Chapter XX: THE REIGN OF CHARLES I. (continued) (3)

On leaving York he complimented the Recorder, who had paid him the most fulsome flattery, and the municipal authorities, by telling them that he had there experienced more love than he ever had in London on which he had showered so many benefits. At Durham by the bishop and clergy, and at Newcastle by the corporation, he was magnificently entertained, and at every halting-place fresh quotas of horse and foot came in. "But," remarks Clarendon, "if there had been none in the march but soldiers, it is most probable that a noble peace would have quickly ensued, even without fighting; but the progress was more illustrious than the march, and the soldiers were the least part of the army, and the least consulted with. For," he adds, "the king more intended the pomp of his preparations than the strength of them." The certain proof, he might have added, of a very foolish king, as Charles was. But the "ifs" which Clarendon summons up on this occasion to explain the want of success are amusing. "If the war had been vigorously pursued, it had been as soon ended as begun." "If he had been duly informed of what was going on in Scotland," of course he would have known. "If the whole nation of Scotchmen had been entirely united in the rebellion, and all who stayed in the Court had marched in their army, the king or kingdom could have sustained no damage by them; but the monument of their presumption and their shame would have been razed together, and no other memory preserved of their rebellion but in their memorable and infamous defeat." That is, there would have been no Scottish traitors about him to keep him misinformed. This is just as true as the treasury being well furnished, for we know that Hamilton and Traquair kept the king punctually informed of everything the whole time. "If," however, Charles had more wisely chosen his generals,--but Arundel, his general, was a man, says this veracious historian, "who had nothing martial about him but his presence and his looks, and therefore was thought to be made choice of for his negative qualities. He did not love the Scots; he did not love the Puritans; which good qualities were allayed by another negative--he did love nobody else." The lieutenant-general, the Earl of Essex, was too proud and uncompromising, and the Earl of Holland, general of the horse, was just no general at all, "a man fitter for a show than a field." Yet, says Clarendon, "If the king himself had stayed at London, or, which had been the next best, kept his court and resided at York, and sent the army on its proper errand, and left the matter of the war solely to them, in all human reason his enemies had been speedily subdued." With such generals as Arundel and Holland--for Essex was a brave commander, though, as afterwards appeared, no great tactician--it is not so easy to see that. But Clarendon might have safely reduced all his "ifs" into one--if Charles had been a wise king he would not have got into a quarrel with his subjects at all.

With such generals, and an army of raw levies, hastily dragged reluctantly from the plough and the mattock, to fight in a cause with which they had no sympathy, and encumbered by heaps of useless nobles and gentry, Charles marched on to Berwick, and encamped his forces on an open field called the Birks. He had besides the garrison of Berwick three thousand two hundred and sixty horse, and nineteen thousand six hundred and fourteen foot. But, on the other hand, Leslie, says Clarendon, had drawn up his forces on the side of a hill at Dunse, so as to make a great show. "The front only could be seen, but it was reported that Leslie and the whole army were there; and it was very true, they were all there indeed--but it was as true that all did not exceed the number of nine thousand men, very ill armed, and mostly country fellows, who were on the sudden got together to make that show." Leslie, he informs us, had so dispersed his knot of ragamuffins, with great herds of cattle on the hills around, that it was naturally supposed that there was a large army, the bulk of it concealed behind the hill; and he assures us that had the royal army pushed forward the whole illusion would have vanished.

This account is as thoroughly opposed to all the credible historians of the time, Rushworth, Nalson, Burnet, Baillie, and the letters of distinguished persons engaged, as the whole array of "ifs." We are assured that Leslie had pitched his camp at Dunglas, and twelve thousand volunteers had crowded to his standard. The preachers everywhere called on their hearers to advance the cause of God and the Kirk. Those in the camp wrote and disseminated letters to the same effect. One demanded that every true Scot should go forward to extort a reasonable peace from the king, or to do battle with his and their common enemies, the prelates and papists of England. Another denounced the curse of Meroz on all who did not come to the help of the Lord, and of His champions. Another ironically bade those who would not fight for God and their country to bring spades and bury the saints whom they had abandoned to the swords of the Amalekites. They had chosen for the motto on their banners the words, "For Christ's Crown and the Covenant," and over every captain's tent waved the arms of Scotland and these words. Soldiers therefore flocked in on all sides to the sacred standard, and by the time that Leslie marched for Dunse Hill his army numbered nearly twenty thousand men, many of them new to arms, but all enthusiastic patriots. Twice a day they were summoned by sound of drum to drill and to sermon; and when they were not listening to the exciting harangues of the ministers, they were solacing themselves with singing psalms and reading the Scriptures, or with extempore prayer. "Had you lent your ear," says one of them, "and heard in the tents the sounds of some singing psalms, some praying, some reading Scripture, you would have been refreshed. For myself, I never found my mind in better temper than it was. I was as a man who had taken leave from the world, and was resolved to die in that service without return. I found the favour of God shining upon me, and a sweet, meek, humble, yet strong and vehement spirit leading me all along."

