NOTWITHSTANDING that in this part was born that individual of the family of Plantagenet, whose assumption of the throne plunged the country, for half a century, into the civil wars which nearly exterminated the ancient nobility; yet had the soil here been unstained by the blood so profusely shed. Partaking, in common with all, the miseries of the land, it seemed peculiarly exempted from beholding those contentions of the houses of York and Lancaster, which sprung from the elevation of Henry of Bolingbroke to the sovereignty of England. It was however otherwise when the usurpation of unlimited power on the part of Charles the first had urged a war between the people and the king. As peculiar circumstances of policy and interest had brought the military operations into these parts, it will be necessary in their detail to revert to the conduct of the parties opposed in the opening of the war. No sooner had the commons demanded concessions from the royal prerogative, as the only security against the repeated encroachments which had been made on the privileges of the people, than they were impelled, by the insincerity of the monarch, to protect the interest of the subject by every possible means. The right of the sword was looked upon as the exalted claim of the patriot alone; but as either party considered themselves influenced by the sacred love of their country, both made gradual advances to an appeal: the one to protect the liberties of the people; the other, those general interests which seemed connected with upholding the authority of the king. As the commons were sensible that the monarch would seize the first favorable opportunity to reinstate himself in the former excess of his power, the earliest precautions were taken in regard to the military establishments of the country. Amongst these was secured the important fortress of Hull, containing the arms of all the forces which had been levied against the Scots: with these the parliament also assumed to themselves the disposal of the militia, a force indeed collected, but totally untried in the conduct of war. The king, on erecting his standard, opposed to this, as a resource of strength, his Commission of Array. The call of the monarch was obeyed by each county, as the political inclinations of individuals led them, or in submission to the influence and example of those men of fortune, with whose interests that of their tenantry was intimately connected. {11a} The contest carried on in the south and in the west with vigor, already appeared favorable to the royal cause. In the north, however, it sustained a decided check, by the strong hold which the parliament possessed in the garrison of Hull, then commanded by Lord Fairfax, who, unable to maintain the field against the Marquis of Newcastle, had there retired, determined to repel a siege with courage and ability; and to diminish the strength of his enemy by sudden incursions.