1639 THE ENGLISH NOBILITY. IF was composed, would far rather have remained at home, the stratum of society from which they came was not stirred very deeply by the Puritan movement. Amongst the trained bands of the northern counties there were even observable some sparks of the old feud with Scotland which had flamed up in many a Border conflict in the olden days. Though the mass of the army was listless and undisciplined, it was not altogether impossible that good officers might, after a time, succeed in inspiring it with something of the military feeling.1 Disaffection lish nobles. Charles had, however, taken care to gather round him elements of hostility to his enterprise. Dragged against their will to the Borders, and long deprived of the part in of the Eng- the Government which they held to be their due, the English nobles bore no goodwill to a war which, if it were successful, would place them more completely than ever at the feet of their sovereign. If Charles had been quicksighted to perceive that concession in Scotland would bring with it concession in England, they were no less quicksighted to perceive that the overthrow of the Scottish Covenanters would draw with it the erection of an absolute monarchy in England. The first test of their feeling was a proposal of a military oath The military binding them to fight in the King's cause 'to the utmost hazard of their life and fortunes.' They asked whether these words bound them to place their whole property at the King's disposal. The obnoxious words were accordingly changed for 'the utmost of my power and hazard. April 21. oath. Saye and Brooke refuse to take it. of my life.' To this all consented except Saye and Brooke. These two Puritan lords flatly refused to take even the modified oath, and were committed to the custody of the Lord Mayor of York.2 Saye and Brooke were subsequently permitted to retire to 1 I have come to this conclusion after a study of all the contemporary letters to which I have had access. As long as it was believed that the King had 30,000 men with him on the Borders from the first, his inactivity needed the active disaffection of the army to explain it. Now that. it is known that he could put little more than 14,000 into the field, such an explanation is unnecessary. 2 Rossingham's News-Letter, April 30, S. P. Dom. ccccxviii. 99. their homes. The King was not without hope that some legal means of punishing them might be found; but the law officers of the Crown advised him that they had not committed a punishable offence. They suggested, however, a means of meeting the difficulty. It was probable, they thought, that the two lords had arrived at York without proper military equipment. In that case a fine might legally be imposed upon them. Charles thought the suggestion a good one; but, as nothing was done, it is not unlikely that inquiry only served to demonstrate that Saye and Brooke had taken good care to comply with the letter of the law.1 Coolness Though the two lords found no imitators at York, the King soon discovered that the nobility had come rather as spectators than as actors. Amongst them Arundel stood almost amongst the alone in urging him to carry on the war with vigour. peers. On the 24th a letter, written on the 19th, was handed to Essex from the Covenanters. They protested that they April 19. The Covenanters write to Essex. cherished no design of invasion. They wanted only to enjoy their liberties in accordance with their own laws.2 Essex handed the letter unopened to the King; but, as the messenger had brought with him an open copy, its contents were soon known. Arundel said that it was 'full of insolence;' but this was far from being the general opinion. The Knight Marshal, Sir Edmund Verney, thought that it was 'expressed with a great deal of modesty,' Opinion of Sir Edmund and Sir Edmund Verney was a typical personage. Verney. Attached to the King by long service and ancestral loyalty, he was ready to do whatever duty might require, and to fight, if need be, against the Scots; but he had no heart in the quarrel, no confidence in the undisciplined mob which his master called an army. Laud's proceedings in England he thoroughly disliked, and he could take no pleasure in a war which had been brought about by very similar proceedings in Scotland. For him, as for multitudes of his countrymen, the war, in spite of all that Charles might say about its political character, was bellum episcopale-a war waged to restore bishops 1 Windebank to the King, May 21, Clar. S. P. ii. 45. 2 The Covenanters to Essex, April 19, S. P. Dom. ccccxviii. 9. 1639 SCOTTISH RESISTANCE. 13 to their misused authority.' He had heard a Scotchman say, as he wrote in one of his letters to his son at home, that ‘nothing will satisfy them but the taking away all bishops.' "I dare say," he added, "the King will never yield that, so we must be miserable."'2 mation sent into Scotland. On May 1 Charles advanced to Durham. The Scottish Royalist lords, who had fled before the Covenanters, were summoned to hear the proclamation read, and were May 1. The procla- ordered to return to their estates and to disperse copies amongst their friends in Scotland. Special orders were sent to Sir James Balfour, Lion Kingat-Arms, to read it at the Cross at Edinburgh, and to depute heralds to read it publicly in every shire.3 Charles was not long in discovering that he had reckoned on more obedience Its reading than he was likely to find. Not a single Scotchman would take upon himself the odium of reading such refused. a proclamation. Scottish shipping seized. The attempt to put pressure on the Scots by the