ment of treason was awarded to him by the court lawyers because there happened to be a drum with the mob; and the marching to beat of drum was held to be a levying of war against the king. Many others were arrested; but "some of these mutinous people came in the daytime, and broke open the White Lion Prison, and let loose their fellows, both out of that prison and the King's Bench, and the other prisoners out of the White Lion." Clarendon says that "this infamous, scandalous, headless insurrection, quashed with the deserved death of that one varlet, was not thought to be contrived or fomented by any persons of quality." 1 Regardless of the royal prerogative, the Scottish parliament met on the 2d of June, and put forth a series of manifestoes, which had more weight in England, as well as in Scotland, than all the royal proclamations. But they had not waited so long to organize their resistance; they called out their levies in March and April, and, having retained their superior officers and their skilful commanders from abroad when they disbanded their army the preceding year, they were soon in a condition to act on the offensive; for, again, they did not wait for attack, but struck the first blow themselves. Leslie was appointed commander-in-chief of the army of the Covenant, and, being resolved not to move southward till he was master of Edinburgh Castle, he laid siege to that fortress; but Ruthven, the governor, made an obstinate resistance. Leslie intrusted the conduct of the siege to some of his best officers, and went southward, and it was not till he was victorious on the Tyne that he learned that Ruthven was constrained to capitulate, and deliver up the castle to the Covenanters. The parliament imposed a tax of a tenth upon every man's rents, and the twentieth penny of interest on loans, &c., throughout the kingdom of Scotland; and before they adjourned they appointed a standing committee of estates, to superintend the operations of the campaign, to sit in the cabinet at Edinburgh, to move with the troops, to be in the camp or wherever else their presence should be most required. In fact, the whole executive power of the state was fixed by this parliament in their standing committee. Having got all Laud's Diary-Clarendon says that the man was a sailor; but neither he nor the archbishop relates the worst part of the story. "On the Friday," says a contemporary, "this fellow was racked in the Tower to make him confess his companions. The king's serjeants, Heath and Whitfield, took his examination on the rack last Friday." In the case of Felton, the judges had solemnly decided against the use of torture, as always, and in all circumstances, contrary to the law of England. Its subsequent employment in this case was therefore an enormity destitute of all excuse, and it can scarcely be doubted that it was perpetrated by the direction of Laud him self. In all probability the execution of the wretched victim preserved the atrocious secret in few hands, or it would surely things ready, the Covenanters resolved to enter England with a sword in one hand and a petition in the other, signifying, in the meantime, to the English people, what their intentions were, and the reasons of their invasion. Charles, Strafford, and the Earl of Northumberland thought that they had provided for the worst in making the Lord Conway general of the horse, instead of the Earl of Holland. "He was sent down with the first troops of horse and foot which were levied to the borders of Scotland, to attend the motion of the enemy, and had a strength sufficient to stop them, if they should attempt to pass the river, which was not fordable in above one or two places, there being good garrisons in Berwick and Carlisle."3 Conway was in cantonment between the Tweed and the Tyne by the end of July. Upon the 20th of August Charles began his journey from London towards York in some haste; and on that very day Leslie dashed across the Tweed with his Covenanters. Charles published a proclamation, declaring the Scots, and all who in have attracted the notice of the Long Parliament. The circum stance is mentioned by no historian, but the warrant for apIt has plying the torture still exists in the State Paper Office. been printed by Mr. Jardine in his interesting tract on the Use of Torture in England, 8vo, 1837, pp. 108, 109. The poor victim was a mere youth. His name was John Archer. According to one account he was not a sailor but a drummer. 