The faithful scout, 1652-1653: a re-evaluation of a so-called radical London weekly

Abstract

Whenever referred to by historians, The Faithful Scout has been labelled a radical. Such an evaluation is incorrect. Primarily the Scout was a loyalist and as such was supportive of the status quo. Loyalism was aimed primarily at winning over old enemies of the Commonwealth using arguments based on the de facto legitimacy of the new regime and on one's duty to submit to whatever temporal powers divine providence had permitted or installed. Loyalism was a reciprocal process, the loyalist extending the hand of reconciliation and accommodation, the other party to this loyalism responding by submitting to the status quo. Thus the Scout is found speaking highly of the qualities and virtues of Royalists (except those who threatened insurrection) in the hope of gaining their reciprocal recognition of the Commonwealth. Loyalism helps explain the production history of the paper, it having been printed by men who survived admirably every change of government, and the paper's political reporting style, which was very cautious, superficial, and, except in moments of extreme crisis, gave no indication of the balance of power between Parliament and the Army. The other main themes of the Scout were institutional reform and godly reformation. Reform was, like loyalism, based on attachment to the status quo by trying to rid if of those abuses within it which generated popular dissatisfaction. The paper's promotion of a godly reformation was more thorough as this type of reformation was seen to strike the root of society's problems: sin. Godly reformation was to be achieved primarily through the propagation of the gospel and by the godly exemplary actions of the rulers. The ideal of this reformation was a national church characterized by discipline and unity, being the antithesis of sectarian excess that the Scout considered so abominable. While the Scout did look to the Army as the principal instrument of reform, it did not desire a levelling of society by the soldier. Society was to remain in its traditional stratified form, the only desired change being the degrees of difference of wealth and power between people. The primary aim was a lasting settlement, settlement being achieved by reconciliation and accommodation, its durability being achieved by the removal of social irritants, and the fostering of unity. It is in the loyalistic qualities of moderation, magnanimity, submissiveness, accommodation, and pragmatism - not the destructions and visions of radicalism - that the key to The Faithful Scout's character lies.