A NEW SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT. 329 CHAP. LX. 1648 petition the Scots. All Hamilton's party were in favour of war, and on the 16th, when the clergy petitioned that no forward step might be taken without their Feb. 16. knowledge, one of its members declared that Scotland A clerical would come to regret the overthrow of the bishops for peace. now that the clergy took on themselves to interfere in civil affairs. As, however, Argyle supported the request of the clergy, the promise demanded was given.1 The words which had been spoken in the Committee of Estates were of no light significance. They intimated that the old alliance between the Scottish Scottish parties. nobility and the Crown, which had supported James VI. in his struggle with the Presbyterian clergy, had been re-constituted under Hamilton. Most of the nobles who had deserted Charles to oppose Episcopacy in 1637 gave him their support because they wished to humble the Presbyterian clergy in Scotland, though they deceptively posed as the advocates of Presbyterianism in England. March 2. Meeting Scottish ment. On March 2 a new triennial Parliament met at Edinburgh. The representatives of the shires and of the boroughs were about equally divided between Argyle Parlia and Hamilton-or in other words, between peace and war. A large majority of the nobles, however, sided with Hamilton, and this was, in a single House, decisive. As far as Parliamentary action went, Hamilton could do what he chose. It was a great majority. blow to Argyle, who had hitherto held the representative part of Parliament in the hollow of his hands, and he and his partisans, truly or falsely, explained 1 Montreuil to Mazarin, 308. Feb. 22 Arch. des Aff. Étrangères, lvi. fol. 2 Baillie, iii. 35. Compare Montreuil's despatches. The Parliament contained fifty-six lords, forty-seven representa tives of shires, and forty-eight representatives of boroughs. Acts of Parl. of Scotl. VI. ii. 1. A Hamilton . CHAP. 1648 Argyle supported by the clergy. Hamilton hesitates Langdale in Edinburgh. Violence of the their defeat by alleging that the shifting of the balance at the elections was due not to a change of opinion in the constituencies but to pressure put upon them by the nobility. Whether this was the case or not, the clergy still regarded Argyle as their leader, and the influence of the clergy was of no slight weight in Scotland. The knowledge that the victory was less complete than it seemed gave Hamilton pause. Hesitating by nature, and always reluctant to embark on decisive action, he was hardly the man to cut the knot by promptly availing himself of his supremacy in Parliament to push on the invasion of England to an immediate issue. Before the end of February his supporters, Loudoun, Lanark, and Lauderdale, were urging Charles to satisfy the clergy by yielding more than he had hitherto done on the subject of religion, whilst other members of the party were taking steps which made war unavoidable. Sir Marmaduke Langdale had recently arrived in Edinburgh, and it was perhaps in compliance with his suggestions that it was agreed that the first step should be the seizure of Berwick and Carlisle.2 The ministers had for some time been denouncing ministers. from their pulpits all who proposed to make war in favour of a King who rejected the Covenant. Rumours were indeed in circulation that the ministers had been bribed by the English Commissioners. Argyle also was said to have been influenced by offers of money, and he certainly had a pecuniary interest in maintaining They and Argyle said to have been bribed. 1 See Ross's letter in A Declaration of the Kirk, E. 432, 10. * Lanark, Loudoun, and Lauderdale to the King, Burnet, vi. 7. The letter is undated, but it is shown by internal evidence to have been written between Feb. 15 and March 1. 3 Montreuil to Mazarin, Feb. 22 Arch. des Aff. Etrangères, lvi. fol. SCOTTISH PARTIES. 331 CHAP. LX. 1648 peace, as 10,000l. out of the next money payable by England to Scotland was engaged to wipe out a debt owing to him by the Scottish Government. So far as the ministers were concerned, the supposition that they needed money to stir them to denounce a King who was attempting to advance the interests of Episcopacy with the help of a Scottish army is entirely gratuitous, whilst Argyle's political position was too obviously at stake to make it necessary to seek further explanation of his opposition to his rivals, the Hamiltons. Hereditary bonds had at that time a far greater hold upon Scotchmen than they had upon Englishmen, and before long Loudoun, who was also a Camp- Loudoun bell, shifted his ground, and was found once more to Argyle. acting in co-operation with the head of his family.' goes over elders In the General Assembly the lay-elders ranged The laythemselves with Hamilton as the noblemen had in the Assembly. ranged themselves with James at the Assembly of Perth. With the exception of four, of whom Argyle was one, every lay-elder in the Assembly voted against the publication of a manifesto which had been drawn. up by the ministers. The ministers, however, com- A clerical manded a majority, and the manifesto was sent to the press, though on March 11, in consequence of a strong protest from Parliament, the ministers agreed to refrain from issuing it, at least for a time.