The army and Parliament fall out
The members of Parliament, who by now were mostly Presbyterians, were alarmed to have so large, restless and independent an army near them. They passed a bill under which half of it was to be disbanded and the other half was to volunteer for service in Ireland. The soldiers wanted their back pay, so Parliament offered to pay part at once and the rest later. But the men would not disperse before they had their full pay. Meanwhile Parliament opened talks with the king and all but agreed to restore him to his throne if he would accept the Presbyterian form of Protestantism for three years.
A body of cavalry, hearing of this, descended on Holmby House, seized the king and carried him off to Newmarket. Cromwell hurried there and put himself at the head of the 'Council of the Army.' The troops then marched on London and on the way sent Parliament a declaration drawn up by Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law. In it they complained of a tyranny in Parliament no less than the king's, and insisted that a new Parliament be elected, with a broader vote. (The source dates the march to 10 January; the other dates in its account point to the summer of 1647.)
Parliament did not know which way to turn, for the merchants, craftsmen and common people of London, afraid of what the army might do, were ready to take the king back on any terms. On 26 July a crowd stormed Parliament and forced it to recall the king to London and to put the city militia under a Presbyterian commander. The Independents, sixty-seven in number according to the book, withdrew from Parliament and joined the army. On 6 August the army entered London, brought the king with it, and put the sixty-seven members back in their seats. From then until Cromwell took absolute power the army ruled Parliament. The soldiers were not rioters and kept order both in the city and in their own ranks.
What the soldiers wanted
The army's demands were not practical at the time, but later generations did not find fault with them. A pamphlet, The Case of the Army Truly Stated, spoke of free trade, the abolition of monopolies and the giving of crown lands to the poor, and said that no one should be forced to testify against himself in court. In another document, The Agreement of the People, the army declared that 'all power is originally and essentially in the whole body of the people.' The only just government, it said, would be one of representatives freely chosen by general vote. Kings and peers must therefore be subject to the Commons, no one should be exempt from taxes, and all should enjoy full liberty. Colonel Rainsborough said that 'all the freeborn of England, even the poorest man in the country' should have a say in choosing those who make the laws they must live by.
Cromwell calmed the debate by inviting its supporters to join him in prayer. The champions of equality accused him of hypocrisy and said he was secretly negotiating the king's return, and he himself admitted that he still believed in monarchy. He told the democrats that their proposals could not be resisted by 'bodily force,' and after long arguments he persuaded their leaders to accept a larger number of voters in place of a universal vote. Some soldiers would not compromise. They stuck copies of the Agreement in their hats and ignored Cromwell's order to take them out. He arrested three ringleaders, had them tried by court martial and condemned. Then he ordered them to throw dice for their lives. The loser was put to death, and discipline returned.
The king escapes and the Scots return
Meanwhile the king slipped away from his guards, made for the coast near the Isle of Wight and took refuge in Carisbrooke Castle (14 November 1647). He took heart from news of Royalist risings in the villages and of the navy's turning against Parliament. Scottish agents in London offered secretly to raise an army to put him back on the throne, provided he established Presbyterianism and abolished other faiths. Charles accepted this 'Engagement,' but limited it to three years. The Scottish agents left London to gather their forces.
The Scottish Parliament approved the plan for an invasion of England and issued a declaration in May 1648 calling on all English people to follow the Presbyterian way, accept no other faith and disband the army of the Independents. The English Parliament saw that if this were carried out its own position would be shaken and England would become subject to Scotland. So it hurriedly made peace with Cromwell and urged him to take command of the army against the Scots. Its members were no doubt glad to send him away and to risk his life. After three days of pleading, Cromwell persuaded the troops to follow him to war. They agreed reluctantly, and some swore that if they saved England again it would be their duty to bring 'Charles, that man of blood,' to trial for the blood he had shed.
