a request that Presbyterian government might be established and negotiations opened with the King.1 Almost at the same time that the gulf between Holland the Scots and the House of Commons was thus widen- thatuS ing, Holland made a proposal to Montreuil that the go1 to the King should seek refuge with the Scottish army. Montreuil passed on the project to Balmerino, who was one of the Scottish commissioners, and Balmerino adopted it warmly. Holland was hardly the man to invent such a stroke of policy, and it is. likely enough that he had in some way learnt that the proposal had already been made by Charles to Leven and Callander. At all events, he now took it up with the utmost enthusiasm. " I am but a poor gentleman," he told Montreuil, " with a scanty following, but I should be able to go to the King with 10,000 men." 2 1 C.J. iv. 283 ; L.J. vii. 619. Montreuil to Brienne, Oct. 2;. Carte MSS. Ixxxiii. fol. 101, Scots. 364 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. 1645 Oct. 6. Moneyvoted to the Scots, Oct. 13. Fault found with them. Oct. 9. Levenrefuses to negotiate with the King. Knowing nothing of the proposed scheme, the Commons proceeded to act as if their express design had been to irritate the Scots. It is true that they voted 30,000/. to be paid them on November 1, on condition that their army was actually before Newark on that date, but they took no notice of any ofthe com plaints of the Scottish commissioners. They treated Leven's troops as hired auxiliaries who were expected without question to obey orders.1 They complained, and justly complained, of the devastation wrought by the Scottish army in the northern counties, but they could not be induced to remember that it was their own slackness in sending pay which had been the main cause of the evil. On the 13th they passed anew series of resolutions, protesting against the conduct of the Scots, and demanding the immediate with drawal of their garrison from the northern towns. It is true that they added a resolution to set apart two days a week to the consideration of propositions of peace, but the Scots were likely to doubt whether their deliberations would lead to a speedy result.2 Under these affronts the Scots were growing more inclined than they had hitherto been to listen to direct overtures from Charles. Leven, indeed, was too cautious to engage in political intrigues, and he had recently forwarded to Westminster a letter in which Digby, immediately on his arrival with the King at Newark, had pressed him for an answer to his former proposals.3 The commissioners in London were, however, less reserved, and on October 17, having adopted the view already expressed by Bal merino, they placed in Montreuil's hands a paper 1 C.J. iv. 298. * lb. iv. 305. 1 Digby's letter was dated Oct. 4, and was read with Leven's answer in the House of Lords on Oct. 15. L.J. vii. 638. THE SCOTTISH TERMS. 365 expressing the terms of peace to which they were pre- chap. XXXVIII pared to consent. The King, according to these terms, - — . — '¦ was to agree to establish ecclesiastical affairs in the ' 4S D _ ' _ Oct. 17. manner agreed on by the Parliaments and Assemblies The terms ° J of the of both kingdoms. If he did that, his wishes would, Scottwi as far as possible, be complied with in all other sioners. respects. When he had signified his acceptance of this proposal, the Scots would use all their power in his support. Bearing to commit themselves, the commissioners requested Montreuil to take a ciphered copy of their paper for transmission to France, and to return the original into their hands. They had, in fact, no sort of warrant from any public authority in Scotland to do what they were doing, and the Scottish Parliament would be able to disavow them with a good conscience if it saw fit to do so. It was agreed that the Queen's support should, if The terms possible, be obtained before her husband was directly carried to approached, and SirEobert Moray, who had recently bvesirUR.n been appointed colonel of the Scottish guard in L tray' Prance, and who would consequently be able to cross the sea without exciting attention, was selected as the bearer of so important a communication. Moray, who, after the Eestoration, became the first president of the Eoyal Society, was a man of singular force and delicacy of character ; but, like all his countrymen, he was quite unable to understand how anyone could entertain a conscientious objection to take part in the abolition of Episcopacy.1 In fact, there was no need for a Scotchman to be a bigot to make him anxious to see Presbyterianism established in England. The Scottish nobility and 1 Montreuil to Du Bosc, Oct. §£ ; Transcript of a paper given to Montreuil; Questions put by Montreuil, Arch, des Aff. f.trangh-es, li, fol. 284, 308, 315. 366 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. .chap, gentry did not so much dread either Episcopacy "-l-~— ' or Independency, in so far as they were ecclesi- 1 45 astical institutions, as they feared the establishment of a military organisation by their powerful neigh bour under influences hostile to themselves.1 They believed, rightly or wrongly, that a negotiation was on foot between the King and the Independents,2 and the prospect of a junction between Koyalty, Independency, and the New Model army naturally filled them with alarm. Some weeks would necessarily elapse before the success of Moray's mission could be known in England. Lord'2 Long before that time arrived the Houses were in ran-espond- possession of information which strengthened their ence read. resolution to make no peace with the King on any terms short of his absolute submission. Lord Digby's correspondence had been captured at Sherburn, as his master's had been captured at Naseby, and during the last week in October the Houses learnt more than they had ever known before of the details of the nego tiation with the Prince of Orange for his daughter's hand, and of the readiness of the Stadtholder to employ Dutch shipping against the English Parlia ment. Something too they discovered of aid im plored by Charles from Denmark, and of contributions expected from the French clergy. Above all things it was clear that Charles continued to hope for the intervention of an Irish army, and that he had con sented to the abolition of the penal laws. One passage 1 Montreuil told Mazarin that the Scots asked for the establishment of Presbyterianism in England, ' ayans toujours a, craindre de l'Angleterre tant qu'elle ne se gouvernerait point dans les choses de la religion par un mesme esprit que l'Escosse.' Montreuil to Mazarin, Oct. §§. Arch, des Aff. F.trangeres, li. fol. 317. 2 Balmerino had told Montreuil ' que le Prince Robert avoit apporle d<- Bristo a Oxford les articles de la paix entre le Roy de la Grande INDEPENDENTS AND ERASTIANS. 367 struck nearer home. " We are," wrote some one, who was probably Digby himself, " in hourly expecta tion of an answer from the Scots' army to those overtures made unto them, whereof I advertised you formerly, and we have cause to hope well of that negotiation." x It would evidently be unwise to publish letters in which so many foreign States, and possibly the Scots Theinde- themselves, were compromised, and for the present at leaders least they were allowed to remain imprinted.2 Yet ened.g *' they could not but confirm the hold which the Independent leaders had acquired upon the House as the chief supporters of the war, and which was now stronger than ever, as, by a not unnatural combina tion with a group of members which was not disposed to accept their whole programme, they had of late found themselves on the winning side even on ques tions of religion. The Independents, indeed, had long discovered that it would be as imprudent as it would be useless to throw obstacles in the way of the estab lishment of Presbyterianism. They had, therefore, found it expedient to preserve silence on the question - of hberty of worship for sectarian congregations outside the Presbyterian pale till a more convenient season should arrive. Yet if such a season was ever They find to arrive, it was necessary to provide that the Pres- gr™md" byterianism to be established should not assume a Itott'ilk thoroughly Scottish character — that is to say, that it should not be entirely in the hands of the clergy and of the clerically-minded laity, but that it should Bretagne et les Anglois Independans, et qu'on attendoit le dit Roy pour les signer.' Montreuil to Mazarin, Sept. §§. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, li. fol. 568. Later information connected the King more directly with tha nego tiation. 1 L.J. vii. 666 ; The Lord George Digby's Cabinet, E. 329, 15. 2 Till March 26, 1646. The passage about the Scots is in L.J. vii. 668. Pres by - terianism. 368 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. CHAP. XXXVIII. 1645 May 9. Discussionon ex clusionfrom the Lord's Supper. Aue. 4. Claims of the Assem- bly. be subjected to the influences which prevailed in distinctively lay society. In working in this direction the Independents were certain of the support of many who would not hear of toleration, especially as not only the lawyers but not a few of the ordinary sup porters of Presbyterianism were Erastian at heart, and no more wished to be subjected to clerical Fresbyterianism than they had formerly wished to be subjected to Episcopacy. The battle was fought out on a question sure to arise as soon as any attempt was made to bring the Presbyterian system into action. As early as on May 9 the Houses decided that the right of exclusion from participation in the Lord's Supper should rest, as the Assembly had desired, in the eldership — that is to say, in the lay elders combined with the minister. They themselves, however, drew up a definition of the competent knowledge to be required of com municants, as well as a list of the moral offences which were to debar from communion.1 To this the Assembly took exception. On August 4, finding that the Houses persisted in refusing to allow to the elder ship an arbitrary and unlimited power of exclusion, they stated their own view of the case in reply. " How," they asked, " can that power be called arbi trary which is not according to the will of man, but the will of Christ ; or how can it be supposed to be unlimited which is circumscribed and regulated by the exactest law — the Word of God ? " 2 Such views obtained little, if any, support in either of the Houses. Both Lords and Commons went tranquilly on their way in drawing up rules for the choice of elders, and on September 29 the Lords L.J. vii. 362. Petitions, Aug. 4, 12. L.J. ™. 523, 534- AN ERASTIAN PRESBYTERIANISM. 369 insisted, not only on maintaining the list of offences, but on adding a clause to the effect that if there were any not specified which were thought by the elders to deserve excommunication, no action should sept.29. be taken by them till the matter had been referred mittee "of to a standing committee of both Houses, ' to the end h*s63 that the Barhament, if need require, may hear and on e*c°m- i- J mumcation determine the same.' x This proposal was accepted proposed. by the Commons, and was finally, on October 20, em- ordinance bodied in an ordinance.2 authorising The same spirit which prevailed in prescribing limitations to the authority of the elders prevailed in the rules laid down for their election. Bending the full introduction of the system in the counties, Par liament had resolved to set up a model in London. London was to be divided into twelve classes, to which a thirteenth, comprising the Inns of Court and other abodes of lawyers, was subsequently added. In each of these classes was erected a board of nine triers, without whose confirmation no election of elders by the congregations would have any validity. Each board of triers was to consist of three ministers and six laymen, and, what was of more importance, these triers were to be named not by any church assembly but by Earliamentary ordinance. To the zealous Presbyterians of the Assembly the Baiiiie's course taken by Parliament was a sore discomfiture. " Our greatest trouble for the time," wrote Baillie, " is from the Erastians of the House of Commons. They are at last content to erect presbyteries and synods in all the land. . . . Yet they give to the ecclesiastical courts so little power that the Assembly, finding their petitions not granted, are in great doubt whether to set up anything, till, by some powerful petition of 1 L.J. vii. 609. 2 lb, vii. 649, 652. 11. B B 370 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE, XXXVIII. 1645 chap, many thousand hands, they obtain some more of their "V VtrTTT " J just desires. The only means to obtain this and all else we desire is our recruited army about Newark." 1 Religion of Baiiiie's cry for ' some powerful petition ' was citiens1. °n evidently addressed to the City of London, which was already taking its stand with the Presbyterian Scots, if not in its zeal to subject the laity to the clergy, at least in its desire to free both laity and clergy when assembled for ecclesiastical purposes from the inter ference of Parliament. The Common Council repre sented, not the whole of the inhabitants, but the tradesmen and merchants of London. Their religion was a good average religion, and their moraUty a good average morality. Of the heights and depthsof spiritual warfare, of the soul's travail, and of the eager quest for truth, they neither knew nor cared to know anything. Milton's scornful reference to the rich man who would fain be religious, and who, having found out some divine of note and estimation, made ' the very person of that man his religion,' and having feasted him and entertained him in the evening, and in the morning, gladly allowed him to walk abroad at eight, and to leave ' his kind entertainer in the shop trading all day without his religion,' 2 was doubtless a caricature, though not without a basis of truth. Yet there was another side from which a picture might be drawn. The religion of the London citizens on the whole implied an observance of those common rules of honesty and self-restraint, without which all religion is vain, and which in the eighteenth century con tinued to characterise them, after the zeal of Puri tanism had melted away. Their Such men could not but be Presbyterian, though feriarnTm. their Presbyterianism was likely to be more after 1 Baillie, ii. 318. 2 Areopagitica. "BURTON LOCKED OUT. 37 1 Prynne's type than after Baiiiie's. The lay-elderships chap. ... . xxxviir opened to them a whole sphere of disciplinary activity, w — , — •' and they would be quite ready to use their new powers in silencing the voices of those who, for any reason, were unwilling to tread the beaten paths. They had a horror of singularity, especially if singularity ap peared Ukely to lead to disquiet. Within the last few weeks a controversy had contro- arisen in the City which served to disclose the temper Mary's of the citizens. A lectureship supported by voluntary Du1rJfmai1" contributions at the church of St. Mary's Alderman- bury, of which Calamy "was the minister, was con trolled by a committee representing the subscribers. The lecturer was Henry Burton, and for some time Burton's lecture- the congregation heard him gladly. Of late he had ship. given offence by advocating the Independent system, but his culminating fault was that he called on his sept. 23. , . -1 f. .-i . v ¦ i 1 His sermon hearers to make sure of their religion by personal giVCs investigation, and not to take it on trust from Barlia- offence- ment or Assembly. On this the committee locked Oct. 6. the door of the church in his face and put an end to of'the"0' his lectureship. In the controversy which followed t££td. no stress was laid by the committee on the scriptural argument for Bresbyterianism. What was wanted was not a divinely appointed model of church govern ment, but peace and quiet. The committee was quite ready to trust Earliament to make some arrangement which would satisfy all moderate men, and to which all who were not moderate must be compelled to submit. If their lecturer was to stir up troublesome questions, he would not only foster distractions in the congregation, but might drive influential sub scribers to withhold their subscriptions.1 1 Truth shut out of doors, hy H.. Burton, E. 31 r, 1 ; The door of truth opened, E. 311, 15. againsthim. 372 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. CHAP. XXXVIII. 1645 Twofoldaspect of Indepen dency. Oct 13. The Dis sentingBrethren refuse to produce a scheme of churchgovern ment. Nov. 6 The Lords revive the Accom modation Order. To do the committee justice, it had not merely to be on its guard against the high champions of spiritual religion. Independency was apt to assume an unlovely shape in the eyes of the well-to-do citizen. The main danger, as far as he was concerned, did not lie in the enforcement of the ideas of the Dissenting Brethren concerning ecclesiastical organisation, but in the noisy ranting of the tub-preacher. Wild incoherency of ignorant speech was flowing from the mouths of men and women who had no sense of decorum and no capacity for grasping the relative importance of doc trines, while they regarded themselves as immensely superior to those who had hitherto been counted as their betters. On one occasion at least this reversal of the old order led to the deUberate defilement of the pews in which the wealthier citizens ensconced them selves, and which were as hateful to the equalitarian zeal of the sectaries as they had been to Laud.1 Whilst Bresbyterianism was obtaining a firm hold on the City, the Dissenting Brethren in the Assembly marked the growing influence of the Independents in the House of Commons. In April they had been bidden to produce their own scheme of church government. On October 13 they flatly refused to do anything of the kind. They declared that the majo rity of the Assembly had shown itself so hostile that it was hopeless to expect from it a fair construction of anything that they might propose.2 It was the House of Lords, and not the House of Commons, which now took up the cause of the minority by ordering, on November 6, the revival of Cromwell's 1 A just defence of J. Bastwick, p. 41. E. 265, 2. s A copy of a Remonstrance. E. 309, 4. In The answer of the As sembly, E. 506, 11, this is said to have been dated Oct. 22, but see The Minutes of . . . . the Westminster Assembly, 148, where it is mentioned at the end of the sitting of the 13th. A DEMAND FOR LIBERTY. 373 Accommodation Order for a committee to consider how chap. XXXVIII. an accommodation could be effected between the Bres- , — •' byterian system and that of the Dissenting Brethren.1 It can hardly be doubted that the Lords came to this resolution, not because they approved of it, but because they feared something worse. On the 14th Nov. 14. the proposal of the Lords was accepted by the ancebyaie Commons. It was all in vain. What had been in Commons- September 1 644, when Cromwell proposed it, a healing measure, was in November 1645 a niere retrograde expedient for shelving an inconvenient subject. The Dissenting Brethren would have none of it. The first meeting of the committee, on the 17th, showed that ^ov.i7. c ' The Dis- an arrangement on these terms was impracticable. The anting 0 r Brethren Independents declared for full Uberty of conscience, declare for They ' expressed themselves,' as Baillie sadly wrote, of con- ' science. ' for toleration, not only to themselves, but to other sects.' 2 This audacious demand roused the London citizens. On the 1 9th, by order of the Common Council, a batch jjJXn19" of petitions was laid before the Houses. They asked petitions. for certain amendments in the Ordinance on Church Government, and especially that care might be taken for the maintenance of unity by the establishment of Eresbyterian disciphne. The Commons rephed in a somewhat surly tone. The answer of the Lords was far more sympathetic.3 The two views of Puritan ecclesiastical development were at last brought face to face. As long as the war lasted it would manifestly be impossible to bring so grave a question to an issue, 1 See vol. i. 482. 2 L.J. vii. 679 ; C.J. iv. 338, 342 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 242 ; Baillie, ii. 326. 3 C.J. iv. 348 ; L.J, vii. 71 3. 374 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. 1645 Nov. 13, Question of the sur renderof the northernfortresses postponed. Nov. 27. Newarkinvested. Nov. 24. Demands of the Scots. Peace pro positionsto be pre pared. Dec. 1. Rewards for the Parliamen tary leaders. and it was hard to see how the war could be brought speedily to an end without the assistance of the Scottish army. On November 13, therefore, the Houses postponed till March the date at which their irritating demand for the surrender of the northern for tresses was to be complied with.1 They were rewarded by knowing that Leven's army had moved southwards. Before the end of November the Scots took up their quarters on the north side of Newark, whilst Eoyntz completed the investment on the south.2 If the Scots were to be satisfied, more would be needed than an abandonment for a time of an offen sive proposal. On November 24 their commis sioners again pressed for supplies for their army, for the settlement of religion/and for a speedy considera tion of the terms to be offered to the King.3 To settle religion, as matters stood, wTas plainly impossible ; but, at least, the farce of preparing peace propositions which the King was certain to reject could be gone through, and for some weeks the Commons were hard at work on the well-worn task. The categories of delinquency were extended, and a demand was in serted that Essex, Northumberland, Warwick, and Bembroke should receive dukedoms, that Manchester and Salisbury should become marquises, Eobartes, Say arid Sele, Wharton, WiUoughby of Barham, and the elder Fairfax earls. At the same time Holies was to be created a viscount, and Cromwell, the elder Vane, and Sir Thomas Fairfax were to be raised to the peerage as barons. Sir Thomas was to have 5,000/. a year, Cromwell and Waller 2,500/., Hazlerigg and Stapleton 2,000/. apiece, Brereton 1,500/., and Skippon 1,000/. Evidently the House was bent on C.J. iv. 341. L.J. viii. 9. lb. 362. AN INDEPENDENT OFFER. 375 making no distinction between Presbyterians Independents in this distribution of honours rewards.1 Even before these impossible terms of peace were . Novr a r ^ A secret discussed in the House of Commons, the Scottish negotiationbetween commissioners learnt that the Independents were the King secretly negotiating with the King on far different lnde- conditions. The Independents, it seemed, were ready pen to make over to the King the New Model army and the fortresses in its possession if he would ultimately allow them to retreat to Ireland, and to enjoy there the Uberty of worship which they would be the first to refuse to the Irish Catholics.2 The knowledge of this negotiation made the Scots all the more anxious to learn the result of Moray's mission to the Queen. When at last the news arrived, a little before the end £jr e. ' # Moray s of November, it was far from being as satisfactory as report. they had hoped. For some time the Queen had ob stinately refused to give any support to the establish ment of Presbyterianism, and though she ultimately gave way before Mazarin's entreaties so far as to pro mise to write to the King in favour of the Scottish demands, it was only on the stipulation that Moray should not be told of her promise.3 It is probable that the grounds of the Queen's dis- Reasons of inclination to accept Moray's overtures are to be found disincifua-8 in the eagerness with which she had for some months c'ome'to been seeking for help from the Continental Cathohcs on behalf of the Catholics in England. The Pope now on the throne was no longer Urban VIII., who during 1 c.J. iv. 359. * Montreuil to Mazarin, Nov. ||. Arch, des Aff. Etrangei-es, li. fol. 3S6. 3 Montreuil to Mazarin, Nov. |f ; Mazarin to Montreuil, p"^' " ; Moray to the Scottish commissioners. Copied ^'f, written about a fortnight earlier. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, li. fol. 359, 364, 369. terms with the Scots. 376 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE, chap, a long pontificate had striven to advance the interests XXXVIII.' — ¦ — ' of his Church by a politic moderation. Innocent X. fept.~=- na^ been chosen as his successor in September 1644. innocent Though Innocent was a slave to his sister, and his own household a prey to disorder, yet in dealing with the outer world he showed conspicuous firmness, of a kind which, for want of knowledge of the ways of men, was likely to prove more disastrous to the causes which he advocated than to those which he opposed. He was a fair type of the administrative ecclesiastic, without spiritual aspirations or priestly subtlety.1 l645 In the winter succeeding his election the new Komegsia P°Pe received Bellings, the secretary of the Irish Confederate Catholics, who had come to solicit help in money. Much to the surprise of Bellings, Innocent resolved to send a representative to Ireland, who would act directly in his name, and would give him information on the state of affairs uninfluenced by March-^. Irish parties. Early in March he announced that he mission!113 had chosen Einuccini, Archbishop of Fermo, to be his Nuncio in Ireland. Einuccini was a churchman of resolute character, with a shrewd knowledge of mankind, and a power of bending others to his will which would stand him in May. good stead in Ireland. In May he arrived in Baris, Parise.aches bringing with him a store of money from Eome, which he hoped to increase with the help of a con tribution from Mazarin. It was long before he could obtain a favourable answer from the Cardinal. The Eope had already given grave offence to Mazarin by his leaning to the Spaniards, and the French states man was probably anxious to know the issue of the 1 Visitors to the Loan Exhibition of 1 886-7 "will not be likely to forget the marvellous portrait of this Pope by Velasquez. RINUCCINI IN FRANCE, 2,77 conflict inEngland before committing himself even in secret to a decided pohcy. Einuccini therefore found the summer months „. Rinuccini slipping away whilst his purpose was still uneffected. ^*e Between the Nuncio and the Queen of England there soon sprang up that feeling of tacit hostility which shows itself clearly beneath the veil of outward courtesy. Einuccini wished to advance the authority of the Eapal See, without caring whether Charles re mained a king or no. Henrietta Maria wanted to combine her pious devotion to her Church with a vigorous effort on behalf of her husband and herself. She was unable even to receive a visit from the Arch- she cannot bishop, as he refused to visit her except in the state MinT6 of a Nuncio, and she knew well that his appearance in her presence in such a guise would compromise her in the eyes of all Brotestant Englishmen. The Nuncio, on his part, was glad to avoid the visit which he pretended to desire, as he feared lest he should be wheedled out of some promise which he might find it inconvenient to fulfil when he arrived in Ireland. At last, on August 15, Mazarin gave him 25,000 crowns M^J^S" and shipping for transport. The Cardinal had pro- ^yeshim . . . shipping bably no desire to waste his energies in Ireland, and money. but it was important to him to keep a hold on the affections of the people, if it were only to prevent them from falling under the influence of the King of Spain.1 Einuccini had thus been delayed in France for many weeks by his negotiations with Mazarin. Though it was evident that when he arrived in Ire land he would not be eager to work in the interests of Charles, the Queen had not lost hope of winning the Eope to her side. At the beginning of the 1 Rinuccini, Nunziatura, 7-47, 37% A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. chap, summer she had at last despatched Sir Kenelm Digby XXXVIII. ¦ — . — — ' to Eome to negotiate for an advance of money on her June own behalf, and on behalf of the mixed committee Mission of 0f English and Irish Cathohcs which met at Baris.1 Sir Kenelm _ ° Digby. On his arrival at Eome he was full of hope that his request for pecuniary assistance would be shortly granted. For a moment his torrent of words appeared to carry everything before it. Innocent himself declared that the Englishman spoke not merely as a Catholic, but as an ecclesiastic. Eome, however, had not so lost her cunning as to be carried away by the promises of a sanguine enthusiast who gave glib assnrances that, if Charles owed his success to Catho lic aid, the hearts of the King and of his chief sup porters would return to the one fold and the one shepherd. Digby was asked what warrant he had to produce from the King. As soon as it appeared that he had none to show, cold looks convinced him that his mission was likely to fail. The paper on which he had couched his demands was forwarded to Paris for Einuccini's criticism, and the utmost that he could obtain was an order for 20,000 crowns, to be spent in munitions of war.2 Nov. In the beginning of the winter Henrietta Maria The . Queen's had still hopes of Digby's success. She continued to France.r°m correspond with the French Catholics who had talked of supporting foreign troops in England, and she thought it possible that Mazarin might be induced, now that the troops of the continental powers had re tired into winter quarters, to lend her some soldiers from the French army itself.3 It must have been therefore a severe wrench to her mind to have to 1 See p. 123. 3 Rinuccini, Nunziatura, 32, 445, 446 ; Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 856, 3 The Queen to the Duke of Orleans, Nov. ? R.O. Transcripts. THE INDEPENDENT TERMS. 379 1645 Oct. Charles apply herself to a project for establishing Bresby- terianism in England, especially as she knew well that she would be favouring the system which was of all others the most hostile to a Catholic propaganda. Half-hearted as the Queen's support was, the Scots in London and their English Presbyterian allies could negotiates not afford to reject it. Knowing that Charles was indepen- already engaged in a negotiation with the Indepen dents, their fears inclined them to regard that nego tiation as more serious than it really was. Generous as were the offers which the Independents were making, it is unlikely that Charles would have re sponded to them at all but for the pressure put upon him by his own partisans. Yet before the end of October, whilst he was still at Newark, he had autho rised a Eoyalist officer, Sir WiUiam Vavasor, to sur- vavasor's render himself a prisoner in order that he might misaion- discuss terms of peace with the leading Independents. When the King reached Oxford, however, httle behef was entertained of his intention to accept a peace. In vain did Dorset, Southampton, Hertford, and Ap^°tVto Lindsey conjure him to put an end to the miserable jm^[I1up war. He answered fiercely that he would place the crown on his head, and would defend it with his own sword, if the swords of his friends failed him. If, as there is httle doubt, the terms offered by the Inde pendents were known in Oxford, as they were known to Montreuil in London, it is easy to understand the irritating effect produced by the King's words upon men who would have been delighted to find peace thrown in their way without the necessity of bowing their necks under the Eresbyterian yoke. Unless offered by Montreuil was misinformed, the Independents offered pendents. before the end of November to allow the King to regulate matters of religion in concurrence with his 380 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. chap. Parliament after his return to Westminster, and to ¦ — . — -' leave at his disposal half the places of authority in 45 the realm. They asked in return that after the army had conquered Ireland he would estabhsh Indepen dency there, and tolerate it in England.1 If the Parliament threw any difficulty in the way of this arrangement, the army would place itself at the King's disposal and force it to give way.2 So in censed were the earls at Charles's rejection of these proposals, that they sent to Westminster offering to deliver up the King on the sole condition that their own properties might be secured to them. Dec. In some way or another the plot became known Charles is J . r . . informed to Vavasor, who at once sent information 01 it to D6c Charles.3 On December 5, accordingly, the King, and offers anxious to disarm this dangerous opposition in his to negotiate f-* L *- with Par- own camp, wrote to Westminster and proposed that the Houses should send commissioners to open nego tiations.4 As it soon appeared that the commis sioners were to propose that Charles should come to 1 This has passed through the mind of a Frenchman, but it probably means that neither the Roman Catholic nor the Presbyterian organisation was to be allowed to exist in Ireland, if indeed the contrast between establishment and toleration is more than a flourish. 2 "J'en ai apris ces particularitez qu'ils offrent audit Roy, de luy laisser regler les choses de la Religion quand il sera de retour en son Parlement, de luy donner la disposition de la moiti^ des gouvernemens et des charges de son Royaume, et de luy pourvoir des forces suffisantes pour se rendre niaitre d'lrlande a condition que l'lndependance sera establye et sera soufferte en Angleterre, et que, si le Parlement d'Angleterre n'est pas satisfaict de ces conditions, ils pretendent donner leur armee au Roy d'Angleterre pour les forcer a les recevoir." — Montreuil to Brienne, Nov. |§. Carte MSS. lxxxiii. fol. III. 3 Montreuil to Mazarin, Dec. ~. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, li. fol. 383. Vavasor had received permission to come to London on Oct. 30. C.J. iv. 326. Montreuil derived his information from a messenger em ployed by Vavasor. 4 The King to the Speaker of the House of Lords, Dec. 5. L.J. viii. 31. A SANGUINE PLAN. 38 1 Westminster to treat in person,1 the Houses naturally chap. XXXVIII drew back, fearing lest his presence would be a mere — . — '• centre of intrigue. For some time they hesitated to ' 45 send any answer whatever. On the oth the House of Vavasor Commons ordered the arrest of Vavasor, and on the Dec. 17. 17th they expelled him from England.2 hanished. The Houses were undoubtedly right in their sus- Charles picions. Vavasor's mission had, as one of his com- g^um". panions informed Montreuil, been contrived merely to spin out time till foreign troops could arrive in England,3 and it was hardly likely that the King's proposal to visit Westminster had any other end in view. His mind was now full of a combination between the scheme of Willis, which he had rejected in October,4 and a scheme for the landing of French troops which was in favour with the Queen. On December 7 he Tn°Prmce reiterated his orders to the Prince to leave England, ^fand. so that the rebels, if they succeeded in capturing himself, might know that the heir to the crown was beyond their reach.6 The Duke of York was to be JfhYOTkkto conveyed as soon as possible to Ireland. Orders were j^0 Ire~ sent to the governors of Worcester, Exeter, Newark, Chester, and Oxford to destroy their fortifications simultaneously on February 20, and to concentrate Amar-, -1 J . vellousplan on Worcester. In this way the King hoped to be at ofcam- the head of an army of 3,000 foot and 2,500 horse. He might then either march to the West to relieve his overmatched forces in Devon and Cornwall, or might turn towards Kent and Sussex, where, as it was believed, the inhabitants were prepared to ' rise with 1 Charles's intention is mentioned on the nth in The Diary. F. 311, 23. Compare The Scottish Dove. E. 313, 6. 2 C.J. iv. 370, 379. 3 Montreuil to Mazarin, Dec. *^ Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, li. fol. 383. * See p. 348. 5 The King to the Prince, Dec. 7. Clarendon, ix. 114. paign. 382 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. CHAP. XXXVIII. 1645 His object in wishing to come to Westmin ster. great cheerfulness' if only the King appeared amongst them. It was expected that by April 1 Astley, who, now that South Wales was lost, had been sent to take up Prince Maurice's command in the Border counties, would have succeeded in raising at least 2,000 recruits in Worcestershire and in the neighbouring districts. The Queen's foreign forces would serve to fill up the numbers of the army.1 Charles was never content with a single project, and simultaneously with this scheme for a renewed military effort he had embarked heartily on another scheme which might give him the assistance of the Scottish army. He had doubtless been made aware before his message was sent to the Houses, on December 5, that the Scottish and English Bresby- terians in London wished to come to an understanding with him. He was therefore anxious to be allowed to appear at Westminster, not because he expected to come to terms with Earliament, but because he hoped to come to terms with the Scots. If the Scots rejected his offer, he might fall back on his military plan. He was prepared to ask permission to remain at Westminster for forty days, and he calculated that, as that permission could not reach him before the end of the year, his proposed visit would come to an end not long before February 20, the day fixed for the concentration of his forces at Worcester. He had therefore asked to be allowed, if the negotiation failed, to retire in safety to Oxford, Newark, or Worcester. The reason why these places were named 1 Jermyn to Hyde, Nov. 17 ; Ashburnham to Culpepper, Dec. 13, Clar. MSS. 2,029, 2,046. Mutilated portions of the latter are printed in Clar, St. P. ii. 196. The allusions to the foreign forces are somewhat veiled, but there can be no doubt as to their meaning, especially as the intention comes out, more clearlv afterwards. SIR 'ROBERT MORAY'S RETURN. 383 is not' difficult to guess. If Charles came to terms with the Scots he would join their army at Newark. If he did not, he would put himself at the head of 1 4S his own army at Worcester. Oxford can only have been spoken of to disarm suspicion.1 When projects so wild were entertained, the fact Eupert's that Eupert was once more at his uncle's side could olford!° have no military or political significance. As he had dechned to engage never more to draw his sword against Earliament, and the Houses had refused him a passport to go beyond sea on these conditions, he cut his way through their armies to Woodstock, and on December 8 humbled himself sufficiently to ask forgiveness from the King. Charles was well pleased to receive him at Oxford, but he never gave him his confidence again.2 Ofthe two contradictory policies in which Charles was involved, the negotiation with the Scots assumed a more prominent position than the wild military scheme — so impossible to carry into execution — over which he sometimes brooded. On December 6, the Dec. 6. day after the King's message was despatched to Moray's Westminster, Sir Eobert Moray returned to England, bringing with him the Queen's tardily given consent to the greater part of the Scotch demands.3 Though Montreuil was in hopes that the religious difficulty might be smoothed away, he had first to deal with an obstacle in the King's refusal to employ Will Suggested i i ci • ¦ • emplov- Murray in Scotland, though the Scottish commissioners ment '»s had expressed a wish that he might be sent there by Murray. the Queen, the ground of Charles's refusal being that 1 Ashburnham to Culpepper, Dec. 13. Clar. St. P. ii. 196. 2 Warburton, iii. 208. Dorset's 'etter, printed by "Warburton at p. 2 1 3, should have been dated Nov. 25, not Dec. 25, and Nicholas's letter of June 10 was written in 1645, not in 1646. 3 Seep. 375- 384 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. CHAP. XXXVIII. 1645 Charles and Mont rose. Oct. at. Kxecutionof Rollock atGlasgow, Oct. 22. and of NNbet and Ogilvy. Charles hopes much from the Scots. Murray was distasteful to Montrose, who c was princi pally to be consulted in that business.' 1 Charles's feelings towards Montrose did honour to his heart. " Be assured," he had written to him early in November, " that your less prosperous fortune is so far from lessening my estimation of you that it will rather cause my affection to kythe the clearlier to you." 2 In anyone but Charles the adoption of the notion that it was possible to combine the services of Montrose and the Scottish Bresbyterians might fairly be set down as a symptom of an unsound mind. The Scots had certainly shown themselves unsparing to Montrose's followers. On October 2 1 Sir William EoUock, his companion in his daring ride across the Lowlands from England, was beheaded in Glasgow. On the 22nd two more, Sir Philip Nisbet and Alexander Ogilvy, of Inverquharity, shared his fate. Ogilvy's appearance on the scaffold aroused almost universal commiseration. He was but a lad of eighteen, and singularly attractive in the flush of opening manhood, but the Kirk had been too terrified to be merciful. David Dickson, the moderator of the Assembly of 1640, who had wept tears of joy when Episcopacy was abolished, triumphed in the deed of cruelty. " The work," he cried, " goes bonnily on." Such words were not easily forgotten in the land.3 Other victims were reserved for a yet more solemn sacrifice when the Scottish Earliament next met. To Charles it seemed easy to bring the slayers and the kinsmen of the slain to make common cause in his 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, Dec. ||, Arch, des Aff. Etrangh-es, li. fol. 397 ; Ashburnham to Culpepper, Dec. 13, Clarendon MSS. 2,046. 2 i.e. to show itself more plainly to you. The King to Montrose, Nov. 3. Napier, Memoirs of Montrose, ii. 614. 3 Guthry's Memoirs, 166. For the dates, see Napier, Memoirs of Montrose, ii. 589. CHARLES DISTRUSTED. 385 behalf. The Scots, in England at least, were profuse chap. in expressions of devotion. On December ^Charles tE^£" received from Lord Sinclair and David Leslie a direct l64S invitation to the Scottish camp. Yet, if Charles was to bend the Scots to his will, it was necessary for him to visit Westminster that he might employ his powers of persuasion with the Scottish commissioners there. He therefore on the 15th repeated his request Dec 15. for a safe-conduct for the persons whom he proposed the Houses to send to prepare the way for his own visit.1 His tiate!g°" diplomacy seemed likely to be wrecked on the incur able distrust which he awakened on every side. On the 1 7th Mildmay expressed the feeling which pre- Dec. 17. vailed in the House of Commons. Their affairs, he speech."8 said, were now in good condition. Let them keep the advantages which they had gained, and renounce all further treaties. Balmerino, one of the Scottish „ ,Dec- rJalme- commissioners, almost at the same time declared his riao'3 v r- -i • doubts. belief that the King's overtures to them were only made in order to induce the Independents to bring their negotiation to a satisfactory end.2 Yet neither the English Earliament nor the Scottish commissioners liked to announce openly that a breach was unavoid able, and during the greater part of December a warm discussion was carried on between these two bodies. In the course of the dispute the Scots Proposed ii i n • iini negotia- urged that the proposed negotiation should be so tion. conducted as to make it comparatively easy for the King to accept the terms offered him, whilst the English wished the proposals to be made as un acceptable as possible. The time was rapidly approaching when Charles 411. L.J. viii. 46. Montreuil to Mazarin, Dec. ||. Arch, des Aff, E'rangercs. Ii. fol. II. C C 386 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. Dec. 17. Herefordsurprised. Chesterand Newarkblocked up. Dec. 23. Answer of the Houses. Dec. 26. The King propo>es to come to Westmin ster, Dec. 29. and makes furtheroffers. Montreuil resolves to intervene. would have no course open to him but submission to the conquerors. One fortified post after another was falling into the hands of his enemies. On Decern- ber 1 7 the important city of Hereford was surprised by Morgan and Birch,1 and Charles's project of sending his second son to Ireland 2 had of necessity to be aban doned. Chester was strictly blocked up, and except in the improbable contingency of the landing of an Irish army to relieve it, it could not hold out much longer. The surrender of Newark was a mere question of time unless Charles could induce the Scots to come round to his side. At last, on December 23, the Houses, with the assent of the Scots, positively refused to admit the King's commissioners to Westminster. They were busy, they said, in preparing terms of peace, which would be presented to him as soon as they were ready.3 Before this answer reached Charles he had despatched, as he had previously planned, a fresh letter, in which he offered to come in person to Westminster for forty days, if security were given that at the end of that period he might retire to Worcester, Newark, or Oxford. He also sketched out a plan for dealing with the militia, and on the 29th he further offered to give satisfaction about Ire land and the public debt. Up to this time he had not spoken a word upon the subject of religion.4 Montreuil perceived that if his plans were not to break down altogether, it would be necessary to appeal in person to Charles. Already there had been signs of a divergency of opinion between the Scots and their English Bresbyterian allies. Before Christ mas Balmerino had been growing impatient because 1 Several Letters. 3 L.J. viii. 64. E- 3'3, 17. 2 See p. 381. lb. viii. 72. MONTREUIL AT OXFORD. 387 the King did not throw himself, without further chap. . . . . . XXXVIII. question, into the Scottish army, whilst Holland, who . — • had been deeply irritated at the refusal of the House of Commons to grant him 1,000/. a year in compen sation for the losses which he declared himself to have suffered in their cause, talked of effecting a Eoyalist rising in the City if only Charles could be brought in safety to Westminster.1 On January 2 Montreuil arrived at Oxford to ,l646 J > Jan. 2. urge Charles to accept the proposals which he was Montreuil now commissioned to lay before him on behalf of the Scots. Charles was to accept the propositions re- 3^-J- jected by him at Uxbridge, and then to betake him- Scottish self to the army before Newark. In his reply, the before tir; King compared favourably the zeal of the Scots for his person with the resolution of the Independents to place the monarchy in bonds, but he would hear nothing of an arrangement which would virtually C1;arle3 o o j refuse^ to establish Bresbyterianism in the Church of England, accept . . . Presby- He would, he said, lose his crown rather than his soul, terianism. He was, however, quite ready to go to Leven's army if the Scots would engage themselves for his safety, and if the Queen Eegent of Prance and Mazarin would give security for the fulfilment of that engagement. Of Montrose he spoke with unqualified praise. " Erom henceforth," he said, " I place Montrose amongst my children, and mean to live with him as a friend, and not as a king." A further conversation gave Montreuil the key Jan. 4. to Charles's readiness to trust himself to the Scots, conversa- whilst refusing the concession which they most eagerly demanded. He found him convinced that the Scot tish negotiators had no conscientious motives in 1 C.J. iv. 380: Montreuil to Mazarin, y^f. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. 9. 388 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. 1646 Jan. 5. Charlesproposes to toleratePresby terianism. Eeceptionof this pro posal by the Scots. urging the establishment of Fresbyterianism in Eng land, and that they merely wanted the security of the bishops' lands for the payment of their own arrears, or at the most were afraid lest, if bishops were re established in England, they would be re-established in Scotland as well. To meet the second difficulty he proposed to offer the security of the French Govern ment for the maintenance of the existing church government in the Northern kingdom. With respect to the first, he offered to the Scots lands in Ireland in place of church property in England. How far this proposal would affect the negotiation which he was still carrying on with the Confederate Catholics he probably did not care to inquire. Stubborn as Charles was, he at last discovered that some concession must be made to the religious feeling which even the Scots might be supposed to possess. The restored Church of England, he told Montreuil on the 5th, should grant toleration to Eng lish Presbyterians and to Scottish visitors. He had, in fact, rightly discerned that the Scottish nobles were not entirely dominated by religious enthusiasm ; but he had failed to understand that they were anxious to see a Presbyterian Church established in England because such a Church would be not only through its system friendly to Scotland, but would, from its very weakness, be driven to seek support in Edinburgh. When Montreuil returned to Westminster he found that the reception of Charles's proposals was even worse than he had expected.1 The Scottish commissioners had recently been joined by Lauder dale, and Lauderdale, keen of vision and firm of 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, Jan. Y\, Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 45 ; The King to the Queen, Jan. 8, Charles I. in 1646 (Camden Soc), 3. PLAIN SPEAKING. 389 purpose, was not likely to favour the acceptance of a mere toleration for Presbyterians, which would allow a restored Cavalier England to grow up and hold out a hand to the Eoyalist nobility of Scotland. If Charles failed to conciliate the Scots, he also J"n-3- failed to conciliate the English Earliament. On drawn up January 3 the House agreed to a further answer to King's pro- Charles's proposal to come to Westminster. "Con- come to cerning the personal treaty desired by your Majesty," ster! '" they declared, " there being so much innocent blood of your good subjects shed in this war by your Majesty's commands and commissions ; Irish rebels brought over into both kingdoms, and endeavours to bring over more to both of them, as also forces from foreign parts, and the Erince at the head of an army in the West, divers towns made garrisons and kept by your Majesty against the Earliament of England, there being also forces in Scotland against that BarUament and kingdom by your Majesty's com mission ; the war in Ireland fomented and prolonged by your Majesty, whereby the three kingdoms are brought to utter ruin and destruction ; we conceive that, until satisfaction and security be first given to both your kingdoms, your Majesty's coming hither cannot be convenient or by us consented to." To accept the propositions which would shortly be despatched to him would ' be the only means ' to give satisfaction.1 To the last phrase the Scottish com missioners, who had another project of their own, took exception, and it was only after it had been some what toned down that they consented to the despatch ofthe reply. It was not till January 1 3 that this reply Jan. 13. was at last sent off2 Even t^hen it must have been sent to offensive enough to Charles. It refused to admit to 1 L.J. viii. 81. 