refused to separate; their resolution was approved of by many of the privy council, and the accession to their side of the potent Earl of Argyle gave them increased courage. The acts of the six preceding assemblies were forthwith annulled, the canons, liturgy, and high commission were condemned, and episcopacy was abolished. Eight of the bishops were excommunicated, four deposed, and two suspended. And thus was prostrated, at a blow, the fabric which it had been the labour of two reigns to erect.

It had been Hamilton's advice to the king, from the beginning, to have recourse to arms, and the necessary preparations had therefore been made. To procure money, loans were required from the nobility; under the influence of Laud, the church contributed largely; and at the call of the queen, the Catholics, well aware that it was for their interest to support the crown, from which alone they could expect favour, gave their money freely for the support of the Episcopal War, as it was denominated. Arms and artillery were provided; the counties were directed to send their train-bands or militia, and the peers to lead their retainers in arms to York. A negotiation (which was, however, frustrated) was also entered into with the regency of the Netherlands, for the use of six thousand veterans. The Covenanters, on their side, prepared for a defensive war. By means of the numerous Scottish pedlers who hawked their wares through England, they opened a communication with the English Puritans. Richelieu, willing to repay Charles in

*

They were also secretly informed of the king's counsels and designs for Charles, like his father, had a great partiality for his countrymen; and most of the offices in the court were occupied by Scotsmen. They were gentlemen of the bed-chamber, grooms of the stole, gentlemen-ushers, carvers, cup-bearers, etc. In them, too, nationality predominated over loyalty, gratitude, and honour: they watched their master's looks, they marked his words, they even stole his letters out of his pockets and transcribed them, and all was sent to Scotland. (See Carte, iv., 258.) Mr. Brodie (ii., 480) compliments the Covenanters on their "vigilance and means of acquiring information." Perhaps he was ignorant of what their means were.

1639.]

THE EPISCOPAL WAR.

225

kind, secretly supplied them with money, and arms and ammunition were purchased on the Continent. The covenant was sent to the Scots in the Swedish service for their subscription; and Alexander Lesley, an officer of great experience in the wars of Germany, was invited over to take the command of the army which was to be raised. Many other able officers also returned to their country, and the pulpits inculcated the justice of defensive warfare, and resounded with the curse of Meroz on those "who came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty." Volunteers crowded to the standards, and were disciplined by Lesley and his officers; the royal castles were all surprised, and the port of Leith was put into a state of defence. When the Gordons rose under their chief, the Earl of Huntley, to maintain the royal cause in the north, the Earl of Montrose marched against them, and compelled Huntley to come as an hostage to Edinburgh.

The king advanced at the head of twenty-three thousand men to Berwick. Lesley took his position at Dunse-law; while Munro, the second in command, was stationed at Kelso. The two armies were about equal in number: the king was superior in cavalry, but in infantry the advantage was entirely on the side of the Scots, who, in addition to superior discipline and better officers, were animated by a spirit of religious enthusiasm, while the English soldiers were utterly indifferent to the cause in which they were engaged. The Scottish camp continually resounded with psalmody and prayer; morning and evening the men were summoned to their devotions by beat of the drum, and two sermons preached every day kept up their fervour.

Lord Holland, who commanded the English cavalry, advanced to Kelso: but, at the sight of the Scottish forces, his men turned and fled. The king, who had expected that the Scots would have submitted at once on his appearance at the head of an army, now saw his hopes entirely baffled. It was evident, too, that all who attended him were adverse to the war:

Laud, even, aware of the superior strength of the enemy, counselled peace; and the Scots themselves were very reluctant to carry matters to extremes with their sovereign. Proposals for an accommodation were therefore readily listened to; on the 11th of June Scottish commissioners came to the royal camp, and the king treated with them in person: it was finally agreed that a parliament and a general assembly should meet in the month of August, to regulate the affairs of church and state. The Scottish army was then disbanded, and the royal castles restored.

The assembly and parliament met at the appointed time; the former came to the same decisions respecting episcopacy and other matters as had that of Glasgow; and Traquair, who presided over it, gave the royal assent to them. He had the king's authority for so doing; but Charles was nevertheless resolved to revoke, on the first convenient occasion, these, as he considered, unlawful concessions. The parliament not proving manageable, was prorogued for six months.

