1642] Regimental system. Portsmouth and Hull 305 Commissions were issued to men of influence authorising them to raise regiments of foot or troops of horse for the service of the King or of Parliament. They were formed in the district where the colonel's property lay, and equipped by their officers, though Parliament allowed "mounting money." The normal strength of foot-regiments was 1200; but the Whitecoats, raised by the Earl of Newcastle in Northumberland, were 3000 strong, while others were not as many hundreds. Troops of horse numbered 50 or 60 men, and were formed into regiments of about 500. Regiments of dragoons (or mounted infantry) were also raised on both sides. With the view of encouraging apprentices to enlist, the Houses issued an order that their indentures should not be forfeited, and that the time spent in the ranks should be reckoned as part of their term of apprenticeship. Both sides laid great stress on the possession of Portsmouth. Its governor, George Goring, the most plausible of self-seekers, elected, after much balancing, to hold it for the King; but, finding himself shut in both by sea and land, he surrendered it to Sir William Waller (September 7). It was in order to save Portsmouth that Charles set up his standard at Nottingham on August 22, though he was not ready to fight. Ten days before, he had summoned his Protestant subjects north of Trent, or within twenty miles south of it, to meet him there; but the muster fell short of one thousand. He hoped to draw the Parliamentary forces towards him, and to enable the Marquis of Hertford, whom he had sent into the west, to go to the relief of Goring. But Hertford failed in Somerset, and was forced to take shelter in Sherborne Castle. The Earl of Newcastle, who was entrusted with the four northern counties, was raising troops in Northumberland, and had secured the Tyne as a port for the King; but Lord Strange, who became soon afterwards Earl of Derby, and had promised great things in Lancashire, met with a repulse at Manchester. Charles himself had failed with some loss of life in a second attempt upon Hull (July 15), and in an attempt upon Coventry. He had met with a lukewarm reception in Yorkshire; and there were many so-called "Gadarenes," who expressed the wish that he would go elsewhere. It seemed likely that, as Pym and Hampden were said to have predicted, he would not be able to raise an army. "I would not have the King trample on the Parliament, nor the Parliament lessen him so much as to make a way for the people to rule us all." So Lord Savile wrote; and it was the state of mind of many better men. Even in Cornwall, where the partisans of the King exceeded those of the Parliament, Clarendon tells us that "there was a third sort (for a party they cannot be called) greater than either of the other, both in fortune and number," who preferred to be neutral. It is reckoned that the total number of men in arms was never more than about 21 per cent. of the population, one-tenth of the proportion which the C. M. H. IV. 20 306 The Royalists. Expectations of Parliament [1642 two Boer Republics lately put into the field; and this indicates the halfhearted sympathies of the bulk of the people of all classes. "If the King had had money," says Hobbes, "he might have had soldiers enough in England; for there were very few of the common people that cared much for either of the causes, but would have taken any side for pay and plunder." Of the nobility, some, like Savile, oscillated from side to side; others "warily distributed their family to both sides. There were many, however, with whom the sentiment of loyalty was deep-rooted, and who, while disapproving of the King's acts and of his advisers, felt bound to draw their swords for him when it came to war; just as high-minded Southerners felt bound to go with their State in the American civil war, though they had opposed secession. Others were animated by dislike of Puritanism-for its narrowness (as Falkland), or for its rigour (as Goring) - by contempt for the classes in which the main strength of Puritanism lay, or by provincial jealousy of London dictation. Others, especially the wealthy Roman Catholics, felt that their interests were bound up with those of the King. He hesitated for a time to admit Catholics to his ranks, but they sent him money: the Earl of Worcester furnished £120,000. The nobility and gentry who joined him, not only served in person, but paid the men they brought with them. By the middle of September his numbers rose to 10,000. But the sacrifices which his adherents made for him gave rise to embarrassing claims on their part, and weakened his authority; there were jealousies between the leading commanders, and friction between the military and civil members of his Council. The Parliamentary army which was to oppose the King was assembled near Northampton, and numbered 20,000 men when Essex took command of it, on Sept. 10. It was expected to make short work of the Royalists. There were even hopes that the King's army would dissolve without fighting, and that he might be captured