manded every one to defend the liberty of the members. (1) Irritated by so much opposition, the king went in person to the house of commons, in hopes of surprising the persons whom he had accused, and demanded in vain; but they, having private intelligence of his resolution, had withdrawn before he entered.(2) The embarrassment of Charles, on that discovery, may be easier conceived than described. Sensible of his imprudence, when too late, and ashamed of the situation in which he found himself, "I assure you, on the word of a king," said he, "I never did intend any force, but shall proceed against these men in a fair and legal way; for I never meant any other. And now, since I see I cannot do what I came for, I think this no unfit occasion to repeat what I have said formerly; that whatever I have done in favour and to the good of my subjects, I do intend to maintain it."(3) The commons were in the utmost disorder during his stay; and when he was departing, some members cried aloud, "Privilege! privilege!"(4) The house adjourned till next day; and the accused members, in order to show the greater apprehension of personal danger, removed into the city the same evening. The citizens were in arms the whole night; and some incendiaries, or people actuated by their own fanatical fears, ran from gate to gate, crying that the Cavaliers, and the king at their head, were coming to burn the city. In order to show how little occasion there was for any such alarm, and what confidence he placed in the citizens, Charles went next morning to Guildhall, attended only by three or four noblemen, and endeavoured to conciliate the affections of the lord-mayor and common council. He had accused some men, he said, of high-treason, against whom he meant to proceed in a legal way; and therefore hoped they would not meet with protection in the city. The citizens, howeyer, showed no inclination to give them up; and the king left the hall, little better satisfied than with his visit to the house of commons. (5) In passing through the streets, he had the mortification to hear the insulting cry, "Privilege of parliament! privilege of parliament!" resound from every quarter; and one of the populace, more daring than the rest, saluted him with the words employed by the mutinous Israelites, when they abandoned Rehoboam, their rash and ill-counselled sovereign:-"To your tents, O Israel!"(6) When the commons met, they affected the utmost terror and dismay; and after voting, that they could not sit in the same place, until they had obtained satisfaction for that unparalleled breach of privilege committed by the king, and had a guard appointed for their security, they adjourned themselves for some days. In the mean time, a committee was ordered to sit in the city, and inquire into every circumstance attending the king's entry into the house of commons; from all which was inferred an intention of offering violence to the parliament, by seizing, even in that house, the accused members, and of murdering all who should make resistance. They again met, confirmed the votes of the committee, and hastily adjourned, as if exposed to the most imminent danger. This practice they frequently repeated; and when, by these affected panics, they had filled the minds of the people with the most dreadful apprehensions, and inflamed them with enthusiastic rage against the court, the accused members were conducted by the city militia, in a kind of military triumph, to Westminster, in order to resume their seats in the house; the populace, as they passed Whitehall, by land and water, frequently asking, with insulting shouts, "What is become of the king and his Cavaliers ?"(7) Charles, apprehensive of danger from the furious multitude, had retired to Windsor. There, deserted by all the world, and overwhelmed with grief and shame for his misconduct, he had leisure to reflect on the fatal measures into which he had been hurried. He saw himself involved in a situation the most distressing, entirely by his own precipitancy and indiscretion, and how (1) Whitlocke, p. 51. Rushworth vol. v. (6) Rushworth, vol. v (2) Whitlocke, p. 52. (3) Id. ibid. to extricate himself with honour he could not discover: his friends were discouraged, his enemies triumphant, and the people seemed ripe for rebellion. Without submission, his ruin appeared to be inevitable: but to make submission to subjects was what his kingly pride could not bear; yet to that humiliating expedient, in his present circumstances surely the most advisable, he had at last recourse. In successive messages to the commons, he told them, that he would desist from his prosecution of the accused members; that he would grant them a pardon; that he would concur in any law that should acquit or secure them; that he would make reparation to the house for the breach of privilege, of which he acknowledged they had reason to complain; and he declared that, for the future, he would be as careful of the privileges of parliament as of his own crown and life.