forces for a resort to arms. There were parleyings on the way, and messages from parliament entreating him to return to his capital with refusals and remonstrances on the king's part, but all in vain.

And now began a struggle such as the world had never seen before. At the outset the parliament had only dreamed of a redress of manifest evils in the church and state; but under the sway of causes dimly discerned, every day made them take up a new position. As May, a close watcher of these events, thoughtfully observed: "Such an unhappy genius ruled those times (for historians have observed a genius of times as well as of climates or men) that no endeavours proved successful; nor did any actions produce the right though probable effects."

CHAPTER XI

Charles attempts to seize Kingston-upon-Hull. Collects his Adherents at York. The Fleet sides with the Parliament. Vane's Work in Organising the Navy. The Strength of the Parliamentary Party. The Cavaliers. England not prepared for War. Essex made Commander of the Forces of the Parliament.

KINGSTON-UPON-HULL was the most important seaport in Yorkshire; its fortifications had been lately repaired, and it contained a large magazine of arms from the discharging of the northern army. The Earl of Strafford had sought to put a royalist governor, Sir Thomas Glemham, in the town,' but the mayor and corporation had refused to give up the keys to him, and the parliament had intrusted the defence of the stronghold to Sir John Hotham, a wealthy knight of the East Riding, M.P. for Scarborough, leader of "the obstinate northern men," who had been recently imprisoned for resistance to the king's illegal acts. Riding from York, Charles appeared on April 23 with 300 horsemen and demanded admittance. The mayor would have let in his majesty; but Hotham ordered the gates to be shut, and falling on his knees on the rampart, excused himself to the king that he had taken an oath to hold the place for the parliament.

1 See The Hull Letters, from a collection of original documents found among the Borough Archives in the Town Hall, Hull, edited by T. F, Tindall Wildridge, Hull, 1886, pp. 19, 21, 29, 30,

The courtiers around were furious in their imprecations, and cried out to the officers on the rampart to throw Hotham into the ditch. His majesty retired a little, and then sent a message requesting to be admitted with twenty men. Hotham knew that the king's son, James, with the Prince Palatine and Lord Newport and their suite were in the town, and that it would be beyond his power to put the king out, if he were once in with twenty men. On this second refusal Charles caused the heralds to proclaim Sir John a traitor, and made his way back to York to send an express to the parliament, calling upon them to condemn Sir John for denying him entry into his own town. The parliament hastened to notify their approval of the conduct of their trusty governor. They met the king's message with a firm refusal, rendered almost ironical by the forms of humility and subservience used in addressing his sacred majesty. The fortresses and arsenals, they declared, were not the personal property of the king, like a house or field, but vested in him for the safety of the realm, and that the same object might justify the parliament to assume the charge of them. They farther protested that to denounce Sir John Hotham as a traitor was a high breach of the privilege of parliament, and complained of the king's intercepting one of their messengers, with other recriminations. The argument sustained by written messages between both parties was in reality an appeal to gain or keep supporters, for it was clear that blows, not words, must decide the dispute.

The parliament now fairly assumed the executive power. They ordered the stores in Hull to be con

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veyed to London, sent directions to organise the militia in the counties, and appointed a committee to negotiate a loan in the city.

Thirty-two peers and more than sixty members of the Lower House now departed to York to join the king. The parliament ordered them to return under penalties, and forbade all to obey the king's orders to take arms. At the same time they professed to be acting under the king's name, and were only fighting to rescue his person from those about him. When the LordKeeper Littleton fled to join the royalists at York with the great seal, parliament was much perplexed, as many acts of state were issued under this warrant. There were earnest discussions between the Commons and the remaining peers at Westminster whether they should get a new seal engraved, which was only done after the battle of Newbury. On June 2 the parliament sent, under the title of a Humble Petition and Advice, nineteen propositions framed to put all the real power into their own hands, and divest the king of everything but a titular rank. Surrounded by his swelling bands of boisterous Cavaliers at York, sworn to stand by him, Charles presumed that he might obtain as good terms if reduced to the last extremity. The parliament appointed the Earl of Essex commander of their army, and the Earl of Warwick admiral of the fleet. The persuasive address of Sir Henry Vane, again put at the head of the admiralty, was exerted in getting the navy to declare for the popular cause. Throughout the Civil War the fleet was a valuable support to the parliament in intercepting supplies for the king from the continent, in confirming the fidelity

1 See Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors, London, 1845.

of the seaport towns, and in conveying troops and munitions of war from one part of the country to the other.

The sailors had no reason to love any of their kings, whether Tudor or Stuart, who used them as tools when need pressed, and then cast them into the slime. When the Civil War began Charles named Pennington, a well-known sea-officer, lord high admiral; but the whole fleet, save one small vessel, took the side of the parliament. Where there were disputes the crews put royalist officers ashore. The dockyards on the Thames, Woolwich, Deptford, and Chatham, and the principal seaports, supported the cause of the parliament. In July 1642, Warwick succeeded Northumberland as high admiral. The adhesion of the navy much strengthened the popular cause. If Charles had been able to blockade London with the fleet, it had fared badly with his opponents.

For the first time the sailors were treated with kindly consideration. They were now decently fed, paid better wages, and more regularly, allowed a fixed share of prize money, and cared for when sick or wounded. We no longer read of the dire ravages of disease amongst the crews, and the ships were kept fit and ready for service. Vane became sole treasurer of the navy in August 1642. A parliamentary committee was appointed over the admiralty. The members being often changed, Vane's authority must have been paramount. Under this committee were

1 Oppenheim, pp. 241-249, shows how unfounded were the statements made by some royalist writers, that the sailors, "actuated by inherent loyalty," generally were for the king.

2 The pay of the sailors was raised to 195. a month.