head from my shoulders, but not my heart from my Sovereign."

York.

1

On March 30, the day on which Montrose entered Aberdeen, the King rode into York.2 Already as he had journeyed northwards he had been met by bad news from March 30. The King at Scotland. He would soon learn that Montrose had brought ruin upon his whole plan of operations. The party which Hamilton had promised him in Scotland was incapable of affording any serious assistance. Charles must fall back on Wentworth's plan now. If Scotland was to be conquered, it must be conquered by a purely English force, and he already knew that, if it was comparatively easy to raise the troops which he required, it was a task of enormous difficulty to pay them. The first impulse of every Government in financial straits was to apply to the City of London. In February the citizens February. had therefore been asked for a free contribution. The City After a month's delay it was found that no more than asked for money. 4,8ool. had been paid, in spite of the personal entreaty of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. A fresh and more urgent appeal in March produced a bare 200/. in addition. The whole amount was so small that it was contemptuously refused.3

March.

In spite of this discouraging experience, the demand for a free contribution to be extended to the whole country was agreed upon by the Council in the King's presence Attempts to before he left London. In order to increase the gain popu larity. chance of a favourable response, a proclamation was issued by which a considerable number of the new monopolies. were revoked. Several, however, remained in force, and amongst these were some of the most obnoxious.5 To provide for immediate necessities, the Mastership of the Rolls had been put

1 Gordon, ii. 232. Spalding, i. 168.

2 Coke to Windebank, March 31, S. P. Dom. ccccxv. 78.

3 Common Council Journal Book, Feb. 16, March 15, 21, xxxviii. 208 b; 229, 297. Rossingham's News-Letter, April 2, Add. MSS. 11,045, fol. 9.

The Council to the King, April 5, Melbourne MSS.

5 Rushworth, iii. 910, 915.

1639

THE GENERAL CONTRIBUTION.

7

up to auction. Sir Charles Cæsar bade higher than his competitors, and obtained the prize for 15,000l.1

Sale of the Mastership of the Rolls.

April 9. A general contribution demanded.

On April 9 the request was made to the country at large for the payment of that which, in spite of the Petition of Right, was a benevolence in all but the name. The Council itself was doubtful of success.2 It was a bad omen for the success of the contribution, that ship-money was coming in more slowly than ever. Though only 69,000l. had been required this year, on April 13 the payments had not exceeded 17,000/.3

At the beginning of April, therefore, Charles found himself at York with an insufficient army, and with very little assurance that he would be able to find money to pay even that army for more than a limited time. As news of the disasters in Scotland dropped in, the cry of treachery was Suspicions of lightly raised. Charles himself imagined that the

Want of money.

treachery.

hand of Richelieu was to be seen in all that had occurred. Others threw the blame on the Scots themselves. When the capture of Edinburgh Castle was announced, Dorset told Hamilton in full council that he deserved to lose his head as a traitor. Nothing but treason could be accepted as the explanation of Huntly's tame surrender of Aberdeen. Traquair had no sooner set foot in York than he was placed under arrest for the loss of Dalkeith, though he was set free after a short detention. At the English Court it was impossible to judge fairly of the difficulties of Scottish loyalists abandoned to themselves amidst the waves of a great national movement, it not being the fashion at the English Court to believe that there was any national movement in Scotland at all. Treachery undoubtedly existed; but it was the treachery of the Scottish gentlemen of the bedchamber, who listened to Charles's un

1 Garrard to Conway, March 28, S. P. Dom. ccccxv. 65. Rossingham's News-Letter, April 2, Add. MSS. 11,045, fol. 9.

2 Windebank wrote that the Council had represented the doubts entertained in it ‘considering how ill an operation those' letters 'had which were sent to the City.' Windebank to Coke, April 7, Melbourne MSS. Treasurers of the Navy, April 13, S. P. Dom.

3 Account of the ccccxvii. 90.

guarded talk, and forwarded his secrets to their countrymen across the Border. In this way the Scots received intelligence of every decision almost as soon as it was taken.1

Antrim's proposed expedition.

Wentworth's view of the situation.

the

From Ireland, too, the news was not encouraging. Charles had confidently looked to the Earl of Antrim to land 10,000 men in the Western Highlands in order to overpower Argyle. Wentworth called Antrim before him, cross-examined him as to his means and intentions, and reported to the King that the Earl had neither 10,000 men at his disposal, nor the capacity to guide such a force if it were entrusted to his charge.2 Wentworth's view of the situation was very much what it had been year before. He knew, what Charles did not know, that it was impossible to improvise an army. He considered that Charles's officers were as inexperienced as his men. Looking at Arundel and Holland, he found it hard to understand that men were born great captains and generals.' He did not think that they were likely to become so on a day's warning. The best thing he thought would be for the army to keep the Scots in check on the Borders, attending to its own drill and discipline, whilst the fleet blockaded the Scottish ports. If Berwick and Carlisle were well secured, it might keep our blue bonnet to his own peck of oatmeal-which they say the lay elder is to provide every soldier of, with a satchel to put it in—without tasting of our better fare, lest he might grow too much in love with it.' Such a plan would doubtless require more money than the King had at his disposal. It could not be, however, that Englishmen would grudge five or six months' service at their own cost. When the winter came it would be necessary to think of a constant revenue,' or, in other words, to summon Parliament.3 If only Englishmen had felt towards

