The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (diy ebook reader .txt) π
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morning of the twentieth of June he was
proclaimed in the market place of Taunton. His followers repeated
his new title with affectionate delight. But, as some confusion
might have arisen if he had been called King James the Second,
they commonly used the strange appellation of King Monmouth: and
by this name their unhappy favourite was often mentioned in the
western counties, within the memory of persons still living.379
Within twenty-four hours after he had assumed the regal title, he
put forth several proclamations headed with his sign manual. By
one of these he set a price on the head of his rival. Another
declared the Parliament then sitting at Westminster an unlawful
assembly, and commanded the members to disperse. A third forbade
the people to pay taxes to the usurper. A fourth pronounced
Albemarle a traitor.380
Albemarle transmitted these proclamations to London merely as
specimens of folly and impertinence. They produced no effect,
except wonder and contempt; nor had Monmouth any reason to think
that the assumption of royalty had improved his position. Only a
week had elapsed since he had solemnly bound himself not to take
the crown till a free Parliament should have acknowledged his
rights. By breaking that engagement he had incurred the
imputation of levity, if not of perfidy. The class which he had
hoped to conciliate still stood aloof. The reasons which
prevented the great Whig lords and gentlemen from recognising him
as their King were at least as strong as those which had
prevented them from rallying round him as their Captain General.
They disliked indeed the person, the religion, and the politics
of James. But James was no longer young. His eldest daughter was
justly popular. She was attached to the reformed faith. She was
married to a prince who was the hereditary chief of the
Protestants of the Continent, to a prince who had been bred in a
republic, and whose sentiments were supposed to be such as became
a constitutional King. Was it wise to incur the horrors of civil
war, for the mere chance of being able to effect immediately what
nature would, without bloodshed, without any violation of law,
effect, in all probability, before many years should have
expired? Perhaps there might be reasons for pulling down James.
But what reason could be given for setting up Monmouth? To
exclude a prince from the throne on account of unfitness was a
course agreeable to Whig principles. But on no principle could it
be proper to exclude rightful heirs, who were admitted to be, not
only blameless, but eminently qualified for the highest public
trust. That Monmouth was legitimate, nay, that he thought himself
legitimate, intelligent men could not believe. He was therefore
not merely an usurper, but an usurper of the worst sort, an
impostor. If he made out any semblance of a case, he could do so
only by means of forgery and perjury. All honest and sensible
persons were unwilling to see a fraud which, if practiced to
obtain an estate, would have been punished with the scourge and
the pillory, rewarded with the English crown. To the old nobility
of the realm it seemed insupportable that the bastard of Lucy
Walters should be set up high above the lawful descendants of the
Fitzalans and De Veres. Those who were capable of looking forward
must have seen that, if Monmouth should succeed in overpowering
the existing government, there would still remain a war between
him and the House of Orange, a war which might last longer and
produce more misery than the war of the Roses, a war which might
probably break up the Protestants of Europe into hostile parties,
might arm England and Holland against each other, and might make
both those countries an easy prey to France. The opinion,
therefore, of almost all the leading Whigs seems to have been
that Monmouth's enterprise could not fail to end in some great
disaster to the nation, but that, on the whole, his defeat would
be a less disaster than his victory.
It was not only by the inaction of the Whig aristocracy that the
invaders were disappointed. The wealth and power of London had
sufficed in the preceding generation, and might again suffice, to
turn the scale in a civil conflict. The Londoners had formerly
given many proofs of their hatred of Popery and of their
affection for the Protestant Duke. He had too readily believed
that, as soon as he landed, there would be a rising in the
capital. But, though advices came down to him that many thousands
of the citizens had been enrolled as volunteers for the good
cause, nothing was done. The plain truth was that the agitators
who had urged him to invade England, who had promised to rise on
the first signal, and who had perhaps imagined, while the danger
was remote, that they should have the courage to keep their
promise, lost heart when the critical time drew near. Wildman's
fright was such that he seemed to have lost his understanding.