2 lb. viii. 91, 99. Charles. 3 go A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. xxxviii ^ie Pos'tlon OI" a constitutional king one who had — y—-' been a promoter of foreign invasion. Jan. 10. Charles had no conception of the injury done ft,rmalins'3 to nis cause by these foreign entanglements. On tile'scotV0 Januai7 10, in a letter to the French Agent, he had committed to writing the concessions which he was prepared to make to the Scots. The religious dis putes in England were to be composed by a national synod, which, although some Scottish divines were to be admitted to it, would certainly be a very different body from the existing Westminster Assembly. Tolera tion was to -be accorded to the Eresbyterians. Charles was the more confident that he would carry his point, because he was aware that the Bresbyterian system adopted by the House of Commons did not altogether tally with that which existed in Scotland, and he seems to have fancied that the Scots would therefore be disinclined to press for the lukewarm system which found favour with the English Ear liament. How little he knew of the motives which influenced the Scottish nobility was, however, clear from the words in which he pressed for their union with the man of whom they were most jealous. " Lastly," he wrote, " concerning the Marquis of Montrose, his Majesty's resolution is that he and his party shall be received into this conjunction with all possible freedom and honour without any reser vation." x ^1645. Whatever the Scottish commissioners might be The Parlia- induced to say, their countrymen in Scotland had set Andrews. ' their minds in a very different direction. Sitting at St. Andrews amidst the howls of the Kirk for blood, the Scottish Earliament opened its proceedings on Decem- Dtc. 23. ber 2 3 by ordering that all Irish captives still remaining 1 The King to Montreuil, Jan. 10. Clar. St. P. ii. 209. EXECUTIONS IN SCOTLAND. 391 in prison should be put to death without form of trial.1 chap. . XXXVIII. On January 16 they condemned to death Nathaniel ¦ — , — -' Gordon, William Murray, Andrew Guthry, and Sir ^ i6 Eobert Spottiswoode, the latter being the brother of ^™0ceJ,'" the Archbishop, and guilty of having, as Charles's followers. Secretary of State, prepared Montrose's commission, and of having brought it down to Scotland. Every one of these had been admitted to quarter after Ehiliphaugh, and Spottiswoode could plead that he had taken no part in operations of war. On the 20th Tm.aene'2°' three of the number — Gordon, Guthry, and Spottis- executions. woode — were executed. Murray received a respite, as his brother, the Earl of Tullybardine, pleaded for his Ufe on the ground of his youth, and even alleged him to be insane. The appeal for mercy was, how ever, rejected, and on the 22nd the young Murray Jan. 22. followed his comrades to the scaffold, claiming it as executed. his highest honour to die for a king who was the father of his country. Lord Ogilvy escaped, but not though the mercy Ogiivy's of the Covenanters. He owed his life, as many an other has done, to the brave devotion of a woman. His mother, his wife, and his sister were permitted to visit him in prison. When the time for parting came, the keepers conducted, as they supposed, three weeping ladies from the cell. One of these figures was that of young Ogilvy himself, whose sister had exchanged clothes with him, and had taken his place in bed.2 Ignorant of the doom impending over his loyal Jan- is- subjects at St. Andrews, Charles, having prepared offers to , ,-. .. ,lnr,.1 Parliament the way by his communications with the Scottish on religion. commissioners, addressed himself for the first time on 1 Balfour, Hist. Works, iii. 341, 2 lb. iii. 358; Wishart, ch, xix. 392 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. CHAP. XXXVIII. 1646 Jan. 18. His ex planation to the Queen. January 15 to the English Earliament on the subject of religion. The government of the Church, he now openly said, was to be restored to its condition in the happy times of Elizabeth and James, but there was to be * full liberty for the ease of their consciences who will not communicate in that service established by law, and likewise for the free and public use of the Directory prescribed, and by command of the two Houses now practised in some parts of the City of London.' With respect to Ireland and the militia, he would endeavour to give satisfaction.1 It looked as if Charles was really working himself round to that principle of toleration through which the difficulties of the time ultimately received their solu tion ; but even if the Houses had been at all ready to accept his proposal, his diplomacy was too crooked to achieve success. " For Ireland and the militia," he wrote to the Queen, " it is true that it may be I give them leave to hope for more than I intended, but my words are only to ' endeavour to give them satisfaction in either.' . . . Now, as to the fruits which I expected by my treaty at London. Knowing assuredly the great animosity which is betwixt the Independents and Presbyterians, I had great reason to hope that one of the factions would so address themselves to me that I might without difficulty obtain my so just ends, and questionless it would have given me the fittest opportunity for considering the Scots' treaty that would be ; besides, I might have found means to have put distractions among them, though I had found none." 2 Charles's method of proceeding had been con- 1 The King to the Speaker of the House of Lords, Jan. 15. L.J. viii. 103. 3 The King to the Queen, Jan. 18. Charles I. in 1646, ii. MONTREUIL'S REMONSTRANCE. 393 demned in advance by Montreuil. On the 1 5th the chap. . XXXVIII Frenchman had warned him not to play with the , — - ' Scots. They would be content, he wrote, with T •! 7 Jan. 15. nothing short of the three propositions of Uxbridge, Montrenii-s implying the establishment of Presbyterianism, the strance. abandonment of Ireland, and the appointment of Parliamentary commissioners permanently to control the militia, with the assistance of Scottish commis sioners not exceeding a third part of their number. As for Charles's expectation that the Scots would quarrel with the English because their Bresbyterian ism was too Erastian, Montreuil besought him to put that notion aside. Both the Scots and the City had already expressed their approbation of the system adopted by Earliament, and Charles's only chance of safety lay in his acceptance of that which had been adopted at Westminster.1 The Scottish laity wanted, in short, to be assured The temper J of the that England would be governed by persons whom Scots, they could trust, not that its Church should assume the exact form which might satisfy Henderson or Baillie. Eresbyterian as the City was, it was quite content g?tdofthe with Earliamentary Presbyterianism, and was not likely to quarrel with the House of Commons in order to set Episcopacy on its feet again. In a peti- T^iJ5' tion presented to the House of Commons on the 1 5th, petition . pi- against the City declared against any sort of toleration, toleration. The existing state of things was declared to be un bearable. Brivate meetings for religious worship were constantly held. In one parish there were as many as eleven. Godly ministers were evil spoken of, and their discipline was compared to that of the prelates. Women and other ignorant persons were v allowed to preach. Superstition, heresy, and pro- 1 Montreuil to the King, Jan. 15. Clar. St. P. ii. 211. 394 A DIPLOMATIC TANGLE. faneness were increasing. Families were divided and God was dishonoured. The Commons, Independent on questions of policy, but Bresbyterian on questions of religion, heard and approved.1 It was evident that Charles had addressed himself to the wrong per sons in seeking Bresbyterian support for a scheme of tolerationist Episcopacy. Jan. 16. On the 1 6th the King's proposal for a religious The King's . - . _ , proposal compromise was read m the Houses. It was nearly certain to be rejected in any case ; but on the same day news arrived which seemed to make aU further negotiation with the King impossible. The secret of Glamorgan's mission was at last disclosed. 1 Petition of the City. L.J, viii. 104. it is a mistake to suppose that the elections of the preceding December had made a change in the pre dominant party in the City, as the November petition (see p. 373) had been couched in similar terms, though they had undoubtedly strengthened the anti-tolerationists. read. 395 CHAPTEE XXXIX. GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. Early in August Glamorgan landed in Dublin. He came, there can be little doubt, to smooth away the 1645 difficulties in the way of Ormond's negotiation, and Aug to induce the Confederates to content themselves with 1^™}^^™ the repeal of the penal laws, instead of asking for the additional repeal of the statutes which threw obstacles in the way of the exercise of Papal jurisdiction in Ireland. When Glamorgan arrived he found the situation greatly changed. It is possible that Charles's unwise instruction to Ormond to keep back the secret of the permission given him to promise the repeal of the penal laws 1 had weakened the hands of the moderate party at Kilkenny. At all events, the Irish clergy were already asking for much more than that. On May 3 1 they had pronounced emphatically against May 3r, any peace which did not leave in their hands all the clergy16 churches at that time in their possession, and by im- abandon plication all the property of those churches as well, a ehm-ches. concession which would have surrendered to them almost all the ecclesiastical property existing in Ire land. On June 9 the General Assembly expressed Jnneo, its concurrence with this resolution, with some formal rence of modifications, and when on the 1 3th the Agents of the rai Assem. b 1 See p. 127. 396 GLAMORGAN AND RTNUCCINI IN IRELAND, 1645 June 19. llisump- tion of negotia tions. July. S'igostormed. March 19. Surrender of Dun- cannon. Castle- haven in Munster. Financial distress. A fruitless negotiation. Confederates received authority to reopen the nego tiation with Ormond, they carried with them instruc tions to stand firm on this point, as well as on that of the absolute liberation of the Catholics from all eccle siastical jurisdiction except that derived from the Pope.1 The negotiations were reopened on the 19th, and were carried on at Dublin during the foUowing weeks. To the Confederates peace was in every way desirable. In the middle of July it was known in Dublin that Monro with the Scots and their English allies had pressed on through Ulster, had stormed Sligo on the 8th, and had massacred not only the Irish garrison, but the women and children as well.2 It was true that in the South the important fort of Dun- cannon had been reduced by Ereston on March 19,3 and that Lord Castlehaven, at the head of 5,000 foot and 800 horse, had been subsequently carrying on a successful campaign in Munster.4 Castlehaven, how ever, was calling aloud for money, and money was hard to find. It was, indeed, known that, though the mission of Bellings had failed,5 Einuccini, when he arrived, would bring with him a certain amount of supplies, but, unless he arrived soon, it would be difficult to hold out. Dangerous as their situation was, the Irish Agents refused to give way on the two points now at issue. With them it was a point of honour not to surrender churches which had already been restored to Catholic 1 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 688-7080. 2 Scaratnpi to , July 14, lb. fol. 708b ; Ulick Bourke, Carte MSS. xv. fol. 238. 3 Examinations on the siege of Duncannon Fort, the Irish Confederation, iv. 210. * Castlehaven to the Supreme Council, June 17 ; Castlehaven to the Mayor of Limerick, June 17, lb. iv. 281, 286. 5 See p. 376. Capt. Dillon to Sir Gilbert's Hist, of ORMOND AND GLAMORGAN. 397 worship, and, though Ormond asserted that the King chap. demanded no more than a theoretical acknowledg- • <-— '- ment of his jurisdiction, they were confronted by the practical claim of the Erotestant clergy to the power of the keys, carrying with it the right of excommuni cation and absolution, a right the exercise of which was followed by civil consequences.1 Nor was it likely to conduce to the success of the negotiation that Ormond, conceiving himself still bound by the King's instructions, persisted in keeping secret Charles's readiness to assent to the repeal of the penal laws.2 Under these circumstances Glamorgan, as long as niAug- o ' D Glamor- he continued to act in conformity with Ormond's sa°'5. J position. wishes, could not possibly be of any service to his master. He was confronted with the difficulties of a situation for which nothing in his instructions had prepared him. The question about the churches had arisen since he had had an opportunity of speaking with Charles, or even of receiving written directions from him. For some time Glamorgan did his best to tide intermp- over the difficulties. As long as he remained with ne^otia- " Ormond he kept within his instructions, consulting as opportunity arose with the Lord Lieutenant. It was not, however, long before he was called upon to act on his own judgment. There was to be a meeting of the General Assembly at Kilkenny on August 7, and the Agents of the Confederates left Dubhn to attend it. In order that the thread of the negotiations might not be dropped, Glamorgan was directed to follow them, and on August 1 1 he set out Aug. u. on his journey, hoping that he might succeed in goerto'ganKilkenny. 1 Negotiations in Gilbert's Hist, of the Irish Confederation, iv. 289, 309. See also Carte MSS. xv. fol. 198-315. 2 Fitzwilliam to Digby, July 16. Gilbert, iv., Ixii. 398 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXIX. 1645 Glamorgan's diffi culties. inducing the Confederates to abandon their pre tensions. The letter which he carried to them from Ormond commended him to their confidence in the warmest possible terms.1 Of discussions between Glamorgan and the Con federates during the first fortnight of his visit to Kilkenny we have no record whatever, and the motives which determined his action can only be conjectured in the light of his subsequent proceed ings. Yet it may safely be supposed that he was anxious to overcome the obstacle about the churches, and he may very well have reasoned with himself that it would be fit for him to spare the King by taking upon himself the responsibility of yielding. Though his instructions had implied that he was to place himself at Ormond's service,2 he had, on the other hand, unlimited powers, and it can hardly be doing him wrong to hold that he thought very little of instructions which had been given him five months before under circumstances very different from those which now embarrassed him,3 and very much of powers which authorised him to do almost anything he pleased. As a Catholic he would be httle inclined to sympathise with Charles's scruples about the abandonment of churches which had once been in Brotestant keeping, whilst he was most anxious to gather under his command that Irish army which was to relieve his master from his difficulties in Eng land, but of which not a man would ever be levied unless he could come to terms with the Confederates. 1 Ormond to Muskerry, Aug. u. Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 717b. 2 See pp. 117, 128. s The power on which Glamorgan acted was that of March 12. See my article in The English Historical Review for October 1887, to which 1 must again refer my readers for a more complete argument on this subject. THE GLAMORGAN TREATY. 399 If such thoughts passed through Glamorgan's chap. "X"X"XT"X" mind, it is easy to understand the motives which — — — - induced him to sign on August 25 a secret treaty with the Confederate Catholics in virtue of the powers A treaty si'TiGcl bv granted to him in the preceding March.1 In this clamor-" treaty the grant of the free and public exercise of the Eoman Catholic religion may perhaps be regarded as giving no more than Ormond was empowered to give, though in a more complete and definite manner. Two other concessions went far beyond anything to which Charles had consented. In the first place the Catholics were to enjoy all the churches which they had possessed at any time since the outbreak of the rebellion in Ulster, and all those — apparently those which were lying vacant in consequence of the war — ' other than such as are now actually enjoyed by his Majesty's Brotestant subjects.' In the second place all Eoman Catholics were to be exempted from the jurisdiction of the Brotestant clergy, and the Eoman Catholic clergy were not to be molested ' for the exercise of their jurisdiction over their respective Catholic flocks in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical ' 2 — a stipulation which, important as it was, left in un certainty the question how far the clergy themselves were subjected to the jurisdiction of the See of Eome. Yet if once it were acknowledged that the Catholic clergy in Ireland could exercise a jurisdiction inde pendent of the Crown, it would be found practically impossible to punish them for voluntarily submitting to the supreme jurisdiction of Eome. That Glamorgan had secret instructions from Had Gla. Charles, empowering him to act as he did, is a notion ™^tan which may be promptly dismissed. Charles had not j.?*„™c" heard of the demand about the churches till after 1 See p. 128. 2 Cox, Ilib. Anglicana, ii. XXVII. 400 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXIX. 1645 Charlesoffers to allow the Catholicsto build chapels. Was Charles sincere ? Glamorgan left England. His first reference to it is in a letter to Ormond on July 3 1 , and his reception of the proposal was not such as to give encourage ment to Glamorgan's enterprise. He was indeed ready to take one step in the direction in which the Irish Confederates wished to drag him, and to allow the Catholics to build chapels for their worship wherever they were in a decided majority, but he absolutely refused to allow them the enjoyment of the existing churches. " I will rather choose," he declared, " to suffer all extremity than ever abandon my rehgion." 1 There is always something arbitrary in the selection of a limit to concession, but that limit had now been reached by Charles. It may possibly be said that Charles merely in tended to conceal his real intentions from Ormond, and it may be acknowledged that if his refusal to abandon the churches had been embodied in a pro clamation or in a message to Barliament there would have been little reason to give credence to it. On the other hand, for Charles to use strong language on the subject to Ormond and at the same time to authorise Glamorgan to do that which was forbidden to Ormond would have been to pile up unnecessary difficulties against himself. Even if he had been un willing to trust Ormond with his whole secret, if such a secret in reality existed, he would at least have attempted to smooth the way for its subsequent reve lation. The simplest explanation of the facts is here, as usual, undoubtedly the best. It was characteristic of Charles to shrink from the abandonment of the churches as equivalent to the abandonment of religion, 1 The King to Ormond, July 31. Carte's Ormond, vi. 305. The original is in the possession of Mr. Alfred Morrison. THE DEFEASANCE. 40 1 and it was no less characteristic of Glamorgan to act. chap. on the spur of the moment, in accordance rather with ¦ — ^-^- his own wishes than with the wishes of his master. „ ' 4^ ... . Contrast Ormond in similar circumstances would have written hetween n r -\ • • i • Charles, for fresh instructions, but it may not unfairly be pre- ciamor- sumed that Glamorgan neglected even the instructions Ormond. which he had already received, and fixed his eyes solely on his powers. He was not, as Ormond was, a man of one devotion. Chivalrously loyal to Charles, he was even more chivalrously loyal to his Church. To save Charles for the sake of the Church was the great ambition of his life, and there was nothing in his scheming, impulsive, and most indiscreet mind to make it improbable that he resolved to save the Church on her own terms, and Charles in spite of his petty hesitations. He doubtless hoped to purchase Charles's condonation of his disobedience by the levy of 10,000 Irish soldiers for his service, as Ealeigh had once hoped to purchase from Charles's father the condonation of a similar act of disobedience by a sample of gold from Guiana. Strong as is the evidence derived from Glamorgan's Glamof- o o gan s de- character in favour of the view that he acted without feasance. Charles's knowledge, there exists evidence more con clusive stUl. On the clay after that on which he signed the main treaty he signed another document, which he called a defeasance, in which he declared that he had no intention of binding the King to any concession ' other than he himself shall please, after he hath re ceived these ten thousand men, being a pledge and testimony' of the loyalty of his Irish subjects. This defeasance was, however, to be kept secret even from Charles till Glamorgan had done • everything in his power to induce him to accept the treaty, and had failed to persuade him. Such a stipulation is the II. D D 402 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXIX. 1645 Nature of Glamor gan's com pact. Scarampi distrustsGlamorgan. strongest possible evidence that Charles had yet to be converted — partly, it would seem, by the presence of 10,000 Irish soldiers in England — to Glamorgan's views on the point at issue.1 It was hardly within the bounds of possibility that Glamorgan's action should prove beneficial either to his master or to the Irish people ; but he was surely right in thinking that if a military alliance was to be formed with the Confederates, it could only be by the acceptance of their own terms. It was chUdish to expect to gain the hearty co-operation of the Irish if their Church was to be maintained in the position of a merely tolerated sect, the organisation of which was in constant danger of a sudden application of the Statutes of Appeals and Erasmunire ; and if the ecclesiastical lands and buildings set apart for religious use by their ancestors, and now recovered after a deprivation of less than a century, were to be for cibly torn from them, and restored to the professors of an alien creed from whom they had nothing but persecution to expect. As Glamorgan, at all events, had still to force the hand of Charles, he could not venture to mention what had been done until he could emphasise his words by his appearance in England at the head of an Irish army. Whether such an army would really be en trusted to him might reasonably be doubted. It was significant that Scarampi looked on him with grave suspicion, holding that the powers exhibited by him did not give him sufficient authority to conclude the treaty, and that Charles, if he were so minded, would have no difficulty in disavowing his agent.2 It had in deed been arranged that the negotiation with Ormond 1 Cox, Hib. Anglicana, ii. App. XXVII. 2 Panfilio to Rinuccini, ^5. Nunziatura, 458. ORMOND KEEPS ALOOF. 403 should be continued, in the hope that he might be in duced to make the required concessions in a regular way, and it is not unlikely that Glamorgan at first ThgngSoti. thought it possible to carry Ormond with him. ^ioa wilh The Supreme Council proceeded at once to test to he the value of the new alliance which they had formed. On August 29 they proposed to combine their forces ^Jjf29- with those of Ormond against the Scots in the North.1 Supreme 0 Council Finding that Ormond made no response, they betook offers its themselves to Glamorgan. Glamorgan could not press Ormond. Ormond to consent to the junction of forces, but on September 9 he assured him that the General Assembly had agreed to give the 10,000 men of which so much Glamorgan had been said, for service in England, and that it was ",^S|"e'ed now proposed to resume the negotiation in Dublin, ^alniyto The Confederates, he added, hoped that Ormond England. would yield as much as possible, and would leave them to appeal to the King for the rest. Glamorgan had, in short, induced the Confederates to believe that they would get all that they wanted from Charles, and they were consequently ready to accept from Ormond such an instalment of their demands as he ¦ thought fit to give. To prevent Ormond from be coming aware of the real state of the case, Glamorgan professed entire ignorance of the requests which would now be made by the Agents of the Supreme Council.2 For two months the discussion between Ormond sePt.-Xov. and the Irish Agents was kept up in Dublin. Though negotia*3 Ormond was strongly urged to give way on points tl0n' relating to religion, he refused to go a single inch beyond his instructions.3 1 The Supreme Council to Ormond, Aug. 29. Carte MSS. xv. fol. 526 2 Glamorgan to Ormond, Sept. 9. Carte MSS. xv. fol. 580. 3 See the Carte MSS, passim from September to November. 404 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. chap. On November 20 Glamorgan, after visiting Dublin X X X T X • ¦ — , — - to take part in the debates, returned to Kilkenny. ' 45 He found that the resolutions of the Confederates .Nov. 20. . .... Agreement were shaping themselves according to his wishes. between ±0 Glamorgan The Supreme Council agreed that, if Ormond refused Supreme to concede the articles relating to religion, the politi cal ones should be published alone, whilst those which had been agreed on with Glamorgan should be kept secret till they had received Charles's approval. They further promised that the army of 10,000 men should be despatched under Glamorgan's command without waiting for the King's acceptance of these articles. After he had landed with them — so Gla morgan assured the Supreme Council upon oath — not only would he make no use of them till the King's consent had been given, but, in the event of a refusal, Charles to he would either compel him to assent by force of deserted, arms or would bring the whole force back to Ireland.1 In writing to Ormond Glamorgan not only gave no hint of this secret negotiation, but assured him with the most fulsome expressions of devotion that he was but carrying out the directions which he had received at Dublin. His precipitate zeal to effect Charles's objects in Ireland was already transforming itself into an eager desire to impose upon Charles by force of arms concessions which he was never hkely volun tarily to make.2 By this time Glamorgan had to count on another power in Ireland besides that of the Supreme Council. 1 "II quale si- e obligate di piu con suo giuramento avanti il Consiglio Supremo, che egli non imbarazzera la soldatesca predetta in alcuna fazione, prima che il Re ratifichi : e quando non lo volesse fare, che egli lo conetringera. con quelle forze, o vero rimettera nell' Ibernia tutti i 10,000 soldati." — Rinuccini to Panfilio, Dec. 23. Nunzia- tura, 76. 2 Glamorgan to Ormond, Nov. 28. Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 264. RINUCCINI'S LANDING. 405 A new actor had appeared on the stage. On October 1 1 chap XXXIX Einuccini, the Fapal Nuncio,1 landed at Kenmare.2 On November 12 he entered Kilkenny amidst the Qct4^ applauses of a shouting throng.3 On his journey he Arrival of had been struck by the hardihood and activity of the at Ken- ** J mare, men and by the beauty and modesty of the women. Nov I2 The fecundity of the latter struck him with amaze- Kdktnny. ment. There were married couples, he related with His im- x , pressions surprise, which were blessed with no less than thirty ?n the . journey. children still living, whilst families of fifteen or twenty were — so at least he had been told — of common occurrence.4 Glamorgan's first impression of the Nuncio was Nov. 28. that he would throw no obstacles in his way. " Be- gan's ex- fore Sunday night," he wrote to the Lord Lieutenant pec on the 28th, "I am morally certain a total assent from the Nuncio shall be declared to the propositions for peace, and in the very way your Lordship pre scribes." 5 The approbation of the Nuncio was not Einuccini's so easUy gained. He brought with him a firm will, and.racter an exclusive devotion to the interests of his Church, P°wtl0n- and a habit of looking facts in the face, in which both Charles and Glamorgan were wholly wanting. He held in contempt all projects aiming at the employ ment of the resources of a Catholic, country to but tress up the tottering throne of an heretical king. As he brought with him a considerable sum of money, as weU as a large store of arms and munitions, he was 1 See p. 376. 2 Rinuccini to Panfilio, Oct. if. Nunziatura, 63. This letter is dated Oct. 25, ' stile nuovo d'lbernia,' which is unintelligible. In the Latin trans lation in Lord Leicester's MS. we have ' stylo novo, nam imposterum ad alterum, quo in hac patria utuntur, me semper accommodabo,' an indica tion useful in dating subsequent letters. 3 Nunziatura, 68-71 ; Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 93, 1,026. 4 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 944. 5 Glamorgan to Ormond, Nov. 28. Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 264. 406 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXIX. 164s Rinuccini and the Supreme Council. Approach ing agree ment with Ormond. Rinuccini's protest. Dec. 20. He wins over Gla morgan. able to speak with even more authority than he could derive simply from his position as representative of the Fope. Einuccini was not long in discovering that a large number of the influential members of the Supreme Council were attached to Ormond by ties of affinity or dependence, and he at once held them in suspicion as lukewarm defenders of the cause confided to their keeping. He distrusted too the natural desire of wealthy landowners to regain peace, and thus to pre serve their estates, though at some sacrifice of the claims of religion ; and he was easily convinced that such men would shrink from continued suffering in vindication of the full privileges which he demanded for the Church, and that they would not take it much to heart if she were even forced to content herself with the clandestine celebration of her rites. Einuccini was the more ready to take alarm as he had reason to believe that the Agents of the Supreme Council were at last on the point of coming to an agreement with Ormond on the basis of the acceptance by the Lord Lieutenant of the political articles, whilst the religious articles were to be reserved for Charles's own judgment — an arrangement which, as he firmly believed, would ultimately result in the entire aban donment of the religious articles. He therefore openly protested against the course taken by the Supreme Council.1 His next step was to win over Glamorgan. The impressionable EngUshman became as wax in his hands, and on December 20 engaged on the King's behalf that, even if Ormond accepted the political articles, they should not be published till the religious questions at issue had been settled by Charles's confirmation of the secret treaty which had 1 The Nuncio's speech. Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,005b. A SECOND GLAMORGAN TREATY. 407 been signed by Glamorgan on August 25, and that he chap. would demand this confirmation as soon as he landed ~-t-H- with his army on English soil. : 4S Even this engagement was not enough for Einuccini. The second He drew Glamorgan on to expand his original promises treao°,gan into what can only be fitly described as a second treaty. The Earl now undertook, in the name and by the authority of the King, that Charles would bind himself never again to appoint a Brotestant Lord Lieutenant, would admit the Catholic bishops to their seats in the Irish Parliament, would allow Catholic statutes to be drawn up for a Catholic university which was about to be founded, and would grant to the Catholics the churches and ecclesiastical revenues, not only in all places taken by the Confederates before the date on which the political articles were signed by Ormond, but also in those taken subsequently to that signature up to the confirmation ofthe treaty of August 25 by the King. Finally, Glamorgan promised that the Supreme Council should not be superseded in its jurisdiction till this confirmation had been given.1 Even if it were possible to entertain doubts about Giamor- the first treaty, it is certain that this second one was not mouves. founded on anything more explicit than the general powers which Glamorgan possessed. It was drawn up by him on the spur of the moment, and is only to be explained by his intense eagerness to lead Irish troops to Charles's help. If Irish soldiers could effect anything but mischief in England, their presence was sadly needed now that Chester was in imminent danger, and, in view of the inconveniences which 1 ' Donee privatas conces?iones ratse habeantur.' This means, as far as can be gathered from the use of ' privatee concessiones ' in the earlier part of the document, the treaty of August 25. See Engl. Hist. Review, Oct. 1887, p. 706. 408 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. —CHAP. XXXIX, would result from the loss of a port so important for 7Z7"" ' the traffic with Ireland, the Supreme Council agreed Chester in to allow Glamorgan to take with him at once 3,000 Aforceto men as an advanced guard.1 Yet Glamorgan could Glamorgan not embark a single man till he had procured Or- reiirf mond's consent both to his own appointment to com mand this force, and to the arrangement by which the expected political treaty was to be kept back for a time from publication. With this object in view Glamorgan ne set out f°r Dublin, and arrived in that city on in Dublin. December 24.2 Before two days were over Glamorgan's dazzling vision of his own triumphant intervention in England Dec. 26. melted away. On the 26th he was summoned before arrested. Ormond and the Erivy Council at the demand of Digby, who had recently reached Dublin from the Isle of Oct. i7. Man.3 On October 1 7 the Scottish garrison of Sligo brought to had made a sally, in which the Catholic Archbishop of Tuam was killed.4 On his person was found a copy of Glamorgan's original treaty, which after some time Heisde- passed into Ormond's hands. Dighv, who now saw nounced by . „ . n . . . Digby, the treaty for the first time, raised his voice loudly in the councU against Glamorgan. He was especially scandahsed at the Earl's claim to have the King's authority for his engagements. That authority, de clared the Secretary, ' must be either forged or surreptitiously gained,' as it was certain that the King would never grant to the Irish ' the least piece of concession so destructive to his regality and reh- andbythe gion.' The Council took up the note, and declared Irish . . J- Oonncii. the treaty ' to import no less than absolute giving up the King's ecclesiastical supremacy within this king- 1 Rinuccini to Panfilio, Dec. 23. Nunziatura, 75. 2 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,033b ; Muskerry to Ormond, Jan. 3 ; Glamorgan to Ormond, Jan. 10, Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 380, 409. 3 See p. 354. * Rushw. vi. 239. THE GLAMORGAN TREATY REVEALED. 409 dom, and, in lieu of it, introducing the fulness of chap. xxxix. 1646 papal power of vast prejudice to all the Brotestant clergy, and that not only to their utter ruin in point of subsistence, but also to the absolute taking away of their churches and ecclesiastical estates, posses sions, rights, interests, jurisdiction, and government.' On these grounds the Council committed Glamorgan The^'atter to prison, and referred the whole matter to the King.1 J^King? On January 16, before the despatches of the Irish jan. l6. Council reached Charles, copies of the incriminating morgan" documents had been received at "Westminster, having ^^n at been forwarded by some commissioners who had been w.estr •> minster. sent by Earliament to Ulster to watch over English interests in the North of Ireland. The Commons at once ordered them to be sent to the press, together with the papers which had been captured at Sherburn.2 Some motives, however — probably those of prudence — held back the House from allowing the latter docu ments to be printed in accordance with this order, and for the present the Glamorgan mystery alone was unveiled to the public gaze. In the House itself sharp words were spoken sharp against the person of the King. They had, it was ^okenof taid, the example of earlier Barhaments, and they Charlea- knew how kings had been used by them in similar cases. At a meeting held by four or five of the Independent leaders it was resolved to give point to these words by agitating for the King's deposition. When that had been effected, the Brince of Wales was to be declared an enemy of the State, and the Duke of York summoned to present himself at Westminster. In the probable case of his refusal the little Duke of 1 Digby to Nicholas, Jan. 4, Rushw. vi. 240 ; Ormond and the Council to Nicholas, Jan. 5, Carte's Ormond, vi. 333 ; Glamorgan's examination, Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 341, 356. 3 C.J. iv. 408. 410 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXIX. 1646 Charlesasks for a reply. ReportsfromFrance. Gloucester was to be crowned, and Northumberland declared Lord Brotector of the realm.1 It may seem strange, after all that had passed, that the Houses made no reply to an angry letter received on the 19th from the King,2 in which he demanded an immediate answer to his last communi cation.3 Their silence was, perhaps, due to their wish to know their whole peril before further negotia tion was attempted. It was not only from Ireland that they were threatened with danger. During the last weeks of the year the reports which the Com mittee of Both Kingdoms derived from their agents in Faris, Eobert Wright and Sir George Gerard, had been reassuring. The Queen, they were told, had been doing all that was in her power to engage the French court to assist her husband, but it did not appear likely that as long as the war with the House of Austria lasted the Queen-Begent would be in a position to give serious aid. Mazarin would no doubt do his best to weaken England by a prolongation of the 1 " Et ce qui n'est pas moins secret qu'il est estrange que quatre ou cinq des chefs des Independants s'etant assembles vendredi dernier, ils arresterent qu'il falloit travailler promtement a la deposition du Roy de la Grande Bretagne, a. quoy les lettres qu'ils avoyent de luy et sa decla ration en faveur des Catholiques d'Irlande qui avoit etSluelemesmejour au Parlement donneraient assez de sujet qu'on declareroit le Prince de Galles enemy de l'Estat aprfe le refus qu'il auroit fait de poser les armes, ¦qu'on sommeroit le Due d'York de venir au Parlement, et que n'aiant pas voulu obeir, on couronneroit le petit Due de Glocester et on feroit le Comte de Northumberland protecteur de ce Royaume. " Ce mesme jour diverses choses fufent dittes dans la maison basse du Parlement qui ne s'eloignoient pas bien fort de cela, puisqu'il y en eut un qui remontra sur le sujet de cette declaration en faveur des Catholiques d'Irlande qu'ils avoient les examples des precedens parlemens, et qu'ils scavoient comme on en avoit use1 envers d'autres Roys d'Angleterre ¦dans de semblables rencontres." — Montreuil to Mazarin, ^j-f . Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 81. 2 The King to the Houses, Jan. 17, L.J. viii. 108. 3 See p. 391. FOREIGN INTRIGUES. 411 civil war, but this at least was no revelation at West- chap. . 1 xxxix. minster. ¦ , — ¦ On January 17, however, far more startling news ^ reached the Committee. Sir Kenelm Digbv had The Queen . ° J to be helped returned to Bans upon the completion of his negotia- by the tion with the Bope. In the Queen's name — so much clergy. at least had oozed out — he had engaged that Charles sir Kenelm should abolish the penal statutes in England as well treaty. as in Ireland. In consequence of the hopes thus raised, an assembly of the French clergy, which was 0ffers of . • 1 i rr> -1 *'le l?rench then m session, had offered 1,500,000 francs, or about clergy. 150,000/., for the expenses of an expedition which on the lowest computation was to consist of 5,000 foot and 2,000 horse, and was to be placed under the command of the Duke of Bouillon. Emery, a French man of Italian origin, who had risen under Mazarin to be comptroUer-general of finance, and who for the most part employed his ingenuity in contriving fresh means of wringing money out of the poor for the benefit of the treasury,2 now posed as an enthusiastic devotee, and became the Queen's principal adviser in the matter. It was even said that Henrietta Maria had offered to pledge the Channel Islands and some The towns in the West of England to those who would islands6 to now come to her help. She was further hoping to e p e sed' get possession of her son, the Frince of Wales, and thinking of abandoning her project of marrying him Matri- to the daughter of the Prince of Orange,3 in the hope "hemes. of securing for him the hand of her niece, the daughter of the Duke of Orleans. The young lady, afterwards 1 Wright to St. John, Nov. §§; N. N., i.e. Sir G. Gerard, to S. G., S T&?> Tanner M8S- lx' fo1' 339, 342, 344- 2 See Nouvelle Biogr. Generate, s.v. Particelli. 3 The negotiation with the Prince of Orange was finally broken off in the following April. Goffe to the Prince of Orange, April 9. Groen. van Prinsterer, iv. 152. 412 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXJX. I646- The Scots' treaty re vealed. Jan. 24. Protest of the Scots. Jan. 29. Votes of the Com- known as the Great Mademoiselle, was three years older than the Prince, but she would be one of the wealthiest brides in Europe.1 This intelligence, alarming as it was, fitted in too well with the news from Ireland to cause much sur prise. Far more surprising was the revelation con tained in other letters from Wright, that the Scottish commissioners were treating through WiU Murray with the Queen, and that they were ready, under certain conditions, to direct their army to 'do no ser vice before Xewark.' Though it is certain that the Scots were aiming at the estabhshment of Presby terianism and not at the establishment of the Papal Church in England, their junction with the Queen and Mazarin, at a time when the forces of Papal France and Papal Ireland were sharpening all their weapons against England, may well have seemed to Englishmen to be treason of the deepest dye. The Scots at once perceived how the accusation was telling against them, and with unblushing effrontery they publicly declared that the charges were absolutely false from beginning to end. They then, with every expression of injured innocence, called on the English Parliament to produce its informants in order that' they might be compeUed to answer for their calum nies.2 The House of Commons was not so easily misled. On the 29th it voted that the members of the Committee of Both Kingdoms who had supplied the information had done no more than their duty, 1 N. N. to S. G. Jan, ±. News from France read in the House, Jan. 29. Tanner MSS. Ix. fol. 362. Other letters from France, read on the 29th,|were before the Committee on the 17th, and I have therefore supposed this to have been read there with them ; but the date is of no consequence. 8 The Scottish commissioners to the Speaker of the House of Lords, Jan. 24. L.J. viii. 122. GLAMORGAN DISAVOWED. 413 and directed the preparation of an answer to the chap. Scottish protest.1 xxxix.^ Charles's disavowals were made in a different l646 style, though at the bottom they were no less false, disavows He was accustomed to strive to give as much as gan™° possible the semblance of truth to what was in itself untrue. He now, writing from Oxford on the 29th, after he had had knowledge of the publication of Glamorgan's treatjr, assured the Houses : — " That the Earl of Glamorgan, having made offer unto him to raise forces in the kingdom of Ireland, and to conduct them into England for his Majesty's service, had a commission to that purpose, and to that purpose only. " That he had no commission at all to treat of anything else without the privity and directions of the Lord Lieutenant, much less to capitulate anything concerning religion, or any propriety 2 belonging either to Church or laity." It can be no matter of surprise that Charles should and offers have acknowledged what he could not help acknow- theairisii°n ledging, and should have sought to cast a discreet veil over that which could yet be concealed. His really unpardonable fault was that, after engaging in such a negotiation with the Irish Catholics, he should now have announced his ' resolution of leaving the managing of the business of Ireland wholly to the Houses, and to make no peace there but with their consent.' 3 What sort of peace the Houses would estabhsh in Ireland he knew full well. Einuccini had looked into his heart and had estimated his motives to more purpose than Glamorgan. No wonder that the Houses declared themselves 1 C.J. iv. 421. s i.e. property. 3 L.J. viii. 132. 414 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXIX 1646 Feb. z. The C'immons d ^satisfied Jan. 30. Charles explains to Ormond, Jan. 3r. hut throws doubts on the genuineness of his warrant. He ex plains to the Queen. dissatisfied. There was a talk of sending to the Kino- a copy of the warrant on which Glamorgan had rested his authority, and which, together with the treaty founded on it, had fallen into the hands of the Scots when the Archbishop of Tuam was slain ; x but in the end the proposal was allowed to drop, probably because those who made it felt that it was useless to continue the altercation. To Ormond Charles could not venture to pre varicate on the subject of Glamorgan's commission. He could not say to him, as he had said to the Houses, that he had given him no authority to treat without the Lord Lieutenant's privity, but he was able to say, what in all probabihty was strictly true, that he had never intended him to treat without his approbation.2 In a public despatch to the Irish Council he aUowed himself to cast doubts upon the genuineness of his warrant to Glamorgan 3 by speaking of it as a creden tial which he might possibly have given, whilst he permitted Nicholas at the same time to call attention to its defects as an official document. " Your Lord ships," concluded the Secretary, " cannot but judge it to be at least surreptitiously gotten, if not worse ; for his Majesty saith he remembers it not."4 Whatever he may have been to others Charles was always perfectly truthful in his letters to his wife. " It is taken for granted," he wrote to her, " the Lord of Glamorgan neither counterfeited my hand, nor that I have blamed him more than for not following his instructions."5 This may perhaps be 1 C.J. iv. 426. 2 The King to Ormond, Jan. 30. Carte's Ormond, v. 16. 3 The one of March 12 is always intended. 1 The King to the Irish Council, Jan. 31 ; Nicholas to the Irish Council, Jan. 31. Carte's Ormond, vi. 347, 349. '- The King to the Queen, March 22. Charles I. in 1646, 28. WORCESTER'S INDIGNATION. 415 accepted as the final verdict of history on the sub- chap. . , L J xxxix. ject. ^wT It remained to be seen how Glamorgan would ^ ^ ? take his disavowal. It struck heavily on the ears of Worcester . complains his aged father. " It was the grief of his heart," of his son's i • ' i -ITT- i -1-. -1 treatment. complained Worcester to one who reached Eaglan with a comforting message from Charles, " that he was enforced to say that the King was wavering and fickle, and that at his Majesty's last being there he lent him a book to read " — Gower's Confessio Amantis l — " the beginning of which he knows he read, but if he had ended it, it would have showed him what it was to be a fickle prince ; for was it not enough ... to suffer . . . the Lord of Glamorgan to be unjustly imprisoned by the Lord Marquis of Ormond for what he had his Majesty's authority for, but that the King must in print protest against his proceed ings, and his own allowance, and not yet recall it ; but I will pray for him, and that he may be the more constant to his friends." 2 However harshly Charles's conduct may be judged, he at least did not make a scapegoat of Glamorgan 1 That the book was Gower's appears from Bayly's Golden Apo phthegms, p. 5. E. 184, 3. The lines referred to are, I suppose, those near the end of the Confessio Amantis (ed. Pauli), iii. 381 : — " So were it good, that he " (i.e. the King) " therefore First unto rightwisnesse entend, Wherof that he himself amende Toward his God and leve vice, Which is the chefe of his office. And after all the remenaunt He shall upon his covenaunt Governe and lede in such a wise So that there be no tirannise, Wherof that he his people greve. Or elles may he nought acheve That longeth to his regalie.'' 2 Narrative of Allan Boteler. Carte MSS, xxx. 307. 4 1 6 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND, xxxix. aS Elizabeth did of Davison. In his public despatch, ~i64

