HAMMOND'S ALARM. 249 LVI. 1647 chamber before the guards were set for the night, CHAP. and rode off, attended by Berkeley, Ashburnham, and Legge. The King and his companions missed their way in the dark, and did not reach Sutton till after daybreak. There they found the inn occupied by the Hampshire County Committee, and were consequently obliged to push on without taking rest. Eventually they reached Lord Southampton's house Nov. 12. at Titchfield, whence Charles, keeping Legge with Titchfield. him, despatched Berkeley and Ashburnham across the Solent to sound Hammond, telling them that, if they did not return on the following day, he would himself take shipping for the Continent. 66 Ash He reaches road Nov. 13. Berkeley and Ash burnham him in the Isle of Wight. On the morning of the 13th Berkeley and burnham came up with Hammond on the between Carisbrooke and Newport, and, telling that the King had left Hampton Court to escape assassination, asked him to give his word to protect the Royal fugitive, or, if this proved impossible, to allow him to quit the island in safety. To Hammond the unexpected communication came as a terrible shock. "O gentlemen!" he cried, "you have undone me by bringing the King into the island; if at least you have brought him; and, if you have not, pray let him not come; for what between my duty to his Majesty, and my gratitude for this fresh obligation of confidence, and my observing my trust. to the army, I shall be confounded." At last a promise was dragged from Hammond, in a form Hamso vague as to bind him to nothing. If the King, vague enhe said, 'pleased to put himself into his hands, whatever he could expect from a person of honour or honesty, his Majesty should have it be made good to him.' If ever there was an answer which should have inspired caution it was this. Yet, at Ashburn mond's gagement. CHAP. 1647 Hammond at Titch field. ham's instance, Hammond was invited to accompany the messengers to the presence of the King. When in the course of the day the three arrived at Titchfield, Charles was naturally displeased at the disclosure to Hammond of his place of retreat, especially as he had ordered a vessel from Southampton to carry him to France in case of his failing to obtain satisfactory assurances from the governor of the Isle of Wight. Ashburnham, with a light heart, offered to murder Hammond, but Charles declined to be served in such a fashion, and contented himself with making excuses for lingering at Titchfield, whilst he watched for the appearance of the expected vessel on the not-far-distant shore of Southampton Water. An embargo had, however, been placed on all shipping in the southern ports as soon as the King's escape was known at Westminster, and the expected vessel never arrived. In the evening Charles, having now He goes to no other course open to him, crossed the Solent in the Wight, company of Hammond and his own three attendants. Charles looks in vain for a vessel to take him to France. the Isle of Nov. 14, and is lodged in Carisbrooke Castle. Nov. 12. Rumours On the following morning Hammond conducted the King to Carisbrooke Castle. Though the accommodation was rough, Charles felt himself more at home than in Hampton Court. The islanders were well disposed toward him, and were prepared to secure him against any attempt of the Levellers to murder him. Moreover, as the garrison of the castle consisted of no more than a dozen old soldiers, he imagined that it would be easy for him to leave the island at any time, even if Hammond attempted to throw obstacles in his way.1 When the news of Charles's flight reached London in London. the wildest rumours spread from mouth to mouth. 1 Berkeley's Memoirs, 55; Ashburnham's Narrative, ii. 113. There is plenty of discrepancy between the two authorities, but not on essential points. See also Hammond's letter to Manchester, Nov. 13, L.J. ix. 325; and The Oglander Memoirs, 64-69. PATER PATRIÆ. 251 LVI. 1647 letter Houses. The King, said some, was gone to Scotland, to Ireland, CHAP. or to France. Others said that he had been carried off by the Agitators and shut up in a fortress; others again that he had been concealed by Fairfax and Cromwell to save him from the Agitators.1 The first Charles's real intelligence was derived from a letter directed to the to the Houses, which Charles had left behind him at Hampton Court. In this he declared that Presbyterians, Independents, Royalists, Scots and soldiers, should all receive equal justice at his hands. Though fear for his personal safety had driven him into seclusion, he had never lost sight of the necessity of securing peace, and with this in view he added a special recommendation of the interests of the army. "To conclude," he ended by saying, "let me be heard with freedom, honour, and safety; and I shall instantly break through this cloud of retirement, and show myself really to be Pater Patria."