The craven Danvers at first excused his inaction by saying that
he would not take up arms till Monmouth was proclaimed King, and.
when Monmouth had been proclaimed King, turned round and declared
that good republicans were absolved from all engagements to a
leader who had so shamefully broken faith. In every age the
vilest specimens of human nature are to be found among
demagogues.381
On the day following that on which Monmouth had assumed the regal
title he marched from Taunton to Bridgewater. His own spirits, it
was remarked, were not high. The acclamations of the devoted
thousands who surrounded him wherever he turned could not dispel
the gloom which sate on his brow. Those who had seen him during
his progress through Somersetshire five years before could not
now observe without pity the traces of distress and anxiety on
those soft and pleasing features which had won so many hearts.382
Ferguson was in a very different temper. With this man's knavery
was strangely mingled an eccentric vanity which resembled
madness. The thought that he had raised a rebellion and bestowed
a crown had turned his head. He swaggered about, brandishing his
naked sword, and crying to the crowd of spectators who had
assembled to see the army march out of Taunton, "Look at me! You
have heard of me. I am Ferguson, the famous Ferguson, the
Ferguson for whose head so many hundred pounds have been
offered." And this man, at once unprincipled and brainsick, had
in his keeping the understanding and the conscience of the
unhappy Monmouth.383
Bridgewater was one of the few towns which still had some Whig
magistrates. The Mayor and Aldermen came in their robes to
welcome the Duke, walked before him in procession to the high
cross, and there proclaimed him King. His troops found excellent
quarters, and were furnished with necessaries at little or no
cost by the people of the town and neighbourhood. He took up his
residence in the Castle, a building which had been honoured by
several royal visits. In the Castle Field his army was encamped.
It now consisted of about six thousand men, and might easily have
been increased to double the number, but for the want of arms.
The Duke had brought with him from the Continent but a scanty
supply of pikes and muskets. Many of his followers had,
therefore, no other weapons than such as could be fashioned out
of the tools which they had used in husbandry or mining. Of these
rude implements of war the most formidable was made by fastening
the blade of a scythe erect on a strong pole.384 The tithing men
of the country round Taunton and Bridgewater received orders to
search everywhere for scythes and to bring all that could be
found to the camp. It was impossible, however, even with the help
of these contrivances, to supply the demand; and great numbers
who were desirous to enlist were sent away.385
The foot were divided into six regiments. Many of the men had
been in the militia, and still wore their uniforms, red and
yellow. The cavalry were about a thousand in number; but most of
them had only large colts, such as were then bred in great herds
on the marshes of Somersetshire for the purpose of supplying
London with coach horses and cart horses. These animals were so
far from being fit for any military purpose that they had not yet
learned to obey the bridle, and became ungovernable as soon as
they heard a gun fired or a drum beaten. A small body guard of
forty young men, well armed, and mounted at their own charge,
attended Monmouth. The people of Bridgewater, who were enriched
by a thriving coast trade, furnished him with a small sum of
money.386
All this time the forces of the government were fast assembling.
On the west of the rebel army, Albemarle still kept together a
large body of Devonshire militia. On the east, the trainbands of
Wiltshire had mustered under the command of Thomas Herbert, Earl
of Pembroke. On the north east, Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort,
was in arms. The power of Beaufort bore some faint resemblance to
that of the great barons of the fifteenth century. He was
President of Wales and Lord Lieutenant of four English counties.
His official tours through the extensive region in which he
represented the majesty of the throne were scarcely inferior in
pomp to royal progresses. His household at Badminton was
regulated after the fashion of an earlier generation. The land to
a great extent round his pleasure grounds was in his own hands;
and the labourers who cultivated it formed part of his family.