Leslie was joined by the Earl of Montrose, who had been posted at Kelso, and the first of their proceedings was to issue proclamations, declaring that they had no intention to invade England if their reasonable demands were granted; and that their only object was to obtain from the king the confirmation of his promises for the free enjoyment of their religion. Whatever was done in the Scottish camp was freely circulated in the royal camp, for they had plenty of friends there, and the strength, the spirits, and resolution of their army were abundantly set forth daily.

It was the fortune of the Earl of Holland to lead the way first against them. He passed the Tweed near Twizel, where the English army had crossed to the battle of Flodden, and advanced towards the detachment of the army near Kelso. He had with him the bulk of the horse and about three thousand infantry. As if no enemy had been in the country, he trotted on with his horse, till he found himself on the hill of Maxwellhaugh, above Kelso, and not only saw the tents of the enemy, but his way barred by an advanced post of one hundred and fifty horse and five or six thousand foot. He then discovered that his foot and artillery were three or four miles behind. On this he sent a trumpet to the enemy, commanding them not to cross the Border, to which they replied by asking whose trumpet that was, and being told the Earl of Holland's, they said the earl had better take himself off; which it appears he lost no time in doing, and rode back to the general camp without striking a blow. The Scots, when they saw him retreating, sent after him a number of squibs and letters of ridicule, which were speedily circulated through the English army. The generals wrote letters to Essex, Holland, and Arundel, entreating them to intercede with the king that matters might be accommodated without bloodshed. Essex is said to have sent on their letters to the king without a word of reply to their messengers. Arundel and Holland were more gracious.

During this marching and countermarching it was that Leslie had posted his army on Dunse Hill, opposite Charles's camp, and the king, who had hitherto despised the Scottish force, now felt alarmed at their close proximity, and the hasty retreat of Holland. He blamed Lord Arundel for giving him no notice of the approach of the rebels, Arundel blamed the scout-master, and the scout-master blamed the scouts. There were earthworks suddenly thrown up to protect his camp and intimation given that overtures would be listened to. Accordingly, on the 6th of June, 1639, the Earl of Dunfermline, attended by a trumpet, arrived in the royal camp, bearing a humble petition to his majesty, entreating him to appoint a few suitable persons to confer with a deputation from the Scots, so that all misunderstandings might be removed, and the peace of the kingdom preserved. The petition was received, for besides the ill-success of Holland, the ill-success of Hamilton and his fleet was notorious; and it was, moreover, rumoured that the mother of Hamilton, a most zealous covenanter, had paid him a visit on board his vessel, and that he was much disinclined by her persuasions to press the Scots closely. There were daily rumours of a descent from Ireland, on the other hand and of a rising of the Royalists in the Highlands under Lord Aboyne, son of the Earl of Huntly, which rendered the Covenanters more desirous of an accommodation. On the part of the Crown the Earls of Essex, Holland, Salisbury, and Berkshire, Sir Henry Vane, and Mr. Secretary Coke, were appointed commissioners; on that of the Covenanters the Earls of Rothes and Dunfermline, the Lord Loudon, and Sir William Douglas, sheriff of Teviotdale. To these afterwards, much to the displeasure of the king, were added Alexander Henderson, late moderator of the assembly, and Johnstone, the clerk-register. They met in Arundel's tent; but before they could proceed to business, the king suddenly entered, and telling the Scottish commissioners that as he understood they complained that they could not be heard, he had determined to hear them himself, and he demanded what it was they wanted. The Earl of Rothes replied simply, to be secured in their religion and liberty. Loudon made some apology for the boldness of the proceedings of the Scots, but Charles cut him short, telling him that he could admit of no apologies for what was past, but that if they came to implore pardon, they must put down what they had to say in writing, and in writing he would answer them.

This was Charles's peculiar style, by which the negotiation appeared likely to come to a speedy end; but the Scots were firm, and adhered to their old sound principle, declaring that they had sought nothing but their own native rights, and the advancement of his majesty's service, and desired to have those severely punished who had misrepresented them to the king. Some historians assert that Hamilton at this juncture came into the camp from the Forth, and strongly advised the king to close with the Scots; though Clarendon affirms that he did not arrive till after the agreement was signed, and found much fault with it. However this may be, after much debate, and several attempts to overreach the Scots, which their caution defeated, it was agreed that the king should ratify all that had been done by his commissioner, which was next to nothing, though he would not recognise the acts of what he called the pretended General Assembly. But the main and only important concession was that all disputes should be settled by another Assembly, to be held on the 6th of August, and by a Parliament which should ratify its proceedings, to be held on the 20th of August, when an act of oblivion should be passed. Both parties were to disband their armies; the king's forts were to be restored, with all the ammunition; the fleet was to be withdrawn; Scottish merchant vessels and goods were to be returned; and the honours and privileges of the subjects replaced. The king resisted, however, any mention of episcopacy in the agreement; for he was as resolved as ever to reinstate the bishops. And indeed, that same duplicity guided him in this as in other actions of his life, being determined to break the whole agreement on the first possible opportunity. The Covenanters strongly suspected as much; and when Charles, before returning, invited fourteen of the leaders to meet him in Berwick, they had the fear of the Tower before their eyes, and declined the honour, and sent as their commissioners the Earls of Loudon, Lothian, and Montrose. Charles represented that it had been his intention to proceed to Edinburgh, and hold the Parliament in person, but that fresh instances of "the valyance of the godly females" deterred him; his chief officers not being able to show themselves in the streets of Berwick without insult from these good women.

