Reign of Charles I. (Continued.) page 4

On receiving this answer, the two houses issued an order to fit out the fleet, and put it into the command of the earl of Northumberland, as lord high admiral. The lords, who had hesitated to join the commons in the demand for the control of the militia, now passed the ordinance for it with very few dissentients. Fifty-five lords and commons were named as lords-lieutenants of counties, many of them royalists, but still not such as the commons feared joining the king in an open rupture. The commons then proceeded to issue a declaration, expressing their apprehensions from the favour shown to the Irish rebels and massacrers by the court; of the intention of evil advisers of the king to break the neck of parliament, and of the rumours of aid from abroad for these objects from the pope, and the kings of France and Spain. The lords, with only sixteen dissentient voices, joined in this declaration, and the earls of Pembroke and Holland waited on the king with it at Royston. On hearing this out-spoken paper read, Charles testified much indignation, pronouncing some assertions in it, in plain terms, lies; and when the earls entreated him to consent to the granting of the militia for a time, he exclaimed, - "No, by God, not for an hour. You have asked that of me which was never asked of any king, and with which I should not trust my wife and children." That was true, but he had formerly said he would sooner lose his life than consent to the bill against the bishops, and yet had given them up. That he would on the first opportunity break his word, was certain; that at this very moment his wife was moving heaven and earth abroad, and pawning her jewels for money to put clown parliament and people, was equally certain and well known. In vain, therefore, were the solemn asseverations which he made, that he desired nothing so much as to satisfy his subjects.

At this moment he was stealing away towards the north. He got away to Newmarket, thence to Huntingdon, next to Stamford, and from that place wrote to the two houses, informing them that he proposed to take up his residence for a time in York. The deputies had strongly importuned him to return to the neighbourhood of his parliament; this was his answer, accompanied by a positive refusal to put the militia into their hands. The two houses at once were roused to action. War was inevitable; the king was intending to take them by surprise. They therefore voted that the king's absence was most detrimental to the affairs of Ireland; that the king was easily advised, and that it was necessary for parliament that the power of commanding the militia must be exercised by the sole authority of parliament, and orders for that purpose were issued to the lieutenants and deputy-lieutenants of the counties.

Charles had meantime proceeded by Doncaster to York? where he arrived on the 19th of March. On the 26th the lords Willoughby and Dungarvon, with Sir Anthony Ereby, arrived from parliament with a justification of their proceedings. They admitted that he had passed many satisfactory bills at their instance, but that always at the same time some attempts had been set on foot to render them abortive. They informed him that they had certain information of preparations making abroad, and of a design to enter Hull with foreign forces. Charles denied the truth of these allegations, and assured them that he would return and reside near his parliament as soon as he was sure of the safety of his person. He did not forget, however, the words dropped about Hull. It was of immense consequence to obtain possession of that place; but it was in the keeping of the stout Sir John Hotham. and his son, who had declared in parliament "fall back, fall edge, he would carry out the wishes of parliament." As Charles could not hope to obtain it by force, he conceived the idea of winning it by stratagem. He sent the earl of Newcastle to request that the town and arsenals might be put into his hands. Newcastle assumed the name of Sir John Savage to obtain admission to the town, but was discovered, and this clumsy trick only increased the suspicions of the people. Parliament then sent an order for the removal of the arms and ammunition to the Tower of London; but Charles told them that he claimed them as purchased with money borrowed on his own account, and begged they would leave him to look after his own property. He also sent them word that it was his intention to pass over to Ireland, to suppress the rebellion; that he should require all the arms and ammunition for that purpose, and that they would be necessary for the use of his guard of two thousand foot and two hundred horse, which he meant to embark there for Ireland.

