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Legends of

William
Hanna & Joseph
Barbera
 Legends of Animation

Tex Avery:
Hollywood’s Master of Screwball Cartoons

Walt Disney:
The Mouse that Roared

Matt Groening:
From Spitballs to Springfield

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera:

The Sultans of Saturday Morning
Legends of

William
Hanna & Joseph
Barbera
The Sultans of Saturday Morning

Jeff Lenburg
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera: The Sultans of Saturday Morning

Copyright © 2011 by Jeff Lenburg

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the
publisher. For information contact:

Chelsea House
An Infobase Learning Company
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lenburg, Jeff.
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera : the sultans of Saturday morning/Jeff Lenburg.
— 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Legends of animation)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60413-837-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-60413-837-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4381-3754-4 (e-book) 1. Hanna, William, 1910–2001—Juvenile
literature. 2. Barbera, Joseph—Juvenile literature. 3. Animators—United States—
Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Title: Sultans of Saturday morning. III.
Series.
NC1766.U52H36355 2011
741.5’80922—dc22
[B] 2010051582

Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk
quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call
our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755.

You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at

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Text design by Kerry Casey

Cover design by Takeshi Takahashi
Composition by EJB Publishing Services
Cover printed by Yurchak Printing, Landisville, Penn.
Book printed and bound by Yurchak Printing, Landisville, Penn.
Date printed: May 2011

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of
publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links
may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.
 To my dear friend, spiritual mentor,
and a pretty decent racquetball player,
Carolyn Lygo, for your love, support, and inspiration over the years.
 CONTENTS
Y
Acknowledgments 9

1╇╇ The Accidental Artist 11

2╇╇ The Incessant Doodler and Dreamer 21
3╇╇ Chasing Their Cartoon Dreams 32
4╇╇ Fathering Filmdom’s Most Famous 47
Cat and Mouse
5╇╇ Blazing a New Path 73
6╇╇ Conquering Prime-time with America’s 93
Favorite Prehistoric Family
7╇╇ Changing the Face of Saturday 110
Morning Television
8╇╇ New Beginnings 131

Selected Resources 153

Selected Bibliography 157
Index 159
About the Author 167
 Acknowledgments
Y
F irst and foremost, my sincere thanks to two legends of animation
and friends—the late William Hanna and Joseph Barbera—for
sharing their recollections with me originally for my formative chapter
on their careers in my book The Great Cartoon Directors, the foundation
for this book, and for subsequent chats with them without whom this
project would not have been possible.
Many thanks to the staffs of the Margaret Herrick Library of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Archives of Per-
forming Arts and the Regional History Collections at the University of
Southern California, the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive of
the University of California, Los Angeles Public Library, the Museum of
Modern Art, and Arizona State University West Fletcher Library for their
personal assistance and contributions of additional research necessary
for the successful completion of this project.
Also, my profuse gratitude to the following newspapers, trade
publications, and journals: The Guardian (London), Hartford Courant,
Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Observer (London), Washington
Post, Box Office, Hollywood Reporter, Film Daily, Motion Picture Herald,
Variety, Animation Magazine, Film Comment, Funnyworld, Griffithiana,
and Mindrot, for their extensive coverage of noteworthy facts and
information, which I found of great value in writing and researching
this biography.
Lastly, my thanks to many others personally involved throughout
the various stages of this project over the years, namely Hanna-Barbera

9
10 Legends of Animation

Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Turner Entertainment, Cartoon

Network, and to my editor, James Chambers, for his unwavering sup-
port and enthusiasm throughout.
1
The Accidental Artist

O ne of film and television’s most prolific and celebrated partner-

ships, they rocketed to the top after dreaming up a menacing
cat and cherubic mouse, known as Tom and Jerry, in 114 outrageous
slapstick theatrical cartoons throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Produc-
ing roars of laughter and unmitigated critical acclaim, this creative duo
earned a record 13 single-series Oscar nominations (and two more
for unrelated shorts), winning seven gold statuettes—a feat to which
no other animator or director can lay claim. As the largest American
producer of animated entertainment and with a studio bearing their
names, this eight-time Emmy-winning duo also produced more than
3,000 half-hours of cartoons—some 300 productions in all—including
119 animated series, 87 live-action and animated specials, eight fea-
ture films, 18 made-for-television films, and seven direct-to-video mov-
ies, featuring the likes of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw
McGraw, The Flintstones, Top Cat, The Jetsons, Space Ghost, Josie and
the Pussycats, Scooby-Doo, and countless others, that have entertained
generations and left an indelible mark on American pop culture. For
their rich legacy of achievements and profound impact on the world,
these two milestone makers will never be forgotten. Their names are
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

11
12 Legends of Animation

The businessman of the two, William (Bill) Hanna, was born on

July 14, 1910, in Melrose, New Mexico, to his father, William John
Hanna, and his mother, Avice Joyce, of Irish decent, whose maiden
name was Denby. Her father, T. B. S. Denby, was a circuit judge in the
territory of New Mexico. Bill was the third of seven children, including
six sisters, Lucille, Connie, Norma, Marion, Evelyn, and Jessilee, and the
only son in the family that he once described as “very close,” without
the usual sibling rivalry. His dad was easygoing and independent; his
mother kind and generous and the strict disciplinarian of the two.
Throughout Bill’s childhood, William was the sole breadwinner
while Avice, a “formidable pioneer and a woman of true grit,” as Bill
once put it, was a stay-at-home mother who ran the entire household,
cooking and cleaning, like many women back then did. As a superinten-
dent for the Thomas Haverty Company, William oversaw the construc-
tion and development of water and sewer systems throughout most of
the Western United States. Some of Bill’s happiest memories growing
up were accompanying his father to work and watching him in action.
William’s work, however, kept him away from home for long periods of
time. So the burden of rearing all seven children often fell on Avice, a
warm-hearted woman and devout Christian with a firm resolve to raise
them, as Bill once stated, as “God-fearing, kindly, industrious people,”
and who made her children attend church every Sunday.
From the dustbowl of New Mexico, Bill and his family moved to
the soggy and lushly forested and grassy meadowlands of Baker City,
Oregon, in the upper northern region of the state, when he was three
years old. William was assigned to supervise construction of the Balm
Creek Dam located in the Whitman National Forest. The family lived
in a modest home on 10 sprawling acres that included a chicken house
and homegrown crops, such as corn. One of Bill’s proudest moments,
knowing his dad played a role in the dam’s completion, was watching a
stream of swarming trout in a stock pond that crewmen created on one
side of the dam. “You could literally reach in and grab the fish for your
supper,” he recalled.
In 1915, when he was five, Bill’s family moved a third time, this
time to Logan, Utah, where William landed work as a supervisor for
 The Accidental Artist 13

construction of a new railroad station in town. That year, Bill entered

first grade while his six other sisters were also enrolled in the local
school, just a few blocks from their home. Always a curious child,
although he rarely caused trouble, Bill’s curiosity got the best of him
one time in 1917. After eying a bird’s nest high up in a tree, he decided
to climb the tree to see it up close. He encountered something he did
not expect: a huge spider web and a big spider. Panic-stricken, he fell
to the ground, breaking his arm in the process.
That same year, the Hanna family was on the move again. Accept-
ing the position of supervisor with the Thomas Haverty Company, Wil-
liam relocated them to California. With young Bill’s arm wrapped in a
sling, they boarded the train bound for California and made San Pedro
their home for the next two years. Like a family whose mother or father
served in the military, they never stayed in one place long. They fre-
quently changed residences before renting a cottage on 69th Street in
Los Angeles, and later, in 1919, a small house at 9523 Anzac Avenue in
Watts, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Bill made friends easily wherever they lived. Such was the case in
Watts, where he developed close friendships with three boys his age:
G. D. Atkinson, Bill Tweedy, and Jack Ogden. Encouraged by his par-
ents, he joined the Boy Scouts, Troop 2 of the Watts District, with his
fellow 12-year-old friends. They enjoyed exciting excursions with other
scout members, such as going to the beach, hiking up the Cahuenga
Pass, and camping outdoors in the famous Hollywood Hills, while
learning many important life-lessons and a fundamental set of prin-
ciples, including the all-important Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared.”