What Charles had failed to do in the Convention at large, he managed to effect to a certain degree with the nobles. Loudon and Lothian were said to be greatly softened by the king's conversation, but Montrose was won over altogether.

The two armies were disbanded on the 24th of June, and the Earl of Traquair was appointed the king's commissioner in Scotland, Hamilton firmly declining to return thither. Charles reached London on the 1st of August, and one of the first things which he did was to write to the Scottish bishops, telling them that he would never abandon the idea of reinstating them, and would in the meantime provide for their support. He forbade them to present themselves at the approaching Assembly or Parliament, as that would ruin everything; but he advised them to send in a protest against the infringement of their rights, and get it presented by some mean person, so as to create not too much notice. Such was Charles's perfidious conduct, at the very moment that he was promising the Covenanters the contrary. Accordingly the bishops fixed themselves in the vicinity of the borders, some at Morpeth, some in Holy Island, some in Berwick itself, keeping up a correspondence with their adherents in the Scottish capital, and ready to rush in again on the first favourable chance.

If we are to believe Clarendon, however, "The king was very melancholy, and quickly discovered that he had lost reputation at home and abroad, and those counsellors who had been most faulty either through want of courage or wisdom--for at that time few of them wanted fidelity--never afterwards recovered spirit enough to do their duty, but gave themselves up to those who so much had outwitted them, every man shifting the fault from himself." On the contrary, he says, "The Scots got so much benefit and advantage by it, that they brought all their other mischievous devices to pass with ease, and a prosperous gale in all they went about." They declared that "they did not intend by anything contained in the treaty, to vacate any of the proceedings which had been in the late General Assembly at Glasgow, by which all the bishops were excommunicated, and renewed all their menaces against them by proclamation, and imposed grievous penalties on all who should presume to harbour any of them, so that by the time the king came to London, it appeared plainly that the army was disbanded without a peace being made, and the Scots in more reputation and equal inclination to affront his majesty than ever." The fact was, that whilst Charles was pretending to concede, meaning to revoke when he had the power, the Scots were conscious of their advantage and did not mean to allow him to do so. They were earnest and outspoken in their resolves, and therefore Charles seized a paper in which they published what had really been promised in the treaty, and had it burned by the common hangman.

The Assembly was opened on the 12th of August in Edinburgh, and in spite of what Charles had assured the bishops, they were given up in the instructions to Traquair, for he meant to resist the abolition of the bishops, and to restore them when he had the power, but endeavoured to make political capital out of this concession. Traquair was to obtain, if possible, the admission of fourteen ministers into Parliament instead of the bishops, or, if that were not possible, as many lay members whom the king was to appoint, and who were to choose the lords of the articles. By these perpetual finesses, Charles continually sought to withdraw the concessions that he made, as though those whom he tried to overreach were not as wide awake as himself. He thought, if he could select the Lords of the Articles, and fourteen others devoted to him, he could revoke in the Parliament what he gave up in the Assembly--the characteristic of short-sighted cunning.

The bishops presented their protest to the Commissioner, which, without being read, was to serve as a proof of their not having yielded up their claims; and the commissioner, finding the Covenanters firm to all their demands--for every member of the Assembly before entering it had sworn to support all the acts of the Assembly of Glasgow--gave the royal assent to all the proceedings, and the news of the overthrow of episcopacy was received with shouts of acclamation by the people.

The Parliament of Scotland met on the day appointed, the 20th of August. There the Covenanters displayed their determination not to stickle for small matters, but to destroy the scheme by which that body had been made dependent on the royal will. They would no longer admit the bishops nor the Lords of the Articles whom the bishops had chosen, and who selected the topics, under the direction of the Crown, which should or should not come before the House. They proposed that the lesser barons, the commissioners of the shires, should take the place of the bishops, and that the Lords of the Articles should be selected from men of each estate, by those estates themselves. In order not to appear obstinate, they permitted the Commissioner to name the Lords of the Articles for this once, not as an act of right, but of grace, from themselves. They then decreed that all acts in favour of episcopacy should be rescinded; that patents of peerage should for the future be granted to none but such as possessed a rental of ten thousand marks from land in Scotland; that proxies should never again be admitted; and that the fortresses of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton, should be entrusted to none but Scotsmen.

