The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (405 page)

Essex’s forces disarmed — Second battle of Newbury — Rise and character of the
Independents — Self-denying ordinance — Fairfax, Cromwell — Treaty of Uxbridge

— Execution of Laud

The king had hitherto, during the course of the war, obtained 1644.

many advantages over the parliament, and had raised himself, from that low condition, into which he had first fallen, to be nearly upon an equal footing with his adversaries. Yorkshire, and all the northern counties, were reduced by the marquess of Newcastle; and, excepting Hull, the parliament was master of no garrison in these quarters. In the west, Plymouth alone, having been in vain besieged by prince Maurice, resisted the king’s authority: And had it not been for the disappointment in the enterprize of Gloucester, the royal garrisons had reached, without interruption, from one end of the kingdom to the other; and had occupied a greater extent of ground, than those of the parliament. Many of the royalists flattered themselves, that the same vigorous spirit, which had elevated them to the present height of power, would still favour their progress, and obtain them a final victory over their enemies: But those who judged more soundly, observed, that, besides the accession of the whole Scottish nation to the side of the parliament; the very principle, on which the royal successes had been founded, was every day acquired, more and more, by the opposite party. The king’s troops, full of gentry and nobility, had exerted a valour superior to their enemies, and had hitherto been successful in almost every rencounter: But in proportion as the whole nation became warlike, by the continuance of civil discords, this advantage was more equally shared; and superior numbers, it was expected, must at length obtain the victory. The king’s troops also, ill paid, and destitute of every necessary, could not possibly be retained in equal discipline with the parliamentary forces, to whom all supplies were furnished from unexhausted

stores and treasures.o
The severity of manners, so much affected by these zealous religionists, assisted their military institutions; and the rigid inflexibility of character, by which the austere reformers of church and state were distinguished, enabled the parliamentary chiefs to restrain their soldiers within stricter rules and more exact order. And while the king’s officers indulged themselves even in greater licences, than those to which, during times of peace, they had been accustomed, they were apt, both to neglect their military duty, and to set a pernicious example of disorder, to the soldiers under their command.

At the commencement of the civil war, all Englishmen, who served abroad, were invited over, and treated with extraordinary respect: And most of them, being descended of good families, and by reason of their absence, unacquainted with the new principles, which depressed the dignity of the crown, had inlisted under the royal standard. But it is observable, that, though the military profession requires great genius, and long experience, in the principal commanders, all its subordinate duties may be discharged by ordinary talents, and from superficial practice. Citizens and country-gentlemen soon became excellent officers; and the generals of greatest fame PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

280

http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/792

Online Library of Liberty: The History of England, vol. 5

and capacity happened, all of them, to spring up on the side of the parliament. The courtiers and great nobility, in the other party, checked the growth of any extraordinary genius among the subordinate officers; and every man there, as in regular established government, was confined to the station, in which his birth had placed him.

The king, that he might make preparations, during winter, for the ensuing campaign, summoned to Oxford all the members of either house, who adhered to his interests; and endeavoured to avail himself of the name of parliament, so passionately cherished by the English nation.
p
The house of peers was pretty full; and besides the nobility, employed in different parts of the kingdom, it contained twice as many members as commonly voted at Westminster. The house of commons consisted of about 140; which amounted not to above half of the other house of commons.
q

So extremely light had government hitherto lain upon the people, that the very name of
excise
was unknown to them; and among the other evils arising from these domestic wars, was the introduction of that impost into England. The parliament at Westminster having voted an excise on beer, wine, and other commodities; those at Oxford imitated the example, and conferred that revenue on the king. And in order to enable him the better to recruit his army, they granted him the sum of 100,000 pounds, to be levied by way of loan upon the subject. The king circulated privy seals, countersigned by the speakers of both houses, requiring the loan of particular sums, from such persons as lived within his quarters.
r
Neither party had as yet got above the pedantry of reproaching their antagonists with these illegal measures.

The Westminster parliament passed a whimsical ordinance, commanding all the inhabitants of London and the neighbourhood, to retrench a meal a week, and to pay

the value of it for the support of the public cause.s
It is easily imagined, that, provided the money were paid, they troubled themselves but little about the execution of their ordinance.

Such was the king’s situation, that, in order to restore peace to the nation, he had no occasion to demand any other terms, than the restoring of the laws and constitution; the replacing him in the same rights which had ever been enjoyed by his predecessors; and the re-establishing, on its ancient basis, the whole frame of government, civil as well as ecclesiastical. And that he might facilitate an end, seemingly so desirable, he offered to employ means equally popular, an universal act of oblivion, and a toleration or indulgence to tender consciences. Nothing therefore could contribute more to his interests, than every discourse of peace, and every discussion of the conditions, upon which that blessing could be obtained. For this reason, he solicited a treaty, on all occasions, and desired a conference and mutual examination of pretensions, even when he entertained no hopes, that any conclusion could possibly result from it.

For like reasons, the parliament prudently avoided, as much as possible, all advances towards negociation, and were cautious not to expose too easily to censure those high terms, which their apprehensions or their ambition made them previously demand of the king. Though their partizans were blinded with the thickest veil of religious PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

281

http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/792

Online Library of Liberty: The History of England, vol. 5

prejudices, they dreaded to bring their pretensions to the test, or lay them open before the whole nation. In opposition to the sacred authority of the laws, to the venerable precedents of many ages, the popular leaders were ashamed to plead nothing but fears and jealousies, which were not avowed by the constitution, and for which, neither the personal character of Charles, so full of virtue, nor his situation, so deprived of all independent authority, seemed to afford any reasonable foundation. Grievances which had been fully redressed; powers, either legal or illegal, which had been entirely renounced; it seemed unpopular, and invidious, and ungrateful, any farther to insist on.