,j, not Ormond he ordered that the execution of the sentence prosecuted. should be suspended till his pleasure was known. Glamorgan, he added, had sinned through misguided civarh's3' zeal rather ttian irom malice.2 To Glamorgan him- assoreshim self he declared his whole mind. "I must clearlv of his j. n » i -r-i favour. tell you, he wrote on February 3, " both you and I have been abused in this business, for you have been drawn to consent to conditions much beyond your instructions, and your treaty hath been divulged to all the world. If you had advised with my Lord Lieutenant, as you promised me, all this had been helped ; but we must look forward. Wherefore, in a word, I have commanded as much favour to be shown to you as may possibly stand with my service or safety ; and if you will trust my advice, which I have commanded Digby to give you freely, I will bring you so off that you may be still useful to me, and I shall be able to recompense you for your affliction."3 Jan. 21. Before these lines were written Glamorgan had Glamor- > ° ganiiber- regained his freedom. He had made strong re presentations to Ormond that the continuance of his imprisonment would be of the greatest disservice to the King, and on January 21 he was liberated on jan 24. bail.4 On the 24th he was once more at Kilkenny, at ku-"" 9 urging the Supreme Council to push on the political kenny' treaty with Ormond on which all parties were agreed,5 1 The King to Ormond and the Irish Council, Jan. 31. Carte's Ormond, vi. 349. 2 The King to Ormond, Jan. 30. lb. v. 16. 3 The King to Glamorgan, Feb. 3. Dircks, 134, i Glamorgan to Ormond, Jan. 10, 20 ; Act of Council, Jan. 21. Carte MSS. xv. fol. 409, 449, 455. 5 See p. 405. ated, SIR KENELM DIGBY'S ARTICLES. 417 and to give him in all haste the 3,000 men needed chap. for the relief of Chester. On the 29th he was able -^— . — ^ to announce to Ormond that, as to his first request, Jan. 29. the Council was only waiting for the meeting of the The su- General Assembly to be empowered by it to con- council elude peace, and that, as to the second, the men relieve ° would be ready to sail at a day's notice as soon as Chester- the treaty had been signed.1 Meanwhile the Nuncio's doubts of the solidity of Attitude of , . n ¦, /, , , theNuucio. a peace concluded by anyone professing to act by the King's authority had been intensified by Digby's denunciation of Glamorgan. It now seemed that the Earl, by acting as intermediary between Ormond and the Supreme Council, had basely deserted his alliance with himself, and might even be expected, if only he could receive the regiments which he needed, to treat a merely political undertaking as a sufficient satisfaction of the whole of the demands of Ireland.2 Einuccini was the more anxious to hinder any understanding with Ormond, as before the end of January 3 he received from Eome a copy of articles xf e retief:es J . the articles which had been presented to Sir Kenelm Digby in agreed on between the Fope's name, and he had thus learnt that the the Pope Queen's representative had consented to terms which Digby. went far beyond not only anything that Ormond, but even anything that Glamorgan, had hitherto been prepared to concede. The articles brought from Eome by Sir Kenelm Nature of were even more trenchant than had appeared by articles. the warning lately conveyed to the English Earlia ment.4 Not merely was entire liberty of the Catholic worship and a completely independent parliament to ' Glamorgan to Ormond, Jan. 29. Carte MSS. fol. 465. " Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,042. 3 lb. fol. 1,056b. 4 See p. 411, II. E E 41 8 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. 1646 ciiap. be granted to Ireland, but Dublin and all other Irish fortresses still garrisoned by the King's troops were to be placed immediately in the hands of Irish, or at least of English Catholics, whilst the King's forces were to join the Confederates in chasing the Scots and the EarUamentary English out of the country. As soon as this was done, and any additional de mands which might seem desirable to the Nuncio had been granted, the Eope would pay to the Queen 100,000 crowns, or about 36,000?. 1 of English money. The remaining articles concerned England. The King was there to revoke all laws affecting the Catholics, placing them on complete equahty with his Erotestant subjects. At the next Earliament the change thus made was to be confirmed, and in the meanwhile the Supreme Council was to send into England a body of 12,000 foot under Irish officers, to be supported upon its landing by 3,000, or at least 2,500, Enghsh horse commanded by Catholics. As soon as the Irish landed in England the Eope would pay another 100,000 crowns, and the same payment would be continued during the two follow ing years, if it appeared to be desirable.2 Erepos- terous as these terms were, Einuccini was, from his own point of view, perfectly right in adopting them. Nothing would make the Eope the master of Ireland which did not make him master of England as well. Feb. 7. In the General Assembly, as soon as it met, urges these Einuccini struggled hard for the postponement of any conclusion with Ormond until it was known whether articles on the General Assembly. g-f ]£eneim>s articles were accepted or not. Wha^- 1 The exchange in 1638, as given in Lewis Roberts' Map of Com merce, was 7s. 3jrf. for the Roman crown, mailing the sum 36,375/. 2 Articles, Nunziatura, 459. Further proposals for managing this army will be found at p. 462. AN APPEAL FROM GLAMORGAN. 419 1646 ever difficulty he had with the Irish, he had none chap. with Glamorgan.1 With the instinct of a weak and excitable nature, Glamorgan once more bowed before the Nuncio's strength of will, and recognising at once that in no other way could he hope to obtain immediately the 3,000 men who were to be sent in advance to the relief of Chester, on February 8 he G1^b0-r8'an adiured Ormond to give all content to Einuccini. appeals to •> ° Ormond. " Certainly," he wrote, after referring to ' the expect ance of a more advantageous peace wrought by the powerful hand of her Majesty,' " before I can put myself into a handsome posture to serve the King, my master, by sea and land, and in some kind to supply his Majesty's private purse, I think it will stand me in little less than 100,000/. within three months ; aU which whence can I have it but out of Catholic countries ? And how cold I shall find Catholics bent to this service if the Fope be irritated, I humbly submit to your Excellency's better judg ment. And here am I constrained . . . absolutely to profess not to be capable to do the King that service which he expects at my hands unless the Nuncio here be civilly complied with, and carried along with us in our proceedings." 2 Ormond's reply to this extraordinary letter was Feb- "• • a e ni- i • • i -t Ormond's coolly sarcastic. Alter declaring his inability to un- reply. derstand what was meant by the advantageous peace to be obtained by the Queen's intercession, he went on to define his own position. " My lord," he wrote, " my affections and interest are so tied to his Majesty's cause that it were madness in me to disgust any man that hath power and inclination to relieve him in the sad condition he is in ; and, therefore, your lordship 1 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,066. 2 Glamorgan to Ormond, Feb. 8. Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 502. E E 2 420 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXIX. 1646 Feb. 16. Glamorgan surrendershimself to the Nuncio. Compact .-with the Supreme Council. may securely go on in the ways you have proposed to yourself to serve the King without fear of inter ruption from me, or so much as inquiring the means you work by. My commission is to treat with his Majesty's Confederate Catholic subjects here for a peace, upon conditions of honour and assistance to him and of advantage to them ; which, accordingly, I shall pursue to the best of my skill, but shall not venture upon any new negotiation foreign to the powers I have received." x Upon Glamorgan this dignified protest had no effect whatever. On the 16th he surrendered himself body and soul to the Nuncio, swearing by aU the saints that he would obey every one of his com mands and would never do anything contrary to his honour and good pleasure.2 Glamorgan's profession of unlimited obedience was accompanied by a compact between himself and the Nuncio on the one part and the Supreme Council on the other, in consequence of which the latter body agreed to prolong the cessation till May 1. So much time was to be allowed to the 1 Ormond to Glamorgan, Feb. 11. Carte's Ormond, vi. 352. 2 " Ego Eduardus Glamorganus Dominationi vestrae Dlm0! promitto et juro me prompte obtemperaturum omnibus suis imperatis sine ulla reluctatione ex animo, et cum animi oblectatione. Et hanc protestationem perpetuam positis genibus facio Dominationi vestrse 111"™ et Rm8e non solum velut Papa? ministro sed etiam sua. persona, tam insigni et mearum in hoc purissimarum intentionum testes invoco Beatissimam Virginem atque omnes Sanctos Paradisi. Preeterea sincere spondeo me de[in] in omnibus quibus honoris sui intersit fore non minus sollicitum nee minore cura processurum quam circa memetipsum, nihilque me ipsi propositurum nisi quod eidem congruat nee commissurum, vel aliquid suo honori vel beneplacito contrarium fiat, sed conforme obligationi, qua tenear nunquam non esse " D.V. Ulmaj et Rm" 16 Feb. 1G_C. Benevolentissimus et humilissimus servus usque ad mortem, " GLAMOEffAHTS," Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,053b. A THIRD GLAMORGAN TREATY. 42 1 Nuncio to enable him to obtain the original articles chap. XXXIX which Sir Kenelm Digby had brought from Eome, — — , — '¦* signed and sealed by the Pope and the Queen, as the Supreme Council refused, upon the mere sight of a copy, to support the fresh demands upon Charles which they contained. He, on his part, engaged that if he failed to produce the document within the specified time, he would content himself with such terms as might be agreed on between Glamorgan and the King. In the meanwhile he waived his objection to the continuance of the Supreme Council's negotia tion with Ormond, on the understanding that nothing should be made public till the result of Glamorgan's negotiation with Charles was known, so that both treaties — the political one concluded with Ormond, and the religious one concluded with the King in person — might be published at the same time.1 The immediate interest of the negotiation was Feb. 18. thus transferred to the Continent, and on the 18th tog™tofhe Glamorgan, leaving the conduct of the troops for Chester to others, and despatching his brother, Lord John Somerset, to England to urge Charles to com pliance with the new terms, announced his intention of leaving Ireland for Eome in the hope of being able to induce the Eope to give his full support to the proposals already made by him to Sir Kenelm Digby. So certain was Glamorgan of being able to sway the resolution not only of the Pope but of the King as well, that though he had no fresh instructions from England, he referred Einuccini to the powers which he had originally received from Charles as ^morgan being sufficient to assure him that the royal rati- treatJ% fication of these proposals could not possibly be 1 Articles between the Confederate Catholics and the Nuncio with Glamorgan, Feb. 16. Lord Leicester's MS. fol. i,o86b. 422 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. 1646 Feb. 24. Troops to be sent over. March 8. Bad new s fro 01 Eng land. Feb. 3. Surrender of Chester. March 18. Glamorgan learns that Charles has disavowed him. refused,1 It is incredible that this third Glamorgan treaty,2 as we may fairly call it, emanated in any way from Charles. An agreement having been thus temporarily come to between the Nuncio and the Supreme Council, it seemed as if there would be no further difficul ties in the way of the despatch of troops to Chester. On February 24 Glamorgan was able to assure Ormond that not 3,000 but 6,000 men would be sent, and" that he was himself starting for Water- ford to expedite their embarkation.3 On March 8 bad news arrived from Chester. The city had sur rendered to Brereton on February 3. The port which was to have received Charles's Irish auxiliaries was closed against them.4 As far as Glamorgan's plans were concerned, the only immediate result of the evil tidings was the transference of his intended port of landing from Chester to some point either in Wales or in Corn wall, where the Frince of Wales was still holding out. On March 1 8 a far worse blow overtook him. He then learned that Charles had not only disavowed him, but had published his disavowal to the world.5 In his annoyance Glamorgan talked to Du MouUn, the French agent at Kilkenny, of abandoning the master to whom he had hitherto devoted himself, and of passing with the army which was being raised to champion Charles's cause in England into the service of the King of France.6 1 Glamorgan to Rinuccini, Feb. 18. Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,084- 1,086. 2 For the other two see pp. 399, 407. 3 Glamorgan to Ormond, Feb. 24. Carte MSS. fol. 546. 4 Note by Glamorgan, March 9. lb. xvi. fol. 617. 5 Glamorgan to Ormond, March 18. lb. xvi. fol. 666. 6 Pu Moulin to Mazarin, ^~f. R.O. Transcripts. RINUCCINI'S OPINION OF CHARLES. 423 Glamorgan's chance of being allowed to carry chap. XXXIX" any considerable force from Ireland was, however, —1^-1^ now the less, as the Irish had fresh dangers to meet at home. A Parliamentary squadron had sailed up the estuary of the Shannon and had seized Bunratty The seizure Castle, a few miles below Limerick. The Earl of ratty. Thomond, whose influence in Clare was great, and who for some time had been hesitating between the parties, now threw his whole weight on the Earlia mentary side. The members of the Supreme Council informed Glamorgan that unless Ormond would openly join forces with them they would neither make peace at DubUn nor send an army to England.1 Einuccini, at least, was well satisfied with the turn Einuccini events were taking. He thoroughly distrusted the the Supreme Council, beUeving it to be capable of sacri- coSn™ ficing the Church for mere temporal expediency ; but he stiU more thoroughly distrusted the King. " I March 4. consider," he had written a few weeks earlier, " that, King. with regard to the Faith, it is safer to treat with a prince who perhaps is not averse to concede what he can on this head, and who has had experience of the fidelity of the Irish, besides having a Catholic wife, and having intercourse in civil matters with all the other princes of Christendom. Yet, on the other hand, 1 am alarmed at the common behef of his in constancy and untrustwo.rthiness, on account of which it may be doubted that no concession made by him will live longer than he wishes, and that, unless a Catholic Lord Lieutenant is appointed, he will, in the end, by means of Frotestant ministers, assert his claims by the sacrifice of the best heads in Ireland, and 1 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,145b; Glamorgan to Ormond, March 18, Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 666. 424 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. CHAP. XXXIX. -i 1646 March 18. Attitude of theSupreme Council. March 28. The treaty of peace signed. The articles on religion postponed. establish more atrociously than before the heretic reign of terror." l The Supreme Council could not, however, make up its mind to abandon its negotiation with the representative of a King who had not the power, even if he had the will, to fulfil engagements made in his name. There being as yet no sign of Charles's acceptance of Sir Kenelm Digby's articles, or even evidence that they had come under his notice, the Council bade their commissioners, who were now once more at Dublin, to propose that the conclusion of peace should be deferred to the middle of June, to enable Glamorgan to fetch from France and the Netherlands the ships and money of which he was in need for the transportation of his forces to England. In the meanwhUe Glamorgan would send his brother to obtain from the King a confirmation under the great seal of his own treaty. H this were accepted, and if Ormond would agree in the meanwhile to combine with the Irish forces against the common enemy, the Council would allow him 3,000.. to meet his current expenses.2 On these terms, with some modification, Ormond agreed to conclude the peace, on the understanding that it was to be kept a profound secret, not tiU the middle of June, but till May 1. The articles of the treaty which related to the civil government were signed on March 28. They contained many valuable reforms, especially providing for the admission of Catholics and Protestants to office upon equal terms. The whole question of religious liberty was postponed till an answer had been received from Charles. The 1 Rinuccini's Memoir, March I. Nunziatura, 114. 2 The Supreme Council to the commissioners, March 18. Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 668; GLAMORGAN'S PROSPECTS. 425 ere, however, so expectant of a favour able reply that they appended to the treaty an agree- negotiators were, however, so expectant of a favour- chap. XXXIX. ment to send to England without delay the long promised army of 10,000 men. Six thousand were The 10,000 . .- -, -.»- ,- . . men to be to start on April 1, and on May 1 the remaining sent at 4,000 were to follow. On March 30 Ormond gave to the Irish commissioners a written promise that if they were attacked before the time appointed for the pubhcation of the treaty, he would appear in arms against their assailants.1 Whatever hopes might be entertained at Dublin, March 29. Glamorgan had given up all hope of conducting the ^vS upan army to England till the day when the King should, e"°apne/ as he fervently believed he would, acknowledge the ™s *™t articles signed in his name. In the meanwhile he would go abroad and gather support for the great enterprise. His short access of ill-temper had passed away, and he avowed his belief freely that the King's disavowal had been drawn unwillingly from him. Yet he also acknowledged frankly that for the time it rendered him incapable of doing him service. During his absence the men should be placed under Preston for operations in Munster.2 No wonder that, in spite of the signatures of their commissioners in Dublin, the Supreme Council felt doubtful as to the prospects of the treaty. Within a few days after its conclusion, news arrived from England which rendered the prospects of the ex- Prospects pedition hopeless. Chester had long been closed expedition. against it, and South Wales had since fallen into the 1 The Irish Treaty, Rushw. vi. 402, with the date of its subsequent publication, Agreement, March 28 ; Ormond to the commissioners, March 30, Carte MSS. xvi. fol. 610, xvii. fol. 28. 2 Glamorgan's considerations, March 29. Lord Leicester's MS, fol. I,IOI. 426 GLAMORGAN AND RINUCCINI IN IRELAND. xxxix hands of the Farliamentarians. Cornwall was now • — A-p lost as well, and there was no longer a foot of Enghsh soil on which the army could land with any prospect of being able to maintain itself. Officers and soldiers Tteexpt alike refused to leave Ireland.1 On April 3 Muskerry counter- wrote to Ormond that the expedition must be aban- manded. doned for the present. It would be impossible to land 10,000 infantry in a hostile country where no cavalry was available for their protection.2 A week earlier Charles had written to Ormond precisely to the same effect. The foot, he said, was to be kept back, as it would be lost if it should now attempt to land, ' we having no horse nor ports in our power to secure them.' 3 The bubble had burst. Irish help was not avail able for Charles. Excellent as were the motives of the Supreme Council, their expectation of being able to gain civil and religious liberty in co-operation with a Stuart king was a rock upon which wiser statesmen than themselves must infaUibly have spht. 1 Digby to Ormond, April 3. Carte's Ormond, vi. 363. 8 Muskerry to Ormond, April 3. Carte MSS. xvii. fol. 49. 3 The King to Ormond, March 26. Lb. xiv. 309. 427 CHAFTEE XL. THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. Long before Charles's Irish negotiation hopelessly chap. collapsed, the only army which still kept the field ^^l__ for him in England had begun to melt away. Before rT64S the end of November Goring betook himself to France, Goring' partly because he was in reality suffering in health England. from the effect of his debauches, and partly because he hoped for a high command in the army of foreigners which the Queen expected to muster in the spring.1 During the remainder of the year Fairfax, in spite of the sickness which was ravaging Fairfax his army, was cautiously establishing his posts on Exeter. the east side of Exeter, in the hope of being able ultimately to complete the investment and to starve the city into surrender.2 Though Cromwell had rejoined the army in October, neither he nor his chief was disposed to undertake an active cam paign during the rainy season in so impracticable a country as Devonshire, and Fairfax contented himself with sending detachments to occupy Fulford and Canonteign, with the object of hindering the 1 Goring to the Prince of Wales, Nov. 20 ; Jermyn to Hyde, Nov. 27. Clar. MSS. 2,033, 2,038 ; Clarendon, ix. 99. His name is afterwards connected with the foreign forces by the Parliamentary newspapers, and he does not seem to have been blamed by the King for his desertion. 2 For the operations before Exeter, see the map at p. 339. 428 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. chap, introduction of supplies into Exeter by the EoyaUsts - — r-' — • in the West. Fairfax could afford to wait better than the Dec. 26. enemy. On December 26 the Prince of Wales was at IT lie l"*rincG at Tavis- Tavistock, where he had ordered his scattered forces to concentrate in order to fall upon the Parliamentary army whilst it was hampered by the operations of the siege. He calculated that when every available man had been brought into line he would have 6,000 foot ot?hi_ti011 aQC^ 5'°°° norse at his disposal. Unfortunately for army. him, his body was formidable in numbers only. The brutalities of Grenvile in Cornwall, and the ravages committed in Devonshire by the cavalry which had been deserted by Goring, had exasperated even the most loyal subject who had anything to lose. The army itself was Uttle better than a mob. Scarcely an officer of rank would take orders from his superior, and the men, stinted of every kind of supply, were scattered in smaU groups from the neighbourhood of Exeter almost to the Land's End.1 Dec. 25. Fairfax's own army was indeed somewhat weakened and by the necessity of despatching Fleetwood and Whalley watch ethe° to watch the motions ofthe King's cavalry at Oxford, KlDg' but it was stiU strong enough to continue the block ade of Exeter, and to deal with the approaching a change of enemy in his existing state of disorganisation. A frost which now set in made the roads slippery, and threw almost as much difficulty in the way of an janfi advance as the previous rains. At last on January 8 Advance oi orders were given to advance. Whilst Sir Hardress Fairfax. o Waller pushed on to Bow, to distract the enemy's Jan. 9. attention, Cromwell surprised a part of Lord Went- prise at worth's brigade at Bovey Tracey by a night attack, Tracey. and though the men for the most part escaped in 1 Clarendon, ix. 116. ment of a commander. HOPTON'S DEVOTION. 429 the darkness, four hundred horses fell into the hands chap. XL of the victors. So terrified was Wentworth at the — — f~- unexpected blow that he fled in hot haste to Tavis- 1 4 tock to tell the news of his misfortune. The Eoyalist plan had crumbled away, and the Prince, who had The Prince set out with the intention of advancing to Totnes, Launces- fell back upon Launceston, sending orders to Colonel John Digby, who had been watching Plymouth from afar, to abandon the semblance of a blockade and to fall back upon headquarters.1 Insubordinate and tyrannical as Grenvile was, he Grenvile was at least a soldier, and his first impulse on hear- appoint ing of Wentworth's mishap was to urge the Prince to appoint a commander-in-chief — Brentford or Hopton ¦ — to whom the officers would be bound to render obedience. On January 15 the choice of the Prince Jan. 15. — or rather that of the counsellors by whose advice appointed. he was guided — fell upon Hopton. Grenvile was to serve under him in charge of the infantry, and Went worth in charge of the cavalry. In pure devotion Hopton accepted the heavy burden. He knew well that nothing but defeat was possible. He declared that he had often heard men say that it was against their honour to do this or that, when, in reality, it was only against their inclination. He for his part was ready to obey his Highness, though by so doing he should lose his honour. Never, in the eyes of all whose opinion was worth having, had Hopton's stainless reputation stood higher than on that day of self-surrender. He was not likely to find many to follow him in his path of loyalty. Grenvile, after recommending his ap- Grenvile's pointment, refused to serve under him, and proposed to employ himself in Cornwall in bringing up those 1 Clarendon, ix. 117; Sprigg, 176. arrest. _.4w.W_l_-r. THE STORMING OF DARTMOUTH. 43 1 who had deserted from the trained bands of the chap. XL county. The Prince and his council were at last 1646 weary of his disobedience, and thrust him as a prisoner into Launceston Castle, whence, before many days were over, he was removed to safer custody to St. Michael's Mount.1 The new commander had indeed a hopeless task before him. Fairfax, having secured himself from immediate danger by dispersing the advanced parties of the enemy, wheeled to the left, and, though the heavy snow made it impossible to bring up artillery, carried Dartmouth by storm on the 18th. The Dartmouth general's clemency served him even better than his stormed. valour. To the Cornishmen taken in the place he gave two shillings apiece, and sent them home to spread among their countrymen the news that the Parliamentary soldiers were not robbers like those of Grenvile and Goring.2 In Devonshire, at least, the behef was spreading Jan. 34. Devonshire that peace and plenty were only to be recovered by recruits for the victory of the best disciplined army. On the 24th, on his return to Totnes, Fairfax called on the county for 1,000 recruits to be employed in the defence of South Devon. Three times the number offered themselves willingly. " We are come," said Cromwell to them, " to set you, if possible, at liberty from your taskmasters." 3 Having thus strengthened his position in South Devon, Fairfax returned to the work of encompassing Exeter. On the 26th his chain of forts round the Jan 26. city was completed by the surrender of Powderham ham castie Castle. On the same day news reached the army of a nature to strengthen, if possible, the grim resolution 1 Clarendon, ix. 141. ' Sprigg, 179. 5 Sprigg 186; The Moderate Intelligencer, E. 320, II. 432 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. °hap. with which it had set itself to its appointed task. The ~ — 7T-" captain of a French vessel sailed into Dartmouth, intercepted thinking the place to be still in Eoyalist hands. As letters. goon ag j-e r|iSCOvered his mistake he threw overboard a packet, which was, however, seized before it sank, and was found to contain letters written by the Queen and her principal adherents.1 J.he , After the reading of these letters at Westminster Queen s o projects. there could no longer be any reasonable doubt as to the correctness of the information recently forwarded from Faris 2 as to the Queen's plans. In her letter to her husband Henrietta Maria wrote of the project of marrying their eldest son to the daughter of the Duke of Orleans. Nor did sne pass over in silence that negotiation with the Scots, the existence of which had been emphatically denied by the Scottish com- 1 Sprigg, 1 88. 2 " The treaty betwixt the King and Scots is with all industry pro secuted by Mr. William Murray with the Queen. She, to gain time, entertains it with great hopes of a fair and desired conclusion, and is resolved — if other expectations fail — to give them their desires. The obstacle at present is the difficulty of reconciling the party of Montrose with that of Hamilton and Argyle. Yet in case the Parliament should — upon the King's refusal of the propositions now desired — proceed to the deposing of him, the Scots commissioners in England do assure that those two parties shall reconcile and declare with one consent for the King, which is the only thing by her desired ; for having also assurance — in that case — of a party now with the Parliament, she is confident that that is the only way to re-establish the King to her content. The French to entertain the war, until they have done their business in Flanders, give leave to raise 6,000 volunteers : 2,000 in Normandy, 3,000 in Brittany, and 1,000 in Poitou ; for the setting forth of all which the Queen of France and Cardinal have this last week given 30,000 pistoles. The clergy gives the like sum, and both assurance of 5,000 pistoles monthly. Six hundred of the former number are within sixteen days to be shipped at Newhaven," i.e.. Havre, "and conducted to Dartmouth by Sir William Davenant ; the gross in March, all to be commanded by General Goring, who, having now passed his cure, will make his flourish for twenty or forty days in Paris." R. Wright to St. John [?], Jan. 17. Portland MSS. See also p. 411. A WILD SCHEME. 433 missioners in London. She had sent, she said, ' Will chap. XL. Murray fully instructed with her mind about it.'1 Of the other letters the most important was one from Jermyn. His mistress, he said, had obtained leave a French to raise 4,000 foot and 1,000 horse in Brittany and proposed. Guienne, and she would have no difficulty in obtain ing a larger number if she wished. This force would be ready about the end of February, and by that time the Dutch fleet, which was to transport them to England, would be ready to put to sea. " I had almost forgot," he concluded, " to observe to you that if the Scots' treaty be concluded it draws along with it another thing of equal importance, which will be the declaration of this Crown, and that may very probably be followed by that of the States United." 2 If the Houses had had any doubt before, they were now convinced that the Scots in their self-exculpation had spoken falsely. The combination was, at least on paper, extremely Feb. _. formidable. The knowledge of its existence seems hopes to to have come through some other channel to Charles, Kent!1 lnt° who was now hoping to do great things with the help of his foreign auxUiaries. The notion of concentrating at Worcester 3 was for the time abandoned, in all pro bability because the success of Fairfax put an end to aU hope of a junction with the Prince's army. Charles, therefore, urged the Queen to divert her French levies to the east of England. If they could land at Hastings 1 See p. 383. 2 Jermyn to Culpepper and Hyde, Jan. 17. Clar. MSS. 2,094. The signature is in cipher, but it is ascribed to Jermyn by Hyde. This is a duplicate of the copy taken at Dartmouth, which is, no doubt, the one now amongst the Tanner MSS. Ix. fol. 371. That the Parliamentarians ascribed it to Davenant merely shows that they guessed the interpreta tion of the ciphered signature wrongly. 3 See p. 381. II. F F 434 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. XL. 1646 chap, before the middle of March, he would be able to gather a force of 2,000 horse and dragoons. With these he would make a dash upon Kent, seize Eochester, and hold out a hand to the invaders in Sussex.1 Feb. 8. Knowing nothing of this last wUd scheme, Fairfax bcforeX loitered not in the execution of the duty before him. On February 8 he received the good news of the fall of Chester, and at the same time learnt that the Hopton Frince's army under Hopton's command was already 3clv_xnccs towards on the march for Torrington, in the hope of falUng upon him whUst he was engaged in the siege of Exeter. Fairfax's Leaving a large part of his force under Sir Hardress tioens.u" Waller to carry on the blockade, and despatching a strong body of horse northwards to keep back the Eoyalist garrison of Barnstaple from coming to Hop- Feb. 10. ton's assistance, he was still able to advance to meet He _ . . advances to the enemy with 10,000 men. Hopton. Hopton reached Torrington on the 10th, the day on which Fairfax broke up from before Exeter. He state of could place 9,000 men in line, and though inferior to a_my.ons his opponent in infantry, he was superior in cavalry. In all that constitutes an army he was miserably lacking. His foot-soldiers had no heart in the cause for which they had been dragged from their homes, and his horse, which had been trained in Goring's evil school, utterly refused to submit to discipline. They could seldom be induced to appear at the appointed rendezvous, and so slack were they in watching the enemy's movements, that it was only Feb. 14. by accident that Hopton learnt on the 14th that Fair- Chumieigh. fax had arrived at Chumleigh, and that an immediate conflict was therefore to be expected. Supplies too were slow in coming in, and, even if Fairfax left him 1 The King to the Queen, Feb. I. Charles I. in 1646, p. 14, THE BATTLE OF TORRINGTON. 435 unassailed, he would experience some difficulty in chap. keeping his army together. - — ^ — • All that a brave soldier could do was done by H ton Hopton. To abandon Torrington was to give up all **£™ to hope of preserving the West, and as the frost of the himself. early part of the year had been succeeded by soaking rain, it was just possible that if the Prince's army could maintain itself in a strongly defensible position for a few days, Fairfax might be compelled by the weather to retreat. Such a position Hopton attempted to make for himself at Torrington. He blocked up with mounds of earth the entrances of the streets at the eastern end of the town, the side on which Fairfax was likely to approach, and threw out ad vanced guards to give warning of his coming. The Eoyalist general took care to quarter the greater part of his cavalry on a common to the north, so as to be ready to take the Earliamentary army in flank as soon as it was engaged in storming the town. For two days there was skirmishing between the Feb. .6. horse, always to the disadvantage of the Eoyalists. Fa_rf_xf ° On the 1 6th Fairfax advanced in force. In the after noon the weather temporarily cleared, and the Far liamentarians succeeded in establishing themselves at no great distance from Hopton's defences. After nightfall a reconnoitring party, fancying that the Torrington barricade at the end of the street had been abandoned, stol"nied' and creeping forward too far, was unintentionally drawn into an engagement. Other troops were pushed forward in support, and at last a general attack was ordered. After a sharp struggle the de fences were carried. A body of horse, which had been kept in the town by Hopton to support his infantry, turned round and gallopped down the long street which sloped westwards towards the Torridge. F.2 436 THE LAST' CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. CHAP. XL. 1646 Hopton at Stratton. Feb. 20. Fairfax'sfurtheradvance. Feb. 25. Fairfaxenters Launces- toa. Their flight was the signal for disorder. Of the whole of the foot the Prince's guard alone maintained the struggle. Hopton himself, hurrying out to the common where the main body of his horsemen lay inactive, brought them back with him to turn the tide. The horsemen did their best, and drove the assailants back for a while, but not a foot-soldier could be in duced to make a stand, and cavalry, unsupported, were at a hopeless disadvantage in a narrow street. Fifty barrels of powder, the whole of Hopton's remaining ammunition, which had been deposited in a church, now blew up with a terrific roar. After this retreat was inevitable, and under cover of the night the greater part of the Eoyalists who had not already fled made their way across the Torridge. The next day Hopton mustered the remains of his army at Stratton, the scene of his most successful exploit in happier days. Only 1,200 foot had rejoined him. The remainder had either stolen away to their homes or had enlisted in the ranks of the enemy.1 The victory encouraged Fairfax to make short work of the enemy. The Prince, he knew, had re treated to Truro, and a deserter brought a rumour that the Queen's allies were to land in Cornwall in the middle of March. There was, therefore, no time to be lost. On the 25th Fairfax entered Launceston, driving the enemy before him. The Cornishmen had once arisen as one man to drive intruder sover the Tamar. Since that time the bitter lesson of Eoyalist plunderings had entered into their souls, and they welcomed the soldiers who robbed no one and paid their way.2 1 Hopton's Narrative, Carte's Orig. Letters, i. log ; Wogan's Narra tive, lb. i. 126 ; Sprigg, 192 ; A more full relation, E. 325, 2. '' Sprigg, 207. HOPTON'S DISCOMFITURE. 437 Hopton had fallen back upon Bodmin. It was chap. no fault of his if he was unable to make a stand. -— ^ — - Even his cavalry was now dissolving before his eyes. Those who did not desert to the enemy neglected Hopton's to perform the commonest duties of military service. condltlon- Eegiments appeared at their posts with half their numbers absent, and those who thought fit to attend often arrived two hours after the appointed time. On March i a whole brigade of horse, posted on i^sa™*du;.t Bodmin Downs to check the advance of the enemy, of hi,s •; cavalry. feU back upon the town in direct defiance of their commander. Hopton was compelled to abandon F^"*2' Bodmin, and the place was occupied by Fairfax on ^c™m^s the following day.1 The advance of the Earliamentary army had ren dered the position of the Prince of Wales exceed ingly precarious. It was true that on February 2 1 vJ^i™id he had received letters from France in confirmation promisedto the of the rumour that troops were being raised for his Prince. succour,2 but it was added that there would be a delay of two or three weeks beyond the date which had been originaUy fixed for their transportation, so that they could hardly be expected in Cornwall before the latter end of March.3 Almost at the same A.Plot to seize the time those who had the charge of the Prince's person Prince. learnt that that old trickster, Lord Newport, had been attempting to curry favour with Parliament by suborning a lieutenant of the Prince's guard to carry the lad off to Westminster.4 Before Fairfax reached Bodmin the heir to the The Prince at Penden- 1 Clarendon, ix. 144; Hopton's Narrative, Carte's Orig. Letters, i. nis Castle. 116. 2 See p. 432, Note 2. 3 Hopton's Narrative, Carte's Orig. Letters, i. 116. 4 Montreuil to Mazarin, J™^, Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 91 ; Jermyn to Culpepper, Feb. 9, Clar, MSS. 2,125. 438 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. CHAP. XL. 1646 March 2. Ho t^nes to the Scilly Isles. March 1. The rendez vous at Castle Dinas. March 2. A council of war votes for surrender. March 6. A letter from Fair- fax. March 8. Iioptou agrees to treat. March 10. A peaceable rencontre, crown had taken refuge in Pendennis Castle, where a council was hastily summoned to discuss the measures for securing his safety. There was a general dis inclination to send him to France, if it could possibly be avoided, and on March 2, the day on which the Earliamentary troops occupied Bodmin, the Frince embarked for the Scilly Isles, where he would be out of reach of Fairfax, and would yet be on English soil. As soon as the Prince had departed, Hopton ceased to have any motive for prolonging an impos sible resistance. When he left Bodmin he appointed a rendezvous at Castle Dinas, an isolated hill at no great distance, crowned with the ramparts of an ancient camp. Very few of his horse attended, and at a council of war held on the 2nd every officer, except himself and Major-General Webb, voted for an immediate surrender. A letter from Fairfax offering honourable terms arrived on the 6th, and Hopton, though he resolutely refused to treat for the surrender of Pendennis and St. Michael's Mount, was driven by the importunity of his own officers to open negotiations on the 8th. Before it was too late he took care to send to the two garrisons reinforcements out of the infantry still remaining with him. But for the forbearance of the Parliamentary soldiers Hopton's desire to postpone the inevitable surrender might have cost his followers dear. On March 10 a party of Ireton's horse near Probus, fell in with some of the Eoyalist cavalry, who, fancying that they were out of danger because negotiations had been opened, made no preparations for resistance. Ireton had much ado to persuade them that hostili ties had not been suspended, but he had too much generosity to take advantage of their error, and allowed them to retire without injury. On the same END OF HOPTON'S COMMAND. 439 day commissioners from both sides met at Tresilhan chap. Bridge. Fairfax did not, however, think it necessary *- sionersmeet. to halt, and before night he entered Truro. ' 45 It seemed as if Hopton's army would cease to c exist before the commissioners could agree. The gentlemen of the county and the soldiers alike de clared themselves to be weary of the war, and to be desirous of Uving peaceably under the protection of Earliament. At last, on the 14th, the wrangle over March 14. the terms of surrender was brought to a conclusion, surrender. Common soldiers, after giving up their arms and horses, might return to their homes or go beyond sea. Officers not specially excepted from pardon by the Earliament were allowed the same choice, but might retain their horses and their pistols. Even officers excepted might leave the country, a reason able time being allowed them to petition Earliament for their restoration to favour. All who remained in England were to take an oath never again to serve against Earliament. On the 20th the disbandment of what remained March 20. Hopton s of the army of the West was carried out on these armydis- mi •• i-i-ii • i banded. terms, lhe spirit which had once animated that army was as extinct as its organisation. The con trast between the vagabonds whom Goring had mustered and the disciplined warriors of the New Model was striking enough to counterbalance the local Western patriotism which at one time had stood Charles in good stead. No one who had anything to lose wished to see Goring back again, especially if he brought a pack of hungry Frenchmen at his heels.1 No less distasteful was the prospect of an Irish invasion. A Waterford ship, taken at Padstow March s on March 5, had been found to contain letters from ^^^0 1 Sprigg, 212; Hopton's Narrative, Carte's Orig. Letters, i. 117. 440 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. CHAP. XL. 1646 Strongholds still unreduced. Charles'sintriguesbreaking down. Feb. 5. Will M urray arrested. Tried as a spy and acquitted. Moutreuilcannot get leave to go to Oxford. Glamorgan, in which he boasted that 6,000 Irish would soon land in England, to be followed in May by 4,000 more. In making its submission, Cornwall did not so much bow before the conqueror as rally round the national banner in the hands of Fairfax.1 Charles had little left to rely on except his foreign intrigues. A few strong places held out for him, but he could not hope to maintain them for many weeks. Yet he could hardly expect to profit by his intrigues any more than he had profited hitherto. Before the end of January he knew that Glamorgan's negotiation had miscarried,2 and that the Queen's negotiation with the Scots had been revealed.3 Her letter which had recently been inter cepted at Dartmouth, referred to Will Murray as about to cross to England to inform the King what she had been doing in that matter, and on February 5 Will Murray was seized as he was passing through Canterbury in disguise, on his way to Oxford. The Houses sent him to the Tower, and attempted to extract his secrets from him. No revelations were, however, obtained and he was ultimately sent before a court-martial as a spy. The court very properly refused to adjudge him to be a spy, and he recovered his liberty on bail in the course ofthe summer.4 Murray had brought with him an important letter from the Queen to her husband, of which the French Agent was able to gain possession, as it had been directed to himself. Montreuil was anxious to carry it to Oxford, but the Houses, suspecting the object of his journey, threw every possible obstacle 1 Sprigg, 213, The Earl of Glamorgan's negotiations, E. 328, 9. 2 See p. 413. 3 See p. 432. 1 L.J. viii. 260, 416; C.J. iv. 641. THE QUEEN'S PLEADINGS. 44 1 in his way.1 Charles, however, knew from other chap. sources that his wife, who had by this time dis- - — ^— - covered the articles brought from the Fope by Sir m „ ° . -iii The Queen Kenelm Digby to be hopelessly impracticable, had favours an " alliance now set her heart on an understanding with the with the Scots. She seems to have said something about the probability that concessions made to them on the score of rehgion would be only temporary. Charles replied bluntly that, whether they were temporary or not, he would never make them. " I must confess to my shame and grief," he added, with evident Feb. 19. J 0 ' Charles reference to his abandonment of Strafford, "that refuses to heretofore I have, for public respects — yet, I believe, religious concessions. if thy personal safety had not been at stake,2 1 might have hazarded the rest — yielded unto those things which were no less against my conscience than this ; for which I have been so deservedly punished that a relapse now would be insufferable, and I am most confident that God hath so favoured my hearty though weak repentance, that He will be glorified either by relieving me out of these distresses — which I may humbly hope for, though not presume upon — or in my gallant sufferings for so good a cause, which to eschew by any mean submission cannot but draw God's further justice upon me, both in this and the next world."3 The words were well and bravely written, and iusresoiu- there could be little doubt that they were well and alterable. bravely meant. Yet Charles could not fold himself 1 C.J. iv. 430, 431 ; Montreuil to the King, Clar. St. P. ii. 213; Montreuil to Mazarin, Feb. ^, -^p Arch. des. Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 103, 126. 2 This is a curious corroboration of the evidence in favour of the view that Charles's anxiety about his wife was a principal cause of his weakness in the case of Strafford. See Hist, of England, 1 603-1642, ix. 365. 3 The King: to the Queen, Feb. 19. Charles I. in 1646, p. 18. 442 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. CHAP. XL. 1646 March 2. His appeal to the Inde pendents. No response made to it. in silence, or hold himself aloof from entanglement with men whom he never could conciliate. His resolution not to grant to the Presbyterians the only terms which they would accept merely led him to make fresh overtures to the Independents. On March 2 Ashburnham wrote to Vane, by the King's orders, adjuring him to support his master's request for leave to visit London, there to obtain the accept ance of that offer of toleration which he had already made,1 so amended as to make it applicable to all religious parties. " If Presbytery," urged Ashburn ham, " shall be so strongly insisted upon as that there can be no peace without it, you shall certainly have all the power my master can make to join with you in rooting out of this kingdom that tyrannical government, with this condition, that my master may not have his conscience disturbed — yours being free — when that work is finished." 2 If no response was made to this offer — and at least no evidence exists that Vane ever rephed — it is unnecessary to blame the Independent leaders. It was impossible for them to believe that Charles had no other object in coming to London except to establish a settlement of the kingdom on the basis of a general toleration. The knowledge of Glamorgan's treaty must have made them cautious, and, however loudly the Scots might protest, no reasonable person could doubt that Charles had been listening favour ably to overtures from them, or that in those overtures they had stood out for exclusive Presby terianism. It was not the fault of the Independents if they refused to believe that Charles could be 1 See p. 391. 2 Ashburnham to Vane, March 2. Clar. St. P. ii. 226. THE QUEEN'S PLAN REJECTED. 443 negotiating with the Presbyterians without being chap. prepared to grant their most indispensable demand. • — -~^ — - This, however, was precisely what Charles was doing. On March 3, the day after Ashburnham's Charles's b °' •> ... attitude letter was sent to London, he wrote again to his wife, towards the . ° Presby- " For the Scots," he told her, " I promise thee to employ terians, all possible pains and industry to agree with them, so that the price be not giving up the Church of England, with which I will not part upon any con dition whatsoever. . . . Besides the nature of Bresby terian government is to steal or force the crown from the king's head ; for their chief maxim is . . . that all kings must submit to Christ's kingdom, of which they are the sole governors, the king having but a single and no negative voice in their assemblies, so that yielding to the Scots in this particular, I should both go against my conscience and ruin my crown." l It was impossible for Charles to express more clearly the mixture of religious and political considerations which possessed his mind. The King's distrust of the Presbyterians had made March 12. him ready on the 2nd to seek the aid of the Indepen- -wards the dents. On the 12th it made him ready to seek the aid of the Catholics. "If the Pope and they," he wrote, " will visibly and heartily engage themselves for the re-estabUshment of the Church of England and my crown . . . against all opposers whatsoever, I will promise them, on the word of a king, to give them here a free toleration of conscience." Would it not be well, he added in a postscript, ' that all the English Eoman Catholics be warned by the Pope's ministers to join with the forces that are to come out of Ireland ? ' 2 How was it possible to deal with a 1 The King to the Queen, March 3. Charles I. in 1646, p. 22. a The King to the Queen, March 12. lb. p. 24. Catholics. 444 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. chap, man so utterly out of touch of the world in which he • f— lived ? 1646 Whilst Charles was speculating on the choice of Montreuii's allies, Montreuil, with a Frenchman's incredulity of activity, the existence of insuperable conscientious objections in the breast of a heretic, was pertinaciously striving to extract from the Scottish commissioners the lowest terms upon which they would receive Charles into their army, making no doubt that he would ulti mately accept them without difficulty.1 He soon found, however, that the task of reconciliation was harder than he anticipated. In spite of all his pro testations, he was unable to obtain anything in writing from a body of which Lauderdale was a member, and was obliged to content himself with a verbal March, authorisation to Sir Eobert Moray to set down in Moray writing the conditions demanded. Charles, it ap- tarmsofthe Peared. was n°t onry *° accept the three propositions the Scots, touching the Church, the militia, and Ireland which he had rejected at Uxbridge, but he was also to sign the Covenant. If he did these things he would be received with honour and respect into the Scottish army, and might be assured that the Scots would do all in their power to reconcile his followers with the English Earliament. If it were necessary to make exceptions in the cases of five or six, then nothing worse than temporary banishment should befall them. If the King accepted these terms he must write two letters to that effect, the one to the Earliament and the Scottish commissioners at Westminster, the other to the Committee of Estates at Edinburgh.2 1 Montreuil to Nicholas, Feb. 26, Clar. St. P. ii. 217; Montreuil to Mazarin, Feb. 26, Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 140. 2 " Les Deputez d'Escosse m'ont autorisg pour asseurer la Eeyne et Mgr le Cardinal, ainsy que je fays par ce present escrit, que si le Roy de MONTREUIL AND THE SCOTS. 