1647.] THE KING AT HOLMBY HOUSE. 67 whole cost of the household amounted to 30007. for twenty days.* During this spring and early summer the king was not deprived of any of the trappings of royal state. Nor was his liberty much controlled. He rode to Althorp, and to more distant places, to enjoy his favourite game of bowls. He read, and he played at chess. He was attended by two gentlemen selected by the Parliament, Thomas Herbert and James Harrington, who became his fast friends. Of Harrington, Aubrey says, "The king loved his company, only he would not endure to hear of a Commonwealth; and Mr. Harrington passionately loved his Majesty. Mr. Harrington and the king often disputed about government."+ To have "a genius which lay chiefly towards the politics and democratical government," as Aubrey describes the author of the "Oceana," was not then held a dangerous quality in a philosophical theorist. "Democratical government" in the abstract, was not regarded as incompatible with the order of a well-regulated State. Charles might contend for the security derived from absolute monarchy, such as he believed ought to exist in England; and Harrington might point to the republics of Holland and Switzerland, without offending royalty by the comparison. Had Charles seen how the safety of the crown would be best preserved by the largest enjoyment by the subject of civil liberty and the rights of conscience, Harrington and other republicans might have been more readily compelled to believe that freedom and toleration could be best secured under the free monarchy which was the basis of the English constitution. But Charles was impracticable with his convictions of divine right; and honest advocates of democratical government were equally impracticable in regard to a due balance of constitutional power. It is time only that has reconciled these apparent anomalies; and has rendered the hereditary crown of England the best type of republican freedom in the strictest alliance with monarchical solidity. But through what perils has this consummation been accomplished! Those who would properly value what we have attained, must steadily follow the difficult and uncertain steps of the people towards its attainment. Harrington at a later period is recorded to have found fault with "the constitution of our government, that it was by jumps." He said, "When no Parliament, then absolute Monarchy; when a Parliament, then it runs to Commonwealth." It was long before the "jumps" were converted into steady progress; and Monarchy and Commonwealth were reconciled into a Constitution whose practical excellence is best demonstrated by that slowness of its maturity which has rendered a successful imitation almost impossible. If the Presbyterian party, with whom were the powers of the executive government, treated the king with the respect due to his great station, they had little regard to the rights of conscience which he properly asserted. He required to have chaplains of the Episcopal church. The Parliament sent two Presbyterian ministers to Holmby; but the king refused even to let them ask a blessing upon his meals. The controversy of the dominant party with the representatives of the various religious sects, was growing more and more fierce. "Liberty of conscience was now the common argument and quarrel," These orders and estimates are in Peck's "Desiderata Curiosa." 68 ARMY INDEPENDENTS-CROMWELL. Li847. says Clarendon. The Presbyterians held the sectaries, as well as the prelatical party, "enemies to all godliness; " and they relied upon their parliamentary majority to effect another remodelling of the army. Cromwell, on the other hand, was bringing the army into a more general dislike of the narrow views of their Presbyterian rulers. Chaplains were in his camp who contended that all attempts to fetter men to the dogmas and ceremonies of any Church were "to restrain the Spirit." Cromwell preached and prayed with his officers and his men. The soldiers prayed and preached amongst themselves. The Ironsides, who had the Bible with them as constantly as their powder and bullet, and who in their night-watches meditated upon all the events of the Jewish history, and repeated every inspiriting verse that had reference to the fall of tyrants and the glory of the saints,-these gradually got banded together in a common enthusiasm which only required an influential head to obtain a victory more difficult even than Marston-Moor or Naseby. Cromwell gradually became that leader, although Fairfax was the commander of the army. The indignation of the Presbyterians against those "who were called by a new name, fanatics," was therefore principally directed against him who was considered their military chief. Soon after the death of the earl of Essex, Cromwell, walking with Ludlow in sir Robert Cotton's garden, inveighed bitterly against the Presbyterian party; saying, "that it was a miserable thing to serve a Parliament, to whom let a man be never so faithful, if one pragmatical fellow amongst them rise up and asperse him, he shall never wipe it off." Ludlow considers that Cromwell "had already conceived the design of destroying the civil authority and setting up for himself," when, in this conversation, he concluded by saying, "When one serves under a general he may do as much service, and yet be free from all blame and envy." This, we apprehend, is an opinion resulting from the republican convictions of Ludlow, which were firmly opposed to Cromwell's later career. Be that as it may, the rapid course of events threw a power into the hands of Cromwell which rendered the subsequent months of 1647 the most difficult and dangerous period of his life. That he should have come out of such a whirlwind of contending interests and passions with safety to himself, and without witnessing