These measures would have completely enfranchised Scotland from the shackles of the Crown, and Traquair, unable to avoid the necessity of ratifying them, prorogued the Parliament to the 14th of November, so that he could receive the instructions of the king. Charles, to get rid of the demands of the Covenanters altogether, prorogued it for six months. The members, who saw the intention, protested against the prorogation under circumstances so vital to the country, but obeyed after naming a deputation to go to the king on the subject. This deputation, headed by the Lords Loudon and Dunfermline, on arriving at Whitehall were refused audience, because they had not come with the sanction of the royal Commissioner; and Traquair was immediately summoned to court to answer for having conceded so much to the Scots. He had, indeed, conceded nothing but what Charles himself had instructed him to do but the king was angry because he had not been able to recover in Parliament, as he had vainly hoped, what was lost in the Assembly.

Traquair, who was aware that having implicitly followed these instructions would avail him little with the king in his mortification, thought of an expedient to divert Charles's anger into another channel. He had discovered a letter addressed by the Covenanters to the King of France, complaining of the miserable condition of Scotland through the attempts of the king to root out the religion of the people; of his having violated the late treaty at Berwick, and dissolved Parliament contrary to the will of the states and to all national precedent, and entreating him to mediate in their favour. This letter was signed by seven lords, and addressed _Au Roi_. The letter had been publicly declined by Louis, but privately answered, though in very cautious terms.

The production of this letter had all the effect that Traquair hoped for. The wrath of the king was immediately turned on the Covenanters, and Traquair deepened the impression by assuring the king that nothing but war would pacify the Covenanters, and declaring this discovery to be a perfect justification.

The Scots demanded an opportunity of vindicating themselves, and requested leave to send up deputies for that purpose. It was granted, and Dunfermline and Loudon were sent up. No sooner did they arrive than Loudon, whose name was one of those appended to the intercepted letter, was instantly seized and brought before the Council. The letter being addressed simply _Au Roi_, which was the manner from subjects to their own sovereign, and not as from foreigners, it was deemed treasonable on that ground, if on no other. Loudon asserted that the letter had been written before the pacification at Berwick, and, not being approved, had never been sent, but the contents contradicted that statement; and, moreover, William Colvill, who had carried it to the French court, was in London, and was taken prisoner. Loudon thereupon insisted on his safe conduct, and demanded liberty to return, contending that, if he had done anything wrong, it was in Scotland and not there that he ought to be interrogated. But the king sent both him and Colvill to the Tower.

The Covenanters were greatly incensed at the seizure of their envoy, and demanded his release, but Charles signed a warrant for his execution and was prevented from putting him to death only by the solemn declaration that if he did Scotland was lost for ever. After this it became plain that nothing could avert a conflict between the infatuated king and the Scottish people. Charles's object was to obtain funds; that of the Scots to divide the king's attention by exciting discontent nearer home. England itself had abundant causes of dissatisfaction. The disuse of Parliaments, the continued illegal levying of taxes by the king's own will, the rigorous and ruinous prosecutions in the Star Chamber and the High Commission Court, the brandings, scourgings, and mutilations of such as dared to dispute the awful tyranny of the Government, portended a storm at home ere long, and the Scots found many well-wishers and friends amongst the English patriots. These were everyday drawing into their ranks men of the highest position and the most distinguished talents. The Earls of Essex, Bedford, and Holland were secretly connected with them; the Lord Say, Hampden, Pym, Cromwell, and other men of iron nerve and indomitable will, were watching with deep interest movements in the North so congenial to their own.

Whilst the king was pondering on the means of raising money, an event took place which for the moment promised to present him with a considerable sum. A Spanish fleet of seventy sail was discovered by the Dutch admiral, De Witt, off the Land's End. As it was bearing troops from Spain to Flanders, which were hard pressed by the Dutch, De Witt followed it up the Channel, firing guns to harass its rear, but still more to awake the attention of Van Tromp, who was lying off Dunkirk. The two celebrated Dutch admirals were soon in full chase of the Spaniards. Sixteen of the ships, having four thousand troops on board, bore away with all speed for the coast of Flanders, but the rest fled for shelter into the Downs. Charles sent the Earl of Arundel to inquire of Oquendo the Spanish admiral, what was his destination, being apprehensive lest the fleet might be intended for a descent on Ireland, or in aid of his disaffected subjects of Scotland.

Oquendo satisfied Arundel that they were really on their way to Flanders, and demanded the protection of Charles as a friendly king. Charles was willing to grant it for a consideration, and the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds was the price named in ready cash. For this Charles was to send the Spanish fleet under protection of his own to Flanders; but the two Dutch admirals, having now no less than one hundred sail, from continued fresh arrivals, attacked the Spaniards in the English roads, sank and burned five of the largest vessels, drove twenty-three more on shore, and pursued the rest across the Channel, suffering only ten of them to escape. All this time the English admiral lay near at hand, but made no movement in protection of the Spaniards. The English people on shore beheld the destruction of the Spanish fleet with the utmost exultation, the memory of the great Armada being yet so strong amongst them; but Charles had lost his much desired money, and with the loss had acquired an immense amount of foreign odium. To have suffered the vessels of a friendly Power, which had fled to him for shelter, to be attacked and chased from his own harbour, lowered him greatly in the estimation of Continental nations.

