1647

accepted the offer, and it was agreed that £400,000 should be raised by the confiscation of the church lands, to be paid to the Scots in lieu of all demands.

This, however, did not settle the question as to the disposal of the King's person, and when the two houses resolved (September 21st) that this belonged to the parliament of England, the Scots remonstrated, the Presbyterians were embarrassed, and a bitter controversy ensued. Apprehensive of the quarrel leading to a war between the parliament and its allies, pay for the army during the next six months was voted, a plain hint to the Scots that their right to the possession of the King's person would be disputed by force of arms. Holles, Stapleton, Glynn, and the leaders of the Presbyterians, therefore, counselled the Scots to yield, for they persuaded themselves that, if the King were given up into the hands of parliament, it would be easy to disband that fatal army, which threatened to give power to the Independents, and was the true enemy of both King and parliament. The dispute, nevertheless, lasted for the rest of the year, and it was not before the 30th of January, 1647, that the Scots departed from Newcastle, leaving the King in the hands of the parliamentary commissioners, who conducted him to Holmby, a royal residence near Northampton. The Scots took with them half the parliamentary vote which had been granted to them for the surrender of their royal prize.

The Scots

deliver the

King into the hands

parliament.

72. Disputes between the Army and the Parliament. Now that the war was over and the King in their hands, the Commons began to take measures for breaking the force of their sole remaining enemy-the army. They carried, but with considerable opposition, resolutions to disband a part of it, and send the rest to Ireland; to admit of no officer higher than a colonel, except Fairfax, the general; and to grant no commissions to any member of the house, or to any person who refused to take the Solemn League and Covenant, and did not conform to the Presbyterian system (February, 1647). The Lords confirmed these resolutions, and required that the army, during its disbanding, should remove further from the metropolis (March 24th). A loan of £200,000 was immediately raised in the city, to pay the soldiers their arrears; and a committee, on which sat nearly all the Presbyterian leaders, was ordered to superintend these measures. But the army was not so easily to be done away with, and there was one in it who was able to oppose the parliament and the Presbyterians by bolder measures and more daring intrigues than their own. Although Fairfax was in command, his gentleness and good

His

CHAP. IX.

nature suffered him to be guided by the advice or wishes of those around him-by his wife, his companions, and especially by Cromwell. While the latter thus obtained the confidence of the Intrigues of general, he secured the love and esteem of the common Cromwell. soldier, for whom he advocated liberty and toleration, with whom he joined in the conventicle, and whose wrongs as a religionist, and privations as a soldier he affected to resent. Το his fellow officers he lamented, as he one day said to Ludlow, the ingratitude and jealousy of the parliament, which never rendered justice to any man, however true he might be; whereas in serving under a general, a man was as useful, and had no dread either of blame or envy. Ludlow, who was a sincere republican, could not understand this dark and designing language, and made no advances to the adventurer; but others were easily deceived, and already Cromwell had many able accomplices; Ireton, accomplices. his future son-in-law, a man of a firm, obstinate, and subtle spirit, capable of carrying on, silently and with deep cunning, the boldest designs, veiled under an appearance of rough honesty; Lambert, a brilliant officer, ambitious and vain, and who, having been brought up to the law, like Ireton, had a power of insinuation and readiness of speech which gained over the soldiers; Harrison, Hammond, Pride, Rich, Rainsborough, colonels of tried valour, and personally attached to Cromwell, the first by religion, the second by relationship, the others because they expected to rise with the ascendancy of his genius.* By means of these officers, Cromwell, although he now sat regularly in the house, maintained his influence in the army. As soon as the disbanding of the army was mentioned, these men immediately excited opposition, and while Cromwell deplored, from his place in the house, the discontent of the army, and expressed his devotion to parliament in the most solemn language, he constantly informed them of all that was doing in London, and counselled and suggested the movements which the soldiers made under their secret directions. Under these impulses the army suddenly marched from Nottingham to Saffron Walden, where Fairfax was met by commissioners from the parliament, London. who called a council of officers, and submitted to them the proposals for the service in Ireland. But instead of a positive answer, a Manifesto was drawn up and signed by the soldiers, in which they demanded arrears of pay, the cavalry for 43 Manifesto. weeks, the infantry for 18; indemnity for acts done in war; exemption from impressment for foreign service, which was

The army

moves

towards

Its

* Guizot's Eng. Rev., 317-318.

1647

not according to their contract of service; compensation for the maimed; pensions for their widows and orphans; and regular pay until they were disbanded. The Presbyterian leaders, seven of whom had been colonels of the old army under Essex, and therefore on that account hated the new-model men, were alarmed at this; all members of parliament holding commands were ordered to repair to the army, and it was declared that all who had had a hand in promoting the petition of the army were "enemies to the state and disturbers of the public peace." This unlucky declaration only made matters worse; but the measures for the disbanding went on nevertheless, as well as the formation of the corps destined for Ireland. The soldiers now went further, and in addition to the council of officers, another was formed consisting of two representatives from every troop and The council company, calling themselves adjutators or helpers, a name and the which their enemies ingeniously converted into agitators or disturbers. Under the guidance of these two assemblies, the army addressed a solemn justification of their conduct to parliament, in which they maintained that, by becoming soldiers, they had not lost the rights of subjects; that, by purchasing the freedom of others, they had not Their forfeited their own; and that they ought to be allowed to petition now solemn in what regarded them as soldiers, no less than afterwards in what justification might regard them as citizens. At the same time, they addressed a letter to Fairfax and the officers, in which, after stating their resolution to submit to no wrongs, they said that the expedition to Ireland was a mere pretext to separate them from their favourite officers, and to conceal the ambition of a few men who had long been servants, but who, having lately tasted of sovereign power, were now degenerating into tyrants, in order to become masters (April 30th).