? He looks to the army for support. Though Charles no longer looked with hope to Cromwell or Ireton, it is evident, from the tone of this letter, that he still expected support from the rank and file, and he was certainly not wrong in believing that there were large numbers in the army to whom a victory of the Levellers would be as unwelcome as to Cromwell himself. On the very day on which Charles left Hampton Court, Major White invited Feeling Fairfax's regiment to join the Levellers. The men army, at once replied with hearty shouts of "A King! A King!" which speedily passed into "This King! This King!" In Parliament the prevailing uncertainty strengthened what Royalist sentiment existed. in the and in "Mr. Speaker," asked a member, "are you Parlia neither contented with nor without a King?"3 1 Newsletter, Nov. 12, 19. Roman Transcripts, R.O. 22 29 2 The King to the Houses, Nov. 11, L.J. ix. 519. 3 Letter of Intelligence, Nov. 15, Clarendon MSS. 2,651. ment. 252 CHAP. LVII. 1647 Attacks on CHAPTER LVII. THE FOUR BILLS. CROMWELL was now an object of suspicion with both the extreme parties. The Royalists counted him as a hypocritical dissembler because, after long negotiaCromwell. tion with Charles, he had not restored him to the throne. The Levellers formed the same opinion of him because he had carried on that negotiation long after its deceptive character had been revealed. Rainsborough and Marten even talked of impeaching him, and Rainsborough, after expressing himself confidently of his ability to carry the army with him, added that he would have the support of 20,000 citizens as well. It was a matter of speculation at Westminster whether Cromwell would overcome his foes or follow his predecessor Hotham.'1 Talk of impeaching him. Reported According to one story, the truth of which it is impossible to test, still darker proposals were entertained by the wilder Levellers. Fairfax was to be secured by the soldiers when they arrived at the place of rendezvous on the evening before the appointed review was held, whilst Cromwell was to be shot in his bed at midnight. When the regiments were drawn up in the morning, the conspirators were to produce a charge against the King which they would effecthe King. tually prosecute, and require the Parliament to join and to prosecute 1 Grignon to Brienne, Nov. 15, R.O. Transcripts. PREPARATIONS FOR THE RENDEZVOUS. 253 CHAP. with them, resolving to cut the throats of those that LVII. should refuse the same.'1 1647 Nov. 14. A mani festo pre pared. It was indeed a time for prompt action. A third part of the army was to rendezvous on the 15th on Corkbush Field, near Ware. On the 14th, with the intention of satisfying all reasonable aspirations of the soldiers, a manifesto was drawn up, to be issued on the following day in the name of Fairfax and the Army Council. In this manifesto Fairfax declared that, unless discipline were restored, he would lay down his command. On the other hand, if he remained at his post, he would advocate the fixing of a date for the speedy dissolution of Parliament, and the adoption of provisions which would make the future House of Commons as near as may be, an equal representative of the people that are to elect.' To this was added The a form of adhesion to Fairfax and the Army Council of the which every soldier was to be asked to sign. The be asked. ideas contained in the manifesto accord so thoroughly with those expressed by Cromwell in the Army Council on November 12 that he may be safely credited with its inspiration. Parliament was not to be pressed by the army to make such and such alterations of the law, but it might be pressed to bring itself into closer constitutional relations with the people." I adhesion army to dezvous on When, on the morning of the 15th, Fairfax ap- The renpeared on Corkbush Field he found little difficulty in Corkbush maintaining his authority over the four regiments of Field. horse and three of foot who had been ordered to await him there. Rainsborough, who stepped forward to present to him a copy of the Agreement of the People, was easily waved aside whilst Colonel Eyre,+ 1 Walwyn's Wiles, pp. 18, 1104, ch. 12. 2 See pp. 232, 233. 3 L.J. ix. 529. William Eyre, to be distinguished from the Thomas Eyre who was governor of Hurst Castle. |