Rupert was off the coast with a fleet; but he changed his mind and went to Paris, to the queen, his mother. Before doing that, he sent chancellor Hyde and lord Cottington as envoys to Spain, to endeavour to move the king in his favour, and he returned an answer to the Scottish commissioners, that though he was and always had been ready to grant them the freedom of their religion, he could not consent to bind himself to the covenant. They admitted that he was their king and therefore they ought to obey him, and not he them, and this he must expect from the committee of estates, the assembly of the kirk, and the whole nation of Scotland. With this answer they departed in no very satisfied mood.
The war in Ireland being now undertaken by Cromwell, we must take a brief retrospective glance at what had been passing there. Perhaps no country was ever so torn to pieces by different factions, religious and political. The catholics were divided amongst themselves: there were the catholics of the pale, and the old Irish catholics, part of whom followed the faction of Rinuccini, the pope's nuncio, who was at the head of the council of Kilkenny, and others, general Preston and viscount Taafe. The Irish royalists ranged themselves under the banner of Ormond, consisting chiefly of episcopalians. The approach of Cromwell warned them to suppress their various feuds and unite against the parliament. To strengthen the parliament force, Jones, the governor of Dublin, and Monk, who commanded in Ulster, made overtures to Owen Roe O'Neil, the head of the old Irish in Ulster. Ormond had arrived in Ireland, and Inchiquin and Preston, the leaders of the forces of the Irish council, which had now repudiated the pope's nuncio, joined him; but O'Neil held back, not trusting Ormond, and he sent a messenger to Charles in France, offering to treat directly with him. But Ormond ordered the earl of Castlehaven to attack O'Neil, which he did, and speedily reduced his garrisons of Marlborough and Athy. Enraged at this whilst he was offering his services to the king, O'Neil listened to the proposals of Monk, who was himself hard pressed by the Scottish royalists, and had been compelled to retire from Belfast to Dundalk. Monk supplied O'Neil with ammunition, and O'Neil undertook to cut off the communication betwixt the royalists of the north and Ormond in the south. Monk sent word of this arrangement, and the "grandees," as they were called, or members of the great council, entertained the plan in secret, publicly they dared not, for these followers of O'Neil wore those Ulster Irish who had committed the horrible massacres of 1641. No sooner, however, did the rumour of this coalition become public, than the greatest excitement prevailed. The army and the public at large were filled with horror and indignation. They appealed to the solemn engagement of the army to avenge the blood of their fellow protestants slaughtered by these savages; they reminded the council and the parliament of the invectives heaped by them on the late king for making peace with these blood-stained natives; and now, they said, you expect us to become the allies and associates of these very men. The parliament saw how vain it was to strive against the feeling, and annulled the agreement. Hugh Peters harangued the public from the pulpit, excusing the council on account of the real facts of the case having been concealed from them, and the whole weight of the transaction fell on Monk, who was just then in London, and who was assured that nothing but his past services saved him from the punishment of his indiscretion.
Whilst matters were in this position, and the parliament was compelled to reject a very useful ally, Ormond advanced to besiege Jones in Dublin. He advanced on both sides of the Liffey, and cast up works at Bogotrath, to cut off the pasturage of the horses of the parliamentary force in Dublin. Jones, however, made a sally an hour before sunrise, and threw the enemy into such confusion, that the whole army on the right bank of the river fled in headlong panic, leaving their artillery, ammunition, tents, and baggage. In vain did Ormond hasten to check the route, his men followed the example. Two thousand prisoners were taken by Jones, of whom they are said to have slaughtered there hundred in cold blood. Such was the defeat, and such the inequality of the forces, that it cast great disgrace on the generalship of Ormond, and the royalists made great questionings of treason; but Charles himself would not listen to any such surmises: he hastened to send Ormond the order of the garter, and to assure him of his unshaken favour. The most exaggerated statements were made of the forces of Ormond, and of the number of his men killed and taken. Ormond himself says that he had only eight thousand; but Cromwell, no doubt from the statements of Jones, states the number to have been nineteen thousand against five thou sand two hundred of Jones's, and that Jones lulled four thousand on the place, and took two thousand five hundred and seventeen prisoners, of whom three hundred were officers. The battle was fought at a place called Rathmines, on the 2nd of August, 1649, and contributed to quicken the movements of Cromwell, who was collecting his forces for the passage at Milford Haven.
Cromwell had twelve thousand veterans, with whom he sailed on the 13th of August, and arrived in Dublin with the first division on the 15th, Ireton following with the main body. He was received with acclamations by the people of Dublin, and made them a speech in the streets, which greatly pleased them. He then allowed the army a fortnight to refresh themselves after the voyage, before leading them to action. At this period, the only places left to the parliament in Ireland were Dublin and Derry. On the 9th of September he besieged Drogheda, and summoned it to surrender. The governor of the place was Sir Arthur Ashton, who had about three thousand troops, foot and horse, commanded by Sir Edmund Varney, whose father was killed at Edge Hill. Ashton, who had acquired the reputation of a brave and experienced officer, refused to surrender, and the storm commenced, and on the second day a breach was made. A thousand men entered by the breach, but were driven back by the garrison. On this, Cromwell placed himself at the head of his men, and made a second assault. This time, after some hard fighting, they succeeded in getting possession of the intrenchments and of a church. According to Ormond, Carte, and others, Cromwell's officers then promised quarter to all who would surrender. "All his officers and soldiers," says Carte, "promising quarter to such as would lay down their arms, and perform-