(1) This was certainly yielding too far; but the uneasy mind is naturally carried from one extreme to another, in attempting to repair its errors. If the king's violence made him hateful, his unreserved submission made him contemptible to the commons. They thought he could now deny them nothing, and therefore refused to accept any concession for the breach of privilege, unless he would discover his advisers in that illegal measure. But Charles, whose honour as a gentleman was sacred and inviolable, had still spirit enough left to reject with disdain a condition which would have rendered him for ever despicable, and unworthy of all friendship or confidence. He had already shown to the nation, had the nation not been blinded with fanaticism, that if he had violated the rights of parliament, which was still a question with many,(2) he was willing to make every possible reparation, and yield them any satisfaction not inconsistent with the integrity of his moral character. Meanwhile, the commons continued to declaim against the violation of parliamentary privileges, and to inflame still farther the discontents of the people. For this purpose they had recourse to the old expedient of petitioning, so flattering to human pride!-as it affords the meanest member of the community an opportunity of instructing the highest, and of feeling his own consequence in the right of offering such instructions. A petition from Buckinghamshire was presented to the house by six thousand men, who promised to live and die in the defence of the privileges of parliament. One of the like nature was presented by the city of London; and petitions from many other places were given in: nay, a petition from the apprentices was graciously received, and one from the porters was encouraged. The beggars, and even the women, were seized with the same rage. A brewer's wife, followed by many thousands of her sex, brought a petition to the house; in which they expressed their terror of papists and prelates, rapes and massacres, and claimed a right equal to that of the men, in communicating their sense of the public danger, since Christ had died for them as well as for the other sex. The apprentices were loud in the praise of liberty, and bold in their threats against arbitrary power. The porters complained of the decay of trade, and desired that justice might be done upon offenders, according to the atrociousness of their crimes: and they added, “that if such remedies were any longer suspended, they would be forced to extremities not fit to be named."(3) The beggars, as a remedy for public miseries, proposed, "that those noble worthies of the house of peers, who concur with the happy votes of the commons, may separate themselves from the rest, and sit and vote as 1) Dugdale, p. 84. Rushworth, vol. v. 2) No maxím in law, it was said, is more established, or more universally allowed, than that privilege of parliament extends not to treason, felony, or breach of peace; that it was never pretended by any one, that the hall where the parliament assembles is an inviolable sanctuary; that if the commons complained of the affront offered them by an attempt to arrest their members in their very presence, the blame must lie entirely upon themselves, who had formerly refused compliance with the king's message, when he peacefully demanded these members; that the sovereign is the great executor of the laws; and that his presence was here legally employed, both in order to prevent opposition and to protect the house against those insults which their disobedience had so well merited. (Howel's Inspection into the Carriage of the late Long Parliament. Hume, chap. Iv.) But whatever might be urged in favour of the legality of Charles's attempt to seize the accused members, no one pretended to vindicate the prudence either of that or the accusation. To impeach the heads of a faction during the full tide of its power was indeed attempting to fetter the waves. (3) Clarendon, vol. ii. Rushworth, vol. v one entire body."(1) This language, which could not possibly be misunderstood, was evidently dictated by the commons themselves. But while these inflammatory petitions were encouraged, and received with the warmest expressions of approbation, all petitions which favoured the church or monarchy were discountenanced, and those interested in them imprisoned and prosecuted as delinquents. In a word, by the present fury of the people, as by an inundation, was swept away all opposition in both houses, and every rampart of royal authority was laid level with the ground. The king, as appeared by the vote on the remonstrance, had a strong party in the lower house; and in the house of peers he had a great majority, even after the bishops were chased away. But now, when the populace without doors were ready to execute, on the least hint, the will of their leaders, it was not safe for any member to approach either house, who pretended to oppose the general torrent. Thus possessed of an undisputed majority in both houses, the popular leaders, who well knew the importance of such a favourable moment, pursued their victory with vigour and despatch. The bills sent up by the commons, and which had hitherto been rejected by the peers, were now passed, and presented for the royal assent; namely, a bill vesting the parliament with the power of impressing men into the service, under pretence of suppressing the rebellion in Ireland, and the long-contested bill for depriving the bishops of the privilege of voting in the house of lords. The king's authority was reduced so low, that a refusal would have been both hazardous and ineffectual; and the queen, being secretly threatened with an impeachment, prevailed on her husband