2 It should be mentioned, however, that Charles, long before this, had prohibited all trade with Scotland; that his men-ofwar and cruisers had been making prizes of Scottish merchantmen wherever they could find them. 3 Clarendon, Hist. 4 One part of the Scottish army crossed at a ford close to Coldstream; another part at a ford lower down the river. son; yet he declared that he would forgive the Scots if they would "acknowledge their former crimes and exorbitancies, and in humble and submissive manner, like penitent delinquents, crave pardon for the past, and yield obedience for the time to come." He also declared himself generalissimo of his own army, and claimed the attendance of all the tenants of the crown, as upon a war waged by the sovereign in person. Numerically the royal army actually collected was an imposing force:-without counting the train-bands of the northern counties, or the Irish troops brought over by Strafford, or about to be sent over by the Earl of Ormond, it was 20,000 strong, and provided with 60 pieces of artillery. But it was imposing in numbers only: discipline, which can make ten men more effective than a hundred, and the hearty zeal in the cause, and attachment to the banner of their leaders, which can almost do as much, were altogether wanting. The Earl of Northumberland had been offered the post of commander-in-chief, under the king; but he declined the dangerous honour, on the ground of a very doubtful sickness, and it was conferred upon Strafford, who had really risen from a sick-bed, and was not yet cured of a dreadful attack of his old enemy the gout. Strafford, knowing that his undisciplined levies and wavering officers would be no match for the well drilled Scots, and the experienced captains that commanded them, had ordered Lord Conway not to attempt to dispute the open country between the Tweed and the Tyne, but, at all hazards, to make good his stand at Newburn, and prevent the Covenanters from crossing the latter river. But before Charles could get farther north than Northallerton, or Strafford than Darlington, Conway was in full retreat, and the Scots upon the Wear, and "that infamous, irreparable rout at Newburn had fallen out." haugh, which faced two fords, passable for infantry at low water. During the forenoon the Scots watered their horses at one side of the river, and the English at the other, without any attempt to NEWBURN, NORTHUMBERLAND. - From a sketch by J. W. Carmichael. Upon Thursday, the 27th of August, Leslie and his Scots encamped on the left bank of the Tyne, a very short distance from Newburn, at a spot called Heddon-law. That night they made great fires round about their camp. During the night they suffered any Englishman that chose to visit them, making them welcome, and assuring them that they only came to demand justice from the king against incendiaries. In the course of the following day, Conway drew up the king's army, consisting of 3000 foot and 1500 horse, in some meadow ground close on the south bank of the river, between Newburnhaugh and Stella Clarendon. annoy each other-without exchanging any reproachful language. For many hours the two forces looked at each other calmly, and without any apparent anxiety to engage. At last a Scottish officer, well mounted, wearing a black feather in his hat, came out of Newburn to water his horse in the river Tyne; and an English soldier, seeing this officer fix his eye on the English trenches, fired at him, whether in earnest or to scare him was not known, but the shot took effect, and the officer with the black feather fell wounded off his horse. Thereupon the Scottish musketeers opened a fire across the river upon the English, and Leslie ordered his artillery to commence. The Scots played upon the English breast-works, and the king's army retaliated upon Newburn Church, till it grew to be near low water, by which time the Scottish artillery had made a breach in the greater sconce, 'where Colonel Lunsford commanded. The English colonel had great difficulty to keep his men to their post, for several had been killed, and many wounded, and when they saw a captain, a lieutenant, and some other officers slain, they began to murmur; and, after receiving another welldirected shot from the Scots, they threw down their arms and ran out of the fort. Leslie, from the rising hill above Newburn, plainly perceived this evacuation, and it being then low water, he commanded his own body-guard-a troop of twenty-six horse, and all Scotch lawyers--to pass the ford, which they did with great spirit, and having reconnoitred the other sconce, or breastwork, they rode back, without coming to close quarters. Still keeping up his fire, he at length made the English foot to waver, and finally compelled them to abandon that work also. Then Leslie played hard upon the king's horse, drawn up in the meadow, and so galled them that they fell into disorder, which was greatly increased when the Scottish lawyers charged again with a body of cavalry under Sir Thomas Hope, and two Scottish regiments of