A DECISIVE VICTORY. Norwich took the command about noon. 1648 four or five in the afternoon when those on Penenden Heath first descried, through their prospective Approach glasses,' Fairfax's foremost regiments descending the of Fairfax. hill on the western side of the Medway. The Kentish gentlemen indeed had not been neglectful of their duty. All that was possible in purely ions of the Disposidefensive warfare had been done. A detachment of Royalists. about 1,000 strong was posted to guard the river at Aylesford, whilst another of some 3,000 men was thrown into Maidstone, where the bridge invited attack. The remainder of the force, consisting of about 7,000 men,1 remained upon the hill ready to carry help to either detachment as occasion might serve. Not only the streets of Maidstone, but the lanes leading down to the bridge from the side on which Fairfax was approaching, were strongly barricaded, and the hedges lined with musketeers. on Maid At seven in the evening, without orders from The attack Fairfax, the attack upon this formidable position stone. was begun by the impetuosity of the Parliamentary advanced guard. The resistance was obstinate, and before long the garrison of Maidstone was reinforced by a great part of the force stationed at Aylesford. The soldiers of the New Model, however, carried one barricade after another. The fighting was prolonged till midnight, but by that time Maidstone, and with it the line of the Medway, was in the hands of Fairfax. i. 90. Norwich is invariably styled Lord Goring by the Parliamentarians, as they did not acknowledge his earldom conferred since the great seal was carried off in 1642. 1 Goring's own account says that his army consisted of a matter of 7,000 men as they did say,' and 1,000 or 1,500 in Aylesford. He does not give the number of the garrison of Maidstone. Clarke Trials, fol. 66. Fairfax puts the field force at 8,000 and 3,000 in Maidstone. L.J. x. 304. CHAP. LXII. 1648 June 2. Dispersal of the Kentish army. Norwich makes for London. Norwich with his forces on the hill took no part in the combat, and when all was over he rode off to Rochester. Such conduct is only explicable on the supposition, which finds some support in contemporary narratives, that the country people who formed the bulk of the foot had no heart in the struggle, which was only really popular amongst the gentry and the Londoners.1 Fairfax, it seemed, had to contend against the majority of the landowners and a great part of the middle-class in the towns, not against the bulk of the country population. However this may have been, Fairfax had no more serious opposition to fear from the motley forces by which he was opposed. The bulk of the insurgents, on receiving from him promises of good treatment, quietly returned to their homes. Under these circumstances Norwich did not venture to await an attack at Rochester. Crossing the Medway with about 3,000 companions who still remained faithful, he made his way eastwards, heading for London, probably in the expectation that the City would even now declare in his favour. On the evening of the 3rd he reached Blackheath. Fairfax, still having on his hands the pacification of Kent, contented himself with despatching Whalley with a party of horse and dragoons in pursuit.2 1 Clarendon, xi. 25; The Lord General's Letter, E. 445, 26; News from Kent, E. 445, 27; The Moderate Intelligencer, E. 445, 30; Bloody News from Kent, E. 445, 36. Fairfax to Manchester, June 2, 4, L.J. x. 301, 304. The letter in Rushw. vii. 1,137 is full of blunders, and evidently concocted by someone ignorant of the course of events. Carter, in A most True and Exact Relation, makes Fairfax pass the Medway at Farleigh, but this is mentioned by no one else, and is inconsistent with a letter written by T. T. in a pamphlet entitled A Letter written to Lord Goring, E. 445, 42. 2 Fairfax to Lenthall, June 4, L.J. x. 304. CHAPTER LXIII. COLCHESTER AND ST. NEOTS. CHAP. 1648 the City. June 1. asks for a personal IF, indeed, the City had opened its gates to Norwich, the course of history would, at least for a time, have been changed. The Presbyterians of the City, how- Feeling in ever, could not resolve either to trust Charles or to defy him, and fell back upon their old chimera of restoring him to the throne, not on his terms, but on their own. On June 1, before the fight at Maidstone, The City the City once more called on the Houses to open a personal treaty with the King in which his acceptance treaty. of the Covenant would be put forward as an indispensable condition. To this they added a wish that the treaty might be carried on under the protection · of