to Westminster. They were taken by water.
The river could not be seen for the boats on
it; and the five members were hemmed in by
barges full of men and great guns, ready to
protect them, at any cost. Along the Strand
a large body of the train-bands of London,
under their commander, SKIPPON, marched
to be ready to assist the little fleet. Beyond
them, came a crowd who choked the streets,
roaring incessantly about the Bishops and the
Papists, and crying out contemptuously as
they passed Whitehall, "What has become of
the King?" With this great noise outside the
House of Commons, and with great silence
within, Mr. Pym rose and informed the House
of the great kindness with which they had
been received in the City. Upon that, the
House called the sheriffs in and thanked
them, and requested the train-bands, under
their commander Skippon, to guard the
House of Commons every day. Then, came
four thousand men on horseback out of
Buckinghamshire, offering their services as a guard
too, and bearing a petition to the King,
complaining of the injury that had been done to
Mr. Hampden, who was their county man
and much beloved and honoured.

When the King set off for Hampton Court,
the gentlemen and soldiers who had been
with him, followed him out of town as far
as Kingston-upon-Thames, and next day
Lord Digby came to them from the King at
Hampton Court, in his coach and six, to
inform them that the King accepted their
protection. This, the Parliament said, was
making war against the kingdom, and Lord
Digby fled abroad. The Parliament then
immediately applied themselves to getting
hold of the military power of the country,
well knowing that the King was already trying
hard to use it against them, and had
secretly sent the Earl of Newcastle to Hull,
to secure a valuable magazine of arms and
gunpowder that was there. In those times,
every county had its own magazines of arms
and powder for its own train-bands or
militia; so, the Parliament brought in a bill
claiming the right (which up to this time had
belonged to the King) of appointing the Lord
Lieutenants of counties, who commanded
these train-bands; and, also of having all
the forts, castles, and garrisons in the kingdom,
put into the hands of such governors as
they, the Parliament, could confide in. It also
passed a law depriving the Bishops of their
votes. The King gave his assent to that bill,
but would not abandon the right of appointing
the Lord Lieutenants, though he said he was
willing to appoint such as might be suggested
to him by the Parliament. When the Earl of
Pembroke asked him whether he would not
give way on that question for a time, he said,
"By God! not for one hour!" and upon this
he and the Parliament went to war.

His young daughter was betrothed to the
Prince of Orange. On pretence of taking her
to the country of her future husband, the
Queen was already got safely away to Holland,
there to pawn the Crown jewels for
money to raise an army on the King's
side. The Lord Admiral being sick, the
House of Commons now named the Earl
of Warwick to hold his place for a year.
The King named another gentleman; the
House of Commons took its own way, and the
Earl of Warwick became Lord Admiral without
the King's consent. The Parliament
sent orders down to Hull to have that magazine
removed to London; the King went
down to Hull to take it himself. The citizens
would not admit him into the town, and the
governor would not admit him into the
castle. The Parliament resolved that whatever
the two Houses passed, and the King
would not consent to, should be called an
ORDINANCE, and should be as much a law as
if he did consent to it. The King protested
against this, and gave notice that these
ordinances were not to be obeyed. The King,
attended by the majority of the House of Peers,
and by many members of the House of
Commons, established himself at York. The
Chancellor went to him with the Great Seal,
and the Parliament made a new Great Seal.
The Queen sent over a ship full of arms and
ammunition, and the King issued letters to
borrow money at high interest. The Parliament
raised twenty regiments of foot and
seventy-five troops of horse; and the people
willingly aided them with their money, plate,
jewellery, and trinkets—the married women
even with their wedding-rings. Every member
of Parliament who could raise a troop or
a regiment in his own part of the country,
dressed it according to his taste and in his
own colours, and commanded it. Foremost
among them all, Oliver Cromwell raised a
troop of horse—thoroughly in earnest and
thoroughly well armed—who were, perhaps,
the best soldiers that ever were seen.

In some of their proceedings, this famous
Parliament unquestionably passed the bounds
of all previous law and custom, yielded to and
favoured riotous assemblages of the people,
and acted tyrannically in imprisoning some
who differed from the popular leaders. But,
again you are always to remember that the
twelve years during which the King had had
his own wilful way, had gone before; and that
nothing could make the times what they
might, could, would, or should have been, if
those twelve years had never rolled away.