worth,

to avoid combustion in the House, if the said soldiers should use violence to pull any of them out." Four of the members yielded ready obedience to this prudent order, but Mr. Strode insisted upon staying and facing the king, and was obstinate till his old friend Sir Walter Earle pulled him out by force, the king being at that time entering into New Palace Yard, and almost at the door of the House. As Charles passed through Westminster Hall to the entrance of the House of Commons, the officers, reformados, &c. that attended him made a lane on both sides the Hall, reaching to the door of the Commons. He knocked hastily, and the door was opened to him. Leaving his armed band at the door and in the Hall, he entered the House, with his nephew Charles, the Prince Palatine of the Rhine, at his side. He glanced his eyes towards the place where Pym usually sat, and then walked directly to the chair, saying, "By your leave, Mr. Speaker, I must borrow your chair a little." Lenthall, the Speaker, dropped upon his knee, and Charles took his seat; the mace was removed; the whole House stood up uncovered. Charles cast searching glances among them, but he could nowhere see any of the five members. He then sat down and addressed them with much agitation :-"Gentlemen," said he, "I am sorry for this occasion of coming unto you: yesterday I sent a serjeantat-arms upon a very important occasion, to apprehend some that upon my commandment were accused of high treason, whereunto I did expect obedience, and not a message; and I must declare unto you here, that, albeit no king that ever was in England shall be more careful of your privileges, to maintain them to the utmost of his power, than I shall be; yet you must know, that in cases of treason no person hath a privilege, and therefore I am come to know if any of those persons that I have accused, for no slight crime, but for treason, are here. cannot expect that this House can be in the right way that I do heartily wish it, therefore I am come to tell you, that I must have them wheresoever I find them." Then he again looked round the House, and said to the speaker, now standing below the chair, Are any of those persons in the House? Do you see any of them? Where are they?" Lenthall fell on his knees, and told his majesty, that he had neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak in that place, but as the House was pleased to direct him. Then again casting his eyes round about the House, Charles said, "Well, since I see all the birds are flown, I do expect from you, that you do send them to me, as soon as they return hither. But I assure you, on the word of a king, I never did intend any force, but shall proceed against them in a legal and fair way, for I never meant any other. And now, since I see I cannot do what I came for, I think this no unfit occasion to repeat what I have said formerly;-that whatsoever I have done in favour, and to the good of my subjects, I do mean to maintain it. I will trouble you no

more, but tell you I do expect, as soon as they come to the House, you will send them to me; otherwise I must take my own course to find them." With these words the disappointed king rose, and retired amidst loud cries of "Privilege! Privilege!"-and the House instantly adjourned. "This action of the king," says Whitelock, "filled the discourses of all people; and it was much wondered at by many sober men, and judged extremely to his prejudice, and to the advantage of those that were disaffected to him. The notorious breach of the privilege of the House of Commons by that action could not but be foreseen by any who had knowledge of parliament affairs and to advise the king to such a sudden and intemperate act, so justly liable to exception, and without any probability of service to himself, was held very strange.*. . None could make a satisfactory apology for it, and the king himself afterwards acknowledged his too much passion in it.....It was believed that if the king had found them there, and called in his guards to have seized them, the members of the House would have endeavoured the defence of them, which might have proved a very unhappy and sad business: and so it did, notwithstanding that was prevented; this sudden action being the first visible and apparent ground of all our following miseries."

In the mean while the five members were safe in the heart of the City of London, where a committee of parliament was appointed to meet during the recess. "The same evening his majesty sent James Maxwell, the usher of the House of Peers, to the House of Commons, to require Mr. Rushworth, the clerk-assistant, whom his majesty had observed to take his speech in characters at the table in the House, to come to his majesty; and, when Maxwell brought him to the king, his majesty commanded him to give him a copy of his speech in the House: Mr. Rushworth humbly besought his majesty (hoping for an excuse) to call to mind how Mr. Francis Nevil, a Yorkshire member of the House of Commons, was committed to the Tower but for telling his majesty what words were spoken in the House by Mr. Henry Bellasis, son to the Lord Falconbridge: to which his majesty smartly replied, 'I do not ask you to tell me what was said by any member of the House, but what I said myself.' Whereupon he readily gave obedience to his majesty's command; and in his majesty's presence, in the room called the Jewel House, he transcribed his majesty's speech out of his characters, his majesty staying in the room all

