578 



BRITAIN. 



Britain, treaty with the Scotch, made these proposals a pretext 



~~ 



Renewal of 

 the war. 



for suddenly ordering the Earl of Traquaire to pro- 

 ' rogue their parliament, and both sides again prepared 

 for hostilities. The bigotry of Laud, and the vio- 

 lence of Wentworth, overpowered in the English 

 council the moderation of Hamilton and Morton ; for 

 to those four, under the name of the junto, the Scot- 

 affairs had been long entrusted. A letter, which 

 had been signed by seven of the Scottish nobility be- 

 fore the pacification of Berwick, and addressed to 

 the French king, ^but from proper motives never 

 sent,) to solicit assistance, was thought a sufficient 

 justification of war on the royal side ; and Loudon, 

 the Scottish commissioner from the Covenanters, was 

 ordered for execution, (though the order was revo- 

 ked,) for being the author of the letter. 



Proceed- After eleven years intermission, it was necessary to 

 tog" of the convoke another parliament in England. By the 

 parliament n l outh of the lord kee per Finch, the king discovered 

 April la. ' '" s wants, and representing his debts, for which he 

 had given security on his crown lands, amounting to 

 .300,000, pleaded for immediate supplies to support 

 his armaments, and promised, though indefinitely, to 

 promote the best wishes and interests of his English 

 subjects. The house of commons, instead of listen- 

 ing to his wants, began with arranging the grievances 

 ofthe public, under three different heads : those of 

 the broken privileges of parliament, of illegal taxes, 

 and of violence done to the cause of religion. After 

 an intercession on the part of the peers in the king's 

 behalf, which, so far from obtaining the supplies, was 

 declared by the commons to be an illegal interposition, 

 Charles dissolved the parliament ; and to make this 

 procedure still more dangerous and unpopular, im- 

 prisoned Bellasis and Sir John Hotham, for th* share 

 they had taken in the debates. 



Proceed- Though the parliament was dissolved, the convo- 

 Agtofthe cation ofthe clergy was still allowed, which, besides 

 lion. granting to the king a supply from the spirituality, 



imposed an oath on the clergy and the graduates of 

 the University, to support the established government: 

 ofthe church, by archbishops, bishops, deans, chap- 

 ters, &c. The public notions of liberty were too far 

 matured not to perceive, that such an assembly as the 

 convocation, without consent of parliament, was un- 

 constitutional ; and an oath, which contained an &c. 

 was justly exposed to ridicule. In the mean time, 

 subscriptions were raised at court, or extorted from 

 the merchants ; nor were former illegal exactions, 

 however productive of discontent, omitted. Instead 

 of Arundel, Essex, and Holland, whose capacity, or 

 whose zeal, in the last expedition was suspected, the 

 Earl of Northumberland was appointed general, the 

 Earl of Strafl'ord lieutenant-general, and Lord Con- 

 way general of the horse. The army which was now 

 raised, consisted of 19,000 foot and 2000 horse. 

 The Cove. The Scottish Covenanters and parliament, were 

 '.'"" teri m ch more successfully active. The parliament hav- 

 my? f " '"S poured their own constitution, by the creation of 

 a third estate ; having passed a statute for triennial 

 renovations, and having guarded the legislative power 

 against the encroachments of royalty by other wise 

 regulations, appointed a committee of estates to super- 

 intend at the camp and in the capital, the operations 

 of the war. Conscious of the good wishes of the po- 



pular party in England, and we may well suppose in 

 correspondence with theEnglishparliamentary leaders, 

 they crossed the Tweed with 23,000 foot, 3000 

 horse, and a train of artillery. Maintaining as before 

 the most submissive language, they entered England, 

 they said, with no hostile intentions, but to obtain 

 access to the king's person, and lay their petition at 

 his feet. At Newburn upon Tyne they were op- 

 posed by General Conway, with batteries erected on 

 the opposite bank, and (iOOO horse and foot. Lesly, 

 their general, first requested permission to pass ; then 

 on a shot being fired by an English centinel, they 

 opened their artillery, and charging their opponents, 

 put them to flight. Their army thus obtained im- 

 mediate possession of Newcastle, Tynemouth, Shields, 

 and Durham. Charles retired with a mutinous and 

 panic-struck army from Northallerton to York, where 

 an address reached him from the city of London, pe- 

 titioning for a parliament. He contented himself, 

 however, for the present, with summoning a great 

 council of the peers at York. A treaty was sug- 

 gested, as the only means to prevent the advance of 

 the Scotch ; and as that enemy still held out the lan- 

 guage of petition, sixteen noblemen, eminent for their 

 rank and popularity, were proposed to negotiate with 

 the committee of the Scottish estates. In the mean 

 time, to exempt the four northern counties from the 

 contributions of the Scottish army, the sum ot S50 

 a day was allowed for their subsistence. A loan of 

 L. 200,000 was obtained tjy the credit ofthe peers; 

 and Charles was thus, in the singular situation of a 

 sovereign snpporting two hostile armies at once in 

 the field. As many difficulties occurred in the nego- 

 tiation, it was proposed to transfer the treaty from 

 Rippon to London, a change of place by no means 

 favourable to the royal cause. Charles yielding in 

 despair to the torrent which he could not stem, as he 

 had foreseen that the council of the peers at York 

 would advise him to call a parliament, told them in 

 his first speech, that he had already taken that reso- 

 lution. 



During the recent transactions in Scotland, we 

 may easily conceive the state of the public mind 

 in England, and the deep sympathy of Puritans 

 and Presbyterians with their fellow believers, who 

 were regarded rather as brethren in a common 

 cause, than invaders. As the parliament met with 

 no ordinary prospects and motives, the House of 

 Commons was never observed to be so full at the 

 opening of a session. The house began by stri- 

 king an important blow, by impeaching Strafford 

 the king's principal adviser. Hated by the Scotch 

 for having used all his influence against them ; by the 

 Irish, for having acted in their kingdom as deputy, 

 with an unpopular vigilance and activity; and consi- 

 dered by the English popular party as an apostate 

 from their cause, he was exposed to the resentment 

 of the three nations. The king had induced him to 

 leave the army by a promise of protection, and assu- 

 ring him that not a hair of his head should be hurt ; 

 but just as he entered the House of Peers, he found 

 that Pym had brought up his impeachment from the 

 commons, followed by the whole house. He w;ib 

 immediately ordered into custody. Laud could not 

 long escape the scrutiny. He was also impeached 



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