Nine tables were every day spread under his roof for two hundred
persons. A crowd of gentlemen and pages were under the orders of
the steward. A whole troop of cavalry obeyed the master of the
horse. The fame of the kitchen, the cellar, the kennel, and the
stables was spread over all England. The gentry, many miles
round, were proud of the magnificence of their great neighbour,
and were at the same time charmed by his affability and good
nature. He was a zealous Cavalier of the old school. At this
crisis, therefore, he used his whole influence and authority in
support of the crown, and occupied Bristol with the trainbands of
Gloucestershire, who seem to have been better disciplined than
most other troops of that description.387
In the counties more remote from Somersetshire the supporters of
the throne were on the alert. The militia of Sussex began to
march westward, under the command of Richard, Lord Lumley, who,
though he had lately been converted from the Roman Catholic
religion, was still firm in his allegiance to a Roman Catholic
King. James Bertie, Earl of Abingdon, called out the array of
proclaimed in the market place of Taunton. His followers repeated
his new title with affectionate delight. But, as some confusion
might have arisen if he had been called King James the Second,
they commonly used the strange appellation of King Monmouth: and
by this name their unhappy favourite was often mentioned in the
western counties, within the memory of persons still living.379
Within twenty-four hours after he had assumed the regal title, he
put forth several proclamations headed with his sign manual. By
one of these he set a price on the head of his rival. Another
declared the Parliament then sitting at Westminster an unlawful
assembly, and commanded the members to disperse. A third forbade
the people to pay taxes to the usurper. A fourth pronounced
Albemarle a traitor.380
Albemarle transmitted these proclamations to London merely as
specimens of folly and impertinence. They produced no effect,
except wonder and contempt; nor had Monmouth any reason to think
that the assumption of royalty had improved his position. Only a
week had elapsed since he had solemnly bound himself not to take
the crown till a free Parliament should have acknowledged his
rights. By breaking that engagement he had incurred the
imputation of levity, if not of perfidy. The class which he had
hoped to conciliate still stood aloof. The reasons which
prevented the great Whig lords and gentlemen from recognising him
as their King were at least as strong as those which had
prevented them from rallying round him as their Captain General.
They disliked indeed the person, the religion, and the politics
of James. But James was no longer young. His eldest daughter was
justly popular. She was attached to the reformed faith. She was
married to a prince who was the hereditary chief of the
Protestants of the Continent, to a prince who had been bred in a
republic, and whose sentiments were supposed to be such as became
a constitutional King. Was it wise to incur the horrors of civil
war, for the mere chance of being able to effect immediately what
nature would, without bloodshed, without any violation of law,
effect, in all probability, before many years should have
expired? Perhaps there might be reasons for pulling down James.
But what reason could be given for setting up Monmouth? To
exclude a prince from the throne on account of unfitness was a
course agreeable to Whig principles. But on no principle could it
be proper to exclude rightful heirs, who were admitted to be, not
only blameless, but eminently qualified for the highest public
trust. That Monmouth was legitimate, nay, that he thought himself
legitimate, intelligent men could not believe. He was therefore
not merely an usurper, but an usurper of the worst sort, an
impostor. If he made out any semblance of a case, he could do so
only by means of forgery and perjury. All honest and sensible
persons were unwilling to see a fraud which, if practiced to
obtain an estate, would have been punished with the scourge and
the pillory, rewarded with the English crown. To the old nobility
of the realm it seemed insupportable that the bastard of Lucy
Walters should be set up high above the lawful descendants of the
Fitzalans and De Veres. Those who were capable of looking forward
must have seen that, if Monmouth should succeed in overpowering
the existing government, there would still remain a war between
him and the House of Orange, a war which might last longer and
produce more misery than the war of the Roses, a war which might
probably break up the Protestants of Europe into hostile parties,
might arm England and Holland against each other, and might make
both those countries an easy prey to France. The opinion,
therefore, of almost all the leading Whigs seems to have been
that Monmouth's enterprise could not fail to end in some great
disaster to the nation, but that, on the whole, his defeat would
be a less disaster than his victory.
It was not only by the inaction of the Whig aristocracy that the
invaders were disappointed. The wealth and power of London had
sufficed in the preceding generation, and might again suffice, to
turn the scale in a civil conflict. The Londoners had formerly
given many proofs of their hatred of Popery and of their
affection for the Protestant Duke. He had too readily believed
that, as soon as he landed, there would be a rising in the
capital. But, though advices came down to him that many thousands
of the citizens had been enrolled as volunteers for the good
cause, nothing was done. The plain truth was that the agitators
who had urged him to invade England, who had promised to rise on
the first signal, and who had perhaps imagined, while the danger
was remote, that they should have the courage to keep their
promise, lost heart when the critical time drew near. Wildman's
fright was such that he seemed to have lost his understanding.