speedily to pass those bills, in hopes of appeasing the rage of the multitude, until she could make her escape to Holland. (2) But these important concessions, like all the former, served only as a foundation for more important demands. Encouraged by the facility of the king's disposition, the commons regarded the smallest relaxation in their invasion of royal authority as highly impolitic at such a crisis. They were fully sensible, that monarchical government, which had been established in England during so many years, would regain some part of its former dignity, as soon as the present storm was blown over, in spite of all their new-invented limitations: yet would it not be safe to attempt the entire abolition of an authority, to which the nation had been so long accustomed, before they were in possession of the sword-which alone could guard their usurped power, or ensure to them personal safety against the rising indignation of their insulted sovereign. To this point, therefore, they directed all their views. They conferred the government of Hull, where there was a large magazine of arms, on sir John Hotham; they sent orders to Goring, governor of Portsmouth, to obey no orders but such as he should receive from the parliament; and they obliged the king to displace sir John Biron, a man of unexceptionable character, and bestow the government of the tower on sir John Conyers, in whom alone, they said, they could place confidence.(3) These were bold steps, but a bolder was yet necessary to be made by the commons, before they could hope to accomplish the ruin of royal authority; and that was, the acquisition of the command of the militia, which would at once give them the whole power of the sword, there being at that time no regular troops in England, except those which the commons themselves had levied for suppressing the Irish rebellion. With this view they brought in a bill, by the express terms of which the lord-lieutenants of counties, or principal officers of the militia, who were all named in it, were to be accountable, not to the king, but to the parliament. Charles here ventured to put a stop to his concessions, though he durst not hazard a flat denial. He only requested, that the military authority should be allowed to remain in the crown: and, if that should be admitted, he promised to bestow commissions, but revocable at pleasure, on the very persons named in the bill. But the commons, whose (1) Clarendon, vol. ii. Rushworth, vol. v. (2) Clarendon, vol. ii. object was nothing less than sovereignty, imperiously replied, "That the danger and distempers of the nation were such as could endure no longer delay and unless the king speedily complied with their demands, they should be enforced, for the safety of prince and people, to dispose of the militia by the authority of both houses, and were resolved to do it accordingly."(1) But what was more extraordinary than all this, while the commons thus menaced the king with their power, they invited him to fix his residence in London, where they knew he would be entirely at their mercy. “I am so much amazed at this message," said Charles, in his prompt reply, "that I know not what to answer. You speak of jealousies and fears! Lay your hands on your hearts, and ask yourselves, whether I may not likewise be disturbed with fears and jealousies? and if so, I assure you that this message has nothing lessened them. As to the militia, I thought so much of it before I gave that answer, and am so much assured that the answer is agreeable to what, in justice or reason, you can ask, or I in honour grant, that I shall not alter it in any point. For my residence near you, I wish it might be safe and honourable, and that I had no cause to absent myself from Whitehall: ask yourselves whether I have not? What would you have? Have I denied to pass any bill for the ease and security of my subjects? I do not ask what ye have done for me. Have any of my people been transported with fears and apprehensions? I offer as free and general a pardon as yourselves can devise. All this considered, there is a judgment of Heaven upon this nation, if these distractions continue. God so deal with me and mine! as all my thoughts and intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true Protestant profession, and for the observance and preservation of the laws; and I hope God will bless and assist those laws for my preservation."(2) The firmness of this reply surprised the commons, but did not discourage them from prosecuting their ambitious aim. They had gone too far to retract; they therefore voted, that those who advised his majesty's answer "were enemies to the state, and mischievous projectors against the safety of the nation; that this denial is of such dangerous consequence, that, if his majesty persist in it, it will hazard the peace and tranquillity of all his kingdoms, unless some speedy remedy may be applied by the wisdom and authority of parliament; and that such of the subjects as have put themselves in a posture of defence, against the common danger, have done nothing but what is justifiable, and approved of by the house."