As soon as Cromwell’s mind was made up, he struck with swiftness and decision. The King was the key of the situation, and the possession of his person was to either party nine points of the law. 165His co-operation was indispensable to the success of the Presbyterian scheme, for unless they completed their agreement with Charles, the Scots would not cross the border, the English Royalists would not rise, and the citizens of London would not fight. At Holmby House, Charles was guarded by the regiment9 of Colonel Graves, who was an ardent10 Presbyterian, and Graves was under the orders of four Presbyterian commissioners11 appointed by Parliament. The danger was that Graves, either of his own accord or by order of the commissioners, might remove the King to Scotland or to London.
On May 31, 1647, Cromwell ordered Cornet Joyce, an officer in Fairfax’s life-guard, to get together a party of horse, and to prevent the King’s removal from Holmby. About midnight on June 2nd, Joyce reached Holmby, and posted his men round the house. Next morning the troopers of the King’s guard threw open the gates and fraternised with his men, while Graves took flight, leaving King and commissioners in Joyce’s hands. Cromwell had given no orders for the King’s removal, but next day there were rumours12 that Graves was returning with a strong force to regain13 possession of the King, and Joyce’s men urged him to remove Charles to some place of security in the quarters of the army. Charles, who was offered his choice, selected Newmarket, and leaving Holmby on Friday, June 4th, Joyce and the King reached Hinchinbrook that evening. On Saturday, Joyce was met during his march by Colonel Whalley, whom Fairfax had sent to take command of the King’s guard and convey the King 166himself back to Holmby. But Charles refused to return to what he regarded as his prison, and persisted in going to Newmarket, where the headquarters of the army were now established.
On the same Friday and Saturday, a general rendezvous14 of the army was held at Kentford Heath, near Newmarket, during which Cromwell arrived from London. At the rendezvous, a full statement of the grievances15 of the soldiers was presented, and all bound themselves by a solemn engagement not to disband or divide till their rights were secured. A council was instituted, consisting of the general officers, with two officers and two privates chosen from each regiment, which was to negotiate with Parliament on behalf of the soldiers, and to represent the army in political matters. The experiment was a dangerous one, but to limit the functions of the Agitators and to induce them to co-operate with their officers was the only way to bring them under control. In military matters, however, the General and his council of war remained supreme16, and in that body Cromwell was the ruling spirit. Adversaries17 described the Lieutenant-General as the “primum mobile,” and “the principal wheel” which moved the whole machine. Under his influence subordination and discipline were rapidly restored, and in a few weeks the real direction of the army passed into the hands of the council of war, while the General Council sank into the position of a debating society. No one doubted that this was Cromwell’s work. “You have robbed,” complained Lilburn in July, “by your unjust subtlety18 and 167shifting tricks, the honest and gallant19 Agitators of all their power and authority, and solely20 placed it in a thing called a council of war.”
From Newmarket, the army advanced toward London. Parliament promised the soldiers all their arrears21, and cancelled their offensive declarations. But the soldiers now required guarantees for the future as well as satisfaction for the past. They insisted on the exclusion22 of the Presbyterian leaders from power, and claimed a voice in the settlement of the nation. A letter to the City of London, signed by all the chief officers, but probably written by Cromwell himself, explained the change in their attitude.
“As Englishmen—and surely our being soldiers hath not stripped us of that interest, though our malicious23 enemies would have it so—we desire a settlement of the peace of the kingdom and of the liberties of the subject, according to the votes and declarations of Parliament, which, before we took arms, were by the Parliament used as arguments to invite us and divers24 of our dear friends out; some of whom have lost their lives in this war. Which being now by God’s blessing25 finished, we think we have as much right to demand and desire to see a happy settlement, as we have to our money and the other common interests of soldiers we have insisted upon.”
Cromwell asserted that the army had no wish either for a civil or an ecclesiastical revolution, but reiterated26 the demand for toleration.
“We have said before and we profess27 it now, we desire no alteration28 of the civil government. As little do we 168desire to interrupt, or in the least to intermeddle with, the settling of the Presbyterial government. Nor did we seek to open a way for licentious29 liberty under pretence30 of obtaining ease for tender consciences. We profess as ever in these things, when once the State has made a settlement, we have nothing to say but to submit or suffer. Only we could wish that every good citizen, and every man who walks peaceably in a blameless conversation, and is beneficial to the Commonwealth31, might have liberty and encouragement; this being according to the true policy of all states, and even to justice itself.”