The craven Danvers at first excused his inaction by saying that
he would not take up arms till Monmouth was proclaimed King, and.
when Monmouth had been proclaimed King, turned round and declared
that good republicans were absolved from all engagements to a
leader who had so shamefully broken faith. In every age the
vilest specimens of human nature are to be found among
demagogues.381
On the day following that on which Monmouth had assumed the regal
title he marched from Taunton to Bridgewater. His own spirits, it
was remarked, were not high. The acclamations of the devoted
thousands who surrounded him wherever he turned could not dispel
the gloom which sate on his brow. Those who had seen him during
his progress through Somersetshire five years before could not
now observe without pity the traces of distress and anxiety on
those soft and pleasing features which had won so many hearts.382
Ferguson was in a very different temper. With this man's knavery
was strangely mingled an eccentric vanity which resembled
madness. The thought that he had raised a rebellion and bestowed
a crown had turned his head. He swaggered about, brandishing his
naked sword, and crying to the crowd of spectators who had
assembled to see the army march out of Taunton, "Look at me! You
have heard of me. I am Ferguson, the famous Ferguson, the
Ferguson for whose head so many hundred pounds have been
offered." And this man, at once unprincipled and brainsick, had
in his keeping the understanding and the conscience of the
unhappy Monmouth.383
Bridgewater was one of the few towns which still had some Whig
magistrates. The Mayor and Aldermen came in their robes to
welcome the Duke, walked before him in procession to the high
cross, and there proclaimed him King. His troops found excellent
quarters, and were furnished with necessaries at little or no
cost by the people of the town and neighbourhood. He took up his
residence in the Castle, a building which had been honoured by
several royal visits. In the Castle Field his army was encamped.
It now consisted of about six thousand men, and might easily have
been increased to double the number, but for the want of arms.
The Duke had brought with him from the Continent but a scanty
supply of pikes and muskets. Many of his followers had,
therefore, no other weapons than such as could be fashioned out
of the tools which they had used in husbandry or mining. Of these
rude implements of war the most formidable was made by fastening
the blade of a scythe erect on a strong pole.384 The tithing men
of the country round Taunton and Bridgewater received orders to
search everywhere for scythes and to bring all that could be
found to the camp. It was impossible, however, even with the help
of these contrivances, to supply the demand; and great numbers
who were desirous to enlist were sent away.385
The foot were divided into six regiments. Many of the men had
been in the militia, and still wore their uniforms, red and
yellow. The cavalry were about a thousand in number; but most of
them had only large colts, such as were then bred in great herds
on the marshes of Somersetshire for the purpose of supplying
London with coach horses and cart horses. These animals were so
far from being fit for any military purpose that they had not yet
learned to obey the bridle, and became ungovernable as soon as
they heard a gun fired or a drum beaten. A small body guard of
forty young men, well armed, and mounted at their own charge,
attended Monmouth. The people of Bridgewater, who were enriched
by a thriving coast trade, furnished him with a small sum of
money.386
All this time the forces of the government were fast assembling.
On the west of the rebel army, Albemarle still kept together a
large body of Devonshire militia. On the east, the trainbands of
Wiltshire had mustered under the command of Thomas Herbert, Earl
of Pembroke. On the north east, Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort,
was in arms. The power of Beaufort bore some faint resemblance to
that of the great barons of the fifteenth century. He was
President of Wales and Lord Lieutenant of four English counties.
His official tours through the extensive region in which he
represented the majesty of the throne were scarcely inferior in
pomp to royal progresses. His household at Badminton was
regulated after the fashion of an earlier generation. The land to
a great extent round his pleasure grounds was in his own hands;
and the labourers who cultivated it formed part of his family.
Nine tables were every day spread under his roof for two hundred
persons. A crowd of gentlemen and pages were under the orders of
the steward. A whole troop of cavalry obeyed the master of the
horse. The fame of the kitchen, the cellar, the kennel, and the
stables was spread over all England. The gentry, many miles
round, were proud of the magnificence of their great neighbour,
and were at the same time charmed by his affability and good
nature. He was a zealous Cavalier of the old school. At this
crisis, therefore, he used his whole influence and authority in
support of the crown, and occupied Bristol with the trainbands of
Gloucestershire, who seem to have been better disciplined than
most other troops of that description.387
In the counties more remote from Somersetshire the supporters of
the throne were on the alert. The militia of Sussex began to
march westward, under the command of Richard, Lord Lumley, who,
though he had lately been converted from the Roman Catholic
religion, was still firm in his allegiance to a Roman Catholic
King. James Bertie, Earl of Abingdon, called out the array of
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