Page 31 - Hampdens Monument Unveiled

so considered) as a revolutionary act undertaken for the
defence of the Commonwealth."

He was an active supporter of two important measures which
occupied the Parliament simultaneously with Stratford's
impeachment, 'the Triennial Bill, for securing the convocation
of Parliaments, and the bill for excluding Bishops from the
House of Lords. After the rejection of the latter, he adopted
the views of the more violent party who urged the necessity of
abolishing episcopacy altogether. But, notwithstanding his
recognised position as a leader of his party, and his known
weight in determining the line of conduct to be pursued by it,
he was not a frequent speaker, and his name therefore occurs
less frequently than would be expected in the records of this
eventful period. ''His practise was usually to reserve himself
until near the close of a debate; and then, having watched its
progress, to endeavour to moderate the redundancies of his
friends, to weaken the impression produced by its opponents, to
confirm the timid, and to reconcile the reluctant. And this he
did, according to the testimony of his opponents themselves,
with a modesty, gentleness and apparent diffidence in his own
judgement, which generally brought men round to his
conclusions." -- (Memorials of Hampden ii 47) He was one of
five members accused of treason and demanded personally by
Charles in the House of Commons Jan 6 1642, "and from this
time," says Lord Clarendon, his nature and carriage seemed much
fiercer than it did before." Unquestionably that ill advised
and wicked step was not likely to conciliate those whose life
was claimed at, but it is also clear that before that event the
party, with whom he acted, were preparing for a struggle more
serious than that in which they were as yet engaged. A
committee of Public Safety was formed, of which Hampden was a
member, the power of the sword was aimed at by the Ordinance of
Militia, the King on his part issued his commission of Array,
and at last raised his standard at Nottingham August 22.

Col. John Hampden at War

In the military events of the first year of the war, Hampden
took an active, but subordinate share, as colonel of a regiment
of infantry, which he himself raised in Buckinghamshire. Nor
did he intermit, as the exigencies of war allowed him, to
continue his attendance in Parliament, and to urge there that
decisive course of action, which he knew to be necessary to the
success of the cause, and laboured in vain to recommend to the
Parliamentary general. At the battle of Brentford, his troops
and those of Lord Brook, in the support of the London regiment
under Hollis, bore the brunt of the day against superior
numbers, until the army arrived from London in the evening :
and on this occasion (as before at Edgehill, where he arrived
too late to take part in the fight), he in vain urged Essex to
convert, by a decisive forward movement the doubtful issue of
the day into victory.