A Child's History of England

by Dickens, Charles

  At the same time, he sent a messenger to the House of Commons

  demanding to have the five gentlemen who were members of that House

  immediately produced. To this the House replied that they should

  appear as soon as there was any legal charge against them, and

  immediately adjourned.

  Next day, the House of Commons send into the City to let the Lord

  Mayor know that their privileges are invaded by the King, and that

  there is no safety for anybody or anything. Then, when the five

  members are gone out of the way, down comes the King himself, with

  all his guard and from two to three hundred gentlemen and soldiers,

  of whom the greater part were armed. These he leaves in the hall;

  and then, with his nephew at his side, goes into the House, takes

  off his hat, and walks up to the Speaker's chair. The Speaker

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  leaves it, the King stands in front of it, looks about him steadily

  for a little while, and says he has come for those five members.

  No one speaks, and then he calls John Pym by name. No one speaks,

  and then he calls Denzil Hollis by name. No one speaks, and then

  he asks the Speaker of the House where those five members are? The

  Speaker, answering on his knee, nobly replies that he is the

  servant of that House, and that he has neither eyes to see, nor

  tongue to speak, anything but what the House commands him. Upon

  this, the King, beaten from that time evermore, replies that he

  will seek them himself, for they have committed treason; and goes

  out, with his hat in his hand, amid some audible murmurs from the

  members.

  No words can describe the hurry that arose out of doors when all

  this was known. The five members had gone for safety to a house in

  Coleman-street, in the City, where they were guarded all night; and

  indeed the whole city watched in arms like an army. At ten o'clock

  in the morning, the King, already frightened at what he had done,

  came to the Guildhall, with only half a dozen lords, and made a

  speech to the people, hoping they would not shelter those whom he

  accused of treason. Next day, he issued a proclamation for the

  apprehension of the five members; but the Parliament minded it so

  little that they made great arrangements for having them brought

  down to Westminster in great state, five days afterwards. The King

  was so alarmed now at his own imprudence, if not for his own

  safety, that he left his palace at Whitehall, and went away with

  his Queen and children to Hampton Court.

  It was the eleventh of May, when the five members were carried in

  state and triumph to Westminster. They were taken by water. The

  river could not be seen for the boats on it; and the five members

  were hemmed in by barges full of men and great guns, ready to

  protect them, at any cost. Along the Strand a large body of the

  train-bands of London, under their commander, SKIPPON, marched to

  be ready to assist the little fleet. Beyond them, came a crowd who

  choked the streets, roaring incessantly about the Bishops and the

  Papists, and crying out contemptuously as they passed Whitehall,

  'What has become of the King?' With this great noise outside the

  House of Commons, and with great silence within, Mr. Pym rose and

  informed the House of the great kindness with which they had been

  received in the City. Upon that, the House called the sheriffs in

  and thanked them, and requested the train-bands, under their

  commander Skippon, to guard the House of Commons every day. Then,

  came four thousand men on horseback out of Buckinghamshire,

  offering their services as a guard too, and bearing a petition to

  the King, complaining of the injury that had been done to Mr.

  Hampden, who was their county man and much beloved and honoured.

  When the King set off for Hampton Court, the gentlemen and soldiers

  who had been with him followed him out of town as far as Kingstonupon-

  Thames; next day, Lord Digby came to them from the King at

  Hampton Court, in his coach and six, to inform them that the King

  accepted their protection. This, the Parliament said, was making

  war against the kingdom, and Lord Digby fled abroad. The

  Parliament then immediately applied themselves to getting hold of

  the military power of the country, well knowing that the King was

  already trying hard to use it against them, and that he had

  secretly sent the Earl of Newcastle to Hull, to secure a valuable

  magazine of arms and gunpowder that was there. In those times,

  every county had its own magazines of arms and powder, for its own

  train-bands or militia; so, the Parliament brought in a bill

  claiming the right (which up to this time had belonged to the King)

  of appointing the Lord Lieutenants of counties, who commanded these

  train-bands; also, of having all the forts, castles, and garrisons

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  in the kingdom, put into the hands of such governors as they, the

  Parliament, could confide in. It also passed a law depriving the

  Bishops of their votes. The King gave his assent to that bill, but

  would not abandon the right of appointing the Lord Lieutenants,

  though he said he was willing to appoint such as might be suggested

  to him by the Parliament. When the Earl of Pembroke asked him

  whether he would not give way on that question for a time, he said,

  'By God! not for one hour!' and upon this he and the Parliament

  went to war.

