The Great Civil War of Charles I. and the Parliament. By R. Cattermole. With ... engravings from drawings by G. Cattermole

Front matter

A THE GREAT CIVIL WAE, ®i tin .te WiiW5 jf €MJ g TME 1" MB (DM-'. FE ILL* I!. "MAM THE GREAT CITIL WAR OF THE TIMES OF CHARLES I. AND CROMWELL BY THE REV. RICHARD CATTERMOLE, B.D. WITH Ctowntg*mtw ingl)lp--fimsif)rti Cngrabtngg, ttom JBratoutgS 6p GEORGE CATTERMOLE ESQ. FISHER, SON, & CO. THE CAXTON PRESS, ANQEL STREET, ST. MARTIFS-LE-GRAND, LONDON; H.MANDEVILLE, RUE NEUVE TIVIENNE, PARIS.

ADVERTISEMENT.

. This volume is the result of considerable reflection on the possible means of raising a very attractive class of publications into a higher field of literary desig-n, without depriving them of those charms of novelty and grace Avhich have so long secured to them the public favour. The Author wishes to add, that, though it did not come within his purpose to encumber his pages with authorities, strict and conscientious historical accuracy was the first object at Avhich he aimed. In endeavouring to set before the reader, History in action — in avoiding', as much as possible, all formal or dry detail, and giving prominence and amplitude only to those heroic deeds, those eloquent discussions, and those noble traits of personal character, which distinguish all great events or eras in the world — he has sought to avoid those extreme differences of opinion, and partisan views, that have unhappily entered so largely into most works respecting the Great Civil War of the Seventeenth Century.

Introduction

.

If the Petition of Rights, which in the third Parliament of Charles I., confirmed those hberties that were already the birthright of Englishmen, had been ingenuously assented to by the king, and taken by the brave and strong-minded men who were its authors for a final measure, it is possible the kingdom might have been spared the calamities of the fodoAving twenty years. But when, in the confidence of victory, the popular leaders pro ceeded to make that just and necessary enactment a vantage-ground for direct attacks on the prerogative of the croAvn ; and when, on the other hand, the distrustful sovereign Avithdrew, in effect, that assent to it which had diffused among the people universal joy; a breach was made, which the living generation, though they successively flung into it everything dear to man, were neArer to see closed.

The triumphs of that assembly Avere achieved by men whom, or whose hke, even the great period we propose to sketch saw not again met together. The fiery Eliot, foremost, if not greatest, perished long ere another parhament was caded — unhappdy in prison. Sh Thomas Wentworth, satisfied with that nobie victory, so large a share of which was his own, mindful to which of the great parties in the state was now due the devotion of his A*ast pohtical genius, went over to the king. His example was foUowed by Digges, Littleton, Noy, and others of inferior note. Yet, that the spirit of the party survived, and would survive, whde one man in particular hved, was apparent from a now famdiar anecdote of the time. That man was Pym; whose sterhng eloquence, learning, application, and matchless tenacity of purpose, admirably fitted him for his office, as leader of an opposition so weighty in talent and vast in its designs.

Wentworth, before carrying into effect his final resolve, sought an interview in private with his inflexible associate, in which he imparted his present views, suggesting the advantages that would accrue from conciliation. n

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. "You need not," interrupted Pym, indignantly, at once perceiving Wentworth's drift, whde visions of impeachment rose upon his sight, " to ted me that you have a mind to leave us. But remember what I say — you are going to be undone. And remember, also, that though you leave us now, I will never leave you whUe your head is on your shoulders." Refusing to pass a bid for supphes, which the wants of the executive rendered urgent, the third parhament was dissolved in the midst of an ominous storm of contumacy on the part of the commons, and of disappointment and displeasure on that of the king. The representatives of the people rethed to their homes, to brood over theh personal wrongs and the despotism which now more than threatened the country, and to inflame, by theh various statements of grievance, the popular discontent.