At the time of this untoward occurrence Charles had sent for Wentworth from Ireland, to assist him by his counsels as to the best mode of dealing with his difficulties at home, and the Scots in the North. Wentworth had overridden all obstacles in Ireland, and had forced an income out of the reluctant people there; he was thought, therefore, by Charles the only man whose wisdom and resolution were equal to the crisis. Wentworth had strongly advised Charles not to march against the Scots, knowing that the king's raw levies would have no chance against them; and he had gone on actively drilling ten thousand men, to prepare them for the campaign, which he felt must come, even after all seemed settled at Berwick.

Clarendon, who is a regular Royalist and inclined to see more virtues in Wentworth than other historians of the time, is yet obliged to sketch this picture of the enmities which he justly provoked:--"He was a man of too high and severe deportment, and too great a contemner of ceremony, to have many friends at court, and therefore could not but have enemies enough. He had two that professed it, the Earl of Holland and Sir Henry Vane." Besides having said that "the king would do well to cut off Holland's head," he had insulted the Earl in various ways. He had done all he could to prevent Sir Henry Vane from being made secretary in place of Sir John Coke, whom the king removed on his return from Scotland; but, worse still, Charles now creating him Earl of Strafford, nothing would satisfy him but that he must be also made Baron of Proby, Vane's own estate, from which he himself hoped to derive that title. "That," continues Clarendon, "was an act of the most unnecessary provocation that I have known, and though he contemned the man with marvellous scorn, I believe it was the loss of his head. To these a third adversary, like to be more pertinacious than the other two, was the Earl of Essex, naturally enough disinclined to his person, his power, and his parts." This enmity in Essex, we are told, was increased by Wentworth's insolent conduct to Lord Bacon, for whom Essex had a friendship; and he openly vowed vengeance. "Lastly, he had an enemy more terrible than all the others, and like to be more fatal, the whole Scottish nation, provoked by the declaration he had procured of Ireland, and some high carriage and expressions of his against them in that kingdom." Moreover, Wentworth had no friend in the queen, from his persecution of the Catholics in Ireland, and was continually thwarted by her.

But all these councillors could devise no way to raise funds but by the old and irritating mode of ship-money, for which writs to the amount of two hundred thousand pounds were immediately issued, and this bearing no proportion to the requirements of a campaign against the Scots, they advised Charles to call together a Parliament. To this he demurred; but when they persisted in that advice, he ordered a full Council to be called, and put to it this question:--"If this Parliament should prove as untoward as some have lately been, will you then assist me in such extraordinary ways as in that extremity should be thought fit?"

Charles was thus bent on extraordinary ways, and the Council promised him its support. Wentworth returned to Ireland, being not only created Earl of Strafford, but made Lord-lieutenant of that country. He promised to obtain a liberal vote from the Irish Parliament, which it was thought might act as a salutary example for England. Accordingly, no one daring to oppose his wishes, he obtained four subsidies, with a promise of more if found necessary. The English Parliament was delayed till this was effected, and was then summoned for the 13th of April. To assist the king and council in what was felt to be a critical emergency, Wentworth, now Strafford, returned, though suffering from a painful complaint. He left orders for the immediate levy of an army of eight thousand men, and Charles took measures for the raising in England of fifteen thousand foot and four thousand horse, which he thought would serve to overawe Parliament; and, what is singular, the order for the raising of these troops and providing artillery and ammunition was signed by Laud, so little had he an idea of an archbishop being a minister of the Prince of Peace. Before the arrival of Strafford, Charles read to the Council the account of the liberal subsidies and the loyal expressions which Strafford had put into the mouths of the enslaved Irish Commons. This he did at the request of Strafford himself, to prove not only the loyalty of the Irish, but his own popularity there, in spite of the assertions of his being hated in that country.

When the king met the Parliament on the 13th of April he had not abated one jot of his high-flown notions of his divine right, and of the slavish obedience due from Parliament. The Lord Keeper Finch formerly Speaker of the House but now more truly in his element as a courtier, made a most fulsome speech, describing the king as "the most just, the most pious, the most gracious king that ever was." He informed them that for many years in his piety towards them he had taken all the annoyances of government from them, and raised the condition and reputation of the country to a wonderful splendour; that, notwithstanding such exemplary virtues and exhibitions of goodness, some sons of Belial had blown the trumpet of rebellion in Scotland, and that it was now necessary to chastise that stiff-necked people; that they must therefore lay aside all other subjects, and imitate the loyal Parliament of Ireland in furnishing liberal supplies; that had not the king, upon the credit of his servants and out of his own estate, raised three hundred thousand pounds, he could not have made the preparations already in progress; and that they must therefore grant him tonnage and poundage from the beginning of his reign, and vote the subsidies at once, when his Majesty would pledge his royal word that he would take into his gracious consideration their grievances. And all this attempt to get the supplies before the discussion of grievances, from sturdy commoners who had never yet given way to force or flattery!