445 CHAP. XL. Montreuil, sanguine as he was of bending Charles to his wUl, knew that it would be impossible to obtain ~~^7^ his consent to such terms as these, and he accordingly March 16. sought for an interview with Loudoun, the most in- Scottish fluential of the commissioners who had lately re- moKi. turned from Scotland. He was told that an interview could not be granted, and that he must continue to treat through Sir Eobert Moray. Moray, on being again addressed, assured the Frenchman that Loudoun had full powers from the Scottish Earliament to negotiate,1 and on March 1 6 he announced that the commissioners would withdraw their demand for the acceptance of the whole of the three propositions of Uxbridge and for the signature of the Covenant, and would content themselves with a promise from Charles to accept the la Grande Bretagne veut se retirer en Tannee des Escossois, il y sera receu avec toute sorte d'honneur, et de respect, et y demeurera avec une entiere seuret<5, et que les Escossois s'interposeront efficacement pour faire l'accomodement de ceux de son party avec le Parlement d'Angleterre a la reserve de cinq ou six qui s'esloigneront seulement pour quelque temps, pourveu qu'avant que d'aller en l'arm^e il plaise a, sa dite Majesty de la Grande Bretagne escrire deux lettres, l'une au Parlement d'Angleterre et aux deputez d'Escosse a Londres, et l'autre aux commitez du Parlement d'Escosse, par lesquelles il donne son consentement aux trois propositions touchant Religion, la Milice, et l'lrlande, qui ont estt_ autrefois faites a, Uxbridge, et aux demandes de la Ville de Londres qui sont de peu de consequence avec promesse de les ratifier par actes de ses Parlements, et de faire tout ce que peut contribuer a l'establissement des affaires eccle- siastiques et civiles et a la paix et l'union de ses Royaumes par l'advis de ses Parlements, et que sadite Majesty de la Grande Bretagne signe le Couvenant devant qu'aller a l'armfie des Escossois, ou en y arrivant a son choix." Moray to Montreuil, March ? Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres. Iii. fol. 164. 1 The only official powers given to him by Parliament were given to him as a member of the Committee of Estates, and they contained a clause ' that nane of the commities entir in treattie anent the poyntes and articles in questione betwixt his Ma'ie and estates of this kingdome, or betwixt the kingdomes themselves, without consent of a quorum of the whole thrie committies.' Acts of Pari, of Sc. vi. 383. Probably Loudoun had this assent, but a foreigner easily makes mistakes in such matters. 446 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. CHAP. XL. 1646 Charles's conception of truth and false hood. A final engage ment proposed. church settlement which had been already made and which should hereafter be made by the Farliaments and AssembUes of the two kingdoms. Charles was, however, to express a general approbation of the Covenant in the letters to the two Parliaments in which he was to accept these conditions. The first requirement, wrote Montreuil to Mazarin, was no more than had been proposed by Moray in France. As to the second, Charles would not, by writing a letter, bind himself to the Covenant as much as if he had actually signed it.1 Montreuil was a young diplomatist, full of indiscreet zeal and anxious to distinguish himself by promoting the establishment of a weak government in England ; but he entirely failed to understand the very peculiar constitution of Charles's mind. Charles could explain away a pro mise which he had formerly made, or could couch a promise which he was making in words which he in tended to explain away at some future time ; but nothing would induce him deliberately to use binding words with the express intention of disregarding them on the plea that the form in which his promise was made did not officiaUy and legally amount to a contract. The distinction may appear to plain minds to be merely one between one form of falsehood and another, but there can be no doubt that it was a very real one to Charles himself. Later in the day Moray handed to Montreuil a paper in which the final engagements expected by of the Scottish Commissioners were written down, though merely in his own hand. The demand for even a general approval of the Covenant had dis appeared entirely, but in other respects the obliga- 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, March fol. 164, Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. THE TERMS OF THE SCOTS. 447 XL. 1646 tions now required by Moray in the name of the Scots chap. corresponded with that indicated in his own con versation in the morning.1 On Charles's agreeing to the terms as they now stood he would be received in the Scottish army. Bearing this missive, Montreuil set out for Oxford March _7. on the following morning. He had learnt from the goes to Scots that they entertained no doubt of their abiUty H* " 'ol to carry their point with the English FarUament. theScots- The majority of the Eeers was on their side, and the City was no less firmly attached to them. The Fres- byterian members of the House of Commons had bound themselves by oath that if, on the King's be taking himself to the Scottish army, the Lidependents should refuse their consent to a reasonable settlement, 1 " Les Deputez de l'Escosse m'ont autorise' pour asseurer le Reyne et Monseigneur le Cardinal, que si le Roy de la G. B. veut se retirer en l'armfie des Escossois il y sera receu avec toutes sortes d'honneur et de surety, et y demeurera avec une entiere surety, comme aussy les Princes Robert et Maurice, le Secretaire Nicholas, et Mr Ashburnham, et les Escossois s'interposeront efficaeement pour faire l'accomodement de tous ceux de son party avec le Parlement d'Angleterre, a la reserve de trois ou quatre qui s'eloigneront pour quelque temps seulement, pourvu qu'auparavant que d'aller a la ditte arm^e: il plaise au Roy de la Gr. Br. escrire deux lettres, l'une au Parlement d'Angleterre et aux Deputez d'Escosse a Londres, l'autre au Comity du Parlement d'Escosse, qui sont en Escosse, et en l'armee des Escossois, par lesquelles il declare qu'il consent que les affaires ecclesiastiques soient establies en la maniere desja prescritte par les Parle ments et Assemblies du ClergS des deux Royaumes, et qu'il approuvera tout ce qu'ils feront a l'advenir touchant les dittes affaires ecclesiastiques, consent que la Milice soit disposee en la manure qu'il a esti. propose par les Deputez d'Escosse et d'Anglsterre a Oxbrige pour sept ans entre les mains de ses Parlements, comme leurs Deputed l'ont propose a Oxbrige, et qu'il accorde les demandes de la ville de Londres presentees a sa ditte MajestiS a, Oxford avec promesse de tout ratiffier et establir par actes de ses Parlements et de faire tout ce qui peut contribuer au bien des affaires ecclesiastiques et civiles par l'advis de ses Parlements, ce qui estant fait les Deputez d'Escosse sont rfeolus de faire en sorte, que sa ditte Majesty seroit recue en son Parlement et remis en sa dignity, grandeur et autorite. A Londres le || Mars 1646 sign,. Moray." The second engagement of the Scots. Ranke, Engl. Geschichte, viii. 174. 448 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. chap, they would join the Scots with an army of 25,000 ¦~- — f- — men. These troops they hoped to levy in the asso- 1 4 ciated counties, where Fresbyterianism was now ram pant, possibly because the Independents who found their way into the army at the beginning of the war were, after all, exceptions amongst their neighbours, and certainly because the eastern counties, as a seat of manufacture as well as of agriculture, were anxious for peace, and were annoyed at the burdensome taxa tion which had been imposed specially upon the Par liamentary counties for purposes in which they were not themselves immediately interested.1 Collision Whatever might be the result of the proposed Parfiament appeal to the associated counties, the support of the andtfie q-^ seemeci to be absolutely certain. As usually happens when bodies of men are divided upon some wide question of principle, petty differences of opinion Feb. 13. were aggravated into causes of grave dispute. On mtndof" February 1 3 the officers of the militia of the suburbs, the Tower Hamlets, Southwark, and Westminster, had remonstrated against a proposal for placing them at the orders of the City Committee of MiUtia. The Commons did their best to smooth away the difficulty, and on March 1 3 appointed a committee to consider how the suburban forces could be placed under the command of the City authorities in some way which March 5. would avoid giving offence to either party.2 A far fordpresoy- more important question was raised by an ordinance P^stecT11 for the general establishment of Fresbyterianism throughout England which was sent up to the Lords on March 5. Of this ordinance one clause — the 14th clause. — -was singled out by the high Presbyterians for animadversion as introducing the authority of the 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, March §§. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres. 2 C.J. iv. 441, 474- the subur ban militia. by the Commons, The 14th THE STATE OF PARTIES. 449 State where they wished to see nothing but the chap. authority of the Church. Whenever the eldership > — r-^— came to the conclusion that a scandalous offence, I 4 which ought to exclude the offender from participa- , ,-, . . x f Clause on tion in the Uommunion, had been committed, they suspension were then, if it was not included in the Parliamentary munion. list, to suspend the guilty person for a time, and to report the matter to certain commissioners appointed by Parhament, who were finally to decide upon the case.1 On the 1 3th the Lords, though not without March 13. strong opposition, passed the impugned clause, and paSesedabye gave their assent to the whole ordinance on the fol- the Lords- lowing day,2 though it had, in consequence of amend- March _4. ments made in it, again to come before the Commons, -whole ordi- The House of Commons which adopted this nance. ordinance was not altogether the same as that which, The in the crisis of the war, had stood at the head of Parhamentary England. Not far short of 150 new members had been chosen, and these Eecruiters, as they were called, counted amongst them men like Ireton and Fleetwood, Ludlow and Algernon Sidney, not to mention Henry Marten, whose expulsion was thus virtually annulled. By the sheer weight of numbers, if their votes had been thrown on one side or the other, they would have been able to make an entire change in the balance of parties. Yet it is doubtful whether the complexion of the House was much altered. Still, as before, the Bresbyterian party was predominant, if by that name it is intended to include those who desired the establishment of Presbyterianism and were unwilling to tolerate the wilder forms of opinion. Still, as before, the Independent party was predominant, if by that name is meant to include those who would hear nothing of a combination with the 1 C.J. iv. 464. 2 L.J. viii. 208 209. II. G G 450 THE LAST CAMPAIGN TN THE WEST. XL. 1646 chap. Scots to come to terms with the King, and who wished to grant some modified form of toleration to those whose opinions were not in all respects identical with those which generally prevailed. The Long Parlia ment at this period, like the assemblies of the French Eevolution, contained groups rather than parties. There was a small group of members in favour of unlimited, or almost unlimited, toleration. There was a somewhat larger group of members in favour of refusing toleration of any kind. There was a powerful group of lawyers, with Selden and White locke at their head, entirely opposed to any scheme for entrusting the clergy with secular jurisdiction even in church matters, except under the permanent control of Earliament. Between the lawyers and the Independents in the stricter sense an alliance was formed, and the general drift of opinion against clerical power was strong enough for the present to give them the mastery. Baiiiie's The sentiments of the Assembly in opposition to view of the situation, those of the Earliament were well expressed by Baillie. " We find it necessary," he wrote, " to say that Christ in the New Testament had instituted a church govern ment distinct from the civil, to be exercised by the officers of the Church without commission from the magistrate." As to the conduct of the Houses, it filled him with despair. " The Pope and the King," he added, " were never more earnest for the headship of the Church than the plurality of this Parliament. However, they are like for a time, by violence, to carry it. Yet almost all the ministry are zealous for the prerogative of Christ against them." The crisis had now arrived. The Scottish commissioners, he hoped, and the Assembly together with the City ministers would petition against the obnoxious clause, A REBUFF TO THE CITY. 451 XL. 1646 March 14. The City petition. ' but that which, by God's help, may prove most chap. effectual is the zeal of the City itself.' x On March 14 in fact, the City presented to the Commons its objections to the 14th clause, which, as The city the ordinance was on that day returned with amend ments by the Lords, was still before the House. It is no matter for surprise that the City was tenaciously Presbyterian. The fear of ecclesiastical tyranny which was so strong on the benches of the House of Commons had no terrors for the merchants and tradesmen of the City. By filling the elderships those very merchants and tradesmen constituted the Church for purposes of jurisdiction. Whatever ecclesiastical tyranny there was would be exercised by themselves. In the House of Commons the interference of the citizens was treated as impertinence. The petitioners were told that they had broken the privileges of Parliament, and that they must present no more petitions of the kind.2 After this the Scots were easily able to assure Montreuil that they were secure of the support of the assentlo City. The keystone of the arch was, however, the terim^m- approbation of Charles, and it was to secure this that needed°.n the French Agent took his way to Oxford. No sooner March 17. had he arrived than he discovered that the King was atOxfo.d. as firmly resolved as ever to give no consent to the establishment of Fresbyterianism. In his letters to his wife Charles characterised the efforts made to -1 • i • i i . . March 22. explain away the promise which he was asked to Charles's give as 'Montreuii's juggling.'3 Monireuli. The time had, however, now come when Charles . . .. -1 ¦ • -r-r i ¦*• decision must nerve himself to some decision. He must have necessary. Answer of the Com mons. lie, ii. 360. 2 Whitacre's Diary. Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 259. 3 The King to the Queen, March 22. Charles I. in 1646, p. 27. r,,2 452 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST. chap, known, if not of the actual surrender of Hopton, at - — "-^ — - least of the heavy blows of misfortune which would 4 soon make surrender inevitable. Now, too, arrived Charles's news of fresh disaster. Even after the Western army prospects, had been definitively cut off from Oxford, Charles had still entertained hopes of rallying round him soldiers enough to enable him to effect a junction with those French auxiliaries for whose coming he still looked with eager expectation. With this object Astley was already on the march through Worcestershire to March 21. Oxford with 3,000 men. On March 21, in the early The fight at . _ stow-on- morning, he was attacked near Stow-on-the-Wold by the combined Parliamentary forces of Morgan, Birch, and Brereton, the numbers on either side being about equal. After a sharp engagement the Eoyalists were overpowered. As in Cornwall, the King's soldiers had no heart to prolong the war, and at once sur rendered in crowds. Deserted by his men, Astley Astiey's gave himself up as a prisoner. The white-haired 1IDg' veteran, seated on a drum amongst his captors, frankly acknowledged that the King's defeat was final. " You have now done your work," he said, " and may go play, unless you will fall out amongst yourselves." l A few garrisons might still, for honour's sake, bid defiance to the victors for a time, but to gather an army in the field was no longer possible for Charles. Cause* of If it be asked what were the causes which had defeat, led to such a disastrous result, the answer cannot be otherwise than a complex one. Something may be laid to the account of Charles's inferior financial position ; something to the reluctance of the classes which fur nished his principal supporters to submit to discipline; something to the ill-feeling which prevailed between the military and the civilian element in his court. 1 Rushio. vi. 140. 1646 CAUSES OF CHARLES'S FAILURE. 453 Nor was it of little moment that, although he had chap. succeeded in enlisting on his side commanders like • Eupert and Brentford, whose military talents were un questionable, he had, in England at least, no one to direct his armies who rose, as Cromwell rose, to the rank of those who are possessed of the rare quality of military genius. Yet, after all, these things were but symptoms of causes of evil more profound. Charles's own character was most in fault. His entire want of sympathetic imagination had ruined him in the day of his power by rendering him incapable of under standing the nation which he claimed to govern. It ruined him equally when he was striving to recover the power which he had lost, because he was unable to rouse enthusiasm even in that part of the nation which, through an unexpected concurrence of events, had rallied to his standard. Over those who shared his devotional feelings, especiaUy over such of them as were eye-witnesses of his passive constancy of en durance, his ascendency was complete. A nation looks for the word of command from a leader who is im bued with its virtues, its passions, and its prejudices. Such a word of command Charles never had it in his power to give. He could criticise his opponents, but he was absolutely devoid of constructive power. Hence it was that in spite of the tendency of a great mercantile community to rally to the cause of order, Charles was never able to win back the allegi ance of the London citizens, and left to his opponents the enormous advantages, military and financial, which the City of London had to offer to them, and which more than any other cause contributed power fully to their success. Hence, too, it was that on the disastrous field of Naseby, when his gallant and well- disciplined infantry was crushed by superior numbers 454 THE LAST CAMPAIGN IN THE WFST. chap, as well as by superior skill, it was found to be composed *— f- — almost entirely of Welshmen. It was not for nothing that the nickname of CavaUers clung to his adherents. The bulk of the gentry made common cause with him, but the bulk of the middle classes, the trades men in the towns, the farmers and yeomen in the country attached themselves to his adversaries, whilst the labourers in town and country stood, for the most part, aloof from the struggle, and after a while could no longer be brought by force or persuasion to fight for a King who knew not how to find the way to their hearts. Euinous as were the defects of Charles's character, they were rendered still more fatal by his positive antagonism to the national spirit. Nothing could be more disastrous to him than his constant appeals to Welshmen, Irishmen, Scots, Frenchmen, Lorrainers, and Dutchmen to assist him in arms. Englishmen, without regard to party, felt the affront, and their indignation quickly made itself perceptible to Charles in the slackening of the arms of his defenders and in the strengthening of the arms of his enemies. Charles grew weak in proportion as he sought to make good his claims through combinations outside and of England. Cromwell grew strong in proportion as he Cromwell's _ & _ _ . . ° - . . - ° . r - .r - success. brought the objects at which he aimed into harmony with the grand design of preserving the national unity and independence intact. That Cromwell should have had at his disposal more skilful com manders and more energetic and better disciplined soldiers than Charles could gather round him was no more than the natural result of the moral and intellec tual difference between them. 455 CHAETEE XLI. THE KIND'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. It was ever Charles's habit to meet difficulties with chap. neatly arranged phrases, rather than with a prompt • — ^— recognition of the significance of unpleasant facts. ' 4 & to . * March Since he had received Montreuii's communication, the Charles 23. Scots had been out of favour with him, and on March return to West- 23, upon the arrival of the bad news from Stow-on- minster. the-Wold, he despatched a request to the English Earliament for permission to return to Westminster, on the understanding that an act of oblivion was to be passed and all sequestrations taken off the property of his supporters.1 Even had this offer been ingenuous, it simply con- character cealed a demand that the whole civil war should go a^t re" for nothing, and that Charles should be allowed to step back on the throne, free to refuse his assent to any legislation which displeased him. On the 26th March 6. the Commons drew up a reply refusing to concede aTiUiLs. his request until he had given satisfaction for the past and security for the future. In other words, there was to be a mutual understanding on the con stitutional changes which were to be accepted by both parties before Charles could be permitted to take up the position which he held to be, by indefeasible right, his own. The proposal of the Commons was accepted 1 L.J. viii. 235. 456 THE KINGS FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLI. 1646 April 1. It is sent to Oxford. Overturps of the Com mons. March 24 Alarm iu the City. March 26. The City to stand on its guard. Mutualcivilities. I...illie's complaint. by the Lords and by the Scottish commissioners, after which, on April i, it was despatched to Oxford.1 Charles's proposal, in short, had gone far to reconcile the opponents whom he hoped to divide. Alreadjr, on March 18, before his message was penned, the Commons had recognised their mistake in reflect ing on the conduct of the City, and had expunged from their journals the resolution2 in which they had embodied their feelings of dissatisfaction.3 On the 24th the arrival of the King's letter completed the reconciliation. The citizens were terrified at the prospect of Charles's return to London before he had bound himself to the constitutional and ecclesiastical changes which they desired, especially as the Eoyalists in London had recently been reinforced by hundreds of still more pronounced Eoyalists, who had flocked into the City to make their compositions with Earlia ment. On the 26th the Houses urged the City to stand on its guard. The sense of a common danger showed itself in a mutual interchange of civilities. The Commons invited the authorities of the City to be present at their thanksgiving service for the victories in the West, and the City authorities returned the compliment by asking the Commons to dinner.4 Baiiiie's remarks on this sudden revulsion of feel ing were dismal enough. " The leaders of the people," he moaned, " seem to be inclined to have no shadow of a king ; to have liberty for all religions ; to have but a lame Erastian Eresbytery ; to be so injurious to us as to chase us home by the sword. . . . Our great hope on earth, the City of London, has played nip- 1 L.J. viii. 248. 2 See p. 451. 3 C.J. iv. 479 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 259. 4 Merc. Cii-icus. E. 330, 15. HUGH PETERS'S SERMON. 457 shot" — in other words, has missed fire. "... They chap. are speaking of dissolving the Assembly."1 — — r-^— The sermon on Thanksgiving-day was delivered x f by that prince of army chaplains, Hugh Eeters. At Hugh times rising into what, compared with the dull plati- preaches a tudes of most of the celebrated preachers of the day,, giving almost ascends into real, if somewhat incoherent, eloquence, he was entirely without fear of giving offence to any of his hearers. "I could wish," he said, " some of my learned brethren's quarrelling hours were rather spent upon clearing the originals, and so conveying over pure scripture to posterity, than in scratching others with their sharpened pens, and making cockpits of pulpits." In another place he pitilessly represented. Charles's court as travailing as a woman with child with its great design for the overthrow of the Earliament. " And then," he con tinued, " before the birth, what throes and pains ! Send to Denmark, run to Holland, fly to France, curse Digby, imprison Hamilton, &c. ; and then all help is called in for midwifery — entreat friends here and there, pawn jewels, break and close with Irish even in a breath — anything for help — hazard pos terity — engage in marriage,2 and — as she did — roar out, 'Give me a child, or I die!' and that miscarriage we are this day to praise God for, and wonder at." If their enemy were indeed such a one as this, let those who had opposed him in the field be deaf to his pleadings for an insidious peace. Yet it was not with political considerations alone that Peters was concerned. He had thoughts for the salvation of the profane and the sinner. " Men and brethren," 1 Baillie, ii. 362. 2 Referring, I suppose, to the latest matrimonial project. The Great Mademoiselle, being a Roman Catholic, would if married to the Prince hazard posterity. 458 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. chap, he cried, " whilst we are disputing here, they are - — ^-' perishing there, and going to hell by droves. If I know anything, what you -have gotten by the sword must be maintained by the word — I say the word, by which English Christians are made ; in other countries discipline makes them so. Drive them into a church together, and then dub them Christians ; you will find too much of -this abroad, and hence it comes to pass that most of their religion Ues in polemics, which is the trade we are likely to drive if God prevent not." What Peters asked for was not stricter disci pline but more attractive preaching. Nor were men's bodies to be neglected. Why, he asked, was not the Charterhouse employed in helping the widows and orphans of those who had been slain in the war? .Why were there so many beggars in the City? Why could not the courts do justice more quickly? and, as a means thereto, why could not the language of the law be English instead of French — that badge of con quest ? There might even be ' two or three friend- makers set up in every parish, without whose labour and leave none should implead another. Why, he asked again, were poor debtors to be kept in prison ? Why, finally, should men's names be exposed to de traction? He did not, indeed, ask for punishment. He had learnt better things from the Lord General. " Let us look to our duties," Fairfax was accustomed to say, " and the Lord will care for our reproaches." 1 Character No one who has read this sermon wiU be at a loss sermon. to know why the man who preached it was favoured alike by Fairfax and Cromwell. There was no cant ing fanaticism here. There was distrust of an in triguing enemy, but, for the rest, there was an appeal to all who came within the influence of the preacher 1 God's doings and Man's duty, 114, e, 15. A MESSAGE TO THE SCOTS. 459 to leave windy disputations for a religion which mani- chap. fested its reality in abounding well-doing, especially —.1^-1— in the direction of social reform. As a matter of fact Peters's suspicion that Charles March 23.' was not straightforward in his request to come to sends a London was perfectly well-founded. On March 23, message to the very day on which his letter to the Houses had the Scots' been despatched from Oxford, he dictated to Montreuil a secret message to the Scottish commissioners in London, which, though it contained no direct promise that he would do anything they wished him to do, might serve to keep them in hope of his possibly doing it at some future time. " First," so ran the words, " as concerning church government, we do really promise that we shall give full contentment therein as soon as we come to London, so as in the meantime you give us satisfaction — which we shall be willing to receive — that what you desire therein shall not be against our conscience." In case of a refusal of his offer to come to Westminster, he would betake himself to the Scottish army on receiving as surance that he would be there secure in conscience and honour. On the next day he added that as soon Mar(,h 24_ as this assurance reached him he would surrender ?"1°*;,*lu 0U.1 rt)ii— Newark into their hands. Nor was London forgotten £,eerwark in Charles's promises. He offered to satisfy the de mands which the City had made at Uxbridge, especially in respect to the command of the militia.1 On the 27th Montreuil, in Charles's name, pressed March 27-. . f- Charles the Scots for a reply. Though their answer has not presses for- a reply. been preserved, there can be little doubt that they gave assurances that if the King placed himself under the protection of their army he should be secure both 1 The King's messages, March 23, 24. Clar. St. P. ii. 218, 219. * The King's message, March 27. lb, ii. Z20. 460 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. chap, in conscience and honour ; though it is most unlikely •>¦ — r^— that they allowed anything of the sort to appear in . .. their own handwriting.1 The result was that on April r. o Al\ April 1 engagements were exchanged between Mon- fxchange 100 __ of engage- treuil and the King. The French Agent promised in the ments. ° ° l name of the King of France and of the Queen Eegent that, if Charles ' put himself into the Scots' army, he ' should ' be there received as their natural sovereign, and that he ' should ' be with them in all freedom of his conscience and honour . . . and that the said Scots shall really and effectually join with the said King . . . and also receive all such persons as shall come in unto him, and join with them for his Majesty's preservation ; . . . and that they shaU employ their armies and forces to assist his Majesty in the procuring of a happy and well-grounded peace . . . and in recovery of his Majesty's just rights.' Charles on his part promised to take no companions with him except his two nephews and John Ashburnham. " As for church government," he added, " as I have already said, I now again promise that, as soon as I come into the Scots' army, I shall be very willing to be instructed concerning the Presby terian government, whereupon they shall see that I shall strive to content them in anything that shall not be against my conscience." 2 1 Clarendon in his History (x. 26) says that Montreuil visited the Scottish army "before he made the engagement. This is, however, an evident mistake, first, hecause there was hardly time to do it hetween the 27th and the 1st, and, secondly, because not only had his communications hitherto heen with the commissioners in London, hut the Frenchman's letter of April 1 1 shows that up to March 25 the commissioners with the army knew nothing ahout the affair. Montreuil to Mazarin, April ~. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 227. Clarendon's account of the Scottish commissioners with the army waiting- for Loudoun's arrival shows that he was really thinking of the modification of the Scottish terms made on March 16, after Loudoun's arrival in London. See p. 447. 2 The King's promise, and Montreuii's engagement, April 1. Clar. St. P. ii. 220. MONTREUIL'S DIPLOMACY. 46 1 A question might one day arise whether the Scottish chap. commissioners in London had any right to bind their — ^~ • Parliament and nation. However this may have been, __ _. •> ' Faults on there was undoubtedly a want of straightforwardness »oth sides. on both sides. The Scots did not urge the King's acceptance of Presbyterianism as a necessary condition of the help which they were prepared to offer. The King talked of contenting the Scots about church government as far as his conscience would allow, and of being instructed in the Presbyterian system, without stating that he had resolved never to abandon Episcopacy. If we knew all, we should probably come to the conclusion that both parties were trying, per haps to some extent unconsciously, to outwit one another. Charles was hardly able to conceive it pos sible that the Scots, when he was once among them, would really insist on the establishment of Presby terianism in England, and the Scots were hardly able to conceive it possible that, considering all that was at stake, Charles would ultimately refuse to establish it. Neither spoke clearly or openly on the all- important subject. In such a case it is the weakest who goes to the wall ; and Charles was certainly not the strongest. Of all this Montreuil seems to have had no con- April 3. ception. On April 3 he took the road towards Newark, f0°ftr0euil in full confidence that, as had been agreed in London,1 Newark- Leven would despatch a body of cavalry to meet the King. He was to tell the Scottish commanders that Charles would leave Oxford on the 7th, and would ex pect to meet his convoy at Harborough on the 8th. When Montreuil reached the army on the 5th he Aprils. found that all his work must be begun afresh. Bal- disappoint-8 ment. 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, March \\. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 169. 462 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLI. 1646 Balmerino keeps the Sabbath. Montreuil',fears. April 12. The King': journey postponed. April 15. Modified terms offered by the Scots. merino, who was to have come from London to per suade the commissioners with the army and the officers to receive the King, had not arrived. On inquiry, it appeared that, as the day was a Sunday, he had halted thirty miles short of Newark to keep the Sabbath. Montreuil, to whom the scruples of a Scotchman were inexplicable, rode off to hasten his coming. Balmerino, when at last he appeared, argued but feebly in support of the plan to which he had assented in London. The Scottish officers not only refused to send the required escort, but even hindered Montreuil from despatching a messenger to inform Charles of their refusal. For some days the French Agent feared that Charles might already have set out from Oxford, and have been captured by the enemy for want of a convoy. He was finally relieved by a letter from the King tell ing him that he had postponed his journey. At last, on the 1 5th, Montreuil was able to forward somewhat better tidings. Loudoun had come down to Eoyston, and had there had an interview with Dunfermline and Balcarres,1 two of the Scottish commissioners with the army. The result was a proposal to receive the King into the army, on the understanding that, to avoid giving offence to the English Earliament, he should give out, when he arrived, that he was on his way to Scotland, and had merely halted in the camp. The Scots professed themselves stUl ready to receive the two Brinces and Ashburnham, but only on con dition that, if their surrender were demanded, they would leave the country rather than bring their hosts into trouble. If these terms were accepted the Scots would send an escort, as far as Burton, and a few horsemen might push on to Bosworth, but to send 1 The name is inserted from the copy of Montreuii's letter to Nicholas in the Arch . tics Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 216, where Balcarres is called ' Bac.ira.' Charles's MONTROSE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 463 men to Harborough was out of the question. " As to chap. the Bresbyterian government," they added, " they • — r— - desire his Majesty to grant it as speedily as he can." i pjj^6 The situation was now clear. Whatever inferences terian'ism Charles may have drawn from the communications granted. of the London commissioners, he would be now wil fully blind if he misunderstood the peremptory nature of the demand for the establishment of Presbyterian ism in England. Yet it was this which he had firmly resolved to oppose to the uttermost. On the 13th he delivered to his chaplain, Gilbert Sheldon, a writ- April i3. ten vow declaring his resolution that if ever he was restored to power he would give back to the Church its right to all impropriations and to aU Church lands hitherto in possession of the Crown, and would thereafter hold them from the Church at such fines and rents as might be fixed by a conscientious arbi trator. It is impossible to suppose that Charles in tended to restore this property to any Presbyterian body.2 The paper on which this 'solemn obligation was written was buried by Sheldon, and remained in the earth till after the Eestoration. Charles's anxiety to retain the services of Mont rose was no less incompatible with an understanding n/hLnd with the Scots than was his resolution to maintain Episcopacy in England. For some months Montrose had been hanging about the Highlands with a scanty following. Now that he had lost the Macdonalds, and that their war against the Campbells was being carried on under another leadership than his own, 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, April 11, Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 227; Montreuil to Nicholas, April 15 or 16; Messages to the King, April 16, Clar. St. P. ii. 221, 223. "- The King's vow, April 13. Clar. MSS. 2,176. Printed in the appendix to EacharcTs History, p. 5. Montrose 464 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. XLI. 1646 chap, he had done his best to secure the co operation of Huntly. The old difficulty stood in his way. Huntby was too great a man to put himself under Montrose's orders, and Montrose could hardly be expected to serve under a nobleman who had never given proof of courage or capacity.1 Charles had thought of smooth ing away the difficulty by appointing Montrose his ambassador to the French court, but he still hankered after the idea of uniting him with the Covenanters. April _8. On the 1 8th he wrote to urge him, if Montreuil should invitesShim send him favourable news, to combine his own forces to jom the w-t|_. ^Qgg 0f the Covenanters and to hasten to his nanters. relief.2 April i9. On the following day3 Charles heard from Montreuil heir's of the tliat tne Scots expected him to establish Presbyterian- s?ots' „ ism, and that they would not consent even to allow change 01 _ ' •* front. ]^m t0 senr\ Montrose to Paris. "The Scots," he complained to his wife, " are abominable relapsed rogues."4 Yet without the help of the Scots his posi- Hisdanger. tion was well-nigh'desperate. Forces under Fleetwood and Whalley were already gathering round Oxford, and they would before long be joined by Fairfax's victorious army from the West. A new project April 22. flashed across Charles's mind. On the 22nd he re- Hejesoives g^^g^ t_o escape to Lynn. How he expected to make refuge in j-|g way mto t]ie piace there is nothing to show, but he assured the Queen that when he was there he would attempt to procure ' honourable and safe conditions from the rebels.' If that failed he would join Mont rose by sea, and if that resource failed also he would escape to Ireland, France, or Denmark. " If thou 1 Wishart, ch. xx. ; Patrick Gordon, 177. 2 The King to Montrose, April 18. Clar. St. P. ii. 224. 3 The King to the Queen, April 22. Charles I. in 1646, p. 37. * The King to the Queen, April 21. lb. p. 36. THE CONDITIONS OF EXETER. 465 hearest," he added in a postscript, " that I have put chap. xli. 1646 myself into Fairfax's army, be assured it is only to have the fittest opportunity of going to Lynn in a disguise, if not by other ways."1 If Charles had tarried much longer at Oxford, he March 31. 1 . . . Exeter would soon have come into coUision with the army summoned. against which he was so strongly prejudiced. On March 3 1 Fairfax returned to the lines round Exeter, and summoned Sir John Berkeley to surrender. Berkeley, cut off as he was from hope of succour, agreed to treat. The articles of surrender were signed on April 9. The little Erincess Henrietta and her April 9. governess, Lady Dalkeith, were to remain in any surrender place of England which it pleased the King to Slgne' appoint. Neither the cathedral nor any other church was to be defaced. The garrison, which was to march out fully armed with aU the honours of war, was per mitted to betake itself to Oxford unless it preferred to disband. There were further concessions made to the lords and gentlemen who had taken refuge in the city, amongst whom was the detested Bristol. That which distinguished this capitulation from all others was, however, a provision that ' no oath, covenant, SpecM protestation, or subscription' was to be imposed on fr^™oath_ any person within the waUs. To this article Thomas ^^oye" Fuller, who had been in the city during the siege, owed it that he was able to continue preaching during the rest of the civil troubles, without being required to take the Covenant. On the 1 3th the Parhamentary forces entered the April 13. capital ofthe West, Cromwell taking good care that surrender of the terms granted were observed. Fairfax had not Exeter> waited for the completion of the formalities. Hurry ing off to Barnstaple, he soon brought its garrison to 1 The King to the Queen, April 22. Charles I. in 1646, p. 37. II. H H 466 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS, CHAP. XLI. 1646 April 20. Surrender of Barn staple and DunsterCastle, April 15. and of St. Michael's Mount. Charles and the army. The Scots and the Parliament. April 7, The Scots urge a speedy settlement. terms. On the 20th, the fortifications having fallen into the hands of the besiegers, the place surrendered, and on the same day Dunster Castle gave itself up to Blake. St. Michael's Mount had already submitted on the 1 5th. The little fort of Salcombe held out for about three weeks longer, and then the Castle of Fendennis was the only unconquered stronghold in the West. Fairfax was already on the way to lay siege to Oxford.1 If Charles had been in earnest with the schemes of toleration which he from time to time proposed, he would surely have discerned the significance of the article exempting the besieged at Exeter from the obligation of taking the Covenant. That he was not, under such circumstances, attracted to the army is strong evidence that his talk about toleration never went deeper than his Ups. Whilst the infatuated King inclined rather to the Scots than to the army, events were occurring in London which drew the Scots towards the King. The temporary withdrawal of the City from its alliance with them 2 had delivered their commissioners over to the mockery of the Independents and Erastians, whose aUiance domi nated the Commons. Eesolved to stand up in their own defence, on April 7 they presented to the Houses a paper urging the importance of speedily coming to terms with the King, and suggested that a committee might discuss with them each point of the proposed articles. If this were done, the propositions on religion might be agreed to in a few days, and ' a method for a model of uniformity in church govern ment' discovered.3 On the nth, without waiting for a reply, the Scots not only sent to the press this 1 Sprigg, 239. See p. 456, ' L.J. viii. 256. THE MANIFESTO OF THE COMMONS. 467 paper and two others, which they had formerly pre- chap. sented, but added a preface, written by David • — ^~- Buchanan, in which every point which had been AIril"1I raised by them against the English Earliament was The Scots J . „, publish set forth succinctly. On the 13th the Commons their ordered the whole publication to be burnt ; and Aprii'I3. though subsequently the Lords restricted the execu- „oLCorder tion of the order to Buchanan's preface, the con- D„™ttobe demnation of the attitude taken up by the Scots J\priil8-' r •> Only the was hardly less complete.1 preface to ,. i /-n t-i i • be burnt. On Apru 1 7 the Commons replied to the mam- April I7. festo of the Scots by a counter-manifesto. They °/ theration protested their desire to settle religion in accordance C0™1"0119- with the Covenant, ' to maintain the ancient and fundamental government of this kingdom, and to lay hold on the first opportunity of procuring a safe and well-grounded peace . . . and to keep a good under standing between the two kingdoms.' Then, entering into details, they declared that the The future church government was to be Bresbyterian tePresb*0- 6 saving in the point of commissioners.' It was im- terian> possible for them to ' consent to thc granting of an arbitrary and unlimited power and jurisdiction to near ten thousand judicatories to be erected.' Fres- but undei. byterian the Church was to be, but it was to be Parlia™en- J tary coU- Presbyterian in due submission to the authority of tl-ol> Parliament. If so far satisfaction was given to the Erastians, satisfaction was given to the Independents by that which followed. " Nor," continued the and with a manifesto, in words which were only inserted on a tXSion. division of sixty-seven to forty-one, so scanty was the attendance when even important questions were at issue, " have we yet resolved how a due regard may 1 Some Papers of the Commissioners of Scotland, E. 330, 1 ; C.J. iy. 506; L.J. viii. 277, 281. H h 2 468 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLI.1646 Proposed settlementof the State. The Cove nant to be expoundedby Parlia ment. The Com mons and the Assem bly. Petition of the Assem bly. April n. The Com mons de clare it to be a breach of privi lege. be had that tender consciences, which differ not in - any fundamentals of religion, may be so provided for as may stand with the Word of God and the peace of the kingdom." In matters of state the House professed its inten tion of abiding by the old form of government by King, Lords, and Commons, and of asking no more of the King than that he should abandon to Barha- ment such powers as were needed to make a recur rence of civil war impossible. Justice was to be administered by the courts of law, and the subject to be, as soon as was possible, eased of his burdens. After taking this rosy view of the political situation, the Commons addressed a final defiance to the Scots. They were still ready, they declared, to observe the Covenant, but they expected ' that the people of England should not receive impressions of any forced constructions of the Covenant, which, in case of any doubt arising, is only to be expounded by them by whose authority it was estabUshed in this kingdom.' 1 WhUst the Commons, falhng, in their animosity against the Scots, under the guidance of the Inde pendents, were thus carrying on a paper war, they were contemptuously setting their foot upon one of the two buttresses of Scottish power in England, the Assembly of Divines. In their wrath against the appointment of commissioners to decide on eccle siastical offences, the divines had presented a petition, in which they asserted that ecclesiastical jurisdiction was, by Divine right, vested in the Church. On April 1 1 the Houses voted this petition to be a breach of privUege, and on the 16th appointed a committee to draw up questions to be submitted to the Assembly.2 Already by the 22nd the questions C.J. iv. 512. Ib. iv. 506, 511. THE ASSEMBLY INTEEKOGATED. 469 were prepared, which if we may judge by internal chap. evidence originated in the critical mind of Selden. • — -~A-> Did the Assembly mean that 'parochial and con- Apri?22_ gregational elderships appointed by ordinance of guet^on3 Parliament, or any other congregational or presby- Assembly. terial elderships,' were of Divine right? Then fol lowed a string of simUar interrogatories, ending with a request that the answers given might be foUowed by Scripture proofs.1 It is needless to pursue the unequal struggle further. ParUament was as disinclined as the Tudor kings had ever been to allow the establishment in England of a church system claiming to exist by Divine right, or by any right whatever independent of the authority of the State. On the 23rd, the day after that on which these April 23. questions were brought in, Cromwell once more took recXIIthe his place at Westminster, and received the thanks of {^jw the House for his extraordinary services.2 The poh tical situation must have been almost as much to his mind as was the mihtary. The events of the last few days had strengthened the hands of Parhament in deahng with the King. On the 22nd Charles, doubtless in pursuance of the April 2a. project which he had announced to the Queen, of S!b? making his escape by throwing Fairfax's army off its ESS?*0 guard,3 sent a message to Ireton through some Eoyalist officers who had passes to go beyond sea, and were visiting Oxford on their way. The King, they- de clared, was ready to come in to Fairfax, and to live wherever Parliament might direct, ' if only he might be assured to live and continue king still.' Ireton at once refused either to discuss a pohtical question with 1 C.J.. iv. 519- * lb. iv. 520. > See p. 465. 470 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLI.1646 Ireton relates the story to Cromwell. April 25. He is blamed by Cromwell. Fairfax not to listen to overtures for peace. An over ture fiom the English Presbyterians, April 24. answered by the King. April 25. A fresh attempt to negotiatewith the army. the officers or to allow them to return to Oxford. All that he would do was to acquaint his superior officers with their proposals, and he accordingly wrote to Cromwell telling him all that had passed.1 It was not much to do, yet even this was more than Cromwell approved of. Hitherto he had been a Earliamentary general in the fullest sense of the word, setting his face against every attempt to bring political questions within the cognisance of military authorities, and he now, from his place in the House, denounced Ireton as worthy of reproof. It was at his instigation that Fairfax was instructed to forward to Westminster any letter which came into his hands with the King's signature, and to take care that neither he nor anyone under his command Ustened to any overture for peace from whatever quarter it might come.2 The close combination which now existed between Parhament and army was by no means to the taste of the English Eresbyterians. Some of them had recently besought Charles to take up his dropped negotiation with the Scots, and on April 24 Nicholas begged Montreuil to convey to the Scottish commis sioners in London assurances that the King was stiU ready to take refuge in the Scottish army, if only he could be received on fit conditions.8 Charles could not afford leisurely to await the issue of a lengthy negotiation. Colonel Eainsborough was attacking Woodstock, and on the 25th Charles sent to him the Earls of Lindsey and Southampton, nominally to arrange for the surrender of the place, 1 Ireton to Cromwell, April 23. Cary, Memorials of the Civil War, i. 1. 2 C.J. iv. 523 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 266b. s Nicholas to Montreuil, April 24. Clar. St. P. ii, 225. CHARLES PREPARES FOR FLIGHT. 47 1 but in reality to ask him to take the King's person chap. under his protection till ParUament could be applied «- — r-L_ to, and even to engage to defend Charles and his * 4 servants if the answer of ParUament should prove unsatisfactory.1 Charles waited in vain for a reply from Eains- borough, and a fresh attempt to win over Ireton proved equally unsuccessful.2 A letter from Mon- Acom- treuil turned the hopes of the unhappy King in fromWn- another direction. " The disposition of the Scottish treul ' commanders," wrote the French envoy from the camp before Newark, " was aU that could be desired." They had already detached some troops towards Burton to look out for the King.3 Nothing was said about the Scots abating their demands for the estab lishment of Fresbyterianism, but, with Fairfax ap proaching and a siege of Oxford imminent, Charles was ready to catch at any straw. Late in the evening Apri] 2& of the 26th he assembled his council, and assured faSeave them that he had made up his mind to go to London. If they did not hear of him in a fortnight or three weeks, they had his leave to make the best conditions they could.4 Of the Scots he did not breathe a word, knowing weU that he would only rouse opposition by mentioning the design on which he was really bent 1 Instructions'to' Lindsey and others, April 25. Clar. St. P. ii. 228, 2 Ashburnham's Narrative, ii. 71. 