On the 22nd of April he sent the duke of York, the prince palatine, his nephew, the lords Newport, Willoughby, and some other persons of distinction, but without any armed force, to see the town of Hull. Sir John Hotham and the mayor received them with all honour, and entertained them as became their rank. They were shown the place, and were to dine with the governor on the morrow, being St. George's day. Just before dinner time, however, Hotham was startled by the sudden appearance of Sir Lewis Dives, the brother-in-law of the outlawed lord Digby, who informed him that his majesty was intending to do him the honour to dine with him, and was already within a mile of the town, accompanied by three hundred horse. Sir John, who saw the ruse, instantly ordered the drawbridges to be raised, and shut the gates in the king's face, for by this time he had arrived at the Beverley gate,

Charles commanded Sir John to open the gate and admit him and his guard, but Sir John replied, that though a loyal subject of his majesty, he could not do so without consent of parliament, which had put the town into his keeping. If his majesty would be pleased to enter with the prince and twelve attendants he should be welcome; but Charles refused to enter without the whole of his guard. He staid before the gate from one o'clock till four, continuing the parley, trusting to the people being affected by the sight of their sovereign, and compelling the governor to admit him. But he was disappointed, and at four, going away for an hour, he gave Hotham that time to consider of it. On his return at five Hotham still refused entrance to more than before, when Charles proclaimed him a traitor, and rode off with the prince and his guard to Beverley. The next day he sent a herald to offer Hotham pardon and promotion on surrender of the town, but in vain; and he then returned to York. A warm correspondence took place betwixt the enraged king and the parliament, in which the latter spoke plainer truth to the monarch than monarchs had heard for ages. In reply to his indignant remonstrance, that he demanded the town, the arms, and ammunition as his own property, the parliament stripped away all the fiction of the state's property being the king's. They informed him that national property was not his, but the nation's, and was by courtesy only called the king's, because intrusted to him for the administration of the state's affairs. If the towns were the king's, where was the property of the subjects; but that the towns were not the king's any more than the kingdom was the king's, and the kingdom was no more the king's than the people's own lives and persons were the king's. This, they said, was the language which had infused into the minds of kings the erroneous notions that kingdoms were their own, and that they might do what they would; as if kingdoms were for them, and not they for the kingdoms. This was the root of all their invasions of the rights and liberties of the people, a gross delusion; the very jewels of the crown belonging not to the king, but merely lent him for the use and ornament of his royal dignity. The power intrusted to him, they reminded him, must be used by advice and consent of parliament, without which it was nothing.

If the spirit of Henry VIII. could but have listened to such language from subjects to a king! How mightily the times were changed! What a proud revolution of soul and language had sprung forth in the nation from the slumbering deeds of Magna Charta, through the dauntless labours and patriotic devotion of such men as Pym, Hampden, Selden, Hollis, Elliot, Haselrig, and Cromwell. They proceeded to inform him of their knowledge of the traitorous endeavours making abroad, and thereupon justified their refusal to put Hull into his power.

Having failed in one stratagem to secure this important seaport, Charles and his advisers now sought another. A lieutenant Fawkes, serving in Hull, had married the daughter of a Mr. Beckwith, of Beverley. Beckwith wrote to Fawkes, desiring him to come to Beverley, to speak with him. This letter Fawkes showed to Hotham's secretary, who laid it before the governor. By him it was arranged that Fawkes should go to Beverley, and make himself master of the object of the invitation. He was warmly welcomed by his father-in-law, and introduced to a number of gentlemen, all of whom were strangers to him, except one who had a mask on, and whom he recognised as Sir Jocelyn Percy, a catholic living in Beverley. All, who were professedly warm friends of the king, were extremely civil to Fawkes, and said they were certain that he and his captain could mean no disloyalty to the king, but consented to do what they did in Hull as soldiers. They told him that if he and his captain would find some way of surrendering the king's own town to him, the king would guarantee one thousand pounds a year to the captain, and five hundred pounds a year to himself, as well as one thousand pounds in money, The lieutenant fell very naturally into the scheme in appearance, promised to do his best, took fifty gold pieces which were offered him as an earnest, and arranged to correspond with his father-in-law on the subject.

On returning to Hull, and detailing the overture to the governor, it was determined to appear to favour the design. Fawkes wrote, saying that all promised well. A correspondence was kept up with the parties in Beverley, and at length it was fixed that on a certain night the king should send one thousand horse to Hull, with five hundred foot soldiers riding behind the horsemen, and that they should be admitted at two o'clock in the morning. This being accepted, Hotham then laid the matter before a council of war, when the officers were for letting in the soldiers, and then cutting them to pieces. But Hotham had probably his instructions from parliament not to commence the bloodshed, and he therefore sent a messenger post haste to York, to inform the king that the whole scheme was known to him. Parliament sent public thanks to Sir John, and arrested Beckwith, who, however, was rescued out of the officers' hands by the king's followers. Hotham, to prevent any further attempts to seize the arms and ammunition, shipped them off to London.

