Reign of Charles I. (Concluded.) page 2

On the 4th and 5th of June, accordingly, the grand rendezvous was held on Kentford Heath, near Newmarket: a strange and daring spectacle of an army not obeying as armies are wont, like blind automata, but acting and reasoning together like men. They entered into a covenant to see justice done to one and all, and not till then to listen to any other orders or terms. Meantime, a still more extraordinary scene had taken place, of which the direct springs may be guessed, but which springs were so closely concealed, that no clever historian could ever lay them bare. Scarcely was the honourable house of commons in possession of the news of the Kentford Heath rendezvous, when it was paralysed by this still more amazing announcement.

The house of lords, not liking the proceedings of the army, had ordered the king for greater safety to be removed from Holmby to Oatlands, nearer the capital. The army anticipated that move, and by whose orders no man knows, nor ever will know, cornet Joyce, of Whalley's regiment, followed by a strong party of horse, presented himself on the 3rd of June, a little after midnight, at Holmby House. After surrounding the house with his troop, said to be one thousand strong, he knocked and demanded admittance, telling major-general Brown and colonel Graves, that he was come to speak to the king. "From whom?" demanded these officers, awoke from their sleep. "From myself," said Joyce; whereat they laughed. But Joyce told them it was no laughing matter. They then advised him to draw off his troops, and in the morning he should see the commissioners. Joyce replied that he was not come there to be advised by them, or to talk to the commissioners, but to speak to the king; and speak to him he would, and soon. At this threat Brown and Graves bade their soldiers stand to their arms, and defend the place; but the soldiers, instead of that, threw open the doors, and bade their old comrades welcome. Joyce then went direct to the chamber of the commissioners, and informed them that there was a design to seize the king, and place him at the head of an army to put down that under general Fairfax; and that to prevent another war, he was come to secure the person of the king, and see that he was not led into further mischief; for, added the cornet, "there be some who endeavour to pull down king and people, and set up themselves."

The commissioners desired him not to disturb the king's sleep, but to wait till morning, and they would tell his majesty of his arrival and business. In the morning Joyce found that Brown had contrived to send off Graves to fetch up the king's guard; and "some of his damning blades did say and swear they would fetch a party." But Joyce - a stout fellow for a tailor, which he had been - did not trouble himself about that, for he knew the guard would not move, as they did not - at length insisted on being admitted to the king himself. According to Joyce's own account, it was ten o'clock in the evening again when he was ushered, with two or three of his followers, into the royal presence. The soldiers took off their hats, and displayed no rudeness, but a blunt proceeding to business. According to Clarendon, the cornet told the king that he was sorry to have disturbed his sleep, but that he must go with him. Charles asked whither? He said to the army. But where was the army? replied the king. The cornet said they would show him. His majesty asked by what authority they came. Joyce said "by this!" and showed him his pistol, and desired his majesty to cause himself to be dressed, because it was necessary they should make haste. The king sent for the commissioners, who asked Joyce whether he had any order from parliament? - He said no. From the general? - No. What, then, was his authority? - to whom he gave the same reply as to the king, by holding up his pistol. They said they would write to the parliament to learn its pleasure, to which Joyce replied, they could do so, but the king meantime must go with him.

