Treaty of Uxbridge

The Treaty of Uxbridge of early 1645 was a significant but abortive negotiation to try to end the First English Civil War.

Contents

Background

Parliament drew up 27 articles in November 1644 and presented them to Charles I of England at Oxford.[1] Much input into these Propositions of Uxbridge was from Archibald Johnston.[2] The conditions were very assertive, with Presbyterianism to be established south of the border, and Parliament to take control of all military matters.[3]

Charles had decided that the military situation was turning in his favour, after the Second Battle of Lostwithiel, Second Battle of Newbury and consequent relief of Donnington Castle, and the campaign of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose in Scotland. Montrose's victory at the Battle of Inverlochy was during the conference. His incentive to compromise was thereby reduced, but the same was true of the Parliamentary side, with its growing confidence in the New Model Army.[4]

Detailed proposals

Samuel Rawson Gardiner wrote of the Parliamentary articles:

“ Not only did the demands for the exclusion from seats in the House of Lords of Peers afterwards created unless with the consent of Parliament, for the permanent submission of appointments of officers and judges to the approbation of Parliament, and for the education and marriage of the King’s children being placed under Parliamentary control, which had been omitted from the Oxford Propositions, re-appear (§§ 19, 20, 21), but the necessity for Parliamentary approbation was to reach to all the judges instead of being confined to three as in the Nineteen Propositions, and there was added a new proposition asking that the right of declaring peace and war might only be exercised with the assent of Parliament (§ 23), and setting up a permanent body of Commissioners to act in combination with a similar body of Scottish Commissioners to control all military forces in both kingdoms with the most extensive powers (§ 17). Besides this, long lists were drawn up[5] of the names of those Royalists who were to be subjected to divers penalties, and whole categories of unnamed persons were added, the expenses of the war being laid upon these Royalist delinquents (§ 14). As to religion in England, not only was it to be brought to the nearest possible uniformity with that of Scotland (§ 5), but the King himself was to swear and sign the Solemn League and Covenant (§ 2). Such demands can only have been made with the object of trampling upon the King’s feelings as well as upon his political authority, and it would have been far more reasonable to ask his consent to an act of abdication than to such articles as these.[6] ”

Further:

“ Charles's counter-demands of January 21, 1645 (No. 62, p. 286), are conceived in a far more reasonable spirit. They appeal to the King’s legal rights, asking, in short, that the Constitution should be accepted as it had stood at the end of August, 1641, and as it was to stand at the Restoration in 1660, and that the Common Prayer Book should be preserved from ‘scorn and violence,’ and that a Bill should ‘be framed for the ease of tender consciences.’ If constitutional settlements could be judged as they stand upon paper without reference to the character of those who would have to work them, there could be no doubt that the King’s offer afforded at least an admirable basis for negotiation.[6] ”

Proceedings

The two sides lodged in Uxbridge, the Royalists on the south side and the Parliamentarians in the north. Christopher Love preached a sermon, strongly against the Royalists, and he was rebuked by Parliament. The meetings were arranged in the house of Sir John Bennet.[7]

The negotiations, which proved fruitless, went on from 29 January to 22 February. The King offered only to rein in the powers of the episcopate in religious matters, and to give Parliament some control of the militia, limited to a time period of three years.[8]