To Cromwell, it is evident, the acquisition of freedom of conscience seemed more important than any possible change in the constitution of Church or State. The task of formulating32 the political programme of the army fell to his son-in-law Ireton, who had more definite views than Cromwell as to the constitutional changes needed. Arbitrary power, Ireton asserted in the army’s Declaration of June 14th, was the root of all evil. The absolutism of Parliament must be guarded against as well as the absolutism of the King, and parliamentary privilege might become as dangerous to popular liberties as royal prerogative33 had been. The way to make the rights of the people secure was to make Parliament more really representative. Henceforward the demand for the speedy termination of the existing Parliament was accompanied by demands for equalisation of the constituencies, short Parliaments, and the vindication34 of the right to petition.
HENRY IRETON.
(From a painting by Robert Walker, in the National Portrait Gallery.)
The Long Parliament was not disposed to accept such democratic changes, but it was obliged to 169temporise. News came that the ten thousand men of the northern army under General Poyntz were on the verge35 of mutiny, and ready to join the forces under Fairfax. The eleven Presbyterian leaders impeached36 by the army saved the dignity of the House by a voluntary withdrawal37, and negotiations38 were opened at Wycombe on July 1st. After a fortnight of negotiating, the Agitators murmured at the delay, and urged the immediate resumption of the march on London, and the enforcement of their demands. Cromwell and the higher officers opposed. “Whatsoever we get by a treaty,” argued Cromwell, “will be firm and durable40. It will be conveyed over to posterity41.” The friends of the army were daily gaining ground in the House.
“What we and they gain in a free way is better than twice so much in a forced way, and will be more truly ours and our posterity’s.... That you have by force I look upon as nothing. I do not know that force is to be used except we cannot get what is for the good of the kingdom without it.”
In Cromwell’s opinion, it would be sufficient peremptorily42 to demand certain concessions43 as a guarantee that the treaty was seriously meant, and to leave the terms of the political settlement for negotiation39. Above all things it was essential that the army should be united. “You may be in the right and I in the wrong, but if we be divided I doubt we shall both be in the wrong.”
Cromwell’s plan was adopted, and the Long Parliament yielded. All preparations for armed resistance 170were abandoned. Parliament appointed Fairfax commander-in-chief of all the forces in England, including those lately under General Poyntz; it disbanded all the soldiers it had enlisted44 to oppose Fairfax; it restored the control of the London militia45 to the old committee, which the army trusted, in place of the exclusively Presbyterian committee appointed in the spring. But if Parliament saw the necessity of yielding, London did not. On July 21st, crowds of citizens signed an engagement for the maintenance of the Covenant46, and the restoration of the King on his own terms, though both Houses united in denouncing their engagement. On the 26th, crowds of apprentices47 and discharged soldiers besieged48 the Houses and threatened their members with violence unless the command of the City forces were given back to the Presbyterians. The Lords gave way first; the Commons resisted some hours longer, but in the end they too obeyed the mob, and repealed49 their votes. The rioters also extorted50 from them a vote inviting51 the King to London. After this both Houses adjourned52 till the 30th of July, but before that day came the two Speakers, followed by eight Peers and fifty-seven members of the Commons, had taken refuge with the army, declaring that Parliament was not free, and the army, pledged to restore the freedom of Parliament, was marching on London. The Presbyterians prepared to fight, and placed the forces of the City under the command of Major-General Massey. The eleven impeached Presbyterian leaders took their places in Parliament again, assumed the direction of the 171movement, and appointed a Committee of Safety. But citizen militia and undisciplined volunteers would have stood a poor chance against the veterans of Naseby. Even the fanatical mob of the City knew it, and when Fairfax arrived at Hounslow with twenty thousand men, their courage fell to zero.
Crowds gathered outside Guildhall, where the City fathers were deliberating whether to fight or yield. “When a scout53 came in, and brought news that the army made a halt, or other good intelligence, they cried, ‘One and all.’ But if the scouts54 brought intelligence that the army advanced nearer to them, then they would cry as loud ‘Treat, Treat, Treat.’” On August 4th, London submitted unconditionally55, and two days later the army escorted the fugitive56 members to Westminster, and made a triumphal progress through the City. The Agitators talked loudly of purging57 the House of Commons by expelling all members who had sat during the absence of the Speakers, but Cromwell and the officers contented58 themselves with demanding that the proceedings59 of the last ten days should be declared null and void. Even this could not be obtained till Cromwell threatened to use force, and drew up a regiment of cavalry60 in Hyde Park to give weight to his arguments. For the Presbyterians were still a majority in Parliament, though their leaders had now fled to the continent.
