The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (398 page)

The queen, disposing of the crown-jewels in Holland, had been enabled to purchase a cargo of arms and ammunition. Part of these, after escaping many perils, arrived safely to the king. His preparations were not near so forward as those of the parliament. In order to remove all jealousy, he had resolved, that their usurpations and illegal pretensions should be apparent to the whole world, and thought, that, to recover the confidence of the people, was a point much more material to his interest, than the collecting of any magazines, stores or armies, which might breed apprehensions of violent or illegal counsels. But the urgent necessity of his situation no longer admitted of delay. He now prepared himself for defence. With a spirit, activity, and address, which neither the one party apprehended, nor the other expected, he employed all the advantages which remained to him, and roused up his adherents to arms. The resources of this prince’s genius encreased in proportion to his difficulties; and he never appeared greater than when plunged into the deepest perils and distresses. From the mixed character, indeed, of Charles, arose in part the misfortunes, in which England was at this time involved. His political errors, or rather weaknesses, had raised him inveterate enemies: His eminent moral virtues had procured him zealous partizans: And between the hatred of the one, and the affections of the other, was the nation agitated with the most violent convulsions.

That the king might despair of all composition, the parliament sent him the conditions, on which they were willing to come to an agreement. Their demands, contained in nineteen propositions, amounted to a total abolition of monarchical authority. They required, that no man should remain in the council, who was not agreeable to parliament; that no deed of the king’s should have validity, unless it passed the council, and was attested under their hand; that all the officers of state and PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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principal judges should be chosen with consent of parliament, and enjoy their offices for life; that none of the royal family should marry without consent of parliament or council; that the laws should be executed against catholics; that the votes of popish lords should be excluded; that the reformation of the liturgy and church-government should have place, according to advice of parliament; that the ordinance, with regard to the militia, be submitted to; that the justice of parliament pass upon all delinquents; that a general pardon be granted, with such exceptions as should be advised by parliament; that the forts and castles be disposed of by consent of parliament; and that no peer be made but with consent of both houses.
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“Should I grant these demands,” said the king in reply, “I may be waited on bareheaded; I may have my hand kissed; the title of Majesty may be continued to me; and
The king’s authority, signified by both houses,
may still be the stile of your commands; I may have swords and maces carried before me, and please myself with the sight of a crown and scepter (though even these twigs would not long flourish, when the stock upon which they grew was dead): But as to true and real power, I should remain but the outside, but the picture, but the sign of a king.”
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War on any terms was esteemed, by the king and all his counsellors, preferable to so ignominious a peace. Charles accordingly resolved to support his authority by arms. “His towns,”

he said, “were taken from him, his ships, his arms, his money; but there still remained to him a good cause, and the hearts of his loyal subjects, which, with God’s blessing, he doubted not, would recover all the rest.” Collecting therefore some forces, he advanced southwards;

and at Nottingham he erected his royal standard, the open signal 25th Aug.

of discord and civil war throughout the kingdom.

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LVI

Commencement of the civil war — State of parties — Battle of Edgehill —

Negociation at Oxford — Victories of the royalists in the west — Battle of Stratton —

Of Lansdown — Of Roundway-down — Death of Hambden — Bristol taken — Siege
of Gloucester — Battle of Newbury — Actions in the north of England — Solemn
league and covenant — Arming of the Scots — State of Ireland
When two names,

so sacred in the English constitution as those of KING and

1642.

PARLIAMENT, were placed in opposition; no wonder the

Commencement of

people were divided in their choice, and were agitated with most the civil war.

violent animosities and factions.

The nobility, and more considerable gentry, dreading a total confusion of rank from the fury of the populace, inlisted themselves in defence of the monarch, from whom they received, and to whom they communicated their lustre.

Animated with the spirit of loyalty, derived from their ancestors, State of parties.

they adhered to the ancient principles of the constitution, and valued themselves on exerting the maxims, as well as inheriting the possessions, of the old English families. And while they passed their time mostly at their country-seats, they were surprised to hear of opinions prevailing, with which they had ever been unacquainted, and which implied, not a limitation, but an abolition almost total, of monarchical authority.

The city of London, on the other hand, and most of the great corporation, took part with the parliament, and adopted with zeal those democratical principles, on which the pretensions of that assembly were founded. The government of cities, which even under absolute monarchies, is commonly republican, inclined them to this party: The small hereditary influence, which can be retained over the industrious inhabitants of towns; the natural independence of citizens; and the force of popular currents over those more numerous associations of mankind; all these causes gave, there, authority to the new principles propagated throughout the nation. Many families too, which had lately been enriched by commerce, saw with indignation, that notwithstanding their opulence, they could not raise themselves to a level with the ancient gentry: They therefore adhered to a power, by whose success they hoped to acquire rank and

consideration.q
And the new splendor and glory of the Dutch commonwealth, where liberty so happily supported industry, made the commercial part of the nation desire to see a like form of government established in England.

The genius of the two religions, so closely at this time interwoven with politics, corresponded exactly to these divisions. The presbyterian religion was new, republican, and suited to the genius of the populace: The other had an air of greater show and ornament, was established on ancient authority, and bore an affinity to the kingly and aristocratical parts of the constitution. The devotees of presbytery became PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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of course zealous partizans of the parliament: The friends of the episcopal church valued themselves on defending the rights of monarchy.