  His young daughter was betrothed to the Prince of Orange. On

  pretence of taking her to the country of her future husband, the

  Queen was already got safely away to Holland, there to pawn the

  Crown jewels for money to raise an army on the King's side. The

  Lord Admiral being sick, the House of Commons now named the Earl of

  Warwick to hold his place for a year. The King named another

  gentleman; the House of Commons took its own way, and the Earl of

  Warwick became Lord Admiral without the King's consent. The

  Parliament sent orders down to Hull to have that magazine removed

  to London; the King went down to Hull to take it himself. The

  citizens would not admit him into the town, and the governor would

  not admit him into the castle. The Parliament resolved that

  whatever the two Houses passed, and the King would not consent to,

  should be called an ORDINANCE, and should be as much a law as if he

  did consent to it. The King protested against this, and gave

  notice that these ordinances were not to be obeyed. The King,

  attended by the majority of the House of Peers, and by many members

  of the House of Commons, established himself at York. The

  Chancellor went to him with the Great Seal, and the Parliament made

  a new Great Seal. The Queen sent over a ship full of arms and

  ammunition, and the King issued letters to borrow money at high

  interest. The Parliament raised twenty regiments of foot and

  seventy-five troops of horse; and the people willingly aided them

  with their money, plate, jewellery, and trinkets - the married

 
; women even with their wedding-rings. Every member of Parliament

  who could raise a troop or a regiment in his own part of the

  country, dressed it according to his taste and in his own colours,

  and commanded it. Foremost among them all, OLIVER CROMWELL raised

  a troop of horse - thoroughly in earnest and thoroughly well armed

  - who were, perhaps, the best soldiers that ever were seen.

  In some of their proceedings, this famous Parliament passed the

  bounds of previous law and custom, yielded to and favoured riotous

  assemblages of the people, and acted tyrannically in imprisoning

  some who differed from the popular leaders. But again, you are

  always to remember that the twelve years during which the King had

  had his own wilful way, had gone before; and that nothing could

  make the times what they might, could, would, or should have been,

  if those twelve years had never rolled away.

  THIRD PART

  I SHALL not try to relate the particulars of the great civil war

  between King Charles the First and the Long Parliament, which

  lasted nearly four years, and a full account of which would fill

  many large books. It was a sad thing that Englishmen should once

  more be fighting against Englishmen on English ground; but, it is

  some consolation to know that on both sides there was great

  humanity, forbearance, and honour. The soldiers of the Parliament

  were far more remarkable for these good qualities than the soldiers

  of the King (many of whom fought for mere pay without much caring

  for the cause); but those of the nobility and gentry who were on

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  the King's side were so brave, and so faithful to him, that their

  conduct cannot but command our highest admiration. Among them were

  great numbers of Catholics, who took the royal side because the

  Queen was so strongly of their persuasion.

  The King might have distinguished some of these gallant spirits, if

  he had been as generous a spirit himself, by giving them the

  command of his army. Instead of that, however, true to his old

  high notions of royalty, he entrusted it to his two nephews, PRINCE

  RUPERT and PRINCE MAURICE, who were of royal blood and came over

  from abroad to help him. It might have been better for him if they

  had stayed away; since Prince Rupert was an impetuous, hot-headed

  fellow, whose only idea was to dash into battle at all times and

  seasons, and lay about him.

  The general-in-chief of the Parliamentary army was the Earl of

  Essex, a gentleman of honour and an excellent soldier. A little

  while before the war broke out, there had been some rioting at

  Westminster between certain officious law students and noisy

  soldiers, and the shopkeepers and their apprentices, and the

  general people in the streets. At that time the King's friends

  called the crowd, Roundheads, because the apprentices wore short

  hair; the crowd, in return, called their opponents Cavaliers,

  meaning that they were a blustering set, who pretended to be very

  military. These two words now began to be used to distinguish the

  two sides in the civil war. The Royalists also called the

  Parliamentary men Rebels and Rogues, while the Parliamentary men

  called THEM Malignants, and spoke of themselves as the Godly, the

  Honest, and so forth.

  The war broke out at Portsmouth, where that double traitor Goring

  had again gone over to the King and was besieged by the

  Parliamentary troops. Upon this, the King proclaimed the Earl of

  Essex and the officers serving under him, traitors, and called upon

  his loyal subjects to meet him in arms at Nottingham on the twentyfifth

  of August. But his loyal subjects came about him in scanty

  numbers, and it was a windy, gloomy day, and the Royal Standard got

  blown down, and the whole affair was very melancholy. The chief

  engagements after this, took place in the vale of the Red Horse

  near Banbury, at Brentford, at Devizes, at Chalgrave Field (where

  Mr. Hampden was so sorely wounded while fighting at the head of his

  men, that he died within a week), at Newbury (in which battle LORD

  FALKLAND, one of the best noblemen on the King's side, was killed),

  at Leicester, at Naseby, at Winchester, at Marston Moor near York,

  at Newcastle, and in many other parts of England and Scotland.