foot, commanded by the Lords Lindsay and Loudon, waded through the river. Presently Leslie threw more troops, both horse and foot, on the right bank, and then Colonel Lunsford drew off all his cannon, and a retreat was sounded by the English trumpets.' After this short struggle the English fled in the greatest disorder to Newcastle. Nor did they consider themselves safe there, for the Lord Conway called a council of war, and it was resolved, at twelve o'clock at night, that the town was not tenable, and that the whole army should fall back instantly upon Durham. In the whole battle-if battle it may be called-there fell not above sixty Englishmen : it was evident that they had no mind to fight the Scots in this quarrel. believe their good fortune; but, in the afternoon, Douglas, sheriff of Teviotdale, rode up with trumpet and a small troop of horse to the gates of Newcastle, which, after some parley, were thrown open to him. The following day, being Sunday, Douglas and fifteen Scottish lords dined with the mayor, Sir Peter Riddle, drank a health to the king, and heard three sermons preached by their own divines. Conway did not consider Durham more tenable than Newcastle: he pursued his retreat to Darlington, where he met the fiery Strafford, who, however, was fain to turn with him, and fall still farther back to Northallerton, where the standard of Charles was floating.3 Leslie soon quitted Newcastle, and was marching after them, so, having hastily reviewed their forces, and found them greatly diminished by desertion, the king, Strafford, and Conway all moved together from Northallerton, and fell back upon the city of York, with the intention of intrenching close under the walls of that town, and sending back their cavalry into Richmond or Cleveland, to guard the river Tees and keep the Scots from making incursions into York NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE.-From an old view. shire. Leslie took Durham as he had taken Newcastle; and the Scots entered without opposition into Shields, Teignmouth, and other places. Without losing twenty men they became masters of nearly the whole of the four northern counties of England. But though the road to York seemed open to them, though the disaffection of the inhabitants was well known, they paused upon the left bank of the Tees. On the 11th of September, when the Londoners were already greatly dismayed by the notion that they should get no more coals By five o'clock on the following morning, Au- | from Newcastle, his majesty took a view of his gust the 29th, Newcastle was evacuated, and all that part of the English army in full retreat. For a time it appears the Scots could scarcely "The truth is," says Secretary Vane, in a letter to Windebank, "our horse did not behave themselves well, for many of them ran away, and did not second those that were first charged." -Hardwicke State Papers. 2 Rushworth. This laborious writer was on the spot at the time. 3 Strafford, according to Clarendon, had brought with "a body much broken with his late sickness, a mind and temper confessing the dregs of it, which, being marvellously provoked and inflamed with indignation at the late dishonour, rendered him less gracious-that is, less inclined to make himself so to the officers upon his first entrance into his charge; it may be. in that mass of disorder, not quickly discerning to whom kind army under the walls of York, and found that it still consisted of 16,000 foot, and 2000 horse, besides the trained bands of Yorkshire. "Braver ness and respect was justly due. But those who, by this time, no doubt were retained for that purpose, took that opportunity to incense the army against him; and so far prevailed in it, that in a short time it was more inflamed against him than against the enemy; and was willing to have their want of courage imputed to excess of conscience, and that their being not satisfied in the grounds of the quarrel was the only cause that they fought no better. In this indisposition in all parts the earl found it necessary to retire."