The course pursued by the king had in it so much of inconsiderateness and obAious impolicy, beside what Avilfulness may be imputed to it, as no hypothesis can explain, but one that includes a thorough convic tion in the royal mind of its justice, in existing chcumstances. He now commenced in earnest the fatal plan of governing by the bare force of prerogative, untd a parhament could be convened with the prospect of a more complying temper. It is sah to acquit Charles of a wish to encroach upon the known rights of his people; but a crisis had arrived, when the people would no longer distinguish between such a wish and a resolution to maintain those adverse claims of the croAvn, which he had inherited from his pre decessors, and thought himself bound to defend in his OAvn person, and transmit, unim paired, to his children.

King Charles ready deshed to be the father of his people ; but in his code of parental duty he included denial and correction Avith indulgence. We have no disposition to vindicate those infractions of the constitution, as now defined, which foUowed rapidly on each other. We cannot but observe, however, that numerous and gross as they were, and directed equady against the freedom and the property of the sub ject, there were never wanting powerful minds ready to expose and exaggerate, if they were unable to prevent them; whde feAv mentioned, perhaps few beheved, the advancing prosperity of the people, which theh combined operations did not check. The brightest track along the course of the years which foUowed, is, with aU its errors, the path of Wentworth. Raised to the dignities of baron and viscount, and to the offices of a privy-counsedor and president of the Councd of the North, this great statesman, on the dissolution of the parhament, instantly applied himself with characteristic ardour to the high and perdous duties of his presidency.

The Councd of the North was a court erected at York, in the reign of Henry VIII., with jurisdiction over the five northern counties, in those times the theatre of frequent insurrection. The great and irregular powers exercised by this court, were, on Went worth's appointment, enlarged to an almost unlimited extent. In administering them with strict but haughty and severe impartiadty, he succeeded in the twofold object of bearing down with a high hand every show of disaffection towards the government, and of raising to an unprecedented amount the income derived from that part of the kingdom to the royal exchequer. Charles had soon to acknowledge, rather than discover, such extraordinary zeal and abdity in his new minister, as manifestly qualified him to serve

INTRODUCTION.

. 3 the state in a -wider sphere. Wentworth was nominated lord-deputy of Ireland, without being requhed to resign the chair of the northern presidency. That ever-unhappy country was now for the first time governed by a hand vigorous and steady enough for the task. Wentworth made his appearance in Dubiin with the pomp and ceremonial of royalty : it was his acknowledged principle of government to rule, not merely as a vice-king, but as the deputed sovereign of a conquered province. Benefits and severities he dispensed with a sternly equal hand; but even the severities of a master-mind, when first placed at the head of an arbitrary government, being for the most part merely the extinction of minor oppressions in the sqvereign sway, are, for the people, blessings in disguise. One of the many historians who have poured theh vials of angry censure on the proud head of Wentworth, bears this reluctant testimony : — " the Richeheu of Ireland, he made that island wealthier in the midst of exactions, and, one might almost say, happier in the midst of oppressions."

The benefits conferred on Ireland by Wentworth were diffused through aU her insti tutions. We trace them in a more than quadrupled revenue ; in the church strengthened and made more efficient; in the courts of justice reformed; in the army disciplined; in commerce and manufactures cherished and extended ; in a population wealthier, more peaceful, and more humane. Its concomitant excesses are dlustrated (among other less remembered instances) by the trial and sentencing to death of the Lord Mountnorris, ostensibly for an impatient or disrespectful word ; an outbreak of tyrannous pride, made avadable to the strengthening of the government, which Wentworth's enemies did not forget. The sentence was meant only to humble the victim ; but a stretch of power so violent in itself, and yet so capable of aggravation by unfriendly tongues, sweUed prodi giously the gathering indignation against the viceroy, and was grimly noted down in the great impeachment -book, by those who watched with patience tiU the shadow upon the darkening poUtical sun-dial should point the hour of his undoing.

