pay, was voted to them for their brotherly aid to the friends of liberty in England. Perceiving the storm that was arising against them, the Episcopal bishops voluntarily relinquished their seats in the House of Lords, to avoid the expulsion which the popular party resolutely and inexorably demanded.

In the meantime, during this memorable year 1641, a dangerous rebellion broke out in Ireland, as a result of the tyranny inaugurated by the Earl of Strafford as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1633. This tyranny had lasted seven years, and the Irish took advantage of that statesman's execution in 1641 to assert their freedom by a rising to overthrow English authority in the Emerald Isle. Religious zeal added bitterness to political animosity.

The plan for a general Irish revolt was inaugurated by Roger O'Moore, who had served in the Spanish army, and who was full of zeal for the Roman Catholic Church. He imagined that, by a sudden rising of the Catholic Irish, all the English and Scotch Protestant settlers in Ireland might be massacred or driven from Irish soil, and the independence of Erin restored. As a part of his plan was the entire restoration of the Catholic religion in Ireland, he counted upon the aid of the Catholic lords of the English Pale, most of whom joined in the plot and concerted measures with O'Moore and Phelim O'Neill, the most powerful native Irish chief.

Serious Rebellion

in

Ireland.

Roger

and His

Plans.

breaks.

The insurrection was to break out in all parts of Ireland on the First Outsame day, when the forts were to be seized by the Irish rebels upon a given signal. The secret had been well kept until the night before the execution of the conspiracy, when it was betrayed by an Irishman named Conolly, who informed the English authorities of the intended attack upon Dublin Castle, in which a large quantity of arms and ammunition were stored. Several of the conspirators were instantly arrested, but it was too late to check the progress of the revolt, which burst forth with tremendous fury, October 23, 1641.

The English and Scotch colonists of Ulster, who were totally un- Massacre aware of the existence of such a dreadful conspiracy, suddenly found in Ulster. themselves surrounded by mobs of infuriated Irishmen armed with staves, pitchforks and other rude weapons, which they brandished aloft with the most frightful yells. One of the most barbarous and brutal massacres recorded in all history ensued, sparing no age, sex or condition.

Without provocation and without resistance, the defenseless English and Scotch settlers, being Protestants, were murdered in cold blood by their nearest Irish neighbors, with whom they had long maintained a continued intercourse of kindness and good offices. The houses of these settlers were set on fire or leveled with the ground. Where the

The

Victims.

Bigotry of the Assassins.

Spread of the Rebellion.

Refugees

in

Dublin.

Desolation of Ireland.

Parlia

ment's Accusation.

unfortunate owners endeavored to defend themselves, their wives and their children they all perished together in the flames.

In the midst of these atrocities, the sacred name of religion resounded on every side, not to stay the hands of the assassins, but to enforce their blows and to harden their hearts against every movement of human sympathy. The English and Scotch settlers, as heretics, abhorred of God and detested by all good Catholics, were marked by the Irish priests for slaughter.

The flames of rebellion spread from Ulster to every part of Ireland. In the provinces of Leinster, Munster and Connaught the English and Scotch who were not massacred were driven from their homes, robbed of all their clothes, and left exposed naked and defenseless to perish by the winter frosts and storms.

Only Dublin remained to the English, and the failure of the plot there preserved in Ireland the remains of the English name. The roads were crowded with multitudes of wretched refugees hastening to that city; and when the gates were opened these fugitives presented to the view of the astonished inhabitants a scene of misery which words fail to describe.

The number of English and Scotch Protestants who thus fell victims to Irish Catholic bigotry has been estimated at from forty thousand to two hundred thousand. The war which followed this rebellion continued ten years, and reduced Ireland to extreme poverty and misery. Portions of the unhappy country that escaped the ravages of fire and sword were desolated by famine and pestilence. The plague ravaged Ireland more or less during the whole of this unhappy period, and was supposed to have been caused by the unwholesome food which the people were obliged to eat.

