Newcastle, Tynemouth, Shields, and Durham; but they offered no violence to the persons or property of the inhabitants; and they sent messengers to the King, who was then at York, to renew their protestations of loyalty and submission, and to crave forgiveness for the unavoidable effusion of English blood. In the extremity to which he was reduced, Charles found it necessary to dissemble his resentment. On what side soever he turned his eyes, the prospect was cheerless and alarming: His treasury was exhausted, the revenue was anticipated, his kingdom was full of murmurs, and a hostile army of his subjects was ready to overwhelm him.

As the less of two evils, he condescended to a treaty with the Scots; and named sixteen English noblemen to negotiate with the Committee of Scottish Estates, at Rippon. A cessation of arms was speedily determined on: The Scots were to be allowed eight hundred and fifty pounds a day during their stay in England. Thus, Charles, the sovereign of two nations, was reduced to the singular necessity of supporting two hostile armies at once in the field. At the request of the English commissioners, the treaty was transferrred to London: But this step is considered as one of the series of capital errors which accelerated the tragical fall of the King and the subversion of his government.

Treaty concluded.

CHAPTER III.

The Parliament supersedes the royal authority. Irish massacre. Affairs of England. Civil war. The Scots make common cause with the English. Solemn league and covenant.

THE indifference with which the English endured the invasion of their country by the Covenanters, can be accounted for only from the general disaffection which, by a series of impolitic measures, ⚫ had been increasing for above thirty years. The grievances of the English were analogous to those of the Scots; and the successful resistance of the latter suggested to the former a similar remedy. In compliance with the wishes of his subjects, and in hopes of obtaining pecuniary aid, Charles issued orders for convoking the (long) Parliament. Whatever jealousies existed between the Presbyterians and the Puritans on the subject of religion, were for a time suspended; and both parties coalesced in returning such

members to the House of Commons as were zealous in the cause of religious and political reform.

At the opening of Parliament, Charles applied for aid to repel the Covenanters; but the popular leaders, in order to maintain that high authority which they had acquired, and to inspire their friends with confidence as well as to overawe their enemies, judged it eligible to delay the departure of the Scots, and treated them as allies rather than as enemies. Their commissioners, the Earl of Rothes, Lords Archibald Johnstoun and Loudon, were flattered and caressed. Henderson, with other Presbyterian clergymen who attended the embassy, were openly permitted to practice their own mode of worship, which had not been tolerated hitherto in England.

From the dawn of the Sabbath-day till late in the evening, multitudes flocked to their churches; and such as could not find admission for the throng, clung to the doors or the windows, in hopes of catching some broken phrase of the sermon, or the distant murmurs of the preacher's voice.

Meanwhile, the treaty between the King and the Covenanters advanced but slowly: The latter rejected every verbal concession or promise of favour, and required every particular to be submitted to writing, refusing even to negotiate in the presence of the King. In vain did Charles request that the Covenanters would adhere to their original demands at Berwick, and be contented with the enjoyment of their civil and religious rights.

At length, the consent of Charles was reluctantly obtained to the following articles: That the acts of the late Parliament should be published in his Majesty's name; that the national fortresses should be intrusted to Scotsmen only, nominated by the Estates; that their countrymen in England and Ireland should be absolved from all oaths inimical to the covenant; that the Scottish nation should be indemnified for the heavy losses and charges of the war; that their ships and goods should be restored, and an equivalent granted for the damages sustained; that all opprobrious proclamations should be recalled; that public incendiaries who had occasioned the late hostilities, should be tried by their respective Parliaments, and punished suitably to their demerit; and that the religion and liberty of the nation, thus established, should be permanently secured.

The article for indemnification was referred to the English

Y

Parliament; which readily acquiesced in the reasonableness of the claim, and voted three hundred thousand pounds for the purpose of detaining the Scots in arms, as well as to compensate their losses.

A Parliamentary examination of grievances was immediately instituted; and the result was, the impeachment of the Earl of Strafford, the ablest and the most virtuous of the King's ministers. Archbishop Laud, who had usurped a patriarchal authority over the church, and from whom the obnoxious liturgy and canons had emanated, and who was suspected of favouring Popery, was also impeached.

Strafford, whose unmerited fate has been universally lamented, was convicted, without legal evidence of guilt. According to the ordinary dispensation of justice, Charles might have remained a silent spectator of his fate; but being unprepared for the event of a rupture with his Parliament, he was reduced, by the bill of attainder, to the cruel necessity of consenting to the death of his favourite minister.