in his quarters. The commission of Essex was "to rescue his Majesty's person, and the persons of the Prince and the Duke of York, out of the hands of those desperate persons who were then about him." To secure his person was the chief thing to be aimed at, just as on his side the main objective was the recovery of his capital. "So long as you are in the world," the Queen wrote to him (August 31), "assuredly England can have no rest nor peace, unless you consent to it; and assuredly that cannot be unless you are restored to your just prerogatives." It was this conviction, shared by the King and his adversaries, which ultimately cost him his head. But, if the Parliamentarians expected a short war, the aristocratic Royalists regarded their enemies as feeble and unwarlike. Both sides, in short, like true Englishmen, underrated their opponents. Charles was not strong enough to fight a battle, or to hold his ground at Nottingham. He retreated to Shrewsbury and Chester; and Byron, who was holding Oxford for him, was obliged to retire on Worcester. He 1642] The battle of Edgehill 307 was followed by Essex, whose advance-guard was surprised and routed by Rupert at Powick Bridge (September 23); but Essex occupied Worcester next day, and remained there nearly a month. The King found plenty of loyal support on the Welsh border. His numbers grew; but he was short of arms and money. The Queen had not been able to send him much; and part of what she had sent him had been intercepted. Half of his horse had no firearms. The foot consisted in those days of musketeers and pikemen, in the proportion of two to one. Few of the Royalist musketeers had swords, and none of the pikemen had corslets. Some three or four hundred men had only cudgels or pitchforks. The King provided for his foot, but his horse lived on the country, and searched the houses of Roundheads for arms and plunder. On October 12 he set out from Shrewsbury to march on London. He was about half-way thither when, learning that Essex was coming up behind him, he turned and gave him battle at Edgehill (October 23). Essex had put garrisons into Worcester and other places, and to hasten his march he had left his guns behind with a guard, so that the two armies were now equal in numbers, about 14,000 each. The Parliamentarians were much better equipped than the Royalists, but the latter had 4000 horse against 3000, and they were drawn from classes more accustomed to riding and to the use of arms. It was cavalry that decided battles in those days; and in Rupert the Royalists had a leader who had learnt the shock tactics of Gustavus. "He put that spirit into the King's army that all men seemed resolved," says Sir Philip Warwick; "and, had he been as cautious as he was a forward fighter, and a knowing person in all parts of a soldier, he had most probably been a very fortunate one. He showed a great and exemplary temperance, which fitted him to undergo the fatigues of a war, so as he deserved the character of a soldier." The Earl of Lindsey had been appointed general of the King's army, but Rupert was not placed under his orders; and there was a difference between them as to the relative merits of the Dutch and Swedish systems. Charles sided with Rupert; Lindsey resigned his office, and met his death at the head of his regiment. Rupert justified the King's decision by routing the Parliamentary cavalry on both wings, and part of the infantry. But to keep victorious horsemen in hand, and rally them for fresh action, is always difficult; the character of the Cavaliers and Rupert's own temperament made it impossible. Even the reserve of cavalry, "with spurs and loose reins, followed the chase which their left wing had led them." While the whole of the Royalist horse was pursuing and plundering, two regiments of Parliamentary horse which had been held in reserve helped their foot to get the better of the King's infantry. What would have been a decisive victory if Rupert had handled his cavalry as Enghien handled his the year after at Rocroi, proved a drawn battle, which neither side cared to renew next day. By retiring to War 308 Turnham Green and Bradock Down [1642-3 wick, however, Essex left the fruits of victory to the King, who marched on to Oxford. That city became his headquarters for the rest of the Patrick Ruthven, Earl of Forth (and afterwards of Brentford), an old soldier who had served with the Swedes, but was now "much. decayed in his parts," was made nominal commander-in-chief. war. Charles at first meant to remain at Oxford for the winter, but Rupert persuaded him to advance on London. His approach alarmed the citizens; and the Houses were induced to make overtures for peace. To take full advantage of the agitation in London he should have pushed on rapidly and offered favourable terms; but his advance was so leisurely that Essex, marching from Warwick by St Albans, reached the capital before him. Earthworks had been thrown up, fresh troops raised, and Essex was able to muster 24,000 men at Turnham Green. On November 12 Rupert drove the Parliamentary outposts out of