Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/634

BOO G R M W E L L besiegers, and was regarded by the royalists as impregnable. On 14th October Cromwell wrote to the speaker " I thank God I can give you a good account of Basing." He had stormed it that morning at 6 o clock, having, says Hugh Peters, " spent much time with God in prayer the night before." A few more such successes ended the campaign and the war. On 22d April 1646 Cromwell returned to his place in Parliament, and was received with the most distinguished honours. During the next two years he resided for the most part in London, taking a due share in the negotiations with the king, and in the important contest between the Presbyterians and Independents, represented respectively by the city and army, which ended in the triumph of the latter. On the one side the support of the army was felt to be now an unnecessary burden, while the fact that so many of the Soldiers had never taken the Covenant was displeasing to the strict Presbyterians, especially to those who had held commands in the old army. On the other side it was regarded as a most hazardous policy to disband the army without any surer guarantee for the nation s peace than the promises of the king. The formal claims of the soldiers, however, were forty-three weeks arrears of pay, indemnity for acts done in the war, and discharge according to con tract. After much unsatisfactory negotiation, the celebrated rendezvous or army convocation took place (June 10, 1647) on Triploe Heath near Cambridge. The Parliamentary commissioners were saluted in every regiment with the cry " Justice ! Justice ! " On the same day a letter signed by the general (Fairfax) and chief officers was despatched to the mayor and corporation of London. It expressed in moderate language their desires, containing at the same time the significant intimation that " for the obtaining of these things we are drawing near your city." A succession of events, varied by the advance and retreat of -the army as the Parliament resisted or yielded, ended in the entry of the army into London, August 6, after having received full satisfaction of all its demands. On 12th November the king escaped from Hampton Court, leaving the Parliament ary leaders convinced, after months of fruitless negotiation, of the hopelessness of further treating with him. On 3d January 1648 it was decided that there should be no more addresses to his Majesty. In March news came from Scot land that a royalist army under the duke of Hamilton was preparing to invade England. The smouldering elements of insurrection now broke out. In London an alarming riot was only crushed by "a desperate charge of cavalry." Similar risings in Norwich, Canterbury, Exeter, &c., were put down by Fairfax. A more formidable revolt took place in Wales, and thither Cromwell was ordered to hasten. On llth May he took the town of Chepstow, and after a pro tracted siege Pembroke Castle was surrendered to him on 1 Ith July. Having settled Wales, Cromwell now hastened northwards and joined Lambert in Yorkshire. Hamilton, with 17,000 Scots, and Sir Marmaduke, Langdale, with 4000 Yorkshiremen, were advancing in loose combination into Lancashire. Cromwell, marching westward at the head of 8600 men, attacked them at Preston on 17th August. The rout and chase extended over three days, at the end of which Hamilton s army was a total wreck. 2000 men were slain, and 10,000 (the duke himself in the number) made prisoners. So rapid and unexpected had been the move ment of Cromwell, that Hamilton did not know till the close of the first day with what enemy he had been engaged. Following up this amazing success, Cromwell proceeded northward by Durham and Berwick across the border. On 4th October he entered Edinburgh, where he was welcomed with enthusiasm. During two days he lodged in " the earl of Murrie s house, in the Cannigate," receiving visits from persons of distinction ; and on the day of his departure he was entertained to a sumptuous banquet in the castle. Having received satisfactory guarantees of future amity, he took his departure on the 7th October, leaving Scotland " in a thriving posture," and " like to be a better neighbour than when the great pretenders to the Covenant, and religion, and treaties, had the power in their hands." Returning by Carlisle, which was delivered up according to agreement with the Scots, he laid siege to Pontefract Castle. It held oat stubbornly. On 6th December, the day of "Pride s Purge," having left Lambert to conduct the siege, Cromwell arrived in London, and on the morrow re ceived the thanks of the House for his services. During the following month he sat assiduously in the High Court of Justice for trying the king ; and after the execution was nominated to the new council of state. The critical state of Ireland now demanded the most vigorous measures, the whole country, with the exception of Dublin and Derry, having, through the exertions of Ormond, been roused into open war against the Common wealth. On 15th March 1649 Cromwell was nominated lord-lieutenant for Ireland. Some work, however, still re mained to be done at home. The wild doctrines of the Levellers, propagated mainly through the restless activity of John Lilburne, had made dangerous way in the army. The flame of discontent soon broke out into open mutiny at the various headquarters. By prompt activity, and a just exercise of "vigour and clemency," Cromwell and Fairfax quelled this alarming insurrection ; two or three of the ringleaders were shot ; the rest were admonished and submitted. On 10th July Cromwell left London in great state, and after some weeks spent in preparations at Bristol, embarked at Milford Haven, August 13, "followed," as Milton tells us, " by the well-wishes of the people, and the prayers of all good men." He landed in Dublin on the 18th, and was received with the most lively demonstrations of joy. On 3d September he appeared before Tredah (Drogheda), which Ormond had garrisoned with 3000 of his best troops. On the I Oth Cromwell s batteries began to play, and the governor received a summons to surrender. It was rejected, and the bombardment proceeded. Next day a breach was made, and the storming party entered, but met with a vigorous repulse. Cromwell, witnessing this from the batteries, hastily headed a second assault, drove in the enemy, and, " being in the heat of the action, put the whole garrison without mercy to the sword. " I am persuaded/ he wrote in his despatch, " that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbrued their hands in so much innocent blood ; and that it will tend to prevent the effusion of blood in the future. Which are the satisfactory grounds to such actions, which otherwise cannot but work regret and remorse." " The execrable policy of that regicide," says Carte, " had the effect he proposed. It spread abroad the terror of his name." Towns and garrisons were yielded up in rapid succession ; and, with the exception of Wexford, where a similar slaughter took place (October 11), the subsequent effusion of blood in Ireland was comparatively small. The arm of resistance had been thoroughly paralyzed. On 2d December Cromwell retired to winter quarters. Before resuming the campaign, he issued, in answer to a manifesto from an assembly of the Popish hierarchy at Clonmacnoise, a " Declaration for the Undeceiving of Deluded and Seduced People." In this remarkable document Cromwell, with rude but masterly hand, tears up the sounding pretences of the hierarchy, points to the true causes of Ireland s miseries, rebuts the charges of " massacre " and " extirpation," and invites the inhabitants of Ireland to submit peaceably to the Commonwealth, with assurance of inviolate protection in their just rights and liberties. These promises were no

empty words ; the results of Cromwell s conquest and