threatening dangers of which the outbreak in Ireland was but the premonitory symptom, and of which the attack on the The declara- members was the commencement in England.

tion of the Commons for the defence of the country.

Not

only had Parliament been defied and its privileges broken, but agreements had been made with foreign princes for the introduction of foreign troops into the country, and arms had been collected with a view to a rising at home. Therefore it was necessary that the country should stand on its guard. Magistrates must see that the county magazines were well furnished. Strong watches were to be placed to prevent surprise, and no soldiers were to be levied, or arms and ammunition collected, 'nor any castles, forts, or magazines delivered up without his Majesty's authority, signified by both Houses of Parliament.'

Jan. 14. The Lords

but object to

In the policy of this declaration the Lords concurred entirely. With the consent of the Lower House they issued a general order to the sheriffs, enjoining upon them the duty of suppressing unlawful assemblies and seconcur in the curing the magazines, though they prudently objected declaration, to irritate the King needlessly by the narrative of his past misconduct. Afterwards, upon hearing that the The Prince King had taken the Prince out of the hands of his governor, the Marquis of Hertford, they directed Hertford to resume his charge, and requested the King not to permit the Prince to be taken out of the kingdom.2 It was impossible to disconnect the removal of the Prince with the evident desire of the Court to secure Portsmouth. A

its form.

not to leave

the kingdom.

The King aims at Portsmouth.

gentleman from Windsor informed the Commons that a waggon laden with ammunition had gone down to Windsor, and that another waggon similarly laden had started from Windsor to Farnham. In Windsor there were about 400 horse and 40 officers. A messenger had been despatched to Portsmouth.3 It was doubtless jewels with known in London that the King had carried with him those magnificent crown jewels on which Buckingham had once attempted to raise money in Holland, and that

The Crown

the King.

1 C. J. ii. 377.

2 L. 7. iv. 512-514.

C. J. ii. 379.

if a seaport could be secured he would not be without the means of tempting foreign mercenaries to his help.1

Pym's proposal.

Up to that morning hopes of an accommodation may possibly still have been entertained. Pym, at least, can hardly now have expected it any more. He declared that the King must be plainly told that these armed gatherings were against the law. In the Commons it was freely said that it would be necessary to inquire who had advised him to impeach the members. A committee was appointed to place the kingdom in a posture of defence more thoroughly than by the action of the individual sheriffs The command of the militia was ultimately in the Lords-Lieutenants, and the Lords-Lieutenants had been appointed by the King. On the 15th the Committee recommended that the members for each county, and for the boroughs conLieutenants tained in it, should nominate a person to be appointed appointed by as its Lord-Lieutenant in the room of the King's Parliament. nominee. On the same day the peers were again asked to join in requesting that Conyers might be substituted for Byron at the Tower.2

Jan. 15. The Commons re

commend that the Lords

shall be

The Lords were not ready to wrest the whole executive authority from Charles's hands. Before long it was known that the King had asked Heenvliet to attempt to bring Jan. 17. Mediation of about an accommodation. On the 17th Heenvliet was Heenvliet. at Windsor, and on the following morning he had an interview with Charles. Charles showed no appreciation of his Jan. 18. real position. He chatted about Holland's ingratitude, and said that the Bishops' Exclusion Bill had been introduced in order to diminish the Royal power. Heenvliet, apparently weary of this babble, asked what

His inter

view with Charles;

66

The connection between the Prince's removal and the intention of going to Portsmouth is clearly put in the following: 'Hora stimano alcuni che in questo tempo il Rè possa esser vicino a Posmur, havendo condotto seco la Regina, il Principe e la Principessa, et anco portato le Jan. 30 gioie." ."—Rossetti to Barberini, R. O. Transcripts. Feb. 9'

2 C. F. ii. 379, 380. Heenvliet to the Prince of Orange, Jan 14,

Groen van Prinsterer, sér. 2, iv. I.

message he was to carry to the gentlemen at Westminster. Tell them, said the King, that you find me hard to satisfy, and then they will be anxious to secure your help. At any rate Heenvliet was to keep the negotiation on foot till he heard from the Prince of Orange, who, as Charles hardly doubted, would be ready to intervene on his behalf.

