gainst him; but he now recollected that it
was with the reservation, if not expressed, at least understood, of all
cases in which liberty or religion might be at stake.[1]

In England the covenant, with some amendments was approved by the two
houses, and ordered to be taken and subscribed by all persons in office,
and generally by the whole nation. The Commons set[a] the example; the
Lords, with an affectation of dignity which exposed them to some sarcastic
remarks, waited till it had previously been taken by the Scots. At the same
time a league of "brotherly assistance" was negotiated, stipulating that
the estates should aid the parliament with an army of twenty-one thousand
men; that they should place a Scottish garrison in Berwick, and dismantle
the town at the conclusion of the war;[b]

[Footnote 1: Rushworth, v. 472, 482, 492. Journals, 139, 312. Baillie,
i. 390, 391. "The chief aim of it was for the propagation of our church
discipline in England and Ireland."--Id. 3.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1643. Sept. 25.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1643. Nov. 29.]

and that their forces should be paid by England at the rate of thirty-one
thousand pounds per month, should receive for their outfit an advance
of one hundred thousand pounds, besides a reasonable recompense at the
establishment of peace, and should have assigned to them as security the
estates of the papists, prelates, and malignants in Nottinghamshire and the
five northern counties. On the arrival of sixty thousand pounds the levies
began; in a few weeks they were completed; and before the end of the
year Leslie mustered his forces at Hairlaw, the appointed place of
rendezvous.[1]

This formidable league, this union, cemented by interest and fanaticism,
struck alarm into the breasts of the royalists. They had found it difficult
to maintain their ground against the parliament alone; they felt unequal to
the contest with a new and powerful enemy. But Charles stood undismayed; of
a sanguine disposition, and confident in the justice of his cause, he saw
no reason to despond; and, as he had long anticipated, so had he prepared
to meet, this additional evil. With this view he had laboured to secure
the obedience of the English army in Ireland against the adherents and
emissaries of the parliament. Suspecting the fidelity of Leicester, the
lord lieutenant, he contrived to detain him in England; gave to the
commander-in-chief, the earl of Ormond, who was raised to the higher rank