  These battles were attended with various successes. At one time,

  the King was victorious; at another time, the Parliament. But

  almost all the great and busy towns were against the King; and when

  it was considered necessary to fortify London, all ranks of people,

  from labouring men and women, up to lords and ladies, worked hard

  together with heartiness and good will. The most distinguished

  leaders on the Parliamentary side were HAMPDEN, SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX,

  and, above all, OLIVER CROMWELL, and his son-in-law IRETON.

  During the whole of this war, the people, to whom it was very

  expensive and irksome, and to whom it was made the more distressing

  by almost every family being divided - some of its members

  attaching themselves to one side and some to the other - were over

  and over again most anxious for peace. So were some of the best

  men in each cause. Accordingly, treaties of peace were discussed

  between commissioners from the Parliament and the King; at York, at

  Oxford (where the King held a little Parliament of his own), and at

  Uxbridge. But they came to nothing. In all these negotiations,

  and in all his difficulties, the King showed himself at his best.

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  He was courageous, cool, self-possessed, and clever; but, the old

  taint of his character was always in him, and he was never for one

  single moment to be trusted. Lord Clarendon, the historian, one of

  his highest admirers, supposes that he had unhappily promised the

  Queen never to make peace without her consent, and that this must

  often be taken as his excuse. He never kept his word from night to

  morning. He signed a cessation of hostilities with the bloodstained

  Irish rebels for a sum of money, and invited the Irish

  regiments over, to help him against the Parliament. In the battle

  of Naseby, his cabinet was seized and was found to contain a

  correspondence with the Queen, in which he expressly told her that

  he had deceived the Parliament - a mongrel Parliament, he called it

  now, as an improvement on his old term of vipers - in pretending to

  recognise it and to treat with it; and from which it further

  appeared that he had long been in secret treaty with the Duke of

  Lorraine for a foreign army of ten thousand men. Disappointed in

  this, he sent a most devoted friend of his, the EARL OF GLAMORGAN,

  to Ireland, to conclude a secret treaty with the Catholic powers,

  to send him an Irish army of ten thousand men; in return for which

  he was to bestow great favours on the Catholic religion. And, when

  this treaty was discovered in the carriage of a fighting Irish

  Archbishop who was killed in one of the many skirmishes of those

  days
, he basely denied and deserted his attached friend, the Earl,

  on his being charged with high treason; and - even worse than this

  - had left blanks in the secret instructions he gave him with his

  own kingly hand, expressly that he might thus save himself.

  At last, on the twenty-seventh day of April, one thousand six

  hundred and forty-six, the King found himself in the city of

  Oxford, so surrounded by the Parliamentary army who were closing in

  upon him on all sides that he felt that if he would escape he must

  delay no longer. So, that night, having altered the cut of his

  hair and beard, he was dressed up as a servant and put upon a horse

  with a cloak strapped behind him, and rode out of the town behind

  one of his own faithful followers, with a clergyman of that country

  who knew the road well, for a guide. He rode towards London as far

  as Harrow, and then altered his plans and resolved, it would seem,

  to go to the Scottish camp. The Scottish men had been invited over

  to help the Parliamentary army, and had a large force then in

  England. The King was so desperately intriguing in everything he

  did, that it is doubtful what he exactly meant by this step. He

  took it, anyhow, and delivered himself up to the EARL OF LEVEN, the

  Scottish general-in-chief, who treated him as an honourable

  prisoner. Negotiations between the Parliament on the one hand and

  the Scottish authorities on the other, as to what should be done

  with him, lasted until the following February. Then, when the King

  had refused to the Parliament the concession of that old militia

  point for twenty years, and had refused to Scotland the recognition

  of its Solemn League and Covenant, Scotland got a handsome sum for

  its army and its help, and the King into the bargain. He was

  taken, by certain Parliamentary commissioners appointed to receive

  him, to one of his own houses, called Holmby House, near Althorpe,

  in Northamptonshire.

  While the Civil War was still in progress, John Pym died, and was

  buried with great honour in Westminster Abbey - not with greater

  honour than he deserved, for the liberties of Englishmen owe a

  mighty debt to Pym and Hampden. The war was but newly over when

  the Earl of Essex died, of an illness brought on by his having

  overheated himself in a stag hunt in Windsor Forest. He, too, was