and with

Heenvliet was then taken to the Queen. Henrietta Maria at once broke out into complaints against the Commons for their accusations against her, and protested that she the Queen. had never given evil counsels to the King, and that she detested the Irish rebellion. The King, she said, would be well content if he could enjoy his revenue as he had had it before these troubles, and if his Parliament met every three years instead of remaining in perpetual session. At present, he was worse off than a Venetian Doge. He would remain at Windsor for two days. If he had not then received satisfaction, he would go to Portsmouth. She and the Princess would remain there in safe custody, whilst the King and the Prince betook themselves to Yorkshire. Heenvliet here suggested that there might be danger in such a course. No, she said, the King's name is reverenced everywhere except in London. In Scotland and Yorkshire it is especially respected. Newcastle had already occupied Hull in his name. There was a larger quantity of munitions there than in the Tower itself. As to the Tower, Byron had been ordered to blow it up rather than surrender it. The King would publish a manifesto avowing his desire for peace, and forbidding the trained bands to obey any one but himself. Parliament had no right to meddle with them. If they refused obedience, all their property would be forfeited by law. The Prince of Orange must not allow the King to perish. "If we go to Portsmouth," she ended by saying, "I hope you will soon come there with good news."1

Before long both Charles and his wife discovered that they had been deceiving themselves with false hopes. The Cavaliers at Kingston were dispersed by the county trained bands. Not a soul in the North or in Wales was disposed to stir in 'Heenvliet to the Prince of Orange, Groen van Prinsterer, sér. 2,

iv. 2.

Charles's

vain.

Jan. 20. He sends a conciliatory

Charles's favour. Newcastle and Legg had failed utterly in their attempt on Hull. The Mayor had refused to admit hopes prove any troops into the town, whether under Newcastle or Hotham. The King had now but 200 men with him. It was therefore necessary to abate something of his high pretensions.1 On the 20th, abandoning his design on Portsmouth, he despatched to Westminster a more message. conciliatory message than any which he had penned since his return from Scotland. In this he asked the Houses to place upon paper all that they judged necessary on the one hand for the maintenance of his authority and the settlement of his revenue, and on the other hand for the establishment of their own privileges, the security of 'the true religion now professed in the Church of England, and the settling of the ceremonies in such a manner as may take away all just offence.' When all this had been digested 'into one entire body,' he would show how well disposed towards Parliament he was.

A month before, such a message would doubtless have been received with rapturous applause. Even now there were some

who had hitherto opposed the King who were inIts reception. clined to see in it an augury of better things. No doubt it pointed to such a settlement of the Church as would have been in accordance rather with the views of Bristol than with the views of Pym. No doubt, too, the urgent question was not how the Church could be settled, but whether Charles could be trusted. Yet it was inevitable that those who wished to see the Church settled in Charles's way should be inclined to trust him, and that those who wished to see it settled in another way should be inclined to distrust him. There were certainly grounds enough for distrust. The message offered no security against an appeal to force, if force were at hand. Both Houses therefore agreed in

The Coin

mons de

mand the

fortresses and the

sending for Newcastle to give an account of his con. duct at Hull. The Lords, however, wished to return a simple reply of thanks to the King's message; whilst militia. the Commons, who had the day before ordered the circulation of the Protestation throughout the kingdom for Giustinian to the Doge, Jan. 2, Ven. Transcripts, R. O.

31

signature, as a token of the public disapprobation of the attempt on the members,' now asked that the fortresses and the militia might be placed in the hands of persons in whom. Parliament could confide. On the 24th the Lords refused to join in this request; though the number of protests, which usually stood at 22 or 23, was on this occasion swollen to 32.

Jan. 24. The Lords refuse to join them.

Pym's

the Lords.

The next day Pym laid before the Lords petitions from London, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, and Essex, in support of his policy. The voice of the petitioners, he said, was appeal to the voice of England. He adjured the Peers to remove the obstructions to a peaceable settlement which still existed. The Commons would be glad of their help, and would be sorry 'that the story of this present Parliament should tell posterity that in so great a danger and extremity the House of Commons should be enforced to save the kingdom alone, and that the House of Peers should have no part in the honour of the preservation of it.'

Jan. 26. Lennox

moves for an

When Pym's proposal was discussed in the House of Lords, Lennox rose to a motion for adjournment. "Let us put the question," he said hastily, "whether we shall adjourn for six months." The Peers felt that Digby's motion adjournment that Parliament was no longer free had come back to for six months. them in another form. To leave the House of Commons alone in session would be a direct admission that no constitutional remedies were any longer possible. Lennox was therefore compelled to acknowledge that he had given offence. Twenty-two lords of the Opposition protested against the mildness of the penalty. The Commons took the matter up warmly, and asked the Lords to join in petitioning the King to remove Lennox from his office at Court. The Lords refused to censure Lennox more heavily than they had already done.2

Irritation on both sides was the natural result of the abnormal situation. There was absolutely no Government in England. The King was projecting the restoration of his

C. F. ii. 353.

2 L. F. iv. 543. French News-Letter, Feb. 3, Arch. des Aff. Eir. 13' xlix. fol. 24.