once engaged in hostilities, the passions of both sides naturally became more heated; but Charles's engagement to the queen, joined to his own headstrong temper, precluded all accommodation : many of his followers dreaded proceedings against them in parliament; and the apparent indecision of the two houses and their general, inspired them with the vain hope that the king would ultimately triumph over all opposition. As for himself, there was one principle-a fatal one to him, and pernicious to the adverse party, on which he confidently relied that in any event his person, liberty, and regal dignity would be secure; and that, while success would render him absolute, discomfiture would merely reduce him to the necessity of submitting to the terms that had been already proposed to him as the only basis of accommodation. Had he believed that he was himself obnoxious to justice for overturning that constitution of which he was appointed the sworn guardian, and carrying misery and bloodshed throughout the kingdom; in short, had he expected to be deposed and exiled in the event of discomfiture, he most probably would never have resorted to force against his people and the law, or would have quickly laid down his arms; his office as well as his life might have been preserved, and the privileges of the people vindicated but when we consider that he imagined he had every thing to gain and nothing to lose, we need be the less surprised at his pertinacious adherence to principles destructive of the civil rights of the community.

Though the parliament did not yet chuse to act directly against the king himself, it ordered operations against his servants. Goring, who had long. agreed to betray his trust, had, as governor of Portsmouth, declared for the king, and was obliged to yield the place to the parliament *. The Marquis of Hertford, in whom that assembly had latterly reposed trust, had likewise endeavoured to promote the service of the monarch in the county of Somerset, where his influence was great; but he was forced to fly before the parliamentary. army t.

To raise an army, Charles tried the array; but commissioners, or lieutenants and their deputies appointed by the parliament, invariably opposed it; and as the middling and lower classes, who had no immediate dependence on the great aristocracy, were generally inclined towards the parliament, it was in most instances unsuccessful. The king on his part denounced Essex, whom the parliament had appointed general, and his followers, traitors.

The parliament, on its part, retorted the

Mr. Hume, in relating this affair, says, "This man" (Goring) "seemed to have rendered himself an implacable enemy to the king, by betraying, probably magnifying, the cabals of the army," &c. Now, Goring directly implicated the king and queen; and the historian scoffs at the idea of their guilt, while he abuses the parliament for accusing them; yet now, all that Goring is charged with by the same author, is betraying, probably magnifying, the cabals of the army! Rush. vol. iv. p. 683. Whitelocke, p. 60, 62. Clar. State Papers, vol. ii. p. 147. Hist. vol. iii. p. 19.

+ Ib.

charge upon the advisers and followers of the monarch *.

Perceiving the smallness of the royal forces, and even dreading the success of Charles in this unnatural struggle, when they saw that the Catholic party would then bear the sway, the nobility who attended him advised accommodation; but nothing could be more remote from the royal designs. Besides that he had promised solemnly to his consort, which "shut out all opposite consultations," not to enter into such measures, he persisted, both because he thought he had nothing to lose, and because by assistance from abroad, and taking arms from the trained-bands, to arm soldiers, as well as by seizing stores provided for Ireland, he might soon be in a situation to cope with, and master, his adversaries. He therefore suddenly broke up the council, to quash such proceedings; but when the matter was renewed, he agreed to send a messenger with propositions, which he was determined should be unproductive of any pacific result. The message was carried by the Earl of Southampton to the Lords, and Sir John Colepepper and Sir William Uvedale to the Commons. The first presumptuously offered to take his seat; but was instantly ordered, as a traitor to the commonwealth, to withdraw, and also to quit the town. The two latter having acted with more discretion towards the lower house, were treated with greater civility. The parliament declared, in their answer, that, till

* Rush. vol. iv. p. 655, et seq. Whitelocke, p. 61. May, lib. ii

the king recalled his proclamation of treason against Essex and others, and took down his standard, they could not treat. Charles replied, that he never intended to declare the parliament trai tors, nor to set up his standard against it; and that, if their proclamation of treason were recalled, he would likewise recal his. The two houses then desired him to put away his evil councillors, and return to his parliament; voting that the arms of the parliament, for the religion, laws, and liberties of the kingdom, should not be abandoned till delinquents were brought to justice, and their estates rendered liable for the debts of the commonwealth, which their wickedness had been the cause of incurring. A petition of similar import was presented at the same time. Many of the royal followers keenly desired peace; but the idea of it never could have entered into the contempla. tion of Charles, considering the pledge which he had given to his consort*.

After this fruitless attempt at accommodation, the two houses justified their own conduct, and exposed that of their adversary, by declaration to the kingdom. They state that the justness of those fears and jealousies which had been so often expressed by them, relative to the king's intention to make war upon the parliament and people of England, were now fully and indisputably established, while it was also apparent that the oaths, pro

Whitelocke, p. 62, et seq. Sidney Papers, vol. ii. p. 667. Clar. vol. iii. p. 38, et seq. Rush. vol. iv. p. 786, et seq.; vol. v. p. 16, et seq. Husband's Coll. p. 581, et seq.

testations, and execrations, published in his name, in which that intention had been disavowed, were merely the devices of wicked councillors, to gain time for the accomplishment of their designs: That it was now evident that the war involved the Protestant religion itself as well as the laws; for that enormities were committed by the king's soldiers against the Protestant party, who were denominated round-heads, as they had formerly been puritans by the clergy: That arms had been taken from honest gentlemen, yeomen, and tradesmen, which had been called borrowing them, and put into the hands of desperadoes who could only subsist by rapine: That in the face of those vows and protestations to govern according to law, which had been circulated throughout the kingdom to mislead the people, the most mischievous principles of tyranny ever invented were openly practised-the scheme being nothing else than to disarm the middle classes of society, and maintain a mercenary army by forced contributions, as well as to erect a provincial government in the north *.

Charles briskly carried on his levies; and though he was disappointed in a supply of arms by a vessel dispatched from Holland by the queen, which was intercepted by the Earl of Warwick, he soon obtained arms by taking them from the trainedbands, and ransacking the armouries of noblemen. Men of highest quality in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Shropshire, supplied him with plate and

* Husband's Coll.