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1642.]

CHARLES THE DECEIVER.

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requires a king's truthfulness to be above suspicion. But the leaders of the Commons had to work with a vision of the Tower ever before their eyes: the fairer the offers made to them the more the dread of foul play. This prevented the due action of that safety-valve of the State, a constitutional opposition. Even in foreign diplomacy, where bad faith is not uncommon, the discoverer of fraud is held justified in laying arbitration aside and drawing the sword at once: at home the interests of king and subjects being really identical, deceit has still less occasion for practice.

Devoted partisans on either side were not very many in number. Those of the king were mostly to be found in the soldiers of fortune from Germany, and the more reckless of the country gentlemen, who looked forward to the excitement of war. On the Parliament's side the Presbyterians and sectarians, seeing in their own cause the cause of God, strove for the overthrow of the Established Church with all the ardour of religious enthusiasts. But between the views of these two extreme parties opinion generally fluctuated, and men took sides doubtingly as their natures or circumstances prompted.

The greater part of the nobility and gentry either openly joined the king, or tried to remain neutral, and generally had Gentry with sufficient influence over their tenantry to cause them to king. embrace the same side as themselves. To many it seemed absurd to hazard wealth and a secured position to avoid paying a few shillings arbitrarily raised; an upheaval from below was more dangerous to them than pressure from above; others, again, who recognized the importance of the principle at stake, were still inclined to their king by the instincts of chivalry, or the abhorrence of fanaticism. On the other hand, the inhabitants of manufacturing towns, independent county freeholders, merchants, Towns and and others, who had made fortunes in trade, and after- with Comwards bought land in the country, showed themselves, mons. as a rule, friendly to Parliament. Besides being influenced by religion and a sense of independence, these classes had especially suffered from the monopolies and extortions which had raised the price of necessaries and shackled the enterprise of trade. There were exceptions, however, on both sides. Many gentlemen felt that the cause of the Parliament was so good, they were bound to take uparms in its defence; many yeomen and burghers adhered to their

freeholders

county magnates and their king. As a general rule, where the contagion of neighbourhood or the necessities of religion did not decide the question, the king was preferred to the Parliament. It was only the men of strong convictions, of unusual foresight, who would coolly and deliberately embark on an unknown sea, without chart or compass of guidance, and risk all for the sake of liberty, and the doubtful gratitude of posterity. So with unwilling hearts did men array themselves. One Royalist wrote to his wife, that though he loved not his side, 'grinning honour' compelled him to stay by it, for he could not bring himself to fight for the Parliament, and if he remained neutral he should be called a coward.* "You," said Sir Edmund Verney, the king's standard-bearer, to Hyde, who reproved him for looking melancholy,

are satisfied

in conscience that the king ought not to grant what they desire. I have eaten my master's bread, and served him near these thirty years, and will not do so base a thing as to forsake him, but for my part I do not like the quarrel, and wish he would yield."+

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Sir William Waller, one of the Parliament's commanders, wrote to Sir Ralph Hopton, a Royalist officer : The great God, who is the searcher of my heart, knows with what reluctance I go upon this service, and with what perfect hatred I look upon a war without an enemy. The God of peace in His good time send us peace, and in the meantime fit us to receive it! We are both on the stage, and we must act the parts that are assigned us in this tragedy; let us do it in a way of honour, and without personal animosities."

At any rate, thought these unwilling enemies, one battle will decide everything, so that, whatever the consequences to the vanquished, our country will soon rest again on 'the gentle bosom of civil peace.'

*Forster, B. S. iii. 50.

+ Clar. Mem. 160.

CHAPTER VI.

FIRST YEARS OF THE WAR.-BATTLES OF EDGEHILL AND NEWBURY.-1642-1643.

They stood aloof, the scars remaining,

Like cliffs which had been rent asunder,

A dreary sea now flows between,

But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder,
Shall wholly do away, I ween,

The marks of that which once hath been.

COLERIDGE.

tional atti

IT must not be supposed that the Commons declared Constituwar against the king. The popular leaders were most tude of careful to maintain a quasi-legal ground for their re- Commons. sistance. Novel and subtle as their principles seemed at the time, they have since been largely accepted. Pym's speeches in fact may be said to have laid down the lines of the theory on which modern constitutional government is based. Thus the Remonstrance was framed as an attack, not on the king, but on his councillors; and when the king objected that actions which he avowed as his own were 'censured under that common style,' Pym's answer was, "How often and undutifully soever these wicked counsellors fix their dishonour upon the king, by making his Majesty the author of those evil actions which are the effects of their own evil counsels, we, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, can use no other style, according to that maxim in the law, 'the king can do no wrong,' but if any ill be committed in matter of State, the council must answer for it: if in matters of justice, the judges."* So now the Commons went to war with the actual king to protect the ideal king of the constitution from evil counsellors. This appears in their declaration "that, whereas the king was seduced by wicked counsel to make war against the Parliament, who proposed no other end unto themselves than the *Forster, British Statesmen. Pym, p. 269.