Respecting the Value of Hard Work

Throughout his childhood, Bill maintained a close-knit relationship
with his father. He continued spending time with him on the job with
his crew, working as a water boy, and later as a laborer on different
construction sites. One thing that became apparent to Bill was the
close bond his father had with his crew, like extended members of his
family, and the love and respect they had for him. As Bill later said,
14 Legends of Animation

“I grew accustomed from a very young age to finding a job, learning and
respecting manual labor, and making my own money.”
As a result, Bill appreciated the value of money and hard work,
never taking anything for granted. With his dad allowing him the sense
of independence few teenagers had in those days, he often went alone
to the local theater to catch the latest silent motion picture. For the
price of a 10-cents admission, he watched the likes of Charlie Chaplin,
Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford, major screen stars in their day,
on the big screen, along with many animated cartoon shorts preceding
the main feature.
One of Bill’s favorite cartoon characters was Felix the Cat, whose
onscreen antics and personality were both funny and Chaplinesque.
As he said, it became his “first exposure to what would later popularly
become known in the animation industry as ‘personality animation’”
and “made moviegoing a real event for me.”
Thanks to the support and encouragement of their parents, Bill and
his sisters followed “our own interests and developed whatever talents
we felt God had given us.” Creativity ran deep in his family. Avice was
a prolific writer. She wrote many beautiful poems and essays, mostly
spiritual in nature. Although her work was never published, her liter-
ary aspirations rubbed off on two of Bill’s sisters. Norma, the young-
est, would later publish several essays and articles in various religious
publications and enjoy a successful writing career. His aunt also wrote
Westerns for radio.
Unlike them, however, Bill had yet to find his creative niche, but
the artistic endeavors of his mother and two sisters left a lasting impres-
sion on him. He took up the practice of writing his own verses and
poems on paper (“whimsical little things about cats and mice, boys and
girls, good feelings and hope,” he later said). He enjoyed the rhythm
and rhyme of writing and kept composing more verses and occasional
poems, developing a simultaneous interest in music. During his ado-
lescence, he took both piano and saxophone lessons and later studied
piano composition while in high school. Bill also became well versed
in drawing. He exhibited his earliest cartoon skills in the school’s paper
 The Accidental Artist 15

with his fellow classmate Irven Spence, who later became a fellow ani-
mator when they both worked at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Even so, Bill never thought of music or writing as a serious career.
Nor did he intend to become an artist. Instead, he favored mathematics
and journalism and sports in high school, and did not have a clear idea
of what profession he wanted to pursue or what he wanted to do with
his life. He knew this much for certain: He did not want to follow in his
father’s footsteps and become a construction supervisor.
After graduating from Compton High School in 1929, the strap-
ping 18-year-old teen enrolled at Compton Junior College, majoring in
journalism. That same year, the Great Depression struck, causing one of
the worst economic disasters in America’s history. With the country in
such peril, Bill was forced to drop out of college and find a job. By this
time, William had retired from his job with the Thomas Haverty Com-
pany, so nobody in his family was employed. That all changed when
C. L. Peck, a contractor who had previously worked with his father,
offered his dad a job as a crew supervisor overseeing construction of the
Pantages Theater in Hollywood. He accepted and moved them to Holly-
wood, where they rented a small house, and he also managed to get
his son a job with the company working with the structural engineers.
The job entailed straddling scaffolds crossing girded steel beams several
stories high. Bill did not last long on the job. One day, he stumbled and
fell one story and broke his arm and ended up in the hospital. He real-
ized afterward that he had better seek a career in which he used his head
instead of doing physical labor.
Six months later, after the palatial art deco–styled Pantages The-
atre at Hollywood and Vine was completed, Bill was once again unem-
ployed. Driving around downtown Hollywood in his slick 1925 Ford
Coupe that he had bought with money saved from previous jobs, he
inquired about work. But, as he once wrote, every day he ran into the
same scenario—lots of “Heads shaking, apologies, nothing, nothing,
nothing.”
One afternoon, a service station operator on Sunset Boulevard, who
had spotted Bill making his usual daily rounds for work, approached
16 Legends of Animation

him when he pulled in and offered him a job washing cars. Grateful for
the opportunity, he worked that job for about a week until one evening
in 1930, when he met Jack Stevens, a young man who was dating his
sister Marion. Stevens worked for a company called Pacific Title & Art
Studio, owned by Leon Schlesinger. Schlesinger had under contract two
former Disney animators, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, to produce
the studio’s early Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons for which
Schlesinger served as producer. Stevens had heard Harman and Ising
were hiring people and he recommended Bill look them up.
Desperate for a better paying job, Bill hopped in his Ford Coupe
and maneuvered through heavy traffic to the tiny Harman-Ising Studio,
located on the second floor of a white stucco building on Hollywood
Boulevard. At this point, he still had not decided on pursuing a career
as an artist and the job he sought was another manual labor position:
studio janitor.
After entering the studio, Bill was interviewed by Ray Katz, head
of personnel. Katz liked him so much that he introduced him to Har-
man and Ising, who offered him the job. Earning $18 a week, he started
the next day. Having developed a strong sense of rhyme from writing
occasional poems and verses, Bill felt the names of his new bosses had
a nice ring to them, “Harmonizing.” He looked at that as a good omen
of things to come.

Learning His Craft

Bill did not sweep floors and empty wastebaskets for long. A short time
after joining the studio, he was promoted to the entry-level position
of cel washer in the ink and paint department, where he washed the
ink and paint off acetate cels used to animate cartoons. A few weeks
later, he was promoted again to head of the department to supervise
a team of seven women. Working his way up the studio ladder, Bill
gained a firsthand understanding of the entire process of how cartoons
were made—from developing storylines and storyboards, to inking and
coloring around 6,000 drawings, to graphically telling the story in a
single seven-minute cartoon. Many of the cartoons he worked on were
 The Accidental Artist 17

Bill (right) is pictured with his partner Joe Barbera after their teaming
in 1939 to create their famous cat-and-mouse cartoon characters for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Tom and Jerry.

early Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros., starring a little
black boy, Bosko, and his girlfriend, Honey. The first 35-millimeter ani-
mated cartoon he saw in finished form directed by Ising, using a small
projector called a Movieola, was the first Warner Bros. cartoon—and
never-released pilot for the Bosko series—Sinkin’ in the Bathtub.
The whole medium of animation and the work that Ising did
intrigued Bill to the point where he started staying extra hours after
work to spend more time with the pioneer animator. One thing led to
another, with him working his day job in the ink and paint department
and then at night (until midnight) with Ising, developing material for
18 Legends of Animation

his latest cartoon. Bill offered him his ideas, suggestions, and gags to
use in his cartoons. Soon he was working with both Harman and Ising
outside his usual job description, writing whimsical title songs they
incorporated into some of their early Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
He also put his knowledge of music and rhythm to good use by assist-
ing Harman with the timing or synchronization of some of the scenes
in their productions. As a result, Bill gained a tremendous appreciation
besides hands-on experience in all facets of the making of cartoons.
In 1933, his third year with the studio, Bill ran into a little trouble
with his bosses. At the time, Ising hired his girlfriend, Irene Hamilton,
to work under Bill in the ink and paint department. Her hiring seemed
fine until he learned Ising was paying her an unheard of $60 a week, far
and above the meager $37.50 they were paying him to do the same job.
Such injustice did not set well with Bill, who drove to Walt Dis-
ney Studios to apply for a job as the head of its ink and paint depart-
ment. Personnel dispatched him to meet with Disney himself. During
the course of their interview, he explained his dilemma. The whole time
the rail-thin mustachioed animator sat silently as Bill did most of the
talking until finally he spoke up. “Well, I’ll tell you, Bill,” he said, “We
already have a girl in our ink and paint department who’s doing a hell
of a good job. I suggest you go back and tell Rudy about your problem
and I’ll bet you that you get your money.”
Right after his meeting, Disney must have called Ising to tip him
off. As soon as Bill returned to Harman-Ising Studios and Ising spotted
him, he told him, “Bill, you’re going to get your raise. From now on
you’ll be drawing $60 a week.”
Being single and almost 21 years of age, Bill now made more money
than he had ever dreamed of. On weekends, he visited his parents and
sisters at home, and occasionally dated. Due to his recent raise, he also
helped supplement his parents’ income and moved them into a much
larger apartment than the one he occupied by himself.
By March 1933, that all changed when Leon Schlesinger ended his
agreement with Harman-Ising to produce cartoons for him and Warner
Bros. He took many of their employees with him to work at his studio
on the Warner’s lot. Bill was one of the loyal few who stayed behind
 The Accidental Artist 19

