128

Ch. 11 another parliament.

A. D.

1640.

Im

ford.

of

raise money.

THE LONG PARLIAMENT.

He had exhausted every expedient to clamoured for pay; and he was over

His army burdened with debts.

On the 13th of April, 1640, the new Parliament met. It only lasted until the 5th of May, when it was abruptly dissolved. On the 3rd of November, its successor, afterwards called the Long Parliament, assembled. It knew its strength, and was determined to exercise it. It immediately took the power into its own hands, and from remonstrances and petitions, it proceeded to actual hostilities.

One of the first acts of the House of Commons was the im

peach-peachment of Strafford. He had been just summoned from Straf- Ireland, where, as Lord Lieutenant, he had exercised almost regal power, to assist his perplexed and desponding master by his counsels. Reluctantly he obeyed, foreseeing the storm. He had scarcely arrived in London, when the intrepid Pym accused him of high treason. The Lords accepted the accusation; the imperious minister was committed to the Tower, and soon after was tried, condemned, and executed. The impeachment and execution of Archbishop Laud followed about three years afterwards.

Rebel

Ireland.

A few months after the execution of Strafford, an event occurred which proved exceedingly unfortunate to the royal cause. This was the rebellion in Ireland, and the massacre of lion in the Protestant population, caused, primarily, by the harsh and severe measures of the late Lord Lieutenant. In the course of a few weeks, the English and Scottish 'colonies, in Ireland, seemed almost uprooted. The Protestants exaggerated their loss; but it is probable that at least fifty thousand were massacred. The local government of Dublin was paralyzed. The English nation was filled with deadly and implacable hostility, not against the Irish merely, but against the Catholics everywhere. It was supposed that there was a general conspiracy among the Catholics to destroy the whole nation; and it was whispered that the Queen herself had aided the revolt. The most vigorous measures were

APPEAL TO ARMS.

129

adopted to raise money and troops for Ireland. The Com- Ch.11 mons took occasion from the general spirit of discontent and A. D. insurrection to prepare a grand remonstrance on the evils 1642. of the kingdom, which were traced to a "coalition of Papists, Arminian bishops and clergymen, and evil courtiers and counsellors." The Commons recited all the evils of the last sixteen years, and declared the necessity of taking away the root of them, which was the arbitrary power of the sovereign. Affairs were thus rapidly advancing, when, on the 3rd of AtJanuary, 1642, an attempt was made to arrest five of the tempt to most refractory and able members of Parliament. members were Hollis, Hazelrig, Pym, Hampden, and Strode, who were accused of high treason. The Commons refused to surrender their members; upon which the King, on the following day, went down to the House, with an armed force, to seize them. But Pym and others got intelligence of the design of Charles, and had time to withdraw before he arrived.

seize

These five

They retired to the city. The night was spent by the citizens under arms; and the next day, the King, alarmed for the consequences of his rash act, came to Guildhall, attended by only three or four lords, and addressed the people, expressing sorrow that they should fear anything from him.

Mem

bers.

excite

ment.

Still the excitement continued, and on the 10th the Royal Public family left Whitehall, and went to Hampton Court. The House had adjourned until the 11th; and on this day, between two lines of boats, carrying ordnance, and prepared for action, the five members, attended by the sheriffs and the train-bands, proceeded to Westminster.

Having taken their seats, Pym expatiated on the kindness of their reception in the city; the speaker formally thanked the sheriffs; and a guard was appointed for the two Houses. Soon after, 4,000 men from Buckinghamshire, all on horseback, offered their services to the Parliament.

From that day may be dated "the levying of war in Eng

130

A. D.

FLIGHT OF THE KING FROM LONDON.

Ch. 11 land." Then it was, and not till then, that the Commons openly defied the King, who remained in his palace, humbled, dis1642. mayed, and bewildered, "feeling," says Clarendon, "the trouble and agony which usually attend generous minds upon their having committed errors;" or as Macaulay puts it, "the despicable repentance which attends the bungling villain, who, having attempted to commit a crime, finds that he has only committed a folly."

