Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/255

POLITICAL HISTORY On the outbreak of the second Civil War a rising of the ' malignants ' in Rutland was anticipated if Lord Norwich should break away to the north.* But he remained in Essex, and Rutland was undisturbed. Waite distinguished himself in the capture of Woodcroft House, near Peterborough,^^ and also took part in the pursuit and capture of the Duke of Hamilton after the rout of Preston, August 1648 ; he attended the House of Commons and gave a full account of the action, and Rutland, among other counties, was thanked for its supply of troops.'" The anxiety and dissatisfaction felt in the county with respect to the political situation at the end of 1648 are shown in a lengthy ' petition or remonstrance from the well-affected inhabitants ' presented to Fairfax on 24 November by Lieutenant Freeman and three others. Parlia- ment was at this time engaged in negotiations with the king, and, said the petitioners, ' that which melteth our very souls is the much bloud already spilt, and yet we like to return into our former slavery ; ' they besought Fairfax — 'for God's sake, lay these things to heart,' and pointed out with regard to the proposed militia arrangements that ' if the House of Commons had declared themselves the supream Authority of the Nation (as they ought to have done) our securitie had been firm.' " Waite survived Pride's Purge, and was a member of the ' high court of justice ' appointed for the trial of the king. The revolution carried out by the Rump did not at once bring relief to Rutland. Three troops of Lilburne's regiment were quartered in the county, and Abel Barker, who was Sir Edward Harington's tenant at Gunthorpe, wrote to him that four of the men were quartered there. Harington directed the removal of the troops to Worcestershire, whereupon the captain sent to Lilburne for orders, and was bidden to stay where he was."' After this only one troop of horse appears to have been permanently settled in Rutland, num- bering four officers and sixty men ; the command was given to Major Norton, as Waite's parliamentary duties kept him in London."" But once more, in August 165 I, the alarm was raised by the invasion of the Scots with Cromwell in pursuit, and the Rutland militia was ordered to rendezvous at Daventry with that of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, the whole force being under the command of Lord Grey, who also received a commission to raise six troops of volunteer horse in these counties."^ From 1644 onwards, the principal Royalists gradually submitted to the Parliament, and compounded for their delinquency by fines of varying amount. Amongst these was the Duke of Buckingham, whose estates were for a second time sequestrated in 1 648 for his participation in the second Civil War,"^ but who returned to England secretly in 1651, and, by his marriage with Mary the daughter of Lord Fairfax, to whom his Rutland property had been assigned, was enabled to recover it before the Restoration."' " Cal. S.P. Dom. 1648-9, p. 108. » Diet. Nat. Biog. =" Commons' Journ. v, 688-9. " B.M. Pressmark, 699. f. 13 (47). Ibid. (68). " Barker says the men were quartered by him at ' Mr. Meakins ' at 3/. each per day, ' which was as cheap as we could get them in respect of the dearnesse of these tymes.' The charge seems excessive. An Uppingham widow about the same time appealed to Barker to get her relieved of the maintenance of a soldier at half-a-crown weekly, which is more reasonable ; Hist. MSS. Com. ReJ>. v, App. 392, 397. '" Cal.S.P. Dom. 1650, pp. 214, 340. "" Ibid. 1651, pp. 323, 341,369. "" Cf Clarendon, Hist. Reb. xi, 5 ; Diet. Nat. Biog. Iviii, 337. "" Pearl Finch, Hist. Burlty on the Hill, 8 ; Cal. of Com. for Compounding, 88.