CHAP. IX. party, and the incoherence of its composition, principles, and designs must inevitably become manifest. Every day revealed that it was obliged to adopt contrary measures; what it sought in the church it rejected in the state; while it invoked democratic principles and passions against the bishops, it summoned monarchical and aristocratical maxims and influences against rising republicanism; while it preached up innovations it cursed innovators; it persecuted the bishops in the name of liberty, at the same time that it punished the Independents in the name of power; and while it arrogated to itself the privilege of insurrection and tyranny, it declaimed against both. Just at the crisis, also, of its fortunes, it was deprived of the advice and leadership of those great political reformers who had so powerfully served it, while at the same time the lords to whose interests it was not opposed, daily left their seats and retreated either into private life or to the court at Oxford. Another circumstance which hastened on its ruin was the responsibility which attached to it for all the evils and shortcomings of the last three years during which it had been in the ascendant, and especially for the failures which the parliament had experienced since the beginning of the war. Thus there only wanted an opportunity for new rulers with new principles to seize the direction of affairs.* pendents 57. Rise of the Independents. Long before the commencement of the troubles, when the Presbyterians only began to betray their intention of imposing upon the national church a republican constitution, and of maintaining it by the force of authority, the Independents, Brownists, and Anabaptists, openly demanded why a national church should exist at all, and by what title any power had a right to bend Christian consciences beneath the yoke of Uniformity. Every congregation of the faithful, they said, was a true church, over which no other church could justly exercise The Inde authority; and that it had a right to choose its own first ministers, regulate its own worship, and govern itself by liberty of its own laws. The principle of the liberty of conscience, conscience. thus proclaimed, was treated as a crime, or as madness, and Episcopalians and Presbyterians alike proscribed it. On the 11th of June, 1643, parliament issued an ordinance for the purpose of putting down the publications which the Independents were constantly sending forth, and the terms of it went so far, as to abolish the liberty of the press which had hitherto been tolerated, and to subject to a strict censorship all publications whatever. But the new sects evaded and defied these restrictions; every day * Guizot's Eng. Rev., 210-213. proclaimed 1643 they became more numerous; and in addition to those already mentioned, there arose Antipædobaptists, Quakers, Antinomians, Fifth-monarchy men, Muggletonians, and many others, New sects. enthusiasts, philosophers, and freethinkers, all opposed to the malignant party, which vainly strived to stem the torrent of the revolution. Henceforth all questions took a new turn. While the political reformers directed their efforts to the reformation of the laws, the Presbyterians to the establishment of the kirk, and both respected tradition and custom, the sectaries disregarded tradition, and set no bounds to their thoughts, or limits Their to their aspirations; the philosophers sought truth, the principles. enthusiasts the Lord, the freethinkers mere success. The Presbyterians, it was said, proscribed royalty and aristocracy in the church; why did they retain them in the state? The political reformers had said, that if the King and Lords refused to assent to a beneficial measure, the will of the Commons was sufficient to make it a law; why then did they not openly avow this doctrine, and declare the sovereignty of the people to be the basis of government? By what right did the clergy exercise authority? Every faithful man was a minister for those around him, whom he could influence by persuasion, preaching, teaching, and prayer, and the Lord alone chose and consecrated his saints, and intrusted them with his mission, like the prophets of old. Thus arose the Independents who, far less numerous and far less deeply rooted in the national soil than the Presbyterians, were destined to obtain ascendancy over them, because they professed more systematic and definite principles. It was one of those glorious crises when men are seized with the sublime ambition of having truth on their side, and are able to prove it. The Presbyterians were unable to meet this test, because they depended upon the why the authority of traditions and laws, and not upon principles, terians and they therefore could not repel the arguments of their to resist rivals by mere reason. There was no contradiction pendents. between the religious and political systems of the Independents; like the sect from which they took their name, they held liberty of conscience to be a fundamental maxim, and the immensity of the reforms they proposed, the vast uncertainty of their designs, allowed men of various objects to range beneath their banners. Lawyers and Erastians, as Whitelocke and Selden, joined them, in the hope of depriving the ecclesiastics, their rivals, of all jurisdiction and power; liberal publicists contemplated, by their aid, the formation of a new, clear, simple plan of legislation; which should deprive the lawyers of their enormous profits, and im Presby were unable the Inde shades of opinion joined the Independents. CHAP. IX. moderate power; Harrington could dream among them of a society of sages; Algernon Sidney of the liberty of Sparta, or of Men of all republican Rome; Lilburne of the restoration of the old Saxon laws; Harrison and the Millenarians of the coming of Christ; even Henry Marten and Peter Wentworth, the men of no principles, were tolerated because of their daring; and all factions, whether republican or levellers, reasoners or visionaries, fanatics or men of ambition, were admitted to the ranks of this formidable party. Milton lent to its aid the astonishing force of his genius, and in his immortal "Areopagitica," anticipated in words of fire, its acquisition of power, and the fall of the Presbyterians; Vane guided it by his profound statesmanship, and Cromwell ere long placed an invincible army at its command. Such was the force now fast arraying itself against the Presbyterians.