CHAPTER VI.THE SCOTS IN ENGLAND.

As early as March 1640, on the receipt of the first intelligence of the warlike designs of Charles I, the Scots had resolved to renew their preparations for war. Lesley and the other commanders were confirmed in their posts: in every county people began to arm. Hostilities again broke out between the castle and the town of Edinburgh: but Ruthven did not allow himself to be overpowered as easily as his predecessor had been. When an attack was made upon him he replied to it by an artillery fire from the walls.

While shots were being exchanged, and men on both sides were falling, the Scottish Parliament reassembled on June 2. Its proceedings could not fail to breathe a similar tone of hostility. It met without the presence of the King or of his commissioner; as men observed with astonishment ‘without sword, sceptre, and crown.’ In place of the commissioner the Parliament established a president of its own, elected from among its members. The session lasted only eight days; but it was said that for six centuries there had been no Parliament more remarkable and more thoroughgoing. Those resolutions were repeated, and even enlarged, which had been adopted in the last session before it was interrupted by adjournment, and to which the King had refused his consent. Though hitherto the clergy had taken a high place in the constitutions of all European kingdoms, even in Northern and German countries in spite of the Reformation, yet in Scotland it was resolved that this order should no longer be represented in Parliament. In its room the gentry appeared as the third order, standing between the nobles and the citizens: theyA.D. 1640.took definitive possession, as before mentioned, of the political influence which they had won for themselves in the late commotions. In this new form, so it was enacted, Parliament was to be held every three years[181]: proclamations which ran counter to the laws and liberties of the Parliament were to be forbidden under the penalties attached to high treason: only natives, and moreover only those natives who were disposed to protect the reformed religion in the shape in which it had been established, and to maintain the union between King and people, were to be appointed to the command of the three strong castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton. Such further changes were introduced into the resolutions as made it necessary that the most important military commands should be filled according to the wish of the Estates. The clergy were also excluded from the Courts of Justice; for people did not wish that an order, which had shown itself so amenable to the influence exercised on it by the crown, should be seen exercising any political functions. The inferior clergy were quite content with this, as the continuance of their Assemblies and the independence of their jurisdiction was expressly secured to them. The monarchy was certainly allowed to remain, but care was taken to surround it with independent powers, which took away from it the substance of its authority. The Parliament authorised the Committee of the Estates, which was already appointed, to carry on the government. This committee was so composed that the resolutions always conformed to the wishes and proposals of the leading men, especially of Argyle, who was considered even then as the most important person of all, though he was not himself one of the members.

We should mistake the feelings of the Scots, if we assumed that these arrangements had been approved by every one. Even Thomas Hope, the King’s Advocate, who had at first so entirely concurred in the movement, warned the Earl of Rothes not to go so far as to give the King good ground forA.D. 1640.saying to other sovereigns that people in Scotland had an eye, not so much to religion, as to the abolition of the monarchy. Hope told the Earl that they ought to strengthen their religion, that they should then see what he would do or suffer in its behalf, but that in matters of civil government they must not reckon on his going with them. The same views were entertained by many other of the more reflecting spirits among the clergy and scholars. The government had thought it necessary to appoint as Professors in the Universities men who shared its tendencies, and knew how to gain acceptance for them in the minds of the young. These regulations did not enjoy entire popularity. While in the English Parliament the boroughs returned a majority, in Scotland the gentry had an ascendancy by which the commons, at first at all events, felt themselves oppressed[182]. And meanwhile the Covenant was not yet by any means everywhere accepted. Those counties that repudiated it even made attacks upon others which had submitted: the old Scottish lawlessness and desire for plunder now availed itself of religious pretexts. A small army was required to be permanently in the field in order to extinguish the flames of revolt which kept flickering here and there. In the minds of many of the great men who concurred in the religious demands of their countrymen, their political demands awakened all the more opposition because their rivals were just the people who derived advantage from the new constitution; or else in fact feelings of loyal devotion to the King awoke in them; they did not wish to allow the crown to be robbed of all its splendour and all its power.

One might almost wonder that the dominant party was still in such good spirits.