Parliament accused the court, and particularly the queen, of instigating the Irish rebellion and the massacre, and declared that the Catholic and Episcopal bishops and the court had entered into a plot for the destruction of religious liberty in England. So thoroughly did Parliament distrust the king that it took upon its own hands the task of dealing with the Irish rebellion.

The King Charles I., exasperated at the increasing demands of the King's Decision. Commons, perpetrated one rash act which hastened civil war.

He

had for some time looked on bitterly but helplessly while the absolutism in which he had sought to intrench himself was rudely swept away. Conscious that his throne was tottering to its fall, he endeavored by one bold stroke to crush all opposition to his will and to reëstablish his lost authority.

The king's blow was aimed directly at the House of Commons. The Commons had refused to surrender five of their boldest leaders

Blow at the

House of Commons.

Haslerig, Hollis, Hampden, Pym and Strode-at the king's demand; His Rash and the next day Charles I., with three hundred soldiers, went in person to the hall of the House of Commons to arrest these five leaders, January 5, 1642. Leaving the soldiers outside the chamber, the king entered the hall alone, all the members of the House rising to receive him. The Speaker vacated the chair, and the king occupied it. After seating himself he told the Commons that he was sorry for the occasion that had forced him thither; that he had come in person to sieze the five members whom he had accused of high treason, seeing that they would not deliver them to his sergeant-at-arms. He then looked over the hall to see if the accused were present; but they had escaped a few minutes before he had entered, and the king remarked: "I see my birds have flown." With the expectation that the Commons would send the accused members to him, and a threat to secure them for himself it they would not, the baffled king abruptly left the chamber.

and the Common

London.

Thus disappointed, perplexed, and not knowing on whom to rely, Charles I. the king next proceeded to the Common Council of the city of London, and made his complaints to that body. On his way thither he was Council of greeted with cries of "Privilege! privilege!" from the angry populace. The Common Council answered his complaints only with a contemptuous silence; and, on his return, one of the populace, more insolent than the others, cried out: "To your tents, O Israel!" This was a watchword among the ancient Jews when they intended to abandon their kings.

The Accused Members

Citizens of

By his rash act Charles I. offered a flagrant insult to the House of Commons and violated a fundamental law of the realm. The crisis had now arrived. The occasion being too solemn for business, the and the House of Commons adjourned. The next day the king issued a proclamation branding the five accused members as traitors and order- London. ing their arrest. London was in a tumult, and the city rose as one man for the defence of the accused. The citizens sheltered the accused members, and their train-bands held the city and guarded the House of Commons. These train-bands escorted the historical five back to their seats amid the cheers of the excited populace, the river and the streets by which they passed being guarded by cannon and

men-at-arms.

After returning to Windsor, King Charles I. began to reflect on the rashness of his recent proceedings, and when too late he resolved to make some atonement. He accordingly apologized to Parliament in a humiliating message, in which he informed the Commons that he desisted from his recent violent proceedings against the accused members, and assured them that upon all occasions he would be as careful of their privileges as of his crown or his life. Thus, while the king's

The

King's Humili

ating Apology.

Encroachments of the

Com

mons.

Beginning of the

Civil

War.

Cavaliers

and Round

heads.

ents and

terians.

former violence had rendered him hateful to the Commons, his present submission rendered him contemptible.

From this time Parliament encroached more and more on the royal prerogative, until scarcely a vestige of monarchical power remained. The Commons now demanded that the appointment of Ministers of State and of military and naval commanders should depend upon their approval. The Commons also required that the Tower of London, several of the sea-ports and the management of the navy should also be given into their possession. When Parliament demanded that the king should relinquish the command of the army for a certain period His Majesty angrily replied: "No, not for one hour!" This refusal dispelled all hopes for a peaceful settlement of difficulties, and both parties resolved upon an appeal to arms.

