known, that the king himself had been carrying on secret negotiations with France, Spain, and the Vatican.1

A parliament had not met in England for twelve years, but now the king was reluctantly compelled to have recourse to one, probably thinking that the treasonable letter of the Covenanters would rouse the national feeling, and lead to a vote for renewing the war. But the indignation of the country had been slowly accumulating against the arbitrary government of the king, and the parliament obstinately refused to grant any supplies, till they had first obtained a redress of their grievances. There was nothing for it but to dissolve the parliament, and dissolved it was. Meanwhile the 2d of June approached, to which the Scottish parliament was prorogued; and though a commission was sent down for a further prorogation, advantage was taken of a technical blunder, and the Estates proceeded to business, enacted into laws the bills which had previously passed the Lords of the Articles, and nominated a committee to carry on the government of the country. The 29th of July came round too, and the Assembly met at Aberdeen. The moderator asked if any Commissioners were present to represent his Majesty, and none appearing, work was begun. An act was passed for demolishing monuments of idolatry; another against witches and charmers; another against revilers of the Covenant; but the most vehement debates regarded private religious meetings conducted by laymen, which had sprung up in different parts of the country, and of which we shall hear more afterwards.2

The Covenanters did not trust to the acts of the parliament and the General Assembly for protection. During the spring and summer their drums had been beating to arms; and the cajoleries of the recruiting-serjeant were seconded by the sermons of the ministers. Such was the spirit of the times that the rich brought their plate and had it melted down for the support of the army, receiving bonds for its repayment subscribed by the nobles. While the parliament and Assembly were yet sitting, the Earl of Argyll and General Munro were carrying the terror of their arms into the north, and ravishing the lands of all who were enemies to the Covenant. By the beginning of August a large army was marching from Edinburgh towards the south, with the renowned Felt-Marshal Leslie at its head.

1

It halted for two or three weeks at

Fall of the Monarchy of Charles I., by Dr S. Rawson Gardiner. 2 Peterkin's Records, p. 279.

Dunse-Law, the place of its former encampment, and then on the 21st of the month boldly crossed the Tweed, the Earl of Montrose being the first to plunge into the stream at the head of the van-guard.

So soon as the Covenanters found themselves upon English soil, they published "Six Considerations of the Lawfulness of their Expedition into England Manifested."1 By the 27th they had reached Newburn upon the Tyne, where Lord Conway was posted to oppose their progress; but on the following day, after a short cannonade, the river was crossed, and the English fled without stopping to fight. On the 30th the Scotch were in possession of Newcastle, where the utmost consternation prevailed, which spread to Durham and even to York, where the king was encamped with an army of about 18,000 men. The Covenanters, however, used their victory with moderation, and confidence was restored. The colliers resumed their labours in the coal-pits; the lighters entered the river to receive their cargoes for the metropolis; and everything went on as usual.

An instance of the kindly feeling which prevailed may be given. The English were unwilling that their young plantations should be cut down to make huts for the army. The Scotch were unwilling to offend them. A deputation was therefore despatched to Edinburgh to explain the difficulty. A sermon on the subject was preached on the Sunday, and on that very afternoon the goodwives of the town brought forth their well-stored webs of linen, and prolonging the pious work till the following day, furnished sufficient to make tents for the Covenanted warriors.2

Having obtained the great success implied in the possession of Newcastle, the commissioners of the late parliament now petitioned the sovereign, through his Secretary for Scotland, the Earl of Lanark, to right their wrongs, and settle a firm and durable peace. About the same time Charles received a petition from a number of his greatest English nobles, begging him to hold a parliament. Thus beset on the right hand and on the left, with a hostile army in the midst of the country, and his peers uniting with his people in wishing for a parliament, he felt it was impossible to resist. He requested the Covenanters to appoint commissioners to meet with fifteen of his English nobility, to negotiate an adjustment of differences. 1 Rushworth's Collections, vol. iii. p. 1223. 2 Baillie, vol. i. p. 255.

He summoned a parliament to meet at Westminster on the 3d of November.1

The negotiators appointed by the king and the Covenanters met at Ripon, and soon arranged that the Scottish army should lie inactive at Newcastle, and that for doing so they should get £850 per day. They were in no hurry to settle matters farther, and as the English peers were anxious to be present in their places in parliament when it met, the negotiations were transferred to London.2

Great events now crowd upon one another. The Long Parliament met; Strafford and Laud were impeached by the Commons; acts were passed, speeches made, and petitions presented, which clearly manifested the determination of the country to narrow the prerogative of the Crown, and either modify the Episcopate, or to pluck it up "root and branch." 3 Meanwhile the Scottish Commissioners were comfortably lodged in the heart of the city, and had the Church of St Antholin's assigned them for the exercise of their worship. Here Henderson, Gillespie, and Baillie preached upon the controverted points between the Episcopalians and Presbyterians, between the Arminians and Calvinists, and thousands upon thousands, Sunday after Sunday, flocked to hear them. Those who could

not find room within besieged the doors and clung to the windows, anxious to catch the faintest echoes of their northern eloquence. Pamphleteering was superadded to preaching, and more than one tract, upon the subject then agitating the English mind, emanated from the pen of the Scottish divines. This, it must be confessed, was worthy of their zeal as apostles of Presbytery, but scarcely in keeping with their character as national negotiators.