-Hist. We learn from a letter of Sir Henry Vane (in Hardwicke Papers) that Strafford at this time was troubled with the stone as well as the gout. Charles, it appears, thought to revive him and reward him by giving him the blue ribbon, which was done on the 13th of September. bodies of men, and better clad," wrote Sir Henry But, to say nothing of God's blessing, which his preachers said he had, heart and money were both wanting; and the unwelcome conviction induced Charles to turn a ready ear to those who urged the necessity of temporizing with the Scots. He condescended to receive as envoy and negotiator the subjects, who clamoured for a new parliament and the redress of their own crying grievances. Twelve peers-Bedford, Essex, Hertford, Warwick, Bristol, Mulgrave, Say and Sele, Howard, YORK, from Fishergate Postern-From a print by Lodge (1673). Lord Lanark, secretary of state for Scotland, and brother to the Marquis of Hamilton, who presented the petition of the Covenanters to his majesty. Charles, on the 5th of September, gave a gentle but evasive answer to the Earl of Lanark, telling him that he was always ready to redress the grievances of his people; that the petition he had presented was conceived in too general terms, but that, if he would return with a more specific statement of their grievances, he would give them his earliest attention. Even at this extremity, he was most averse to the summoning of a parliament: but he thought (most unreasonably) to satisfy the Scots by telling Lauark that he had already issued summonses for the meeting of the peers of England, in the city of York, on the 24th day of September. On the 8th of September the Covenanters sent Lanark a list of their grievances and conditions, expressing their great joy at learning that his majesty was beginning again to hearken to their humble petitions and desires. These demands, though respectfully expressed, were not altogether moderate; but Charles read them, pretended to entertain them, and, with indignant pride, turned to Strafford to know whether 20,000 men could not be brought over in stanter from Ireland; and he looked to other quarters to see whether there were not means for resisting and chastising the Scotch rebels. But there were none: the whole nation was in discontent and ferment, and the provinces occupied by the Scots cried with an alarming voice to be released from the burden of supporting them. At the same time Charles was beset by English Hardwicke State Papers. Bolingbroke, Mandevill, Brooke, and Pagett-presented a petition to the sovereign. At the same time the citizens of London prepared a petition to the same effect. Laud and the privy council, sitting in the capital, got sight of a copy of this petition as it was being circulated for signature, and thereupon they endeavoured to stop the proceedings and terrify the subscribers. But the citizens disregarded their letter, put nearly 10,000 names to the petition, and despatched some of the court of aldermen and common council to present it to the king at York. Also the gentry of Yorkshire, when called upon to pay and support the trained bands for two months, agreed to do their best therein, but most humbly besought his majesty to think of summoning parliament. Charles now, indeed, saw that this was inevitable; and before the meeting of the peers, who had been really summoned to York as a great council, he issued writs for the assembling of parliament on the following 3d of November. Meanwhile, upon the appointed day the 24th of September-the great council of peers assembled in the dean's house near the minster at York. There Charles told them that he had called them together, after the custom of his predecessors, to ask their advice and assistance upon sudden invasions and dangers which had not allowed time for the calling of a parliament; that an army of rebels were lodged within the kingdom; that he wanted their advice and assistance, in order to proceed to the chastisement of these insolences. He then asked what answer he should give to the petition of the rebels, 2 See Laud's letter to the lord-mayor and andermen of the city 4 Rushworth. of London, in Rushworth. and in what manner he should treat them, and how he should keep his own army on foot and maintain it until supplies might be had from a parliament. The Earl of Bristol proposed to continue and conclude the treaty with the Scots. He and other lords were confident that they could make peace upon honourable terms. While they were speaking, a packet was brought from the Covenanters to Lord Lanark, with a new petition to his majesty, "supplicating in a more mannerly style than formerly." On the following day (the 25th of September), the lords, delighted with his majesty's assurance of calling a parliament, entered into debate with great cheerfulness and alacrity. Northallerton had been agreed upon for a place of meeting between the English and Scotch commissioners, but now it was declared that Ripon would be a better place; and the English peers unanimously resolved to hold the negotiations at Ripon. Sixteen of the English peers were to act for Charles,' eight Scottish lords and gentlemen for the Covenant. The commissioners laboured with little effect from the 1st of October till the 16th, when they agreed upon articles for the quiet maintenance of the Scottish army for two months, for the opening of the seaports in the north and the renewal of free trade and commerce by sea and land, as