1 Con to Barberini, Pennington, April 4.

March 29, Add. MSS. 15,392, fol. 100. Smith to April 8 Arundel to Windebank, April 4, S. P. Dom. ccccxvii. 26, 29. Rossingham's News-Letter, Nov. 23, Add. MSS. 1,105, fol. 14.

2 Wentworth to Windebank, March 20, Strafford Letters, ii. 300.

He had already written: "For Parliament I see not how that can be this summer, it being resolved His Majesty will be at York so early in the

1639

A TEMPTATION OFFERED.

9

the Scottish insurgents as Wentworth felt, there could be no question of the wisdom of his advice.

go to the Firth of Forth.

Charles was too impatient for immediate success to be guided by such counsels. The news of the surrender of Aberdeen reached him on April 4. If it was useless April 4. Hamilton to to send Hamilton to Aberdeen, he might be sent elsewhere. Nothing could eradicate from Charles's mind the notion that, if he could only pierce through the hostile crust, he would find a loyal Scottish nation beneath. Hamilton was therefore to betake himself with his three regiments to the Firth of Forth, to make one more appeal to the people of Scotland against their leaders. It would be long before Charles could be brought to open his eyes to the fact that he was contending against Scotland itself.

April 7.

The new proclamation.

On April 7, therefore, a new proclamation was drawn up to enlighten the eyes of the misguided peasants and tradesmen of Scotland. In it Charles assured his subjects of his intention to stand by the promises made in his name at Glasgow. Nineteen of the leaders-Argyle, Rothes, Montrose, Leslie, and others were excepted from pardon, though a promise was added that if they submitted within four-and-twenty hours after the publication of the proclamation, their cases should be taken into favourable consideration. After that time had elapsed, a price would be set on their heads, to be paid to anyone who put them to death. A free pardon should be granted to all others who had participated in rebellion. More than this, all vassals and tenants of persons in rebellion were to keep their rents in their own hands, one-half to be paid to the King, and the other to be retained by themselves. All tenants of rebels taking the King's side were to receive a long lease of their lands from the Crown at two-thirds of their present rent. Disloyal tenants of a loyal landlord were to be expelled from their holdings. In one respect, this proApril 10. clamation was modified before it was finally issued. Modification The Scots about the King remonstrated against the

of the pro

.clamation.

spring."

ii. 279.

clauses offering a reward for assassination, and he Wentworth to Northumberland, Feb. 10, Strafford Letters,

therefore substituted for them a general threat that all rebels not laying down their arms within eight days would be held to be traitors, and as such to have forfeited their estates and goods. To Hamilton Charles explained his reason for the alteration. "As for excepting some out of the general pardon," he wrote, "almost everyone now thinks that it would be a means to unite them the faster together, whereas there is no fear but that those who are fit to be excepted will do it themselves by not accepting of pardon, of which number I pray God there be not too many.” 1

April 15. Hamilton's troops.

On the 15th Hamilton was at Yarmouth, prepared to take on board his men. He complained bitterly of the rawness of the levies provided for him by the magistrates. Of the whole number no more than 200 had ever had a gun in their hands. The muskets provided were not of the same calibre. Though the men were strong and wellclothed, it could not be expected that they would be fit to take the field with less than a month's training.2

the North.

At York the impression was gaining ground that the conquest of Scotland was not to be effected by proclamations. The forces in On April 19 tidings came that the Scottish army on the Borders would soon be 10,000 strong. Another report declared that Leslie had threatened to meet the King on the Borders to parley with him at the head of 30,000 men. Charles's own forces were now marching in. There had been some disorders on the way. The Essex men had murdered a woman and had plundered houses as they passed. At Boston

a pressed man sent his wife with one of his toes in a handkerchief as evidence that he could not march.3 If, however, there was no enthusiasm for the war, neither was there any distinct animosity against the cause for which the war was fought. Even if the ploughmen and carters of which the army

' Draft Proclamation, April 7, enclosed by Hay to Windebank, April 15. Proclamation, April 25, S. P. Dom. ccccxvii. 94, i., ccccxviii. 50. The King to Hamilton, April 5, 7, 10, Burnet, 119.

2 Hamilton to the King, April 15, 18, Ham. Papers, 72, 73.

3 Lindsey to Windebank, April 6, 7. Windebank to Read, April 19. Norgate to Read, April 19, S. P. Dom. ccccxvii. 41, ccccxviii. 78.