Each party now hastened to raise forces and prepare for the struggle. On the 5th of May the parliament issued a declaration that as the king refused his consent to the militia bill, they called on all men to obey their own ordinance for the raising of forces and the defence of the king. In this ordinance they nominated the lieutenants of counties, who nominated their deputy-lieutenants, subject to the approbation of parliament. Amongst these deputies appeared Hampden, Whitelock, St. John, Selden, Maynard, Grimston, and other leaders of parliament, who now became equally zealous enrollers and drillers of soldiers. The king, on his side, denounced the order as traitorous and illegal, forbade all men obeying it, and summoned a county meeting at York for promoting the levy of troops for his service. At that meeting we find Sir Thomas Fairfax stepping forward as a parliamentary leader, and laying on the pommel of the king's saddle a strong remonstrance from the freeholders and farmers of Yorkshire, who advised the king to come to an agreement with his parliament.

The country was now come to that crisis when every man must make up his mind, and show to which side of the question he leaned. It was a day of wonderful searching of characters and interests, and many strange revolutions took place. Towns, villages, families, now appeared in convulsion and strife, and some fell one way, some another, no^ without much heart-ache and many tears, old friends ana kindred parting asunder, to meet again only to shed each others' blood. Then was there a strange proclaiming and contradiction of proclamations, one party denouncing and denying the proceedings of the other, The king raised only a troop of horse and a regiment of foot; the parliament soon found themselves at the head of eight thousand men, consisting of six regiments, commanded by zealous officers, and the month of May saw the fields of Finsbury white with tents, and major-general Skippon manoeuvring his train-bands.

The next shift was for the fleet. The earl of Northumberland being ill, or more probably indisposed, the commons commanded him to surrender his command to the earl of Warwick for the time. The lords hesitated, on account of the king's sanction being wanted for such an appointment; but the commons settled it alone. Clarendon says that the king remained passive, confiding in the attachment of the; sailors, whose pay he had advanced; but we hear from other sources that Charles had contrived to alienate the mariners as much as the rest of his subjects, by calling them "water-rats." His amount of popularity with them was soon put to the test, for he ordered the removal of Warwick, and that Pennington should take his place; but the sailors would not receive him. Without ammunition or arms, Charles's few forces were of little use, and the commons proclaimed any one who should bring such material without consent of parliament, or should bring in any money raised on the crown jewels, should be considered an enemy to the country. The coasts being diligently watched by the fleet, Charles now turned to the Scots, the leaders of whom he hoped to win over to him by the honours and favours he had distributed on his last visit; and, in truth, the members of the council seemed quite inclined to fall in with his wishes; but the English commons being made aware of it, soon turned the scale, letting both council and people know that it was their interest, as much as that of England, that the king should come to an understanding with his parliament, which, they continued to assert, sought only the good of both king and people. The parliament had now, however, to see considerable defections from its own body, for many thought they were driving matters too far; that the king had conceded more than was reasonable, and that the commons were themselves aiming at inordinate power. Amongst those who had gone off to the king were the lord Falkland, Sir John Colepepper, and Mr. Hyde. Falkland and Colepepper, Charles had, before leaving, made his ministers, and Hyde had long been secretly seeing the king, conveying all the news to him at night, and writing the king's declarations. The commons had for some time perceived well enough who composed those papers by the style, yet they could not directly prove it; but he was found by the earls of Essex and Holland shut up with the king at Greenwich, and by the marquis of Hamilton at Windsor. In April the king summoned Hyde to attend him at York, but even then, as if afraid of the parliament, he had gone in a very private way, pretending that he sought the country for his health; and even after reaching the neighbourhood of York, instead of openly avowing his adhesion to the royal cause, he kept himself concealed in the neighbourhood, and attended to the king's correspondence. He arrived in Yorkshire at the end of May, but before leaving London, he had contrived that the lord keeper Littleton should run off with the great seal to the king, a matter of no little importance, as it regarded the authenticity of all public documents.