The accu- 

 ed mem- 

 bers take 

 shelter in 

 rke city, 



sud after- 



in the 

 bouse in 

 triumph. 



582 



rect me, whose servant I am ; and I humbly ask par- 

 Ion that I cannot give any other answer to what 

 ' your majesty is pleased to demand of me." The 

 commons were in the utmost disorder ; and when the 

 king was departing, some members cried out, " Pri- 

 vilege, privilege!" The house immediately adjourned. 



In the evening, the accused members flew to the 

 city, which was their fortress. The citizens were 

 the whole night in arms. Next morning about ten, 

 Charles, attended by a few lords, repaired to a meet- 

 ing of the common council at Guildhall, to whom 

 he justified his intentions respecting the fugitives, 

 and hoped that they would not find protection in the 

 city. This measure only produced new mortification. 

 On his way back, the streets resounded with cries of 

 privilege of parliament ; and one of the populace 

 called out, near his coach, " to your tents, O 

 Israel !" the watch-word of mutiny among the Israel- 

 ites, when they abandoned Rehob'oam. 



When the commons met, they either felt, or af- 

 fected dismay, and adjourning for some days, order- 

 ed a committee to sit in Merchant Taylors Hall. 

 They met again to confirm the resolution of that 

 committee on the illegality of the king's attempts to 

 seize their members ; and when the popular mind was 

 wrought up to the highest pitch of passion in their 

 cause, brought the accused members in military and 

 triumphant procession to resume their seats. The 

 i iver was covered with vessels laden with small pieces 



BRITAIN. 



T!e king 

 orfVrs to 

 make con- 

 cessions, 

 which the 

 '-"ommo'as 

 rot'use. 



of ordnance, and prepared to fight ; and Kippon ap- 

 pointed by parliament to be major-general of the 

 city militia, led a tumultuary army to Westminster- 

 hull. The king, who, disconsolate and alarmed, had 

 rCt ' red tO Ha mpton Court from Whitehall, sent a 

 mess age to the commons, proposing that they should 

 agree upon a legal method, by which he might carry 

 on his prosecution against the members. They de- 

 sired him to lay the grounds of prosecution before 

 the house, declaring that they would judge them- 

 selves whether it wtre proper to surrender their mem- 

 bers for trial. By successive messages, he offered 

 every concession in his power, to pardon the mem- 

 bcrs, and to make reparation for the breach of pri- 

 vilege. The commons would accept of no reparation 

 without an acknowledgment of his advisers a cruel 

 condition, to which he could not submit without hu- 

 miliation. The commons had already stript the king 

 of almost all his privileges, the bishops were fled, 

 the judges were intimidated; it now only remained, 

 that, after securing the church and the law, they 

 should get possession of the sword also. The as- 

 sumptions of the commons at this period, can be jus- 

 tified only by their firm belief, that the king still in- 

 tcnded to revoke whatever concessions he had al- 

 ready made in favour of liberty. Unfortunately the 

 earlier history of his reign betrays an insincerity in 

 :he character of Charles, which makes his treachery 

 ui the present crisis too credible. The late attempt 

 to arrest the five members, connected as it must 

 xem to be, with the incident in Scotland, justifies 

 the strongest suspicions of the king's willingness to 

 break the amnesty, and peculiarly justifies the suspi- 

 cions of men, whose lives were in "imminent danger, 

 snd whose passions were swayed by the turbulence 

 fct tiie times. Since the parliament had just grounds 



to feel insecure from the king's intentions, since they 

 knew, that by removing Balfour, a man of popular 

 principles, from the government of the Tower, and C|1JIR " 



J6M2 



substituting the Earl of Newport as governor in his 

 place, and by preparations for securing Hull and 

 Portsmouth, that he had premeditated reducing them 

 by force of arms; and since they had seen him uni- 

 formly refuse the constitutional remedy of accepting The cot 

 a popular ministry, they certainly did not claim the *nd t> 

 command of the army without a strong plea for that care oft 

 otherwise unconstitutional demand. But whatever rmy. 

 were Charles's intentions, we cannot wonder that he 

 should refuse this last concession. After obliging 

 him to concede that the Tower, Hull, and Ports- 

 mouth, should be entrusted to persons appointed by 

 parliament, the commons demanded that the officers 

 of the militia should be of their own nomination. He 

 was at thr.t time at Dover, attending the queen and the 

 Princess of Orange, as the latter dreading the popu- 

 lar clamour at her religion, as well as for the sake of 

 raising resources for the anticipated civil war, was 

 leaving the kingdom. The king at first evaded the 

 demand, by requesting leisure to consider it. When 

 the commons pressed their remonstrances for em- 

 bodying and directing the militia under the manage- 

 ment of both houses, and desired the command of the 

 army even for a limited time, he exclaimed, in a burst 

 of exasperation, " No, not for an hour!" 



In this state of contention with the parliament, The ki: 

 London was evidently an unsafe residence for the reth-es 

 king. Accordingly, taking the Prince of Wales and with his 

 the Duke of York along with him, he arrived by ' 

 slow journies at York. Here he found the public 

 spirit much more strongly in his favour than in the 

 south ; and the nobility and gentry from all quarters, 

 either personally, or by messages and letters, express- 

 ed their duty towards him. The queen, who was 

 in Holland, was making successful levies of men and 

 ammunition. But, before war was openly decla- 

 red, the shadow of a negotiation wa- carried on, ra- 

 ther with a design to please the people, than with 

 any view of reconciliation. Mutual remonstrances 

 passed ; in which those of the king, assisted by his 

 secretary Lord Falkland, were eminent for ability and 

 eloquence. The parliament sent to the king nineteen The co 

 propositions as the basis of an agreement, which, by mom m; 

 the king's friends, were considered as absolutely sub- proposi. 

 versive of monarchy. They required, that no man tions for 

 should remain^ in the council, nor officer be chosen, agrC 

 without their consent ; that no deed of the king 

 should be valid unless it passed the council, and be 

 attested under their hand ; that none of the royal fa- 

 mily should marry without consent of parliament and 

 council ; that the laws should be executed against 

 Papists ; that Popish lords should not vote in parlia- 

 ment ; that the liturgy and church government should 

 be constituted according to the advice of parliament ; 

 that the militia should be subject to their controul ; 

 that the justice of parliament should pass upon de- 

 linquents ; that a general pardon should be granted, 

 with exceptions to be made by parliament ; that the 

 forts and castles should be disposed of by consent of which 

 parliament ; and that no peers should be made but Charlet 

 with consent of both houses. If I should submit indl ? nan 



to these., terms," said Charles, " I may have my 



refuses, 