The army now rested its hopes on the King rather than on the Parliament. During the march on London it had published its proposals “for clearing and securing the rights of the kingdom, and settling a just 172and lasting61 peace.” The “Heads of the Proposals,” like the Newcastle Propositions, demanded that for the next ten years Parliament should have the control of the militia and the appointment of officers of State, but they were more lenient62 to the King’s party. Royalists were to be for a time incapacitated from office, but their fines were to be reduced, the number of exceptions from pardon diminished, and a general amnesty passed. Besides these temporary measures of security there were to be three permanent changes in the constitution. The religious settlement was to be based on toleration, not on the enforcement of Presbyterianism. No man was to be obliged to take the Covenant, bishops63 and ecclesiastical officials were to be deprived of all coercive power, and the statutes64 enforcing attendance at church or use of the Prayer-book were to be abolished. In future the royal power was to be limited by the institution of a Council of State which would share with the King the control of the military forces and the conduct of foreign affairs. Parliaments were to meet every two years, to sit for a limited space of time, and to be elected by more equal constituencies, while the existing Parliament was to end within a year.
Ireton was the chief author of these proposals, but Cromwell was equally eager for an agreement between the army and the King.
“Whatever the world might judge of them,” said Cromwell to one of the King’s agents, “the army would be found no Seekers of themselves, further than to have leave to live as subjects ought to do and to preserve their own consciences; and they thought no men could enjoy 173their lives and estates quietly without the King had his rights.”
When Charles raised objections to the first draught65 of the “Proposals,” Cromwell and Ireton persuaded the Council of the Army to lower their demands, and to make important alterations66 in the scheme finally published. If the King accepted it the army leaders assured him that no further concessions should be demanded. And supposing that after he had accepted it Parliament refused its assent67, they would purge68 the Houses of opponents “till they had made them of such a temper as to do his Majesty69’s business.”
Such was the talk amongst the officers, but it soon became evident they had reckoned without their host. The King was little inclined to submit to the permanent restrictions70 on his royal power which the army demanded, and thought he could avail himself of the quarrel between it and the Parliament to impose his will on both. He avowed71 it frankly72. “You cannot do without me. You will fall to ruin if I do not sustain you,” he told the officers, when the “Proposals” were first offered to him. “Sir,” answered Ireton, “you have an intention to be the arbitrator between the Parliament and us, and we mean to be it between your Majesty and the Parliament.” Another time Charles answered Ireton’s remonstrances73 with the defiant74 announcement: “I shall play my game as well as I can.” “If your Majesty have a game to play,” replied Ireton, “you must give us also the leave to play ours.”
174They could come to no agreement. Charles persisted in his policy of playing off one party against another, confident that his diplomatic skill would secure his ultimate victory. In September, the Parliament once more offered the King the Newcastle Propositions, to which he answered that the “Proposals” of the army offered a better foundation for a lasting peace, and asked for a personal treaty. The advanced party amongst the Independents, headed by Harry75 Marten and Colonel Rainsborough, urged that Parliament should proceed to the settlement of the kingdom without consulting the King. They compared Charles to Ahab, whose heart God hardened, and to a Jonah who must be thrown overboard if the ship of the state was to come safe to port. Cromwell, backed by Ireton and Vane, argued in favour of a new application to the King, and by eighty-four votes to thirty-four the House decided76 to draw up fresh propositions. It seemed to Cromwell that the re-establishment of monarchy77 was the only way to avoid anarchy. Already an officer had been expelled from the Council of the Army for declaring that there was now no visible authority in England but the power of the sword, and Cromwell warned Parliament that men who thought the sword ought to rule all were rapidly growing more numerous amongst the soldiers. He argued that a speedy agreement with the King was necessary, but to persuade the Parliament to reduce its demands proved beyond his power. The new terms it proceeded to draw up showed no sign of any willingness for a compromise. As before, all the leading Royalists were to be 175excluded from pardon, the establishment of Presbyterianism for an indefinite period was once more insisted upon, and toleration was refused not only to Catholics, but to all who used the liturgy78. Cromwell’s efforts to limit the duration of Presbyterianism to three or to seven years were unsuccessful. Parliament was as impracticable as the King, and while it was fruitlessly discussing proposals which could produce no agreement, the progress of the democratic movement in the army threatened a new revolution.
Cromwell’s negotiations with the King, his speeches in favour of monarchy, his modification79 of the terms offered by the army to Charles, and his attempt to moderate the terms offered by Parliament, all exposed him to suspicion. While Charles distrusted Cromwell and Ireton because they asked for no personal favours or advantages for themselves, both were freely accused of having made a private bargain with the King for their own advancement80. Cromwell, it was said, was to be made Earl of Essex as his kinsman81 had been, Captain of the King’s guard, and a Knight82 of the Garter; Ireton was to be Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Royalists spread these stories in order to sow division between Cromwell and the army; the soldiers swallowed them because they feared the restoration of the monarchy. The pamphleteers of the Levellers, as the extreme Radicals83 were popularly termed, published broadcast vague charges of treachery and double-dealing against the army leaders. Sometimes Cromwell was described as an honest man led astray by the ambitious Ireton; at other times the two were regarded 176as confederates in evil, whose occasional differences of opinion were merely a device to throw dust in the eyes of the world. In their appeals to Cromwell there was a touch of surprise and sorrow. “O my once much honoured Cromwell,” wrote Wildman, “can that breast of yours—the quondam palace of freedom—harbour such a monster of wickedness as this regal principle?” While Wildman hoped “to waken Cromwell’s conscience from the dead,” Lilburn, confessing that his good thoughts of Cromwell were not yet wholly gone, threatened to pull him down from his fancied greatness before he was three months older.