For even the arming which had been determined on proceeded but slowly; it appeared hardly possible to collect a serviceable body of cavalry. A tithe-penny had been laid upon property; but in order to collect it a valuation of property would have been necessary, and hence a great difficulty arose. From the first extreme measures were necessary; forA.D. 1640.example, the exaction from private individuals of the silver they had in use, under a guarantee of making good its value. But, as Baillie says, what was all that compared with the requirements of the army, for which 20,000 marks were daily needed? And what would ultimately happen, when Scotland was entirely cut off on the side of Ireland and England from its maritime commerce, as was intended? The resolutions of the English Privy Council and of the Irish Parliament created a great impression among the Scots.

A much greater impression however was now created by the proceedings of the English Parliament.

It has been always assumed that the Scots were strengthened in their attitude and induced to determine on advancing into England by overtures from English peers in the ranks of the opposition. And there is no doubt that invitations of this kind reached them.

Lord Loudon, the man who had first formed a connexion with the French, and who was one of those who had signed the letter to the King of France already referred to, had been thrown into the Tower immediately before the opening of Parliament; but he there received visits from English peers, and among others from Lord Savile. The Saviles were old opponents of the Wentworths: their families imported their county quarrels into public affairs. It was indeed by the favour shown to a Savile at one time that Wentworth had been driven into the ranks of the opposition. The high position to which, on the other hand, a Wentworth now rose, may have contributed to turn Lord Savile into an opponent of the whole system[183]. So far as we know, he is the man through whom it was intimated to Loudon as the wish of some English lords, that the Scots should advance on England with their army. Shortly after the dissolution of Parliament, Loudon received permission to return to Scotland[184]: he immediatelyA.D. 1640.sought out Argyle, who was still stationed with his small army in the North, in order to apprise him of the position of affairs. But it was not possible that the expressions of a peer, who was not even one of the most important members of his order, should afford sufficient security. Then Savile, who had always affirmed that he was the spokesman of many other nobles and gentlemen, sent in a declaration on the part of some others of great name, the Earls of Warwick and Essex, Lords Say, Brooke, and Mandeville, in which the Scots were invited to cross over into England. The genuineness of the signatures was denied afterwards in terms, the truth of which can hardly be called in question. The Scots however at that time could entertain no suspicion of deception. And this invitation undoubtedly produced a great impression upon them, as they could now venture to count upon the support of a considerable portion of the House of Lords.

But the attitude of the House of Commons no doubt supplied them with the principal motive for their decisions. As the Scots affirm in their manifesto, after they had been proclaimed as rebels in every parish church, the English Parliament—convoked with the sole purpose of supporting a war against them—could not be moved by any threatenings, fears, promises, or hopes, to grant any subsidies for the war, but had rather undertaken to justify the Scots by parallel complaints and statements of grievances. The Scots now laid the greatest emphasis upon the coincidence of the interests of both realms. The only design of both kingdoms, they said, was the maintenance of true religion, and of the just liberties of the subject; but the King was surrounded by a faction which was endeavouring to set up superstition and bondage in place of religion: it was intended by the war against the Scots to stir up the English against them that they might with their own swords extirpate their own religion; set up a new Rome in their midst, and establish the slavery of both countries for ever. With such adversaries no agreement could be concluded: no just desires were listened to by them: to sit still and wait their hostility would be contrary to sense and religion: they themselves, the Scots, were determined to seek in England their own peace, the maintenance of theirA.D. 1640.laws, and the punishment of the enemies of both kingdoms. It might perhaps be doubtful whether it was warrantable for them to advance into England, but there was a necessity which justified proceedings of this sort, and constituted a law above all laws. ‘The question is not,’ they say, ‘whether we shall content ourselves with our own poverty, or enrich ourselves in England: that question is impious and absurd. But this is the question, whether it be wisdome and piety to keep ourselves within the Borders till our throats be cut, and our Religion, Lawes, and Countrey be destroyed; or shall wee bestirre ourselves and seeke our Safeguard, Peace, and Liberty in England. Or shall we fold our hands, and waite for the perfect slavery of our selves, and our posterity in our Souls, Bodies, and Estates, and (which is all one) foolishly to stand to our defence where we know it is impossible; or shall we seek our reliefe in following the calling of God (for our necessity can be interpreted to be no lesse), and entering by the doore which his providence hath opened unto us, when all wayes are stopped beside?’ They do not enter into a full statement of the innovations which had been undertaken in their Parliament; they hardly touch upon them; they bring into prominence only the great questions from which everything had sprung, and they express the hope that England will sympathise with them in the stress of affairs which compelled them to overstep their borders, and will aid them in the measures which they are taking to obtain their just desires. They promise that in their advance they will exact nothing by force: but should their resources be exhausted they reckon upon the support of the English[185].