3 Montreuil to Nicholas, April 20. Clar. St. P. ii. 224. Ashburn ham in his Narrative (ii. 71) says that Montreuii's letter, apparently received on the 26th, ' did import that all difficulties were reconciled, and Mr. David Leslie, their Lieutenant-General, had orders to meet his Majesty with two thousand horse at Gainsborough.' The last word is an obvious blunder for Harborough. The message appears to have re lated to military movements, and does not appear to have touched on religious'concessions. 4 Narrative of affairs. Clar. MSS. 2,240. of his council. 472 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLI. April 27. CharlesleavesOxford, and takes the road towardsLondon. lie turns north wards. It is possible, however, that he had not finally made up his mind as to the course which he was to take. A direct ride to the Scottish camp was in any case impossible. Dr. Hudson, one of the royal chaplains, who knew the country well, and had been employed in carrying letters between Charles and Montreuil, warned the King that his only chance of reaching Newark without interruption lay in his taking at first the direction of London. At three in the morning of the 27th Charles, disguised as a servant, with his beard and hair closely trimmed, passed over Magda len bridge in apparent attendance upon Ashburnham and Hudson. " Farewell, Harry ! " called out Glem ham to his sovereign as he performed the Governor's duty of closing the gates behind him.1 The httle party rode leisurely on through Dorchester, Henley, and Slough, putting the guards on the road in good humour by small gifts of money, and exhibiting a pass bearing Fairfax's signature, which belonged to some officer who had received leave to make his composition in London. Between ten and eleven Charles rested for about three hours at HiUingdon, where time was consumed in a discussion whether it would be more prudent to make for London or to turn northwards. It is possible that he expected some message from London to meet him here, either, according to a rumour which prevailed at Oxford, from the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, or, as Ashburn ham afterwards stated, from the Independent leaders. It would only be in consonance with Charles's charac ter if he expected tidings from both. However this may have been, no communication reached him, and, sadly acknowledging that it would be useless to arrive uninvited in London, he turned his horse's head, and 1 Payne to Browne. Cary, Mem. ofthe Civil War, i. 12. CHARLES'S FLIGHT. 47; riding through Harrow and St. Albans, he halted at chap. Wheathampstead for the night. ¦ — 7— On the morning ofthe 28th Hudson was despatched Englisli Mile 3 I*^Wi___,_ •0 474 THE KING'S FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLI. 1646 April 28. Hudsonsent to Montreuil. April 30. Charles at Downham.The Scots refuse to give a written assurance. The verbal engagement of the Scots. to Montreuil, whom he found quartered at Southwell, to urge him to demand a written assurance from the Scots that they would receive the King on conditions satisfactory to himself. Charles, meanwhile, rode on towards Norfolk, with the evident intention of throw ing himself into Lynn, in order to leave England by sea should the answer of the Scots prove contrary to his wishes. On the 30th he reached Downham and waited for news.1 Whilst Charles was making for Downham, Mon treuil was urging the Scots to put their engagements to the King into writing. To this request the Scots returned a peremptory refusal. AU that they would do was to allow Montreuil to draw up a written form to which they verbally expressed their assent. A copy of this form was given by the French Agent to Hudson to carry to the King, and, according to a statement subsequently made by the bearer, it ran as follows : — " 1 . That they should secure the King in his person and in his honour. " 2. That they should press the King to do nothing contrary to his conscience. " 3. That Mr. Ashburnham and I should be pro tected. " 4. That if the Parliament refused, upon a message from the King, to restore the King to his rights and prerogatives, they should declare for the King, and 1 Hudson's examination. Peck's Desiderata Curiosa 358. On May 1 Montreuil wrote to Du Bosc (Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 260) in cipher that the King was at Cois, ' en lieu d'ou il peut aller en France, en Escosse, ou en Dannemarc' In a letter of May n^Du Bosc doubts whether the decipher of Cois was correct. ' Lynn,' being also composed of four letters, was doubtless the word intended. Compare a letter from Corbet and Walton to Lenthall, in Hearne's edit, of Morin's Chronicle of Dunstable, ii. 799. The King was never actually at Lynn, but Mon treuil may have thought that he had reached it. MONTREUIL'S BARGAIN. 475 take aU the King's friends into their protection. And chap. if the Parliament did condescend to restore the King, — — .— - then the Scots should be a means that not above four * 4 of them should suffer banishment, and none at aU death."1 That the Scots were glad to allure the King to w^' was 0 ° the mean- COme amongst them maybe taken for granted, and ing of the it may perhaps be accepted as equally certain that they had no conception how insuperable was Charles's objection to Presbyterianism. Nor was it altogether their fault that they feU into the mistake. Charles had, at all events, done his best to cherish their de lusion. On March 23 he had promised to give them full contentment on church government if only they could satisfy him that to do so would not be against his conscience.2 On April 1 he had declared his willingness to receive instruction as soon as he reached the Scottish quarters.3 Was it strange if _ the Scots believed that he was as ready to be converted as Henry IV. of France had once been? It is likely enough, if this was their behef, that they cared more for getting the King into their hands than for the sincerity of their engagements to him. They had not hitherto shown themselves scrupulous in the matter of veracity in their deahngs with the Enghsh Parha- 1 Montreuii's despatch of May §| (Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres) gives an account of the paper to which the Scots verbally assented, which agrees with that given by Hudson in his examination, and printed in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa 361. Unfortunately the secretary whose duty it was to put Montreuii's letter into cipher omitted a few words, and the im portant passage relating to the message to be sent by the King was thus left out. We have therefore only Hudson's evidence to fall back on. He himself tells us that the terms as he states them were given him by Montreuil, and it is to be supposed that he had the paper still with him when he was examined. The agreement between his account and that of Montreuil- as far as it goes is strongly in favour of the theory of his sub stantial accuracy. a See p. 459. 3 See p. 460. 476 THE KINGS FLIGHT TO THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLI. 1646 Nature of Charles's obligation. ment,1 and they may very well have been somewhat unscrupulous in their dealings with the King. Yet there is a possible explanation of their con duct which sets it in a fairer Ught. In the engage ment taken by them at Newark — the terms of which were, after aU, drawn up by Montreuil and not by the Scots — aU hung on the meaning of the expression in the fourth clause, ' upon the sending of a message from the King.' Unless this message was sent, the Scots would be under no obhgation to do anything to restore Charles to the throne. Yet, even if we have MontreuU's exact words, it is incredible to suppose that Charles would have satisfied the obhgation under which the French Agent had brought him by sending any message, however httle to the point ; by inform ing Parhament, for instance, that it had been raining at Oxford, or that his horse had cast a shoe. In spite of the indefinite article, if it really appeared in Mon treuii's French, a message of a particular kind must surely have been intended, and what other kind of message could have been meant than that which had for some weeks been discussed by both parties ? It was not so very long ago since the Scots in London had urged Charles to write a letter to the two Far- Uaments granting the establishment of Fresbyterian ism ; and when Loudoun met DunfermUne and Bal carres at Eoyston, the demand that Charles should yield about the Church was formally made, whilst, as late as the 1 5th, Montreuil had written to him to urge him to hasten his decision.2 To this demand Charles had never returned a positive refusal. If, then, both Montreuil and the Scots expected him to grant Bresbyterianism, but expected him only to do it after some delay and with the appearance of having 1 See p. 412. " See p. 462. THE KING AT SOUTHWELL. 477 been vanquished in argument, it would to some extent C^IP" account for, though it would not excuse, their talking " — 7— -" about ' a message ' in general, when they really meant a message of a very particular kind.1 Charles, in short, if this explanation be correct,2 was hoist with his own petard. Intending to deceive, he became deceived. Following MontreuU's advice The King to trust the Scots, he determined to make for their trasuhe camp. Ashburnham indeed wished him to take shipping for Newcastle, when he would at least be at a distance from any English army. This advice was, however, overruled, and on May 2 Charles set out from Downham. By a devious route through Melton Mowbray he arrived at Stamford on the evening of the 3rd. The next day he kept himself concealed, and then, after travelling all night,3 alighted at seven in the morning of May 5 at MontreuU's Mays. . . Charles at lodgings in SouthweU.4 He fancied himself to be a Southwell. guest, but the days of his captivity had in fact begun. 1 That the Scots' commissioners in London still expected the King to write letters announcing his acceptance of Presbyterianism is shown by a letter from Moray, written after the King's arrival in the camp, in which he expresses surprise that the letter has not yet arrived. Moray to Du Bosc, May j^. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 272. 2 It is in favour of the view that the message was intended to grant Presbyterianism that in all his subsequent correspondence Montreuil never refers to this engagement as having been broken. His argument always turns on the engagement made through Sir R. Moray. (See p. 445) in which the nature ofthe message was distinctly expressed. 3 Browne's examination. Peck's Desiderata Curiosa 352. * Montague to the Speaker of the House of Lords, May 5. L.J. viii. 305. According to tradition, the house in which the King was received was the Saracen's Head, which boasts, truly or falsely, of having been an inn in the days of Richard I. The sitting-room and bedroom are now thrown into one as the inn parlour, but an oaken beam across the ceiling still marks the partition. 478 CHAP. XLII. 1646 May 5. The Scots expect Charles to yield.Lothian'sdemands. Charlesremoved to Kelham. Assurancesof the Scots. CHAETEE XLII. THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. Whatever may have passed through the minds of the Scottish commissioners when they signified their assent to the terms which Montreuil forwarded to the King, there can be httle doubt that they expected Charles, as soon as he came amongst them, to yield to their most extreme demands. Lothian, on receiv ing the news of his arrival, hurried to Southwell, and imperiously caUed on him to command the surrender of Newark, to sign the Covenant, to order the esta blishment of Presbyterianism in England and Ireland, and to direct James Graham to lay down his arms. To all this Charles positively refused his assent. " He that made you an earl," he sternly replied to Lothian, " made James Graham a marquis." He was, therefore, removed to Kelham, the headquarters of David Leslie, who was now in command of the army, Leven having withdrawn to Newcastle. He was there treated as a prisoner, sentinels being placed before his windows lest he should communicate with his friends by letter.1 Before he left Southwell the Scottish commissioners wrote to the Houses at West minster, assuring them that the King's coming had been entirely unexpected, that it had filled them with amazement and made them like men that Sir James Turner's Memoirs, 41. THE DILEMMA OF THE SCOTS. 479 dream. On the following day they gave practical chap. evidence of their wish to remain on good terms with ¦ — r—^— the English Parliament. Charles, who knew that M 6 Newark was incapable of prolonged resistance, Newark ¦v r o » surren- ordered its surrender to the Scots. They, however, dered. refused to accept it, and insisted that it should be given up to the English commissioners.1 Laying aside all question of the personal truthful- Difficulties ness of the Scottish commissioners, it is hard to see scots6' how they could have acted otherwise than they did. p0Sltl0n- Charles came amongst them as his grandmother had come to Elizabeth, not merely to seek refuge from imminent ruin, but to rouse them to intervene in arms on his behalf. Whatever this or that Scottish nobleman may have said, or allowed to be said, in his name, it was absolutely impossible to begin war afresh on Charles's conditions. Not only was the Presbyterian feeling too strong in Scotland itself to tolerate the employment of the Scottish army in a war waged for the restoration of Episcopacy, but Leven's soldiers were not prepared to face the New Model without the aid of English allies, and their only possible allies, the English Fresbyterians, would to a man refuse to take arms unless Charles made the ecclesiastical concession which they required. If the Scottish commissioners had not seen this before — which there is no reason to suppose — they saw it now. All that they could do in the face of the Eng lish Parliament, was to repudiate their past dealings with the King, to deprecate a hasty decision, and to retire to a place less exposed than Newark to the forces which Fairfax might bring against them. Accordingly, on May 7 David Leslie broke up 1 L.J. viii. 305-311 ; Montreuil to Mazarin, May jj-f, Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii, fol. 292. 480 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY". CHAP. XLII. 1646 May 7. The Scots march north wards. May 13. The King at New castle. May 6. Resolutionof the Com mons. May 21. The Com missioners for Church causes to be removed. June 5. A sub stitute found. from Newark. On the 1 3th, with his royal captive, he reached Newcastle. Unable long to withstand the demands of the English Earliament for the sur render of the King's attendants, the Scots aUowed both Ashburnham and Hudson to escape. Ashburn ham made his way to France, but Hudson was re taken in London, and placed in confinement, in order that he might be subjected to a rigorous examina tion.1 It was hard to persuade the English Parliament that Charles's arrival at Newark had been wholly fortuitous, and they therefore became all the more anxious to rescue his person from a suspected guardianship. On the 6th the Commons resolved that the King's person should be disposed of wher ever the English Earliament should appoint, and selected Warwick Castle as his place of residence. The Lords objected, apparently on the ground that Warwick was in the midst of Fairfax's cantonments, upon which the Commons agreed to omit the de signation of any particular locality. The Lords, however, refused to concur even with the general proposition, and after much warm language had passed between the Houses the subject was allowed to drop.2 It was probably a strong sense of the necessity of union, in the face of dangers which might arise in the North, which led the Commons on May 21 to propose that some substitute should be found for the com missioners for Church causes, whose appointment had given so much offence to the extreme Presby terians. Ultimately, on June 5, the power of sus pending from communion was placed in the hands of a 1 Rushw. v. 27 r ; Peck's Desiderata Curiosa 349, 361. 2 C.J. iv. 535, 540, 547 ; L.J. viii. 314. PARTIES IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 48 1 committee of both Houses, and for some unexplained chap. reason the change was accepted as satisfactory by • — ^-^ both parties.1 J 4 _ r _ May 18. The Independents, who naturally took the lead in Th. . . 1 . •> majority in all measures directed against the Scots, had the more the Hou_e , .. ., f ...... cf Lords need to walk warily because their majority m the Presby- House of Lords, which had hitherto depended on a single vote, was now transferred to the Presbyterians by the act of the aged Earl of Mulgrave, who took his proxy away from Say and entrusted it to Essex.2 In the Commons, on the other hand, the majority, in its hostility to the Scots, was still under the influ- May 19. ence of Independent leadership. On the 19th the that the House resolved, without a division, ' that this king- army is no dom hath no further use of continuing the Scots' neneled. 1 C.J. iv. 552, 562 ; L.J. viii. 359. 2 L.J. viii. 319. A list of the peers on both sides is given by Mon treuil (Arch, des Aff. Etrangh-es, Iii. fol. 734). It is undated, but as Essex is stated to hold Mulgrave's proxy it must be later than May 18, and earlier than the death of Essex on Sept. 15. It is as follows : — Lth the King and the Scots Against Manchester Northumberland Rutland Kent Essex Pembroke Lincoln Nottingham Suffolk Salisbury Warwick Denbigh Bolingbroke Middlesex Berkeley Stamford Dacres Say and Sele Willoughby of Parham Wharton Robartes Howard Maynard North Hunsdon Grey Mulgrave (by proxy) Montagu Montreuil states that two days before the list was made out, Pembroke and North had leant towards the King. It will be observed that the numbers here given are exactly equal. Lord Bruce is, however, omitted, who was Earl of Elgin in the Scottish peerage, and may be safely added to the Presbyterians, thus giving them a majority of one when all the peers were present. II. I I 482 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. CHAP. XLII. The Scots deny any engagement. Charlesasks for Henderson. May 18. Charles's letter to the Houses, army within the kingdom of England,' and ordered that ioo,ooo.. should be provided to pay it off.1 Tf there was a rift between the English parties, Charles might be trusted to do his best to widen it. His position at Newcastle was one of increasing discomfort. The Scots were daily pressing him to declare for Fresbyterianism, and, relying apparently on the fact that no promise in the handwriting of any one of their commissioners was in his possession, refused to recognise the assurances given by Moray and Montreuil, and boldly averred that he had come into their camp without any agreement what ever. If the Scots resorted to unblushing falsehood, Charles fell back upon his old course of raising hopes which he never intended to fulfil. He asked that Henderson might come from London to instruct him, and promised to do his best to receive enlightenment. He also requested that Loudoun might accompany Henderson. To gain time was his real object. He intended to despatch Montreuil to France, hoping to induce the French court to intervene in his behalf.2 In much the same spirit Charles drew up a letter to the Houses. If words ever implied anything, those which he selected were fitted to convey an impression that he was on the point of changing his mind. " Since," he wrote, " the settling of religion ought to be the chiefest care of all councils, his Majesty most earnestly and heartily recommends to his two Houses of Parliament all the ways and means possible for the speedy finishing the pious and neces sary work, and particularly that they take the advice of the divines of both kingdoms assembled at West- 1 c.J. iv. 551. 2 Montreuil to Mazarin, May — . fol. 292. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. A MESSAGE FROM THE KING. 483 minster." He hoped that the propositions which they chap. were preparing would speedily be sent, ' his Majesty — v-^— being resolved to comply with his Earliament in every thing which shall be for the happiness of his subjects.' 1 A similar letter was despatched to the Committee of '"shc.^" Estates at Edinburgh.2 Charles, having at least ESt^-of caught the watchwords of his subjects, also wrote to May _9. the City declaring his readiness to concur in settling city.0 truth and peace.3 With his packet for Westminster he enclosed a letter to Glemham ordering him to sur render Oxford, which, as he was well aware, could not hold out many days longer.4 For the moment Charles succeeded in throwing the apple of discord amongst his enemies. On the May 25. 25th the Lords voted his letter to be satisfactory.6 his letters On the 26th the City presented a strongly worded minster." petition calling on the Houses to suppress heresy and schism, to join in union with the Scots, and to despatch propositions to the King with all possible speed.6 The Lords commended the City highly. On the other hand, the Commons were offended with the City authorities for opening a letter from the King with out the leave of Parliament. So strong was the feeling of annoyance that the Presbyterians, not ven turing to express direct approval of the petition, moved that the citizens should be told that an answer would be given them in convenient time. Yet this very moderate proposal was only accepted by the House after two divisions.7 The Presbyterians had still sufficient hold upon the House to hinder an open rupture with the City. 1 The King to the Houses of Parliament. L.J. viii. 329, 2 Acts of the Pari, of Scotl. vi. 635. 3 L.J. viii. 334. * lb. viii. 329. 5 Lb. viii. 328. 6 The City Petition. lb. viii. 332. 7 C.J. iv. 555 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 271. 1 1 2 484 CHAP. XLII. 1646 May 29. The King's letter not to be sent to Glem ham. May 9. Reductionof Ban bury. Mav n. Oxford summoned. A long negotia tion. June 15. I reton's marriage. THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. In questions involving acceptance of the King's over tures they were unable to make head against their rivals. They could only muster 103 votes against 145 in favour of a resolution, which had come down from the Lords, for sending to Glemham the letter in which Charles had commanded him to surrender Oxford.1 The capital of the Cavaliers was incapable of pro longing its resistance. On May 9 Banbury Castle submitted to Whalley.2 On the 1 ith Fairfax, having drawn his lines round Oxford, summoned the Gover nor to surrender. Glemham indeed was ready to repeat the efforts which he had made at Carlisle, and to hold out till every horse and rat in the place had been eaten. It was, however, impossible to induce the Eoyalist lords and ladies who filled the rooms of the departed scholars to take this view of their duty. On the 15th the King's Privy Council declared itself empowered to treat, and at once notified its sense that only one issue was possible by committing to the flames all existing records of the Oxford Parliament, lest they should rise up in judgment against those who had taken part in its proceedings.3 Negotia tions were quickly opened, though in the face of the opposition of the Eoyalist officers progress was ne cessarily slow. There was, however, no doubt how matters would end, and Cromwell at least showed his sense that all danger of a fresh outbreak of hos- tihties was over by sending for his daughter Bridget, that she might be married at Fairfax's headquarters to his favourite officer Ireton. On June 15 Ireton became the son-in-law of Cromwell. 1 C.J iv. 558. 1 Whalley to Lenthall, May 9. Cary's Mem. of the Civil War, ' Dugdale's Diary. THE SURRENDER OF OXFORD. 485 On the day after the wedding it was known in CJ*A?- Oxford that a quick surrender was inevitable. The — 7-— ¦ storekeeper announced that he had only provisions Jvme l6 for twelve days more, and that there was not powder jj^?.^°sre" enough to resist a storm. At the same time the reP°rt- soldiers broke out into mutiny in the streets, clamour ing for pay which was not forthcoming. Delay was no longer possible, and on June 20 articles of capitu lation were signed. For some time the lords of the councU had been in fear of their Uves from the mutinous soldiery, and now they only succeeded in stilling the tumult by pawning to a Parliamentary officer the insignia of the Garter which had been left behind by Charles.1 On the 22nd the two Princes, Eupert and Maurice, rode out of the city, and they were followed on the 23rd by the greater part ofthe noblemen and gentle men. The garrison itself marched out on the 24th, Th™untn- when the defences of the city were then given over oxford. to the Parliamentary commanders.2 Of the outlying posts, Boarstall and Eadcot had aheady surrendered. Wallingford held out till July 27? By the surrender of Oxford the Duke of York The Duke fell into the hands of Earliament. The Frince of prisoner." Wales alone of the King's children was still at liberty. On April 16 he left Scilly for a safer and April 16. more pleasant abode in Jersey.4 No sooner was he f^w^"^08 there than he was assailed by frequent messages from ^|,e. for his mother urging him to take refuge in France. In Jersey. singularly thoughtful and vigorous language Hyde 1 The official narrative (Clar. MSS. 2,240) is the primary authority. With this may be compared Dugdale's Diary, 87, and Wood's History of the Univ. of Oxford, ii. 480. The latter represents the discontent of those who believed that the place had been unnecessarily abandoned. 3 Wood, ii. 485. 3 Sprigg, 261. * Hyde to Arundell. Clar. St. P. ii. 229. 486 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S ¦ CAPTIVITY. CHAP. XLII. 1646 May 20. Hyde protestsagainst his removal to France. The Prince remains in Jersey. May 28. Montreuil sent to France. argued for the Frince's stay within his father's do minions, at least tiU the approach of actual danger made his position untenable. The letter was in fact one long protest against the system of dependence on foreign aid, which had done more to wreck Charles's cause than all the efforts of Earliament. The one thing needful, according to Hyde, was ' the resurrection of English loyalty and courage,' and such a resurrection was out of the question if the heir to the throne was found dangling about the court of France, consorting with Fapists, and liable to the accusation of being himself a Fapist. It would be time enough to consider the advantages to be gained from French aid whenever the French began to act instead of merely talking.1 Hyde had on his side all the councillors in Jersey except Culpepper, and he had still sufficient influence with the Prince to induce him to resist his mother's entreaties. It would however go hard with him if the Queen appealed to her husband. Of the strength to be gained by relying exclusively on English feel ing Charles was absolutely ignorant. All his thoughts since his arrival at Newcastle had been directed, not to the adoption of a policy which might rally Eng lishmen round him, but to the making of meaning less promises which would enable him to gain time to summon foreign powers to his aid.2 On May 28 he despatched Montreuil to lay his case before the Queen Eegent and the Cardinal. Yet though he was ready to make use of Montreuil as his agent, he turned a deaf ear to his pleadings for the concession of Pres byterianism. The Scots, he assured the Queen, cared more for clipping the royal power in England than 1 Hyde to Jermyn, May 20. Clar. St. P. ii. 230. 2 See p. 490. CHARLES AS A CONTROVERSIALIST. 487 XLII. 1646 for any alteration in the government of the Church, chap. As Charles did not wish his power to be clipped he was ready to turn for help in another direction. He recommended the Queen to press on Mazarin the advantage of urging the Pope to support the restora- ^^n tion of English Episcopacy in consideration of a grant of liberty of conscience to the Catholics. With this notion in his head he was not likely to lay much store by considerations such as those which had weighed heavily with Hyde, and he accordingly dth directed the Queen to send for the Prince from Jersey, Prmce i •...• -1 -1 removed. as he no longer considered him to be in safety in the island. For the time Charles's position at Newcastle was The strict_ easier than it had been. Loudoun and Moray had cehSarieS'_ arrived from London, and by their influence some- J^ea7 thing had been done to relax the strictness of his captivity.1 On the 29th he finally abandoned all hope May 29. of inducing the Presbyterian Scots to coalesce with to leave Montrose, and sent orders to the hero of the North to disband his troops and to go to France.2 On the same day he began a long controversial argument encewithr~ with Henderson, which, if it had no other effect, would Hendersont serve to postpone the day when he would have to speak out on the subject of Presbyterianism. The argument was carried on in writing in a leisurely fashion, and was spread over seven weeks. There can be no doubt that Charles thoroughly enjoyed the oppor tunity of standing forth as the champion of the Church which he loved. There is evidence in his papers of a strong devotional piety, of the kind which takes 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, ^7 Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. 3 1 7 ; the King to the Queen, May 28, June 3, Charles I. in 1646, 41, 43. 2 The King to Montrose, May 29. Napier's Memoirs of Montrose, ii. 634. 488 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. CHAP. XLII. Aug. 19. Death of Henderson. June 5-8. Urgency of the Scottish commissioners. June 9 ? Charles proposes a local tolera tion of Episcopacy. The proposal neglected in Scotland, pleasure in resting on well-defined authority and consistent practice, and which loves not to embark on overmuch questioning of the heavenly laws. Hen derson's argument, on the other hand, was of the usual Presbyterian type, in no way calling for special commendation. The minds of the two men moved in different planes,1 and, after his part had been played at Newcastle, Henderson, whose health was broken, betook himself to Edinburgh, where he died before many weeks were over. Charles had to endure assaults more difficult to meet than were Henderson's polemics. Twice, on June 5 and 8, the Scottish commissioners were on their knees before him urging him to give way. His reply was that he was willing to allow the establish ment of Fresbyterianism in England, and the sup pression of ' all the superstitious sects and Indepen dents,' provided that liberty of conscience might be granted to himself and his co-religionists. For this purpose it would be enough if bishops were retained in the sees of the South-West, namely, in those of ' Oxford, Winchester, Bristol, Bath and Wells, and Exeter.' 2 It is doubtful whether this extraordinary proposal was made with any serious expectation of its proving acceptable to anyone. Though Charles asked that it might be submitted to the General Assembly, which was then in session, there is no evidence that it was ever laid before the Scottish clergy, and it does not 1 The Papers which passed, at Newcastle. E. 1,243, 3- 2 Burnet's Lives of the Hamiltons, 369. The true date of this pro posal is fixed not only by the reference in it to the General Assembly, which, as Professor Masson has pointed out (Life of Milton, iii. 500), was sitting at this time, and not in September, the date assigned by Burnet, but by the direct statement of Montreuii's secretary. Bacon to Montreuil, June i\. Arch, des Aff. Etrangh-es, iii. 348. CHARLES'S PROJECTS REVEALED. 489 seem to have been even heard of at Westminster, chap. XLII. The House of Commons was indeed in no mood to — .-1— take into consideration a scheme which began by and never arranging for an attack on the Independents, and westmin-at ended by proposing the erection of an Episcopalian ster- fortress from which it would be easy to make assaults upon Euritanism thus divided and weakened. The leadership of the Independents in the Commons Hosti]it was too firmly established to be easily shaken, espe- ^^ cially as it was founded on the national detestation m the _> o ¦ i ¦ r\ t i House of of Scottish and French intrigues. On June 1 the Commons. Commons urged the Lords to assent to the vote of May 19, to the effect that the Scottish army was no longer needed in England.1 On the 2nd they passed — it is true, by a small majority — a vote of thanks to a body of Londoners who had presented a petition hostile to the anti-tolerationist petition of the Common Council.2 Complaints against the cruelty and extor tions of the Scottish soldiers were greedily welcomed,3 whilst no effort was made to supply the needful pay, the want of which went far to palliate any enormities of which the Scots might have been guilty. If any one member of either House still doubted June g the complicity of the Scots in the King's escape to ^,ntien^er" Newark, that doubt must have been now removed. le«er- On June 8 there was read in Earliament an intercepted letter, written early in April by the King to Ormond, in which Charles expressly acknowledged that he had received good security from the Scots, not only for their hospitality to himself, but for the employment of their armies on his behalf.4 On the same day the inf0rma- Houses received information from their agent in Faris, p^rom 1 See p. 481. 2 C.J. iv. 560, 561. There were between 5,000 and 6,000 signatures to it. Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 272. 3 lb. fol. 272b ; C.J. iv. 567. i L.J. viii. 366 ; C.J. iv. 567. 490 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. CHAP. XLII. 1646 The Scot- declare their inno cence. telling them that the accord between the King and the Scots had been arrived at through MontreuU's mediation, and that Digby had just brought tidings from Ireland that the Irish peace had been concluded, and that an Irish army would soon be on its way to join the Scots in an attack upon the English Earlia ment. The French clergy had at last opened their purses,1 and had presented the Queen with a sum equivalent to 40,000/. Digby, it was said, was to go to Jersey to conduct the Prince to Ireland, where it was hoped that his presence would rally English, Scots, and Irish round the royal standard. A later communication added that there had been some delay in Digby's enterprise, and that Bellievre, who had been at Charles's court as ambassador in the days of his prosperity, was to return to England in a similar capacity, nominally to mediate a peace between the King and the Parliament, but in reality, as the writer thought, to foster irritation between the Scots and the Parliament, and thus to weaken both.2 By this revelation — substantially true as it was — the Scots were deeply touched. Their commissioners in London took refuge in blank denial. What the King meant by his letter to Ormond, they said, he was himself best able to explain. As to its contents, they had no hesitation in expressing themselves freely. " It doth consist in our perfect knowledge," they asserted, " — and we declare it with as much con fidence as ever we did or can do anything — that the matter of the papers, so far as concerneth any assu r- ance or capitulation for joining of forces, or for combining against the Houses of Parliament, or any 1 See p. 432, Note 2. 2 C.J. iv. 568 ; the Agent at Paris to the Com. of B. K j^l, Cary's Mem. ofthe Civil War, i. 56, 72. May 2- June 1' A FALSE DECLARATION. 491 other private or public agreement whatsoever be- chap. tween the King on the one part, and the kingdom of ¦ <— ^— Scotland, their army, or any in their name and having power from them upon the other part, is x a most damnable untruth." 2 False as this was, the Scots were at least aware Falsehood ... °f 'he that nothing had passed in writing except under the deciara- hands of Moray and Montreuil, and it was certain that neither Moray nor Montreuil had been commis sioned by the kingdom or the army of Scotland. At Newcastle the shame of detection drove the Scots there to put fresh pressure on the King, in the hope June _o. . . . Pressure that the understanding, the existence of which their put upon countrymen were repudiating in London, might at last bear fruit. " I never knew," wrote Charles to his wife on the ioth, "what it was to be barbarously treated before." He was told that he must sign the Covenant, and enjoin its signature upon all his sub jects. He must, in his own family, abandon the Prayer Book for the Directory, and declare without reserve for a Presbyterian settlement. If he refused his assent to these demands, the Scots would throw him over and come to terms with the English Par liament.3 Charles preferred at least an appearance of jUne n. coming to terms himself with the English Parliament, tottu.™8 On the day on which he described his miseries to the ^"§.1? Queen he wrote to the Houses, begging them to ment- hasten the sending of propositions, and to permit him to come to London to co-operate in the work of peace. To inspire confidence in his words he 1 Printed ' as.' 2 The Scots' commissioners to the Speaker of the House of Lords, June 8. L.J. viii. 364. 3 The King to the Queen, June 10. Charles I. in 1646, 45. 492 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. CHAP. XLII. 1646 June 18 Hudson'sconfession. Blame thrown on the Scots. enclosed orders directing the commanders of the scat tered fortresses still holding out for him to surrender them at once.1 The Houses were the less likely to be won over by this overture as, at the time when it reached them, they were engaged in an investigation which pro mised to reveal to them a part, at least, of his past in trigues. Hudson, the King's guide to Newark, had been for some time under examination, and on the 1 8th he acknowledged that he had come from New castle with the intention of crossing to France, in order to bring about a league between the French and the Scots against the English Earliament.2 BailUe, who was not in the secrets of the Scottish commissioners, watched the rising storm of EngUsh indignation, and, Uke the partisan he was, threw aU the blame upon the Independents. " This people," he wrote, " is very jealous, and the Sectarian party, intending only for private ends to continue the war, entertain their humour : ' Let the Scots do and say what they can, yet certainly they cannot be honest. They have a design with the King and foreign nations to betray and ruin England ; therefore let us be rid of them with diligence ; if they wiU not immediately be gone, let us drive them home with our armies.' " 3 The Scots had been more at fault than Baillie was aware. As readers of MontreuU's despatches know, some, at least, of their leaders had been prepared for the outbreak of a fresh civil war, in which they and the English Presbyterians were to bring to reason the Independents and the New Model. The knowledge of these dealings, vague as it yet was, was strength- 1 The King to the Houses, June 10. L.J. viii. 374. 2 Whitacre's Diary. Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 274b. 3 Baillie, ii. 374. ARGYLE IN THE PAINTED CHAMBER. 493 ening the undoubted preponderance of the Indepen- chap. dents in the House of Commons. They were now - — -— 1— the national party, hostile alike to the French, the Growing Irish, and the Scots, and distrustful of any accommo- *£" inde-of dation with a king in league with foreigners. pendents. As an organised opposition the Presbyterians Weakness were for the time helpless. Some of them supported Presby tia Independents in their resistance to the Scots, whilst their leaders, baffled in their intrigue by the refusal of the King to accept the one condition on which either the English or the Scottish Eresby- terians would assist him, took refuge for the time in sullen silence. The Scots themselves were aware that they had committed a blunder, and that if Pres byterianism was to be advanced in England, they must work for it in co-operation with' Earliament rather than in co-operation with the King. To give emphasis to this new policy Argyle Argyleat himself,- the real leader of the nation, appeared upon ^stmin" the scene. Miserable soldier as he was, he had a keen eye for political tendencies, and when, on June June 25. 25, he stood up in the Fainted Chamber to address address. the committees of the two Houses which had been appointed to receive him, he was not hkely to strike blows at random. After a complimentary exordium he went straight to the point of church government, severing himself both from the sects and from the rigid Presbyterians. " Upon one part," he said, His views " we would take heed not to settle lawless liberty in tion, religion, whereby, instead of -uniformity, we should set up a thousand heresies and schisms, which is directly contrary and destructive to our Covenant. Upon the other part," he said, " we are to look that we persecute not piety and peaceable men, who can not, through scruple of conscience, come up in all 494 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. things to the common rule." Having thus placed himself in accord with the prevailing sentiment of the House of Commons, he proceeded to lay stress on the essential unity of the two kingdoms, ' so that in effect we differ in nothing but in name — as brethren do — which I wish were also removed, that we might be altogether one, if the two kingdoms shall think fit ; for, I dare say, not the greatest kingdom in the earth can prejudice both so much as one of them can do the other ' harm.1 and on their Having thus cleared the way, Argyle approached with'the the burning question of the relations between his Kmg' countrymen and the King. The Scots, he said, had always borne affection to his Majesty. " Yet as," 2 he said, " experience may tell, their personal regard for him has never made them forget that common rule, ' The safety of the people is the supreme law,' so like wise their love to monarchy makes them very desir ous that it may be rather regulated than destroyed." In the end he played his commanding card. The He accepts peace-propositions, in the elaboration of which the propMi?6" Houses had spent so many months, had at last been completed, and had been handed to the Scottish commissioners two days before. Argyle now re turned them as accepted without a single alteration. 3 Argyle's Hearty co-operation with the Enghsh Parliament in the establishment of a somewhat elastic form of Presbyterianism in the Church, and the establishment, if possible^ of constitutional monarchy in the State, were the main lines on which Argyle's policy was drawn. The weak point in it was that it could not be realised without the King. Charles was, in fact, 1 ' harm' is not in the original. 2 ' as ' is not in the original. 3 Argyle's speech, June 25. L.J. viii. 392. tions. THE PRINCE IN JERSEY. 495 as uncompromising as ever. He knew that the pro- chap. positions would soon be laid before him. On June - — ,— - 24, the day before that on which Argyle delivered ' 4 .7 , ,T7. . , -. _ -, , . . . June 24. his speech at Westminster, he disclosed his intentions Charles's to the Queen. " It is folly," he wrote concerning the English Earliament, " to think they will go less so long as they see none to resist them, knowing that the Scots will not ; so that all my endeavours must be the delaying my answer till there be considerable parties visibly formed, to which end I think my pro posing to go to London, if I may be there with safety, will be the best put-off, if — which I beheve to be better — I cannot find a way to come to thee." 1 If Charles could not himself go to France, the May orders which he had given for transferring his son £ ^aage thither were already in course of execution. Before yueen- the end of May the Prince's councillors in Jersey despatched Capel and Culpepper to St. Germains to urge the Queen to desist from her importunate request for the removal of the Prince.2 Though she failed to persuade Capel of the prudence of her demand, she had no difficulty in winning over Culpepper, who had been a warm advocate of the intrigue with the Scots, and who was easily drawn to support the intrigue with France. On June 20 June 20. the pair returned to Jersey, accompanied by Digby Prince's and others of the Queen's associates, amongst whom frorr. jersey was Jermyn. Jermyn brought with him a pressing demanded- letter from the Queen to the Prince, begging him to come to her, and he was also able to produce ex tracts from letters written by the King in support of her entreaties.3 1 The King to the Queen, June 24. Charles I. in 1646, 50. 2 Hyde to Nicholas, June 1. Clar. St. P. ii. 236. 3 The Queen to the Prince of Wales, June |§ ; Extracts from the King's letters, Lb. ii. 238, 239. 496 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. CHAP. XLII. 1646 Arguments in favour of the plan. June 21. The Prince resolves to go. June 26. Hyde, Capel, and Hopton remain. May 20. Hydecontent with his position. June 1. His resolu tion. It was only with difficulty that Hyde and those councillors who agreed with him in opposing the plan obtained an adjournment of its discussion for a single day. In private conversation Digby spoke plainly. All their dependence, he said, was on the French, as the Scots were only to be reached through the French. Unless the Prince were in Prance nothing could be done. It was to no purpose that Hyde expressed his entire disapprobation of a policy which made the fortunes of England depend upon a foreign government. On the following morning the Frince was asked to declare his mind. He was pro bably by this time tired of his residence in a narrow island, and he replied that he meant to obey his parents. On the 26th he embarked for France. Hyde, Capel, and Hopton refused to accompany him.1 These three men represented the honourable royalism which stooped to no intrigue, and would soil itself by no baseness. " Truly," Hyde had written some weeks before, "whoever enough con siders the admirable confusion in all three kingdoms, to which in the instant the wisdom of men and angels can hardly find an expedient to apply, will think the station very happy from whence he may without prejudice so long look on, till upon full observation and free counsels such designs may be formed, with all circumstances for prosecution, as good men may confidently undertake and cheerfully persist in." 2 " I will endeavour," he declared a few days later in a letter to his old friend Nicholas, " to follow your good example . . . and, in spite of what can come, do the part of an honest man, and die by those principles I 1 Hyde's Memorandum, Clar. MSS. 2,249 ; Capel, Hopton, and Hyde to the Queen, undated, Clar. St. P. ii. 239. 2 Hyde to Jermyn, May 20. lb. ii. 231. HYDE'S PROTEST. 497 have hved in ; for truly I would not buy a peace at chap. a dearer price than was offered at Uxbridge ; and I - — .—^ am persuaded in my soul, if ever it shall be pur chased at a more dishonourable or impious price, it will be more unpleasant and fatal to those who shall have their hands in making the bargain than the war hath been." x It was well and wisely said. No concession to Hyde and Buritanism, still less any seeming concession to Puri tanism, could avail those who in their hearts believed that Puritanism was an evil thing. Little as there was of genial statesmanship in Hyde, and tied down as he was to the pedantries of the constitutional law, he nevertheless represented, as far as religion was concerned, the only living force with which Cromwell had seriously to count. The English Fresbyterian members of Parliament, the Scottish Presbyterian lords, nay, even the King himself, were but the weavers of one vast intrigue with many faces. Hyde stood firmly upon the ground of a sentiment which would one day, througli the errors of his antagonists, gain a hold upon the nation, and he knew how to bide ( his time till the nation was ready to declare in his favour. It was not Puritanism, but the very opposite of Puritanism, which held the main current of the thought of the seventeenth century. Cromwell, mighty as he was, could but dam back that current for a time, and when he had done his utmost he would have toUed only that Hyde might step into his place. Political work there would be none for Hyde H ^ for manv a year to come. Neither with the enemies strong J J feeling of Episcopacy and the Frayer Book nor with the against the enemies of constitutional monarchy could he find anything in common. " For your Presbyterians and 1 Hvde to Nicholas, June I. Clar. St. P. ii. 236. II. K K 498 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. XLII. 1646 chap. Independents," he assured Nicholas, " I am not yet grown learned enough to know which side to be of, nor charitable enough to know which to pray for. . . . The truth is, I take many who think and find it necessary and safe to pretend to be of one side are indeed of neither ; but they who abhor Presbytery in the Church join with the Independents, and they who tremble at Independency in the State join with the Presbyterians, and yet would be as willing to have the heads of their own party hanged as you or I would. But the first form of either party I take to be as devout enemies to Monarchy, at least to the King and his posterity, as the other ; and therefore I expect no great good from either till they have bettered their understandings and reformed their consciences by drinking deep in each other's blood ; and then I shall be of your opinion that whosoever shall by God's blessing be able to preserve his con science and his courage very few years will find him self wished for again in his country, and may see good days again if the Turk in that time prove not strong enough to send them another Covenant."1 and dis- Though Hyde's view of the situation was much wit_fthe°n the same as Charles's, he had none of Charles's restless Kmg. impatience, and he was too much of an Englishman not to be horrified by Charles's tampering with the Irish Catholics. " Oh, Mr. Secretary," he wrote to the same correspondent, " those stratagems have given me more sad hours than all the misfortunes in war which have befallen the King, and look hke the effects of God's anger towards us."2 Stranded thus for a time on the beach of politics, Hyde could not endure to fold his hands idly before 1 Hyde to Nicholas, Nov. 15. Clar. St. P. ii. 285. * Hyde to Nicholas, Feb. 12, 1647. R>. ii. 336. 