Charles now summoned Lord Wentworth over from Ireland, where for some years he had held the office of lord-deputy. He consulted with him, Laud, and Hamilton on the affairs of Scotland, and the result of their deliberations was a resolution to reduce the Scots by force of arms. Other members were then added to the council, to deliberate on the means of providing funds for the war; and, at their instance, Charles concluded to call a parliament.* In the mean time, writs were issued for the levy of ship-money, and the lords subscribed various sums, Wentworth setting an example by putting down his name for £20,000. It was agreed that the parliament should not be called till the following April, in order to give Wentworth time for previously holding a parliament in Ireland, to which country he returned with the title of lord-lieutenant. He was, at the same time, elevated

According to Whitelock, it was Charles himself who proposed this measure.

1640.]

ADMINISTRATION OF STRAFFORD.

227

in the English peerage, by being created Earl of Strafford.

The covenanters had sent the earls of Dumfermline and Loudon, Sir William Douglas, and Mr. Barclay, as commissioners to London, to make complaint to the king of the prorogation of the parliament and other injuries. They were also instructed, it would appear, to deal with the discontented English.* Traquair, however, had got possession of the copy of a letter addressed to the King of France (au Roi), and signed by Lesley, Mar, Rothes, Montrose, Montgomery, Loudon, and the secretary Forrester, justifying their cause, and asking for aid.t The commissioners, therefore, were arrested, and Loudon was committed to the Tower. It is said that a warrant was issued for his execution without any trial; but that the lieutenant, a Scotsman, took it to the Marquis of Hamilton, who, though it was midnight, entered the apartment of the king, and prevailed on him to recall it, assuring him, if it were not done, that Scotland would be lost for ever. We trust that this story is not true: Charles, though a despot, was not a man of blood.

The Earl of Strafford having held his parliament in Ireland, where his will was law, and having obtained from it an unconditional grant of money, and levied an army of eight thousand men, returned to England; and, on the 13th of April, 1640, after an interval of twelve years, a parliament assembled at

They had great resort to them," says Whitelock, "and many secret councils held with them by the discontented English, chiefly by those who favoured Presbytery and were no friends to bishops, or had suffered in the late censures in the Star Chamber, exchequer, high commission, and other judicatories. They also who inclined to a republic had much correspondence with them; and they courted all, fomented every discontent, and made large and religious promises of future happy times. The earls of Essex, Bedford, Holland, the Lord Say, Hampden, Pym, and divers other lords and gentlemen of great interest and quality, were deep in with them."

The fact of this letter having been sent was long disputed. Mr. Mazure (Hist. de Révolut. de 1688, iii., 405) has put the mat. ter out of doubt by printing it.

Westminster. Though a majority of the members had never set before, the composition of the house of commons was essentially the same as before, the Puritan and patriotic party greatly preponderating in it. The king, on the opening of the session, having addressed them in a short speech, the lord-keeper related all the proceedings in Scotland; and saying to them that "his majesty did not expect advice from them, much less that they should interpose in any office of mediation which would not be grateful to him," he demanded that they should grant a supply forthwith; after which, he added, time enough should be granted them to represent any grievance, and to receive a favourable reply. The commons having then chosen Sergeant Glanvile for their speaker, prepared to proceed to business ;* and "while men,'

says

Clarendon, 66 gazed upon each other, looking who should begin (much the greatest part having never before sat in parliament), Mr. Pym, a man of good reputation, but much better known afterward, who had been as long in those assemblies as any man then living, brake the ice." In a speech of two hours' length, he enumerated and dwelt upon all the grievances which afflicted the state, under the heads of breach of parliamentary privilege, injury to the established religion, and invasion of the subjects' rights of liberty and property. Having then shown that these abuses were as hurtful to the crown as to the people, he proposed that the lords should be invited to join in a petition to the king, and in deliberating on the causes and remedies of these evils. Other members followed in the same strain: but, when one of them termed ship-money an abomination, he was called to the bar, and narrowly escaped being reprimanded. Clarendon says he mentions this, "that the temper and sobriety of that house may be taken notice of."

"The house met always at eight of the clock and rose at twelve, which were the old parliament hours, that the committees, upon whom the greatest burden of business lay, might have the afternoon for its preparation and despatch."-Clarendon, i.,

233.