Bevond the esteem of the sovereign, to whom he was ardently attached, Wentworth — Avith one exception — cared little to supply the vacancies in his former friendships from the party which he had now joined. Sincere, iaborious, proud, he had no sympathy with the heartlessness and indolence of the courtiers. The exception refers to Laud; whose translation to the see of London, and paramount authority in the administration, nearly coincided with the period of Wentworth's elevation, as both did with the fad of Buck ingham. With a mind of less majestic dimensions, though more learnedly cultivated; with directness and integrity equal to Wentworth's steady and unquenchable ardour ; below him in pride, as became a churchman, but as keenly capable of rigour, for con science' sake ; as great in courage, as inflexibfe in constancy ; above all, animated by hke devotedness to the master whom both served " not wisely," but, in theh view of duty, " weU ;" — Laud, whatever may be thought by those who strangely discover the bond of these men's union in that most dissociative of principles, a common despotic wid, was not unworthy of that intimacy with the larger-minded Wentworth which remained firm tdi violently and most affectingly terminated by death. Such as they were, these eminent persons continued to be the main agents of King Charles's government in Church and B

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. State, through many difficult, and, finaUy, disastrous years. They did not originate aU his plans, but they were ever ready, in the fearlessness of duty, to carry forward even the worst of them. If they erred in an honest view of their duty, mistook the times, wounded the immature constitution, overrated even their abdities, or indulged private passion at the cost of the pubhc weal ; they received in theh persons, and wdl ever be paying in theh fame, the penalty of those whom Providence places, as doomed yet not useless barriers to the violent current of changeful times ; augmenting, whde they brave, tbe fury of the waters, but preparing fertdity for other generations, by forcing them to sweep away injurious impediments, and then to waste theh rage in diffusion. The means by which the government of Charles I., endeavoured to provide for its exigencies, without parliamentary aid, are known to every one.

Taxes on merchandise (the "tonnage and poundage" of the period); compositions for dechning to receive knighthood ; fines from those whose estates were discovered to have encroached on the ancient boundaries of the royal forests; patents of monopoly on an infinite number of articles of ordinary consumption ; with other sources of revenue, some of them unprece dented and dlegal, the greater part arbitrarily and oppressively levied ; ad proved insufficient. Large sums were extorted, of which no more than a trifling proportion found its way into the treasury; for an unsettied despotism is always plundered, and always improvident. " It is now almost fifteen years," said Pym, in the first session of the Long Parhament, " since his majesty had any assistance from his people ; and these dlegal ways of supplying the king were never pressed with more violence and art than they have been in this time : and yet I may, upon very good grounds, affirm, that in the last fifteen years of Queen Ehzabeth she received more by the bounty and affection of her subjects than hath come to his majesty's coffers by aU the inordinate and rigorous courses which have been taken."

Refusal to comply with these demands was frequent, and was foUowed in numerous instances by fine and imprisonment in the Star Chamber, or other oppressive courts. A more memorabie tax is celebrated under the name of Ship-money. A feeble and distracted government at home had diminished the respect in which England had formerly been held by foreign nations. Her ancient dominion of her own seas was sdghted by her neighbours; corsahs from Barbary made descents upon her coasts. To repet these disgraceful aggressions, the sea-ports were required to equip vessels for the king's service; and the demand was presently extended to the whole kingdom, the inland counties compounding for their assessments in money. The funds thus raised were honestiy and successfuUy apptied to the purposes for which they were requhed.

But the demand was starthng and novel — revived, at least, from the dust of forgotten records. Numbers opposed it, and were thrown into prison. Among the most memorable and important processes in judicial history, is that by which the legadty of this impost was tried in the case of Hampden. The patriot's assessment, upon an extensive landed property, was twenty sliidings. On so smad a point turned the issue of a great consti tutional question ! Judgment was given for the crown ; but as the judges were beheved to be corrupted, and as the elaborate arguments of Hampden's counsel had convinced

INTRODUCTION.

. 5 the nation that substantial right, if not the technical construction of statutes, favoured Ids cause, " the judgment," says Clarendon, " proved of more advantage to the gentleman condemned than to the king's service." Hampden, indeed, reaped a cheap immortality; but he Avas a man who had studied the art of winning golden opinions; a man whose constancy of purpose was shaded by caution, or smoothed by the blandest of demeanours ; and ship-money was in ad men's ears a hated word. But, as wUl always he the case in this serious nation in unsettled times, the deepest and widest grounds of discontent were occupied by questions of religion. The people were kept in perpetual terror of popery by the slumber adowed to the existing statutes against papists, and by the insolence or indiscretion of that party, in consequence of Charles's marriage with a daughter of Roman Cathohc France, and of his known deference to the personal predilections of his queen.