1646 Hyde THE HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 499 him. No sooner had he reached Scilly, and all chap. XLII thought of active resistance was at an end, than he seized his pen to record, without hope of influencing the existing generation, the events of which he had begins his to ° . . . History of been a witness, and amidst which his more energetic the Re- years had been spent. The work of which the foundations were thus laid within hearing of the plash of the Atlantic waves was one day, through the stately dignity of its style and its lifelike pourtrayal of character, to be reckoned as one of the master pieces of English prose. The task taken up in Scilly was carried on in Jersey,1 and by the middle of August Hyde had completed three books and a part of a fourth, bringing his story down to the unhappy day of the King's flight from Westminster after the failure of his attempt upon the five members. Under such circumstances minute or even toler- I^«ouracy of tne early able accuracy was not to be expected. An exile, portion. writing without books or Hterary materials of any kind, and trusting merely to a memory the impres sions upon which have been blurred by the influences of political strife, must of necessity depart widely from the truth in every page. That Hyde did not depart from it willingly does not appear merely from his own protestation.2 When writing of the war 1 The first two books were written in Scilly. See Ranke, Engl. Geschichte, viii. 217. Compare the Preface to Mr. Macray's new edition of Clarendon. 2 " As soon as I came to Scilly, I began, as well as I could, without any papers, upon the stock of my own memory, to set down a narrative of this prosperous rebellion, and have, since I came hither, continued it, to the waste of very much paper, so that I am now come to the King's leaving London ; in which, though for want of information and assist ance I shall leave many truths unmentioned, upon my word, there shall not be any untruth nor partiality towards persons or sides, which, though it will make the work unfit in this age for communication, yet may be fit for the perusal and comfort of some men, and, being transmitted through good hands, may tell posterity that the whole nation was not so 500 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING'S CAPTIVITY. CHAP. XLII. 1646 Was the History a partypamphlet ? Hyde's exordium. itself he made use of the documents in his own pos session, and it can be shown that when he founded his narrative upon them he adhered to them as closely as can be expected.1 That Hyde's work rose above the level of a party pamphlet on a large scale may be freely granted. If he failed to recognise virtue or largeness of mind on the Furitan side, he was lavish enough in distributing blame amongst the Eoyalists. Yet for all that — and it could hardly be otherwise — the book is instinct with party feeling. Hyde's party, however, was not that of the Eoyalists as a body, but of a little group amongst them — a church within a church — which maintained its principles with uncompromising severity, and which regarded the wiles of Digby or Jermyn, and even — though Hyde did not venture to speak his mind out here — the shifty weakness of Charles, as evils almost as dangerous as Euritanism itself. Hyde's opening sentences have none of the ring of all-weighing justice. " Though for no other reason," he began in conscious imitation of the first paragraph of the Ecclesiastical Polity? " yet lest posterity may be deceived3 by the prosperous wicked ness of these times into an opinion that less than a general combination and universal apostasy in the bad as it will be then thought to have been." Hyde to Berkeley, Aug. 14. Clar. MSS. 2,280. 1 This is especially true of his narrative of the Western campaign. In his account of events in London he gives himself up to mere un founded gossip. 2 "Though for no other cause, yet for this: that posterity may know we have not loosely through silence permitted things to pass away as in a dream, there shall be for men's information extant thus much concerning the present state of the Church of God established amongst us," &c. Eccl. Pol. i. 1. 3 This is the true reading, as Ranke pointed out, and it is now restored in Mr. Macray's edition. THE HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 501 whole nation from their religion and allegiance could, chap. in so short a time, have produced such a total and - — ,-!-- prodigious alteration and confusion over the whole kingdom ; and so the memory of those few, who out of duty and conscience have opposed and resisted that torrent which hath overwhelmed them, may lose the recompense due to virtue, and, having undergone the injuries and reproaches of this, may not find a vindication in a better age ; it will not be unuseful, at least to the curiosity if not the conscience of men, to present to the world a full and clear narrative of the grounds, circumstances, and artifices of this rebellion." 1 After such an exordium a calm and philosophical ^^la" narrative is the last thing to be expected. Yet it Hooker. is not without significance that at the very opening of his work Hyde deliberately attached himself to Hooker. He was engaged on another stage of that conflict against Puritanism in which the great author of the Ecclesiastical Polity had couched his lance. The combat was more political now than it had been in the days of Elizabeth, but in the main the issues were the same. The ideas of the organic develop ment of the Church, of the power of the trained human inteUigence to grasp the significance of Divine laws, and of the apphcation of the whole of man's complex being to the service of his Creator, were handed down by Hooker to his successors, and, though it can hardly be said that the author of The Great Rebellion lived and moved on these ethereal heights, at least something of their influence had fallen upon him. Hyde, in short, was a lawyer who had applied His merits himself to statesmanship, and if he had the defects an e ect8 of his personahty, he had also its merits. He could 1 Clarendon, i, 1, 502 THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE KING S CAPTIVITY. •> the King, still less did they venture to impede the continuance of the negotiations with the King. On July 6 the Houses announced in a letter to Charles the speedy arrival of their propositions, and they further re quested him to direct Ormond to surrender to them Dublin, Drogheda, and all other garrisons in his keep- They7ar!" in§-2 ®n tne J3tn Nineteen Propositions — equaUing despatched. m number those which Charles had rejected in 1642 — were despatched to Newcastle under the charge of two lords and four commoners. These commis sioners were to demand the King's positive consent, and if it was not obtained within ten days after their arrival, they were to come back without entering into further negotiation.3 Thepropo- It is not likely that anything which the Houses likely to be could have asked would have been palatable to cceP ei Charles, but at least nothing was done to make his Their main acceptance easy. He was to take the Covenant him- tions." self, and to consent to an Act imposing it on aU his subjects ; to accept the abohtion of Episcopacy, and ' the reformation of rehgion according to the Covenant ... in such manner as both Houses have agreed or shall agree upon, after consultation had with the Assembly of Divines.' Acts were to be passed for the easier conviction of recusants, for the levying of their fines, and for the education of their children in the Protestant religion, as well as for a stricter course in the suppression of the mass. There were also to be Acts against innovations and pluralities, and for correction of divers abuses in the Church. The 1 C.J. iv. 622. 2 L.J. viii. 417. * lb. viii, 423, 433. CHARACTER OF TITE PROPOSITIONS. 507 militia and the fleet were to be controlled by Parlia- SfAP. J XLIII. ment for no less than twenty years, and even when ¦ — 7—— ' that long period had come to an end, the Houses were to declare the future conditions of authority over the miHtary and naval forces, and the Bills embodying their resolutions were to become law even if the royal assent were refused. Provision was made for keeping up a good understanding with the Scots. A long list was given of Eoyalists either entirely or partially exempted from pardon. The Irish Cessa tion was to be annulled, and the war in Ireland was to be prosecuted in such a manner as both Houses might agree upon.1 That Charles ought unhesitatingly to have re- why did -. - . T . . . .i-i/. not Charles jected. these propositions it is impossible for anyone speak out? to doubt who knows what his conscientious belief was. Now, if ever, was the time to speak his mind out plainly, and, whatever might come of his refusal, to reject decisively a scheme to which he could not in honour assent. It was precisely this outspoken assertion of his position which Charles was incapable of making. He was involved in a new phase of his long intrigue with the French Government, and he weakly thought that he could make his answer to Parliament helpful towards the attainment of his object, even though he refused to carry out the policy which the French were urging upon him. When Digby was at Jersey, he boasted in conversing with Beiii_vre's Hyde of the speedy departure of Bellievre, who was soon to set out from France as ambassador to England at the instance of Henrietta Maria, carrying with him instructions from Mazarin which had been drawn up by Digby himself and other Englishmen.2 As 1 Rushw. vi. 309. 2 Hyde's Memorandum, Clar. MSS. ; Capel, Hopton, and Hyde to the Queen, undated, Clar. St. P. ii. 239. 508 THE NEWCASTLE PROPOSITIONS. chap, often happened, Digby had overreached himself. His - — , — '- own production had, indeed, been committed to Bel- 4 lievre's charge, but the real instructions upon which the ambassador was to act had been carefully prepared by the Cardinal himself. Digby's paper is chiefly interesting as revealing the ideas which prevailed at the little court of exiles at St. Germains. TIie The Queen's memoir, as it was called, bore un- Memoir. mistakably the impress of Digby's erratic genius. Fresbyterianism, it urged, should be frankly conceded, because that was the surest way to set Presbyterians and Independents by the ears. The militia was to be abandoned to Parhament for a time, to allay the fears of those rebels who dreaded the royal dis pleasure, but it must eventuaUy be restored to the King. Above all, the Act preventing the dissolution of Parliament without its own consent must be repealed, and the Parhamentary constitution must revert to the principles of the Triennial Act. The government of the country was, in short, to be restored to Charles with the single obligation of meet ing a Parliament once in three years, during a session limited at his pleasure to fifty days. Lest the patronage of the Scots should prove oppressive, they were to be persuaded to admit Montrose to a con junction with their army at Newcastle, and to acknowledge Ormond's treaty with the Irish Catholics. If, as was probable enough, the Scots objected to this, Bellievre was to frighten them by threatening to throw the weight of France into the scale of the Independents. No real success was to be hoped for tiU the Presbyterians and Independents had taken arms against one another. Then France, Ireland, and the Cavaliers would give victory to that which appeared to be the weaker side, and the King would CONFLICTING VIEWS. 509 reign in peace through the exhaustion of his xiim' enemies.1 ' — tt"" 1040 It is unnecessary to point out that this airy Hyde's scheme was utterly unpractical. Hyde, though he opmion- can hardly have been acquainted with the memoir itself, pointed out in his private correspondence the immorality of its main provision. " For the propo sitions," he wrote, " whoever understands them . . . cannot imagine that, being once consented unto, there are any seeds left for monarchy to spring out of, and the stratagem of yielding to them to make the quarrel the more popular, and to divide the Fresby terians and Independents, is so far above my politics that I am confident a general horror and infidelity will attend the person that submits to them after the infamy of such a submission ; and if I know anything of the King's heart or nature, he will not redeem the Hves of his wife and children at the price, though he were sure they would not be consented unto when he had done." 2 Hyde at least knew the rock upon which all the Mazarin efforts of Digby and Mazarin would split. Mazarin anneithe indeed had other objects in sending Bellievre than Nethor- that of exalting the authority of Charles. He was land3- now engaged in a negotiation which, if his hopes were fulfilled, would lead to the annexation of the Spanish Netherlands, and he had already sent an army across the frontier to give emphasis to his diplomacy.3 Knowing how readily England, if she were free to strike, might be led to resist his enterprise, he was eager to do what he could for Charles by diplomatic 1 Memoir by the Queen of England. Ranke, Engl. Geschichte, viii. 175- 2 Hyde to Berkeley, Aug. 14. Clar. MSS. 2,280. 3 Cheruel, La France pendant la minority de Louis XIV., ii. 267. 5io THE NEWCASTLE PROPOSITIONS. CHAP.XLIII. 1646 Bellievre's instructions. July 16. Bellievre's report. Plans of the two parties. means, not because he wanted to make Charles strong, but because he wanted to keep England weak. Mazarin, therefore, directed Bellievre to foment dissensions between the two Earliamentary parties. Their union would make a repubhc possible, and an English republic was the one thing which he wished to avert. It would, he thought, be terribly strong in the strength which grows out of the voluntary effort of its citizens. Even the re-establishment of the King in the plenitude of his power would be less formidable to France. As a means to the re-establishment of the King, Mazarin looked to the help of the Scots and of the Enghsh Fresbyterians. He treated Charles's objections to Fresbyterianism as a mere passing obstacle, which would be removed by the good advice of his wife. Both from Mazarin's instructions and from Bellievre's subsequent despatches it is perfectly clear that the ambassador started under a complete misapprehension of the difficulties of the task before him, and that he expected with ease to carry out the undertaking in which Montreuil had failed.1 Belhevre arrived in England early in July. His first report from London was most despondent. Both parties, he found, were of opinion that the King was lost if he did not accept the propositions. In case of his refusal the Independents — the ambassador was probably retailing Presbyterian gossip — would set the little Duke of Gloucester on the throne for a year or two, till they were able to establish a republic. On most points there was a sharp division between the parties. The Presbyterians wanted to disband the army and to dissolve Parliament, on condition — thus anticipating the vote of the French Constituent 1 Instructions to Bellievre. Ranke, Engl. Geschichte, viii. 169. BELLIEVRE IN ENGLAND. 511 Assembly — that no member of the existing House ot chap. XLIII. Commons should have a seat in the next. The Inde- • — . — '-* pendents wanted to keep together both Parliament and army. The Scottish commissioners, it appeared, Expecta- were sanguine as to their prospect of obtaining the Scottish King's assent to the propositions, if they withdrew, doners!" as they were prepared to do, the demand for the signature of the Covenant. They would then, as they were no longer distracted with war at home, be able to place 20,000 men on the Borders in addition to their army actually at Newcastle. The English Presbyterians gauged Charles's cha- The Eng- racter more accurately. Bellievre reported that they byterians had little expectation of a favourable answer from entf°n him, and that some of them even talked of making common cause with the Independents and of aban doning aU hope of coming to an understanding with the King. It needed all Bellievre's assurances that his own appearance in Newcastle would change the King's resolution to keep them constant to the policy which they had hitherto adopted. Having thus fully acquainted himself with the chances • -1 TXT • -n it 1 in favour views entertained at Westminster, Bellievre set out the King. for Newcastle. If Charles had been hypocritical enough to play the game which had been suggested by Digby with somewhat more of soberness than suited the temper of that erratic adviser, he would probably have had a fair chance of recovering his authority. So weary were the people of the burden of the new taxation, that, if once the existing Parlia ment were dissolved, the King might possibly regain his power without much difficulty. So widespread was the impression at Westminster of impending danger, that the Independents were alarmed lest the the inde- whole result of the war should be thrown away. peD ents' 512 THE NEWCASTLE PROPOSITIONS. CHAP. XLIII. June 28. Charles sees the proposi tions. Julv 1. He will not accept them. July 9. Montreuil', return. June 15. Montrose to disband. July 16. A secret communi cation. " May God grant," said one of them, " that we have nothing worse to fear than to see the King in as much authority as he had before the war. It is much to be feared that he will much augment and strengthen it."1 The Independents need not have been alarmed. Already, on June 28, Charles had received a copy of the propositions. On July 1 he informed his wife that he could not accept them, but ' a flat denial ' was ' to be delayed as long as may be.' He quite understood what the consequence would be. He would not be allowed to go to London, and the Scots would refuse to help him.2 On the 8th he wrote to Ashburnham that he believed himself to be lost, unless he could escape to France before August.3 On July 9 Montreuil returned from France, with friendly messages from the Queen Eegent and the Car dinal, and with assurances of Bellievre's support. He was also able to cheer the King with tidings relating to Montrose. On June 15 Charles had repeated his orders to Montrose to disband his army, and again on July 16 he wrote very much in the same strain.4 The last letter was, however, accompanied by secret instructions to spin out the operation as long as pos sible.5 It is not improbable that this order was given to Montrose in consequence of a message received from him to the effect that the variable Seaforth had now declared for the King, that he would himself 1 Bellievre to Mazarin, July If, Dec. |j. R.O. Transcripts. 2 The King to the Queen, July I. Charles I. in 1646, 51. 3 The King to Ashbumharn, July 8. The letter is in the possession of the Earl of Ashhurnham, and has heen lent by him to the Stuart Exhibition. 4 The King to Montrose, June 15, July 16. Napier, Memoirs of Montrose, 636, 637. 5 Montreuil to Mazarin, July §§, x~_ Arch, des Aff. Etranghes, Iii. fol. 438, 467. Montreuil only knew of the secret letter, or did not think the public one worth mentioning. PLEADINGS WITH THE KING. 513 be able to raise 8,000 men, and that an offer of 7,000 chap. XLIII. more had reached him from the Irish Confederate <— ^ CathoHcs.1 I6f Proceed- At the same time that Charles ordered Montrose — ings of at least in his public despatch — to disband his forces, and Mae- he sent a similar command to Huntly and to Alaster Macdonald. Huntly was about to obey, but on a countermand from the King prepared to continue the struggle. Macdonald had recently been joined by Antrim in person, and was not likely to desist from his attack upon the territory of the Campbells for anything which the King might write.2 Fed with empty hopes, Charles prepared himself juiy3o. to receive the Farhamentary commissioners. On a/VJariia- July 30 they reached Newcastle. At this crisis of commit the monarchy aU who fancied themselves capable of sloners- influencing the King's decision gathered round him. Bellievre was there to counsel acceptance of Fresby terianism in the interests of France. Argyle came to recommend the same in the interests of Scotland, whilst Hamilton, who had been liberated from his captivity by Fairfax, appeared at Newcastle as lugu brious as of old, denouncing the King's resistance, and prophesying aU happiness to him if he would Theadvice only foUow the advice of his faithful Scots.3 Nor ofthe Scots. was that advice quite as harsh as might have been expected. The Scottish commissioners at Newcastle threw themselves on their knees before him, assuring him that they would venture their lives and all that they possessed on his behalf if only he would accept, not the offensive propositions now laid before him, but ' The message is undated, but a reference to Antrim places it here. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, iii. 517. 2 Patrick Gordon, 194, 198. 3 L.J. viii. 447 ; Montreuil to Mazarin, ^|f , Arch, des Aff. Etran geres, iii. fol. 467. II. L L 514 THE NEWCASTLE PROPOSITIONS. chap, those milder ones which had formerly been made XLIII. - — .— '— through Sir Eobert Moray,1 with some modifications in the clause relating to the mihtia.2 Aug. i. Moderate as Sir Eobert Moray's scheme had been replies to on civil matters, its demand for the establishment of sit.onsT" Presbyterianism in England had been as uncompro mising as that of the propositions. It can surprise no one that Charles refused to give way ; but there can hardly be one, even amongst his most devoted admirers, who can approve of the manner in which, after rejecting the offer of the Scots, he replied to the English commissioners. He did not flash out into becoming indignation at the suggestion that he should — as he would himself have expressed it — abandon the Church, his crown, and his friends. Neither did he clearly say what he was himself ready to grant. He merely handed to the commissioners on August i a letter in which he complained of the difficulty of giving a decided answer in the short time allowed to him, and pressed once more for leave to come to London to discuss more thoroughly the points which had been raised. He would never, he vaguely added, ' consent to anything destructive to that just power which by the laws of God and the land he is born unto ' ; but, on the other hand, he was ready to pass all bills ' really for the good and peace of his people.'3 Charles It was strange that Charles should think fit to its success, reply to an elaborate demand in such a fashion, but it was still stranger that he should have been sanguine of the success of his contrivance for spinning out the 1 See p. 447. 2 Sir R. Moray to Mazarin, Oct. §§. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, li'. fol. 630. 3 The King's answer, Aug. 1. L.J. viii. 460. » CHARLES REJECTS ADVICE. 515 negotiation whilst Irishmen and Highlanders were chap. preparing to come to his rescue, or whilst parties at J — — !__• Westminster were breaking up under the influence " 4 of his personal skill. On August 3 he sent Mon- Aug. 3. •i-i-i t, . t r\ phi Montreuil treuil back to France to inform the Queen of aU that returns to had passed, and he assured Bellievre, who remained at Newcastle, that he expected a favourable response Aconversa- .... . _- tion with from the Houses, and that when he was once in Lon- Bellievre. don all difficulties would be at an end.1 Belhevre thought it far more likely that the Scots would dehver him up to the English, and that he would either be deposed or allowed to remain on the throne with no more than the name of a king.2 In reiecting Fresbyterianism Charles was acting Charles ~ . ° J ° acts in in opposition to the advice, not only of all who were opposition in daily intercourse with him, but also of her from Queen. whose judgment he most unwillingly dissented. About the time when Bellievre left France the Queen instructed Jermyn, Culpepper, and Ashburnham to plead with her husband in a joint letter for an under standing with the Scots based on the acceptance of Fresbyterianism without the Covenant.3 In reply Charles denied that the separation was possible. If he granted Presbyterianism he would be driven to grant the Covenant. He then proceeded to show the influences which even the concession of simple Presbyterianism would have, not only upon the 1 " Le Roy de la Grande Bretagne s'imagine que sa response sera bien receue du Parlement, qu'il consentira qu'il aille a Londres, et que cela estant, toutes ses affaires se termineront a son avantage.'' Bellievre did not think this likely to be the case : " Cependant le dit Roy se flatte de ses imaginations et se nourit d'esperances auxquelles je ne trouve point de fondement solide." Bellievre to Mazarin, Aug. A R.O. Transcripts. 2 lb. 3 This letter has not been preserved, but its purport can be gathered from the King's answer on July 22, and from the remainder of the cor respondence. Clar. T» Royai- increases everyday.2 The Presbyterians, who were atieudthe coquetting with a king who would not even vouch safe them an answer, could not hope to make head against their rivals as long as the relations between the Houses and the King formed the main staple of discussion. The preacher selected to do honour to the virtues Oct. 22. of the commander who was to lie amongst the mighty dead in the Abbey Church at Westminster was, as was befitting, a Presbyterian, Eichard Vines. In the hearing of both Houses, and of a vast congre- vines's gation, Vines dwelt on all that was best in the leader who had passed away ; on his constancy, his loyalty to his engagements, and his thoughtfulness for the comfort of his soldiers. Unless Essex had stood forth as a rallying-point, he declared, with scarcely an exaggeration, the Parliamentary army would hardly have come into existence. " He was the man," con tinued the preacher, with some confusion of metaphor, " to break the ice, and set his first footing in the Eed Sea ... a man resolved, when others hung in suspense. . . . No proclamation of treason could cry him down, nor threatening standard daunt him that, in that misty morning, when men knew not each other, whether friend or foe, by his arising dispeUed the fog, and, by his very name, commanded thousands into your service. Such as were for reformation and groaned under pressures in religion he took by the hand, and they him. Such as were patriots and 1 C.J. iv. 697. 1 Grignon to Brienne, ~^2 . R. O. Transcripts. m M 2 532 THE NEWCASTLE PROPOSITIONS. CHAP. XLlir. 1646 Essex and Fairfax. would stand up for common hberties he took by the ¦ hand, and they him, and so became the bond or knot of both, as the axletree of the world, upon which both the poles do move." It was impossible to express more successfully the services which Essex had rendered at the outbreak of the civil strife. Turning to the present, the preacher could not but remember that a greater, or at least a happier, warrior than Essex was amongst the congregation, and even the very funeral of the Presbyterian Earl was made by a Bresbyterian minis ter to do honour to his successor. " God," said Vines, " had done wonders by the first hand of him that led us through the untrodden paths of the wilderness, and by the second hand of him that had made victory, which Homer caUs ... a Jack on both sides, to change its name ; who, if he shaU have but one stone out of each city or stronghold taken by his arms to make his tomb, it will be such a monu ment that every stone of it wUl speak a history, and some a miracle ; or, if that cannot be, it will be enough that he lay his head upon an immortal turf taken out of Naseby field. God thought Moses, or rather made him, the fittest man to begin and lead Israel forth, and He honoured Joshua with the com pleting of the work ; neither doth Joshua ecHpse the worth of Moses, nor he the worth of Joshua."1 Strangely enough, the effort made to perpetuate the memory of Essex roused the anger of one of those half-crazy fanatics whose existence had exas perated him in life. An effigy of the dead com mander, ' with his creation robes, his Earl's coronet upon his head, in soldier's apparel,' and the baton of 1 The Hearse of the Renowned, by R. Vines. E. 359, 1. Compare Perfect Occurrences. E. 358, 17. MODERN ICONOCLASM. 533 command in his hand, after being drawn to the chap. XLIII Abbey, was brought into the church, and set up under a hearse, or temporary monument, in the Essex.3 place where the Communion table had once stood.1 hearse- During the days which followed the funeral large crowds were attracted by the sight. In the night between November 26 and 27 a certain John White concealed himself in the church, hacked the effigy to His effigy pieces, and then proceeded to mutilate the figure of the antiquary Camden. The next morning he was arrested, and stated that an angel had directed him ' to cut aU the said image, hearse, and all that was about it in pieces, and to beat down the rest of the images in the said church.' He defended himself by arguing that it was a dishonour to Christ to intro duce the effigy of a man into a sacred building. 2 1 There is a woodcut of the hearse in The true manner of the funeral of Robert, Earl of Essex. E. 360, 1. 2 Perfect Diurnal, E. 513, 26; The whole proceeding of the demolishing of the Earl of Essex's tomb, E. 264, 2 ; White's examination, L,J. viii, 653- 534 THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. CHAP. XLIV. 1646 June n. Ormond to abandon his negotia tion with the Irish. June 16. Charles explains lhat this meansnothing. Irish affairs. CHAETEE XLIV. THE FAILURE OF THE IEISH PEACE. Sooner or later, in the pursuit of an alliance either with the Scots, or with one of the English parties, Charles was certain to be hampered by his long- cherished design of seeking assistance from Ireland. On June 1 1 he had been forced to direct Ormond to abandon all further negotiation with the rebels,1 and this letter he allowed to be seen by the Scots around him. Though he did not discover his meaning to Ormond, yet in writing to the Queen he explained that his letter only instructed Ormond ' to stop further treating there after the receipt of it, but meddles nothing with what was done before.' 2 Charles knew that the treaty had been already concluded, and he had no intention of depriving himself of any help which the Irish might be able to give. Improbable as it was that the Irish would really consent to exert themselves in Charles's behalf, they were at least in a better position to do so than they had been for some time. The fort of Bunratty,3 indeed, was still untaken, though the Supreme Council, followed by the Nuncio, had migrated to Limerick to strengthen the hands of the besiegers. The principal object of the Confederates, however, 1 The King to Ormond, June 11. Carte's Ormond, vi. p. 392. 2 The King to the Queen, June 16. Charles I. in 1646, 47. 3 See p. 423. THE BATTLE OF BENBURB. 535 XLIV. 1646 had been to gather an army strong enough to bear chap down opposition in the North. Einuccini would gladly have seen this army under the command of Owen O'Neill, to whom he wished to assign the money and supplies which he had brought from Italy and France. The Supreme Council asked that part might be given to Clanricarde, who commanded in Con- naught and who was on terms of close intimacy with Ormond. To this Einuccini with difficulty consented, and then only on condition that Breston, the general commanding in Leinster, should accompany Clan ricarde as his lieutenant-general. The discord which brought confusion on the counsels of the Confede rates was thus reflected in their army. Even in Ulster their power had long been weakened by the personal rivalry of Owen and Fhelim O'Neill. Einuccini now succeeded in effecting a reconciliation between the two, and in launching the Ulster army against Monro and the Scots.1 The hostile forces met on June 5 at Benburb, on Mg""0e,ss' the Blackwater, the stream on the banks of which defeat at 7 . , Benburb. Bagenal, the Marshal, had been defeated and slain in 1598. The Irish army, consisting of some 5,000 foot and 500 horse, was drawn up on the western side. Monro, whose following was probably superior in numbers, advanced rapidly from the east. Instead of attempting to cross the stream in face of the enemy, he swerved aside, and, having led his men over by a ford at some little distance, wheeled round to attack the enemy on his undefended flank, in full confidence that victory was in his hands as soon as he had crossed the river. The Irish, however, were fighting for their race and their faith, and their courage had been raised to the highest pitch of 1 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,1 6ih. 536 THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. CHAP. XLIV. 1646 June. Ormond's perplexity. enthusiasm by the confident exhortations of their priests. They resisted with unexpected tenacity, and when, after a combat of four hours' duration, O'NeiU gave the word to charge, Monro's horse turned to flight, and the infantry speedily followed the example. The slaughter which followed was as unsparing as at Kilsyth. The cruelties of the Scots were returned into their own bosoms, and though a few of the officers were kept alive for ransom, quarter was for the most part refused. When all was over 3,000 dead bodies were counted on the field. Large stores of provisions and munitions of war fell into the hands of the victors. " The rebels," wrote an Eng lish narrator, " had never such a day of the Brotest- ants. The Lord sanctify His heavy hand unto us, and give courage to His people to quit themselves hke men till help comes." When the news reached Limerick the Nuncio, attended by the whole popula tion of the city, sang a triumphant Te Deum to the Giver of the victory.1 The defeat of the Scots at Benburb reduced Ormond to great perplexity. On the one hand the Earliamentary commissioners in the North urged him to take arms with them against the triumphant rebels.2 On the other hand the Supreme Council begged him to pro ceed to the pubhcation of the peace. They were ready, they declared, to leave Glamorgan's articles for future consideration, and to throw themselves on the King's mercy in regard to their religious independence.3 1 L.J. viii. 378, 394; Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,191b; Rinuccini, Nunziatura, 136. 2 Ormond and the Irish Council to the King, June 22. Carte's Ormond, vi. 400. s Instructions to Plunket and Browne, June I. Carte MSS. xvii. fol. 492. ORMOND'S DIFFICULTIES. 537 On June 24 Ormond received the letter of June 1 1,1 in chap. XLIV. which Charles forbade him to abstain from further 1646 negotiation ; and, as he failed to discover in it the D ' ' June 24. brilliant distinction which Charles drew in his letter He receives orders not to the Queen, between proceeding with a new treaty to proceed . ' ... ITT witn the and acting on an old one, he assumed that he was treaty. really intended to put an end to all further communi cation with the Irish Confederates. In conveying to the King his determination to comply with his orders he could not but remind him of the hopeless position June 29. of his army in Ireland. If war were to recommence ^^"d-, the situation of Dubhn would be desperate. Every- °f Dublin. thing was wanting to the soldiers, and there were but thirteen barrels of powder in store.2 On July 4 Ormond's instructions were suddenly July 4- changed. On that day Digby, having arrived from arrival. France, informed him that the King had directed that, being himself virtually a prisoner, no respect was to be paid to any commands in ordinary writing bearing his signature. In default of ciphered instructions ormondto the Lord Lieutenant was to conform to such directions qu6^ aend as he might receive from the Queen and the Prince Prmce- of Wales, and he was now in particular to carry the Irish peace as soon as possible to its completion.3 In acting upon Digby's instructions Ormond would Charles's undoubtedly be complying with the King's wishes, tions. A few days later Charles was explaining to Montreuil that he had already written to Ormond 4 to take no 1 See p. 533. 2 Ormond and the Irish Council to the King, June 29. Carte's Ormond, vi. 405. 3 Digby to Ormond, July 4, Carte's Ormond, vi. 415; Declaration by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, appended to Digby's letter of June 28, Carte MSS. fol. 486. i This letter has not been preserved. It may have been carried to Ormond by Digby. If so, we can understand why he accepted the Secretary's directions. 533 THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. chap. XLIV. 1646 July 20. A Idler to (ilamor- gan, Danger of an attack on Dublin. account of his prohibition to negotiate. He could - not, he added, send him formal powers to come to terms with the Irish lest he should seem to be guilty not only of inconstancy but in some sort of bad faith.1 It would be enough that he had bidden him to receive orders in future from the Queen and the Prince.2 Charles's notions of bad faith were all his own. On July 20, a few days after he had despatched this communication to Ormond, he wrote to Glamorgan, whose policy in Ireland had crossed Ormond's at every step. He began by expressing a wish to enjoy Gla morgan's conversation, or, in other words, to be set free by an invading Irish army. " If," he added. " you can raise a large sum of money by pawning my king doms for that purpose, I am content you should do it, and if I recover them I wiU fully repay that money. And teU the Nuncio that, if once I can come into his and your hands, which ought to be ex tremely wished for by you both, as well for the sake of England as Ireland — since all the rest, as I see, despise me— I wiU do it." 3 Of this letter to Gla morgan Ormond knew nothing. Whatever Ormond was to do, must be done quickly. The Irish forces were already gathering th e fruits of O'Neill's victory at Benburb. On July 10 Eoscommon surrendered to Preston. On the 14th Bunratty was given up to its besiegers. Preston and O'Neill informed the Nuncio that they were ready to combine in an attack on Dublin. The French Agent, Dumoulin, was with Ormond, pleading with him to 1 " Fuisqu'il ne feroit pas seulement paroitre beaucoup d'inconstance dans les actions, mais encore quelque sorte de mauvaisefoy." 2 Montreuil to Mazarin, July ; 43s- 3 The King to Glamorgan, July 20. Dircks, 174. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, Iii. fol. PROCLAMATION OF THE PEACE. 539 seize the opportunity of concluding peace with the chap. Supreme Council. Mazarin distrusted Einuccini as • — ~r~ - being on too good terms with the Spanish Agent, French De la Torre, and he was himself too unfamiliar with diplomacy. the force of a popular movement to doubt the power of the Supreme CouncU to make peace on its own terms. At all events a combination between Charles and the Supreme Council would be likely to lead to the dependence of Ireland upon France, and would be one more link in the chain which the French Minister was forging for the purpose of weakening England. He therefore supplied Digby with 10,000 pistoles, a sum amounting to more than 7,ooo..1 Ormond had hardly any choice before him. The Oppositifon main obstacle rose in the Frivy Council. Twice did council. a majority of two-thirds declare against the publica tion of the peace without direct orders from the King. On July 29 Ormond took upon himself the July 29. ° . . . J . L . Ormond responsibility of obeying the orders transmitted by overcomes the Queen and Prince, entering a minute on the Council register in which he declared that his au thority was sufficient to enable him to act in the King's name, and that he expected from the Council nothing but obedience.2 On this the councillors gave way, and on July 30 the peace was publicly pro- ^"^so- claimed in DllbHn.3 proclaimed. Ormond and the Supreme Council were of one The peace . -. , , - precarious. mmd, but it remained to be seen whether an agree- 1 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,220b, 1,228, 1,231b ; Rinuccini to Panfilio, Jity 7, 8, 17, 19, Nunziatura, 146, 149, 150; Du Moulin to Ormond, July ||, Carte MSS. xviii. fol. 113. 2 Digby's declaration, July 28, Carte's Ormond ; Ormond's declara tion, July 29. Carte MSS. xviii. fol. 121. 3 Proclamation of the peace, July 30, Rushw, vi. 401 ; Rinuccini to Panfilio, Aug. 3, Nunziatura, 151, 54° THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. 1646 Aug. 6. . A congre gation at ""\aterford. ment exposed to the hostility of the Nuncio on the one hand and of the Protestant councillors at Dublin on the other could possibly be maintained. It was still more unlikely that Charles would derive from it the benefit of an armed intervention in England, for the sake of which he had ordered its conclusion. On August 6 a congregation of the clergy was held at Waterford under the presidency of Einuccini. On the 1 2th this body utterly condemned the peace, and pronounced all CathoUcs who had taken the oath of confederation to be perjured if they accepted it. The objections raised by the clergy were not without weight. The peace had indeed reheved Catholics as individuals from all obligation to take the oath of supremacy, and from all fines and penalties which stood in the way of ' the freedom of the Eoman Catholic religion.' Nothing in it, however, gave permission to the Church collectively to possess the property which it now held, or to occupy eccle siastical buildings, stiU less to complete its organisa tion by the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The congregation was therefore able to allege, by a somewhat bold stroke of rhetoric, that ' in those articles there is no mention made of the Catholic religion,' and to complain, with greater justice, that the removal of these further grievances was left to the King, from whom, as matters stood, no certain orders could be received, whilst in the meanwhile the government of Ireland, and even the command of the Catholic army, was to be in the hands of the Protestant Council at Dublin, and of ' the Protestant officers of his Majesty.'1 1 Declaration of the congregation, Aug. 2. Rushw. vi. 416. The phrase about the King is there printed, ' from whom in this present estate we can have nothing settled.' This is more intelligible in the AN UNLUCKY KING -AT- ARMS. 54 1 The clergy had reason to believe that their un- chap. _XT I V" compromising attitude would find support. On the ¦ <— '¦" 9th Ulster King-at-arms arrived outside the gate . of Waterford, and sent in an attendant to inform the Theexperi- 7 ences ot a mayor that he was come to proclaim the peace. King-at- J ^ . , arms. The attendant found the streets Hned with an angry crowd, which scowled at him as he passed, and refused to inform him where the mayor's house was to be found. At last he bribed a boy by the promise of sixpence to act as his guide. The mayor's house indeed he found, but not the mayor. After waiting at the gate for three or four hours the King-at-arms put on his tabard and entered the city. The mayor, who was not to be found when he was sought for by the servant, at once confronted the master, and told him that he would not be allowed to read the proclamation there till he had read it at Kil kenny. The discomfited official thought it prudent to withdraw. At Kilkenny and at Fethard the King-at-arms was at least able to read his proclamation in the presence of the magistrates, but the bulk of the population kept within doors. At Clonmel he found the gates barred in his face, and at Limerick he was attacked and wounded by a mob. The mayor, who supported him, was dragged off to prison; and a vehement partisan of the clergy, Dominic Fanning, was in stalled in his place. On August 1 7 the congregation Aug. _7. at Waterford threatened to lay an interdict on every threatened town in which the peace was published.1 Before the Set. inter" end of the month the greater part of the troops Latin, ' a quo, in prsesenti statu, nihil certi potest baberi.' Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,310. 1 A relation by W. Kirkby, Carte MSS. xviii. fol. 383; Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,315-1,325. 542 THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. CHAP. XLIV. 1646 Owen O'Neill declares for the clergy. Aug. 18. Action of the Supreme Council. A proposi tion to the Nuncio. which had served before Bunratty had taken part with the clergy, and, what was of far greater im portance, O'Neill with his victorious army had de clared in their favour. Preston, who was connected by family ties with the lords of the Pale, advanced, indeed, as far as Birr, but he could not be induced to do more than to make vague promises to either side.1 For'the present Ormond contented himself with watching the course of events.2 On August 26 the clergy were sufficiently emboldened to authorise the refusal of taxes to the Supreme Council.3 The Supreme Council in the meanwhile had been doing everything in their power to avert the storm. On August 18 their secretary, Bellings, assured Einuccini that he would do his utmost to induce Ormond to give satisfaction to the clergy.4 Before long they were able to propose, apparently with Ormond's assent, that if the Nuncio would accept the peace the Supreme Council should ' privately 5 receive 1 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,328, 1,333b, 1,334. 2 lb. fol. 1,261b, 1,287, 1,328b, i,332b-i,334, 1339; Clanricarde to Ormond, Sept. 18, Carte's Ormond, vi. 429. 3 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,328. 4 Bellings to Rinuccini, Aug. 18. lb. fol. 1,312. 5 There is a curious letter in which Glamorgan sneeringly expresses his pleasure at the scrape into which Ormond had got by having to act against the King's public instructions. He writes of the King's disavowal of his own proceedings, 'which though enforced upon him I esteem it ytt a warning from further proceeding therein, and fit only for great persons, who can maintain the same, to go contrary to the intimation of his Majesty's pleasure, though never so compulsatively granted. For, as I never have nor will esteem and be frighted at the contradiction of any others when the intimation of his Majesty's pleasure continues to me in any particular unrevoked, so on the contrary can I never be drawn for any man's pleasure to go immediately contrary to what proceedeth from him, deeming it not my part to enter into dispute which way his Majesty is induced, when I see his positive act extant. Let this, therefore, I beseech your Excellency, give you and the rest of the world satisfaction ORMOND'S RETREAT. 543 a firm and authentic assurance of the taking away chap. XLIV of the penal laws against Catholics, and that their -- , ¦— clergy shall not be put out nor molested in their l 4 ecclesiastical possessions before a new Parliament called in pursuance of the article of peace ; the said assurance to be . . . severed from the articles of peace to which my Lord Lieutenant hath not power to add anything, his powers being determined.' x How could the Supreme Council expect to make its way if it had nothing better than this to offer ? In vain they summoned Ormond to their aid. Before the end of August 2 the Lord Lieutenant, accompanied by Digby and Clanricarde and a small military force, Aug. 3_. arrived at Kilkenny. He was here in the centre of Kilkenny. the old territory of the Butlers, and his relatives and allies flocked in to meet him. The greater part of the members of the Supreme Council were bound to him by the instincts of self-preservation, and Ormond, thus supported, fancied that he could set at defiance the popular ill-will. So satisfied was he with his reception, that on September 10 he summoned a Anassem- general meeting of the nobility, and appointed Cashel at Cashei. as the place of its assembly. To his disappointment o?mond°' the men of Cashel refused to admit him within their ^™d walls. Those of Clonmel shut their gates against him, and, what was far more alarming, news arrived that Owen O'Neill was on his march through Leinster that I no way countenance the standing upon any articles heretofore treated of by me. ... In fine, having washed my hands of that business, proving that the child burnt dreads the fire,' Glamorgan to Ormond, Aug. 30, Carte MSS. xviii. fol. 370. 1 Propositions made to the Nuncio. lb. xviii. fol. 374. 2 'Ad exeuntem Augustum' probably means the 31st, as Ormond's first letter from Kilkenny is dated Sept. 1 , Lord Leicester's MS. fol. !,329. 544 THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. CHAP. XLIV. 1646 Sept. 14. and returns to Dublin. Sept. 18. The Nuncio at Kil kenny. Sept. 19. Arrest of the leaders of the SupremeCouncil. Ormondresolves to submit to the English Parlia ment. Sept. 26. New Supreme Councilchosen by the clergy. Glamorganto be Lord Lieutenant. either against Kilkenny or against Dublin itself, and that the wild tribes of Carlow and Wexford were pre pared to rise at his approach. To save himself from capture Ormond deemed it prudent to return to Dublin.1 The discomfiture of Ormond was the signal of the more assured triumph of the Nuncio. Einuccini, bringing with him the Spanish Agent, Diego de la Torre, entered Kilkenny on the 1 8th at the head of an armed force.2 On the following morning the leaders of the Supreme Council were arrested and imprisoned in the castle. The treaty was declared to be void. Within two days it was known at Kilkenny that Ormond was about to take a step which would change the whole state of affairs. Seeing that the pohcy which by his master's command he had pur sued for three years had utterly broken down, he resolved, with the full consent of his council, to place Dublin and the few fortresses which still held out in the hands of the English BarHament rather than allow them to fall into the hands of the Nuncio. Einuccini, eager to defeat the project, summoned O'Neill to bring his armed forces to his aid. On the 26th a new Supreme Council was chosen by the con gregation of the clergy, of which Einuccini was naturally appointed president.3 One step remained to be taken. Einuccini must not only have a Supreme Council, but a Lord Lieu tenant of his own. Glamorgan was ready to his hand. 1 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. i,34ob-_342 ; Lambert to Ormond, Sept. 9, Talbot to Ormond, Sept. 10, Roscommon to Ormond, Sept. 11, Carte MSS. xviii. fol. 468, 482, 494. 3 Rinuccini to Panfilio, Sept. 21. Nunziatura, 160. He here speaks of himself as arriving four days ago. Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,367, no doubt incorrectly, speaks of his leaving Kilkenny on the 19th. 3 lb. fol. 1,367, 1,384b. GLAMORGAN AND THE NUNCIO. 545 He had brought with him to Ireland amongst other chap. TCI TV papers a document, sealed with Charles's signet, • .— ^- appointing him Lord Lieutenant in the case of ' 4 Ormond's death or misconduct.1 As soon as Dublin was taken — and the Nuncio felt little doubt that it would soon fall — Glamorgan could possess himself of the authority which had dropped from Ormond's hands. It was true that he had not the appoint ment by patent, but the Irish were not likely to make a distinction between one seal and another.2 The enthusiastic letter in which Charles had expressed his eagerness to place himself in the hands of Glamorgan and Einuccini seemed to leave no doubt of his assent.3 On the 28th Glamorgan qualified Sept. 28. himself for his high office as the King's representative gaS™ oath in Ireland by swearing entire submission to the Nuncio. Nuncio. He would do nothing without his approba tion, and would at any time be ready to resign his office into his hands.4 It was not difficult to discover in Ormond mis- 0rrnond at conduct which in the eyes of Glamorgan and atDublin- Einuccini would justify the contemplated change. Ormond had at last carried out the purpose which he had contemplated ever since his return to Dublin. On the 26th he despatched commissioners to West- sept. 26. minster to ask for aid in the defence of Dublin. Ends'to Ormond's reluctance to submit to Einuccini had ^toask other motives than those which weighed with the foraid- Supreme Council. It was not so much the ruin of the Irish-English stock which he feared as the loosening of the hold of England upon Ireland, by the destruction of the English settlements which formed 1 See p. 117. 