Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/537

Rh LATER STUARTS.] SCOTLAND 513 November) without the royal assent to its Acts. It was evident that the struggle between the king and the Scots would be renewed, and both parties reluctantly had re- course to allies whose choice showed their sense of the crisis. Charles summoned an English parliament ; but the three weeks' session of the Short Parliament was spent in a vain attempt to obtain redress for its own grievances. It separated without granting supplies, and the king had to depend on private loans. The Scots negotiated with the French king; but Richelieu prevented the unnatural alliance of the Catholic king and the Covenanters. The Scots took the first step in the war. The army under Leslie crossed the Tweed and, forcing the passage of the Tyne at Newburn, occupied Newcastle. Charles, who had his headquarters at York, paralysed by the want of money and new demands to summon an English parliament, was driven to accept a truce at Ripon (2d September 1640), under which the Scottish army was to receive a subsidy to relieve the northern counties from contributions. Parliament was summoned to Westminster for 3d November ; but its first act was the impeachment of Strafford. Until a pledge was given by his death that Charles would recognize the limits of monarchy, the Parliamentary leaders thought it safer that the Scots should hold the north of England. Peace was concluded by the Act immediately following that of Strafford's attainder, by which 300,000 was ordered to be raised as "friendly assistance and relief promised to our brethren in Scotland." The king now made up his mind to revisit Scotland, hoping there to find a way out of his English troubles. He had received a letter from MONTROSE (q.v.), urging him to come and gain the Scots by a moderate policy. He came to Edinburgh early in August 1641 and a parliament met under his presidency, when he not only ratified the Acts substituting a Presbyterian for the Episcopal form of church government but sanctioned important reforms. The Lords of the Articles were in future to be elected by each of the three estates separately, the burghs taking the place of the bishops ; the Court of High Commission was abolished ; arbitrary proclamations were prohibited ; the officers of state and the judges were to be chosen with the advice of parliament ; and, following an English Bill, parlia- ment was to meet every third year. During his stay in Scotland occurred "the Incident," still spoken of as mysterious by historians, some of whom liken it to the English incident of the arrest of the five members. Argyll and Hamilton had led the party which carried all the measures of this parliament. Montrose had been com- mitted to the castle by the estates before the arrival of Charles on a charge of plotting against Argyll by false accusations to the king. From his prison he renewed his charges against both Argyll and Hamilton, whom he accused of treason. Charles about this time unwisely attended ] iarliament with an unusual guard of 500 men, which gave Hamilton and Argyll a pretext for asserting that their lives were in danger and to quit Edinburgh. They soon re- turned and a favourable committee of investigation let the matter drop. Argyll was now more powerful than ever. In November the king returned to London, which became during the next year the centre of the events which led to the Civil War. The progress of the Civil War belongs to English history. Here only the part taken by the Scots can be stated. They Avere now courted by king and Parliament alike. The campaign of 1642-43 under Essex proved indecisive, and the Parliament sent commissioners headed by Sir Henry Vane to Edinburgh in the autumn of 1643, who agreed to the "Solemn League and Covenant," already accepted by the Scottish assembly and parliament, and now ratified by the English parliament and the assembly of divines at Westminster. This memorable document, whose name 1639-1647. showed its descent from the National Covenant, bound the parties to it "to preserve the Reformed Church in Scot- land and effect the reformation of that in England and Ireland in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government according to the Word of God and the example of the best Reformed Churches." But the alliance with the Scottish Covenanters did not produce the advantage expected from it. The victory of Marston Moor was due to Cromwell and his Ironsides, who were Puritans and Independents. The Scots, who formed the centre of the Parliamentary army, were repulsed. In the autumn, although the Scots took Newcastle, the king gained ground in the west, where Essex, the general who represented the Presbyterians, narrowly escaped capture. Next year Montrose, in the brilliant campaign on which his military fame rests, made a formidable diversion in the Highlands. With dazzling rapidity, at first supported only by a handful of followers, but gathering numbers with success, he erected the royal standard in Dumfries; then, passing to the Highlands, after the victory of Tippermuir he took Perth, and defeated Lord Lewis Gordon at the Bridge of Dee. Next, after ravaging the county of Argyll, he marched to Inverness, but returned to defeat Argyll at Inverlochy, won further victories at Auldearn near Nairn and Alford on the Don, and by that of Kilsyth appeared to have recovered Scot- land for Charles. The fruit of all these victories was lost by his defeat at Philiphaugh (13th September 1644) by Leslie. Meantime Charles had lost the battle of Naseby, and next year was forced to take refuge at Newark with Leslie, whom he had created earl of Leven. As the result of his surrender he ordered Montrose, who was again raising the Royalists in the Highlands, to lay down his arms ; and the Scottish army in England, no longer on good terms with the Parliament, returned to Newcastle, that, being nearer home, it might dictate the terms of its services. Here it remained eight months, during which a strenuous Charles attempt was made to force Charles to accept the Covenant. V s ? Alexander Henderson argued the matter with him in a singularly temperate correspondence. But the king was Scots. bound to Episcopacy by hereditary sentiment and personal conviction. Another negotiation was going on at the same time between the Scottish army and the English Parlia- ment for arrears of pay. On 30th January 1646 they surrendered the king to the English commissioners, the question of pay having been settled by the receipt of .200,000 a few days before and a like sum a few days after that date. There was no express condition which bound the two circumstances together, but their concur- rence cannot have been accidental. In his captivity Charles renewed his negotiations with the Scottish estates, over which Hamilton had now ac- quired influence, and a compromise was at last agreed to at Newport in the Isle of Wight by which he promised to confirm the League and Covenant by Act of Parliament, to establish Presbyterianism and the Westminster Confes- sion, which as well as the Directory had been adopted by the Scottish parliament for three years. After that period it was to be fixed by the king and parliament what form of church government was most agreeable to the Word of God, and this after consultation with the assembly was to be established. The Scots consented that in the meantime the Covenant should not be enforced on those who had conscientious scruples, and that the king might continue to use the English service. The Covenanters who accepted these terms, and who formed the most moderate section, received the name of Engagers. Relying on the promised support from Scotland, Charles rejected the proposals of the English Parliament. That body had now broken with the army, in which the Independents and Cromwell were XXI. - 65