These attacks shook the confidence of the soldiers in their chiefs, and fanned the sparks of discontent into a flame. The Agitators, once ardent for an agreement with the King, began to demand the immediate rupture84 of the negotiations with him. Let the army, said they, take the settlement of the nation into its own hands, since neither their generals nor the Parliament could accomplish it. In October, five regiments85 of horse cashiered their old representatives as too moderate, elected fresh Agents, and laid their demands before Fairfax.
The existing Parliament was to be dissolved within a year, and in future there were to be biennial86 parliaments, equal constituencies, and manhood suffrage87. Nothing was said of King or House of Lords, but the abolition88 of both was tacitly assumed. A declaration accompanied this draught constitution, by which freedom of conscience, freedom from impressment, and equality before the law 177were asserted to be the native rights of every Englishman—rights which no Parliament or Government had power to diminish or to take away. The officers had proposed a more limited monarchy—an adaptation of the old constitution to the new conditions which the Civil War had created. What the soldiers demanded was a democratic republic, based on a written constitution drawn89 up in accordance with abstract principles new to English politics.
The soldiers asked that their scheme, which they termed “The Agreement of the People,” should be at once submitted to the nation for its acceptance. Parliament was to be set aside by a direct appeal to the people as the only lawful90 source of all political authority. Against this, Cromwell and Ireton protested. The army, they said, had entered into certain engagements in its recent declarations to the nation, and the pledges made in them must be observed. Both declared that unless these public promises were kept they would lay down their commissions, and act no longer with the army. Equally strong were their objections to some of the principles which the “Agreement” contained, and the method in which it was proposed to impose it upon the nation. “This paper,” said Cromwell, “doth contain in it very great alterations of the government of the kingdom—alterations of that government it hath been under ever since it was a nation. What the consequences of such an alteration as this would be, even if there were nothing else to be considered, wise and godly men ought to consider.” The proposed constitution contained much that was specious91 and 178plausible, but also much that was very debatable. And while they were debating it, other schemes equally plausible92 might be put forward by other parties.
“And not only another and another, but many of this kind. And if so, what do you think the consequences of that would be? Would it not be confusion? Would it not be utter confusion? Would it not make England like Switzerland, one canton of the Swiss against another, and one county against another? And what would that produce but an absolute desolation to the nation? I ask you,” he concluded, “whether it be not fit for every honest man seriously to lay that upon his heart?”
Moreover, not only the consequences but the ways and means of accomplishing a thing ought to be considered. Granted that this was the best possible constitution for the people of England, still the difficulty of its attainment93 was a very real objection.
“I know,” said he, “a man may answer all difficulties with faith, and faith will answer all difficulties where it really is; but we are very apt all of us to call that faith which perhaps may be but carnal imagination and carnal reasoning.” Faith could remove mountains, “but give me leave to say there will be very great mountains in the way of this.”
Cromwell’s mention of difficulties called up Colonel Rainsborough, the leader of the democratic party amongst the officers.
“If ever we had looked upon difficulties,” cried Rainsborough, “I do not know that ever we should have 179looked an enemy in the face. Let difficulties be round about you, though you have death before you, and the sea on each side of you and behind you; if you are convinced that the thing is just, I think you are bound in consequence to carry it on; and I think at the last day it can never be answered to God that you did not do it. For it is a poor service to God and the kingdom to take their pay and to decline their work.”
“Perhaps,” answered Cromwell with quiet dignity, “we have all of us done our parts not affrighted with difficulties, one as well as another, and I hope all purpose henceforward to do so still. I do not think that any man here wants courage to do that which becomes an honest man and an Englishman to do. But we speak as men that desire to have the fear of God before our eyes, and men that may not resolve to do that which we do in the power of a fleshly strength, but to lay this as the foundation of all our actions, to do that which is the will of God.”
When it came to a discussion of the details of the Proposals the fiercest debate arose on the question of manhood suffrage.
“Every man born in England,” argued Rainsborough, “the poor man, the meanest man in the kingdom,” ought to have a voice in choosing those who made the laws under which he was to live and die. It was a natural right, part of every Englishman’s birthright, and part of the liberty for which the soldiers had shed their blood. “It was the ground that we took up arms,” said one of them, “and it is the ground which we shall maintain.”