Some men also there were of liberal education, who, being either careless or ignorant of those disputes, bandied about by the clergy of both sides, aspired to nothing but an easy enjoyment of life, amidst the jovial entertainment and social intercourse of their companions. All these flocked to the king’s standard, where they breathed a freer air, and were exempted from that rigid preciseness and melancholy austerity, which reigned among the parliamentary party.

Never was a quarrel more unequal than seemed at first that between the contending parties: Almost every advantage lay against the royal cause. The king’s revenue had been seized, from the beginning, by the parliament, who issued out to him, from time to time, small sums for his present subsistence; and as soon as he withdrew to York, they totally stopped all payments. London and all the sea-ports, except Newcastle, being in their hands, the customs yielded them a certain and considerable supply of money; and all contributions, loans, and impositions, were more easily raised from the cities, which possessed the ready money, and where men lived under their inspection, than they could be levied by the king in those open countries, which, after some time, declared for him.

The seamen naturally followed the disposition of the sea-ports, to which they belonged: And the earl of Northumberland, lord admiral, having embraced the party of the parliament, had appointed at their desire, the earl of Warwic to be his lieutenant; who at once established his authority in the fleet, and kept the entire dominion of the sea in the hands of that assembly.

All the magazines of arms and ammunition were from the first seized by the parliament; and their fleet intercepted the greater part of those which were sent by the queen from Holland. The king was obliged, in order to arm his followers, to borrow the weapons of the train-bands, under promise of restoring them as soon as peace should be settled in the kingdom.

The veneration for parliaments was at this time extreme throughout the nation.
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The custom of reviling those assemblies for corruption, as it had no pretence, so was it unknown, during all former ages. Few or no instances of their encroaching ambition or selfish claims had hitherto been observed. Men considered the house of commons, in no other light than as the representatives of the nation, whose interest was the same with that of the public, who were the eternal guardians of law and liberty, and whom no motive, but the necessary defence of the people, could ever engage in an opposition to the crown. The torrent, therefore, of general affection, ran to the parliament. What is the great advantage of popularity; the privilege of affixing epithets fell of course to that party. The king’s adherents were the
Wicked
and the
Mali[chgnant:
Their adversaries were the
Godly
and the
Well-affected.
And as the force of the cities was more united than that of the country, and at once gave shelter and protection to the parliamentary party, who could easily suppress the royalists in their neighbourhood; almost the whole kingdom, at the commencement of the war,

seemed to be in the hands of the parliament.s

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What alone gave the king some compensation for all the advantages possessed by his adversaries, was, the nature and qualities of his adherents. More bravery and activity were hoped for, from the generous spirit of the nobles and gentry, than from the base disposition of the multitude. And as the men of estates, at their own expence, levied and armed their tenants; besides an attachment to their masters, greater force and courage were to be expected in these rustic troops, than in the vicious and enervated populace of cities.

The neighbouring states of Europe, being engaged in violent wars, little interested themselves in these civil commotions; and this island enjoyed the singular advantage (for such it surely was) of fighting out its own quarrels without the interposition of foreigners. France, from policy, had fomented the first disorders in Scotland; had sent over arms to the Irish rebels; and continued to give countenance to the English parliament: Spain, from bigotry, furnished the Irish with some supplies of money and arms. The prince of Orange, closely allied to the crown, encouraged English officers, who served in the Low Countries, to enlist in the king’s army: The Scottish officers, who had been formed in Germany, and in the late commotions, chiefly took part with the parliament.

The contempt, entertained by the parliament, for the king’s party, was so great, that it was the chief cause of pushing matters to such extremities against him; and many believed that he never would attempt resistance, but must soon yield to the pretensions, however enormous, of the two houses. Even after his standard was erected, men could not be brought to apprehend the danger of a civil war; nor was it imagined, that he would have the imprudence to enrage his implacable enemies, and render his own condition more desperate, by opposing a force, which was so much superior. The low condition, in which he appeared at Nottingham, confirmed all these hopes. His artillery, though far from numerous, had been left at York, for want of horses to transport it. Besides the trained bands of the county, raised by Sir John Digby, the sheriff, he had not gotten together above three hundred infantry. His cavalry, in which consisted his chief strength, exceeded not eight hundred, and were very ill provided with arms. The forces of the parliament lay at Northampton, within a few days march of him; and consisted of above six thousand men, well armed and well appointed. Had these troops advanced upon him, they must soon have dissipated the small force, which he had assembled. By pursuing him in his retreat, they had so discredited his cause and discouraged his adherents, as to have for ever prevented his collecting an army able to make head against them. But the earl of Essex, the parliamentary general, had not yet received any orders from his masters.
t
What rendered them so backward, after such precipitate steps as they had formerly taken, is not easily explained. It is probable, that, in the extreme distress of his party, consisted the present safety of the king. The parliament hoped, that the royalists, sensible of their feeble condition, and convinced of their slender resources, would disperse of themselves, and leave their adversaries a victory, so much the more complete and secure, as it would be gained without the appearance of force, and without bloodshed.

Perhaps too, when it became necessary to make the concluding step, and offer barefaced violence to their sovereign, their scruples and apprehensions, though not sufficient to overcome their resolutions, were able to retard the execution of them.
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