was at a time when his majesty's affairs were far from being desperate; when he thought the divisions in the par liament-house would quickly be their ruin, and that he had little more to do than to sit still and be restored upon his own terms, for which reason he was so unyielding at the treaty of Uxbridge; and yet the earl, by his majesty's commission, granted every thing to the Irish, even to the establishing the Roman catholic religion, and putting it on a level with the protestant; he gave them all the churches and revenues they were possessed of since the rebellion, and not only exempted them from the jurisdiction of the protestant clergy, but allowed them jurisdiction over their several flocks, so that the reformed religion in that kingdom was in a manner sold for ten thousand Irish papiste to be transported into England, and maintained for three years. Let the reader now judge, what prospect there could be of a well-grounded peace by the treaty of Uxbridge! What security there was for the protestant religion! How little ground of reliance on the king's promises! and consequently, to whose account the calamities of the war, and the misery and confusions which followed after this period, ought to be placed. The day before the commencement of the treaty of Uxbridge, the members of the house of commons attended the funeral of Mr. John White chairman of the grand committee of religion, and publisher of the century of scandalous ministers; he was a grave lawyer (says lord Clarendon) and made a considerable figure in his profession. He had lating every principle of honor and conscience. Mr. Hume, on the contrary, speaks of it as a very innocent transaction, in which the king was engaged by the most violent necessity. Dr. Birch considers it with temper, though he appears to think it not easily reconcileable to the idea of a good man, a good prince, or a good protestant. Mr. Walpole has some candid and lively reflections on it. "It requires,” he observes, "very primitive resignation in a monarch to sacrifice his 6 crown and his life, when persecuted by subjects of his own sect, rather than preserve both by the assistance of others of his subjects who differed from him in ceremonials or articles of belief.-His fault was not in proposing to bring over the Irish, but in having made them necessary to his affairs. Every body knew, that he wanted to do without them, all that he could have done with them." Biographia Britannica, 2d edit. vol. ii. p. 321. note. Ed. See Rushworth, vol, vi. p. 239, &c. Rapin, 330. Hist. Stuarts, 805. been one of the feoffees for buying in impropriations, for which he was censured in the star-chamber. He was representative in parliament for the borough of Southwark; having been a puritan from his youth, and, in the opinion of Mr. Whitlocke,* an honest, learned, and faithful servant of the public, though somewhat severe at the committee for plundered ministers. He died Jan. 29, and was buried in the Temple church with great funeral solemnity.§ Memorials, p. 122. 6 Dr. Grey on the authority of Walker, "charges Mr. White with corrupt practices by the way of bribery; says that Dr. Bruno Ryves 'called him a fornicating Brownist, and that the author of Persec Un'dec. suggests much worse against him; and, on the testimony of an 'anonymous author, represents him as dying distracted. crying out, how many clergymen, their wives and children he had undone; raving and 'condemning himself at his dying hour, for his undoing so many guiltless 'ministers." Such representations carry little weight with them against the testimony of Clarendon and Whitlocke: especially, when it is considered that the obnoxious part, which Mr. White acted, would necessarily create many enemies; some of whom would invent and others eagerly credit, the most reproachful calumnies against him. Dr. Calamy and Mr. Withers, whom Dr. Grey never notices, have suffieiently exposed the partiality and credulity of Dr. Walker, to render his assertions suspicious. And it should not be overlooked, as a strong presumption at least of the purity of Mr. White's character and the integrity of his proceedings, that he appealed to the public by his "Centuries of Scandalous Ministers." Ed. CHAP. VI. The Progress of the War. Debates in the Assembly about Ordination. The Power of the Keys. The divine Right of Presbyterian Government. Committees for Comprehension and Toleration of the Independents. THE king's commissoners had been told at the treaty of Uxbridge, that the fate of the English monarchy depended upon its success; that if the treaty was broken off abruptly, there were a set of men in the house, who would remove the earl of Essex, and constitute such an army as might force the parliament and king to consent to every thing they demanded, or change the government into a commonwealth; whereas, if the king would yield to the necessity of the times, they might preserve the general, and not only disappoint the designs of the enemies to monarchy, but soon be in circumstances to enable his majesty to recover all he should resign. However, the commissioners looked upon this as the language of despair, and made his majesty believe the divisions at Westminster would soon replace the sceptre in his own hands.