among a small staff Harman and Ising retained. He survived some very
lean times by doing occasional, small animation jobs. This went on until
Harman and Ising signed a deal, announced in the Hollywood Reporter
on January 4, 1934, after animator Ub Iwerks’ deal expired, to produce
cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), starting that February.
In recognition of his loyalty, Harman and Ising provided Bill, a
more mature 23 years of age, with opportunities to make his own car-
toons utilizing his innate writing, animating, and timing skills to direct
his own projects. The first cartoon he directed was To Spring, a seven-
minute short celebrating springtime, which he produced in association
with esteemed animator Paul Fennell. Bill was beyond thrilled when he
held the finished nitrate film in his hands and his name flickered across
the small screen of the Movieola, “Directed by William Hanna.”
Harman and Ising had hoped that by giving Bill the chance to
direct they would be able to increase the volume of their productions,
but such was not the case. They had acquired a reputation in the indus-
try for being slow in delivering the number of cartoons MGM had con-
tracted them to produce. Eventually this would work against them.
In the meantime, Bill’s young life was about to change for the bet-
ter. Mo Caldwell, one of the studio’s writers, introduced him to the
twin sister of a girl he was dating, Violet Wogatzke. She worked as a
secretary for a Los Angeles insurance company, and he suggested they
go on a double date. Bill agreed. The moment he set eyes on the petite
brown-haired beauty, he was smitten. Violet was three years younger
than him, but Bill was captivated by her self-assuredness, intelligence,
and independence, and another important thing they had in common:
their love of family.
On August 7, 1936, after a year-long courtship, they were married
in a simple ceremony at Immaculate Conception Church. The reception
was held at a restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard before they embarked
on a two-week honeymoon to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.
From the beginning and throughout their married life, Violet doted
on Bill and was supportive of Bill’s career in animation. After their hon-
eymoon, Bill decided to pursue opportunities to direct his own car-
toons in earnest. He spoke to Harman and Ising of his pent-up desire
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and no other memory preserved of their rebellion but in their
memorable and infamous defeat." That is, there would have been no
Scottish traitors about him to keep him misinformed. This is just as
true as the treasury being well furnished, for we know that Hamilton
and Traquair kept the king punctually informed of everything the
whole time. "If," however, Charles had more wisely chosen his
generals,—but Arundel, his general, was a man, says this veracious
historian, "who had nothing martial about him but his presence and
his looks, and therefore was thought to be made choice of for his
negative qualities. He did not love the Scots; he did not love the
Puritans; which good qualities were allayed by another negative—he
did love nobody else." The lieutenant-general, the Earl of Essex, was
too proud and uncompromising, and the Earl of Holland, general of
the horse, was just no general at all, "a man fitter for a show than a
field." Yet, says Clarendon, "If the king himself had stayed at
London, or, which had been the next best, kept his court and resided
at York, and sent the army on its proper errand, and left the matter
of the war solely to them, in all human reason his enemies had been
speedily subdued." With such generals as Arundel and Holland—for
Essex was a brave commander, though, as afterwards appeared, no
great tactician—it is not so easy to see that. But Clarendon might
have safely reduced all his "ifs" into one—if Charles had been a wise
king he would not have got into a quarrel with his subjects at all.
With such generals, and an army of raw levies, hastily dragged
reluctantly from the plough and the mattock, to fight in a cause with
which they had no sympathy, and encumbered by heaps of useless
nobles and gentry, Charles marched on to Berwick, and encamped
his forces on an open field called the Birks. He had besides the
garrison of Berwick three thousand two hundred and sixty horse,
and nineteen thousand six hundred and fourteen foot. But, on the
other hand, Leslie, says Clarendon, had drawn up his forces on the
side of a hill at Dunse, so as to make a great show. "The front only
could be seen, but it was reported that Leslie and the whole army
were there; and it was very true, they were all there indeed—but it
was as true that all did not exceed the number of nine thousand
men, very ill armed, and mostly country fellows, who were on the
sudden got together to make that show." Leslie, he informs us, had
so dispersed his knot of ragamuffins, with great herds of cattle on
the hills around, that it was naturally supposed that there was a
large army, the bulk of it concealed behind the hill; and he assures
us that had the royal army pushed forward the whole illusion would
have vanished.
This account is as thoroughly opposed to all the credible historians
of the time, Rushworth, Nalson, Burnet, Baillie, and the letters of
distinguished persons engaged, as the whole array of "ifs." We are
assured that Leslie had pitched his camp at Dunglas, and twelve
thousand volunteers had crowded to his standard. The preachers
everywhere called on their hearers to advance the cause of God and
the Kirk. Those in the camp wrote and disseminated letters to the
same effect. One demanded that every true Scot should go forward
to extort a reasonable peace from the king, or to do battle with his
and their common enemies, the prelates and papists of England.
Another denounced the curse of Meroz on all who did not come to
the help of the Lord, and of His champions. Another ironically bade
those who would not fight for God and their country to bring spades
and bury the saints whom they had abandoned to the swords of the
Amalekites. They had chosen for the motto on their banners the
words, "For Christ's Crown and the Covenant," and over every
captain's tent waved the arms of Scotland and these words. Soldiers
therefore flocked in on all sides to the sacred standard, and by the
time that Leslie marched for Dunse Hill his army numbered nearly
twenty thousand men, many of them new to arms, but all
enthusiastic patriots. Twice a day they were summoned by sound of
drum to drill and to sermon; and when they were not listening to the
exciting harangues of the ministers, they were solacing themselves
with singing psalms and reading the Scriptures, or with extempore
prayer. "Had you lent your ear," says one of them, "and heard in the
tents the sounds of some singing psalms, some praying, some
reading Scripture, you would have been refreshed. For myself, I
never found my mind in better temper than it was. I was as a man
who had taken leave from the world, and was resolved to die in that
service without return. I found the favour of God shining upon me,
and a sweet, meek, humble, yet strong and vehement spirit leading
me all along."
Leslie was joined by the Earl of Montrose, who had been posted at
Kelso, and the first of their proceedings was to issue proclamations,
declaring that they had no intention to invade England if their
reasonable demands were granted; and that their only object was to
obtain from the king the confirmation of his promises for the free
enjoyment of their religion. Whatever was done in the Scottish camp
was freely circulated in the royal camp, for they had plenty of friends
there, and the strength, the spirits, and resolution of their army
were abundantly set forth daily.
It was the fortune of the Earl of Holland to lead the way first against
them. He passed the Tweed near Twizel, where the English army
had crossed to the battle of Flodden, and advanced towards the
detachment of the army near Kelso. He had with him the bulk of the
horse and about three thousand infantry. As if no enemy had been in
the country, he trotted on with his horse, till he found himself on the
hill of Maxwellhaugh, above Kelso, and not only saw the tents of the
enemy, but his way barred by an advanced post of one hundred and
fifty horse and five or six thousand foot. He then discovered that his
foot and artillery were three or four miles behind. On this he sent a
trumpet to the enemy, commanding them not to cross the Border, to
which they replied by asking whose trumpet that was, and being told
the Earl of Holland's, they said the earl had better take himself off;
which it appears he lost no time in doing, and rode back to the
general camp without striking a blow. The Scots, when they saw him
retreating, sent after him a number of squibs and letters of ridicule,
which were speedily circulated through the English army. The
generals wrote letters to Essex, Holland, and Arundel, entreating
them to intercede with the king that matters might be
accommodated without bloodshed. Essex is said to have sent on
their letters to the king without a word of reply to their messengers.
Arundel and Holland were more gracious.
 CHARLES AND THE SCOTTISH COMMISSIONERS. (See p. 578.)
During this marching and countermarching it was that Leslie had
posted his army on Dunse Hill, opposite Charles's camp, and the
king, who had hitherto despised the Scottish force, now felt alarmed
at their close proximity, and the hasty retreat of Holland. He blamed
Lord Arundel for giving him no notice of the approach of the rebels,
Arundel blamed the scout-master, and the scout-master blamed the
scouts. There were earthworks suddenly thrown up to protect his
camp and intimation given that overtures would be listened to.
Accordingly, on the 6th of June, 1639, the Earl of Dunfermline,
attended by a trumpet, arrived in the royal camp, bearing a humble
petition to his majesty, entreating him to appoint a few suitable
persons to confer with a deputation from the Scots, so that all
misunderstandings might be removed, and the peace of the kingdom
preserved. The petition was received, for besides the ill-success of
Holland, the ill-success of Hamilton and his fleet was notorious; and
it was, moreover, rumoured that the mother of Hamilton, a most
zealous covenanter, had paid him a visit on board his vessel, and
that he was much disinclined by her persuasions to press the Scots
closely. There were daily rumours of a descent from Ireland, on the
other hand and of a rising of the Royalists in the Highlands under
Lord Aboyne, son of the Earl of Huntly, which rendered the
Covenanters more desirous of an accommodation. On the part of the
Crown the Earls of Essex, Holland, Salisbury, and Berkshire, Sir
Henry Vane, and Mr. Secretary Coke, were appointed commissioners;
on that of the Covenanters the Earls of Rothes and Dunfermline, the
Lord Loudon, and Sir William Douglas, sheriff of Teviotdale. To these
afterwards, much to the displeasure of the king, were added
Alexander Henderson, late moderator of the assembly, and
Johnstone, the clerk-register. They met in Arundel's tent; but before
they could proceed to business, the king suddenly entered, and
telling the Scottish commissioners that as he understood they
complained that they could not be heard, he had determined to hear
them himself, and he demanded what it was they wanted. The Earl
of Rothes replied simply, to be secured in their religion and liberty.
Loudon made some apology for the boldness of the proceedings of
the Scots, but Charles cut him short, telling him that he could admit
of no apologies for what was past, but that if they came to implore
pardon, they must put down what they had to say in writing, and in
writing he would answer them.
This was Charles's peculiar style, by which the negotiation appeared
likely to come to a speedy end; but the Scots were firm, and
adhered to their old sound principle, declaring that they had sought
nothing but their own native rights, and the advancement of his
majesty's service, and desired to have those severely punished who
had misrepresented them to the king. Some historians assert that
Hamilton at this juncture came into the camp from the Forth, and
strongly advised the king to close with the Scots; though Clarendon
affirms that he did not arrive till after the agreement was signed,
and found much fault with it. However this may be, after much
debate, and several attempts to overreach the Scots, which their
caution defeated, it was agreed that the king should ratify all that
had been done by his commissioner, which was next to nothing,
though he would not recognise the acts of what he called the
pretended General Assembly. But the main and only important
concession was that all disputes should be settled by another
Assembly, to be held on the 6th of August, and by a Parliament
which should ratify its proceedings, to be held on the 20th of
August, when an act of oblivion should be passed. Both parties were
to disband their armies; the king's forts were to be restored, with all
the ammunition; the fleet was to be withdrawn; Scottish merchant