Flight

of the

King.

The King now went into the country to raise forces to control the Parliament, and the Parliament made vigorous measures to put itself and the kingdom in a state of resistance. On the 23rd of April, the King, with three hundred horse, advanced to Hull, and was refused admission by the governor. This was tantamount to a declaration of war. It was so considered. Thirty-two Lords, and sixty members of the Commons immediately departed for York to join the King; the Parliament decreed an army, and civil war began.

The reign of Charles was now virtually ended; that of the Parliament and Cromwell had begun.

REFERENCES. — Clarendon's "History of the Great Rebellion;" Guizot's History of the English Revolution;" Thurloe's "State Papers;" Rushworth, Whitelock, Dugdale, "Life of Col. Hutchinson;" "Pictorial History of England;" Hume, Macaulay, and Burnet's "History of the Reformation."

COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES.

131

CHAPTER XII.

THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION AND OLIVER CROMWELL.

WE have considered the various causes of discontent, both Ch.12 political and religious, which led Parliament, directed by A. D. Puritan leaders, to enter into a bloody contest with Charles I. 1642. This Civil War, of which Cromwell was the hero, merits particular attention.

for

The refusal of the Governor of Hull to admit the King was, Comas we have already said, virtually the declaration of war, which both parties had vigorously prepared.

The royal standard was first raised in Nottingham, while the head quarters of the Parliamentarians were in London. The first action of any note was the battle of Edge Hill (October 23, 1642), but it was undecisive. Both parties hesitated to plunge into desperate war, until, by skirmishings and military manœuvres, they were better prepared for it.

mencement of hostilities.

The forces of the belligerents, at this period, were nearly equal; but the Parliamentarians had the ablest leaders. It was the misfortune of the King to have no man of commanding talents as his counsellor, after the arrest of Strafford. Hyde, afterwards Lord Chancellor and Earl of Clarendon, was the ablest of the Royalist party. Falkland and Culpeper were also eminent men; but neither of them was the equal of Pym or Hampden, the latter doubtless the most influential man in England at that time, and the only one who could have prevented the excesses which overturned the throne. This great man was removed by Providence from the scene John of violence and faction at an early period of the contest. He Hamp was mortally wounded in one of those skirmishes in which the

den.

132

A. D.

Rise of

THE KING AT OXFORD.

Ch. 12 detachments of both armies had been thus far engaged; and which made the campaigns of 1642-3 so undecided, so tedi1643. ous, and so irritating. It is now that Oliver Cromwell first appears on the field of action. At the battle of Edge Hill he was captain of a troop of horse; and at the death of his cousin Hampden was colonel. He was also a member of Oliver the Long Parliament, and had secured the attention of the members, in spite of his slovenly appearance, and his incoherent though earnest speeches. Under a rough and clownish exterior, his talents were perceived only by two or three penetrating intellects; but they were shortly to appear, and to be developed, not in the House of Commons, but on the field of battle.

Crom

well.

The state of the contending parties, for nearly two years after the battle of Edge Hill, was very singular and very complicated. The King remained at Oxford, distracted by opposing counsels, and perplexed by various difficulties. The head quarters of his enemies, at London, were no less the seat of intrigues and party animosities. The Presbyterians, who were the most powerful party, distrusted the Independents, and feared a victory over the King nearly as much as they did a defeat by him; while the dissensions among the various sects and leaders were no secret in the Royalist Alliance camp, and doubtless encouraged Charles in his endless with the intrigues and dissimulations. But he was not equal to deci

Scots.

sive measures; and without them, in revolutionary times, any party must be ruined. While he was meditating and scheming, he heard the news of an alliance between Scotland and the Parliament, in which the Presbyterian interest was in the ascendency. This was the first great blow he received since the commencement of the war. His enemies now resolved upon more vigorous measures.

The King's forces were still considerable; and he obtained some momentary successes, among which was the relief of York, by his nephew Prince Rupert, when it was besieged by a Parliamentary army.