in time of peace, and for the cessation of hostilities; and nothing more was settled, for all the grievances and important clauses of a definitive treaty were left untouched: and on the 23d of October-the time of the meeting of parliament approaching-it was agreed that the negotiations should be transferred from Ripon to London. The Scots were to receive or levy the sum of £850 per diem for the space of two months, beginning from the 16th of October; they were to content themselves with this maintenance, and neither molest Papists, prelates, nor their adherents;3 and by this arrangement Leslie and the Covenanters were left in undisturbed possession of Durham, Newcastle, and all the towns on the eastern coast beyond the Tees, with the single exception of Berwick. "Upon such terms," says a contemporary, "was this unnatural war (although the armies could not as yet be disbanded) brought to a cessation."4 Upon the 3d of November, 1640, Charles, in evident depression of spirits, opened in person the ever-memorable Long Parliament. He told the houses that the honour and safety of the kingdom being at stake, he was resolved to put himself freely and clearly on the love and affection of his English subjects-that he was exhausted by charges made merely for the security of England, and therefore must desire them to consider the best way of supplying him with money, chastising the rebels, &c., and then he would satisfy all their just grievances. And at the end of his speech he said, with great emphasis—“One thing more I desire of you, as one of the greatest means to make this a happy parliament, that you on your parts, as I on mine, lay aside all suspi Charles attempted to transfer the conferences from Ripon to the city of York; but the Scots, who were very cautious-who, in the midst of all their civility, had shown that they had not the slightest confidence in his royal word-objected to putting themselves so completely in his power. Here, also, their jealousy and hatred of Strafford blazed forth. That potential, and still formidable minister was set down as "a chief incendiary," as a main cause of all these troubles, as a colleaguer with Papists, the worst foe of Scotland as of England. If the loose and inaccurate minutes of the proceedings of the great council of peers at York may be trusted, Strafford did not advise his master at this juncture to break off all negotiation and trust to force of arms; he was too keen-sighted a person not to perceive the great and growing disaffection of the English army; but another peer certainly gave something very like this resolute advice. Edward, Lord Herbert, commonly called the Black Lord Her-cion one of another: as I promised my lords at bert, irritated at the Scots' demand of £40,000 per month, advised the king to fortify York, and dissuaded his majesty from yielding to that demand. But this advice, though in all respects it coincided with the feelings of the king, was too dangerous to be adopted. York, it shall not be my fault if this be not a happy and good parliament." But this invitation to a mutual confidence came many years too late. The court had signally failed in its endeavours to influence the elections. Of Charles's chief servants only two, Vane and Windebank, ceeded to bishops' tenantry and Episcopalians. A May 5 Charles would not open parliament with the usual state. He, as it were, skulked to the house. "The king," says Laud in his diary, "did not ride, but went by water to King's Stairs, and through Westminster Hall to the church, and so to the house." Clarendon says with more solemnity, "This parlia ment had a sad and melancholic aspect upon the first entrance, which presaged some unusual and unnatural events."-Hist. They were Bedford, Hertford, Essex, Salisbury, Warwick, | Papists of Northumberland, and from the Papists they had proBristol, Holland, Berkshire, Mandevill, Wharton, Pagett, Brooke, Paulet, Howard, Saville, and Dunsmore; and they were to be assisted in arranging the treaty by the Farls of Traquair, Morton, and Lanark, Secretary Vane, Sir Lewis Stuart, and Sir John Burrough, who were men either versed in the laws of Scotland, or who had been formerly acquainted with this business. The Scottish commissioners were the Lords Dunfermline and Loudon, Sir Patrick Hepburn, Sir William Douglas, Alexander Henderson, the celebrated preacher, Johnson, the clerk of the general assembly, Wedderburne, and Smith. 2 Rushworth. 6 Charles was followed by the Lord-keeper Finch, who made an elaborate speech to show that, with the exception of the impious troubles in the north, the country was in a blessed state 1 Some of the Scotch army thought it quite fair to plunder the that things never had been so well, and never could be better. VOL. II. 166 |