1642-1649.

CHAPTER XXXI.

CHARLES I. CONTINUED.

(PERIOD OF THE GREAT REBELLION.)

THE House of Commons, having chosen for its speaker a lawyer named Lenthall, proceeded to impeach both Strafford and Laud on charges of high treason. The trial of Strafford was managed by Pym and other members of the house; and the earl defended himself with so much power and clearness, that the tide seemed likely to turn in his favour. It was then resolved to proceed against him by bill of attainder, which was carried through both houses, together with another, that the parliament should not be prorogued nor adjourned till all grievances should be redressed. This bill was an entire change of the English constitution; and far better would it have been for Charles, had he submitted to any alternative rather than consent to these bills, by which he sacrificed an innocent minister, and also the ancient government of his kingdom. It is plain that Pym thirsted for the blood of Strafford. Many years before, when Strafford ceased to act with the popular party, Pym said to him, "You are going to leave us, but I will never leave you while your head is on your shoulders." He now alarmed the king by telling the house that Charles was about to bring up the army to overawe the Commons. After much hesitation, in the course of which Strafford wrote to desire that his royal master would consider only his own interest, Charles signed a commission to pass both the bills, The earl was executed the following day on Tower-hill. When led to execution, he stopped before the windows of the chamber in which Laud was imprisoned, while the aged prelate raised his hands in token of that blessing which he was unable to pronounce. The earl met his end with great firmness and piety.

Charles now gave way to the demands of the parliament, but was suspected of watching an opportunity to regain his power, and his enemies charged him with encouraging a rebellion that broke forth in Ireland, and led to the most shocking massacre of the English. The feeling against the

king was confirmed by many imprudent acts on his part, and. especially by his going down to the house to seize .Pym and Hampden with three other members. His attempt was ineffectual; and it now became plain that the dispute could be settled only by an appeal to the sword. The Commons demanded the expulsion of the bishops from the House of Lords; and this the king was induced to agree to. They claimed also the command of the militia throughout the kingdom: and when Charles was pressed to yield this point for a time, he exclaimed with much heat, "Not for an hour." The concession would have left him but the shadow of his royal power.

Troops were now raised on both sides, and the royal standard was set up at Nottingham, Aug. 25, 1642. The balance of power seemed much in favour of the parliament; but the progress of the war was at first favourable to the royal cause. The first battle in which Englishmen had opposed each other since the wars of the Roses, took place at Edge-hill, on the borders of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. The parliamentary forces were commanded by the Earl of Essex, while the king's nephews, Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, were entrusted with high commands in the royal army, which gained the advantage in this battle. The king marched to Oxford, which had ever been loyal to him, and where he chiefly resided (when not engaged in the field) during this lamentable contest.

The war, which lasted about three years, was on the whole conducted with less violence and cruelty than are usual in civil strife; and instances of the greatest heroism and loyalty were shown by many noble ladies, as well as by the gentry who rallied round their king. The two parties were distinguished by the names of the Cavaliers and Roundheads. To the former belonged, for the most part, the gentry of the land; to the latter, the middle classes, among whom the leaven of puritanical and republican principles had most widely spread. Negotiations for peace were from time to time attempted; but came to nothing, from the encroaching spirit of the parliament, which could be satisfied only by the surrender of the English Church as well as of the royal power. At one time the king summoned a parliament at Oxford; but its proceedings had little effect.

In the first year of the war, Hampden received his deathwound in an engagement near Wycomb; but his loss was balanced by that of Lord Falkland at Newbury, who seems, of all who took part in these troubles, to have had the purest patriotism. The commanders of most note on the royal side (besides Prince Rupert) were the Marquesses of Worcester, Hertford, and Newcastle, and the Lord Goring. On the other side, Sir Thomas Fairfax and the Generals Waller, Massey, and Skippon, were chiefly distinguished, until the energy of Oliver Cromwell enabled him to obtain ascendancy over all the others. His military skill appeared conspicuously at the battle of Marston Moor (July 2, 1644), where he overthrew the royal forces under Prince Rupert. From this time the cause of Charles declined. An army from Scotland under the Earl of Leven had been summoned by the parliament to their aid; and though Charles was cheered by the brilliant success of the Marquess of Montrose in the Highlands of Scotland, he received so complete an overthrow from Fairfax at Naseby, near Daventry (June 13, 1645), that he resolved to deliver himself up to the Scottish army. He was treated by the Scots with outward respect: but they at length basely delivered their sovereign to the parliamentary forces, on the payment of the arrears which were due to them.