* The house of commons had been dissatisfied with the conduct of the earls of Essex and Manchester last summer, as tending to protract the war, lest one party should establish itself upon the ruins of the other; but the warmer spirits in the house, seeing no period of their calamities this way, apprehended a decisive battle ought to be fought as soon as possible, for which purpose, after a solemn fast, it was moved that all the present officers should be discharged, and the army intrusted in such hands as they could confide in. Dec. 9, it was resolved, that no member of either house should execute any office civil or military, during the present war; accordingly the ordinauce, com *Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 595. monly called the selfdenying ordinance, was brought in, and passed the commons ten days after, but was laid aside by the lords till after the treaty of Uxbridge, when it was revived and carried with some little opposition. The earls of Essex, Manchester, Warwick, and Denbigh, the lord Roberts, Willoughby, and others, were dismissed by this ordinance, and all members of the house of commons, except lieutenant-general Cromwell, who after a few months was dispensed with, at the request of the new general. All the regiments were disbanded, and such only listed under the new commanders as were determined to conquer or die. Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed general,‡ and Oliver Cromwell, after some time, lieutenant-general; the clause for preservation of the king's person was left out of sir Thomas's commission; nor did it run in the name of the king and parliament, but of the parliament only. The army consisted of twenty-one thousand resolute soldiers, and was called in contempt by the royalists the new-modelled army; but their courage quickly revenged the contempt. Sir Thomas Fairfax was a gentleman of no quick parts or elocution; but religious, faithful, valiant, and of a grave, sober, resolved disposition; neither too great, nor too cunning to be directed by the parliament.* Oliver Cromwell was more bold and aspiring; and being a soldier of undaunted courage and intrepidity, proved at length too powerful for his masters. The army was more at his disposal than at Fairfax's, and the wonders they wrought sprung chiefly from his counsels. S" Thus almost all those men, by whose interest, power, and authority, the war with the king had been undertaken, and without whom no opposition, of any weight, could possibly have been raised, were in a short time deprived of their power and influence over their own 'army, and obliged, as we shall soon see, to truckle before them. So little can men see into futurity! so different are the turns things take, from what men are apt to expect and depend on." Dr. Harris's Life of Oliver Cromwell, p. 118. Sir Thomas Fairfax's power extended to the execution of martial law, and the nomination of the officers under him. The army was put solely under the command of one man. "What was this," it has been properly asked, "but to put it into his power to give law to the parliament, whenever he thought fit." Dr. Harris, ut supra. Ed. * Baxter's Life, p. 48. When the old regiments were broken, the chaplains, being discharged of course, returned to their cures; and as new ones were formed, the officers applied to the parlia ment and assembly for a fresh recruit; but the presbyterian ministers being possessed of warm benefices, were unwilling to undergo the fatigues of another campaign, or, it may be, to serve with men of such desperate measures.This fatal accident proved the ruin of the cause in which the parliament were engaged; for the army being destitute of chaplains, who might have restrained the irregular ities of their zeal, the officers set up for preachers in their several regiments, depending upon a kind of miraculous assistance of the divine spirit, without any study or preparation; and when their imaginations were heated, they gave vent to the most crude and undigested absurdities; nor did the evil rest there, for from preaching at the head of their regiments, they took possession of the country pul pits where they were quartered, till at length they spread the infection over the whole nation, and brought the regu lar ministry into conterapt. Most of the common soldiers were religious and orderly, and when released from duty spent their time in prayer and religious conferences, like men who carried their lives in their hands; but for want of prudent and regular instruction, were swallowed up in the depths of enthusiasm. Mr. Baxter therefore observes very justly, "It was the ministers that lost all by forsak ing the army, and betaking themselves to an easier and quieter way of life. When the earl of Essex's army went out, each regiment had an able chaplain, but after 'Edge-Hill fight most of them went home, and left the army to their own conduct." But, even after the decisive battle of Naseby, he admits, great numbers of the officers and soldiers were sober and orthodox; and from the little good which he did whilst among them, concludes, that if their ministers would have followed his measures, the king, the parliament, and religion, might have been saved.§ The new-modelled troops were kept under the severest discipline, commissioners being appointed to take care that the country was not oppressed; that no soldiers were quar Baxter's Life, p. 51, 56. |