vessels and goods were to be returned; and the honours and
privileges of the subjects replaced. The king resisted, however, any
mention of episcopacy in the agreement; for he was as resolved as
ever to reinstate the bishops. And indeed, that same duplicity guided
him in this as in other actions of his life, being determined to break
the whole agreement on the first possible opportunity. The
Covenanters strongly suspected as much; and when Charles, before
returning, invited fourteen of the leaders to meet him in Berwick,
they had the fear of the Tower before their eyes, and declined the
honour, and sent as their commissioners the Earls of Loudon,
Lothian, and Montrose. Charles represented that it had been his
intention to proceed to Edinburgh, and hold the Parliament in
person, but that fresh instances of "the valyance of the godly
females" deterred him; his chief officers not being able to show
themselves in the streets of Berwick without insult from these good
women.
What Charles had failed to do in the Convention at large, he
managed to effect to a certain degree with the nobles. Loudon and
Lothian were said to be greatly softened by the king's conversation,
but Montrose was won over altogether.
The two armies were disbanded on the 24th of June, and the Earl of
Traquair was appointed the king's commissioner in Scotland,
Hamilton firmly declining to return thither. Charles reached London
on the 1st of August, and one of the first things which he did was to
write to the Scottish bishops, telling them that he would never
abandon the idea of reinstating them, and would in the meantime
provide for their support. He forbade them to present themselves at
the approaching Assembly or Parliament, as that would ruin
everything; but he advised them to send in a protest against the
infringement of their rights, and get it presented by some mean
person, so as to create not too much notice. Such was Charles's
perfidious conduct, at the very moment that he was promising the
Covenanters the contrary. Accordingly the bishops fixed themselves
in the vicinity of the borders, some at Morpeth, some in Holy Island,
some in Berwick itself, keeping up a correspondence with their
adherents in the Scottish capital, and ready to rush in again on the
first favourable chance.
If we are to believe Clarendon, however, "The king was very
melancholy, and quickly discovered that he had lost reputation at
home and abroad, and those counsellors who had been most faulty
either through want of courage or wisdom—for at that time few of
them wanted fidelity—never afterwards recovered spirit enough to
do their duty, but gave themselves up to those who so much had
outwitted them, every man shifting the fault from himself." On the
contrary, he says, "The Scots got so much benefit and advantage by
it, that they brought all their other mischievous devices to pass with
ease, and a prosperous gale in all they went about." They declared
that "they did not intend by anything contained in the treaty, to
vacate any of the proceedings which had been in the late General
Assembly at Glasgow, by which all the bishops were
excommunicated, and renewed all their menaces against them by
proclamation, and imposed grievous penalties on all who should
presume to harbour any of them, so that by the time the king came
to London, it appeared plainly that the army was disbanded without
a peace being made, and the Scots in more reputation and equal
inclination to affront his majesty than ever." The fact was, that whilst
Charles was pretending to concede, meaning to revoke when he had
the power, the Scots were conscious of their advantage and did not
mean to allow him to do so. They were earnest and outspoken in
their resolves, and therefore Charles seized a paper in which they
published what had really been promised in the treaty, and had it
burned by the common hangman.
The Assembly was opened on the 12th of August in Edinburgh, and
in spite of what Charles had assured the bishops, they were given up
in the instructions to Traquair, for he meant to resist the abolition of
the bishops, and to restore them when he had the power, but
endeavoured to make political capital out of this concession. Traquair
was to obtain, if possible, the admission of fourteen ministers into
Parliament instead of the bishops, or, if that were not possible, as
many lay members whom the king was to appoint, and who were to
choose the lords of the articles. By these perpetual finesses, Charles
continually sought to withdraw the concessions that he made, as
though those whom he tried to overreach were not as wide awake
as himself. He thought, if he could select the Lords of the Articles,
and fourteen others devoted to him, he could revoke in the
Parliament what he gave up in the Assembly—the characteristic of
short-sighted cunning.
The bishops presented their protest to the Commissioner, which,
without being read, was to serve as a proof of their not having
yielded up their claims; and the commissioner, finding the
Covenanters firm to all their demands—for every member of the
Assembly before entering it had sworn to support all the acts of the
Assembly of Glasgow—gave the royal assent to all the proceedings,
and the news of the overthrow of episcopacy was received with
shouts of acclamation by the people.
The Parliament of Scotland met on the day appointed, the 20th of
August. There the Covenanters displayed their determination not to
stickle for small matters, but to destroy the scheme by which that
body had been made dependent on the royal will. They would no
longer admit the bishops nor the Lords of the Articles whom the
bishops had chosen, and who selected the topics, under the
direction of the Crown, which should or should not come before the
House. They proposed that the lesser barons, the commissioners of
the shires, should take the place of the bishops, and that the Lords
of the Articles should be selected from men of each estate, by those
estates themselves. In order not to appear obstinate, they permitted
the Commissioner to name the Lords of the Articles for this once,
not as an act of right, but of grace, from themselves. They then
decreed that all acts in favour of episcopacy should be rescinded;
that patents of peerage should for the future be granted to none but
such as possessed a rental of ten thousand marks from land in
Scotland; that proxies should never again be admitted; and that the
fortresses of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton, should be
entrusted to none but Scotsmen.
These measures would have completely enfranchised Scotland from
the shackles of the Crown, and Traquair, unable to avoid the
necessity of ratifying them, prorogued the Parliament to the 14th of
November, so that he could receive the instructions of the king.
Charles, to get rid of the demands of the Covenanters altogether,
prorogued it for six months. The members, who saw the intention,
protested against the prorogation under circumstances so vital to the
country, but obeyed after naming a deputation to go to the king on
the subject. This deputation, headed by the Lords Loudon and
Dunfermline, on arriving at Whitehall were refused audience,
because they had not come with the sanction of the royal
Commissioner; and Traquair was immediately summoned to court to
answer for having conceded so much to the Scots. He had, indeed,
conceded nothing but what Charles himself had instructed him to do
but the king was angry because he had not been able to recover in
Parliament, as he had vainly hoped, what was lost in the Assembly.
Traquair, who was aware that having implicitly followed these
instructions would avail him little with the king in his mortification,
thought of an expedient to divert Charles's anger into another
channel. He had discovered a letter addressed by the Covenanters to
the King of France, complaining of the miserable condition of
Scotland through the attempts of the king to root out the religion of
the people; of his having violated the late treaty at Berwick, and
dissolved Parliament contrary to the will of the states and to all
national precedent, and entreating him to mediate in their favour.
This letter was signed by seven lords, and addressed Au Roi. The
letter had been publicly declined by Louis, but privately answered,
though in very cautious terms.
The production of this letter had all the effect that Traquair hoped
for. The wrath of the king was immediately turned on the
Covenanters, and Traquair deepened the impression by assuring the
king that nothing but war would pacify the Covenanters, and
declaring this discovery to be a perfect justification.
The Scots demanded an opportunity of vindicating themselves, and
requested leave to send up deputies for that purpose. It was
granted, and Dunfermline and Loudon were sent up. No sooner did
they arrive than Loudon, whose name was one of those appended to
the intercepted letter, was instantly seized and brought before the
Council. The letter being addressed simply Au Roi, which was the
manner from subjects to their own sovereign, and not as from
foreigners, it was deemed treasonable on that ground, if on no
other. Loudon asserted that the letter had been written before the
pacification at Berwick, and, not being approved, had never been
sent, but the contents contradicted that statement; and, moreover,
William Colvill, who had carried it to the French court, was in
London, and was taken prisoner. Loudon thereupon insisted on his
safe conduct, and demanded liberty to return, contending that, if he
had done anything wrong, it was in Scotland and not there that he
ought to be interrogated. But the king sent both him and Colvill to
the Tower.
The Covenanters were greatly incensed at the seizure of their envoy,
and demanded his release, but Charles signed a warrant for his
execution and was prevented from putting him to death only by the
solemn declaration that if he did Scotland was lost for ever. After this
it became plain that nothing could avert a conflict between the
infatuated king and the Scottish people. Charles's object was to
obtain funds; that of the Scots to divide the king's attention by
exciting discontent nearer home. England itself had abundant causes
of dissatisfaction. The disuse of Parliaments, the continued illegal
levying of taxes by the king's own will, the rigorous and ruinous
prosecutions in the Star Chamber and the High Commission Court,
the brandings, scourgings, and mutilations of such as dared to
dispute the awful tyranny of the Government, portended a storm at
home ere long, and the Scots found many well-wishers and friends
amongst the English patriots. These were everyday drawing into
their ranks men of the highest position and the most distinguished
talents. The Earls of Essex, Bedford, and Holland were secretly
connected with them; the Lord Say, Hampden, Pym, Cromwell, and
other men of iron nerve and indomitable will, were watching with
deep interest movements in the North so congenial to their own.
Whilst the king was pondering on the means of raising money, an
event took place which for the moment promised to present him
with a considerable sum. A Spanish fleet of seventy sail was
discovered by the Dutch admiral, De Witt, off the Land's End. As it
was bearing troops from Spain to Flanders, which were hard pressed
by the Dutch, De Witt followed it up the Channel, firing guns to
harass its rear, but still more to awake the attention of Van Tromp,
who was lying off Dunkirk. The two celebrated Dutch admirals were
soon in full chase of the Spaniards. Sixteen of the ships, having four
thousand troops on board, bore away with all speed for the coast of
Flanders, but the rest fled for shelter into the Downs. Charles sent
the Earl of Arundel to inquire of Oquendo the Spanish admiral, what
was his destination, being apprehensive lest the fleet might be
intended for a descent on Ireland, or in aid of his disaffected
subjects of Scotland.
Oquendo satisfied Arundel that they were really on their way to
Flanders, and demanded the protection of Charles as a friendly king.
Charles was willing to grant it for a consideration, and the sum of
one hundred and fifty thousand pounds was the price named in
ready cash. For this Charles was to send the Spanish fleet under
protection of his own to Flanders; but the two Dutch admirals,
having now no less than one hundred sail, from continued fresh
arrivals, attacked the Spaniards in the English roads, sank and
burned five of the largest vessels, drove twenty-three more on
shore, and pursued the rest across the Channel, suffering only ten of
them to escape. All this time the English admiral lay near at hand,
but made no movement in protection of the Spaniards. The English
people on shore beheld the destruction of the Spanish fleet with the
utmost exultation, the memory of the great Armada being yet so
strong amongst them; but Charles had lost his much desired money,
and with the loss had acquired an immense amount of foreign
odium. To have suffered the vessels of a friendly Power, which had
fled to him for shelter, to be attacked and chased from his own
harbour, lowered him greatly in the estimation of Continental
nations.