Before this time the trial of Laud had been brought to a close by a most iniquitous bill, in which only six peers could be brought to concur. He suffered on the 10th of January, 1645, with the constancy of a martyr; and with him fell for a season, so far as man could cause it to fall, the Church for which he died. Thus fell Laud," says Heylin, and the Church fell with him: the Liturgy

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whereof was voted down about the same time that the Ordinance was passed for his condemnation; the Presbyterian Directory authorized for the press by ordinance March 13; Episcopacy, root and branch, suppressed by ordinance in like manner, October 9, 1646; the lands of the cathedrals sold; the bishops dispossessed of their lands and rents, without the charity of a small annual pension towards their

5 A sort of substitute for a Prayer Book, according to the Presby. terian system, sanctioned by parliament during the great rebellion. It did not contain forms of Prayer, but directions for praying, preaching, and the performance of ministerial offices generally.

support; the regular, conformable Clergy sequestered, ejected, and turned out of all, to the utter undoing of themselves, their wives, and their children ".'

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The rise of Cromwell was the more important, because he was at the head of a sect called the Independents, who were distinguished for their stern and fanatical temper; and as much opposed to the Presbyterians as these had been to the Church of England. The principles of this sect spread widely in the army, and that portion which embraced these views succeeded in obtaining possession of the king's person from the guards which the parliament had placed about him. He was now brought to Hampton Court, and treated with outward respect. There was even some hope that Cromwell might embrace his cause; but the distrust of Charles, which was so general, seems to have stood in the way of any such arrangement, though it is not unlikely that Cromwell connived at the king's escape, who withdrew himself from Hampton Court, and fled to Titchfield-house in Hants. His friends then opened a correspondence with Colonel Hammond, the governor of Carisbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight; the result of which was, that Charles passed over to the island; but soon found himself a prisoner in that castle. Efforts in his favour were made by the royalists; but with ill success; and treaties were opened with him by the Scots as well as by the parliament, which came to nothing. The Scots, however, sent an army into England, which was defeated by Cromwell, who then sent Colonel Pride to purge the parliament of all the more moderate members. This measure, which was effected by violence, is known as "Pride's purge,” and the miserable remnant of the house was called "The Rump.' The king made some vain attempts to escape from Carisbrook, and was brought to Windsor. From thence he was removed to London, as the house (under the influence of the army) had resolved to bring him to trial. A court, of which one Bradshaw was president, was constituted in Westminster-hall; and though the peers refused to concur in this proceeding, Charles was arraigned on a charge of high treason, for having levied war against his parliament. His behaviour in these last scenes of his life was kingly 6 Quoted by Archdeacon Berens.

[H. s. 1.]

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and Christian. He had steadily refused to sacrifice whatever is essential to the episcopal government of the Church, and he now met the violent death which he saw before him with mildness and constancy. Throughout the trial (which lasted more than a week) he denied the right of subjects to sit in judgment on their sovereign; and was not suffered to speak when judgment was passed upon him. The soldiers grossly insulted him as he passed up the hall; and one of them even spat on him. Poor souls!" he said, "they would do the same to their own generals for sixpence." One soldier was struck down by his officer for imploring a blessing upon him:-"Surely," said the king, "the punishment exceeds the offence." The warrant for his death was The brutal levity

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signed by fifty-nine commissioners. which was joined to the fanaticism of the regicides may be seen in the fact, that as Cromwell approached the table with the pen in his hand to sign the warrant, he drew it across the face of a member of the court named Marten, who did the same to Cromwell.

Happily the eldest sons of Charles were at the Hague. He was allowed to see the Duke of Gloucester and the Princess Elizabeth; and the meeting which took place was as tender as might be expected, from the depth and purity of his affections. He told his daughter that he died a martyr for his people; an expression which he repeated on the scaffold; and desired her also to tell the queen that he had never even in thought swerved from his fidelity to her. The Duke of Gloucester was only three years of age. The king took him in his arms, and said: "My child, they will cut off thy father's head, and will perhaps make thee a king; but remember, thou must not be a king as long as thy brothers Charles and James are alive. They will cut off their heads when they can take them: and they will cut off thy head at last, and therefore I charge thee do not be made a king by them." The child burst into tears, and said, "I will be torn in pieces first." The king was allowed the attendance of Bishop Juxon, who administered to him the Holy Communion. During the night that preceded his execution, he slept soundly; and, on rising, desired to be dressed with great care, as for the day of his second marriage. Juxon prayed with him, and read the lesson for the day (Jan. 30), which is the 27th chapter of