A.D. Disappointed in his expectations of assistance from the 1641. § Parliament, Charles endeavoured to conciliate the Scots. Rothes was detached from the popular cause by alluring promises; Montrose, indignant at Argyll's influence in the cabinet and Lessly's appointment as commander in chief, was easily regained to the royal interest; but being secretly detected in a correspondence subversive of the covenant, which excited a general alarm, he was imprisoned in Edinburgh castle. Such was the state of affairs when the King resolved to visit his native country, expecting that his presence there would unite and animate his friends, and disconcert the machinations of his enemies.

But the proceedings of the Scottish Parliament, which assembled shortly after his arrival, blasted his hopes. The lords of articles, without whose consent no bill could be introduced into Parliament, were abrogated; royal proclamations, enjoining obedience under pain of treason, were to be illegal and nugatory; triennial Parliaments were appointed; and it was enacted, that, during the prorogation or dissolution of that body, the conservation of the public peace should be intrusted to commissioners expressly appointed by Parliament.

To these encroachments, which suspended or annihilated the royal prerogative in Scotland, Charles quietly though reluctantly

submitted; and he even affected to caress the popular leaders. By whatever imprudence or misconduct the King was thus involved and embarrassed, it is impossible to reflect upon his unfortunate condition without emotions of pity: Events over which he had no control, no less than faction and fanaticism, concurred to hasten the ruin of that unhappy prince.

The spirit of disaffection and turbulence which prevailed in Britain, unhappily extended to Ireland. In the administration of that kingdom, Charles adopted the laudable plan suggested and pursued by his father,—to reconcile the natives to the authority of the laws, by the regular administration of justice, and to reclaim them from sloth and barbarism by introducing arts and industry among them.

Many British families had been induced to migrate to Ireland, and to colonize different parts of it. During the government of Strafford, agriculture and commerce were rapidly improving; and the linen manufacture, now the staple of that country, was introduced. After the disgrace and execution of Strafford, the Irish Parliament became as unmanageable as that of England or Scotland. The colonists, the chief movers of insubordination, did not reflect, in their rage for liberty, upon the danger of weakening the authority of government, in a country where the Protestants scarcely constituted the sixth part of the inhabitants, and where more than the half of the nation was still in a state of wild barbarity.

The old Irish observed with pleasure the depression of the royal authority; and determined on a general revolt, to emancipate their country from the dominion of foreigners, and chastise the insults of profane heretics.

Roger More, a gentleman of distinguished abilities and valou", Lord Macguire, and Sir Phelim O'Neal, the most powerful of the old Irish chieftains, were the leaders of this conspiracy, excited by motives of the most debasing superstition, the most insatiable rapine, and the most inhuman revenge. The city and castle of Dublin were saved by a timely discovery of the plot; but the intelligence was obtained at too late a period to enable the Government to adopt measures for the general defence.

The English Protestants were despoiled of their property: Their cattle were seized and their plantations ravaged. In Ulster, the

defenceless victims, dispersed and disarmed, were involved in one indiscriminate slaughter: No rank was excepted, no age nor sex was respected or spared; neither the rites of hospitality nor the ties of consanguinity or friendship afforded protection; even the dearest connexions of nature were dissolved.

A horrible devastation, such as the most barbarous nations have rarely inflicted, was excited by a religious phrensy, and prolonged by revenge. Few of the Scottish settlers were involved in these calamities: The Irish, apprehensive of their numbers, endeavoured to secure their neutrality,-affecting to spare them from the pretext of a common origin. But the cautious Scots placed little confidence in their professions: Those who could not readily find means of escape from Ireland, retired to places of strength, for protection, and maintained their positions till they were relieved from Scotland. The number who perished by these barbarities has been estimated at forty thousand. A miserable remnant of the English escaped, and found refuge in Dublin.

Intelligence of this insurrection was received by the King while he was preparing to set out for London. He immediately applied to the Scottish Parliament for military aid. A regiment of fifteen hundred men was despatched to Ulster; and an army of ten thousand men was voted for the same service. But the Scots, being unprovided with the means for transporting and maintaining such a numerous force, appointed commissioners to treat with the English Commons.

In consequence of the mutual jealousies of the King and the Parliament, the negotiation was retarded: No steps towards chastising the Irish insurgents were taken by the Commons, but such as also tended to augment their own power. Under pretence of hastening the Irish levies, they raised pecuniary contributions, and took arms from the King's magazines.

A civil war was now evidently approaching. The Commons framed the memorable remonstrance in which were enumerated the national grievances, as well as every unpopular measure the King had pursued. From this period, the Parliamentary proceedings became more daring and violent. An impeachment was presented against a number of the bishops, as enemies of the state. The King immediately retaliated, by preferring a charge of treason against five of the most popular leaders, and ordered them to