XXII. CHAP. indefatigable, nearly put an end to the war by the battle of Philiphaugh on the thirteenth. 1645. Displeasure glish. Nothing could be more natural, and perhaps of the En- justifiable, than the proceedings of Leven under these circumstances. It however filled up the measure of the distaste which the leaders of the English parliament had conceived against the military conduct of the Scots. During the whole campaign they had rendered no substantial service, with the single exception of the reduction of Carlisle. They had lived at free quarter, and been guilty of many excesses; and though this was, it may be, the inevitable consequence of the imperfect and irregular way in which they were paid, it did not the less excite vehement outcries against them, and impatience of their presence. Leven's tered in This situation was rendered still more galling army quar- by the retrograde movement of Leven. He proYorkshire. ceeded north as far as Yorkshire, and disposed his army into different quarters from the walls of the city of York to the banks of the Tees". Here his forces answered no other purpose, than to vex and impoverish the peaceable and well disposed inhabitants. The house of commons, irritated at this posture of affairs, made haste to vote that the Scots' army be directed forthwith to march to besiege Newark, and that they should lay no "Journals of Lords, Oct. 15. XXII. 1645. votes of the them. assessments, or levy contributions, in their way. CHAP. For some reason Leven was inattentive to these orders; and strong reports were in circulation that he had engaged in a secret treaty with the king. This led to declarations of a still more Unfriendly unfriendly nature on the part of the English par- parliament liament. They resolved, that the continuance respecting of the Scots' army in the northern parts was not only unserviceable, but prejudicial to the ends for which their assistance had been desired, and destructive to those parts of the kingdom; that their answer, procrastinating the march to besiege Newark, was not satisfactory; and that their laying contributions, and raising money upon the subjects of this kingdom, was contrary to the treaty. The two houses further declared, that the inhabitants were free from any obligation to pay these impositions, and once again demanded that the Scottish garrisons should be removed from Carlisle, Newcastle, and the other fortresses in the north, which they at present heldz sioners in Lord Wharton, and four members of the house Commisof commons, had been appointed in July commis- Scotland. sioners from the parliament of England to treat * Journals of Commons, Sept. 23. Journals of Lords, Oct. 15, 30. 2 Journals of Commons, Oct. 14. Baillie, Vol. II, p. 162. XXII. 1645. CHAP. and conclude with the parliament of Scotland, or the committee of estates for that country. The principal object of their journey seems to have been the northern garrisons. They arrived at Berwick the day after the disastrous field at Kilsyth; but, as the subject of their embassy was an unpalatable one, and as the Scots had for some time too substantial an apology for a want of leisure, they were baffled and delayed till the middle of October, when they met the commissioners of the parliament of Scotland at St. Andrews. But their discussion ended without effecting any real advantage. Leven be ark. At length the misunderstandings between the sieges New- parties were so far healed, that the earl of Leven came with his army and sat down before Newark about the twenty-sixth of November. The earl of London, lord chancellor of Scotland, had strenuously exerted himself for the restoration of harmony between the two nations d. Rooted dis taste of the parliament ary leaders and the Scots. But the seeds of discontent were too deeply sown, for this to be any thing more than a temporary reconciliation. A great part of the present year had been obscurely occupied in the strug • Journals of Commons, July 5, 27. Ibid. Dec. 5. d Baillie, Vol. II, p. 168, 171. XXII. 1645. gles between religious uniformity and toleration; CHAP. and the Scots, in whose eyes toleration was a mischief most of all to be deprecated, intemperately and eagerly took part in these struggles, with the generous desire not only to entail intellectual slavery on themselves, but to impart its blessings undiminished to their neighbours. 62 CHAPTER XXIII. XXIII. ECCLESIASTICAL PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND.- -- -PETITION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF DIVINESOF THE LONDON CLERGY-OF THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF LONDON.-ERRONEOUS PRINCIPLE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS. -FIENNES AND MARTEN RESUME THEIR SEATS IN PARLIAMENT.-GROWING POWER OF THE INDEPENDENTS.-BRADSHAW. CHAP. IT has already been mentioned, that in the autumn of 1644 Cromwel moved for and obtained a committee of the two houses of parliament, to be 1645. Advances leration. towards to- joined with the Scots commissioners and a committee of the assembly of divines, whose business it should be to take into consideration the differences of opinion in point of church-government, and endeavour a union if possible; or, if not, to apply themselves to devise means by which tender consciences might be borne with, consistently with scripture and the public peace. This com See above, Vol. I, p. 381. |