universal confusion if not anarchy, is one of the most striking proofs of the extraordinary sagacity of the man who saw, at every turn of affairs, a demand upon his common sense rather than upon any philosophical theory; and whose dominant will was sustained by the conviction that he was chosen to do the work appointed for him by a Power higher than that of man, whose aid he invoked on every occasion in which human doubts prevailed over habitual confidence. In the sense in which the new word of opprobrium was used then, and has continued in use, Cromwell was termed, from the religious bias of his character, the most fanatical of "the fanatics." But this remarkable man's principles and conduct are fast passing out of the narrow limits of historical partisanship; and we shall therefore be careful to speak of him without the flippant prejudice with which his name has been surrounded by the continued violence of the most opposite opinions. His revilers have disagreed on every point except that of calling this great Englishman, fanatic and regicide, hypocrite and tyrant. * Clarendon. Ludlow, vol. i. p. 185. 1647.] THE ARMY PROPOSED TO BE DISBANDED. 69 At the period when the war had terminated, the leading men of the Independent party were in thorough agreement. As to civil rights, they held that an appeal having been made to the God of battles, and the issue having been decided against the king, he ought not to be restored except upon conditions which would render the public liberties no longer insecure. They held that such a restoration ought to be accompanied by the most complete provision for liberty of conscience. Their conviction of the king's insincerity was fatal to any hasty re-acknowledgment of his authority. Their dislike of the Presbyterian exclusiveness prevented a cordial union with that party to rebuild the Constitution in its ancient harmony of king and parliament. The Presbyterian majority in the Houses wished to dissolve the army, from which they had to apprehend the only effectual resistance. The Independents, headed by Cromwell, Ireton, Vane, St. John, were equally determined that the army should remain intact. The City was in accord with the parliamentary majority; and in the subsequent events the two great parties seemed to resolve themselves into the City party and the Army party. There is one view of this conflict, of which we have only the most obscure, prejudiced, and contradictory details,-which has been so justly and forcibly put, that we shall not attempt to add to its impressiveness: "Modern readers ought to believe that there was a real impulse of heavenly Faith at work in this Controversy; that on both sides, more especially on the Army's side, here lay the central element of all, modifying all other elements and passions;-that this Controversy was, in several respects, very different from the common wrestling of Greek with Greek for what are called 'political objects.' Modern readers, mindful of the French Revolution, will perhaps compare these Presbyterians and Independents to the Gironde and the Mountain. And there is an analogy ; yet with differences. With a great difference in the situations; with the difference, too, between Englishmen and Frenchmen, which is always considerable; and then with the difference between believers in Jesus Christ and believers in Jean Jacques, which is still more considerable." * Within three days after the king had arrived at Holmby House, the Commons voted that the army should be disbanded, with the exception of the troops required for the suppression of rebellion in Ireland, and for the service of the garrisons. This motion was adopted upon a division in which there was a majority of twelve. It was also voted that there should be no officers under Fairfax of higher rank than colonel; that every officer should take the Covenant, and conform to the Presbyterian church. There were large arrears of pay due to the army, and a loan was raised in the City to satisfy a portion of them. What was proposed to be paid was very insufficient. There were murmurings amongst men and officers. On the 25th of March, a petition, signed by fourteen officers, was presented to parliament on the subject of arrears; asking that auditors should report upon what was due to them for their service; and submitting some conditions with regard to their employment in Ireland. The anger of the parliamentary majority is expressed by a passage in the Memoirs of Hollis: "For an army, or any part of it, to join in a petition, though but for pay, when their superiors-that authority which they are to obey-require any duty to be performed, or service to be done by • Carlyle; "Cromwell," vol. i. p. 222. 70 PETITIONS FROM OFFICERS--ADJUTATORS. [1647. them, as the present relieving of Ireland was,-this, I think, by the rules of war, has in all armies been held a mutiny, and the authors at least punished with death." The House, on the 30th of March, declared that whoever had a hand in promoting this petition, or other such petitions, was " an enemy to the State, and a disturber of the public peace." The declaration became in itself a cause of hostility between the army and the parliament. It was “a blot of ignominy." Deputations from the House went to the army. Officers were examined at the bar. On the 30th of April, Skippon produced in his place in parliament a letter which had been brought to him by some troopers, expressing the complaints and demands of eight regiments of horse. "They saw designs upon them, and upon many of the Godly Party in the kingdom." Three troopers who brought the letter were examined as to the meaning of certain words which it contained. They were only the agents of their regiments, they said. Did their officers approve of their proceedings ? Very few knew anything about them. The