2 Rinuccini to Panfilio, Sept. 21,25,29. Nunziatura, 160, 162, 166. s See p. 538. 4 Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,380. II. N N 546 THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. chap, the Protestant garrison of Ireland. Those who now XI IV ¦ — '-, — '— held sway, he declared in his instruction to his commissioners, aimed, in the first place, at the ' overthrowing of all plantations ' which had been made ' for the better strengthening, civilising, and enriching the kingdom, and estabhshing it in due obedience to the crown of England,' and, in the second place, at ' the setting up of Popery in this kingdom in the fulness of papal power, jurisdiction, and prac tice ; and both these aims laboured by the Popish pretended clergy, and by most of the mere Irish, and others of Enghsh extraction too easily carried away by the seducements of their prelacy and clergy, and all industriously set on and fomented by two persons who came into this kingdom, and have a long time resided here, without any licence from us, his Majesty's Ministers, or any application by them made unto us ; namely, the King of Spain's Agent and the Pope's Nuncio.' Ormond's The commissioners were accordingly to inform the Houses that the Lord Lieutenant was prepared to admit their troops into his garrisons and to place his remaining forces at their disposal. He would either carry on the war with their help as Lord Lieutenant, or would, if they preferred it, quit his office in favour of some one else. If they adopted the latter alternative, they must understand that he could not leave his post without the King's permis sion, and he therefore sent a letter in which that per mission was asked for, which he requested the Houses to forward to his Majesty.1 1 Letter of credence and instruction, Sept. 26. L.J. viii. 519, 523. The Spanish Agent, De la Torre, resided at Waterford, where Rinuccini had lately been for some time, but it is only fair to say that there is no trace of his special influence over the Nuncio in Rinuccini's correspond ence. ofler. THE IRISH-ENGLISH. 547 At last the two real combatants stood face to chap. XLIV face — the Papal Nuncio and the English Puritan - — r— '-' Parliament. The old Supreme Council had already Tnetwo disappeared and, it must be acknowledged, had de- combat- served to disappear. It had neither a feasible policy weakness of its own nor sympathy with the people whose supreme guidance it had undertaken. It had been voluntarily CounciL ignorant, not merely of Charles's inability to support his adherents in Ireland, but of the hopelessness of founding a policy of alliance with any one of the English parties at a time when all English parties were resolutely opposed to every idea which had found favour at Kilkenny. So evident does this appear that it may well be asked how it came about sept. 3. that the nobles and gentry of the Supreme Council sympathy0* should have lent themselves to a policy so manifestly ^Insh" futile. The answer is given in a letter in which one of its members, Sir Eobert Talbot, implored Freston to range himself on the side of the peace. " I fear," he wrote, " that religion is not the aim of the clergy, but the destruction of the English rule, and of those who derive their origin from England."1 "If you fail us," he added, " all is at an end for the old Irish- English, who rest especially on your arm."2 The man who wrote these words, and those on whose behalf they were written, had not learned that the one unpardonable sin of a conquering aristocracy is to fail to lose its individuality in the midst of the native population of the land which it has invaded. Little more than a century after the Norman invasion of England no one could say of 1 " Timeo ne Religio non sit scopus sed eversio Regiminis Anglicani, et eorum qui exinde originem trahunt," s ''Sin autem actum est de omnibus antiquis Ibernis — -Anglis tuo preesertim brachio inniteutibus." Talbot to Preston, Sept. 3, Lord Leicester's MS. fol. 1,335- ^e letter only exists in a Latin translation. N n 2 548 THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. CHAP. XLIV. 1646 Power of the clergy in Ireland. The eccle siastical organisa tion hostile to England. any one of the ruling class that he was of distinctly Norman blood. In less than two centuries the descendants of the conquerors and ihe conquered, without distinction of origin, wrested the Great Charter from a Norman king and faced his son on the hiUside at Lewes. Though more than three centuries and a half had passed since Ireland was invaded, the offspring of the invaders still spoke of themselves as Irish-English, and shrank from sharing their authority with the true children of the soil. Community of religion had for a time concealed the cleft separating the races, but at the critical moment the heirs of the conquerors found themselves out of sympathy with the people whose leaders they had professed themselves to be. It was by no mere accident that the power which had dropped from the hands of the Supreme Council fell into those of Einuccini and the clergy. Ireland, with national aspirations, was without the elements of a national organisation. Only one organisation — that of the Church — bound together the scattered elements of Irish life for unity of action. That it was so involved a war to the knife with England. The Irish Church, unlike that of Scotland, was not national but cosmopolitan ; and with good reason Englishmen dreaded to allow free scope to an organ isation in Ireland the establishment of which would be a standing menace to the development of national Hfe in England. With an Irish nation, it might be possible to come to terms, as it ultimately proved possible to come to terms with Scotland. With the Eoman Catholic Church, so long as she thought of making use of an arm of flesh to vindicate her claims, it was not possible. Fear of giving a foot hold in Ireland to foreign armies acting in the name ENGLAND AND IRELAND. 549 of the Church had driven Elizabeth to conquer chap, J- vt ixr XLIV. Ireland, and James to colonise it. Of late years everything had been done to stimulate the terror. Strafford had threatened to coerce England with an Irish army, and even the Supreme Council had fol lowed in the same path. Einuccini, freed from an alliance with any Enghsh party, was ready to walk in it with greater boldness still. Evil — unspeakably f™?^3 of evil — as would be the results of a fresh English con- resistance. quest, it had now become impossible to avert it. There are crises when the spirit of the moss-trooper's cry, "Thou shalt want ere I want," becomes the key-note of national action. It was hardly likely, especially under clerical guidance, that Ireland would succeed in conquering England ; but the danger of a combination formed between an independent Ireland and one or other of the Continental monarchies was sufficiently menacing to rouse in England the bitterest feelings. England, in short, was making ready to invade Ireland rather because she was resolved to defend her own national existence than because she was hostile to that of her neighbour. After all, if the only alternative to an English conquest of Ireland was to be the weakening and impoverishment of English national life, it may well be doubted whether the world at large would not have lost more than it would have gained by the success of the Irish. On October 12 the attention of the Houses at Oct. 12. Westminster was drawn to the latest phase of the o/thenewa Irish imbroglio.1 Admirably as Ormond, by his offer lan™ ate" to surrender to them his authority, was playing into ster.tmm" their hands, they could - not overcome their rooted distrust of co-operation with Charles or of officers who had Charles's confidence. They accordingly 1 C.J. iv. 690. 50 THE FAILURE OF THE IRISH PEACE. chap, agreed to accept Ormond's resignation rather than —*— '— his services, but they refused to transmit to the King 1 4 that letter containing the Lord Lieutenant's demand for Charles's approval of his conduct which he had declared to be the necessary condition of his resigna tion.1 There can be little doubt that they were wise in refusing his offer to take service under them. Upright and loyal as Ormond had in every circum stance of his life been found, he would have been out of place as the servant of the English Earliament. 1 C.J. iv. 693 ; L.J. viii. 530. 551 CHAFTEE XLV. THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. The complete failure of Charles's Irish policy did chap. not make him any more ready to yield to his English ¦— ¦ ' ' subjects. It was in vain that the Fresbyterians at ^ t 2i Westminster had cast longing eves in the direction of Charles D_ o •> rejects the Newcastle. About the middle of September Charles Queen's Tirol pet received from the Queen's council the draft of a reply which they advised him to give to the propositions. As it contained a more or less open concession of the Presbyterian demands, he summarily rejected it. In time, he answered, they would ask him to submit to the Pope, ' for questionless it is less ill in many respects to submit to one than many popes.' x It was about this time that Charles had a fresh _r0m the overture from the Independents. According to a dentsP™" statement by Sir Eobert Moray, they offered him ' his will in religion — that is, moderated Episcopacy — when the Scots' were 'gone, to pass delinquents, and waive Ireland till King and EarHament were agreed.' 2 It can hardly be doubted that, though Moray makes no mention of it, something was also said about liberty of conscience. However that may have been, Charles was, on political grounds, too distrustful of the Inde- 1 The King to Jermyn, Culpepper, and Ashburnham, Sept. 21. Clar. St. P. ii. 264. 3 Moray to Hamilton, Sept. 21. Hamilton Papers (Camd. Soc), 115. Mr. Blaize, here and at p. 114, should be Mr. Blair. 552 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 Sept. 30. Charlesmakes a new pro posal. He con sults divines. pendents, to incline him to listen to their proposals, and he was moreover, at this time entirely absorbed in the elaboration of that project of his own which he had been for some time concocting with Will Murray.1 On September 30 this marvellous scheme was at last completed. The existing church arrangements were to remain in force for three years. During that time a committee of both Houses was to discuss the future government of the Church with sixty divines, twenty of whom were to be Fresbyterians, twenty Independents, and twenty chosen by the King. When their part had been played — and it could hardly end except in a bitter wrangle — the King and the two Houses were to pronounce sentence. In the course of three years of a Eestoration government it was more than probable either that fresh elections would take place or that the composition of the exist ing Earliament would be modified by the readmission ofthe expelled members, and there was therefore every reason to expect that Episcopacy would be brought back without much difficulty. At all events, this was what Charles in reality expected. To salve his con science he wrote to Juxon for advice, and bade him consult Bishop Duppa and Dr. Sheldon. He assured Juxon that he had adopted this plan ' with a resolu tion to recover and maintain that doctrine and dis cipline wherein ' he had ' been bred.' " My regal authority once settled," he declared, "I make no question of recovering Episcopal government ; and God is my witness, my chiefest end in regaining my power is to do the Church service." 2 The answer of the divines was favourable,3 but before it arrived the King had already decided to act. ' See p, 524. 3 The King to Juxon, Sept. 30. Clar. St, P. ii. 265. * Juxon and Duppa to the King, Oct. 1 5. Clar. St. P. ii. 267. A MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN. 553 Scarcely had Charles's letter left Newcastle when chap. Montreuil returned to press him once more to con- — 1--— 1— cede everything to the Scots. Montreuil was shortly l6^6 followed by the poet Davenant, who was now Davenant's high in favour with Jermyn, whose fortunes he had shared in the days of the Army Plot. Davenant had been specially instructed by the Queen to urge Charles to give way, but she could hardly have selected a more unfit agent to charge with such a commission. He urged Charles to abide by the advice of his friends. To Charles's inquiry who the friends were, he named Jermyn and Culpepper, Ashburnham having already shown that though he joined these two in signing the joint letters written to Charles at the Queen's directions, he had per sonally no liking for their arguments in favour of Presbyterianism. Jermyn, said Charles, understands nothing about the Church, and Culpepper has no religion. Davenant then brought forward an argu ment which probably seemed to him conclusive. If the Queen, he said, did not have her way, she would cease to trouble herself about her husband's affairs and would retire into a nunnery. After this he spoke slightingly of the Church, hinting that it was not worth the sacrifice which the King was making for it. Charles for once lost his temper, and drove the unlucky disputant from his presence.1 Davenant was afterwards readmitted to an audience, but his mission had plainly failed, and before long he returned to France. Davenant's verbal arguments were supported by Ac^5'ut another long letter from Jermyn and Culpepper. totheKing. Episcopacy, they urged, was an admirable institution, 1 Clarendon, x. 57 ; the King to Jermyn, Culpepper, and Ashburn- ham, Oct. 3, Clar. St. P. ii. 270. 554 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SOOTS. chap, but it was not of Divine right. On the other hand — ^-r— Presbyterianism was, no doubt, poHtically dangerous, 1 4 and as such was to be avoided as long as possible. The plain fact, however, was that Charles had no longer a choice. " Presbytery," they declared, " or something worse will be forced upon you, whether you will or no. Come, the question is whether you will choose to be king of Presbytery or no king, and yet Presbytery or perfect Independency to be." 1 It was plain common sense, but common sense has no juris diction in the sphere in which Charles's thoughts were moving. He was resolved to be ' no king ' rather than soil his conscience. Charles's If Charles stood alone in his resolve, he also stood alone in thinking it possible to avoid ruin unless he surrendered to one party or the other. He had no lack of advisers. Argyle, anxious, as Montreuil thought, to spare his countrymen the disgrace either of surrendering their king to the English or of detaining him a prisoner, recommended him to go to London without permission, throwing himself on the generosity of the English EarHament. Others pressed him, through the intervention of Will Murray, to escape to the Continent. Bellievre, who needed him as an instrument to promote the designs of France, urged him to remain in his own dominions, and if no other course were open to throw himself into the Highlands, and to seek the support of Huntly and the Gordons.2 Oct. 12. Charles listened to none of these suggestions. He sends "O proposals On October 12, tired of waiting for the answer of liv Will to Murray, the divines, he sent off Will Murray with instructions 1 Jermyn and Culpepper to the King, Sept. 18. Clar. St. P. ii. 261. 2 Montreuil to Mazarin, Oct. ~, Arch, des Aff. Mrangeres, Iii. fol. 610; Bellievre to Mazarin, Oct. ^, R.O, Tianscripts, WILL MURRAY'S MISSION. 555 to show his scheme for an ecclesiastical settlement, c*}£f- together with certain political proposals, to the Scot- w ¦ g 6'-' tish commissioners in London.1 He was, in particu lar, ready to abandon the militia for ten years, or even, at the last extremity, for Hfe, if only he could be certain that, at the end of the appointed term, it would return to its ancient dependence on the crown. ^ct- z,s- 1 and makes In a letter which followed Murray on the 15th he additional offered to grant Presbyterianism for five years instead of for three, and to waive his suggestion of a confer ence, if the leading EngHsh Fresbyterians would posi tively engage that at the end of that time ' a regulated Episcopacy ' would be restored.2 As might have been expected, the Scottish com- ^-^t^eby missioners in London would have nothing to do with the Scots- offers so iUusory, though, in order to cover their own failure to obtain satisfactory terms, they spread a re port that no answer whatever had reached them.3 Before Charles knew that Murray had failed he c°acrje31- received a letter from his wife. Side by side with his hears from , , »..,.-. the Queen. conscientious but tortuous schemes for inveigling his enemies to their destruction, there is something posi tively refreshing in the bold directness with which she broke through his scrupulosities. " If you are lost," she dashingly wrote, " the bishops have no resource, but if you can again place yourself at the head of an army we can restore them to their sees. . . . Preserve the militia and never abandon it. By that aU will come back to you. God will send you means to your restora tion, and of this there is already some little hope." 4 1 The King's answers, Oct. 12 and 15. Clarendon MSS, 2,333. * The King to Murray, Oct. 15. Clar. St. P. ii. 275. 3 Grignon to Brienne, ^~s, R. 0. Transcripts ; the King to the Queen, Nov. 1, Charles I. in 1646, 73. 4 The Queen to the King, Oct. 9. Clar. St. P. ii. 271. 556 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 " French successesin the Nether lands. Surrenderof Courtrai and Mar dyk.Siege of Dunkirk. Dutch ships sent to aid in the siege. It was, as might have been expected, to France that Henrietta Maria was looking. In the campaign of 1646 Mazarin had sent Turenne into Germany to outmanoeuvre the Imperialists, but he had thrown the chief weight of the war upon the Spanish Nether lands. In June the important frontier town of Courtrai had been captured. Mardyk, the outpost of Dunkirk, surrendered in August. Then followed the siege of Dunkirk itself. Enghien, marking his sense of the hazardous nature of the employment, under took in person the command ofthe beleaguering army. It was all-important to secure the assistance of the Dutch fleet, and the Frince of Orange, sunk into dotage, was no longer accessible to argument or persuasion. When the French ambassador, Gram- mont, arrived to ask him to send the ships, he took the astonished Frenchman for a lady, seized him by the hand, and gravely went through the steps of a German dance which had caught his fancy. Gram- mont found a better reception from Frederick Henry's son than from himself. Frince William was too ambitious of mihtary fame to share the unwilling ness which was already manifesting itself in the States General to assist in bringing so powerful a neighbour as France a step further towards the frontier of the Eepublic. He threw all his weight into the scale in Grammont's favour, and Tromp was ordered, with the assistance of a small French squad ron, to seal the entrance of the harbour of Dunkirk.1 In their despair the Spanish officers and the Low Countries turned to England. It had been a cardinal principle of Charles's policy, as long as he was in a position to have a policy at all, to keep Dunkirk out 1 Ch^ruel, Hist, de France pendant la minority de Louis XIV. ii, 225-251. THE SIEGE OF DUNKIRK. 557 ofthe hands of the French. There is good reason chap. to believe that Cromwell and the Independents would — ^X— have been ready, if they had had the power, to follow There in his steps.1 They had long been on better terms ^?nIi*sto than their rivals with Cardenas, the Spanish ambas- SDain- sador,2 and they thoroughly distrusted the French government as the chief accomplice in Charles's in trigues with the English and Scottish Fresbyterians. On September 2 1 it was known in London that Car- „Se?t- 2I- A. , Cardenas denas intended to apply for assistance, and it was begs for believed that he would accompany his request with an offer of hberty of traffic in the Indies. As a matter of fact, he offered, not the trade of the Indies, but a large sum of ready money. Before an answer Jonn could be given, John Taylor, an Englishman residing mission. in the Low Countries, arrived from the Marquis of Castel Eodrigo, the Governor of the Spanish Nether lands, with an offer to place Dunkirk, Ostend, and Nieuport in the hands of the Enghsh Earliament, if they would save them from capture by the French.3 As Cardenas did not venture, without instructions from Spain, to take up Taylor's negotiation, he simply begged the Houses that 4,000 English soldiers with a suitable naval force might be sent at once to succour Dunkirk. Having nothing, as it would seem, to offer in return, he may have thought that the natural 1 Up to 1654 the Simancas MSS. show Cromwell to have been friendly to Spain, and hostile to France. 2 Cardenas, writing on Sept. \\, speaks of the Independents as less hostile to Spain than the Presbyterians. Consulta of the Council of State, ^-^, 164I. Simancas MSS. The French ambassadors express themselves more strongly, and I suspect with reason. 3 Taylor, wrote Cardenas on Oct. fi, 'dijo llevava comision del Marques para poner en manos del Parlamento las plazas de Domquerque, Ostende y Neoport. Con que se desvanecieron las platicas de I)on Alonso,' i.e. of Cardenas himself, 'no queriendo arrostrar Ingleses a otra cosa si no a la oferta de Teller.' 558 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV 1646 His demand rejected. Oct. JT. Surrenderof Dun kirk. Oct. 9. TheQueen's advice. Montrose to take arms again. disinclination of the English to see these places in French hands would be sufficient to obtain from him a favourable reply. In any case the Presbyterian members, as allies of France, would have been against him, and his silence both on the admission of English traders to the Indies and on the surrender of the Flemish ports put an end to what little chance of success he might have had.1 Even if there had been any disposition to send help — and it is hard to see how, with the Scots still at Newcastle, any English party could have been guilty of the extreme rashness of embarking in a foreign war — the succour could not possibly have arrived in time. On October 1, after a vigorous defence, Dunkirk passed under the power of France.2 It was upon these successes that Henrietta Maria grounded her hopes. Mazarin, she wrote to her hus band, had assured her that there would be a general peace before Christmas, and that France would then be at liberty to give him powerful aid. It was there fore, continued the Queen, necessary for him to have the Scots on his side, though he need not take the Covenant or do anything that was dishonourable.3 To abandon Episcopacy for a time in order to re gain that and everything else was, in short, the advice of the Queen. It was not a project likely to com mend itself to Charles ; and even the Queen had just thrown an obstacle in the way of its realisation by entertaining another project in direct antagonism 1 It may, I think, be gathered from the quotation in the last note that the surrender of the ports had no place in ' las platieas de Don Alonso.' The dissatisfaction of the English with his omission to offer the traffic of the Indies is noted in the French despatches. Grignon to Brienne, Sept, « ^g£\ Oct. ^ R.O. Transcripts. 2 Cheruel, ii. 257. 3 The Queen to the King, Oct. f5. Clar. St. P. ii. 271. THE QUEEN'S NEW SCHEME. 559 with it. Lord Crawford, Montrose's lieutenant- chap. XT V general, had recently arrived in France, and had -- ," '-* given assurances that, what with the loyalty of the ' 4 Highlanders and what with the zeal of the Irish, Montrose would be able in the spring to take the field at the head of 30,000 men. At this improbable story the Queen eagerly caught. It was true that she knew that there had been differences in Ireland between the Nuncio and the Supreme Council ; but she imagined that by sending a confidential agent to Ireland, she might easily get the better of the difficulty.1 It was a sorry policy to revive the plan of com bining the Presbyterian Scots with the Catholic Irish in an assault upon England. Jermyn was prepared to go further still. He proposed to purchase French J^.6-™™- aid by the cession of the Channel Islands, as Charles t0 be made J ' over to the had formerly proposed to purchase Danish aid by the French. cession of Orkney and Shetland. To the group of exiles at Jersey the proposal appeared to be monstrous. Hyde, Capel, and Hopton were Eoyalists indeed, but they were Englishmen first. To give up the islands, they thought, was to give up England's mastery in the Channel. They resolved that Capel should carry their united remonstrances to St. Germains, and that, if this step failed, they should apply to Northumber land for help to be sent from England, though they still hoped to be spared the necessity of acknowledg ing the supremacy of Earliament.2 Whether Charles ever heard of this extraordinary proposal or not, he did not share in the Queen's 1 The Queen to the King, Oct. j5 ; Jermyn and Culpepper to the King, Oct. j'j, Clar. St. P. ii. 271. 2 Articles of association, Oct. 19. lb. ii. 279. The story rests on information sent by a credible person, and 1 see no reason to disbelieve it. 560 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 Failure of Will Murray'smission. Nov. 2. He thinks of tempo rarily abdi. eating. Hismotives. elation at the prospect of help held out to him. It was embittered by her assurance that it would be needful for him to accept Fresbyterianism, even if it was to be Fresbyterianism without the Covenant. He had just learnt that Will Murray's mission to London1 had entirely failed, and that the Scottish commissioners there had rejected not only his offer about religion, but his offer about the militia as well. On the latter point they adhered to the demand made at Uxbridge for the permanent surrender to the English Earliament of all authority over the armed force of the kingdom. The news does not seem to have been altogether unwelcome to Charles. He had probably felt the difference of opinion between him self and his wife far more than the difference of opinion between himself and his subjects, and he now took the opportunity of removing it. She would not, he seems to have thought, any longer wish him to yield on the question of the Church, now that his offers about the militia, though they went far be yond anything which she would be willing to grant, had been refused. After assuring her on November 1 that he was now in no mood to give way, he added a fresh piece of intelligence. " They tell me from London," he wrote, " that they will neither declare against monarchy nor my posterity, but merely against my person." 2 It was doubtless this news which inspired Charles for the first and last time in his life with the idea of abdicating, in some loose fashion, in favour of the Frince of Wales. Not, indeed, that Charles seriously thought of divesting himself of power. His scheme was not in tended to remove any obstacles which might stand 1 See p. 554. ' The King to the Queen, Nov. I . Charles I. in 1646, 73. A PROPOSED ABDICATION. 56 1 in the way of the national well-being either in England chap. or in Scotland. It was a mere device to bring home »- — r-^ to his wife that not only was her plan of Presbyterianism * 4 without the Covenant certain to be rejected by the Scots, but that even the widest ecclesiastical changes would be unacceptable to them unless they were accompanied by political changes to which she, equally with himself, would refuse to submit. He had recently quoted with approval the saying, " No bishop, no king," which he had learned from his father,1 and, though these words were very far from representing all that he personally believed on the subject of Episcopacy, he placed them in the foreground in his friendly controversy with his wife and her advisers. He now suggested to Bellievre the idea of allowing the Frince, either with or without the name of king, to attempt to satisfy the Scots by a pro mise of compliance with their desires as far as the Church alone was concerned. He felt no doubt that it would thus be made clear that the Scots aimed at the destruction of monarchy, and he had too much confidence in the affection of his wife and in the respect ful obedience of his son to imagine that, when once they had found the Scots as resolute in refusing the control of the militia to a new king as they had been in refusing it to the old one, they would be slow to restore to him the power of which he had temporarily divested himself.2 It would be some time before Charles could hear Nov of the reception of this extraordinary scheme by the ^ra ,_ Queen. In the meanwhile he was engaged in pushing returD- forward his fresh plan. Will Murray had returned 1 The King to Jermyn, Culpepper, and Ashburnham, Oct. 10. Clar. St. P. ii. 273. 1 Bellievre to Brienne, Nov. T25. Ranke, Engl. Gesch. viii. 184. II. 0 O 562 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 Offers of the English Presbyterians. Bellievre advisesCharles io come to terms "with the lade- pendents. Unpopu larity of the Scots in the North. Growing desire in the North for the King's restoration. on November 7, and had told his master that, though nothing was to be gained from the Scots, the Enghsh Presbyterians were in a more yielding mood. H they ' might have something to say for religion, and reason able security concerning the militia ... a considerable prevailing party ' might declare for the King's 'coming to London.' 2 Upon these hopes Charles set to work so to modify his offer of Fresbyterianism for three years as to render it palatable to the English Earliament. To BeUievre all this senseless intrigue seemed to be the worst of follies, He plainly told Charles that, if he would not grant the Scottish terms, he had better throw himself boldly into the hands of the Indepen dents. It was true that they did not love him, but if they had Hberty of conscience, and their leaders were rewarded with high places, they would allow him to deal with the militia at his pleasure.2 Charles listened approvingly, but he also listened approvingly to others. The ambassador bemoaned the difficulty of serving a prince who never gave his full confidence to anyone. Bellievre was, in fact, aware that Charles had kept to himself an overture which had lately reached him.3 The Northern counties were necessarily sub jected to bitter oppression from the Scottish army, which had been left without pay for no less than nine months,4 and their indignation easily grew into a desire for a return to that old order of things which, in the North at least, seemed to be necessarily conjoined with the restoration of the King to his ancient authority. Nor was this feeling confined to 1 Moray to Hamilton,, Nov. S, Hamilton Papers, 121 ; the King to the Queen, Nov. 14, Charles I. in 1646, 75. 2 Bellievre to Mazarin, Nov. §|. R.O. Transcripts. 3 Bellievre to Mazarin, lb i L.J. viii. 555, LOYALIST REACTION. 563 the North. In the South and the East the heavy chap. XLV taxation which had to be borne for the support of .—— Fairfax's army swayed men's minds in a similar direction, whatever hope of release from this heavy burden had hitherto existed being now crushed by the knowledge that the Houses had voted the re assessment of the tax for another six months. Even and ^ the the Eastern Association, so resolute in the early days f ^ocia- of the war, would have been forward in supporting tKm- an accommodation with the King, if only he had been ready to make concessions to the Bresbyterian feeling which prevailed there.' * The causes of this reaction are, indeed, obscure. Something, no doubt, was due to the intensity of local feehng. The Association was conscious of its own sacrifices, and objected to bear the burden of mihtary defence outside its own Hmits. , Something, too, must have been due to the dislike of militarism natural to a busy and thriving district. Nor must it be forgotten that the counties which had produced more than the average number of Pro testants in the days of Mary, and more than the average number of Puritans in the days of Charles, produced more than the average number of fanatics- in the days of the Long Parliament. The fanaticism of the few was certain in time to excite a loathing of fanaticism amongst the many, and the growth of a strong Presbyterian sentiment, tending even to merge itself in Eoyahsm, would thus be easily accounted for. The feeling against a prolongation of the existing uncertainty was brought before Charles's notice by Dr. Hudson, the guide who had accompanied him to Newark. On November 18 Hudson escaped, or was Nov. 18. allowed to escape, from the prison in which he had ! been confined,, and he soon made his appearance at 1 See p. 573, 0 0 2 564 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 Proposed rising against Parlia ment. Newcastle as the bearer of proposals which seemed for - a moment likely to change the whole state of affairs.1 The communication which Hudson was empowered to make announced a general rising in the East, the South, and the West on behalf of the King. A large force was to be placed in the field to support this design. Charles, on his part, was to issue a general pardon to all who now joined him, even if they had been deeply concerned in the late rebellion. He was to engage to abolish ' the excise and other unlawful taxes, not to bring in foreign forces, not to dispose of delinquents' estates to private uses, nor that the Scots should come over the Trent.' The Frince of Wales was to be the general of the new army. To this last proposal Charles demurred. He wished to take the command in person, but he was ready to give satisfaction in everything else. In the mean while Hudson asked the King to despatch Sir Thomas Glemham to Lynn, where he would be ready for aU emergencies.2 1 Wldtelocke, 228. 3 I am aware that Bamfleld in his Apology, written long after the Restoration, attributes Hudson's mission to the Independent leaders, and that his statement is adopted by Rushworth's editors in the contents to the posthumous fourth part of his Collections. Contemporary evidence, however, seems to me conclusive against this view. In the first place the selection of Lynn as Glemham's landing-place connects the proposed rising with the Eastern Association, and we know that when the Lords proposed that the King should reside at Newmarket, the Commons, under the influence of the Independents, substituted Holmby, because the Eastern Association was too favourable to the King. See p, 572. More over, on November 18 a letter was read in the Commons to the effect that Hudson ' intended to go to the King and to get from him commissions to the gentry in Norfolk to raise men, with whom should join the forces in the North and in the West and in Wales, under the command of Colonel Laugharne, who should all declare themselves for the King, and come up to London' (Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,1 16, fol. 290). In 1648 Laugharne took the Royalist-Presbyterian side. The forces in the North referred to seem to be connected with the purely Royalist movement to seize Pontefract Castle, soon afterwards detected by Poyntz (C.J. iv. 730). A PROPOSED RISING. 565 Nothing came of this unexpected proposal, nor is chap. it possible to ascertain who were its authors. It is Again, Hudson was taken in December, and soon after his capture Laugharne sent up a letter from him with an enclosed copy of a letter from the King. These were read in the House of Commons on January 5. The only account we have of them is in Perfect Occurrences (E. 370, 21). The King's letter is not printed verbatim, but its purport is pretty clear. It is thus given : — " Hudson, let all my honest friends know that I will grant com missioners [? commissions] as large as I have promised — (And so the said letter went on showing the ends thereof) — to restore his Majesty to his rights, and dissolve the Parliament, that he will not seek foreign help but for money and ammunition, and will either himself or his son be general of the army ; that he shall pardon all the oaths and covenants that formerly they have taken ; that he is resolved to take off the excise and all illegal taxes ; and that his principal aim shall be to restore the Church ; and that he shall endeavour to keep the Scots from coming over Trent. Dated November 21, 1646. (Signed) (Not the King's own hand.) C. Rex." Hudson's letter to Laugharne is given as follows: — " Assuring him (by the command of the King) of the great value his Majesty had of him, desiring his assistance, with his other friends, to restore him to his rights, telling him (amongst other passages) that if the Parliament should not bring up the King with honour and safety, before New Year's Day, all his Majesty's friends will declare for him. (Subscribed) J. Hudson." Hudson's name was Michael, and letters abbreviated in this way are not likely to be altogether accurate in other respects besides the sig nature, but they clearly do not point in the direction of a plot with the Independents, Taking the evidence altogether, it looks as if Hudson proposed to the E_ing to appeal to the spirit of dissatisfaction which undoubtedly existed, without much regard for either Independent or Presbyterian. The plan would thus be a predominantly Royalist one, intended to catch weak Presbyterians rather than weak Independents, On the other hand it seems that at Newcastle (Moray to Hamilton, Dec. 2. Hamilton Papers, 132) Hudson was believed to be concerned in proposals made by Independents. Is it possible that Hudson, in order to effect his escape, entered into communications with the Independents, and was believed by them to be their emissary, though he was really working in another direction ? I have sometimes thought that Dr. Stewart, who visited Newcastle earlier, may have been the bearer of proposals from the Independents, and that Bamfield, intending to refer to him, gave a description of him which can only apply to Hudson. XLV. 1646 566 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 Question of the authorship of the scheme. Nov. 28. The King hears that the Queen condemnshim. Prepares an answer for the Parlia ment. Dec. 5, Boasts of an equivo cation in it. not unlikely that some of the Presbyterians were cognisant of it, but on the whole it bears the impress of a spirit totally unlike that which prevailed in either of the Parliamentary parties. It seems to have arisen amongst men who assumed the attitude of the Clubmen of the preceding year, but with better knowledge and greater political experience. Charles was not likely to neglect an old intrigue because he took part in a new one, and he was still busy over his scheme for granting Presbyterianism for a limited time, even though his wife in a letter received by him on the 28th expressed her opinion freely that his cherished project was a senseless con trivance. For her part, she wrote, if she had thought of granting for three years something which her conscience forbade her to grant at all, she would go a step further, and grant it altogether to save the throne.1 Yet in spite of his knowledge that it was impossible to make his wife understand his scruples, Charles was always anxious to have her opinion, and he now submitted to her the answer which he had drawn up for the English Parhament. There was to be a concession of Presbyterianism for three years, and of the militia for ten. As for Ireland, he would * give full satisfaction as to the managing of the war, and for rehgion as inEngland.' 2 In these words he took especial delight. " I only say," he informed the Queen, " that I will give full satisfaction as to the management of the war, so that if I find reason to make peace there my engagement ends." Bellievre, to whom he pointed out this excellent contrivance, told Mazarin that he left it to those who knew more English than he did to judge of the force of the equi- 1 The Queen to the King, Nov. if. Clar. St. P. ii. 294. ' Proposed message. Burnet, 382. THE SCOTS REJECT THE KING'S SCHEME. 567 vocation, but that he thought that its interpretation chap. would lie with him that had the longest sword.1 - — ^— ¦ For the present, till the Queen's comments ar rived, Charles hesitated to send his answer to London ; but he fancied that something might be gained by obtaining the preliminary approval of the Scots. Accordingly, on December 4, he sent his scheme to c^^+- Lanark, that he might test Scottish opinion. Much sends it t0 • ii- -r 1 t-ii Scotland. to his surprise and disgust Lanark replied that no one in Scotland would have anything to do with it.2 -_,De°- 8- _- 1 • The Scots The days which Charles was thus frittering away reject it. were being used to his disadvantage at Westminster. Almost to the end of November, indeed, it seemed Jfov:.a8- 7 7 ihe situa- possible that the English and the Scots might come ^n "^ to a rupture on their respective claims to the custody ster- of his person. In the press a vigorous paper war was raging on the subject, and on the 28th the Inde pendents carried through the Commons a declaration The com - asserting the right of the English Parliament alone to the claim dispose of the King's person as long as he was in English England. They then, by a majority of no to 90, .o^ispose1 obtained a vote that this declaration should be sent of the KlDg* to the Scottish commissioners without any previous communication with the Lords.3 The Scots, however, TheesCots prudently returned it unopened, on the ground that ^drde- it only proceeded from a single House.4 ciaration. They had probably even stronger reasons for avoiding further controversy. On November 3 the Scottish Earliament had met at Edinburgh, and though it long refrained from touching on so deli- Nov. 3. 00 & Meeting of 1 The King to the Queen, Dec. 5, Charles I. in 1646, 82 ; Bellievre Parlia- to Mazarin, Dec. fg, R. O. Transcripts. ment. 2 The King to Lanark, Dec. 4 ; Lanark to the King, Dec. 8. Burnet, 381, 386. 3 C.J. iv. 730; Rushw. vi. 341. 1 C.J. iv. 734; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,116, fol. 291, 568 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 Nov. 30. News of a Eoyalist attempt on PontefractCastle, Arrange ments for the deparr ture of the Scots. Dec. 16. Earnest moneypaid. Is the King to go to Scotland ? Vote in the Scottish Parlia ment. cate a subject, there was strong reason to beheve that it would refuse to afford to Charles a shelter in Scotland.1 Whatever resolution the Scottish Earliament might take, the Enghsh House of Commons pursued its course of making the way of retreat from England easy. There was the more reason to hasten to a conclusion, as on November 30 it was known at West minster that there had been a EoyaUst plot to seize Fontefract Castle, which might not unreasonably be thought to be connected with Hudson's mission.2 The Commons therefore, dropping aU reference to their rejected declaration, pressed on, in amicable conference with the Scottish commissioners, the ar rangements for the marching away of the Scottish army, and for the payment of the money which would then be due. On December 16 the two parties reached an agreement, and 12,000/. was paid over as earnest money to the Scots.3 England would rid itself to Httle purpose of the Scottish army if Charles was to be suffered to retreat with it to Edinburgh, and to make Scotland a centre of intrigue against the Enghsh Farhament. Events now showed that no such danger was to be feared. It is true that on the 16th, the day on which the earnest money was paid at Westminster, the Scottish Earliament, under the impulse of Hamilton, resolved ' to press his Majesty's coming to London with honour, safety, and freedom,' and at the same time avowed its own determination ' to maintain monarchical govern ment in his Majesty's person and posterity, and his just title to the crown of England.' 4 The resolution, 1 Bellievre to Mazarin, Dec. {£. R.O. Transcripts. 2 C.J. iv. 730. J L.J. viii. 603, 614. * Lanark to [? Sir R. Moray], Dec. 17. Burnet, 389. 1646 THE SCOTTISH CLERGY. 569 however, though strictly in accordance with the chap. wishes of the King, would be of little avaU until the conditions had been settled on which the promised support was to be given, and there was a powerful party in Scotland which had no wish to make them too easy. Argyle had even been heard to say that a promise to keep the King in honour and safety would be fully observed, even if he were thrown into prison, provided that his attendants served him on their knees, and he was carefully guarded against assassination.1 Argyle's main support lay elsewhere than in Par hament. When Parhament met on the 1 7th, it was P^?n7of confronted by a petition from the ministers who *e_minia" formed a standing committee of the General Assem bly,2 protesting against those persons who endea voured to bring about ' a division and breach between the kingdoms, or the making of any factions or parties contrary to the Covenant under pretence of preserving the King and his authority,' and against those who were remiss in their duty of urging him to subscribe the Covenant and to ' give satisfaction to the just desires of both kingdoms.' To give him shelter in Scotland would ' confirm the suspicions of the English nation ' that there had been underhand dealings with him before his coming to the army.3 It is in the highest degree probable that this petition had been drawn up in concert with Argyle. ^Jiergyf His policy, and that of the ministers, was identical in recognising the cardinal fact of the situation, that Charles did not wish to give satisfaction to the de mands of Scotland, but simply to use Scotland as a base of operations against England. The fanatical 1 Bellievre to Mazarin, Dec. j6-. R.O. Transcripts. 1 Acts of the Pari, qf Scotl. vi. 634. s Rushw. vi. 390. 57° THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 The Scot tish condi tions. Were the Scots justi fied? Dec. 16. Charles learns that Mazarin rejects his proposal to abdicate, simplicity of the clergy and the subtle intelligence of Argyle combined to defeat a project so disastrous to Scotland as well as to England. Under the influence of the clerical petition Par liament addressed itself to the consideration of the conditions under which support was to be given to Charles. All that had been gained for him on the previous day was now swept away. He must accept the propositions made to him by the English Parlia ment at Newcastle as they stood. If he refused, the government of Scotland was to be settled without him, and he must not think of eoming to Scotland to exercise the office of a king. Even if he were deposed in England, Scotland would do nothing for him unless he took the Covenant and accepted the propositions.1 It is hard to find serious fault with the resolution thus taken, except by condemning the whole eccle siastical and pohtical system which the Scottish nation had deliberately adopted. That Charles was bent upon destroying that system in England if he could get an opportunity is beyond all reasonable doubt, and its supporters were therefore justified in refusing to him the vantage-ground which would be given him by a residence in Edinburgh. In every direction Charles's schemes were, as usual, breaking down. On December 16 he learned that his plan of a temporary abdication had been scornfully rejected by Mazarin, as well as his plan for a temporary establishment of Fresbyterianism.2 More trying still must have been the sarcastic com- 1 Lanark to [? Sir R. Moray], Dec. 17. Burnet, 389. The instruc tions founded on this resolution were adopted on the 24th. Acts of the Pari, of Scotl. v. 635. 2 Mazarin to Bellievre, ]^f° ; Jermyn and Culpepper to the King, Dec. Yj, Clar. St. P. ii. 301. A SCORNFUL COMMENT. 57 1 ment of the Queen. His proposal to grant the militia chap. for ten years, she told him, was equivalent to a con- -- , '-' firmation of the existing Parliament for that time. " As long as the Parliament lasts," she continued, J°d J^ " you are not king. As for me, I will not again set suggestions J ° ° are derided foot in England. With your scheme of granting the by th« mihtia you have cut your own throat, for when you have given them that power you can refuse them nothing, not even my life, if they ask you for it. You ask my opinion about Ireland. I have often written to you about it. You must not abandon Ireland. ... I am surprised that the Irish do not give themselves over to a foreign king. You will force them to do so at last, when they see that you are offering them up as a sacrifice." x A day or two after the reception of these com munications from France came a doleful letter from Lanark, telling Charles how the Scottish Parliament had declared against him. It would now be useless to send to Westminster the elaborate answer to the propositions which had satisfied no one but himself, and on December 20 he substituted for it a renewed Dec. 20. request to be aUowed to come to London.2 agaTn^sks To this request no attention was paid. The London. ° policy of the Independents was still in the ascendant, and was Hkely to remain in the ascendant as long as a Scottish army was quartered at Newcastle. In matters of religion, indeed, the Independents still found it prudent to maintain a discreet silence. The ordinance against blasphemy and heresy was being pushed steadily on through committee. On Decem ber 12, when the Presbyterians proposed to refer to 1 The Queen to King, Dec. jj. lb. ii. 300. 2 The King to the Speaker of the House of Lords, Dec. 20. L.J. viii. 627. 572 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 Dec. 12. Booksreferred to a com mittee. Dec. 19. A City petition. Charlesconciliatesno one. Dec. 2i. Design to carry off the Duke of York. a committee a sermon in which DeU, one of Fairfax's army chaplains, had denied to the civil magistrate the right of interfering with a gospel reformation, the Independents offered no opposition, but contented themselves with demanding that another book, written in defence of the Divine right of Presbyterianism, should be treated in a simUar manner.1 Naturally the EoyaUsts sought to turn to account the antagonism which existed on religious matters between the two parties, and they hoped that a fresh City petition, which was ultimately presented on the 19th, would be a further cause of strife. That petition was certainly unfavourable to the Indepen dents. In addition to the usual demand for the suppression of heresy, it asked that the EngHsh army might be disbanded in consequence of the favour shown by it to heretics, but it was entirely silent as to the treatment of the King. It contented itself with expressing confidence in the wisdom of Earliament.2 Charles had not conciliated anyone, and had not cared to conciliate anyone. To have him in London, fighting for his own hand, would be resisted by every one, whether Fresbyterian or Independent, who be lieved that, in the old sense of the word monarchy, there was no longer room for monarchy in England, and that it must give place to a government founded, in some way or other, upon the national will. A discovery made on December 2 1 probably served to knit the parties together for a time. In the pre ceding July the little Frincess Henrietta had been carried off to France by her governess, Lady 1 C.J. v. 10; Whitacre's Diary, Add, MSS. 31,116, fol. 293; Right Reformation, by W. Dell, E. 263, 2. * The City Petition, E. 366, 14; C.J. v. 20; Grignon to Brienne, ^~j, R.O. Transcripts. NEWMARKET OR HOLMBY ? 