SECTION II.-CIVIL WAR AND FALL OF MONARCHY (A. D. 1642-1649).

THE breach between King Charles I. and Parliament continually widened; and in the summer of 1642 the king withdrew from London, retiring to York, where he declared war against Parliament. 25th of August, 1642, Charles erected the royal standard at Nottingham, but it was soon blown down by the violence of the wind. For the next six years English soil was reddened with English blood shed in civil war. Englishmen fought against Englishmen to decide the momentous issue of constitutional liberty against royal prerogative— the question of the inalienable rights of the English people against the "divine right of kings," thus forced upon them by the arbitrary action of the royal House of Stuart.

On the side of the king were the nobility and the gentry, the Roman Catholic and Episcopal clergy, and all the advocates of the Established Church and of absolute monarchy. The whole of the king's party were called Cavaliers. On the side of Parliament were the Puritans, all who advocated a reform in Church and State, and all believers in republican principles. All the adherents of Parliament received from their enemies the nickname of Roundheads, because their hair was cropped close to their heads. London and the other great cities of England were on the side of Parliament, excepting Oxford, which remained loyal to the king.

Independ- The opponents of the king were divided into several factions. The Presby- Independents, who were Puritans in religious belief and republicans in political faith, aimed at the overthrow of the monarchy; while the Presbyterians, or moderate party, merely wished to put an end to the abuses of the royal power, but not to deprive the king of his crown.

Great

Parties.

The two great parties which were now arrayed against each other The Two in civil war-the 'one democratic, and the other aristocratic; the one striving for progress and reform, and the other adhering to the traditions of the past-have continued to struggle for supremacy to the present day, under the names of Whig and Tory, Liberal and Conservative.

of the

Rival

The royal and Parliamentary parties differed from each other almost Costumes as much in dress as in principles. The Cavalier costume consisted of a tunic of silk or satin with slashed sleeves; an elegant lace collar adorning the neck, and a short cloak hanging gracefully over one shoulder. Short full trowsers reached almost to the top of the wide boots, which extended half-way up the calf of the leg. The head was covered with a broad-brimmed beaver hat, adorned with an elegant band and a plume of feathers. The hair hung in curls over the shoulders, and the beard was trimmed to a point; while the love-locks, the tress on the left side, were tied up by a pretty colored ribbon. The love-locks were so obnoxious to the Puritans that John Pym wrote a quarto volume against them. The Puritan Roundheads wore a cloak of sad-colored brown or black, a plain linen collar laid carelessly down on the plaited cloth, and a hat with a high, steeple-shaped crown over their closely-clipped or thin, straight hair.

The Cavaliers were as gay in their manners as in their dress, thus presenting a marked contrast to the gloomy fanaticism of the Roundheads. The rigid severity of the Puritans tolerated no recreations, except such as were afforded by the singing of hymns and Psalms. They looked upon theaters, dances and all other amusements as sinful frivolities. They regarded horse-racing and bear-baiting-popular diversions of that period-as wicked enormities.

The commanders of the king's armies were his nephew, Prince RuPrince Rupert pert of the Palatinate, and the Marquis of Newcastle. was the son of the king's sister Elizabeth and her husband, the unfortunate Elector-Palatine Frederick V., who had tried to become King of Bohemia, and whose action brought on the great Thirty Years' War in Germany. Prince Rupert was a brave soldier, but was too rash and impetuous to be a good general.

Their Manners.

The Royal

Com

manders.

Prince Rupert.

The

Parli

mentary

The popular leaders on the Parliamentary side were John Hampden, John Pym and Sir Henry Vane, the last of whom had severel years before been Governor of the Puritan colony of Massachusetts Bay in Leaders. New England. The chief commanders of the armies of Parliament were Sir Thomas Fairfax and the Earl of Essex, the latter of whom was the son of Queen Elizabeth's wayward favorite. As the struggle advanced, Oliver Cromwell became the rising star on the Parliamentary side, as we shall presently see.