* The clerical manifesto was not indeed drawn up in favour of peace in the abstract. The ministers were as ready as the nobles to go to war against the Independent army; though they objected to assist Charles until he not only took the Covenant himself, but pro 1 Burnet, vi. 8. 2 Hist. of Engl. 1603-1642, iii. 237. 3 Montreuil to Mazarin, March, Arch. des Aff. Étrangères, lvi. fol. 321. Acts of Parl. of Scotl. VI. ii. 12. manifesto. March 11. kept back It is to be for a time. CHAP. 1648 March 13. An inter rupted duel. Report from the Committee vided for its imposition on his subjects. They also insisted that all Malignants-that is to say all persons hostile to the Covenant-should be excluded from the Royalist forces about to be raised in England.' Whatever may be thought of the narrow ecclesiasticism of these Scottish ministers, it must be admitted that they saw clearly that if Presbyterianism was indeed to be established in England, it would not be in consequence of the concessions which had satisfied the Hamiltons. Every day the conflict between the Scottish factions grew more bitter. On March 13, a projected duel between Argyle and Hamilton's brother-in-law, the Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, was only stopped by the intervention of friends. In the midst of these distractions, the warlike preparations made slow March 17. but steady progress. On the 17th, a Committee of Dangers which had been appointed a week before, of Dangers. brought into Parliament a report, on the strength of which a second committee was named to concert measures in secret for seizing upon Berwick and Carlisle. Rather than consent, Argyle left the Parliament House, followed by eleven lords and some thirty representative members. Hamilton was fain to call the seceders back. Though,' he candidly admitted, 'he had more power in Parliament than they had, yet they had the greater power in the kingdom.' 3 Much valuable time was lost in attempting to produce a union which was in reality unattainable. Argyle leaves the House, but is brought back. The exiles at 3 The Scottish Parliament and nation were drifting into war. The English exiles, eager to arouse the sluggishness of their new allies, gathered in ever 1 Baillie, iii. 33. 2 Acts of Parl. of Scotl. VI. ii. 13. 3 Montreuil to Mazarin, March 31, Arch. des Aff. Étrangères, lvi. fol. 332. ROYALIST DESIGNS. increasing numbers at Edinburgh. 333 Langdale was CHAP. 1648 joined by Glemham and by a certain Captain Wogan, who arrived with a body of 200 horse which had been threatened with disbandment by Fairfax. The English commissioners in Edinburgh in vain demanded his surrender as a deserter. It was impossible that this state of uncertainty should long continue. It seemed as if matters had reached a crisis, when on March 23, Sir William Fleming arrived, and declared that the Prince of Wales was willing to come to Scot- Scotland. land if only he could rely on the Scots being ready to take arms in his behalf.1 In England, if writers of Royalist newsletters are to be believed, whole districts were ripe for revolt. The principal persons in Staffordshire and Warwickshire had formed a design for the seizure of Warwick Castle. Nottingham and Oxford were also to be surprised. Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales would declare for the King as soon as the Scots crossed the Border. In Essex too there was to be a rising, and a fortress, probably Landguard Fort, was to be seized." March 23. The Prince offers to come to Spread of a warlike feeling in England. Plot for the King's escape. With such hopes, it was all-important to the Royalists that Charles should be once more free to take the field in person. For some time there had been a plot. on hand for his delivery, on the understanding that when he was again at large he was to make his way to Scotland. The soul of this plot was Henry Fire- Henry 3 1 Letters from the Commissioners in Scotland, March 7, 21, 28, L.J. x. 111, 127, 172; Packets of letters, E. 434, 25; Montreuil to Arch. des Aff. Étrangères, lvi. fol. 343; Mungo Mazarin, March 28 Murray to Lanark, March 25, Hamilton Papers, Addenda. 2 ? to Lanark, March 7; Byron to Lanark, March 10, Hamilton Papers, 166. 3 "I doubt not, if the design fail not, he will make his escape and be with you before you can hope it, so well have I ordered the business as nothing but himself can let it." Firebrace (?) to Lanark, March 7, Hamilton Papers, Addenda. Firebrace. |