Finding that the soldiers sent for would not come, and that the officers of the guard said that Joyce's troop were not soldiers of one regiment, but drawn from several regiments, and that Joyce was not their proper officer, it was clear that there was a general design in the affair, and the king said he would go with them at six in the morning. At the hour appointed the king appeared on horseback, and found the troop all mounted and ready. The king had overnight demanded of Joyce whether he should be forced to do anything against his conscience, and whether he should have his servants with him; and Joyce replied that there was no intention to lay any constraint on his majesty, only to prevent his being made use of to break up the army before justice had been done to it. Before starting, Charles again demanded from Joyce, in the presence of the troop, where was his commission, enjoining him to deal ingenuously with him, and repeated, "Where, I ask you again, is your commission?" "Here," said Joyce, "behind me," pointing to the soldiers. Charles smiled, and said, " It is a fair commission, and as well written as I have ever seen a commis sion written in my life; a company of handsome, proper gentlemen, as I have seen a great while. But what if I should refuse to go with you? I hope you would not force me. I am your king you ought not to lay violent hands on your king. I acknowledge none to be above me here but God." He then demanded again whither they proposed to conduct him. Oxford and Cambridge were named, to both of which places Charles objected. Newmarket was next named, and to that he consented. So the first day they rode to Hinchinbrook, and the next to Childersley, near Newmarket. The news of these proceedings of the army carried consternation into the two houses of parliament, and into the city, where the presbyterian party was in full strength. They ordered the immediate arrest of Cromwell, which they had been intending some time, but they were informed that he left town the very same morning that Joyce appeared at Holmby - a significant fact - and was seen riding away with only one attendant. He reached the headquarters of the army with his horse all in a foam. The house voted to sit all the next day, though it were Sunday, and have Mr. Marshall to pray for them. Rumour declared that the army was on its march, and would be there the next day at noon. The house ordered the committee of safety to sit up all night, taking measures for the protection of the city; the train-bands to be called out, and all the lines of communication guarded. The next day the shops were all shut, the town in indescribable confusion, and terror in every face, as though the army was already there. The parliament wrote to Fairfax, commanding that the army should not infringe the order of the two houses, by coming within twenty - five miles of London, and that the king should be returned to the care of the commissioners who attended him at Holmby, and colonel Rossiter's. regiment be the guard of his person. Fairfax replied that the army had reached St. Albans before he received their command, but it should proceed no further; that he had sent colonel Whalley with his regiment to meet his majesty on his way from Holmby, and offered to return him thither, but that he preferred the air of Newmarket, and that all care should be taken of his person.

In fact, Charles was delighted with the change. He had escaped from the harsh keeping and the strict regimen of the presbyterians, whom he detested, and felt himself, as it were, a king again at the head of an army: the dissensions now rushing on so hotly betwixt his enemies, wonderfully encouraging his hopes of making friends of the more liberal party. He was in a condition of comparatively greater freedom and respect in the army than he had been at Holmby: a larger number of troops and much superior officers. He was relieved from the presence of Mr. Agitator Joyce. All restraint being taken off from persons resorting to him, he saw every day the faces of many that were grateful to him. No sooner did he ask for the attendance of his own chaplains, than those he named, Drs. Sheldon, Morley, Sanderson, and Hammond, were sent for, and performed the service regularly, no one being forbidden to attend. The king was left to his leisure and his friends, only removing with the army as it moved, and in all places he was as well provided for and accommodated, as he had been in any progress. The best gentlemen, Clarendon admits, of the several counties through which he passed, daily resorted to him without distinction. He was attended by some of his old trusty servants in the places nearest his person. On hearing of his present condition, the queen sent Sir John Berkeley from Paris, and his old groom of the chambers, who had been living at Rouen, to be with him again, and they were freely admitted by Cromwell and Ireton. "Many good officers," says Clarendon, " who had served his majesty faithfully, were civilly received by the officers of the army, and lived quietly in their quarters, which they could not do anywhere else, which raised a great reputation to the army throughout England, and as much reproach upon parliament." This was raised still more by the army's address to parliament, desiring that "care might be taken for settling the king's rights, according to the several professions they had made in their declarations; and that the royal party might be treated with more candour and less rigour." Even the most devoted of royalists, Sir Philip Warwick, says, "The deep and bloody-hearted independents all this while used the king very civilly, admitting several of his servants and some of his chaplains to attend him, and officiate by the service-book."

The commons ordered all officers to attend their regiments, and sent down commissioners to acquaint the army of the votes of the two houses. The army gave the commissioners such a reception as no commissioners had ever witnessed before. Twenty-one thousand men had assembled to a rendezvous on Triploe Heath, near Royston, and the general and the commissioners rode to each regiment, to acquaint them with the parliamentary votes as to their instalment of pay, their disbanding, and their not approaching within twenty-five miles of London. The answer was sent up in shouts of "Justice! justice!" A petition also from the well-affected people of Essex was delivered on the field to the general in presence of the commissioners, against the disbanding, declaring "that the commonwealth had many enemies, who watched for such an opportunity to destroy the good people." A memorial was, moreover, drawn up and signed by the general and all the chief officers, to the lord mayor and corporation of London, warning them against false representations of the intentions of the army, for that the war being at an and, all that they desired and prayed for was, that the peace of the kingdom should be settled according to the declarations of parliament before the army was called out, and that being done, the army should be paid before disbanding.

