CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



given a guarantee that he never would seek to 

 restore any abuses, or attempt to revenge himself 

 upon the men who had been chiefly concerned in 

 causing him to give them up, there would have 

 been no further contention ; and, indeed, when he 

 returned from Scotland, he was welcomed heartily 

 by the people of London. Unfortunately, the char- 

 ;u u r of the king for fidelity to his engagements was 

 not sufficiently high to induce the leaders of the 

 House of Commons to depend upon him, and they 

 prepared a paper called The Remonstrance, con- 

 taining an elaborate view of all the grievances 

 that had ever existed, or could now be supposed 

 to exist. This they not only presented to the 

 king, but disseminated widely among the people, 

 with whom it served to increase the prevailing 

 disaffection. 



From this time it was seen that the sword could 

 alone decide the quarrel between the king and the 

 parliament. Charles made an unsuccessful attempt 

 (January 4, 1642) to seize five of the most dis- 

 tinguished leaders of the parliamentary party, 

 including Hampden and Pym, for the purpose of 

 striking terror into the rest. This served to widen 

 still further the breach, and at last, upon a demand 

 of the parliament for the command of the army 

 a privilege, it should be remembered, always 

 before and since resting with the crown the king 

 broke off all amicable intercourse, retiring with his 

 family to York. 



The parliament found its chief support in the 

 mercantile classes of London and of the eastern 

 coast of England, which was then more devoted 

 to trade than the west, and in the Puritan party 

 generally, who were allied intimately with the 

 Presbyterians of Scotland. Charles, on the other 

 hand, looked for aid to the nobility and gentry, 

 who were able to bring a considerable number of 

 dependents into the field. The parliamentary 

 party was by the other styled Roundheads, in 

 consequence of their wearing short hair ; while 

 the friends of the parliament bestowed upon 

 their opponents the epithet of Malignants, The 

 royalists were also, in the field, termed Cavaliers, 

 from so many of them being horsemen. On the 

 2$th of August 1642, the king erected his standard 

 at Nottingham, and soon found himself at the 

 head of an army of about 10,000 men. The par- 

 liament had superior forces and a better supply of 

 arms ; but both parties were very ignorant of the 

 art of war. The king commanded his own army 

 in person ; while the parliamentary forces were put 

 under the charge of Robert, Earl of Essex, son of 

 the favourite of Queen Elizabeth. 



The first battle took place, October 23, at 

 Edgehill, in Warwickshire, where the king had 

 rather the advantage, though at the expense of a 

 great number of men. He gained some further 

 triumphs chiefly by means of his cavalry, which 

 were under the command of Prince Rupert, son 

 of the queen of Bohemia, before the end of the 

 campaign, but still could not muster so large an 

 army as the parliament. During the winter, the 

 parties opened a negotiation at Oxford ; but the 

 demands of the parliament being still deemed too 

 great by the king, it came to no successful issue. 



Early in the ensuing season, the king gained 

 some considerable advantages ; he defeated a 

 parliamentary army, under Sir William Waller, 

 at Stratton, and soon after took the city of Bristol ; 

 while Hampden, who had become a parliamentary 



officer, fell in a skirmish with Rupert. It only 

 remained for Charles to take Gloucester, in order 

 to confine the insurrection entirely to the eastern 

 provinces. It was even thought at this time that 

 he might have easily obtained possession of Lon- 

 don, and thereby put an end to the war. Instead 

 of making such an attempt, he caused siege to 

 be laid to Gloucester, which the army of Essex 

 relieved when it was just on the point of capitu- 

 lating. As the parliamentary army was returning 

 to London, it was attacked by the royal forces at 

 Newbury, and all but defeated. Another section 

 of the royal army in the north, under the Marquis 

 of Newcastle, gained some advantages ; and, upon 

 the whole, at the close of the campaign of 1643, 

 the parliamentary cause was by no means in a 

 flourishing condition. 



In this war there was hardly any respectable 

 military quality exhibited besides courage. The 

 first appearance of a superior kind of discipline 

 was exhibited in a regiment of horse commanded 

 by Oliver Cromwell, a Huntingdonshire gentleman 

 of small fortune, who had been a brewer. Crom- 

 well, though himself inexperienced in military 

 affairs, shewed from the very first a power of 

 drilling and managing troops which no other man 

 in either army seemed to possess. Hence his 

 regiment, called the ' Ironsides,' and belonging 

 mostly to the sect of the Independents, soon 

 became famous for its exploits. 



SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT. 



The royal successes of 1643 distressed alike the 

 English parliament and the Scottish nation. The 

 two parliaments therefore agreed to prosecute the 

 war in concert, both Houses signing the Solemn 

 League and Covenant for the extirpation of 

 popery and prelacy. A good deal of persecution 

 followed this, and the aged Archbishop Laud, 

 who had long lain in the Tower, was condemned 

 for high treason, and beheaded in 1645. In terms 

 of this bond, the Scots raised an army of 20,000 

 men, who entered England in January 1644; an d 

 on the 2d of July, in company with a large body 

 of English forces, overthrew the king's northern 

 army on Long Marston Moor, Cromwell's Iron- 

 sides being admittedly the main cause of victory. 



The Episcopal Church being now abolished, 

 the Presbyterian form of government was adopted, 

 though in England it was provided that the new 

 church should not have any connection with or 

 influence over the state. 



The defeat at Long Marston was severely felt 

 by the king. He gained a victory over Waller at 

 Cropredy Bridge, and caused Essex's army to 

 capitulate in Cornwall (September i) ; but in 

 consequence of a second fight at Newbury 

 (October 27), in which he suffered a defeat, he 

 was left at the end of the campaign with greatly 

 diminished resources. A new negotiation was 

 commenced at Uxbridge ; but the terms asked by 

 the parliament were such that the king did not 

 accept them. 



The English parliament, fearing that some of 

 its military leaders were becoming lukewarm, 

 passed a self-denying ordinance that no member 

 of parliament should in future hold any com- 

 mand either civil or military. Essex resigned in 

 consequence of this, and the chief command of 

 the army was given to Sir Thomas Fairfax, who 