This, however, was only an aggravation of an older and more deeply-seated grievance. It could not but befaU, in the great conflict of the Reformation, that the antagonists of popery, driven at once by indignation, fear, and hatred, would take up on the other side some extreme, and such as in cooler times would appear, to sound judgments, untenable or worthless positions. These, when the purified Nationai Church had been fixed on her own secure basis, ad sane persons would have been ready to abandon, had no fresh cause of excitement arisen. But events kept alarm wakeful; and timid natures, remembering as a terrible dream whose images oppress the waking fancy, the sanguinary and flaming horrors of the past, thought themselves less secure in the efficiency of theh arms and ramparts than in remoteness from the hated foe.

The most primitive vestment, if the Romish, though only in common with other churches, had adopted its use, retained the infection of Antichrist : observances the most venerable, in passing through that " chamber of abominable ima gery," had become symbols of the mystic Babylon. That aversion to apostolical govern ment, and that impatience of uniformity in rites and ceremonies, Avhich abhorrence of popish corruption had already generated at home, were heightened by the sojourn of the Marian exdes among those reformed communities abroad, whom not choice, but the pressure of cb'cumstances, had deprived of episcopacy and the decorous adjuncts of a national church. The strictness of EUzabeth's ecclesiastical government, acting on the stubborn nature of conscientious Puritanism, increased both the number and the vehemence of the Church's enemies.

A further element of mischief was brought in after James had sent over his committee of divines to grace the synod of Dort. Davenant and his compeers, on theh return, innoculated the factions Avith a more virulent type of religious dissidence — the disputes of Prelatist and Puritan were henceforth to be sharpened by the reproachful appellations of Calvinist and Arminian ; and, by a strange contradiction, a slavish theo logy, in which the Father of mankind takes the character of a despot, became the watch word of political and rehgious freedom. With the authority, Laud had succeeded to the principles of Cranmer, Wbitgift, and Parker ; but in worse times, and, as both prime minister and metropolitan, in circumstances at once more likely to betray him into violence, and expose him to obloquy. The Puritans who in Elizabeth's reign, though turbulent, were comparatively inconsiderable, and hardly,

INTRODUCTION.

. tiU towards the close of that brilliant period, lifted theh hands as a pohtical party, grew formidable under James, and, after the accession of Charles, insolent ; concessions — which they regarded as less than theh due, and sUght punishrnents — which raised them into credit with the multitude, turning equaUy to theh advantage. Laud was fuUy awake to the greatness of the danger ; his error as a statesman lay in believing that the danger could be averted by an apphance, on the part of the rulers, of bare unyielding principle. He knew he had the king's perfect confidence ; he felt he had a strong heart and unquenchable zeal ; he trusted in the help of God, for he esteemed it his cause. Thus supported, he judged himself able to work out the justification of that policy which he felt convinced was just — to keep no terms with an implacable foe.

" Resolve — there is no end of yielding," was his motto. This is the sole secret of that frequent reference to " thorough," wliich has been so much commented on in his correspondence with Strafford. To this principle we confidently refer aU those pubhc acts, which, often irreconcUable both with charity and prudence, and rendered doubly hritating by a sharp unTgracious demeanour, overwhelmed him at length in a tide of popular hatred without example. His preference of Papists to Puritans, as less dangerous and inveterate enemies to the Church (in Avhich he agreed with Queen Ebzabeth) ; his excessive zeal for the splendid externals of public worship ; his measures for checking the perversion of pulpit influence to the furtherance of political designs ; his revival of the obsolete jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, in punishing gross profligacy of manners ; even the enormity of his share in the mulcts and. mutdations inflicted by the Star Chamber, in such cases as those of Leighton, Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton ; — had aU that origin.

The offence for which these individuals were indicted, viz. the publication of hbels on the hierarchy, was one so prevalent and popular, that the existence of the Church seemed to depend on steps being taken for its discouragement. Theh " censure " has nevertheless been, with justice, reprobated by historians, as equaUy cruel and impohtic. It proceeded from a tribunal aheady the object of popular odium ; it was known to have been instigated by the prelates, whose actions needed no character of harshness to secure them an unfriendly colouring ; the ignominy of the punishment outraged aU the tliree great professions — for Prynne was a lawyer, Bastwick a physician, Burton a clergyman, and Leighton a Presbyterian divine ; finally, the manner of its execution was calculated, as penalties for licentiousness of language and opinions commonly are, to invest aspiring malevolence with the honours of martyrdom.