This lofty mode of expression, to which a certain amount of truth cannot be denied, accounts for the silence of all opposition, at all events in those circles which had attached themselves to the religious cause for which the Scots contended. In the army moreover there were men serving who did not wish to see the monarchy put down. In all the churchesA.D. 1640.prayers were offered for the General, who purposed to go to England with his army, and to confer with the King.

In the latter half of July, the army mustered at Cheslaw Wood, near Dunse; one half of the Committee of Estates was to accompany it, the other half was to remain behind. It was not intended to take Highlanders across the border. Argyle led his own men into the field against the Ogilvies and the district of Athol, where the opposition was kept up. It was not until August 18 that the army broke up from the place of rendezvous. There may have been somewhat over 20,000 men: with the native leaders of high rank there were associated a number of captains who had gained experience in the German war, and who maintained military discipline. Lesley, who was connected with the former by political sympathies, and with the latter by common service in past time, was again invested with the supreme command.

Two days afterwards the Scots crossed the river Tweed, the boundary between the two countries. The cavalry halted in the water, in order to break the force of the stream, while the infantry waded across. Montrose dismounted from his horse, and marched over at the head of his regiment; he was the first of them all to tread on English soil.

The Scots did not find any dispositions made to meet them at the border; they advanced into Northumberland without opposition. It was only on arriving at the fords of the Tyne that they came upon a couple of breastworks upon which cannon were planted. They set up a camp, around which hundreds of coal-fires illuminated the horizon; they still however refrained from making any attack.

The engagement which then ensued is characteristic of the state of feeling. On the morning of the 28th a Scottish officer, wearing a hat with a black feather, rode his horse to the Tyne, in order to water it. An English musketeer, seeing the Scot fix his eye upon the breastworks, could not resist the temptation; he aimed well, and the officer fell wounded from his horse. Upon this the Scottish musketeers opened fire in return; both sides discharged their artillery upon their opponents. But the camp of the Scots was in a higher and stronger position than that of the English; they had also,A.D. 1640.without doubt, more practised artillerymen, and the English found themselves outmatched. But this was quite enough to bring the matter to a crisis. The English troops in the entrenchments complained that they had not been relieved from Newcastle as they should have been; they murmured that they were expected to do double duty. But they did not give vent to their discontent in words alone. They gave ear for a few minutes longer to the exhortations of their commander; but when they found that they had the worst of it, and were in danger from the Scottish artillery, they immediately abandoned their works and threw away their weapons, not so much from cowardice as from ill-humour excited by the war and the bad arrangements which had been made. On this the Scots, both horse and foot, under cover of their cannon, crossed the Tyne. The English were then completely driven from all their positions. On the next morning Lord Conway abandoned Newcastle[186].

Not less significant was the manner in which this town was taken possession of by the Scots, into whose hands, on the retreat of the troops, it inevitably fell.

The leader of a troop of Scots, James Douglas, on approaching the town found the magistrates at the bridge. He told them that the Scots were come to speak with their gracious King; that they carried in one hand a petition in favour of their rights and religion, in the other the sword, in order to defend themselves against the enemies who placed themselves between them and their King; that their hope was that their brethren of Newcastle would unite themselves with them for the advantage of both churches and kingdoms, and would, in the first place, allow them supplies of provisions and ammunition. The mayor and aldermen observed that such conduct was against their duty; and that as the Scots were subjects of the same sovereign as themselves, they hoped that no violence would be employed against them. The Scots replied that that would certainly be unavoidable if their requirements were not voluntarily satisfied. On the next dayA.D. 1640.they occupied the gates of the town, and encamped their cavalry in them, while the infantry entrenched themselves upon the neighbouring heights. They first took provisions and munitions of war from the royal magazines; they then made out a requisition; the inhabitants were compelled to accept the Covenant, notwithstanding the fact that they were Englishmen; whoever opposed them was treated as a public enemy.