FROM THE WALL PAINTING IN THE ROYAL EXCHANGE, BY SOLOMON J. SOLOMON, A.R.A]

Charles then produced the intercepted letters of the Scottish lords to the King of France, to show the treason of the Scots and the necessity of taking decisive measures with them. But the Commons were not likely to be moved from their settled purpose by any such arguments. They elected Serjeant Glanvil as Speaker, and proceeded first and foremost to the discussion of the grievances of the nation. Amongst their old members--though the brave Sir John Eliot had perished in prison, and Sir Edward Coke, who by his later years of patriotism had effaced the memory of the arbitrary spirit of his earlier ones, was also dead--there were Oliver Cromwell, now sitting for Cambridge, Pym, Hampden, Denzil Holles, Maynard, Oliver St. John, Strode, Corriton, Hayman, and Haselrig. There were amongst the new ones, Harbottle Grimston, Edmund Waller, the poet, Lord George Digby, the son of the Earl of Bristol, a young man of eminent talent, and other men destined to become prominent. Sir Benjamin Rudyard and Grimston delivered speeches recommending at once courtesy and respect towards the Crown, but unflinching support of the rights of the people. Harbottle Grimston described the commonwealth as miserably torn and massacred, all property and liberty shaken, the Church distracted, the Gospel and professors of it persecuted, Parliament suspended, and the laws made void. Sir Benjamin Rudyard protested that he desired nothing so much as that they might proceed with moderation, but that if Parliaments were gone, they were lost. A remarkable feature of this Parliament was the number of petitions sent in by the people. These were poured in against ship-money and other abuses, as the Star Chamber and High Commission Court, from the counties of Hertford, Essex, and Sussex. After these matters had been warmly debated for four days, for the king had many advocates in the House, on the 17th Mr. Pym delivered a most eloquent and impressive speech, in which he narrated the many attacks on the privileges of Parliament and the liberty of the subject, and laid down the constitutional doctrine "that the king can do no wrong," thus bringing the conduct and counsels of his ministers under the direct censure of the House, and loading them with the solemn responsibility--an awful foreshadowing of the judgments to come on Laud and Wentworth. From that point the debate turned on the arbitrary treatment of the members of the Commons, and orders were issued for a report of the proceedings of the Star Chamber and the Court of King's Bench against Sir John Eliot, Mr. Holles, and Mr. Hampden, to be laid on the table of the House. The conduct of the late Speaker Finch, in adjourning the House at the command of the king, was declared unconstitutional.

The king could no longer restrain his impatience, and summoned both Houses before him in the Banqueting Hall. There the Lord Keeper Finch, in the presence of Charles, recalled their attention to the necessity of voting the supplies, and repeated the king's promises. He endeavoured to excuse the raising of ship-money as a necessity for chastising the Algerine pirates who infested the seas, and again recommended the liberal example of the Irish Parliament. The only effect produced by this was a most vivid and trenchant speech the next day by Waller, in which he told the House that the king was personally beloved, but that his mode of extorting his subjects' money was detested; and that neither the admiration of his majesty's natural disposition, nor the pretended consent of the judges, could ever induce them to consent to such unconstitutional demands. He then severely castigated the conduct of the bishops and clergy who preached the divine right of monarchs to plunder the public at their own pleasure. "But," said he, "they gain preferment by it, and then it is no matter, though they neither believe themselves nor are believed by others. But since they are so ready to let loose the consciences of their kings, we are bound the more carefully to provide against this pulpit law, by declaring and enforcing the municipal laws of this kingdom."

This again roused the king, who went down to the Lords, and read them a sharp lesson on their not supporting him in his just demands of supplies from the Commons. Thereupon the Lords sent for the Commons to a conference on the 29th of April, and recommended them to pass the votes and take the king's word for the redress of grievances; but the Commons resented their intruding their advice about money matters as an infringement of the privileges of the House; and on the 1st of May, the Lords, through the Lord Keeper, disclaimed any intention of encroaching on any of the well-known rights of the Commons, but that the Lords had felt bound to comply with the request of the king. The Commons returned to their debate on ship-money, and on Saturday, the 2nd of May, Charles sent a message by Sir Henry Vane, now Secretary of State and Treasurer of the Household, desiring an immediate answer regarding the supplies. Lord Digby reminded the House that the demand was that of a hasty and immediate answer to a call for funds to involve the nation in a civil war with the Scots, a people holding the same religion and subjects of the same king as themselves. The debate was continued for two days, Clarendon accusing Vane of deliberately keeping from the House the fact entrusted to him, that the king, though asking for twelve subsidies, would consent to take eight.

But it was not so much the amount as the principle involved in the subsidies which was the question; for, on the 4th of May, Charles sent Vane again with the remarkable offer to abolish ship-money for ever, and by any means that they should think fit, on condition that they granted him twelve subsidies, valued at eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds, to be paid in three years, with an assurance that the House should not be prorogued till next Michaelmas. This was a mighty temptation: here was the direct offer of at once getting rid of one of the monster grievances for ever; but it did not escape the attention of the more sagacious that, by accepting the bargain, they were conceding the king's right to set aside the most established laws, to force his own notions of religion on his subjects, and to make war on them if they refused. They rejected the snare, and maintained the debate for some hours against all the arguments of the Court party. On rising, they informed Vane that they would resume the debate the next morning at eight o'clock; but Sir Henry, seeing very well how it would terminate, assured the king in Council that he was certain that the House would not grant him a penny for the war against the Scots.