573 1646 Dalkeith.1 It now appeared that a design had been chap. formed to carry the Duke of York, who since the surrender of Oxford had been in Northumberland's custody, either to Newcastle or to France.2 That such an attempt should have been contemplated was convincing evidence that Charles had no thought of coming to terms with Earliament. On the 22nd the Lords, taking into consideration Dec. 22. the City petition, directed Fairfax to see that all ^solutions. officers and soldiers under his command took the Covenant, and ordered that all Anabaptists and other sectaries disturbing public worship should be punished according to law. They then voted that the King Th jsh should come to Newmarket, there to remain till theKinsto come the two kingdoms had consulted on the ultimate toNew- 0 market. disposal of his person. On the 24th the Commons Dec. 24. substituted Holmby House for Newmarket. New- commons market was in the Eastern Association, and the Hoimb/or Eastern Association was now given over to Fresby- House' terian, if not to Eoyalist views. The revelation of Hudson's plot had plainly not been forgotten.3 The assignment of Newmarket as a residence to the King was not the only part of the Lords' resolu tion to which the Commons took exception. They and obj-ect to consult- 1 Mrs. Everett Green, Princesses of England, vi. 408. jj>g the 2 L.J. viii. 619. On the effect of this discovery in hardening the House of Lords against the King, see Grignon to Brienne, ^1? R.O. Transcripts. 3 C.J. v. 28 ; Whitacre's Diary, Add. MSS. 31,1 16, fol. 294b. Grignon says plainly what Whitacre only hints at. The Associated Counties, he says, are those ' qui ont toujours tesmoigne' beaucoup d'affection pour leur Roy, le presence duquel leur pourroit donner de courage d'entre- prendre quelque chose ; ce qu'ils craignent d'autant plus que le ministre Hudson qui s'estoit eschappe1 dernierement, et que l'on disoit conduire quelque dessein en faveur du Roy de la Grande Bretagne dans ces mesmes Comtes, a este1 repris depuis quatre jours sur le chemin de Newcastle, et l'on croit qu'il venoit d'aupres du dit Roy pour cela.' Grignon to Brienne, — f. R.O. Transcripts. 574 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. chap, objected to declare that the disposal of the King's XLV . . person could be a fitting object of consultation r, ' between the two kingdoms. The amendments of the Dec. 31. o Vote on > Commons were accepted by the Feers, as well as a person. clause in which the King was called on to give his complete assent to the propositions and to the ordinance for the sale of the bishops' lands, failing which the two Houses would maintain ' the happy union already settled between the kingdoms.' 1 indirect The King's refusal to come to terms with the results ° from the Fresbyterians had, for the moment, weaned them from King's J action'. their unhappy pohcy of seeking to realise their aims in concert with the King, the Scots, and the French.2 Their rivals, no longer having the credit of being the exclusively national party, lost ground rapidly. The return of the Scottish army to its own country and the bringing up of the King to Holmby House would dispose of the questions which had given the lead to the Independents. Ecclesiastical discussions would then mainly occupy the attention of Parhament, and on ecclesiastical questions the Presbyterians had more of the national feeling behind them than their oppo nents. Even now, whilst the Scots were stUl at Newcastle, the result of the agreement of the two Houses on Ordinance matters relating to the King was quickly seen. The "reaohin*7 Lords had prepared an ordinance forbidding all who had not been ordained, either in the Church of England or in some foreign reformed Church, ' to preach or expound the Scriptures in any church or 1 L.J. viii. 635, 638. 2 The King, wrote Grignon, would hardly come to London unless he accepted the propositions, ' voyant que les Presbyteriens qui s'imaginent avoir a present l'avantage sur leurs adversaires ne se disposent point a porter ses interests, s'il ne consent a ce qu'ils ont desiriS de luy.' Grignon to Brienne, j^jj. R.O, Transcripts. A PRESBYTERIAN MAJORITY. 575 chapel, or in any other place.' On December 31 chap. this ordinance was taken into consideration in the • — .— ^ Commons. The Independents, doubtless knowing ' 4 that they could not hope to reject it, attempted to amend it so as to permit laymen at least to expound the Scriptures. After a long and stormy debate, last ing well into the night, they were beaten an a division, in which Cromwell himself acted as teller, by 105 to 57. A motion to restrict the prohibition to places ' appointed for public worship ' was defeated without a division.1 That night's work indicated a shifting ThePres- c • r- 1 • 1 1 1 bytenans of parties of which there had, no doubt, been clear regain the indications before. It was not that a sufficient number of members had changed their minds to give a ma jority to the Presbyterians, but that the questions on which the Presbyterians had always had a majority had now become the questions of the day, whilst those on which the Independents had had the ma jority were now practicaUy solved. It was impossible that Charles should remain much longer in the hands of the Scots. On the 22nd, when the resolution of the Edinburgh Parlia ment was known at Newcastle, the commanders of Dee. 22. ii ii n cc i • -1 • Offers made tne army made one last effort to bring him over to by the their side. They assured hdm that, if he would only com promise to estabhsh Presbyterianism when once he m was firmly seated on the throne, they would undertake to recover his authority in the teeth of both the Par liaments. Though the French ambassador added his entreaties to- theirs, Charles firmly declined the tempt ing offer.2 With no prospect now before him except that of being handed over to the English, he began cjParCles24' at last seriously to think of escaping to the Continent, ^"™fs t0 1 C.J. v. 34; Grignon to Brienne, Jan. ^, R.O. Transcripts. 2 Bellievre to Mazarin, Jan. ~. R.O. Transcripts. 576 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. CHAP. XLV. 1646 Dec. 29. Precau tions taken. Charlesagain looks to Ireland for help.Nov. Failure of the Con federates to take Dublin. Ormond refuses to surrenderit to the EnglishParliament. 1647 Jan. 5. The refusal approvedby Charles. and Will Murray was employed to make the arrange ments for his flight.1 The scheme, however, got wind, and the Scots, redoubHng their precautions, treated him as a veritable prisoner.2 Dark as the outlook was, there could hardly faU to be a gleam of hope on some quarter of the horizon. This time it was once more from Ireland that Charles looked for help. The attempt of the Confederate generals to seize Dublin had been wrecked, for this season at least, by their own dissensions, and by the difficulty of conveying supphes through a devastated country and over streams swoUen by the November rains.3 In the meanwhile the Parhamentary commis sioners who had been sent to take possession of Dublin found Ormond unwilhng to accept the terms which they were empowered to offer. The Lord Lieutenant had made it a condition of the surrender that the letter in which he had asked leave to surrender his authority should be forwarded to the King for his approval. Parliament having refused to send this letter on, Ormond declared himself no longer bound by his own conditional promise. He would not, he said, give Dublin up without positive directions from his master.4 On January 5 Charles, having heard what Ormond was doing, gave him his hearty ap proval,5 and directed him ' to repiece ' his ' breach with the Irish,' if it could be done ' with honour and a good conscience.' 1 L.J. viii. 665. For Murray's denial, which was to be expected, see lb. 703. Bellievre's despatches constantly refer to the thought of escape as being in Charles's mind, so that there is every reason to believe the story. The protestations of the Scots are worth absolutely nothing. 2 Sir R. Moray to Hamilton, Dec. 29. Hamilton Papers, 141. 3 Lord Leicester's MS. l,4iib-i,439. 4 Carte MSS- xix. passim; Several passages of the treaty, E. 378, 4 ; Ruho. vi. 420. 5 The King to Ormond, Jan. 5. Carte's Ormond, v. 18. BELLIEVRE'S LAST EFFORT. 577 Whilst Charles was thus cherishing new imagina- chap. XLV tions, Bellievre had made up his mind that nothing --" , W could be done for a man who could do nothing for ,, „.. o Bellievre himself. He made one last attempt to win over attempts to wm David David Leslie, telling him, evidently with Charles's Leslie. authority, that if he would restore the King without insisting upon Presbyterianism he should be created Duke of the Orkneys, and made a Knight of the Garter and Captain of the Guard, with a sum of 8,000 jacobuses1 paid down, and a yearly revenue of 2,000. It was of no avail. Leslie told the French man plainly that nothing could be done unless the King yielded on the religious question. On January 4 Jan. 4. the ambassador turned his back on Newcastle, where leaves"6 he had met with so many disappointments, and made ewcas e' his way to London.2 The final catastrophe could not be long deferred. There was, indeed, some delay about the arrange ments for counting the money, and it was not till jaD. 26. January 26 that the commissioners who had been interview appointed by the English Earliament to inform the English* King of the vote of the Houses relegating him to Holmby came into his presence. On the following day Charles despatched another letter to Ormond, jan. 27. again urging him to come to terms with the Irish.3 toOnnond! On the 28th he informed the commissioners that in a few days he would be ready to accompany them. Against this arrangement the Scots had nothing to say. On the 30th, the first 100,000/. having been Jan. 30. duly paid, the Scottish commissioners took their leave ^^New- of Charles. Their garrison marched out, and their castle' guards were relieved by English soldiers as if nothing 1 i.e. guineas. 2 Bellievre to Mazarin, Jan. T\. R.O. Transcripts. 3 The King to Ormond, Jan. 27. Carte's Ormond, v. 18. II. P P commissioners. 578 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. chap, more was occurring than an ordinary piece of routine. ¦— ^--1— On February 3 the second instalment of 100,000/. F^ was also paid,1 and by the nth2 every garrison had They cross been delivered up, and every Scottish soldier had crossed the Tweed. compari- Such was the transaction which Eoyalist partisans son of the J sr s™ts to were soon to qualify as the act of Judas, who sold his Lord for money. The despatches of Montreuil Evidence of and Bellievre tell a very different tale. They show, the I'rench ..... . despatches, beyond possibility of dispute, that the Scottish leaders, soldiers and civilians alike, would willingly have re nounced the English gold and have defied the English army to do its worst, if Charles would have complied with the conditions on which alone — even if they had been personally willing to come to his help with out them — it was possible for them to raise forces in whatwas his defence. It is true, indeed, that from time to given to time, in the early stage of the negotiations, some of their number showed signs of wavering, and that in the final offer made before the King arrived at Newark Montreuil was allowed to use words which, under the most favourable interpretation, must be allowed to be ambiguous. Yet, at all events, the engagement made through Sir Eobert Moray gave no uncertain sound, and, if ever the strict demand for the establishment of Presbyterianism was for a moment relaxed, it was almost immediately renewed. Were the Apart from the personal question of the truth- give turn a fulness of the commissioners — in which, after all, only Seotfand1? five or six persons were involved — is it to be seriously argued that the Scots, as a nation, were in any way bound to give to Charles a refuge in their own country ? It was not for the sake of a peaceful retreat that Charles thought at one time of accom- 1 L.J. viii. 699, 716. 5 A most worthy speech. E. 378, 10. CONDUCT OF THE SCOTS. 579 panying the army to Scotland. What he wanted, as chap. xlv. Montreuil, who knew him well, declared, was to give encouragement to the Scottish Eoyalists, and above all to bring about a quarrel between the two nations.1 Were the Scots to be blamed because they refused what were to expose themselves to such a danger ? Were they to do ? even under obhgation to allow the King to escape to the Continent ? It is probably the course which posterity would be inclined to recommend. Yet, knowing as we do the whole network of Charles's foreign intrigues and his continual expectation of aid from foreign armies, it is not for us to feel surprise if Scots and English alike shrank, as Elizabeth had shrunk in the very similar case of Charles's grand mother, from incurring so evident a danger. If in modern times the Scots get less than justice, could because the ineffectual wiles of Charles's diplomacy terianism are so hard to bear in mind, they also get less than !jponrced justice because they attempted, with the assistance of Enslaml ? a certain number of Englishmen, to force upon the Enghsh nation an ecclesiastical system which was uncongenial to its character and its traditions. It is almost forgotten that bishops were known to that generation as the organs of a system of political despotism, or that Charles supported them, not merely as ecclesiastical functionaries of Divine appointment, but also as the supporters of something very like absolute monarchical authority. He wanted 1 "Pour ce qui est de la resolution qu'a ladite Maw de se retirer en Escosse avec l'armee des Escossois, s'il ne luy est pas permis de se sauver, il espere en recevoir de differents avantages ; comme d'estre en lieu ou sa presence pourra donner du coeur a ce qui luy reste d'amys, et les porter a chercher les moyens de le restablir ; de se pouvoir sauver plus aisement estant la, que demeurant en Angleterre ; de donner sujet a les deux nations de se hrouiller, puisque les Anglois qui ont arrests que leur Roy viendroit a Hornby auront sujet de le demander a l'Escosse." Montreuil to Mazarin, Jan. |§. Arch, des Aff. Etrangeres, lvi. fol. 23. p r 2 580 THE DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS. chap, them to ordain a lawful clergy, but he also wanted XLV - — r~'—~ them to 'tune the pulpits' — that is to say, to prevent Wh /rrd ^ie ^ree exPression °f the only kind of opinion which Charles had in his time any hold upon the masses, lest it want J \ bishops should lead to an uprising against monarchy. When he spoke of monarchy he meant the monarchy of Henry VILE and Elizabeth, not the monarchy of William III. and Victoria. He was hankering after the restoration of the system which Laud had praised and which Strafford had supported. Fresbyterianism had many faults, but at least its existence rendered impossible a return to a mode of government which had been tried and found wanting. It rested in the Church on an organisation proceeding out of the nation itself in the form of elderships, classes, and assemblies, rather than on an organisa tion proceeding from the King. In the State it rested upon the House of Commons, an elective body proceeding from constituencies which were more or less extensive, but which on the whole fairly repre sented the mind of the nation. In the hands of men of expansive genius such a system might have ac quired, at least for a time, a hold upon the nation it self. Its leaders were, however, by no means men of expansive genius. They could not see that no bridge was strong enough to cross the gulf which separated them from Charles. They sought to carry out with his aid changes which, through motives of interest as well as of principle, he thoroughly detested. What was more fatal still, in seeking to combine with the King they were driven to combine with the Scots, and even with the French. They became the anti- national party, when their strength lay in being truly national. The Presbyterians had done their work. They THE PRESBYTERIANS AND THE KINO, 58 1 had overthrown the monarchy, never, in the sense in chap. which Charles understood the word, to rise again in - — r-^— England.1 In accomplishing this they had called Weaknes3 forth an army which had translated their phrases into gfn*?gh action, and the virtual head of that army was a Presby- 7 J tenamsm. statesman as well as a soldier. Whether Cromwell and the Independents would succeed where the Presbyterians had failed, in establishing a govern ment which had the elements of endurance, remained to be seen ; but at least they had recognised that England was caUed upon to work out her own destiny without respect to Scots or Irish or the Continental powers. It had been the statesmanship of the Inde pendents which had culminated in the departure of the Scots and the surrender of the King. In gain ing the custody of Charles's person England had in truth entered into possession of herself. 1 Since this was written Mr. Frederic Harrison has said much the same thing (Oliver Cromwell, 129) in speaking of Charles's death. " It is said," he writes, " that the regicides killed Charles I. only to make Charles II. king. It is not so. They killed the old monarchy ; and the restored monarch was by no means its heir, but a royal Stadtholder or hereditary President. In 1649, when Charles I. ceased to live, the true monarchy of England ceased to reign." Ii, however, the act was the act of the Independents, the mental preparation for it was the work of the Presbyterians, even more than they were themselves aware of. 5§3 NOTE ON THE STRENGTH AND PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS OF THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. My account of the Battle of Naseby was already in proof before I saw Colonel Ross's calculation of the numbers on both sides contained in an article in The English Historical Review for October 1888, p. 668. He estimates the Parliamentarians at 1 3,600 after Cromwell's arrival on June 13, and the Royalists at ' no more than 8,000 men in horse and foot,' and probably, ' as stated by the Royalist authorities,' as ' actually only 7,500 in all' As far as the Parliamentary army is concerned, I have had little to change, as I originally gave it as about 13,000 men. On reviewing this opinion I am inclined to take the calculation of The Scottish Dove as a basis, and to accept 13,000 as the number after Fairfax's junction with Ver muyden. In that case the subsequent arrival of Cromwell and Rossiter would bring up the whole force to at least 14,000. June 5, Fairfax and Vermuyden .... 13,000 June 13, Cromwell, at least 600 June 14, Rossiter, at least 400 14,000 With respect to the King's army, I had written in a note that 'the King had only 7,500 with him when he left Leicester, of which 3,500 were horse,' basing this on a letter of June 4 from the King to Nicholas, printed in Evelyn's Memoirs, iv. 146. This letter escaped Colonel Ross's notice, and it is so far satisfactory to find an independent corrobora tion of the evidence which led him to think it most probable that the King had 4,000 horse and 3,500 foot. Having got so far, I am sorry to say that I ran away from 584 NOTE ON THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. my guns. The consensus of contemporary authorities was so strong in favour of the virtual equality of the two armies in numbers, that I fancied myself driven at least to approximate to their statement, and on the ground that stragglers and reinforcements may have come in during the ten days which elapsed after the writing of the King's letter of the 4th, I allowed myself to put in the text that ' on the highest calcu lation the King's troops did not exceed ten or eleven thousand.' Having read the authorities carefully again, I can find no trace of any such reinforcements or of any augmentation of the army, and I am convinced that Colonel Ross's calculations are beyond dispute. My own attempt to find a middle course was as useless as it was baseless. The difference between the numbers as I conceived them was not great enough to enable me to draw any practical conclusion, whereas the knowledge that there was a difference between 7,500, or even 8,000, on the one side and 13,500 or 14,000 on the other, changes our whole conception of the battle. Wherever, therefore, in my account of the fighting, attention is drawn to the result of the inequality of numbers, it will be understood that the passages in which this occurs are entirely due to Colonel Ross, and not in any way to myself. I now come to examine the movements of the armies on the morning of the 14th, before they stood opposite to one another on their respective sides of Broadmoor. I have here had the advantage of a long and friendly correspondence with Colonel Ross. The subject is not one on which conclusion can be drawn with absolute confidence, but, after rejecting in consequence of his arguments several ideas which I had previously formed, and after a personal examination of the road along which the Royal army advanced, the proceedings on both sides can, I think, be made out with more than mere probability. The first movements of the Royal army are beyond doubt. It marched out early in the morning to what Slingsby calls a 'hill whereon a chapel stood/ evidently the ridge between East Farndon and Oxendon, the chapel being East Earndon Church, the tower of which is a conspicuous object to anyone approaching from the Harborough side. Here it was drawn THE PRELIMINARY MANOEUVRES. 585 up in expectation of being attacked, and there it remained without further action on the part of its commander till 8 A.M. (Walker, 129). Slingsby (Diary, 150) tells us that on their first arrival — that is to say, some time earlier in the morning — ' we could discern the enemy's horse upon another hill about a mile or two before us, which was the same on which Naseby stood.' The two parts of his de scription are irreconcilable, the ridge on which Naseby is being about three miles distant. To anyone standing on the hill at a spot a little south of East Farndon there can be no difficulty in deciding which part of the statement is accurate. Between him and the Naseby ridge is a large extent of undu lating ground with nothing so conspicuous as to deserve the name of ' the hill,' whereas the Naseby ridge stands out like a wall behind, catching the eye at once and dominating the whole landscape. In point of fact, whilst the Farndon- Oxendon ridge rises at its highest (as appears from the six- inch ordnance map) to 519 feet, the Naseby ridge reaches 603 feet at Mill Hill, where the Parliamentary army was ulti mately drawn up, and rises to 648 feet in front of the obelisk, from which point it slopes gradually away to 581 feet about a mile from Naseby, where the ground falls sharply away towards the north. For purposes of defending a position or getting a view of an enemy advancing from the north, it is this point of 581 feet which would be selected, or at least one not very far behind it. The highest point of the ground between this and the Farndon Hill reaches 477 feet. Taking Slingsby, therefore, to mean that the Parliamen tary forces were to be seen at some time in the early morning on the Naseby ridge, let us ask at what part of the ridge they appeared. In the first place, the likely place to look for them is on the road to Clipston and Market Harborough. Fairfax had passed the night at Guilsborough, and his advanced guard had entered Naseby late in the previous evening. He would, therefore, naturally push on along the road leading to Harborough, where the Royal army was, and would halt on the brow of the hill in front of the spot on which the obelisk now stands, in order to look over the lower ground for signs of the enemy. 586 NOTE ON THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. This is just what we should gather from Sprigg and Okey. " By five in the morning," writes Sprigg (p. 37), " the army was at a rendezvous near Naseby, where his Excellency received intelligence by our spies that the enemy was at Harborough ; with this further, that it was still doubtful whether he meant to march away or to stand us, bat immedi ately the doubt was resolved ; great bodies of the enemy's horse were discerned on the top of the hill on this side Harborough, which, increasing more and more in our view, begat a confidence in the general and the residue of the officers that he meant not to draw away, as some imagined, but that he was putting his army in order, either then to re ceive us, or to come to us to engage us upon the ground we stood." This must have happened before 8 a.m., and prob ably a good deal earlier, and is in favour of assigning the position of the rendezvous to that marked A in my map at p. 207 as no good view could be obtained of the Farndon ridge from any lower post farther north. This view is, on the whole, corroborated by Okey. After stating that he had had ' the forlorn guard every night,' he adds that ' we drew near Naseby unto Clypsome (i.e. Clipston) Field, a mile and a half from our quarters where we had the guard the night before.' If, as I suppose there can be little doubt, the advance guard with Okey was quartered at Naseby, then a mile and a half beyond that place on the Harborough road brings us about half a mile beyond the spot marked A on the top of the hill, and to a point well within the boundary of Clipston parish. The only difficulty in Okey's story arises from the fact that both his mileage and the mention of Clipston Field place him beyond the ridge, the Harborough road cutting the boundary a very short distance farther on at the foot of the steep fall to the lower ground.1 It is, of course, possible that Okey, who was not likely to be familiar with the parish boundaries, merely talked of the spot as being open ground near Clipston, but another solution may perhaps be accepted. An army of 13,000 men cannot stand on the point of a pin, 1 From information supplied by the Rev. C. F. Blyth, late rector of Clipston. THE PRELIMINARY MANOEUVRES. 587 and must spread out in one direction or another. This army came with the expectation of pushing on in pursuit, and it therefore was more than probable that some of the regiments would forge ahead in the direction of Clipston, and thus find themselves, probably with Okey's dragoons in advance, in the real Clipston Field. At 8 A.M., therefore, we have the two armies facing one another on two ridges about three miles apart. Then Rupert (Walker, 1 30) sends out Ruce, the scoutmaster, to see what was going on, ' who in a short time returned with a lie in his mouth, that he had been two or three miles forward, and could neither discover or hear of the rebels.' Ruce probably advanced to Clipston, or a little beyond, and, if he could hear nothing of the enemy in the village, he was not likely to see anything of them if he rode forward, as the view on the road in front is extremely circumscribed, and he may therefore have felt justified- in riding back to say that the rebels were not in pursuit, which was what Rupert really wanted to know. Upon his return Rupert grew impatient and rode off, followed by horse and musketeers, to see for him self. ' But he had not marched above a mile before he had certain intelligence of their advance, and saw their van.' Slingsby says that Rupert advanced towards the enemy, ' where he sees their horse marching up on the side of the hill to that place whereafter they embattled their whole army.' It is impossible to draw any absolute conclusion from this, but it looks as if the Parliamentarians had in the interval between Ruce's and Rupert's reconnaissances pushed on somewhat in advance, and that they afterwards drew back. If this were so, we can fit in here a story which reaches us from a certain W. G., in A just apology for an abused army (1647), p. 5, E. 372, 22. " I must never forget," he writes, " the behaviour of Lieutenant-General Cromwell, who, as though he had received direction from God Himself where to pitch his battle, did advise that the battalion might stand upon such a, ground, though it was begun to be drawn up upon another place, saying, ' Let us, I beseech you, draw back to yonder hill, which will encourage the enemy to charge us, which they 588 NOTE ON THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. cannot do in that place without absolute ruin.' This he spake with so much cheerful resolution and confidence, as though he had foreseen the victory, and was therefore conde scended unto, and within an hour and a half after the effect fell out accordingly. This action of his ... I was an eye and ear witness of." What took place, I suspect, was this. Somewhere about half-past eight— an hour and a half before the battle began — - the Parliamentary army had got some little way off the main ridge in advance, and Fairfax directed it to be drawn up for battle on a smaller parallel ridge in the direction of Clipston. Such a ridge would be defensible, though not as strong a position as the main ridge behind. Then Cromwell advised that it should be drawn further back to the height on which the rendezvous had been in the morning. I do not think that the army can have got anywhere near Clipston, though, of course, a body of horse may have pushed on in advance. Ruce would have found the enemy out if they had gone far, and Cromwell's words, ' yonder hill,' indicate a hill in sight. The main hill, however, is soon hidden by intervening lesser heights as one advances towards Clipston. It does not, however, follow that Cromwell's chosen ground was exactly on the scene of the rendezvous of the morning. It would be enough for him to cover the road with the horse of the right wing whilst the bulk of the army was drawn up to the left, its extreme left being thus at some distance to the west of the Harborough road, and not far from the point afterwards occupied by its right in the actual battle. This would account for the omission of most of the authorities to speak of two positions after the army was actually placed in order of battle. The subsequent drawing off to the left was in tlieir eyes not a removal from one position to another, but a mere manoeuvring to gain the advantage of the hill and the wind. How this took place we learn from Slingsby and Sprigg. Rupert, when he arrived opposite Fairfax, found Cromwell's position too hard to be attacked. "Being hindered," writes Slingsby (p. 151), "of any near approach, by reason the place between us and them was full of burts ' 1 Mr. Henry Bradley informs me that this word was rejected from THE PRELIMINARY MANOEUVRES. 589 (? bushes) and water, we wheeled about, and by our guides were brought upon a fair piece of ground, partly corn and partly heath, under Naseby, about half a mile distant from the place.' Sprigg's account agrees pretty well with this. " And while these things " — i.e. the drawing up of the army — " were in consultation and in action, the enemy's army, which before was the greatest part of it out of view, by reason of the hill that interposed, we saw plainly advancing in order towards us; and the wind blowing somewhat westwardly, by the enemy's advance so much on their right hand, it was evident that he designed to get the wind of us, which occasioned the general to draw down into a large fallow field on the north west side of Naseby." What Slingsby calls wheeling, in consequence of the nature of the ground over which the Royalists would have to attack, Sprigg speaks of as a de liberate movement to gain the wind, followed by an equally deliberate movement to the fallow field marked B on the map. The Parliamentary army, however, was not allowed to rest here. " Considering," says Sprigg, " it might be of ad vantage to us to draw up our army out of sight of the enemy ... we retreated about a hundred paces from the ledge of the hill, that so the enemy might not perceive in what form our battle was drawn, nor see any confusion therein, and yet we to see the form of their battle." It is plainly this last movement which is referred to in the passage from Orrery's Art of War (p. 1 54), quoted by Colonel Ross in The English Historical Review : " I had often been told, but could scarcely credit it, that at the fatal battle of Naseby, after my Lord Fairfax's army was drawn up in view of his Majesty's, it having been judged that the ground a little behind was better than that they stood upon, they removed thither. I had the opportunity some time after to discourse on the subject with Major-General Skippon (who had the chief ordering of the Lord Fairfax his army that day), the Neiv English Dictionary, as not being found anywhere else. He thought that it had the ring of a local word, hut that on the other hand it might be a mere blunder of the copyist or printer. 59O NOTE ON THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. and having asked him if this were true, he could not deny it ; but he obeyed the orders for doing it only because he could not get them altered." At first I ascribed W. G.'s story to this movement, but gave way before Colonel Ross's arguments. The movement was too slight to give rise to Cromwell's entreaty to ' draw back to yonder hill,' especially as the fallow field in which Skippon had already drawn up his men was on the slope of the hill and therefore there can have been no talk of drawing back to it. Moreover, the retreat here was only a temporary one, made not for the purpose of fighting on a new position, but merely to conceal the army for a time till it was ready to step forward to the brow of the hill. One word I should like to say on behalf of the raisers of that unfortunate obelisk which has been mocked at by suc cessive visitors and writers as commemorating the battle on a spot on which the battle was not fought. What they did in their ignorance was not, after all, done so very much amiss. The obelisk stands where the Parliamentarian soldiers first learnt that the enemy meant to fight and not to retreat, and it rises on the ' yonder hill ' to which Cromwell pointed as the true place of battle. If it has nothing round it to remind us of the conflict itself, it may serve as a monument to the genius of the man by whom the victory was decided. Wishing to submit these conclusions to the judgment of a qualified military critic, I have asked Colonel Ross to express an opinion on them, and I am happy to be able to append his reply to my request. 59' ADDITIONAL NOTE BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ROSS. Mr. Gardiner, with whom I have had a correspondence, to me instructive as well as interesting, regarding the events which immediately preceded the Battle of Naseby, has honoured me by requiring from me an expression of opinion on the matters discussed in his supplementary note on that action. I have carefully studied that note, with the result that I believe the theories therein advanced, based, as they evidently are, on a very exhaustive analysis of all the con temporary evidence at present available, are, if not indisput able, at least probable in the highest degree. To state my reasons for this belief would merely amount to a repetition of the arguments advanced by Mr. Gardiner. As it may, however, be some satisfaction to Mr. Gardiner that I, as a soldier, should be found to be of the same opinion as himself on matters which are essentially military, and to some extent technical, in character, I gladly not only record my general acceptance of his conclusions, but even venture to illustrate one or two of them by offering a few additional remarks. Although the successive stages of the action taken by both armies on the morning of the 14th of June, as mentioned by Mr. Gardiner, appear to me to be highly probable, there is among them one to which exception might be taken, as being not so near a certainty as are the rest. I allude to the circumstance of what may be called the first position of the Parliamentary army, after their rendezvous somewhat to the north-east of Naseby on the long ridge, the western half of which is called by Sprigg and Rushworth Mill Hill. There is little room to doubt that before 8 a.m. — probably considerably earlier — the two armies stood opposite to each 592 NOTE ON THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. other, the Royalists on the Farndon-Oxenden ridge and the army of the Parliament on the Naseby ridge. The former appear, by the accounts of their own party, to have been at this hour in battle formation, and in expectation of being at tacked ; while the latter, certainly in some formation, would probably not be as yet in the battle order which, Sprigg tells us, had been definitely settled some days previously, but would, it is more likely, be ranged in a marching order suitable for an early advance in pursuit of the retiring enemy. Both armies, as Mr. Gardiner supposes, would almost certainly be placed across the Naseby-Harborough road. Even in modern times such a line of communication would be impor tant, if not actually necessary, for the transport of the artil lery ; and in the seventeenth century, when the mobility of this arm left much to be desired, the advantages of such a high way, however bad a road it may then have been, could not be ignored by either army. The Royalist army in battle line would, consequently, oc cupy a position, the frontal extent of which, in comparison with the depth, would be considerable, and its cavalry would be placed, we may naturally suppose, in line with and on the flanks of its infantry. With the other army it would be otherwise. The whole formation would be more closely massed, and the depth of it probably greater than its frontal extension; at least one half of the cavalry of the army, as being about to cover an advance, would be found in the van, towards Clipston, and therefore on the northern spurs of the Naseby ridge, on the summit of which probably the rendezvous of the infantry would be fixed. To put these suppositions in military phraseology : By 8 a.m. the Royalists were in line of battle, the Parliamentarians in column of route, both armies astride the Harborough-Naseby road, and some three miles apart ; the former expecting and hoping to be attacked in a chosen position, and the latter in a marching formation, as yet uncertain whether to attack or to await the attack of the enemy, but both armies equally resolved to bring on a general engagement. If the probability of these suppositions be admitted, many NOTE BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ROSS. 593 of the minor difficulties which arise in the interpretation of the statements of our various authorities disappear. For example, the statement of the Royal scoutmaster, that during his reconnaissance he saw no signs of the enemy, might be explained by the suggestion that the accidents of the ground between Naseby and Clipston may have concealed the more advanced bodies of Fairfax's army ; that, assuming him to have reached Clipston, he saw on his way no vedettes or patrols of the enemy — a sufficiently curious circumstance — may be further explained by the probable fact that, in anticipation of a general rendezvous, those scouts — or " spies," as Sprigg calls them — which had been pushed forward during the night had been recalled, and that others, pending the decision as to the further movements of the army, had not as yet been thrown out. Okey's " Clipston Field" might also very well be an accurate description of the site of the rendezvous, consi dered as a general term for the position of the army, and cer tainly of the special point at which he and his dragoons, or part of them, were likely to have been placed. Again, the idea, which appears to have possessed Rupert, that his enemy was retreating — an idea which was of the most fatal conse quence to the Royalist army, not only as leading to an ill- judged and hasty advance, but also as ultimately determining Rupert to deliver an ill-prepared and premature attack on Broadmoor itself— may very well have arisen from the fact that he also saw, during his reconnaissance towards Clipston, no signs of the enemy, and found, when he first sighted his advanced horsemen, that they were falling back, and appar ently in full retreat, although they were really doing nothing of the kind, but merely taking up their allotted positions in a line of battle which, just as he arrived in sight, was being discussed, and possibly being actually formed. Finding the ground unfavourable for the delivery of an immediate attack upon what he imagined to be a retreating foe, he began to edge off to the westward in search of a better line of advance, and meanwhile sent back for and hurried up the whole of his army, with the result that the men must have come up blown and disorganised, and the guns, already at the first or Farn don position distributed over an extended front, for the most II. Q Q 594 N0TE 0N THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. part must have been left behind or brought up too late to be of service in the fight. Meanwhile, at the rendezvous on the Naseby ridge, when it first became evident that the retiring enemy had turned to bay and intended to fight, it would be necessary for Fairfax to reconsider his plans, and to decide whether he should attack the Royalists in their position on the Farndon ridge, or should take measures to receive their onset in a position selected by himself. It is at this point that it becomes diffi cult to account with certainty for the tactical disposal of the Parliamentary army, and that two possible lines of action suggest themselves, either of which may have been adopted by Fairfax. (a) One is that presented by Mr. Gardiner, which I am inclined to support. It is that Fairfax, as soon as he had decided to await the attack of the enemy, proceeded to commence drawing up his own forces in battle order across the Naseby-Harborough road, not, perhaps, on the actual summit of the Naseby ridge, but more in advance towards Clipston, and on the northern spurs of that ridge. In addition to the indications afforded by the statements of Sprigg and W. G. that some such position was possibly, at least partially, taken up, may be added certain tactical considerations which might be supposed to have influence with Fairfax in determining this position for his line of battle. Such an advanced posi tion, as compared with one on the Naseby ridge, would have the advantage of the closer protection of the watercourse and broken ground which exists between Clipston and the Naseby ridge, and at the same time this obstacle to the advance of the enemy — an obstacle which was sufficient to deter, a little later on in the morning, the impetuous Rupert from attack ing what he believed to be a retreating enemy — would be within better striking distance, for the delivery of a favour able counter-attack, should the enemy attempt its passage. Assuming that Fairfax resolved to take up such a position, the time at which the necessary evolutions for its occupation were being carried out by the Parliamentary army would be, I think, at some period between 8 and 8.30 a.m., and would, therefore, probably correspond with the interval of NOTE BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ROSS. 595 time which must have elapsed between the reconnaissances of Ruce and Rupert. The manoeuvres may, indeed, have been going on while Ruce was at Clipston, or thereabouts, making inquiries from individuals who were possibly hostile to the King's party, and therefore not inclined to give him any information ; and they might also not have been evident to him personally owing, as before said, to the nature of the intervening ground. By the time Rupert appeared on the scene, possibly the intention to occupy this position may have been reconsidered by Fairfax, after consultation with his chief officers, and the move to the westward towards the ultimate fighting position above Broadmoor already commenced. Such a supposition would explain how it was that Rupert came to entertain the idea that Fairfax was retiring. Or, again, it may be suggested that the movement of troops which deceived Rupert was only part of the manoeuvres necessary for the occupation of the ground first selected in proper line of battle, the cavalry, in advance of or at the head of the column of route, having necessarily to fall back to take up their positions on the wings or flanks of the infantry. In either case Fairfax's army would be, when Rupert arrived at Clipston, still too close to the watercourse and broken ground between the supposed position and Clipston for the latter to hazard an attack with ihp view of delaying the supposed re tirement of his enemy, and so he proceeded, according to Slingsby, to look for a better line of advance by executing a flank movement to the westward. His doing so would naturally induce Fairfax to suppose that a turning move ment was about to be attempted by the Royalists. Hastily calling a council of war, he resolved, on the suggestion of Cromwell, as recorded by W. G., to remove also his own force westwards, and somewhat backwards, to that western part of the Naseby ridge which is called Mill Hill, and there took up the ultimate Broadmoor position in a large fallow field below the crest of and to the north of Mill Hill. The only objection that can be raised, it appears to me, against this theory of a first position of Fairfax's army is that which has been noticed by Mr. Gardiner, to the effect that none of the contemporary Parliamentary authorities take 596 NOTE ON THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. notice of the circumstance that such a position was actually taken up. But that objection may, I think, be fairly met by the plea that the statements of W. G. and Sprigg appear to indicate that something was done towards the formation of a line of battle before the army was ultimately drawn up on Broadmoor ; but since this preliminary line was never completely formed, the partial occupation of ground which was contiguous to that on which the ultimate fighting posi tion was formed was probably by them considered as not being really different and separable from the ultimate forma tion above Broadmoor. (b) If this supposition be considered by some to be insufficient to nullify the objection, there remains the second theory on which we may fall back, and which is as follows. From the rendezvous Fairfax's army extended in a column of route placed along the Naseby-Clipston-Harborough road, and occupying perhaps nearly a mile in length of that road, with the crest of theNaseby ridge as its central point ; it may have thence removed itself bodily, by means of a flank move ment westwards, to the fighting position on Broadmoor with out adopting any intermediate battle formation. And this movement may be supposed to have been ordered at the time when Fairfax and his principal officers began to imagine that Rupert contemplated a turning movement towards their left flank. But how, if this be supposed, can Cromwell's sugges tion to move ' back ' to ' yonder hill ' be considered applicable to a movement which, regarded as having taken place from the crest of the Naseby ridge, is rather forward and on to ground of a generally lower level ? To this objection it may be replied that Cromwell's words recorded by W. G., on the assumption of the distribution of the army in the column of route formation, would almost certainly have been uttered at some point towards the head of the column where he, as com manding the vanguard of horse, would certainly be, and where Fairfax himself would also be found when the column, in anticipation of an immediate advance, was being formed along the road leading from Naseby to Harborough. From the head of the column, extending, as has been explained, for NOTE BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ROSS. 597 perhaps nearly a mile along the road, Cromwell's ' back ' and ' yonder hill ' would be perfectly appropriate expressions for a movement to be undertaken to the westward by the whole army ; for the speaker would naturally allude to the proposed movement in terms adapted to the inter-relation that would exist between the selected position and the spot on which he himself stood. In carrying out the movement itself, the main body of infantry and train, which probably, in the column of route, occupied the crest of the Naseby ridge, would march along the ridge itself, the ' yonder hill,' till it was in a suitable position to be drawn ' down ' into the ' fallow field ' above Broadmoor ; the cavalry of the vanguard, W. G. being amongst them, would march westwards along the lower northern spurs of the Naseby ridge in sight of Rupert and Slingsby, "marching up," says the latter, "on the side of the hill to that place where after they imbattled their whole army " ; the rearguard horse, during the rendezvous drawn up probably between Naseby ' town ' and Naseby ridge, would march by the fields between Naseby and Mill Ball proper — across those fields in one of which Okey tells us he was engaged in issuing ammunition to his dragoons, a meadow " halfe a mile behinde " (the main body of infantry), when Cromwell rode up to him " presently and caused me with all speed to mount my men and flanck our left wing "- to their allotted position on the left of the battle line ; and the whole army, about 9.30, would be in position above Broadmoor ready to receive the attack of the enemy, and about to justify the wisdom of Cromwell's selection of the ground on which the combat was to take place. Although, as I have said, of the two theories I am in clined to favour the first that has been here discussed, I am willing to admit that there is something to be said in favour of the second, while neither is contrary to such indications as may be gathered from a close study of the statements of eyewitnesses. The choice between the two must be left to the individual judgment of each student of the circumstances immediately preceding the Battle of Naseby. Mr. Gardiner's suggestion that the Naseby obelisk — mis- 598 NOTE ON THE ARMIES AT NASEBY. placed, unfortunately, if its intention was to point out the battlefield — should serve to remind us of the great part played by Cromwell, not only in suggesting the true place for the engagement, but towards obtaining a victory so important and well-timed, will commend itself to all who admire the military abilities of that great leader. W. G. R. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. 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