While these and other concurrent events prepared England for a great pohtical and religious explosion, it was in the king's northern dominions that the torch of revolution was first apphed. In the march of rapacity and vioience which hurried forward the Reformation in Scotland, episcopacy was almost swept away. Only an obscure name and powerless existence remained, during many years, to intimate that law had not sealed its actual extinction. To restore the primitive worship and government of the church, in his native land, was among the fondest desires of Charles's heart, as it had been of his father's. Some distant preparatory steps toward this object had been taken by King James ; but the attendance of Laud at the coronation of his royal successor, in the northern capital,

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. was indignantly perceived to have reference to an immediate plan for bringing that deshe to effect. AU orders of men fooked on the progress of this design with unqualified disgust ; for in Scotland hatred of episcopacy (where, indeed, from the ignorant or designed confounding of the ideas of pope and prelate, it had, as an abstract principle, its birth,) was continuady kept alive by two of the most powerful motives of human action — by self-interest among the nobles, and by religious enthusiasm among the people. In the mean time fatadty, or infatuation, waited on every proceeding of the government. The Scotch bishops — persons in no esteem with the people, and whom the primate's fatal podcy had made hateful to the nobihty, by conferring on them the highest secular pre ferments — were directed to prepare a Liturgy and Canons.

The result of theh' labours was submitted for revisal to the heads of the AngUcan church ; but, whether from distrust or contempt, the sanction of the native clergy was whody overlooked. This was extreme imprudence towards a body who carried theh notions of independence so high, and whose influence over theh congregations was unbounded. Moreover, by a prepos terous inadvertency, the canons made theh appearance before the iiturgy, to which they prescribed submission. Both were, in reality, inoffensive ; the canons being chiefly a conipdation from the acts of the General Assembly of Scotland, and the Uturgy or service-book only just so much varied from the Enghsh Book of Common Prayer as was requhed by the national vanity of the northern prelates. Nevertheless the people were taught to regard both as instruments of antichristian tyranny ; and, as such, a determined stand was to be made against then* introduction.

TiU the day appointed for the publication of the service-book not a murmur was heard. The suppressed he of the populace then first escaped in a riot of the lowest classes, chiefly women, whicli interrupted the public reading of the prayers, and endan gered the hves of the officiating clergy. More perilous and decisive tumults succeeded ; in which, hy degrees, first the wealthy citizens, and finaUy the nobles, took part. For several months the government, contemptuously looking on, left the impotent local authorities to deal with its seditious subjects. At length a proclamation was sent down to assure the people of his majesty's regard for the Protestant rehgion, and to enforce the peace. By the treachery of some members of the privy councd, the contents of this document became known in Scotland before its arrival.

A counter proclamation was instantly prepared by the popular leaders, which, as if of equal authority with the king's, they read and posted up at Stirling, Lithgow, and Edinburgh ; theh armed partizans forcibly detaining the royal heralds to witness the completion of this daring act. The pretext of the tumultuous assemblies which convulsed the nation being to present petitions against the bishops and the liturgy, the magistrates consented to a plan devised and insidiously proposed by the leaders, for the establishment of central " tables," or committees, to represent the petitioning parties. So ably were these boards conducted, that in a few weeks they had possessed themselves of unlimited authority throughout Scotland. An easy way was thus laid open to introduce the confederacy, so w*ed remem bered under the name of the " Solemn League and Covenant." The subscribers to tlds great national vow, after abjuring the superstitions of popery, in the language of a former

INTRODUCTION.

. covenant adopted in the reign of King James, and citing the several acts of parliament for the maintenance of the kirk, bound themselves, " according to the laudable example of theh worthy and free progenitors, by the great name of the Lord theh God," to defend theh rehgion against aU novations, and to stand by each other in resistance to the contrary errors and corruptions, to the uttermost, against aU persons without exception. A solemn fast was observed, preparatory to subscribing. On the day appointed, multitudes of every rank, age, and sex, thronged the great church of St. Gdes's and its pre cincts. The force, the freedom, and the extravagance of the repubhcan model of devotion, rose, on this occasion, to the highest pitch. Lifting their out-stretched hands towards heaven, the vast assembly swore to the national bond, amid shouts, and tears, and mutual embracements.