the associated trained bands of Middlesex, Essex, Herts, Bucks, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, that Batten should be restored to the Vice-Admiraltyship, and the imprisoned aldermen released.1 June 3. Impeach abandoned. On June 3, the day on which Norwich was marching on Blackheath, the Commons, dreading above all ments things to alienate the City at such a time, voted that they would desist from the impeachment, not only of the aldermen, but also of the ten survivors of the eleven members, thus leaving it open to the latter to return to their seats in the House whenever they felt inclined to do so. They further resolved to take into consideration the treaty with the King at the earliest opportunity.2 All, however, but the most ardent considered. A treaty with the King to be CHAP. 1648 Norwich at Blackheath. False information. Presbyterians in the House were too prudent to countenance the proposed association of the trained bands of the home counties, which must, on the one hand, have caused an immediate breach with the army, and, on the other hand, have left Parliament at the mercy of any popular cry for the King's unconditional restoration.1 The hesitation of the Presbyterians to throw themselves unreservedly on the King's side virtually gave the control of affairs into the hands of the Independents. When Norwich reached Blackheath he found no sign of welcome. With the gates of London shut against him, and Whalley's troops pressing on his rear, his position was untenable. A gleam of hope, however, reached him from Essex, where, as he was informed, thousands had risen for the King. Crossing the river alone, he rode off to Chelmsford to ascertain the truth, leaving his deserted followers distracted by panic.2 The greater part of them fled .hurriedly into Surrey, abandoning their horses and casting away their arms to escape observation.3 About five hundred crossed the Thames in boats, their horses swimming by the side, and on the followand seize ing morning established themselves at Stratford and A panic. Some cross the Thames June 4. Bow Bridge. Bow, where they were at last rejoined by their commander, who had found no signs of a rising in Essex. Taking possession of Bow Bridge, Norwich cut the 1 "Those at Westminster have done little of late but restored their banished members, and as much as may be pursued the Presbyterian interest, having designed the raising of a new army under the Earl of Denbigh; but in reference to peace or restoring the King, they are as opposite as the Independents." ? to Lanark, June 13, Hamilton Papers, 212. They did not, however, take a division on the new army. 2 Carter, 102. 3 Com. of D. H. to Gerard and Osborne, June 4, D. H. Com. Letter Book, R.O. NORWICH AND WHALLEY. communications between Essex and the City, hoping in the first place that London would even yet admit him within its walls, and in the second place that, if that was not to be, he might, by his interposition, give a breathing space to the men of Essex to rally round him. 393 CHAP. LXIII. 1648 loses hope the City. Norwich soon found that, though many of the Norwich King's partisans stole out of London to fill his ranks, of gaining no general movement in his favour was to be expected in the City. Warner, the intrusive Lord Mayor, had the threads of municipal authority in his hands, and Skippon, who commanded the trained bands, was, with all his eagerness for peace, prepared to resist to the uttermost a Royalist movement. On the 4th, Whalley, crossing by London Bridge and establishing himself at Mile End, brought a trained cavalry force to the aid of the party of resistance. So hopeless did Norwich's enterprise appear at Westminster that on the 6th it was believed that he would soon move off to join Langdale in the north.1 June 4. Whalley at Mile End. generally to Parliament. The news from other parts of the country was News on the whole favourable to the Parliamentary cause. favourable Towards the end of May Sir Hardress Waller routed a party of insurgents in Cornwall. Early in June Mitton suppressed a rising in North Wales headed by Sir John Owen, who stained his attempt to strike a blow for the King by singular inhumanity to the Parliamentary sheriff of Merionethshire, whom he caused, in spite of his wounds, to be dragged from place to place till he died." Another party raising 1 Letter of Intelligence, June 5, Clarendon MSS. 2,801; The Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer, E. 446, 11; The Com. of D. H. to Lambert, June 6, D. H. Com. Letter Book, R.O. ... 2 Rushw. vii. 1,130; Sir T. Payton . . . with divers others taken prisoners, E. 447, I. |