The second civil war
Cromwell's efforts kept the second civil war short. While Fairfax was putting down Royalist risings in Kent, Cromwell marched west and took a Royalist stronghold in Wales. The Scots crossed the Tweed on 8 July and advanced with alarming speed to within sixty-four kilometers of Liverpool. At Preston in Lancashire, Cromwell's nine thousand men met the Scots and the Cavaliers, who were twice as many, and beat them (17 August; the source calls the Cavaliers 'collier' by a slip). (The source gives the odds as two to one; the numbers are the book's.)
Parliament, while being saved by Cromwell and his army, reopened talks about the king's return to protect itself, and insisted that he first sign the Covenant. Charles refused. The army, on its return, was willing to restore him on condition that royal powers be limited. He was seized again and imprisoned at Hurst Castle, opposite the Isle of Wight. Parliament objected and was ready to accept the king's last terms as a basis for agreement. The army leaders, who knew that they would be put to death if Charles were restored, announced that no one might enter Parliament unless he had continued to serve the public cause.
Pride's Purge
On 6 December Colonel Thomas Pride surrounded Parliament with a body of soldiers and drove out 140 Royalist and Presbyterian members (the book's figure), sending about forty who resisted to prison. Cromwell approved the act and joined those who wanted the king tried and put to death at once.
Of the five hundred who had sat in the Commons in 1640 only fifty-six now remained (the book's figure; the sources usually count rather more). This 'Rump Parliament,' by a majority of six, ruled that any king's war against Parliament was treason. The Lords rejected the decision as beyond the Commons' powers, so the Commons declared that under God the people are the source of just law, and that the Commons, as their representatives, held supreme power, so that its acts were law even without the consent of the Lords or the king.
The trial and death of Charles
On 6 January the Commons named 135 commissioners to try the king. One of them, Algernon Sidney, told Cromwell that they had no legal authority to try a king. Cromwell lost his temper and shouted that they would bring the king down, crown and all. The army leaders made one last attempt to save him: they offered to acquit him if he agreed to the sale of the bishops' lands and gave up his veto over Parliament's acts. Charles replied that he could not accept, because he had sworn to be faithful to the Church of England. His courage was never in doubt.
The trial began on 19 January 1649. Sixty or seventy judges, appointed on the spot, sat on a raised platform at one end of Westminster Hall, soldiers stood at the other, and a crowd pressed along every passage. Charles sat alone in the middle. The president, John Bradshaw, read the charge and asked the king to answer. Charles said the court had no power to try him and that this Parliament did not represent the people of England. He added that the Rump was subject to the army and had been more oppressive than he. From the galleries the crowd cried, 'God save the King!' Clergymen condemned the trial, and Bradshaw did not feel safe in the streets. Prince Charles sent from Holland a sheet of paper bearing only his signature and promised the judges that if they spared his father's life they could write on it whatever terms they liked. Four peers offered to die in the king's place, but the offers were refused. Fifty-nine judges, Cromwell among them, signed the death warrant. On 30 January 1649 the king was put to death before a vast and horror-stricken crowd. One onlooker said that a groan rose from the thousands present such as he had never heard before and hoped never to hear again.
Was it lawful, was it just?
Was the execution legal? Certainly not. Under the existing law Parliament had gradually and boldly taken over the rights of the crown, which a century of precedent had made accepted. By definition a revolution is unlawful and can succeed only by breaking the laws of the past. Charles was acting in good faith in defending the powers handed down to him from Elizabeth and James. He sinned, and was also sinned against. His fatal mistake was not to see that a new distribution of wealth, for the sake of social stability, required a new distribution of political power.
Was the execution just? Yes, as far as war is just. When laws are set aside by war, the defeated enemy can ask for mercy, but the victor may, if necessary, impose the severest penalty to prevent new resistance, to intimidate others, or to protect his own life and the lives of those around him. (The source then begins a sentence on what Charles might have done had he won; it runs on into the next section of the text.)