JOHN HAMPDEN. (From an Engraving by Houbraken.)

At the time of this untoward occurrence Charles had sent for
Wentworth from Ireland, to assist him by his counsels as to the best
mode of dealing with his difficulties at home, and the Scots in the
North. Wentworth had overridden all obstacles in Ireland, and had
forced an income out of the reluctant people there; he was thought,
therefore, by Charles the only man whose wisdom and resolution
were equal to the crisis. Wentworth had strongly advised Charles not
to march against the Scots, knowing that the king's raw levies would
have no chance against them; and he had gone on actively drilling
ten thousand men, to prepare them for the campaign, which he felt
must come, even after all seemed settled at Berwick.
Clarendon, who is a regular Royalist and inclined to see more virtues
in Wentworth than other historians of the time, is yet obliged to
sketch this picture of the enmities which he justly provoked:—"He
was a man of too high and severe deportment, and too great a
contemner of ceremony, to have many friends at court, and
therefore could not but have enemies enough. He had two that
professed it, the Earl of Holland and Sir Henry Vane." Besides having
said that "the king would do well to cut off Holland's head," he had
insulted the Earl in various ways. He had done all he could to
prevent Sir Henry Vane from being made secretary in place of Sir
John Coke, whom the king removed on his return from Scotland;
but, worse still, Charles now creating him Earl of Strafford, nothing
would satisfy him but that he must be also made Baron of Proby,
Vane's own estate, from which he himself hoped to derive that title.
"That," continues Clarendon, "was an act of the most unnecessary
provocation that I have known, and though he contemned the man
with marvellous scorn, I believe it was the loss of his head. To these
a third adversary, like to be more pertinacious than the other two,
was the Earl of Essex, naturally enough disinclined to his person, his
power, and his parts." This enmity in Essex, we are told, was
increased by Wentworth's insolent conduct to Lord Bacon, for whom
Essex had a friendship; and he openly vowed vengeance. "Lastly, he
had an enemy more terrible than all the others, and like to be more
fatal, the whole Scottish nation, provoked by the declaration he had
procured of Ireland, and some high carriage and expressions of his
against them in that kingdom." Moreover, Wentworth had no friend
in the queen, from his persecution of the Catholics in Ireland, and
was continually thwarted by her.
But all these councillors could devise no way to raise funds but by
the old and irritating mode of ship-money, for which writs to the
amount of two hundred thousand pounds were immediately issued,
and this bearing no proportion to the requirements of a campaign
against the Scots, they advised Charles to call together a Parliament.
To this he demurred; but when they persisted in that advice, he
ordered a full Council to be called, and put to it this question:—"If
this Parliament should prove as untoward as some have lately been,
will you then assist me in such extraordinary ways as in that
extremity should be thought fit?"
Charles was thus bent on extraordinary ways, and the Council
promised him its support. Wentworth returned to Ireland, being not
only created Earl of Strafford, but made Lord-lieutenant of that
country. He promised to obtain a liberal vote from the Irish
Parliament, which it was thought might act as a salutary example for
England. Accordingly, no one daring to oppose his wishes, he
obtained four subsidies, with a promise of more if found necessary.
The English Parliament was delayed till this was effected, and was
then summoned for the 13th of April. To assist the king and council
in what was felt to be a critical emergency, Wentworth, now
Strafford, returned, though suffering from a painful complaint. He
left orders for the immediate levy of an army of eight thousand men,
and Charles took measures for the raising in England of fifteen
thousand foot and four thousand horse, which he thought would
serve to overawe Parliament; and, what is singular, the order for the
raising of these troops and providing artillery and ammunition was
signed by Laud, so little had he an idea of an archbishop being a
minister of the Prince of Peace. Before the arrival of Strafford,
Charles read to the Council the account of the liberal subsidies and
the loyal expressions which Strafford had put into the mouths of the
enslaved Irish Commons. This he did at the request of Strafford
himself, to prove not only the loyalty of the Irish, but his own
popularity there, in spite of the assertions of his being hated in that
country.
When the king met the Parliament on the 13th of April he had not
abated one jot of his high-flown notions of his divine right, and of
the slavish obedience due from Parliament. The Lord Keeper Finch
formerly Speaker of the House but now more truly in his element as
a courtier, made a most fulsome speech, describing the king as "the
most just, the most pious, the most gracious king that ever was." He
informed them that for many years in his piety towards them he had
taken all the annoyances of government from them, and raised the
condition and reputation of the country to a wonderful splendour;
that, notwithstanding such exemplary virtues and exhibitions of
goodness, some sons of Belial had blown the trumpet of rebellion in
Scotland, and that it was now necessary to chastise that stiff-necked
people; that they must therefore lay aside all other subjects, and
imitate the loyal Parliament of Ireland in furnishing liberal supplies;
that had not the king, upon the credit of his servants and out of his
own estate, raised three hundred thousand pounds, he could not
have made the preparations already in progress; and that they must
therefore grant him tonnage and poundage from the beginning of
his reign, and vote the subsidies at once, when his Majesty would
pledge his royal word that he would take into his gracious
consideration their grievances. And all this attempt to get the
supplies before the discussion of grievances, from sturdy commoners
who had never yet given way to force or flattery!
 VISIT OF CHARLES I. TO THE GUILDHALL.
From the Wall Painting in the Royal Exchange, by Solomon J. Solomon, A.R.A