• Whitelock adds,-" The five members received a secret notice from a great court lady, their friend, who overheard some discourse of this intended action, and gave timely notice to those gentlenen, whereby they got out of the House just before the king came." Warwick says that "Charles's going to the Lower House was be trayed by that busy stateswoman, the Countess of Carlisle, who had now changed her gallant from Strafford to Mr. Pym, and was become such a she saint that she frequented their sermons and took notes; and so he (the king) lost the opportunity of seizing their persons." But the French ambassador, Montreuil, says that he was the first to warn the members of their danger. It appears, however, that the warning was really given by Captain Langrish; and we know from Rushworth, who was in the House at the time, that the five members did not quit their seats till the king aud his armed followers were

close to the House.

the while; and then and there presented the same to the king, which his majesty was pleased to command to be sent speedily to the press; and the next morning it came forth in print.' That night the city was a gayer place than the court. Early on the following morning the Commons, safe in "that mighty heart," sent Mr. Fiennes with a message to the Lords, to give them notice of "the king's coming yesterday," and to repeat their desires that their lordships would join with them in a petition for a guard to secure them, and also to let them know that they were sitting at Guildhall, and had appointed the committee for the pressing Irish affairs to meet there. The Commons then appointed that a permanent committee should sit at Guildhall, in the City of London, with power to consider and resolve of all things that might concern the good and safety of the city; and thereupon adjourned till Tuesday, the 11th of January, at one in the afternoon. In the mean time Charles had sent orders to stop the sea-ports, as if the five members could be scared into a flight. It is said that the Lord Digby offered to go into the city with Colonel Lunsford and his band, and there seize them alive or dead, and that the king rejected this perilous advice. On the morning, after a night of painful doubt and debate, Charles set off to the city in person, with his usual attendants, but without any reformados or bravoes. On his way he was saluted with cries of "Privileges of parliament! Privileges of parliament!" and one Henry Walker, an ironmonger and pamphlet-writer, threw into his majesty's coach a paper, whereon was written, "To your tents, O Israel."+ The common council had assembled at Guildhall, and they met the king as he went up to that building almost alone. Concealing his ill-humour, and his irritation against the citizens, he thus addressed them: "Gentlemen, I am come to demand such persons as I have already accused of high treason, and do believe are shrouded in the city. I hope no good man will keep them from me; their offences are treasons and misdemeanors of a high nature. I desire your loving assistance herein, that they may be brought to a legal trial. And whereas there are divers suspicions raised that I am a favourer of the popish religion, I do profess in the name of a king, that I did, and ever will, and that to the utmost of my power, be a prosecutor of all such as shall any ways oppose the laws and statutes of this kingdom, either Papists or separatists; and not only so, but I will maintain and defend that true Protestant religion which my father did profess, and I will continue in it during life." This conciliatory speech produced little or no effect; Charles did not get the five members, but he got a very good dinner at the house of one of the sheriffs, and after dinner returned to Whitehall without interruption or tumult.

• Rushworth.

Rushworth. The pamphleteer was committed, and afterwards proceeded against at the sessions. Rushworth,

VOL. III.