So far from pacifying the parliament, these proceedings alarmed it infinitely more, and it issued an order that the army should not come within forty-five miles of the capital. On its part, the army collected addresses from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and all the surrounding counties, praying the purgation of the house from all such members as were disqualified from sitting there by corruption, delinquency, abuse of the state, or undue election; and on the 16th of June, from its headquarters, St. Albans, the army formally impeached of high treason eleven of the most active presbyterian members - Hollis, Waller, Clotworthy, Stapleton, Lewis, Maynard, Massey, Harley, Long, Glynne, and Nichols. This impeachment was presented to the house by twelve officers of the army, colonels, lieutenant-colonels, majors, and captains; and within a few days the general and officers, sent a letter to the house, informing it that they should appoint proper persons to conduct the impeachment, and make good their charges; and desired the house to suspend the accused forthwith, as it was not fitting that those persons who had done their best to prejudice the army, should sit as judges of their own actions.

This, says Clarendon, was an arrow out of their own quiver, which the commons did not expect; and though it was a legitimate consequence of the impeachments of Finch, Strafford, Laud, and others, they endeavoured to set it at defiance. The parliament and its army were, in fact, come to the pass which the brave old royalist, Sir Jacob Astley, had foreseen when he surrendered his regiment at Stowe, in 1646 – "You have done your work, my masters, and may go and play, unless you will fall out amongst yourselves."

The army, to settle the matter, marched from St. Albans to Uxbridge, and at that sight the eleven members, Hollis and the rest, withdrew from the house of commons, and the commons assumed a modest and complying behaviour, voting the army under Fairfax to be the real army of England, and worthy of all respect. They sent certain proposals to Fairfax, which induced him to remove his headquarters from Uxbridge to Wycombe. The eleven members, looking on this as a degree of submission to parliament, immediately plucked up their courage, and Hollis and the rest appeared in their places, preferring charges in return against the officers, and demanding a fair trial. But they soon perceived their mistake, and, soliciting the speaker's leave of absence, and his passport to go out of the kingdom, disappeared.

At this juncture Charles, emboldened by the courtesy of the army, requested permission to see his children. He had been necessarily quartered, according to the movements of the army, at Newmarket, Royston, Hatfield House, Woburn Abbey, Windsor Castle, and was now residing at Caver- sham, a house of lord Craven's, near Reading. The parliament had tried in vain to get him out of the army's hands, by issuing a declaration to the kingdom, representing him as in restraint, and professing their readiness "to bring him with honour to his parliament, which had been their intention from the beginning." But the army appealed to the king himself, if he had not more liberty with them, more freedom to see his friends, than he had ever had in the hands of the parliament; and Charles expressed his readiness to remain, only desiring that both parties should hasten their arrangements, that the kingdom might come to peace and happiness, in which he should not be without a share.

Fairfax informed the parliament of his majesty's request to see his children, which was at once complied with. These were the duke of York, now about fifteen, the princess Elizabeth, a year or two younger than the duke, and the duke of Gloucester, about seven years of age. Charles, the prince of Wales, was, as we know, now in France, and the eldest daughter married to the prince of Orange. The youngest, Henrietta, who was born at Exeter, during the queen's visit to England, the king had never seen, for though the queen left her behind after the surrender of Exeter, her governess, the countess of Morton, had contrived to carry her away to France, to the queen, whilst Charles was at Newcastle. Lady Morton was a Villiers, and, like most of that family, remarkably handsome; yet she contrived to act the beggar woman from Oatlands to Dover, having an artificial hump on her back, on which she carried the child, calling it her boy. But her own looks offered not the greatest danger of discovery; it was the little girl's indignation at her rags and disguise, telling almost every one that noticed her, that she was not a little beggar boy, but the princess. With the three remaining children Charles was allowed to spend a couple of days, and this privilege was afterwards frequently repeated. The interview was so affecting, that it drew tears even from Cromwell, which his enemies have attributed to his hypocrisy. There is no doubt, however, that they were real, and that Cromwell was at this time much disposed towards restoring the king under proper restrictions, though he treated him with much dignity, and did not condescend, like Fairfax, to kiss his hand.