Ireton answered that to give a vote to men who had no stake in the country would endanger both liberty 180and property. Logically, he argued, the theory of natural rights implied a claim to property as well as a claim to political power. Cromwell, while agreeing that universal suffrage “did tend very much to anarchy,” dismissed abstract principles altogether, and expressed his willingness to assent to a reasonable extension of the franchise94.
Next came a struggle on the question of the King and the Lords. Cromwell protested that he had no private pledges to either, and no wish to preserve them, if their preservation95 was incompatible96 with the safety of the nation. The democratic party in the council held that both the monarchy and the Upper House must be abolished, and that their retention97 in any shape was dangerous. Cromwell’s view was that at present, considering its public engagements, the army could not with justice and honesty either abolish them or set them aside, and therefore he desired to maintain both so far as it could be done without hazard to the public interest. Some boldly asserted that the power of King and Lords was part of that Babylon which God would destroy, and pleaded their own convictions to that effect as a revelation from heaven. Cromwell replied with a warning against “imaginary revelations.” Like them, he said, he believed in the fulfilment of the prophecies in the Bible. “I am one of those whose heart God hath drawn out to wait for some extraordinary dispensations, according to those promises that He hath held forth8 of things to be accomplished98 in the later times, and I cannot but think that God is beginning of them.” He was inclined 181to agree with those who held that God would overthrow99 King and Lords. Yet let them not make those things a rule to them which they could not clearly know to be the mind of God. Let them not say, “This is the mind of God, we must work to it.” If it was God’s purpose to destroy the power of King and Lords, He could do it without necessitating100 the army to dishonour101 itself by breaking its engagements. Let them wait for God’s time, and do their plain, immediate duty. “Surely what God would have us do He does not desire we should step out of the way for it.”
In these discussions Fairfax was absent or silent. Ireton’s readiness in debate and knowledge of constitutional law and political theory made him the spokesman of the superior officers. He had a firm grasp of the principles involved, possessed103 great logical acuteness, and spoke102 with clearness, vigour104, and even eloquence105. But he was too dogmatic and too unconciliatory to convince opponents. With less dialectical skill and much less facility in expressing himself, Cromwell was an infinitely106 more effective speaker. What distinguished107 his speeches was an unfailing moderation and good sense which even the visionaries and demagogues whom he combated were forced to acknowledge. Neither religious nor political formulas blinded him to facts. Avowing108 that the good of the people was the proper end of government, and admitting that all political power was properly derived109 from the people, he denied the conclusion of the democrats110 that a republic was the only legitimate111 government for 182England. At the very outset of these debates he laid down the rule that in proposing any important political change the first thing to consider was “whether the spirit and temper of the people of this nation are prepared to go along with it.” For that reason he declared his preference for monarchy. “In the government of nations that which is to be looked after is the affections of the people, and that I find which satisfies my conscience in the present thing.” The particular form of government seemed to him quite unimportant compared with its acceptability to the people. Consider, he argued, the example of the Jews. They were governed successively by patriarchs, by judges, and by kings, and under all these different kinds of government they were happy and contented. Moreover there were things more important than the civil government of a state. Even if you change the government to the best possible kind of government, “it is but a moral thing.” Less important, Cromwell meant, than religious freedom. “It is but, as Paul says, dross112 and dung in comparison with Christ.” Why then should they contest so much for merely temporal things? If every man in the kingdom should insist on fighting to realise what he thought the best form of government, “I think the State will come to desolation.”
In the background of Cromwell’s mind there was always this desire to avoid a new civil war, and this dread113 of anarchy. It determined him now to put a stop to the spread of insubordination amongst the soldiers, and to limit the political action of the army to a minimum. Without obedience114 to its officers, 183he declared, the army would cease to exist. It was intolerable that private men, such as the Agents were, should take upon themselves to issue orders and call a rendezvous of a troop or a regiment. “This way is destructive to the army and to every man in it. I have been informed by some of the King’s party that if they give us rope enough we shall hang ourselves.” Soldiers must obey their officers: officers must submit to the decisions of Parliament. The army should leave Parliament to decide what government was fittest for the nation, and content itself with requiring that Parliaments should be fairly elected, frequently summoned, and dissolved in due season. As it needed the support of some civil authority, it must own the authority of Parliament. For his own part, he added, he would lay hold of anything, “if it had but the face of authority,” rather than have none.
The struggle in the council lasted nearly a fortnight, but in the end Cromwell prevailed. The “Agreement of the People” was converted into a series of proposals to be offered to Parliament, instead of being accepted as a constitution to be imposed on people and Parliament. The demand for universal suffrage became a request for the extension of the franchise. Monarchy and the House of Lords were not to be swept away altogether, but henceforth limited in authority and subordinated to the House of Commons. The old constitution was to be preserved and amended115, but not superseded116 by a new one.