The Lords, on receiving the Commons' message, had also adjourned to the 11th of January. The permanent committee, which sat sometimes at Guildhall, sometimes at Grocers' Hall, proceeded actively in drawing up a declaration touching his majesty's intrusive visit to their House; and this occupied them till the 9th of January, many witnesses being examined to prove the words, actions, and gestures of that array of men who had followed his majesty and stood near the door of the House of Commons. Papers and records were also sent for. It was reported to them, that on the 4th of January the lieutenant of the Tower had permitted one hundred stand of arms, two barrels of powder, and match and shot proportionate, to go out of the Tower to Whitehall; and the committee, upon examination, found this report to be true. The common council, who went hand in hand with the committee, drew up a petition to the king, representing the great dangers, fears, and distractions of the city, by reason of the prevailing progress of the bloody rebels in Ireland; the dangerous putting out of persons of honour and trust from being constable and lieutenant of the Tower; the fortifying of Whitehall; the wounding of unarmed citizens in Westminster Hall; the strange visit paid to the House of Commons by his majesty, attended with a great multitude of armed men; and the effect these fears produced upon the trade of the city and kingdom, &c.; and in the end, the petitioners prayed his sacred majesty to put the Tower into the hands of persons of trust; to remove from about Whitehall and Westminster all doubtful and unknown persons; to appoint a known and approved guard for his own safety, and for the safety of parliament; to give up his intention of arresting the Lord Kimbolton and the five members, and not to proceed against them otherwise than according to the privileges of parliament. Charles, in his answer to this petition, justified his late proceedings, and declared that, as for the accused gentlemen, he ever intended to proceed against them with all justice and favour, according to the laws and statutes of the realm. At the same time he published a proclamation, charging the Lord Kimbolton and the five members with high treason, and commanding the magistrates to apprehend them, and carry them to the Tower. Forthwith many mariners and seamen went to the committee with a petition signed by a thousand hands, tendering their services and offering to escort the committee by water to Westminster on the appointed day. The committee accepted their offer, and ordered them to provide such artillery as was necessary, and to take care that all great guns and muskets in their vessels should be cleared beforehand, to the end that there might be no shooting that day, except in case of great necessity. When the sailors were gone, the London apprentices flocked in great numbers to the committee, and offered their services as guards for the journey from the city back to Westminster. Serjeant

2 M

Wild gave the apprentices thanks for their affection and willingness to serve the parliament, but told them that they were already provided with a sufficient guard. At this critical moment a ship from Berwick, with arms and ammunition, arrived off the Tower. The committee instantly commanded her to fall down the river out of the reach of the Tower guns, and at the same time ordered the captain to call in the assistance of sailors and others, if any one should offer to take arms or ammunition out of her. On Saturday there was a rumour that the king intended paying the committee a visit in person. Thereupon they ordered the captains of the city train-bands that now attended them as a guard, to take especial care that his majesty and the nobility should have way made for them to come in, and all duty and respect shown to them. But the captains were also ordered not to suffer any other sorts of persons to come in. On the Monday following the committee declared that the proclamation of treason was a great scandal to his majesty and his government,a seditious act, manifestly tending to the subversion of the peace of the kingdom, and to the injury and dishonour of the accused members, against whom there was no legal charge or accusation whatever. And they further added, "that the privileges of parliament and the liberty of the subject, so violated and broken, cannot be fully and sufficiently vindicated, unless his majesty will be graciously pleased to discover the names of those persons who advised his majesty to the sealing of the chambers and studies of the said members, to send a serjeantat-arms to the House of Commons to demand the said members, to issue several warrants under his majesty's own hand to apprehend the said members, his majesty's coming thither in his own royal person, the publishing of the said articles and printed papers in the frame of a proclamation, against the said members (in such manner as is before declared); to the end such persons may receive condign punishment."*

He

On the afternoon of the same day, Charles, with the queen, his children, and the whole court, left Whitehall and went to Hampton Court. never entered London again until he came as a helpless prisoner, whose destinies were in the iron hand of Oliver Cromwell. On the morrow afternoon the committee, together with the Lord Kimbolton and the five accused members, took water at the Three Cranes, attended by thirty or forty long boats, with guns and flags, and by a vast number of citizens and seamen in other boats and. barges; and thus they proceeded triumphantly to their old port at Westminster, some of the trainbands marching at the same time by land, to be a guard to the two Houses of Parliament. The next day they received a very humble message from Hampton Court: "His majesty, taking notice that some conceive it disputable whether his proceedings against the Lord Kimbolton, Mr. Hollis, Sir Arthur Haslerig, Mr. Pym, Mr. Hampden,

