CHAPTER XXIX. THE REBELLION. THE first step of importance taken by the new parliament was to impeach lord Strafford and archbishop Laud on a charge of high treason. That this impeachment, so far as Strafford was concerned, was instituted from motives of revenge rather than of justice, there is not a shadow of doubt. His government of Ireland had been marked by great wisdom. He had suppressed all attempts at rebellion there, and kept the army in the highest state of efficiency. Perhaps his policy may have been somewhat arbitrary; but this was probably needful, from the generally seditious temper of the people. The truth is, that the greater part of the House of Commons were puritans, of which sect Strafford had also formerly been a member, and by leaving it, had deeply offended all the influential adherents of the party, and especially Pym, the leader of the commons, who said to him, several years before the time of which I am writing, "You are going to leave us, but I will never leave you while your head is on your shoulders." A malignant and cruel threat, and quite contrary to the spirit of that pure and holy law which, as a puritan, he professed literally to obey, but which threat he too faithfully accomplished. Strafford pleaded his own cause most successfully. Nothing could be proved against him affecting his life; but his enemies were resolved on his destruction, and condemned him to be beheaded. Charles, who was well aware that Strafford's great offence, in the eyes of these people, was his faithful attachment to himself, would not sign his death-warrant, although the queen and other counsellors advised him to sacrifice his friend to the public outcry, Juxon, bishop of London, alone urging him not to act against his conscience. Even Strafford himself wrote a letter to the king, begging him only to consider his own interest, and assuring him that he was ready to die in his service. At last, after a long resistance, Charles was induced to consent; but so abhorred the deed that he commissioned four lords to sign the warrant. Even then he implored them to take time, to consider, to have mercy. But they were inexorable; and Strafford was executed on Tower Hill, May 12, 1641. On his way to the scaffold, he was allowed to stop beneath STRAFFORD EXECUTED. 285 the window of an apartment where archbishop Laud was confined, in order to receive his blessing; but the venerable man was too much affected to be able to speak, and could only raise his hands through the iron bars, in silent prayer over the victim's head. The earl suffered with great calmness and piety; but Charles never forgave himself for having consented to give him up to his enemies; and afterwards, when he was himself unjustly sentenced, said that it was a righteous judgment upon him for Strafford's death. The king soon found that he could do nothing with the parliament, and unhappily, while his mind was agitated by the trial of his friend, he had given his assent to a bill proposing that the parliament should not be dissolved, prorogued, or adjourned, without its own consent, a measure which completely fettered him for the future. After this, some real grievances were redressed, and the king remained for some time quite passive, finding that resistance was vain. Then he went to Scotland, to try to pacify the discontented there; and while thus employed, the rebellion in Ireland broke out, which I have more fully described in the last chapter. The parliament voted money and ammunition for the suppression of this rebellion, and then kept the sup plies in their own hands, in order to turn them against the king. The country was divided into many parties. There were the royalists, who adhered to the king; a moderate party of true patriots, who only wished to reform the abuses of the prerogative, and other real evils; the puritans, who sought to overthrow the church; and the republicans, who wished to ruin the monarchy as well as the church. These three parties united against the king, who soon found that there was no alternative for him but to take up arms. Nearly all the peers were royalists, but lord Essex sided with the puritans. The members of this party affected great plainness in dress, and wore their hair cropped close to their heads, in contrast to the splendid dress and flowing hair fashionable at the time. Hence they obtained the name of Roundheads, while they called the royalists Cavaliers, or Malignants. It was not perhaps entirely to be attributed to party-spirit that the royalists obtained this disgraceful title from the puritans. Charles's necessities compelled him to enlist any soldiers he could obtain, and many of these were men of profligate character, who expressed their contempt for the rigid manners of the puritans, not by setting them a better example, but by running into all DEATH OF HAMPDEN. 287 kinds of excesses, and ridiculing religion and virtue. Many Romanists also fought on the king's side; which was quite enough, in those days, to set the people against him, so great was the dread that the Romish faith should ever again become the national religion. The king set up his standard at Nottingham Castle, August 25, 1642. The first battle was fought at Edge Hill, in Warwickshire; the royal troops being commanded by Charles's nephews, princes Maurice and Rupert; the parliamentary by lord Essex. It was decided in favour of the king, who then retired to Oxford, which town always remained faithful to him. The war lasted three years, and was at first generally favourable to the royalists. The king made several negotiations for peace, but nothing would satisfy the parliament but the destruction of the established church, to which Charles was sincerely attached. Colonel Hampden fell in the first year, at Chalgrave, near Oxford. He was a man of such exemplary character, that even the royalists were sorry for his death; and Charles sent his own surgeon to him, when he heard he was wounded; but he was already dead. Lord Falkland, a royalist general of equal worth, was also slain at Newbury. The principal |