being illegally elected and constituted, and in his majesty's name dissolved it. But, without paying any regard to the dissolution, they still continued to sit and to finish their business All the acts of the assembly, since the accession of James to the crown of England, were upon plausible grounds declared null. The acts of parliament respecting ecclesiastical affairs, were supposed on that very account to have no manner of authority; and thus episcopacy, the high-commission, the liturgy, &c. were abolished as unlawful, and the whole fabric which James and Charles had been rearing with so much care and policy, fell at once to the ground. In the mean time the covenant was ordered to be signed by every one under pain of excommunication.

Ann. 1639.

The covenanters, aware that it would be necessary to maintain their religious tenets by military force, cast their eyes abroad and at home whenceever they could expect any aid or support; and cardinal Richelieu, who was irritated by the wise refusal of Charles to preserve a neutrality, while the Dutch and French attacked the maritime towns of Flanders, now sought revenge by secretly fomenting the commotions in Scotland, through the intrigues of the marquis of Seneterre, the French ambassador, and by the advice of the count d'Estrades, who succeeded him. The covenanters were thus supplied both with money and arms. their chief resource was in their own union, vigour, and abilities. The earl of Argyle, who had long seemed to temporise, at last embraced the covenant and became the chief leader of that party; a man entirely qualified to make a figure in times of factions and disturbances. Many other noblemen dis

But

tinguished themselves in that party. Scotch officers, who had acquired reputation in the German wars, were invited over; forces were regularly enlisted and disciplined, and the command was entrusted to Lesley, an officer of talents and experience. A few castles belonging to the king, being unprovided with garrisons, were soon seized. The fortifications of Leith were carried on with an incredible rapidity. Besides the class of workmen receiving salaries, great numbers of volunteers, noblemen, and gentlemen, put their hand to the work, and deemed the most abject employment to be dignified by the sanctity of the cause. Women too of rank and condition, forgetting the delicacy of their sex and the decorum of their character, mixed with the lowest, and carried on their shoulders the rubbish requisite for completing the fortifications. (The Champ de Mars, near Paris, exhibited exactly the same scenes at the beginning of the French revolution, July 1790.)

Charles, by his economy, had not only paid all the debts contracted during the French and the Spanish wars, but had amassed a sum of two hundred thousand pounds, which he reserved for any sudden exigency. He now obtained, through the credit of the queen over the catholics, large contributions, as a mark of their loyalty. His fleet was formidable, and he entrusted it, with five thousand land forces on board, to the Marquis of Hamilton, who had orders to sail to the Frith of Forth, and to cause a diversion in the forces of the malcontents. An army of nearly twenty thousand foot, and above three thousand horse, was put under the command of the earl of Arundel. The earl of Essex was appointed lieutenant general, and the earl of Holland general of the horse. The king himself joined the army and summoned all the peers of England to

attend him. The whole had the appearance of a splendid court rather than of a military expedition when they arrived at Berwick.

The Scottish army was as numerous as that of the king, but inferior in cavalry. The great difference between them was, that the first was engaged in a national cause, while the latter was retained entirely by pay. Yet so prudent were the leaders of the malcontents that they immediately sent submissive messages to the king, and craved to be admitted to a treaty. The consequences of a defeat while Scotland was enraged and England discontented were so dreadful, that no motive could persuade the king to hazard it. He concluded accordingly a sudden pacification, in which it was stipulated that he should withdraw his fleet and army, that within eight-andforty hours the Scots should dismiss their forces, that the king's forts should be restored to him, his authority acknowledged, a general assembly and a parliament immediately summoned, in order tọ compose all differences.

Charles was induced to adopt this measure by the similarity of disposition which existed between the English and Scottish malcontents. The former, far from being willing to second the king in subduing the free spirit of the Scots, rather pitied them; and they thought that the example of such neighbours, as well as their assistance, might some day be advantageous to England, and encourage her to recover by a vigorous effort her violated laws and liberties.

Charles having so far advanced in pacific measures could not but submit to all tolerable conditions proposed by the assembly and parliament; and so far he adopted this plan, that when they voted episcopacy to be unlawful in the church of Scotland, he was willing to allow it contrary to the constitution of the church. They stigmatised the liturgy and

canons as popish; he simply agreed to abolish them. They denominated the high-commission tyranny; he was content to set it aside. But one step farther he could not prevail with himself to advance. The parliament, which sat after the assembly, raised pretensions which tended to diminish the civil power of the monarch; and they were proceeding to ratify the acts of the assembly, when, by the king's instructions, Traquair, his majesty's commissioner, prorogued them. The war was thus renewed with great advantages on the side of the covenanters, and disadvantages on that of the king, who, from the necessity of his affairs and his want of money, had been obliged to disband his army, which it was not possible to reassemble without great expense and loss of time. The more prudent covenanters on dismissing their troops had ordered the officers to be ready on the first summons, and the religious zeal which animated not only the soldiers, but all ranks of men, made them immediately fly to

arms.

Ann. 16.10.

While soldiers from all sides flocked with alacrity around the standard of the covenanters, the king drew togetherhis army with great difficulty, and soon discovered that his revenue would be insufficient to support them. All his savings, all the illegal methods of taxation he had employed, were exhausted, and great debts contracted; a parliamentary supply was therefore the only remaining resource to continue the war against Scotland. Thus, after above eleven years intermission, a parliament was summoned to assemble, (April 13.) At the opening of the session the lord keeper laid before the assembly the wants of government, and how it was necessary to grant immediate subsidies for the ur

gent demands of the army; he also maintained, that whatever supplies had been levied on his majesty's subjects, had not been exhausted by sumptuous buildings, or any other kind of magnificence, but had been thoroughly employed for their advantage, and like vapours rising out of the earth and gathered into a cloud, had fallen in sweet and refreshing showers on the same fields from which they had at first been exhaled; he concluded by observing, that though the king desired such immediate assistance as might prevent a total disorder in the government, he was far from any intention of precluding them from their right of inquiring into the state of the kingdom, and of addressing him with petitions for the redress of their grievances.

To support his demands by more cogent arguments, Charles laid before the parliament a letter written to the king of France by the Scottish malcontents, and intercepted by the earl of Traquair, the king's commissioner in Scotland. Lord Loudon, commissioner from the covenanters, one of the persons who had signed the treasonable letter, was confined in the tower. The king expected that the assembly, inflamed by the resentment and alarmed by the danger of this application to a foreign power, would not hesitate to vote the supplies which the tranquillity and security of the kingdom so urgently required. But neither this consideration, nor the plausibility of the king's demands, seemed to make any impression on the house of commons. The minds of the people throughout the nation had unfortunately taken such a turn at that time, as to make them consider as the only lovers of their country, the only heroes, the most refractory opposers of any demands or measures of the king and the ministers. The most sagacious leaders of the house began even to foresee and to hope, that by means of the Scottish insurrection the time so long wished