On this Charles adopted one of his stratagems. Early in the morning he sent for Glanvil the Speaker, before the Commons had assembled, and detained him at Whitehall, so that the Commons without him could not vote against the supplies, nor protest against the war; and suddenly hastening to the House of Lords, he sent for the Commons and dismissed them. In doing this, he praised the peers at the expense of the Commons, and declared that as to the liberties of the people which the Commons made so much talk of, they had not more regard for them than he had.

This was the last Parliament which Charles was ever to dissolve, and the folly of his conduct became speedily palpable. The Parliament had only sat about three weeks, having met on the 13th of April, and being now dissolved on May 5th. By this hasty act the king had put himself wholly on the army. Had he allowed the Commons to vote against the supplies, many would have sympathised with him; now he had only himself to blame. His enemies rejoiced, exceedingly, and his friends deplored the deed with gloomy auguries.

The king was made to feel his mistake, on applying to the City of London for a loan and receiving a cool and evasive answer. The Scots were greatly elated. They had their agents in close though secret communication with the leaders of the opposition, and now saw the king deprived of the means of effectually contending with them, and felt that they had numerous friends of their cause in England. The passion of the king only increased their advantages. He issued a proclamation declaring why he had dismissed the Parliament, charging the Commons with malice and disaffection to the State, and with designing to bring government and magistracy into contempt; and he gave fresh proofs of his vindictive feeling by arresting a number of the members the day after the dissolution. The public had not forgotten the cruelty practised on their faithful servant Sir John Eliot, and they now saw Sir John Hotham and Mr. Bellasis committed to the Fleet, Mr. Crew, afterwards Lord Crew, to the Tower, and the house of Lord Brooke forced, and his study and cabinets broken open in a search for papers.

To add to the general exasperation, Laud, who had summoned Convocation previous to the meeting of Parliament, continued its sessions after the dissolution, contrary to all custom; and its sitting was employed to pass a series of seventeen new canons of the most offensive and slavish kind. The public excitement was so great against the innovation that the Lord Keeper Finch and some of the judges had to furnish a written opinion declaring the right of Convocation to sit after the close of Parliament, and a new commission was issued with the usual words, "during the Parliament," altered to "during our pleasure." But a guard of soldiers was deemed necessary to protect the sittings, in which the clergy first voted six subsidies to the king, and then passed to the canons, one of which ordered that every clergyman once a quarter should instruct his parishioners in the divine right of kings, and the damnable sin of resisting authority. Others fulminated the most flaming intolerance of Catholics, Socinians, and Separatists. All clergymen and graduates of the universities were called on to take an oath declaring the sufficiency of the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England, in opposition to Presbyterianism and Popery.

On the publication of these canons, great was the ferment in the country, and petitions and remonstrances from Northampton, Kent, Devon, and other counties, were sent up against them. The code was most ungracious as regarded the Catholics, who had just presented to the king, at the suggestion of the queen, fourteen thousand pounds. The queen remonstrated against it, and the king gave orders to Laud to desist from further annoyance in that direction. But anger and discontent were spreading throughout the country, from the outrageous measures to raise money. Fresh writs of ship-money were issued, and many victims were dragged into the Star Chamber for refusal to pay, and fined, so that their money was obtained by one process or the other. The names of the richest citizens were picked out in order to demand loans from them. Bullion, the property of foreign merchants, was seized at the Mint, and forty thousand pounds were extorted for its release; and bags of pepper on the Exchange were sold at whatever they would fetch. It was next proposed to coin four hundred thousand pounds' worth of bad money; but the merchants and other intelligent men came forward and drew such a picture of the ruin and confusion that such an act would produce, that the king was alarmed, and gave the project up. The Council, however, hit upon the scheme of purchasing goods at long credit, and selling them at a low price for ready money. All this time large sums of money were levied throughout the land by violence, for the support of the troops collected for the campaign against the Scots. Carts, horses, and forage were seized at the sword's point; and whoever dared to represent these outrages to the king was branded as an enemy to the Government. The Corporation of London was dealt with severely, because it showed no fondness for enforcing the king's arbitrary demands. The Lord Mayor and sheriffs were cited into the Star Chamber for remissness in levying the ship-money; and several of the aldermen were committed to prison for refusing to furnish the names of such persons in their wards as were able to contribute to Charles's forced loans. Strafford said things would never go right till a few fat London aldermen were hanged.

These desperate measures inflamed the public mind beyond expression, and greatly strengthened the league of the discontented with the Scots. All except the insane tyrants who were thus forcing the nation to rebellion, could see tempests ahead; and the Earl of Northumberland, writing to a friend, said, "It is impossible that all things can long remain in the condition they are now in: so general a defection in this kingdom hath not been known in the memory of man." The disaffection began to find expression, and, according to Clarendon, inflammatory placards were scattered about the City and affixed on gates and public places, denouncing the king's chief advisers. Laud, Strafford, and Hamilton, were the marks of the most intense hatred, and the London apprentices were invited, by a bill posted on the Royal Exchange, to demolish the episcopal palace at Lambeth and "haul out William the fox."