Charles then produced the intercepted letters of the Scottish lords to

the King of France, to show the treason of the Scots and the
necessity of taking decisive measures with them. But the Commons
were not likely to be moved from their settled purpose by any such
arguments. They elected Serjeant Glanvil as Speaker, and proceeded
first and foremost to the discussion of the grievances of the nation.
Amongst their old members—though the brave Sir John Eliot had
perished in prison, and Sir Edward Coke, who by his later years of
patriotism had effaced the memory of the arbitrary spirit of his
earlier ones, was also dead—there were Oliver Cromwell, now sitting
for Cambridge, Pym, Hampden, Denzil Holles, Maynard, Oliver St.
John, Strode, Corriton, Hayman, and Haselrig. There were amongst
the new ones, Harbottle Grimston, Edmund Waller, the poet, Lord
George Digby, the son of the Earl of Bristol, a young man of eminent
talent, and other men destined to become prominent. Sir Benjamin
Rudyard and Grimston delivered speeches recommending at once
courtesy and respect towards the Crown, but unflinching support of
the rights of the people. Harbottle Grimston described the
commonwealth as miserably torn and massacred, all property and
liberty shaken, the Church distracted, the Gospel and professors of it
persecuted, Parliament suspended, and the laws made void. Sir
Benjamin Rudyard protested that he desired nothing so much as that
they might proceed with moderation, but that if Parliaments were
gone, they were lost. A remarkable feature of this Parliament was
the number of petitions sent in by the people. These were poured in
against ship-money and other abuses, as the Star Chamber and High
Commission Court, from the counties of Hertford, Essex, and Sussex.
After these matters had been warmly debated for four days, for the
king had many advocates in the House, on the 17th Mr. Pym
delivered a most eloquent and impressive speech, in which he
narrated the many attacks on the privileges of Parliament and the
liberty of the subject, and laid down the constitutional doctrine "that
the king can do no wrong," thus bringing the conduct and counsels
of his ministers under the direct censure of the House, and loading
them with the solemn responsibility—an awful foreshadowing of the
judgments to come on Laud and Wentworth. From that point the
debate turned on the arbitrary treatment of the members of the
Commons, and orders were issued for a report of the proceedings of
the Star Chamber and the Court of King's Bench against Sir John
Eliot, Mr. Holles, and Mr. Hampden, to be laid on the table of the
House. The conduct of the late Speaker Finch, in adjourning the
House at the command of the king, was declared unconstitutional.
The king could no longer restrain his impatience, and summoned
both Houses before him in the Banqueting Hall. There the Lord
Keeper Finch, in the presence of Charles, recalled their attention to
the necessity of voting the supplies, and repeated the king's
promises. He endeavoured to excuse the raising of ship-money as a
necessity for chastising the Algerine pirates who infested the seas,
and again recommended the liberal example of the Irish Parliament.
The only effect produced by this was a most vivid and trenchant
speech the next day by Waller, in which he told the House that the
king was personally beloved, but that his mode of extorting his
subjects' money was detested; and that neither the admiration of his
majesty's natural disposition, nor the pretended consent of the
judges, could ever induce them to consent to such unconstitutional
demands. He then severely castigated the conduct of the bishops
and clergy who preached the divine right of monarchs to plunder the
public at their own pleasure. "But," said he, "they gain preferment
by it, and then it is no matter, though they neither believe
themselves nor are believed by others. But since they are so ready
to let loose the consciences of their kings, we are bound the more
carefully to provide against this pulpit law, by declaring and
enforcing the municipal laws of this kingdom."
This again roused the king, who went down to the Lords, and read
them a sharp lesson on their not supporting him in his just demands
of supplies from the Commons. Thereupon the Lords sent for the
Commons to a conference on the 29th of April, and recommended
them to pass the votes and take the king's word for the redress of
grievances; but the Commons resented their intruding their advice
about money matters as an infringement of the privileges of the
House; and on the 1st of May, the Lords, through the Lord Keeper,
disclaimed any intention of encroaching on any of the well-known
rights of the Commons, but that the Lords had felt bound to comply
with the request of the king. The Commons returned to their debate
on ship-money, and on Saturday, the 2nd of May, Charles sent a
message by Sir Henry Vane, now Secretary of State and Treasurer of
the Household, desiring an immediate answer regarding the
supplies. Lord Digby reminded the House that the demand was that
of a hasty and immediate answer to a call for funds to involve the
nation in a civil war with the Scots, a people holding the same
religion and subjects of the same king as themselves. The debate
was continued for two days, Clarendon accusing Vane of deliberately
keeping from the House the fact entrusted to him, that the king,
though asking for twelve subsidies, would consent to take eight.
But it was not so much the amount as the principle involved in the
subsidies which was the question; for, on the 4th of May, Charles
sent Vane again with the remarkable offer to abolish ship-money for
ever, and by any means that they should think fit, on condition that
they granted him twelve subsidies, valued at eight hundred and fifty
thousand pounds, to be paid in three years, with an assurance that
the House should not be prorogued till next Michaelmas. This was a
mighty temptation: here was the direct offer of at once getting rid of
one of the monster grievances for ever; but it did not escape the
attention of the more sagacious that, by accepting the bargain, they
were conceding the king's right to set aside the most established
laws, to force his own notions of religion on his subjects, and to
make war on them if they refused. They rejected the snare, and
maintained the debate for some hours against all the arguments of
the Court party. On rising, they informed Vane that they would
resume the debate the next morning at eight o'clock; but Sir Henry,
seeing very well how it would terminate, assured the king in Council
that he was certain that the House would not grant him a penny for
the war against the Scots.
On this Charles adopted one of his stratagems. Early in the morning
he sent for Glanvil the Speaker, before the Commons had assembled,
and detained him at Whitehall, so that the Commons without him
could not vote against the supplies, nor protest against the war; and
suddenly hastening to the House of Lords, he sent for the Commons
and dismissed them. In doing this, he praised the peers at the
expense of the Commons, and declared that as to the liberties of the
people which the Commons made so much talk of, they had not
more regard for them than he had.
This was the last Parliament which Charles was ever to dissolve, and
the folly of his conduct became speedily palpable. The Parliament
had only sat about three weeks, having met on the 13th of April,
and being now dissolved on May 5th. By this hasty act the king had
put himself wholly on the army. Had he allowed the Commons to
vote against the supplies, many would have sympathised with him;
now he had only himself to blame. His enemies rejoiced,
exceedingly, and his friends deplored the deed with gloomy
auguries.
The king was made to feel his mistake, on applying to the City of
London for a loan and receiving a cool and evasive answer. The
Scots were greatly elated. They had their agents in close though
secret communication with the leaders of the opposition, and now
saw the king deprived of the means of effectually contending with
them, and felt that they had numerous friends of their cause in
England. The passion of the king only increased their advantages.
He issued a proclamation declaring why he had dismissed the
Parliament, charging the Commons with malice and disaffection to
the State, and with designing to bring government and magistracy
into contempt; and he gave fresh proofs of his vindictive feeling by
arresting a number of the members the day after the dissolution.
The public had not forgotten the cruelty practised on their faithful
servant Sir John Eliot, and they now saw Sir John Hotham and Mr.
Bellasis committed to the Fleet, Mr. Crew, afterwards Lord Crew, to
the Tower, and the house of Lord Brooke forced, and his study and
cabinets broken open in a search for papers.
To add to the general exasperation, Laud, who had summoned
Convocation previous to the meeting of Parliament, continued its
sessions after the dissolution, contrary to all custom; and its sitting
was employed to pass a series of seventeen new canons of the most
offensive and slavish kind. The public excitement was so great
against the innovation that the Lord Keeper Finch and some of the
judges had to furnish a written opinion declaring the right of
Convocation to sit after the close of Parliament, and a new
commission was issued with the usual words, "during the
Parliament," altered to "during our pleasure." But a guard of soldiers
was deemed necessary to protect the sittings, in which the clergy
first voted six subsidies to the king, and then passed to the canons,
one of which ordered that every clergyman once a quarter should
instruct his parishioners in the divine right of kings, and the
damnable sin of resisting authority. Others fulminated the most
flaming intolerance of Catholics, Socinians, and Separatists. All
clergymen and graduates of the universities were called on to take
an oath declaring the sufficiency of the doctrines and discipline of
the Church of England, in opposition to Presbyterianism and Popery.