Rushworth,

and Mr. Strode, be legal and agreeable to the privileges of parliament, and being very desirous to give satisfaction to all men in all matters that may seem to have relation to privilege, is pleased to waive his former proceedings; and all doubts by this means being settled, when the minds of men are composed, his majesty will proceed thereupon in an unquestionable way, and assures his parliament that upon all occasions he will be as careful of their privileges as of his life or his crown." On the same day, "divers knights, gentlemen, and freeholders of the county of Bucks, to the number of about four thousand, as they were computed, came to London, riding every one with a printed copy of the protestation lately taken in his hat." These countrymen of Hampden presented a petition, not to the House of Commons, but to the House of Peers, praying them to cooperate with the Lower House in perfecting the great work of reformation, in bringing to exemplary punishment wicked counsellors, evil plotters and delinquents, in relieving Ireland, in fortifying the privileges of parliament against all future attempts, &c. At the same time, these Buckinghamshire petitioners, who received the thanks of both Houses, acquainted the Commons that they had another petition which they wished to present to his majesty on behalf of their loyal countryman, neighbour, and member, Mr. John Hampden, in whom they had ever found good cause to confide. They asked the Commons which would be the best way of delivering this petition; and the Commons selected six or eight of their members to wait upon his majesty with it. These members accordingly went to Hampton Court; but Charles was not there, having gone on to Windsor Castle. members followed him to Windsor, and presented the paper, which told him that the malice which Hampden's zeal for his majesty's service and the service of the state had excited in the enemies of king, church, and commonwealth, had occasioned this foul accusation of their friend. Charles instantly repeated his determination of waiving the accusation. And yet this was not done very clearly or very graciously. On the following day he sent another message to the two Houses, assuring them that he had never the least intention of violating the least privilege of parliament, &c. notwithstanding these assurances, the House of Commons proceeded against Herbert, the attorneygeneral, who had presented the articles of impeachment against Lord Kimbolton and the five members. At their instigation Herbert was examined before the Lords, where he pleaded in excuse the duty of obedience which he owed to his master, and professed his ignorance of the grounds of the charge of high treason. On the morrow, the 15th of January, it was resolved by the Commons that Herbert had violated the privileges of parliament in preferring the articles of accusation; and that a charge should be sent up to the Lords against him, to have satisfaction for this great scandal and injury,

• Rushworth.

The

But

unless he could prove the said articles within six days. The charge was a regular impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors. Herbert put

in an answer, solemnly averring that he had no hand in contriving the articles against the members; that he was so far from any malice, falsehood, or scandal in the advising and contriving of the same, or any of them, that he never knew or heard of them until he received them from his majesty's hands ready ingrossed on paper. He referred to a letter written by the king to Lord Littleton, wherein his majesty took the whole of the unfortunate transaction upon himself. But these excuses were not admitted, and, after many months, the House of Lords declared-" 1. That Sir Edward Herbert, his majesty's attorney-general, is, by sentence of this House, disabled, and made incapable of being a member, assistant, or pleader, in either House of Parliament, and of all offices saving that of attorney-general, which he now holds. 2. That Mr. Attorney-General shall be forthwith committed to the prison of the Fleet during the pleasure of this House."*