By this time, however, even those officers who were anxious to retain the monarchy had begun to 184doubt whether it was possible to retain the King. For some weeks past their negotiations with Charles had been completely broken off, and distrust of his sincerity117 had become general. It was well known that he was intriguing118 with the commissioners who had lately arrived in England from the Scottish Parliament, and very little was expected from the propositions which the English Parliament was preparing to send to him. The democratic party—the Levellers, as they were now termed—were demanding not only his dethronement, but his punishment. On November 11, 1647, Colonel Harrison, in a committee of the Council of the Army, denounced the King as a man of blood, whom they ought to bring to judgment119. All Cromwell said in reply was, that there were cases in which for prudential reasons the shedder of blood might be allowed to escape unpunished. David, for instance, had allowed Joab to escape the penalty due for the murder of Abner, “lest he should hazard the spilling of more blood, in regard the sons of Zeruiah were too strong for him.” If the King deserved punishment, he concluded, it was rather the duty of Parliament than the army to do justice upon him. In any case, Cromwell was resolved to keep the King safe from the threatened attempts of the Levellers against his life. “I pray have a care of your guard,” he wrote to his cousin, Colonel Whalley, “for if such a thing should be done, it would be accounted a most horrid120 act.”
The same night the King escaped from the custody121 of Colonel Whalley at Hampton Court, and on November 15th news came that he had reached Carisbrooke 185Castle in the Isle122 of Wight. Contemporary pamphleteers and memoir123 writers often put forward the theory that Cromwell frightened the King into this flight from Hampton Court in order to forward his own ambitious designs. This is the view expressed in the well-known lines of Marvell, which relate how
Twining subtle fears with hope
He wove a net of such a scope
As Charles himself might chase
To Carisbrooke’s narrow case,
That thence the royal actor borne
The tragic124 scaffold might adorn125.
There is no evidence in support of this theory. In the long run, the King’s flight was one of the causes of his dethronement and execution, and so of Cromwell’s elevation126 to supreme power. At the moment, it increased Cromwell’s difficulties, and added to the dangers which beset127 the Government. At Hampton Court the King was in the safe hands of Colonel Whalley, Cromwell’s cousin, who could be relied upon to observe the orders of the General. At Carisbrooke he was in the hands of Colonel Hammond—a connection indeed of Cromwell’s by his marriage with a daughter of John Hampden, but a man as to whose action under “the great temptation” of the King’s appeal to his loyalty128, Cromwell was painfully uncertain. Cromwell’s letters to Hammond prove this. For the next six weeks the question whether Hammond would obey Fairfax and the Parliament, or allow Charles to go where he chose, remained unsettled.
186The real cause of the King’s flight was his intrigue129 with the Scottish Commissioners. In October, they had promised him Scotland’s assistance in recovering his throne, if he would make satisfactory concessions about religion. But the one thing essential to the completion of the bargain was that Charles should escape from the hands of the army, and be able to treat freely. The plan for the King’s flight was arranged early in November. The Scots urged him to take refuge at Berwick; he thought of Jersey130, but preferred to remain in England; finally he determined on the Isle of Wight, at the suggestion of one of his attendants who believed Hammond to be a Royalist at heart. Safe in the Isle of Wight, Charles thought he could negotiate with Parliament, Scots, and officers, and accept the terms offered by the highest bidder131. If negotiation failed, escape to France would not be difficult.
For six months Charles had succeeded in playing off Parliament against Army, and Army against Parliament. But the result had been to make him thoroughly132 distrusted by both, and his flight from Hampton Court united them against him. The King had hoped much from the divisions of the army, but simultaneously133 with his arrival at Carisbrooke Cromwell and Fairfax reduced their troops to obedience again. On November 8th, Cromwell carried a vote for the temporary suspension of the sittings of the Council, and sent Agitators and officers back to their regiments. A week later Fairfax held a general review of the army, dividing it into three brigades, which met at three different places. 187At each review he solemnly engaged himself to the soldiers to stand by them in securing the redress134 of their military grievances and the reform of Parliament, exacting135 from them in return a signed pledge to obey the orders of the General and council of war. At the first rendezvous, which took place near Ware136 on November 15th, there was some opposition137. The Levellers tried to convert it into a general demonstration138 in favour of the “Agreement of the People.” Two regiments came there unsummoned, wearing the “Agreement of the People” in their hats, with the motto, “England’s Freedom, Soldiers’ Rights.” They had driven away their own officers, called on other regiments to do the like, and planned the seizure139 of Cromwell as a traitor140 to the cause of the people. But when he rode up to the mutineers none dared to lay hands on him. “Lieutenant-General Cromwell’s carriage, with his naked waved sword, daunted141 the soldiers with the paper in their hats, and made them pluck it out and be subjected to command.” One soldier was tried, and shot on the field; others, including several officers, were reserved for the judgment of a future court-martial. On November 19th, Cromwell was able to report to Parliament that the army was very quiet and obedient, and received the thanks of the Commons for his services.