GUILDHALL, LONDON, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.

On the publication of these canons, great was the ferment in the
country, and petitions and remonstrances from Northampton, Kent,
Devon, and other counties, were sent up against them. The code
was most ungracious as regarded the Catholics, who had just
presented to the king, at the suggestion of the queen, fourteen
thousand pounds. The queen remonstrated against it, and the king
gave orders to Laud to desist from further annoyance in that
direction. But anger and discontent were spreading throughout the
country, from the outrageous measures to raise money. Fresh writs
of ship-money were issued, and many victims were dragged into the
Star Chamber for refusal to pay, and fined, so that their money was
obtained by one process or the other. The names of the richest
citizens were picked out in order to demand loans from them.
Bullion, the property of foreign merchants, was seized at the Mint,
and forty thousand pounds were extorted for its release; and bags of
pepper on the Exchange were sold at whatever they would fetch. It
was next proposed to coin four hundred thousand pounds' worth of
bad money; but the merchants and other intelligent men came
forward and drew such a picture of the ruin and confusion that such
an act would produce, that the king was alarmed, and gave the
project up. The Council, however, hit upon the scheme of purchasing
goods at long credit, and selling them at a low price for ready
money. All this time large sums of money were levied throughout the
land by violence, for the support of the troops collected for the
campaign against the Scots. Carts, horses, and forage were seized at
the sword's point; and whoever dared to represent these outrages to
the king was branded as an enemy to the Government. The
Corporation of London was dealt with severely, because it showed
no fondness for enforcing the king's arbitrary demands. The Lord
Mayor and sheriffs were cited into the Star Chamber for remissness
in levying the ship-money; and several of the aldermen were
committed to prison for refusing to furnish the names of such
persons in their wards as were able to contribute to Charles's forced
loans. Strafford said things would never go right till a few fat London
aldermen were hanged.
These desperate measures inflamed the public mind beyond
expression, and greatly strengthened the league of the discontented
with the Scots. All except the insane tyrants who were thus forcing
the nation to rebellion, could see tempests ahead; and the Earl of
Northumberland, writing to a friend, said, "It is impossible that all
things can long remain in the condition they are now in: so general a
defection in this kingdom hath not been known in the memory of
man." The disaffection began to find expression, and, according to
Clarendon, inflammatory placards were scattered about the City and
affixed on gates and public places, denouncing the king's chief
advisers. Laud, Strafford, and Hamilton, were the marks of the most
intense hatred, and the London apprentices were invited, by a bill
posted on the Royal Exchange, to demolish the episcopal palace at
Lambeth and "haul out William the fox."
The train-bands assembled and kept the peace by day, but at night a
mob of five hundred assembled and attacked Lambeth Palace, and
demolished the windows, vowing that they would tear the
archbishop to pieces. In a couple of hours the train-bands arrived,
fired on them, and dispersed the multitude. Laud got away to
Whitehall, where he remained some days, till the damages were
repaired and the house was fortified with cannon. Another crowd,
said to be two thousand in number, entered St. Paul's, where the
High Commission Court sat, tore down the benches, and cried out,
"No bishop! no High Commission!" A number of rioters were seized
by the train-bands and lodged in the White Lion Prison; but the
prison was forced open by the insurgents, and their associates
released all but two, a sailor and a drummer, who were executed,
according to some authorities; according to others, only one was
thus disposed of.
The king was greatly alarmed at this outbreak. He removed the
queen to Greenwich, as she was near her confinement, and placed a
strong guard over the palace with sixteen pieces of cannon; nor was
he easy till he saw a force of six thousand men at hand.
The time for the meeting of the Scottish Parliament had now arrived,
and Charles sought to prevent it by another prorogation; but the
Scots were not to be put off in any such manner. The king had for
some time been treating them like a nation at war; he had
prohibited all trade with Scotland, and his men-of-war had been
ordered to seize its merchantmen, wherever found. The Scots
therefore met on the 2nd of January, set aside the king's warrant of
prorogation on the plea of informality, and the members took their
seats, elected a president, an officer hitherto unknown, and passed
the new Acts. They then voted a tax of ten per cent. on all rents,
and five per cent. on interest of money to open the inevitable
campaign; and, before rising, appointed a Committee of Estates for
the government of the kingdom till the next meeting of Parliament.
This Committee was to sit either at Edinburgh or at the place where
the headquarters of the army should be, and a bond was entered
into to support the authority of Parliament, and to give to the
statutes which it had passed or should pass the same force as if they
had received the royal assent.
But they had not waited for Parliament to take the necessary steps
for organisation of the army. They had retained in full pay the
experienced officers whom they had invited from Germany, and the
soldiers who had disbanded at the pacification of Berwick returned
with alacrity to their colours in March and April. Leslie was still
commander-in-chief, and determined to reduce the castle of
Edinburgh before marching south. It was in vain that Charles issued
his proclamations, warning them of the treasonable nature of their
proceedings; they went on as if animated by one spirit, and
determined not only to strike the first blow, but to advance into
England instead of waiting to be attacked at home.
Charles, on his part, was far from being so early ready or so well
served. His plans for the campaign were grand. He proposed to
attack Scotland on three sides at once—with twenty thousand men
from England, with ten thousand from the Highlands under the
Marquis of Hamilton, and with the same number from Ireland under
Strafford. But his total want of funds prevented his progress, and the
resort to the lawless practices which we have related for raising
them, was alienating the hearts of his English subjects from him in
an equal degree. It was not till the month of July, and the loan of
three hundred thousand pounds by the Lords, that he dared to issue
writs for the number of forces. Thus the Scots were ready for action
when the king was only mobilising an army.
In the appointment of commanders gross blunders were committed.
The Earls of Essex, Holland, and Arundel were set aside, and this,
with personal affronts to Essex, tended to throw these officers into
the interest of the opposition. Essex and Holland were at
undisguised hostility with Strafford, and as he was to take a leading
part in the campaign, they were kept out of it to oblige him. The Earl
of Northumberland was appointed commander-in-chief instead of
Arundel, but was prevented by a severe illness from acting; and
Strafford was desired to leave Ireland in the charge of the Earl of
Ormond, and take the chief command, which he consented to do,
but nominally only as lieutenant to Northumberland. Lord Conway
was made general of the horse, partly because he had been born a
soldier in his father's garrison of Brell, and had held several
subordinate commands; but still more from the causes which put
incompetent generals at the head of our armies in later times—Court
influence.
On the 29th of June Leslie collected his army at Chouseley Wood,
near Dunse, his former camp, and drilled them there three weeks.
He had entrusted the siege of the castle of Edinburgh to a select
party, and had the pleasure soon after this period to hear of its
surrender to his officers. Meanwhile, Conway was advancing
northward, and soon gave evidence of his gross incapacity, by
writing in all his despatches to Windebank, the Secretary of State,
"that the Scotch had not advanced their preparations to that degree,
that they would be able to march that year." But the king, Clarendon
says, had much better information, and ought to have distrusted the
vigilance of such a commander. Moreover, his soldiers displayed a
most decided aversion to the service. They were evidently leavened
with the same leaven of reform as the Parliament. They wanted to
know whether their officers were Papists, and would not be satisfied
till they saw them take the Sacrament. "They laid violent hands,"
says May, "on divers of their commanders, and killed some, uttering
in bold speeches their distaste to the cause, to the astonishment of
many, that common people should be sensible of public interest and
religion, when lords and gentlemen seemed not to be."
Strafford was so well aware of the readiness of the Scots, and the
unreadiness and disaffection of the English soldiery, that he issued
strict injunctions to Conway not to attempt to cross the Tyne, and
expose his raw and wavering recruits in the open country between
that river and the Trent, but to fortify the passage of the Tyne at
Newburn, and prevent the Scots from crossing. The Scots, however,
did not leave him time for his defences. On the 20th of August,
Leslie crossed the Tweed with twenty thousand infantry and three
thousand cavalry. He had been strongly advised to this step by the
leaders of the English opposition themselves, and "the Earls of
Essex, Bedford, Holland, the Lord Say, Hampden, and Pym," says
Whitelock, "were deeply in with them." No sooner were the Scots on
English ground, than the preachers advanced to the front of the
army with their Bibles in their hands, and led the way. The soldiers
followed with reversed arms, and a proclamation was issued by
Leslie that the Scots had undertaken this expedition at the call of
