The passions of the combatants despised the cool
calculations of military prudence; a new system of warfare was necessarily
generated; and men of talents and ambition quickly acquired that knowledge
which was best adapted to the quality of the troops and to the nature of
the contest.
Charles, having left Nottingham, proceeded to Shrewsbury, collecting
reinforcements, and receiving voluntary contributions on his march.
Half-way between Stafford and Wellington he halted the army, and placing
himself in the centre, solemnly declared in the presence of Almighty God
that he had no other design, that he felt no other wish, than to maintain.
the Protestant faith, to govern according to law, and to observe all
the statutes enacted in parliament. Should he fail in any one of these
particulars, he renounced all claim to assistance from man, or protection
from God; but as long as he remained faithful to his promise, he hoped for
cheerful aid from his subjects, and was confident of obtaining the blessing
of Heaven. This solemn and affecting protestation being circulated through
the kingdom, gave a new stimulus to the exertions of his friends; but it
was soon opposed by a most extraordinary declaration on the part of[a]
the parliament; that it was the real intention of the king to satisfy the
demands of the papists by altering the national religion, and the rapacity
of the Cavaliers by giving up to them the plunder of the metropolis; and
that, to prevent the accomplishment of so wicked a design, the two houses
had resolved to enter into a solemn covenant with God, to defend his truth
at the hazard of their lives, to associate with the well-affected in London
and the rest of the kingdom, and to request the aid of their Scottish
brethren, whose liberties and religion were equally at stake.
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