(3) And in order to induce the people to second these usurpations, by arming themselves more generally, the most unaccountable panics were spread throughout the nation, by rumours of intended massacres and invasions. Alarmed at these threatening appearances, and not without apprehensions that force might be employed to extort his assent to the militia_bill, the king thought it prudent to remove to a greater distance from London. Taking with him his two sons, the prince of Wales and the duke of York, he accordingly retired northward, and made the city of York, for a time, the seat of his court. The queen had already taken refuge in Holland. There she resided with her daughter Mary, who had been given in marriage to the prince of Orange. In the northern parts of his kingdom, where the church and monarchy were still respected, Charles found himself of more consequence than in the capital or its neighbourhood, which was become a scene of fury and fanaticism. The marks of attachment shown him at York exceeded his fondest expectations. The principal nobility and gentry, from all quarters of England, either personally or by letters, expressed their duty towards him, and exhorted him to save them from that democratical tyranny with which they were threatened. Finding himself supported by so considerable a body of his subjects, the king began to assume a firmer tone, and to retort the accusations of the (1) Rushworth, part iii. vol. i. chap. iv (2) Rushworth, vol. v. (3) Id. ibid. commons with spirit. As he still persisted in refusing the militia bill, they had framed an ordinance, in which, by the sole authority of the two houses of parliament, they had named lieutenants for all the counties, and conferred on them the command of the whole military force-of all the guards, garrisons, and forts in the kingdom. He issued proclamations against this usurpation; and declared, that as he had formed a resolution strictly to observe the laws himself, he was determined that every one should yield a like obedience.(1) The commons, on their part, were neither destitute of vigour nor address. In order to cover their usurped authority with a kind of veil, and to confound in the minds of the people the ideas of duty and allegiance, they bound, in all their commands, the persons to whom they were directed, to obey the orders of his majesty, signified by both houses of parliament.(2) Thus, by a distinction, hitherto unknown, between the office and the person of the king, they employed the royal name to the subversion of the royal authority! The chief object of both parties being the acquisition of the favour of the people, each was desirous to throw on the other the odium of involving the nation in civil discord. With this view, a variety of memorials, remonstrances, and declarations were dispersed; and the royal party was supposed to have greatly the advantage in the war of the pen. The king's memorials were chiefly composed by himself and lord Falkland, who had accepted the office of secretary of state, and whose virtues and talents were of the most amiable and exalted kind. In these papers Charles endeavoured to clear up the principles of the constitution; to mark the boundaries of the powers intrusted by law to the several orders in the state; to show what great improvements the whole political system had received from his late concessions; to demonstrate his entire confidence in his people; and to point out the ungrateful returns which had been made to that confidence and those concessions. The parliament, on the other hand, exaggerated all his unpopular measures; and attempted to prove, that their whole proceedings were necessary for the preservation of religion and liberty.(3) But whatever advantage either side might gain by these writings, both were sensible that the sword must ultimately decide the dispute: and they began to prepare accordingly. The troops which had been raised under pretence of the Irish rebellion were now openly enlisted by the parliament for its own purposes, and the command of them given to the earl of Essex. Nor were new levies neglected. No less than four thousand men are said to have been enlisted in London in one day.(4) And the parliament having issued orders that loans of money and plate might be furnished, for maintaining these forces, such vast quantities of plate were brought to their treasurers, that they could hardly find room to stow it. Even the women gave up their ornaments, to support the cause of the godly against the malignants.(5) Very different was the king's situation. His preparations were not near so forward as those of the parliament. In order to recover the confidence of his people, and remove all jealousy of violent counsels, he had resolved that the usurpations and illegal pretensions of the commons should be evident to the whole world. This he considered as of more importance to his interest than the collecting of magazines or the assembling of armies. But had he even been otherwise disposed, he would have found many difficulties to encounter; for although he was attended by a splendid train of nobility, and by a numerous body of gentlemen of great landed property, supplies could not be raised without a connexion with the moneyed men, who were chiefly attached to the parliament, which had seized his revenues since the beginning of the contest concerning the militia bill. Yet was he not altogether unprepared. The queen, by disposing of the crown jewels, had been enabled to purchase a cargo of arms and ammunition in Holland. Part of (1) Rushworth, vol. v. (2) Id. ibid. (3) Id. ibid. |