* 58. Dissensions at Oxford: Charles's correspondence with the Irish rebels. These dissensions at London were publicly known at Oxford, where, indeed, everything that was done in parliament, or by the Committee of Safety, was regularly reported. But unfortunately for the King, discord was as great in his court, as it was in the capital; and it was also more fatal: for in London it precipitated, while in Oxford it paralysed, the progress of things. The Cavaliers caballed and intrigued against each other; each blamed the other for the late disastrous enterprise against Gloucester; the council complained of the disorderly conduct of the army; the army insolently defied the council; Prince Rupert was formally commissioned by the King to obey no orders, even on the field of battle, but those which Charles himself gave, which excited the jealousy of all the great lords, while they were disgusted with the prince's arrogant and uncouth behaviour. Hyde and the council, again, were continually foiled by the Queen, so that no project was ever carried out with perfect unanimity. In the midst of these embarrassments, Charles heard with alarm of the newly-formed alliance between the two kingdoms. He immediately ordered the Duke of Hamilton to make the most liberal promises to the Scots to deter them from aiding the parliament; but the hollowness and insincerity of these offers were soon made manifest. The Scottish troops quartered in Ulster had arrested the Earl of Antrim, and had found upon his person documents which proved that he and Montrose had agreed, during their late interview with the Queen at York, to transport into Scotland an army of Irish Roman Catholics, which, in concert * Guizot's Eng. Rev., 213-217; Forster's Lives, IV., 87-89. 1644 with a Highland force, should make a diversion in favour of the King, and thus prevent the march of the Scottish army across the border. Antrim's papers further revealed, that the King was in constant correspondence with the Irish rebels. The insurrection in Ireland had now for a long time ceased to present those hideous excesses which had marked its commencement. A sovereign council, established at Kilkenny (November 14th, 1642), The council governed it with prudence and regularity, and an oath of Kilkenny had been taken in imitation of the Scots, for the protection and liberation of the Catholic worship, and the lawful immunities and liberties of the island, and for the defence of the sovereign and his authority. This supreme council immediately placed itself in communication with the King, and assured him of their loyalty. Charles listened to their assurances, and on the 15th of September concluded a year's truce with them, the insurgents agreeing to pay £30,000 in money and provisions for the use of the royal army. The Earl of Ormond, the royal commander-in-chief in Ireland, then sent over to Charles ten regiments, five of which landed at Bristol, and five at Chester. 59. The "Antic" or "Mongrel" Parliament of Oxford.* These transactions with the Irish rebels excited against Charles the hatred of many who had hitherto shown respect to his name, because of the duplicity which it betrayed in him, and of the favour he was thus showing to papists. When he was informed of this change of feeling, he was indignant that any one should thus judge him by his acts and not by his words; and sending for Hyde, his chancellor, he declared his intention of again issuing a proclamation depriving "those rebels at Westminster of the name and honour of a parliament." But that wise statesman dissuaded him from his purpose, questioning his right to do so after the act which he had passed. Instead of this, however, Charles soon after summoned both houses to meet him at Oxford on the 22nd of January, 1644, on which day 43 peers and 118 commoners assembled obedient to his summons. Their first measure was a letter directed to Essex, requesting him to convey to those "by whom he was trusted" their earnest desire for negotiations. But Essex refused to act as their mediator, on which Charles himself addressed the parliament at Westminster, and requested negotiations in the name of the parliament assembled at Oxford (March 3rd). But the two houses considered this message as an insult, because it implied that they were not a full and free convention of parliament. Mutual recriminations * The parliament at London called this assembly the antic (for anti) parliament. bers at declared CHAP. IX. The mem- followed, and the Oxford parliament put an end to all Westminster further correspondence by passing a resolution declaring traitors. the members at Westminster traitors to the King and kingdom. After voting a few taxes and loans, this extraordinary assembly was dissolved (April 16th). It had scarcely broken up when Charles addressed a letter to the Queen, in which he said he was glad he had at last got "rid of this mongrel parliament, the haunt of cowardly and seditious motions."* Nantwich Waller 60. Parliamentary victories in the beginning of the campaign. 1644. Both parties now prepared for another campaign with additional exasperation of mind, and a keener desire of revenge. This campaign opened with unfavourable auspices for the King. The five Irish regiments which had landed at Chester (November, Victories of 1643), after six weeks of success, were defeated, and Fairfax at almost entirely cut to pieces, by Sir Thomas Fairfax, and Selby. under the walls of Nantwich (January 25th, 1644); in the north, the Scots, under the command of the Earl of Leven, had crossed the border (January 16th), and, during the absence of Lord Newcastle, who set forward to meet them, Fairfax again defeated a body of Royalists at Selby (April 11th), which compelled Newcastle to fall back upon York (April 19th), quickly pursued by the Scots, who effected a junction with Fairfax, and laid siege to the city. In the eastern counties, a new army of 14,000 men was forming, under Manchester and Cromwell; in the south, Sir William Waller gained an unexpected victory over Sir Hopton at Ralph Hopton near Alresford, in Hampshire (March Alresford. 29th). A few unimportant advantages in Nottinghamshire and Lancashire, obtained by Prince Rupert, among which were, the defeat of the parliamentary army at Newark, the capture of Stockport, Bolton, and Liverpool, and the raising of the siege of Latham House, which had been gallantly defended for eighteen months by the brave Countess of Derby, were all that Charles could boast of in compensation for these numerous losses; while insubordination and disorder daily increased in the Royalist camp. On the contrary, the measures of the parliament were more energetic than ever; a new committee for both kingdoms was appointed, with almost absolute power, in Commons. spite of the opposition of the lords (February 16th); money was plentiful; families denied themselves of one meal a week, and gave the value of it to parliament; this offering was Imposition soon converted into a compulsory tax; and excise duties, of excise. till then unknown in England, were imposed upon wine, defeats Increased activity of the * Guizot, 228-9; Lingard, X., 105-6. |