It was remarked as a flagrant inconsistency in the conduct of the Scots, that they continued to pray for the King in their public worship, while at the same time they prayed for the army which was advancing into the field against him. But the whole nature of their rising was involved in the same contradiction. While they were pressing forward into England with arms in their hands, and were taking up a strong position there, they still kept affirming that they were loyal subjects, as their demands were founded on the laws, and that even now they prayed for nothing but that the King should take these demands into consideration and grant them.

The royal army had meanwhile assembled in York. The Earl of Strafford, who had undertaken the command, together with the King, who himself was present with it, even appeared not displeased to see the Scots invade England, as he thought that such a proceeding would serve to rouse the old English feeling of hatred against them. He reminded the gentry of York of the old wars, of which the present was, he said, merely a repetition: he said that religion was only a pretext with the Scots; that their object was rebellion and invasion. He declared that the law of nature, reason, and the law of England demanded that they should support the King with their persons and property against them; to deny this would be ignorance, to hesitate would be little less than treachery. He added, that they ought not to allow the Scots to taste the superior advantages of the English soil; that they must attach themselves to the King’s cause, or run the risk of losing everything[187].

A.D. 1640.

Strafford obstinately persisted in the line of policy which he had once taken up. He persisted in attributing to the Scots those very intentions of which they declared their horror. Even in the proclamation of the King the enterprise of the Scots was described as a raid of freebooters, after the fashion of former centuries[188]. The spiritual and temporal lords were summoned in the style of former ages, to join the King’s standard with the followers whom they were bound to bring.

Strafford still hoped to put down the opponents of the sovereign authority in both countries. He thought to bring the strength of England into the field by the means which formerly had been at the service of the crown; he intended that the very revolt of the Scots should help him to subdue them. A new battle of Flodden Field would have restored the monarchy as it once existed, on both sides of the border.

No one will make any very heavy political charge against Strafford on the score of his government of Ireland, or of the partisan attitude which he had taken up in the intestine struggle in England in general; for the ideas for which he contended were as much to be found in the past history of England as were those which he attacked. His royalist principles are not without basis and elevation; he at all events had no conscious intention of proceeding to employ illegal violence. The greatest blame which falls upon him is incurred by his behaviour during these days; his mistake lay in wishing to treat England in the same way as Ireland: but a past success is an evil counsellor under circumstances which are entirely different; both he and his sovereign were deficient in the sense of what was practicable in England. While they in their zeal were proceeding to the most extreme assertion of the prerogative for which old precedent could be found, they were placed in a position where such an assertion could no longer be made with effect. For whatever may be the nature of laws, they never can be executed unless, to a certain extent, they are voluntarily accepted. Strafford’s most imprudent actA.D. 1640.was the prosecution of the war against Scotland, after Parliament had refused to grant the subsidies necessary for that object. However large the sums which the Lords might contribute in accordance with the pledge which they had given, it was clear that these would not suffice to carry on a great war. But what resources were left when these were exhausted?