Meanwhile the King sent a message to Parliament from the Isle of Wight, offering various concessions and asking to be admitted to a personal treaty at London. He applied142 also to the army leaders, urging them to support his request, to which 188they coldly replied that they were the Parliament’s army, and must refer those matters to it. Parliament, equally distrustful of Charles, answered his overtures143 by drawing up an ultimatum144, consisting of four bills, to which his assent was required before any treaty should begin. Their chief demand was the direct control of the militia for the next twenty years, and a share in its control when that period ended. Other constitutional questions might be left to discussion, but they must make sure that the King could never use force to impose his will upon the nation. Driven to extremity145 by this demand, Charles turned once more to the Scottish Commissioners, who had now arrived at Carisbrooke. He found them ready enough to sacrifice the liberties of Englishmen, and they promised him restoration to all the rights of his crown in return for the three years’ establishment of Presbyterianism in England, the rigid146 suppression of Independents and other heretics, and certain privileges for Scotland and the Scottish nobility. If Parliament refused to disband its forces and to treat with the King in London, an army was to cross the border and replace Charles on his throne (December 27, 1647). “The Engagement,” as this treaty was termed, was wrapped in lead and buried in the castle garden till it could be safely smuggled147 out of the island. The next day the King definitely rejected the ultimatum of the English Parliament, and prepared to effect his escape to the continent.
It was too late. As soon as the King’s answer was delivered, his guards were doubled and he was made a close prisoner. The two Houses were well 189aware that his refusal of their terms was due to some agreement with the Scots, although they were ignorant of its precise nature.
“The House of Commons,” wrote Cromwell to Hammond, “is very sensible of the King’s dealings and of our brethren’s in this late transaction. You should do well, if you have anything that may discover juggling148, to search it out, and let us know it. It may be of admirable use at this time, because we shall I hope go upon business in relation to them tending to prevent danger.”
On January 3, 1648, the House of Commons voted that they would make no further addresses to the King, and receive no more messages from him. Cromwell and Ireton, who had opposed the resolution to that effect which Marten had brought forward in the previous September, now spoke earnestly in its favour. “It was now expected,” said Cromwell, “that the Parliament should govern and defend the kingdom by their own power, and not teach the people any longer to expect safety and government from an obstinate149 man whose heart God had hardened.” In such a policy, he added, the army would stand by the Parliament against all opposition: but if the Parliament neglected to provide for its own safety and that of the nation, the army would be forced to seek its own preservation by other means.
Events had thus driven Cromwell to be the foremost advocate of that policy of completely setting aside the King which he had long so stubbornly opposed. Yet, though convinced that the King 190could not be trusted, he was not prepared to abandon monarchy. At a conference on the settlement of the government which took place early in 1648, the “Commonwealth’s-men,” as the republicans were termed, pressed for the immediate establishment of a free commonwealth and the trial of the King. Ludlow noted150 with great dissatisfaction that Cromwell and his friends “kept themselves in the clouds, and would not declare their judgments151 either for a monarchical152, aristocratic, or democratic government; maintaining that any of them might be good in themselves, or for us, according as Providence153 should direct us.” When he pressed Cromwell privately154 for the grounds of his objection to a republic, Cromwell replied that he was convinced of the desirableness of what was proposed, but not of the feasibility of it. There is evidence that during the spring of 1648 the Independent leaders discussed a scheme for deposing155 Charles I., and placing the Prince of Wales or the Duke of York upon the throne. But the unwillingness156 of the Prince and the escape of the Duke to France frustrated157 this plan.
While seeking to find some compromise which would prevent a new war, Cromwell endeavoured to unite all sections of the parliamentary party to meet it, if it came. The reunion of the army had already been effected. It was completed in a series of council meetings held at London during December, 1647, in which the officers under arrest for insubordination were pardoned, and a personal reconciliation158 took place between Cromwell and Rainsborough. In February and March, 1648, Cromwell made 191conciliatory overtures to the Presbyterians of the City, but as nothing short of the restoration of the King to his authority would content them, the negotiations failed. As little could Cromwell succeed in overcoming the distrust and hostility159 which the advanced party amongst the Independents now felt towards him. On January 19, 1648, John Lilburn, at the bar of the House of Lords, publicly accused him of high treason. Nor was it only his dealings with the King that made him the object of suspicion. During the last year his political attitude had continually altered. In April, he had urged the army to disband peaceably; in June, he had headed its revolt; in November, he had forced it into obedience to the Parliament again. And besides his apparent inconsistency, he was notoriously indifferent to principles which Levellers and Commonwealth’s-men held all-important. To them a republic meant freedom and a monarchy bondage160. For him the choice between the two was a question of expediency161, and dependent upon circumstances. In open council he had declared that he “was not wedded162 or glued to forms of government,” and in private he was said to have avowed that it was lawful to pass through all forms of government to accomplish his ends. It was not surprising, therefore, that men to whom his opportunism was unintelligible163 thought self-interest or ambition the natural explanation of his conduct, and that charges of hypocrisy164 and apostacy were freely made against him.