more violent Presbyterian members were very indignant. Cromwell whispered to Ludlow, "These men will never leave till the army pull them out by the ears." + A new class of malcontents had arisen, more dangerous than the officers, who said to the parliamentary commissioners, "We hope, by being soldiers we have not lost the capacity of subjects, nor divested ourselves thereby of our interests in the Commonwealth." The army had organised itself into a Council of Officers, and a Council of Adjutators. The Adjutators, who came to be called Agitators, were delegates named by the common soldiers. The difficulties of reconcilement are now growing very formidable. The servants are fast advancing to become masters. Meanwhile the king has written to the Parliament, with reference to the proposals made to him at Newcastle. He still declared against Presbytery; and his application was unheeded. The army Councils grow more and more resolved to have greater concessions than the Parliament is disposed to make. They are voted eight weeks' pay. A Committee goes to the army at Saffron Walden to see it disbanded. That is not so easy. We want eight times eight weeks' pay, say the Adjutators. There are disturbances in some of the military quarters. Will this contest end in something anarchical? Fairfax is told, that if their officers refuse to take part with them in asserting their rights, they know how to meet and act without them. They petition again through their general. It is in vain that "when the House, wearied with long sitting, was grown thin, Mr. Denzil Hollis, taking that opportunity, drew up a resolution on his knee, declaring the petition to be seditious." It is in vain that there have been London petitions against the Army, and that the getters-up of counter-petitions in its favour have been imprisoned. There is a great gathering of Adjutators to confer with the general; and it is agreed that on the 4th of June there shall be a rendezvous of all the soldiers at Newmarket. Two days before that general assembly, an event has taken place which goes much farther to decide the question between Army and City, than resolutions at St. Stephen's, or petitions at Guildhall. A great crisis is impending. "It was privately resolved," says Clarendon, "by the principal persons of the House of Commons, that when Cromwell came the next day into the House, which he seldom omitted to do, Ludlow, vol. i. p. 189. * "Memoirs," p. 77. 1647.] THE KING REMOVED FROM HOLMBY BY JOYCE. 71 they would send him to the Tower; presuming, that if they had once severed his person from the Army, they should easily reduce it to its former temper and obedience. When the House expected every minute his presence, they were informed that he was met out of the town by break of day, with one servant only, on the way to the army." That same morning that Cromwell left London, there was a memorable scene in Northamptonshire, also about "break of day" according to Clarendon. On the afternoon of the 2nd of June the king is playing bowls on Althorp Down. The parliamentary commissioners and his accustomed attendants are looking on. There is a man standing amongst them, in the uniform of Fairfax's regiment. He is asked questions as to news from the army, which he answers civilly but somewhat proudly. A report spreads that a party of cavalry is in the neighbourhood. About midnight there is a tramping of horse around Holmby House; and entrance is demanded by the man who was looking at the game of bowls on Althorpe Down. He was a cornet, he said, in the general's guard; his name was Joyce; he desired to speak with the king. The commissioners had directed the garrison to hold themselves in readiness to repel the presumptuous soldiers; but the men on duty greeted their old comrades, and the gates were opened. The day wore on, amidst the alarm of the commissioners, who saw that armed resistance was impossible. At night Joyce requested to be taken to the king. He was in bed; but the inflexible cornet was conducted to the door of the royal apartments. By the king's desire he was at length admitted. Charles had a long conference with him, in the presence of the commissioners, who had been sent for; which ended in his cheerfully saying "Good night, Mr. Joyce," adding that he would readily go with him if the soldiers confirmed what the cornet had promised. The next day the king asked Joyce under what authority he acted. He was sent, he said, by authority of the army, to prevent the designs of its enemies, who would once more plunge the kingdom in blood. "Where is your commission ?" said the king. "There, behind me," pointing to the soldiers. "Believe me," replied Charles, "your instructions are written in a very legible character." † 66 The king then said that force must be employed to remove him, unless he was promised that nothing should be required of him against his conscience or honour. Nothing, nothing," exclaimed the men as one voice. The commissioners asked if they all agreed in what Mr. Joyce had said. "All, all." In a few hours, the king and the unwilling commissioners were on their way towards the army. Whilst the king has been journeying towards the head-quarters of Fairfax, the appointed Rendezvous has taken place on Kentford Heath, near Newmarket. Another meeting of this military parliament is arranged for the 10th, at Triploe Heath, near Cambridge. The king arrives at Royston on the 7th. "Fairfax and Cromwell wait on him both together. He asks them whether they commissioned Joyce to remove him: they deny it. 'I'll not believe you,' says the king, unless you hang him.'"+ Colonel Whalley had been sent by Fairfax, when he learnt of the king's seizure at Holmby, to take him back; but Charles refused to go. When in presence of Fairfax 6 History," vol. v. p. 436. Warwick, p. 299. + Ibid. |