of officers

adjutators.

make secret

This language exceedingly alarmed the Presbyterian leaders in parliament; and Cromwell, Skippon, Ireton, and Fleetwood, were ordered to repair to the army, and assure them that ordinances of indemnity should be passed, that their arrears should be audited, and that a considerable payment should be made previous to their dismissal from service (May 8th). During this the soldiers had made secret overtures The soldiers to the King, offering to re-establish him in his just overtures rights if he would place himself at their head. to the King. The King rejected them, but the report of them in London increased the agitation. The more cautious members became timid; some left London; others, like Whitelocke, sought the favour of the generals, and of Cromwell in particular. Holles, Stapleton, and Glynn, and their colleagues, however, remained obstinate; they condescended to pass the ordinance for indemnity (May 21st), and to issue eight weeks' pay (May 25th), but they ordered Fairfax to disband the army immediately. Instead of

The

rendezvous

CHAP. IX.

obeying, he called the council of officers, and it was resolved that as the pay was but a small portion of their arrears, and there was no security for the remainder, and that as the parliament had stigmatised them in a vote as enemies of the state, and had not rescinded the vote, the whole army should meet together and consult in common. Orders were immediately desOn Kentford patched to the several regiments to rendezvous on the Heath. 4th of June on Kentford Heath, near Newmarket; the park of artillery at Oxford was secured, and £4,000 destined for the pay of the garrison of that city, seized for the use of the army. These proceedings opened the eyes of the Presbyterians; they expunged the offensive vote from the journals; they brought in a more comprehensive ordinance of indemnity; and were meditating other measures for the calming of the army, when they were disturbed by the arrival of extraordinary tidings from Holmby.*

73. Abduction of the King from Holmby. On Wednesday, the 2nd of June, while Charles was playing bowls at Althorp, near Holmby, Joyce, a cornet in the general's life guard, was observed standing among the spectators, and late in the evening of the same day, the commissioners in attendance upon the King understood that a numerous party of horse had assembled on Harleston Heath, whose object could not be doubted. The guards in attendance upon the King left him that night, and about two o'clock in the morning, the strangers appeared before the gates, and were instantly admitted, Joyce at once informing the commissioners of the object of his errand. Early the next morning, they conducted the King to Hinchinbrook House, whence, at his request, they conveyed him to Newmarket. He rode with them willingly, and when a strong force, sent by Fairfax, offered to deliver him from Joyce, and take him back to Holmby and the parliament, he positively declined. He expected that this new movement would be of advantage to him, and enable him to extirpate the one party by the aid of the other.

The design of seizing the King was openly avowed by the agitators, though the general belief attributed it to the secret contrivance of Cromwell. It had been carefully concealed from the knowledge of Fairfax, who did nothing to oppose it, beyond despatching the force above mentioned; for while he desired to satisfy the complaints of the army, he was anxious to prevent a rupture between it and the parliament. But Cromwell had a very different object in view,-the humiliation of his political opponents; * Lingard, X., 198-202; Guizot's Eng. Rev., 317-325; Carlyle's Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, I., 220-224,

1647

Joyce despatched a letter to him as soon as he had secured the King, and Haselrigg, Fleetwood, and Ireton were all admitted into the conspiracy.

accused in

of removing

74. The army marches towards London. The first news of this bold manœuvre caused general dismay in both houses, and a solemn fast was ordained, to obtain from the Lord the restoration of harmony between the parliament and the army; a considerable portion of the arrears was advanced forthwith, and the declaration which had treated the first petition from the officers as seditious, was rescinded and erased from the journals (June 5th). But when the details of what had taken place were known, Cromwell and Cromwell's share in the transaction had become the house manifest, the fears of the parliament gave way to indigna- the King. tion, and Cromwell, being accused, called God and angels to witness that he was innocent. Soon after, Harbottle Grimstone charged him with having said that the House of Commons ought to be purged, and that the army ought to do it. But Cromwell again vehemently repelled the accusation, and asserted his faithfulness to the house with so many tears and solemn words, that he turned the opinions of the members altogether in his favour. But that very evening he secretly left London, and joined the army, which was then holding its celebrated rendezvous The renon Triploe Heath (June 10th), near Cambridge. Here dezvous on all the regiments entered into a solemn engagement not Heath. to disband, nor volunteer for the service in Ireland, till their grievances had been satisfactorily redressed, and their subsequent safety secured. After this, the army moved on to St. Albans, and as it advanced, addresses from the freeholders of the different counties were daily presented to Fairfax, as if the force under his command constituted the supreme authority of the nation. A succession of petitions, remonstrances, and declarations issued from the pens of Ireton and Lambert, under the superintendence of Cromwell; the army continually added to its former demands, and it now required (June 14th) that all capitulations granted during the war should be observed; that a time should be fixed for the termination of the present parliament; that the House of Commons should be purged of every individual disqualified by preceding ordinances, and that eleven members, comprising Holles, Glynn, Stapleton, Clotworthy, and Waller, the chief leaders of the Presbyterians, should be impeached and excluded from parliament in the meantime. To give weight to these demands, the army advanced to Uxbridge.

Triploe

To defend themselves against the blow which they now foresaw