Through this cloud of detraction165 Cromwell pursued his way unmoved. Sometimes he answered his 192accusers with blunt defiance166. “If any man say that we seek ourselves in doing this, much good may it do him with his thoughts. It shall not put me out of my way.” At other times he referred to these slanders167 with a patient confidence that justice would be done to him in the end. “Though it may be,” he wrote in September, 1647, “for the present a cloud may lie over our actions to those not acquainted with the grounds of them; yet we doubt not but God will clear our integrity from any other ends we aim at but His glory and the public good.” Neither loss of popularity, misrepresentations, nor undeserved mistrust could diminish Cromwell’s zeal168 for the cause. “I find this only good,” he wrote on his recovery from a dangerous illness in the spring of 1648: “to love the Lord and His poor despised people, to do for them, and to be ready to suffer with them, and he that is found worthy169 of this hath obtained great favour from the Lord.”
Not Cromwell’s utterances170 only but his acts testify to the integrity of his motives171. In March, 1648, Parliament settled an estate upon him as a reward for his services, to which he responded by offering to contribute a thousand a year, out of the seventeen hundred it brought in, to be employed in the recovery of Ireland. And so little did he dream of ever becoming himself the ruler of England, that at the very moment when fortune had opened the widest field to ambition, he began negotiations for the marriage of his eldest172 son to the daughter of a private gentleman of no great influence or position.
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1
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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3
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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agitators
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| n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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15
grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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arrears
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| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
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exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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formulating
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| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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vindication
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| n.洗冤，证实 | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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impeached
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| v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的过去式和过去分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议 | |
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withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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negotiation
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| n.谈判，协商 | |
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durable
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| adj.持久的，耐久的 | |
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41
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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43
concessions
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| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
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44
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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45
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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47
apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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48
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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repealed
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| 撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
extorted
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| v.敲诈( extort的过去式和过去分词 )；曲解 | |
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51
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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52
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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55
unconditionally
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| adv.无条件地 | |
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56
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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purging
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| 清洗； 清除； 净化； 洗炉 | |
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58
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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lenient
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| adj.宽大的，仁慈的 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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64
statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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68
purge
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| n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁 | |
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69
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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72
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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75
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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liturgy
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| n.礼拜仪式 | |
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modification
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| n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻 | |
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80
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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81
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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82
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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83
radicals
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| n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数 | |
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84
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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biennial
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| adj.两年一次的 | |
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87
suffrage
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| n.投票，选举权，参政权 | |
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abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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89
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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91
specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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92
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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93
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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94
franchise
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| n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权 | |
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95
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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96
incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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97
retention
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| n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力 | |
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98
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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99
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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100
necessitating
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的现在分词 ) | |
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101
dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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102
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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103
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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104
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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105
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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106
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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107
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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108
avowing
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| v.公开声明，承认( avow的现在分词 ) | |
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109
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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110
democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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111
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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112
dross
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| n.渣滓；无用之物 | |
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113
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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114
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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115
Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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116
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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117
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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118
intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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119
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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120
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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121
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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122
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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123
memoir
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| n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录 | |
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124
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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125
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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126
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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127
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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128
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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129
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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130
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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131
bidder
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| n.(拍卖时的)出价人，报价人，投标人 | |
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132
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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133
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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134
redress
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| n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除 | |
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135
exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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136
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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137
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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138
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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139
seizure
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| n.没收；占有；抵押 | |
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140
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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141
daunted
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| 使（某人）气馁，威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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142
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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143
overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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144
ultimatum
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| n.最后通牒 | |
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145
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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146
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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147
smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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148
juggling
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| n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词 | |
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149
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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150
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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151
judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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152
monarchical
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| adj. 国王的，帝王的，君主的，拥护君主制的 =monarchic | |
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153
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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154
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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155
deposing
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| v.罢免( depose的现在分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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156
unwillingness
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| n. 不愿意，不情愿 | |
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157
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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158
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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159
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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160
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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161
expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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162
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163
unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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164
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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165
detraction
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| n.减损；诽谤 | |
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166
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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167
slanders
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| 诽谤，诋毁( slander的名词复数 ) | |
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168
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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169
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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170
utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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171
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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172
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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