On the 12th of January, the day after Charles's departure from Whitehall, information was brought to the House of Commons, that the Lord Digby and Colonel Lunsford, with other disbanded officers and reformados, were gathering some troops of horse at Kingston-upon-Thames, and appearing in arms there in a disorderly manner, and, moreover, that there were two cart-loads of ammunition going to them. The alarm was the greater, because the magazine of arms for that part of Surrey was at Kingston. The Lords and Commons ordered the sheriffs and justices of peace to suppress the gathering with the train-bands, and secure the magazine. The like orders were soon sent into every part of the kingdom; and nearly everywhere they were readily obeyed. Lord Digby escaped and fled beyond sea; Colonel Lunsford was taken and safely lodged in the Tower. The parliament sent for Sir John Byron, the new lieutenant of the Tower, to question him concerning his sending arms to Whitehall; but he refused to attend, telling the messenger that he had an order from the king not to stir out of the Tower, and giving him a copy of a royal warrant, which was to that purpose. He was then sent for again, and ordered to come at his peril. Byron now attended, gave an account to the Lords of what arms and ammunition he had sent, and afterwards he gave the same account to the Commonsfirst kneeling at the bar of both Houses for his contempt in not attending to the first summons; and so he was dismissed. On the same day (the 12th of January) the lord steward reported to the Lords that his majesty would command the lord mayor to appoint two hundred men out of the train-bands of the city to wait on the two Houses, under the command of the Earl of Lindsay, his chamberlain. The House of Commons, without regarding this message, called up two companies

• Rushworth.

of the train-bands of the city and suburbs, and placed them under the command of SerjeantMajor Skippon. They also ordered, in conjunction with the Lords, that the Earl of Newport, Master of the Ordnance, and the Lieutenant of the Tower should not suffer any arms or ammunition to be removed without their express orders; and that, for the better safeguard of the Tower, the sheriffs of London and Middlesex should appoint a sufficient guard to watch that fortress both by land and water. Their minds, indeed, were now almost wholly occupied by the thoughts of arsenals, arms, and ammunition. Mr. Bagshaw of Windsor informed the Commons that he had seen several troops of horse gathering in that town, where the court still was, and that there had gone in there a waggon loaded with ammunition. SerjeantMajor Skippon was hereupon ordered to send out troops of horsemen as scouts from time to time, to give intelligence if any force should approach the city; and at the same time a number of boats and small vessels were sent up the river beyond Kingston for the like service. Information was given that some ships laden with arms, ammunition, and provisions, for the rebels in Ireland, were about to sail from Dunkirk: both Houses represented this dangerous circumstance to the Dutch ambassador, who undertook that the Dutch ships that were lying before Dunkirk should intercept any vessels so laden. An order was sent from both Houses to Colonel Goring, who was then governor of Portsmouth, requiring him not to deliver up that town, nor receive any forces into it, without their authority. The Commons sent a message to the Lords, informing them that there was at Hull a magazine of arms of the king's for sixteen thousand men, with ammunition in proportion; that the country adjacent was full of papists and illaffected persons; and that, therefore, they desired their lordships' concurrence in an order that some of the train-bands of Yorkshire should be put into the town of Hull, under the command of the trusty Sir John Hotham. Their lordships consented, and, that their order might make the greater speed down to Hull, the Commons requested Mr. John Hotham, a member of their House, and son to Sir John, to go immediately with it. This service was not without danger; but young Hotham stood up in the gallery, and exclaimed, "Mr. Speaker! fall back, fall edge, I will go down and perform your commands." A committee was then appointed to attend especially to the best means of putting the kingdom in a posture of defence. The members of this committee were Mr. Pierpoint, Sir Richard Carr, Mr. Hollis, Mr. Glynn, Sir Philip Stapleton, Sir Henry Vane, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Solicitor-General St. John. Lords, however, refused to join with the Commons in the petition to the king for the removal of Sir John Byron from the lieutenancy of the Tower.

The

A few days after his majesty's departure from Whitchall, the Earl of Essex acquainted the Lords

that the king had laid his commands upon him as lord chamberlain of the household, and upon the Earl of Holland as groom of the stole, to attend his majesty at Hampton Court; but the House would not dispense with their absence at a moment when so many great and urgent affairs were depending; and thereupon Essex and Holland excused themselves to his majesty as well as they could, telling him that, in obedience to his own writ, they were obliged to assist in parliament, and that their attendance there would be truer service to his Majesty than any they could do him at court. Charles, some weeks after, sent a messenger to demand the staff of the one, and the key of the other, which the two lords resigned accordingly.