At length terms of peace were agreed upon, the chief of which were,―That the acts of the parliament held at Edinburgh in June should be published by his Majesty's authority, and have in all time to come the full strength of laws; that

1 See Peterkin for Documents, pp. 299, 300. Rushworth, vol. iii. pp. 1295-1306.

2

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There was a petition numerously signed by the inhabitants of London presented to the parliament, praying them to remove Episcopacy root and branch." It was generally known as the "Root and Branch Petition."

4

Clarendon, vol. i. p. 150. Baillie, vol. i., where, in several of his letters, he gives an account of the way in which the Commissioners discharged their duties, and presents us with some life-like pictures of the state of society in London at the time, and of the great events which were passing there.

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the Castle of Edinburgh and other strongholds should be furnished and used for the defence of the kingdom, with the advice of the States of parliament: that his Majesty should not employ any one in any office who should be adjudged incapable by sentence of parliament: and that, whereas unity in religion and uniformity in Church government has been desired by the Scots, as a special means for preserving the peace between both kingdoms, his Majesty, with advice of both Houses of Parliament, doth approve of the affection of his subjects of Scotland, in their desire of having a conformity of Church government between the two nations; and as the parliament has already taken into consideration the reformation of Church government, so they will proceed therein in due time, as shall best conduce to the glory of God, the peace of the Church, and both kingdoms.' To these were added an act of oblivion, and a grant to the Scots of £220,000 in name of brotherly assistance. All this was arranged by the middle of December, but it was not till August in the following year that it was ratified and confirmed by the English parliament. The passage of the Tweed by the Covenanting army had effected the great end in view-the Scotch had obtained the overthrow of Episcopacy, and the English had obtained a parliament.

A.D. 1641.

On the 20th of July 1641, a few weeks before the ratification of these Articles, the General Assembly met at St Andrews, and the Earl of Wemyss appeared as his Majesty's Commissioner. On the 27th it was adjourned to Edinburgh at the request of a deputation from the parliament, and Alexander Henderson was once more raised to the moderator's chair. The heart-burnings about private religious meetings were renewed. Some ministers patronised such meetings, others were indignant at them, and the discussions terminated in a very indefinite and ambiguous act. A letter was received from some of the Puritan ministers of England asking the judgment of the Kirk in regard to Presbytery and Independency, and an answer was returned applauding the one and condemning the other. The moderator was commissioned to prepare a catechism, a confession, a directory for worship, and a form of Church government-an index of the growing desire to have a religious conformity with England. While the Assembly was sitting a painful circumstance occurred. A minister from Peebles1 Neal, vol. i. p. 723. Rushworth, vol. iv. p. 373-75.

shire, in walking from Leith to Edinburgh on a Sunday afternoon, quarrelled with a man by the way, and drawing his 'whinger," stabbed him that he died. The minister was hanged for it.1

The parliament of Scotland had already been several times prorogued, on the plea that the treaty of peace was still pending, and that the king intended being present in person when his affairs in England would allow him to visit his native country. Wearied of these repeated prorogations, and impatient to proceed to some matters which they considered to be pressing, the Estates sat repeatedly during the month of July, on the pretence that they would only prepare business for the subsequent approval of the king in his parliament. There were now bitter jealousies, rivalries, and feuds among the nobles themselves. The Earl of Traquair, Sir John Hay, Sir Robert Spottiswood, and some others, were branded as "incendiaries," being blamed for having kindled war between the king and the country. The Marquis of Montrose, Lord Napier, and Stirling of Keir, were stigmatized as "plotters," for having signed a private bond among themselves, which was thought to infringe upon the Covenant. The Earl of Argyll, while worshipped by the many, was vehemently suspected by a few as aiming at a dictatorship in the north. Lord Rothes, who was known as the Father of the Covenant, a man of good presence, pleasing manners, and great ability, but a loose liver, had taken up his residence at the court, had gained the confidence of the king and the heart of the Countess-dowager of Devonshire, and was on the eve of becoming a great and rich man, and probably a renegade, when he died.2 The Earl of Loudon had secretly engaged himself to the king, to escape the doom of a traitor; but this was publicly unknown, and he still kept company with the Covenanters, and it is very doubtful if he was faithful to the private promises he had made. The Marquis of Hamilton had many enemies, and many things were whispered against him. Lord Ker, in a drinking-bout, declared he was a juggler, and a traitor both to his king and his country, and sent him a challenge; and the parliament thought it necessary to pass an act declaring his integrity; and at the same time a Colonel Stewart was hanged, simply for some lies he was said to have told against the Earl of Argyll.

1 Baillie's Letters, &c., vol. i. pp. 362-76. Peterkin's Records, pp. 293-97. 2 Baillie, vol. i. p. 354.