In that case the King would have to depend principally on the city of London. But this was the very place in which the dominant system had provoked the greatest discontent: nowhere were there more staunch supporters of parliamentary government. A proof of this assertion may be found in the tumult which broke out in the capital after the last dissolution of Parliament, and was directed against the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was threatened with death by an excited multitude. These disturbances had been quieted and their promoters punished; but placards were constantly put up indicative of the same feelings. For a long time the Archbishop did not venture to return to Lambeth; he considered himself secure only in the King’s palaces. The middle classes were excited rather than disposed to compliance by a threat, which Strafford held out, of attaching the silver in the Tower, or of raising the value of the currency. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen refused the King a loan which he requested, not because they lacked money, but because it seemed dangerous to allow the necessity of the consent of Parliament to be called in question in this manner. The government turned to the Common Council, before which Cottington laid the most urgent representations: but his proposals were rejected even by this body. Strafford indeed spoke of treason; for the money, he said, was in hand, only people refused to lend it to the King under the circumstances: but the threats which he founded on these statements he was unable to carry out; even in the Privy Council he met with firm and well-grounded opposition to his proposals. Tonnage and poundage, as usual, brought in a certain amount: but ship-money was paid into the exchequer in smaller quantities even than before. The sheriffs in vain gave the necessary directions to the bailiffs of the hundreds: they no longer took the matter up with any zeal, but returned empty-handed. In this embarrassmentA.D. 1640.Charles I betook himself to the East India Company, to which he proposed that the spices which it had imported should be handed over to the King, and sold on his account: but the Company would not trust the King either with their wares or their capital[189]. Foreign capitalists or governments were then solicited in the King’s name. But the former, the Genoese for instance, demanded securities which he could not obtain for them, as they depended on the consent of the city of London: and the latter were engrossed in their own affairs. Application was secretly made to the French, and the prospect of an advantageous treaty was held out to them as a return for an adequate loan[190]: they were told that, if only a French ambassador were present in England, much might be effected in their interest. It is true that at this moment the Scots were neither supported nor even instigated by the French. But the latter were still less inclined to help King Charles to gain an advantage over Scotland. And what could possibly have been expected from the Spanish monarchy, which just at that time was plunged into the greatest difficulties? Whilst Charles was quarrelling with his subjects, the French had gained the mastery over the Spaniards: this was one of the years which decided the ascendancy of the former power on the Continent. But if there were no pecuniary resources available, in what manner could such an army as was required have been created? This deficiency was the reason why the Earl of Northumberland declined the command-in-chief which the King offered to him. The militia called out in the different counties was guilty of acts of violence which made its presence intolerable; and moreover it displayed an insubordination that was unparalleled. In some places the soldiers assaulted their officers; in others they refused to embark in the ships destined for a descent on the ScottishA.D. 1640.coast: the government no longer ventured to arm them. It was even found that the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose hierarchical system the soldiers ought to have maintained by their weapons, was insolently scorned and mimicked by them. In the army assembled at York there were no doubt trustworthy officers in considerable numbers, but the common soldiers were not of this character. Neither the Earl of Strafford nor the King ventured to lead their troops against the Scots, and besides, their army was too weak for a serious attack. They could not but expect such events as those which had occurred in the entrenchments by the river Tyne.

In the Privy Council misunderstandings and dissensions broke out. Pembroke and Holland absented themselves on different pretexts, in reality merely to avoid taking part any longer in its deliberations.

Things had now come to a crisis: the springs which the government had been accustomed to set in motion lost all their elasticity. No one would any longer concern himself about its designs and undertakings, about what it did or left undone[191]: its commands and instructions had no longer any hold: that free co-operation was withheld without which a government can do nothing.

Not even among the Anglican clergy, whose cause the King had intended to conduct, did any real agreement with his system exist. The majority rejected the canons of the last Convocation. There were formal reasons enough for such rejection, as the Convocation had continued to sit after the dissolution of Parliament; but the substance of the canons were still more fatal to their acceptance. It was thought dangerous for the crown itself that the doctrine of the divine right of bishops was laid down in them, for how easily, it was remarked, might that lead to the assertion of a claim to independence! The oath demanded of the clergy was refused on the ground that it was illegal and contrary to the royal supremacy[192].

A.D. 1640.

But if the clergy of the State Church were dissatisfied, what was to be expected from the dissenting clergy and their supporters? The Puritans hailed the inroad of the Scots and even their occupation of Newcastle as a victory. For they thought that the King would now be forced to convene a Parliament, and that that body would overthrow the government, which had now drawn universal hatred upon itself, and would restore the ancient rights and liberties of England.