It was now apparent to most men that the king dom was about to blaze with the long-conceived flame of civil war.* The Scottish commissioners, raised into vast importance by their skilful management of affairs, chose this moment to offer their mediation between the king and his English parliament. On the 15th of January they presented a paper of humble desires to Charles, telling him that the disturbance of England must needs disquiet and distemper the peace of Scotland, that the two countries were mutually bound to maintain the peace and liberty of one another,that they (the commissioners) conceived that the present distractions were maintained by the wicked plots and practices of papists, prelates, and their adherents, whose aim was to prevent all further reformation, and to subvert the purity and truth of religion, for which end they had constantly laboured to stir up divisions, by their questioning the authority of parliaments, the liberties of the subject, &c. "And to acquit ourselves of the trust imposed in us," said the Scottish commissioners," and to testify our brotherly affection to this kingdom, we do make offer of our humble endeavours for composing of these differences; and to that purpose do beseech your majesty, in these extremities, to have recourse to the sound and faithful advice of the honourable houses of parliament; and to repose thereupon as the only assured and happy means to establish the prosperity and quiet of this kingdom; . . . . . and we are confident that, if your majesty shall be graciously pleased to take in good part, and give ear to these our humble and faithful desires, that the success of your majesty's affairs, howsoever perplexed, shall be happy to your majesty and joyful to all your people." On the same day the Scottish commissioners sent a paper to the parliament, offering their mediation with the king, and thanking them for their assistance lately given to the kingdom of Scotland, in settling the troubles there. They declared that next to the providence of God, and his majesty's justice and goodness, they were most beholden to the mediation and brotherly kindness of the English parliament. They told them that they had "taken the boldness" to send their humble and faithful advice to the king, and + Rushworth.

Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoirs,

that they hoped the two honourable houses would "think timeously" of the fairest and fittest ways for composing all present differences. On the 19th of January, Charles, in a letter from Windsor, let the Scottish commissioners know that he had expected, before they should have intermeddled, that they would have acquainted him with their resolution in private; and that he trusted that, for the time coming, they would no way engage themselves in these private differences, without first communicating their intentions to him in private. He also wrote to the Earl of Lanark, now secretary for Scotland, to whom he bitterly complained of the course pursued by the commissioners in meddling and offering to mediate betwixt him and his English parliament. The letter was sent down by his confidential servant Mungo Murray, who was to tell Lanark some things which his majesty did not think fit to write. The House of Commons, of course, received the offer of mediation in a very different manner. On the day after it was presented they ordered Sir Philip Stapleton to return thanks to the Scottish commissioners, assuring them that what they had done was very acceptable to the House, who would continue their care to remove the present distractions, as also to confirm and preserve the union between the two nations. A few days after this the commissioners concluded an arrangement for the sending of 2500 men of the Scotch army into Ireland, to make head against the rebellion, which now threatened the entire loss of that country.

The Lords joined the Commons in petitioning the king to proceed with the impeachment of Lord Kimbolton and the five members. Charles again offered a free pardon. With this the two Houses would not rest satisfied; and they both demanded justice against the informers on whose testimony his majesty had acted. On the 20th of January the king, by message, desired the parliament to digest and condense into one body all the grievances of the kingdom, promising his favourable assent to those means which should be found most effectual for redress; but the Commons scarcely heeded this message, knowing at the moment that Charles had already sent Lord Digby abroad in search of foreign assistance." Charles's conduct with regard to the Irish rebels also excited their discontent and vehement suspicions. "It was then also generally talked, and much complained of among the well-affected people, that the king had been so backward in proclaiming those barbarous Irish rebels; and not only talked among the people, but alleged by the parliament itself (in their own declaration afterwards, when the breach between king and parliament grew greater) as a sign that those inhuman rebels had been countenanced by the court of England, in that the

Admiral Pennington was examined by the Commons about the flight of Lord Digby; and the admiral declared that his lordship had produced to him his majesty's warrant, dated the 13th of January, at Windsor, signed with his majesty's own hand, and commanding him (the admiral) to carry the Lord Digby to any place beyond sea, eituer in France or Holland.