The enthusiasm flew through the country; and aU Scotland, with the exception of the immediate servants of the government, a few Roman Catholics, and the solitary town of Aberdeen, was bound together in this vast confederacy, by the strongest tie of human associations, a burning reUgious zeal. Tliree months longer the government continued wavering and irresolute. It then sent down the Marquess of Hamdton, Charles's principal minister for Scotch affairs, with a commission " to conclude and determine aU things respecting the peace of the kingdom." To impress the commissioner with a high notion of theh union and strength, the Covenanters, to the number of twenty thousand, on foot and on horseback, met and conducted him into the city; and seven hunched robed ministers are said to have placed themselves on an eminence by the roadside, and with one voice intonated a psalm as he passed by.

Hamdton had undertaken a difficult task. The demands of the confederates grew bolder as the negotiations advanced. Twice he journeyed to London, and twice returned to his increasingly-excited countrymen with modified powers ; bringing, on his second re appearance, a surrender of everything demanded — the abohtion of the Liturgy, Canons, and High Commission Court ; on the single condition, that for the neAV Covenant should be substituted that of King James. At the same time, a national assembly and a parhament were fixed, to discuss freely aU questions in dispute. With these concessions the clerTgy and the people were disposed to be content. Not so the secular leaders. The king, they said, could not mean to grant aU he had promised; his object was to gain time to reduce them by force. In a large body, headed by several noblemen, they mounted a scaffold at the Market Cross of Edinburgh ; where, sword in hand, they dehvered a formal protest, asserting theh determination to persist in adherence to the Covenant.

The assembly met at Glasgow ; but the members having been almost aU returned by the overpowering influence of "the tables," the commissioner found himself whoUy powerless before a majority resolved to carry forward the plans of the confederates. At the end of seven days, therefore, he dissolved the unmanageable convention, quitting it in the midst of a burst of real or affected grief, and departed for England. But the assembly refused to separate. Under the auspices of the Marquess of Argyle, who from this time became tbe acknowledged head of the Covenanters, the dissolution was annulled,

INTRODUCTION.

. and Episcopacy abodshed, with every other existing institution winch could interfere with the joyful deliverance of Scotland from the absorbing terror of "popish and prelatic tyranny." Naturally concluding that the king would seek by force to suppress the rebellion, the Covenanters now began to make warhke preparations. Troops were levied, arms pur chased, the Scottish soldiers of fortune serving on the Continent invited home. Encou ragement was not wanting from the discontented party in England ; from France came the not less important aid of money. Lesley, a veteran from the wars of Germany, was appointed to the chief command ; and forthwith began hostilities by seizing the castles of Edinburgh and Dumbarton. The king, on his part, proceeded with as much alacrity as his want of resources permitted.

At York, in which point the royal forces were concen trated, he was met by a briUiant feudal gathering of the nobility and chief gent.y of the realm ; from thence he advanced to the vicinity of Berwick. Thither Lesley drew his Covenanters — twenty thousand men, indifferently equipped, but inspired with zeal which w*as kept constantly at a boihng temperature by the unwearied vehemence of pulpit oratory. Charles's troops were equal in number, and far better provided; but without heart for the quarrel. Conscious of the unpopularity of his cause, and reluctant to shed his subjects' blood, he readily admitted commissioners from the Scottish camp; with whom was presently concluded, on the basis of the conditions before proposed at Edin burgh by Hamdton, the miserable armistice known in the history of the time as the Pacification of Berwick.

It was a fatal hour for England, when — whoever might be its true author — the attempt was made to force reUgious uniformity on the associated kingdom. The temper in which that measure was long pursued was plainly contempt — contempt for the independence of the kirk, and for the spirit of Scotchmen. But it is a dangerous thing to despise a nation — even for a great nation to despise a mean one. Scotland became powerful, less in her own deep sense of wrong endured, than in England's consciousness of wrong inflicted ; unnerved by a sympathy hah magnanimous, hah traitorous, England became the dupe and the victim of her wily sister, in requital for having treated her in a dehcate point as her vassal. c