Brentford, and sacked that town; but here the Royalist successes ended. Essex stood strictly on the defensive; and the King was not strong enough to attack. He marched up the Thames to Kingston, and crossed the river there, as though intending to strike at London from the south. He turned westward, however; and within a week his army was back at Reading. Leaving a strong garrison there, he returned to Oxford. Both in the west and in the north the Royalist cause made progress in the latter part of 1462. Hertford had left Sherborne Castle after the surrender of Portsmouth, and had betaken himself to South Wales, where he raised some regiments of foot, with which he joined the King at Oxford. He had sent his horse and dragoons into Cornwall under Sir Ralph Hopton, one of the best and ablest of the Cavaliers; and, with the help of the trained bands, Hopton drove out the Parliamentarians. The trained bands refused to fight outside their own county; so Hopton enlisted volunteers, and marched to Exeter. Not meeting with the support he reckoned on in Devon, and being short of supplies, he retired to Cornwall; but he turned on the Parliamentary forces which followed him, routed them at Bradock Down (January 19, 1643), and took a large number of prisoners. He then prepared to besiege Plymouth. In Yorkshire the gentry had come to an agreement for local neutrality, and those who wished to fight joined the main armies; but Parliament set this agreement aside, and appointed Lord Fairfax to command on its behalf. The Yorkshire Cavaliers invited the Earl of Newcastle to come to their assistance. He crossed the Tees with 8000 men (December 1), relieved York, and forced Fairfax to fall back from Tadcaster to Selby. Pushing on to Pontefract, Newcastle interposed between Selby and the towns of the West Riding, which were ardently Parliamentarian. His troops occupied Leeds and Wakefield, but met with a repulse at Bradford; and the younger Fairfax (Sir Thomas), already conspicuous for zeal and dash, made his way thither, organised the townsmen, and soon recovered Leeds (January 23). Newcastle, however, 1642-3] Early negotiations 309 planted a strong garrison in Newark, which gave him a foothold south of the Trent, and brought him within one hundred miles of Oxford. The indecisive results of the first campaign, disappointing as they were to both parties, seemed to make it possible to open negotiations for peace with some hope of success. During the autumn Charles had made two attempts to treat - one in August, only three days after he had set up his standard; the other in September. On the first occasion, Parliament rejected his overtures off-hand; on the second, when no less a person than Falkland acted as his envoy, the Houses declared their unwillingness to treat unless the King would promise to withdraw his protection from any whom they might declare to be delinquents, and to allow the charges incurred by Parliament since he left London to be defrayed from the estates of such persons. It could never have been expected that the King would accept a proposal of such wholesale confiscation; and its flagrant injustice brought numerous recruits to his side. That it was disagreeable to many even in Parliament became evident when the imminent danger which threatened during the King's march on London enabled the peace-party, never wholly suppressed during the early years of the war, to lift up its voice. Towards the end of October, a proposal for negotiation was brought forward in the Lords, and accepted by the Commons. Their object was to obtain an armistice, which the King, while things were going well with him, was not disposed to grant. After his rebuff at Turnham Green, he offered to treat; and Parliament, while blaming him for attacking Brentford during the negotiations, took his proposals into consideration (November 21). A long debate ensued, in which the war-party eventually got the upper hand. The proposals sent to the King, who was then at Reading, were practically the same as those made in September, and met with the same fate. A more serious attempt at settlement was made early in the next year. The pacific party in the Common Council of the City, urged by the Royalist merchants, had succeeded in carrying a petition for peace. This was taken up by the Lords, who prepared certain propositions, which were considered by the Commons just before Christmas. Unfortunately the pacificators had no clear idea of how peace was to be obtained, while the war-party at least knew their own mind. Consequently, though the Commons agreed to negotiate, they resolved to insist on disbandment of both armies as a preliminary condition, and hurriedly passed a Bill for the abolition of Episcopacy, to which they gained the assent of the Lords on January 30, 1643. Such a measure augured ill for the success of the negotiations, which, however, opened at Oxford on February 1. The demands now put forward by Parliament closely resembled those embodied in the Nineteen Propositions of the previous June, with the serious additions that Bishops, Deans and Chapters, |