Divine Providence, not against the people of England, but against
the "Canterbury faction of Papists, Atheists, Arminians, and
Prelates." God and their consciences bore them witness that they
sought only the peace of both kingdoms by putting down the
"troublers of Israel, the fire-brands of hell, the Korahs, the Balaams,
the Doegs, the Rhabshakehs, the Hamans, the Tobiahs, the
Sanballats of the times," and that done, they would return with
satisfaction to their own country.
On the 27th of August they arrived at Heddon-law, near Newburn,
on the left bank of the Tyne, and found Conway posted on the
opposite side, between Newburnhaugh and Stellahaugh. The Scots
kindled that night great fires round their camp, thus giving the
English an imposing idea of its great extent; and we are told that
numbers of the English soldiers went over during the night amongst
them, and were well received by them, for they assured them that
they only came to demand justice from the king against the men
who were the pest of both nations. The next day the Scots
attempted to ford the river, but were driven back by a charge of six
troops of horse; these horse were, however, in their turn repulsed by
the discharge of artillery, and a second attempt of the Scots
succeeded. "As for Conway," says Clarendon, "he soon afterwards
turned his face towards the army, nor did anything like a
commander, though his troops were quickly brought together again,
without the loss of a dozen men [the real loss was about sixty], and
were so ashamed of their flight, that they were very willing, as well
as able, to have taken what revenge they could upon the enemy."
This was not true, for though "our whole army made the most
shameful and confounding flight that was ever heard of," they had
no chance of taking revenge with such a commander, being only
about four thousand five hundred altogether, horse and foot, while
the Scots were twenty-six thousand strong. Moreover, the English
had no heart for the work, while the Scots were resolute as one
man, and commanded by officers who had grown grey in the service
of the victorious Swede, the great Gustavus Adolphus. When the
English forces reached Newcastle, they did not feel able to defend it
against such an army, and they fled on to Durham. The Scots could
scarcely believe their eyes when they found Newcastle evacuated.
The retreating English army, under the panic-stricken Conway,
meantime dared not even stop at Durham, but continued their flight
to Darlington, where they met Strafford coming up with
reinforcements. He was suffering from gout and stone, and in a
marvellously bad humour at the late scandalous disaster; and he
must have seen enough of the demoralisation of Conway's troops,
for he turned back with him to Northallerton, where Charles was
lying with the bulk of his army. Altogether, Charles had now twenty
thousand men and sixty pieces of cannon wherewith to face the
Scots; but the disaffection became so manifest, the desertions so
frequent, and the whole condition of the force so unsatisfactory, that
though Strafford professed to speak with contempt of the Scots, he
assured Charles that it would require two months to put his army
into fighting order. They therefore fell back upon York, intending to
entrench a camp under its walls, and to send the cavalry to
Richmond or Cleveland to guard the passes of the Tees.
The Scots had meanwhile taken unopposed possession of Newcastle,
Durham, Shields, Tynemouth, and other towns, and were masters of
the four northern counties of England, without having lost twenty
men. In this position it has been matter of wonder that they did not
still advance, and drive the king before them; but those writers who
have thus imagined have greatly mistaken the whole business. The
object of the Scots was not, as of old, to annoy and devastate, much
less to conquer England; it was simply to force from the king and his
evil ministers the recognition and the guarantee of their just national
rights. They had advanced into England with this plain declaration;
they had attempted not to fight except so far as to force their way to
the king's presence. To this they were, in fact, now come. They had
achieved a vantage-ground from which to treat, and, though
strongly posted, and possessed of the whole country north of the
Tees, they had refrained from all ravages and impositions on the
people with whom they had no quarrel, paying for whatever they
needed. To have done otherwise, would have broken faith with the
people of England, who were seeking the same redress of
grievances as themselves, and have at once roused the jealousy of
the English public, who would have regarded them as invaders
instead of friends, and thus strengthened the hands of the king. The
Scots knew perfectly well what they were about, and how best to
obtain their just demands. They now therefore sent Lord Lanark,
Secretary of State for Scotland, and brother of the Marquis of
Hamilton, to present the petition of the Covenanters to the king,
who was plainly in a strait and therefore compelled to listen to it.
They respectfully repeated their pacific designs, and implored the
king to assemble a Parliament, and by its wisdom to settle peace
between the two kingdoms. This was precisely what the people of
England were earnestly seeking, and demonstrates the perfect
concert between the leaders of the two nations. To assemble a
Parliament was of all things the last which Charles was disposed to
consent to, but he was in no condition to refuse altogether. He
therefore took three days to consider their request, and on the 5th
of September returned to Lord Lanark the answer, that he would
assemble a great council of English Peers in York to settle the
matters in dispute between them, and that he had already
summoned this Assembly for the 24th of that month. By this means
Charles endeavoured to escape the necessity of calling a Parliament,
but his hesitation did not avail him. All parties were too much
interested to let this opportunity slip. Twelve peers—Bedford, Essex,
Hertford, Warwick, Bristol, Mulgrave, Say and Sele, Howard,
Bolingbroke, Mandeville, Brooke, and Paget—presented a petition,
urgently representing the necessity of a Parliament, and describing
the sufferings of the nation from the lawlessness of the soldiers, the
damage done to trade by the arbitrary levies on merchants, and the
danger of bringing in wild Irish troops. The citizens of London
prepared a similar one, which Laud endeavoured to quash, but in
vain; they obtained ten thousand signatures, and despatched some
of the Aldermen and members of the Common Council to present it
at York. The gentry of Yorkshire presented another, detailing their
sufferings from the support of the army, and their cry, too, was for a
Parliament. Strafford, who was desired to present it, endeavoured to
persuade them to leave the prayer for a Parliament out, on pretence
that he knew the king meant to call one; but they would on no
account omit it. Thus pressed on all sides, Charles was reluctantly
compelled to promise, and on the meeting of the great council of
Peers on the 24th, announced to them that he had issued the writs
for the meeting of a Parliament on the 3rd of November.
ADVANCE OF THE COVENANTERS ACROSS THE BORDER INTO ENGLAND.
(See p. 587.)
The Scots had comprised their demands under seven heads, the
chief of which were the full and free exercise of their religion; the
total abolition of episcopacy; the restoration of their ships and
goods; the recall of the offensive epithet of traitors; and the
punishment of the evil counsellors who had created all these
troubles. The Lords, delighted at the prospect of a Parliament, saw
no difficulty in coming to terms with the Scots. They named sixteen
of their own body to meet with eight Commissioners of the
Covenanters at Ripon, to negotiate the terms of a peace, and sent a
deputation of six other lords to London, to raise for the king a loan
of two hundred thousand pounds, on their own securities. Charles
would have drawn the Conference from Ripon to York, where his
army lay, but the Scots were too cautious to be caught in such a
snare. They represented the danger of their putting their
Commissioners into the power of an army commanded by Strafford,
one of the very incendiaries against whom they were complaining,
and who termed them rebels and traitors in the Parliament in
Ireland, and had recommended the king to subdue and destroy
them. The Conference was opened at Ripon, but got no further from
the 1st to the 16th of October, than the settlement of the question of
the maintenance of the Scottish army till all was concluded. Charles
offered to leave them at liberty to make assessments for themselves,
but this they declined, as looking too much like plundering; and it
was finally agreed that they should retain their position in the four
northern counties, and receive eight hundred and eighty pounds for
two months, binding themselves to commit no depredations on any
party; and the time for the meeting of Parliament approaching, the
Conference was adjourned to London on the 24th.
The last Parliament had been called the Short Parliament; this was
destined to acquire the name of the Long Parliament, never to be
dissolved till it had dissolved the monarchy—the most memorable
Parliament that ever sat. "The Parliament," says Clarendon, "met on
the 3rd of November, 1640. It had a sad and a melancholie aspect
upon the first entrance, which presaged some unusual and unnatural
events. The king himself did not ride with his accustomed equipages,
nor in his usual majesty to Westminster, but went privately in his
barge to the Parliament stairs, and so to the church, as if it had
been a return of a prorogued or adjourned Parliament. There was
likewise an untoward, and, in truth, an unheard of accident, which
broke many of the king's measures, and infinitely disordered his
service beyond a capacity of reparation."
This was the defeat in the City of the man on whom he had fixed as
Speaker of the Commons, Sir Thomas Gardiner, the Recorder of
London, a lawyer on whom Charles greatly calculated for managing
the House. But that very morning he learned that Gardiner had been
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