interruption of their commerce had already been made. Scottish shipping arriving in England was arrested. Hamilton on his voyage northwards seized so many Scottish vessels as to be unable to man them, and contented Hamilton in himself afterwards with disarming those which he Forth. overtook. On May 1 he had sailed up the Forth. Leith was now strong enough to resist attack. Every hand the Firth of 1 Aston's Iter Boreale (Add. MSS. 28,566, fol. 5 b) puts this strongly : "The expedition, for aught men could then discover, was likely to be tedious, having the ambition of the bishops to foment the quarrel, being as zealous in their revenge that Episcopacy was rejected in Scotland, as James and John were that their Lord and Master was not admitted into the village of the Samaritans; and as if the banishment of bishops out of Scotland had been equivalent to the rejection of our Saviour, there was nothing now with them but forthwith to command fire and sword down from heaven and consume them, but 'twas happy they were rebuked with ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.' I have to thank Mr.. Cartwright, of the Public Record Office, for pointing out to me this narrative. 2 Verney to R. Verney, April 25, May 5, Verney Papers, 225, 231. 3 Order in Council, May 1, S. P. Dom. ccccxx. I. Hamilton to the King, April 29, Ham. Papers, 76. Leith fortified. that could be spared had been busily employed in working at the fortifications. Women hurried down from Edinburgh to carry earth and stones. Hamilton's own mother appeared with a pistol in her hand, and vowed that she would be the first to shoot her son if he landed to attack the followers of the Covenant. Nor had he much more chance of military success in the open country. The men Popular resistance. of Fife and the Lothians turned out in overwhelming numbers to defend their homes, and boastfully sent back, as unnecessary, a reinforcement of twelve hundred men which had been sent to their aid by the Western shires. Nothing was wanting to raise the zeal of the defenders of their country. Preachers assured them that the cause of national resistance was the cause of God. The women of Scotland spoke with no uncertain voice. Mothers bade their sons go forth and quit themselves well in the quarrel which had been forced upon them. Wives cheerfully surrendered their husbands to the uncertainties of war; whilst every youthful volunteer knew well that it would fare ill with him if, after stepping aside from the conflict, he dared to pour his tale of love into the ear of a Scottish maiden. What had Hamilton to oppose to this band of brothers fighting in what they deemed the holiest of causes? His men were utterly undisciplined, and they had no heart in the cause for which they had been sent to fight. He landed them on the two islets Inchkeith and Inchcolm, and there he did his best to turn them into soldiers, whilst he attempted to negotiate with the hostile multitudes on shore.2 end. Whatever hopes Hamilton brought with him were soon at an "Your Majesty's affairs," he wrote on the 7th, are in a May 7. desperate condition. The enraged people here run Hamilton's to the height of rebellion, and walk with a blind. despair. obedience as by their traitorous leaders they are commanded; and resolved they are rather to die than to embrace or accept of your proffered grace in your last most gracious proclamation. You will find it a work of great diffi1 Baillie, i. 201. 2 De Vic to Windebank, May 7. Norgate to Read, May 9, 16, S. P. Dom. ccccxx. 77, 121, ccccxxi. 34. 1639 A GLOOMY PROSPECT. 15 culty and of vast expense to curb them by force, their power being greater, their combination stronger, than can be imagined." He himself could do little for a long time to .come. If the King was in no better condition, he might 'think of some way of packing it up.' The Scots seemed ready to offer all civil obedience.' If the King was able to 'suppress them in a powerful way,' he would do his part, 'which will only be the stopping of their trade, and burning of such of their towns as' are 'upon the coast.' Even this he could not promise to do for any length of time, as his provisions would soon be exhausted.1 May 8. Aboyne offers to rouse the North. Before this lugubrious despatch reached him, Charles had been listening to young Aboyne, who had come to offer to rouse the North if only money and arms were placed at his disposal. Charles sent him on to the Forth, directing Hamilton to give him what assistance he could in men, but to be careful not to incur any further expense. He calculated that he had money enough to keep on foot his existing force till the end of the summer. More than this he could not do.2 Others around him were not even so sanguine as this. "Our army," wrote Verney, "consists of two thousand horse and twelve thousand foot, and that is the most, and May 9. Verney's more by some reasonable proportion both of horse opinion of the position. and foot than we shall have with us, or that will come to us, unless Marquis Hamilton's forces come to us. Our men are very raw, our arms of all sorts naught, our victual scarce, and provision for horses worse; and now you may judge what case we are in, and all for want of money to help us till we may be better men, or to bring more men to us. I will write to you again as soon as I hear what the Scots will do in obedience to the proclamation, which certainly will come to nothing."3 The proclamation indeed had already come to nothing, but only the vaguest possible rumours of the state of the Hamilton to the King, May 7, Ham. Papers, 78. ? The King to Hamilton, May 13, Burnet, 136. |