The train-bands assembled and kept the peace by day, but at night a mob of five hundred assembled and attacked Lambeth Palace, and demolished the windows, vowing that they would tear the archbishop to pieces. In a couple of hours the train-bands arrived, fired on them, and dispersed the multitude. Laud got away to Whitehall, where he remained some days, till the damages were repaired and the house was fortified with cannon. Another crowd, said to be two thousand in number, entered St. Paul's, where the High Commission Court sat, tore down the benches, and cried out, "No bishop! no High Commission!" A number of rioters were seized by the train-bands and lodged in the White Lion Prison; but the prison was forced open by the insurgents, and their associates released all but two, a sailor and a drummer, who were executed, according to some authorities; according to others, only one was thus disposed of.

The king was greatly alarmed at this outbreak. He removed the queen to Greenwich, as she was near her confinement, and placed a strong guard over the palace with sixteen pieces of cannon; nor was he easy till he saw a force of six thousand men at hand.

The time for the meeting of the Scottish Parliament had now arrived, and Charles sought to prevent it by another prorogation; but the Scots were not to be put off in any such manner. The king had for some time been treating them like a nation at war; he had prohibited all trade with Scotland, and his men-of-war had been ordered to seize its merchantmen, wherever found. The Scots therefore met on the 2nd of January, set aside the king's warrant of prorogation on the plea of informality, and the members took their seats, elected a president, an officer hitherto unknown, and passed the new Acts. They then voted a tax of ten per cent. on all rents, and five per cent. on interest of money to open the inevitable campaign; and, before rising, appointed a Committee of Estates for the government of the kingdom till the next meeting of Parliament. This Committee was to sit either at Edinburgh or at the place where the headquarters of the army should be, and a bond was entered into to support the authority of Parliament, and to give to the statutes which it had passed or should pass the same force as if they had received the royal assent.

But they had not waited for Parliament to take the necessary steps for organisation of the army. They had retained in full pay the experienced officers whom they had invited from Germany, and the soldiers who had disbanded at the pacification of Berwick returned with alacrity to their colours in March and April. Leslie was still commander-in-chief, and determined to reduce the castle of Edinburgh before marching south. It was in vain that Charles issued his proclamations, warning them of the treasonable nature of their proceedings; they went on as if animated by one spirit, and determined not only to strike the first blow, but to advance into England instead of waiting to be attacked at home.

Charles, on his part, was far from being so early ready or so well served. His plans for the campaign were grand. He proposed to attack Scotland on three sides at once--with twenty thousand men from England, with ten thousand from the Highlands under the Marquis of Hamilton, and with the same number from Ireland under Strafford. But his total want of funds prevented his progress, and the resort to the lawless practices which we have related for raising them, was alienating the hearts of his English subjects from him in an equal degree. It was not till the month of July, and the loan of three hundred thousand pounds by the Lords, that he dared to issue writs for the number of forces. Thus the Scots were ready for action when the king was only mobilising an army.

In the appointment of commanders gross blunders were committed. The Earls of Essex, Holland, and Arundel were set aside, and this, with personal affronts to Essex, tended to throw these officers into the interest of the opposition. Essex and Holland were at undisguised hostility with Strafford, and as he was to take a leading part in the campaign, they were kept out of it to oblige him. The Earl of Northumberland was appointed commander-in-chief instead of Arundel, but was prevented by a severe illness from acting; and Strafford was desired to leave Ireland in the charge of the Earl of Ormond, and take the chief command, which he consented to do, but nominally only as lieutenant to Northumberland. Lord Conway was made general of the horse, partly because he had been born a soldier in his father's garrison of Brell, and had held several subordinate commands; but still more from the causes which put incompetent generals at the head of our armies in later times--Court influence.

On the 29th of June Leslie collected his army at Chouseley Wood, near Dunse, his former camp, and drilled them there three weeks. He had entrusted the siege of the castle of Edinburgh to a select party, and had the pleasure soon after this period to hear of its surrender to his officers. Meanwhile, Conway was advancing northward, and soon gave evidence of his gross incapacity, by writing in all his despatches to Windebank, the Secretary of State, "that the Scotch had not advanced their preparations to that degree, that they would be able to march that year." But the king, Clarendon says, had much better information, and ought to have distrusted the vigilance of such a commander. Moreover, his soldiers displayed a most decided aversion to the service. They were evidently leavened with the same leaven of reform as the Parliament. They wanted to know whether their officers were Papists, and would not be satisfied till they saw them take the Sacrament. "They laid violent hands," says May, "on divers of their commanders, and killed some, uttering in bold speeches their distaste to the cause, to the astonishment of many, that common people should be sensible of public interest and religion, when lords and gentlemen seemed not to be."