The king, that he might abate the universal veneration, paid to the name of parliament, had issued a declaration, in which he set forth all the tumults, by which himself and his partizans in both houses had been driven from London; and he thence inferred, that the assembly at Westminster was no longer a free parliament, and, till its liberty were restored, was intitled to no authority. As this declaration was an obstacle to all treaty, some contrivance seemed requisite, in order to elude it.

A letter was written, in the foregoing spring, to the earl of Essex, and subscribed by

the prince, the duke of York, and forty-three noblemen.t
They there exhort him to be an instrument of restoring peace, and to promote that happy end with those, by whom he was employed. Essex, though much disgusted with the parliament, though apprehensive of the extremities to which they were driving, though desirous of any reasonable accommodation; yet was still more resolute to preserve an honourable fidelity to the trust reposed in him. He replied, that, as the paper sent him neither contained any address to the two houses of parliament, nor any acknowledgement of their authority, he could not communicate it to them. Like proposals had been reiterated by the king, during the ensuing campaign, and still met with a like answer from Essex.
u

In order to make a new trial for a treaty, the king, this spring, sent another letter directed to the lords and commons of parliament assembled at Westminster: But as he also mentioned, in the letter, the lords and commons of parliament assembled at Oxford, and declared, that his scope and intention was to make provision, that all the members of both houses might securely meet in a full and free assembly; the parliament, perceiving the conclusion implied, refused all treaty upon such terms.
w

And the king, who knew what small hopes there were of accommodation, would not abandon the pretensions, which he had assumed; nor acknowledge the two houses, more expressly, for a free parliament.

This winter the famous Pym died; a man as much hated by one party, as respected by the other. At London, he was considered as the victim to national liberty, who had abridged his life by incessant labours for the interests of his country:
x
At Oxford, he was believed to have been struck with an uncommon disease, and to have been consumed with vermin; as a mark of divine vengeance, for his multiplied crimes and treasons. He had been so little studious of improving his private fortune in those civil wars, of which he had been one principal author, that the parliament thought themselves obliged, from gratitude, to pay the debts which he had contracted.
y
We PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

282

http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/792

Online Library of Liberty: The History of England, vol. 5

now return to the military operations, which, during the winter, were carried on with vigour in several places, notwithstanding the severity of the season.

The forces, brought from Ireland, were landed at Mostyne in North-Wales; and being put under the command of lord Biron, they besieged and took the castles of Hawarden, Beeston, Acton, and Deddington-house.
z
No place in Cheshire or the neighbourhood now adhered to the parliament, except Nantwich: And to this town Biron laid siege during the depth of winter. Sir Thomas Fairfax, alarmed at so considerable a progress of the royalists, assembled an army of 4000 men in Yorkshire, and having joined Sir William Brereton, was approaching to the camp of the enemy.

Biron and his soldiers, elated with successes obtained in Ireland, had entertained the most profound contempt for the parliamentary forces; a disposition, which, if confined to the army, may be regarded as a good presage of victory; but if it extend to the general, is the most probable forerunner of a defeat. Fairfax suddenly attacked the camp of the royalists. The swelling of the river by a thaw divided one part of the army from the other.

That part, exposed to Fairfax, being beaten from their post, 25th Jan.

retired into the church of Acton, and were all taken prisoners:

The other retreated with precipitation.a
And thus was dissipated or rendered useless that body of forces, which had been drawn from Ireland; and the parliamentary party revived in those north-west counties of England.

The invasion from Scotland was attended with consequences of Invasion from

much greater importance. The Scots, having summoned in vain

Scotland.

the town of Newcastle, which was fortified by the vigilance of Sir Thomas Glenham, passed the Tyne; and faced the marquess of Newcastle, who lay at Durham with an army of 14000 men.
b
After some military operations, in which that nobleman reduced the enemy to difficulties for forage and provisions, he received intelligence of a great disaster, which had befallen 22d Feb.

his forces in Yorkshire. Colonel Bellasis, whom he had left with a considerable body of troops, was totally routed at Selby, by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had returned from Cheshire, with his victorious forces.
c

11th April.

Afraid of being inclosed between two armies, Newcastle

retreated; and Leven having joined Lord Fairfax, they sat down before York, to which the army of the loyalists had retired. But as the parliamentary and Scottish forces were not numerous enough to invest so large a town, divided by a river, they contented themselves with incommoding it by a loose blockade; and affairs remained, for some time, in suspense between these opposite armies.
d

During this winter and spring, other parts of the kingdom had also been infested with war. Hopton, having assembled an army of 14000 men, endeavoured to break into Sussex, Kent, and the southern association, which seemed well disposed to receive him. Waller fell upon him at Cherington, and gave him a defeat
e
of considerable importance. In another quarter, siege being laid to Newark by the parliamentary forces, prince Rupert prepared himself for relieving a town of such consequence, which alone preserved the communication open between the king’s southern and northern quarters.
f
With a small force, but that animated by his active courage, he PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

283

http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/792

Online Library of Liberty: The History of England, vol. 5

broke through the enemy, relieved the town, and totally dissipated that army of the

parliament.g

But though fortune seemed to have divided her favours between the parties, the king found himself, in the main, a considerable loser by this winter-campaign; and he prognosticated a still worse event from the ensuing summer. The preparations of the parliament were great, and much exceeded the slender resources, of which he was possessed. In the eastern association, they levied fourteen thousand men, under the