Attendance

Royalists

Parliamentarians

Scottish representatives

Notes

  1. ^ The Propositions of the Houses presented to the King at Oxford, and subsequently discussed at the Treaty of Uxbridge. From Samuel Rawson Gardiner, The Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, 1625-1660 (1906)
  2. ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/138/000103826/
  3. ^ http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/C/CHA/charles-i-of-great-britain.html
  4. ^ Stephen C. Manganiello, The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660 (2004), p. 550.
  5. ^ 5. That the persons who shall expect no pardon be only these following: Rupert and Maurice, Count Palatines of the Rhine, James Earl of Derby, John Earl of Bristol, William Earl of Newcastle, Francis Lord Cottington, John Lord Paulet, George Lord Digby, Edward Lord Lyttelton, William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely, Sir Robert Heath, Knight, Doctor Bramhall, Bishop of Derry, Sir John Byron, Knight, Sir William Widdrington, Colonel George Goring, Henry Jermyn, Esq., Sir Ralph Hopton, Sir Francis Doddington, Mr. Endymion Porter, Sir George Radcliffe, Sir Marmaduke Langdale, Sir John Hotham, Captain John Hotham his son, Sir Henry Vaughan, Sir Francis Windebank, Sir Richard Grenvile, Mr. Edward Hyde, Sir John Marley, Sir Nicholas Cole, Sir Thomas Riddell, junior, Colonel Ward, Sir John Strangways, Sir John Culpepper, Sir Richard Lloyd, John Bodvile, Esq., Mr. David Jenkins, Sir George Strode, Sir Alexander Carew, Marquis of Huntly, Earl of Montrose, Earl of Nithsdale, Earl of Traquair, Earl of Carnwath, Viscount of Aboyne, Lord Ogilvy, Lord Reay, Lord Harris, Ludovic Lindsay, sometime Earl of Crawford, Patrick Ruthven, sometime Earl of Forth, James King, sometime Lord Eythin, Irvine younger of Drum, Gordon younger of Gight, Leslie of Auchintoul, Sir Robert Spottiswood of Dunipace, Colonel John Cochrane, Mr. John Maxwell, sometime pretended Bishop of Ross, Mr. Walter Balcanquhal, and all such others, as being processed by the Estates for treason, shall be condemned before the Act of oblivion be passed. ii. All Papists and Popish recusants who have been, now are, or shall be actually in arms, or voluntarily assisting against the Parliaments or Estates of either kingdom. iii. All persons who have had any hand in the plotting, designing or assisting the rebellion in Ireland. iv. That Humphrey Bennet, Esq., Sir Edward Ford, Sir John Penruddock, Sir George Vaughan, Sir John Weld, Sir Robert Lee, Sir John Pate, John Acland, Edmund Windham, Esquires, Sir John Fizherbert, Sir Edward Laurence, Sir Ralph Dutton, Henry Lingen, Esq., Sir William Russell of Worcestershire, Thomas Lee of Adlington, Esq., Sir John Girlington, Sir Paul Neale, Sir William Thorold, Sir Edward Hussey, Sir Tho. Liddell, senior, Sir Philip Musgrave, Sir John Digby of Nottingham, Sir Henry Fletcher, Sir Richard Minshull, Lawrence Halstead, John Denham, Esquires, Sir Edmund Fortescue, Peter St. Hill, Esq., Sir Thomas Tildesley, Sir Henry Griffith, Michael Wharton, Esq., Sir Henry Spiller, Sir George Benion, Sir Edward Nicholas, Sir Edward Walgrave, Sir Edward Bishop, Sir Robert Ouseley, Sir John Mandy, Lord Cholmley, Sir Thomas Aston, Sir Lewis Dives, Sir Peter Osborne, Samuel Thornton, Esq., Sir John Lucas, John Blaney, Esq., Sir Thomas Chedle, Sir Nicholas Kemish, and Hugh Lloyd, Esq., and all such of the Scottish nation as have concurred in the votes at Oxford against the kingdom of Scotland and their proceedings, or have sworn or subscribed the Declaration against the Convention and Covenant; and all such as have assisted the rebellion in the North, or the invasion in the South of the said kingdom of Scotland, or the late invasion made there by the Irish and their adherents; and that the members of either House of Parliament, who have not only deserted the Parliament, but have also been voted by both kingdoms traitors, may be removed from His Majesty’s counsels, and be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court; and that they may not without the advice and consent of both kingdoms, bear any office or have any employment concerning the State or Commonwealth; and also, that the members of either House of Parliament who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the enemies thereof, and not rendered themselves before the last of October, 1644, may be removed from His Majesty’s counsels, and be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court, and that they may not, without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament, bear any office or have any employment concerning the State or Commonwealth; and in case any of them shall offend therein, to be guilty of high treason, and incapable of any pardon by His Majesty, and their estates to be disposed as both Houses of Parliament in England, or the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland respectively, shall think fit. v. That by Act of Parliament all Judges and officers towards the law common or civil, who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the enemies thereof, be made incapable of any place of judicature or office, towards the law common or civil: and that all Serjeants, Counsellors and Attorneys, Doctors, Advocates and Proctors of the law common or civil, who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the enemies thereof, be made incapable of any practice in the law common or civil, either in public or in private: and that they, and likewise all Bishops, Clergymen, and other ecclesiastical persons, who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the enemies thereof, shall not be capable of any preferment or employment, either in Church or Commonwealth, without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament.
  6. ^ a b From the outbreak of the Civil War to the execution of the King. (1642-1649.) - Samuel Rawson Gardiner, The Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, 1625-1660 (1906)
  7. ^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22153
  8. ^ http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/cmh/cmh410.html#328
  9. ^ http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Ashburnham%2C_John_(1603-1671)_Royalist
  10. ^ http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/John_Ashburnham
  11. ^ British Civil Wars page
  12. ^ a b British Civil Wars
  13. ^ Dictionary of National Biography, article Earle, Erasmus, s: Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 16.djvu/324
  14. ^ British Civil Wars page
  15. ^ British Civil Wars page
  16. ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vinesfamhist/revrichardvines.html
  17. ^ British Civil Wars page
  18. ^ British Civil Wars page

See also

External links