FOOTNOTES:[181]‘Sexte acte rescissory—it rescindes all former actes of parliament, which grantes to the kirk or kirkmen the priviledge of ryding and wotting in parliament;—nynthe acte called statutarie, ordaining parliaments to be holdin every three yeires.’ Balfour, Annals ii. 376.[182]‘The commons are slaves to the gentry.’ Hardwicke Papers ii. 143.[183]The statement given by Sanford in his ‘Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion’ 170, as a ‘new account,’ and attributed to Lord Falkland, has already been printed in Nalson ii. 477. It is a fragment from the Memoirs of Lord Manchester, the complete publication of which is much to be desired.[184]Montereuil, July 12. ‘Il s’est engagé de faire beaucoup de choses; le Marquis d’Hamilton, dont il est parent, a été le premier auteur de sa liberté.’[185]The intentions of the army of the Kingdome of Scotland declaired to their Brethren of England; by the Commissioners of the late Parliament, and by the Generall, Noblemen, Barons and others, Officers of the Army. In Spalding i. 321.[186]Original information in Rushworth (who was himself in the English camp) iii. 1238.[187]The Earls of Strafford Speech: ‘You are no better than beasts if you refuse in this case to attend the King.’ In Rushworth iii. 1235.[188]‘Cum quidam rebelles regni nostri Scotiae regnum nostrum Angliae cum posse non modico hostiliter ingressi sunt.’ From the King’s proclamation, in Rushworth.[189]Giustiniano, Sept. 7: ‘Di procurare a credito dalla compagnia dell’ India tutti li peveri, portate ultimamente giunte che ascendono alle somme di 70 m. lire, a disegno di farne poscia la vendita con discapito a mercanti.’[190]Montereuil was informed in Cottington’s name, ‘Qu’on avoit besoin de 3 ou 4 millions; si le roi prestoit cette somme, pour en tirer quelque avantage de l’Ingleterre et l’engager à quelque traité, c’estoit à la France de proposer les conditions,’[191]Montereuil, Aug. 23, 1640: ‘Pour n’avoir point de part aux conseils auxquels il y a pen de plaisir de se trouver présentement.’[192]Sanderson to Laud, Sept. 13: ‘Multitudes of churchmen not only of the precise sort whose dislike is less to be regarded, because they will like nothing that is not of their own devising, but even of such as are otherwise every way regular and conformable.’ He laments ‘the disaffection which is already too great in most of our people to all public proceedings.’

[181]‘Sexte acte rescissory—it rescindes all former actes of parliament, which grantes to the kirk or kirkmen the priviledge of ryding and wotting in parliament;—nynthe acte called statutarie, ordaining parliaments to be holdin every three yeires.’ Balfour, Annals ii. 376.

[182]‘The commons are slaves to the gentry.’ Hardwicke Papers ii. 143.

[183]The statement given by Sanford in his ‘Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion’ 170, as a ‘new account,’ and attributed to Lord Falkland, has already been printed in Nalson ii. 477. It is a fragment from the Memoirs of Lord Manchester, the complete publication of which is much to be desired.

[184]Montereuil, July 12. ‘Il s’est engagé de faire beaucoup de choses; le Marquis d’Hamilton, dont il est parent, a été le premier auteur de sa liberté.’

[185]The intentions of the army of the Kingdome of Scotland declaired to their Brethren of England; by the Commissioners of the late Parliament, and by the Generall, Noblemen, Barons and others, Officers of the Army. In Spalding i. 321.

[186]Original information in Rushworth (who was himself in the English camp) iii. 1238.

[187]The Earls of Strafford Speech: ‘You are no better than beasts if you refuse in this case to attend the King.’ In Rushworth iii. 1235.

[188]‘Cum quidam rebelles regni nostri Scotiae regnum nostrum Angliae cum posse non modico hostiliter ingressi sunt.’ From the King’s proclamation, in Rushworth.

[189]Giustiniano, Sept. 7: ‘Di procurare a credito dalla compagnia dell’ India tutti li peveri, portate ultimamente giunte che ascendono alle somme di 70 m. lire, a disegno di farne poscia la vendita con discapito a mercanti.’

[190]Montereuil was informed in Cottington’s name, ‘Qu’on avoit besoin de 3 ou 4 millions; si le roi prestoit cette somme, pour en tirer quelque avantage de l’Ingleterre et l’engager à quelque traité, c’estoit à la France de proposer les conditions,’

[191]Montereuil, Aug. 23, 1640: ‘Pour n’avoir point de part aux conseils auxquels il y a pen de plaisir de se trouver présentement.’

[192]Sanderson to Laud, Sept. 13: ‘Multitudes of churchmen not only of the precise sort whose dislike is less to be regarded, because they will like nothing that is not of their own devising, but even of such as are otherwise every way regular and conformable.’ He laments ‘the disaffection which is already too great in most of our people to all public proceedings.’

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