care of his kingdom and the performance of all loyalty to his person, it was a breach of the trust reposed in him by his people, and tending to the dissolution of his government." The legal maxims of the royal lawyers of the past had received a new reading from the popular lawyers of the present. The new wine seemed bursting the old bottles, but the bottles have since expanded to the strain. That these ideas were genuine beliefs of the time, is shown as well by the cherished clause of the covenant, "to preserve the king's person and authority," as by the real horror felt when Republicans first broke through this reserve, or when Cromwell averred that his pistol would be no respecter of persons. The patriots were not, however, wanting in readiness to chastise their 'poor, semi-divine, misguided father, fallen insane.'*

Essex marched from London into the west (9th Sept., 1642), and took up his head-quarters at Worcester, where he remained without venturing to offer the Royalists battle. Charles, wishing to fight before the rebel army could be reinforced, broke up his camp at Shrewsbury (12th Oct.), and marched across the country in the direction of London, feeling certain that Essex would follow him to protect the city. He went by way of Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Kenilworth, and passing Southam, on the road to Banbury and Buckingham, arrived at Edgecote, without having any knowledge of his enemies' movements (22nd Oct.). Here, however, Rupert, who was encamped with the rear at Wormleighton, learnt from his scouts that fires were to be seen from the Dassett hills, and that Essex had his head-quarters that night at the village of Kineton, half way between Warwick and Banbury, and only ten miles to the north-west of Edgecote. The king, aroused from sleep at three in the morning, on hearing this news, at once summoned a council of war, in which it was agreed to hold without delay a general rendezvous of the army on the top of Edgehill.

foot soldiers.

To appreciate the tactics of the time it is necessary to remember Armour of the nature of the weapons. The soldiers on either side were armed after the same fashion. The introduction of fire-arms had caused the defensive armour of the ordinary horse and foot soldiers to be reduced to a back and breast piece and a broad iron hat, commonly called a pot; calves'-leather boots reaching up to the knees, and a long buff coat worn under the armour, † See Map, p. 127.

Carl. i. 160.

23 OCT., 1642.]

ARMOUR AND WEAPONS.

classes.

125

completed their equipment. Officers often wore open helmets, arm and shoulder pieces, and tassets or skirts to protect the thighs. The cavalry was divided into three classes-the cuiras- Cavalry,siers, the carabineers, and the dragoons.* The cuiras- three siers being almost without exception gentlemen, arming themselves at their own expense, came to battle magnificently appointed, with silver-hilted swords, plumes of feathers waving above open helmets, and buff coats gay with gold and silver trimmings. Their usual weapons were the sword and pistol. The carabineers were so called from the name of their carbine or musket. The dragoons were light armed, having only the buff coat and iron hat, and were like mounted riflemen, fighting as much on foot as on horse, but with swords for cavalry work.

The infantry was divided into bodies of pikemen and Musket musketeers, the use of musket and bayonet not yet and pike. being combined in the same weapons. The pike, made of ash, was fifteen or sixteen feet long, and headed with steel.

The musket or matchlock was not advanced beyond the first stage of invention. The spark to fire the gunpowder was applied from the outside, instead of being produced by the concussion of flint and steel. The match consisted of little ropes of tow, boiled in spirit; these, when lighted at one end, smouldered on until the whole was consumed. The musket was still such a heavy and cumbersome weapon that it had to be fixed on a rest. This rest was made of ash-wood, headed at one end with iron to fix in the ground, and having at the other a half hoop of iron. Before the end of the war the musketeer was relieved of this additional burden. Rests were disused owing to the introduction of lighter and more portable muskets. To a belt, fastened round the musketeer's left shoulder, hung a bullet bag, some twists of spare match, a flask of touch powder, and a bandeleer, with twelve little cases, made of leather or tin, each of which contained a separate charge of powder. As loading and firing were both long operations, only one rank fired at a time, and the

*The dragoons are said to have received their name from the locks of the first muskets in use amongst them, on which was represented a dragon's head with a lighted match in its jaws, a natural image of a death-dealing engine. Both weapon and name came from France, The cuirassiers were so called from the original name of the back and breast piece, a cuirasse. Like other pieces of defensive arms the cuirasse was made of leather (cuir) before it was made of iron, Buff was leather like buffalo-hide; it would often turn a sword-cut.

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