411 



CROMWELL, OLIVER. 



CROMWELL, OLIVER. 



442 



rewarded by a grant of 2500?. a year, to be raised from Lord 

 Winchester's estates. 



The king, who had passed the winter (164546) at Oxford, in a con- 

 dition to the last degree disastrous and melancholy, in the month of 

 May escaped from that city in disguise, and threw himself upon the 

 protection of the Scottish army, then encamped at Newark. After 

 some negociations, he was delivered up by the Scots to the parlia- 

 mentary commissioners, who kept him prisoner at Holdenby, in 

 Northamptonshire. In proportion as the king's power had dimi- 

 nished, the division between the Independents and Presbyterians had 

 become daily more apparent. In the army, the majority, with Crom- 

 well at their head, were Independents ; in the parliament, Presby- 

 terians. Each body, jealous of the other's power, began to strive for 

 the noastery. At length the army rebelled against the parliament; 

 and Cromwell, aware of the advantage that would be gained by the 

 possession of the king's person, directed one Joyce, a young and 

 enterprising soldier, to rescue the king from the hands of the com- 

 missioners of the parliament, and to deliver him to the army (June 

 1647). This scheme was quickly put into execution. Cromwell 

 declared that he deeply regretted the disaffection which the army 

 1 towards the parliament, but the members were not deceived. 

 The Presbyterian members resolved, as soon as he should come into 

 the House of Commons, to accuse the lieutenant-general of having 

 ed this schism, and to commit him to the Tower. Intelligence 

 of these proceedings was quickly carried to the army; and Cromwell, 

 perceiving that the crisis was desperate, and that some decided step 

 must instantly be taken, hastened to the camp, where he procured 

 ;f to be invested with the chief command, and then, threatening 

 the unpopular parliament, marched southward to St. Allan'.-. 



As long as there remained any balance between the rival powers in 

 the state, each sought the support of the royal name, and the king's 

 cause appeared not altogether hopeless; he was courted alike by the 

 Presbyterians and by Cromwell. But when the leaders of the army 

 ettabliidied their dominion, the case was altered. At a conference at 

 Windsor, opened with prayers by Cromwell himself, he announced 

 that he had given up all belief in the royal promises, and opened the 

 daring counsel of punishing the king by judicial sentence. The time 

 however was not quite at hand for this bold measure. The king was 

 loft iu custody in the Isle of Wight, imd Cromwell again took the 

 iieU against the Scots in the north and the Welsh in the west, making 

 pr i>arationa at the same time to resist an invasion from Holland 

 threatened by Prince Rupert, to whom seventeen English ships had 

 deserted. Again ho was victorious; and his army returned to Lon- 

 don, where they broke violently into the parliament-house while the 

 members were iu debate, seizing some, and excluding others, by the 

 direction of Colonel Pride. The king's trial now (January 1619) 

 coin.-nenced. Cromwell was appointed a member of the court, and 

 attended every meeting of it but one ; and when the sentence was 

 passed ho was the third who signed the warrant for the execution, 

 lie was now beset with entreaties to spare the king's life, but his 

 answer to all was an echo of that to his cousin Colonel Cromwell : 

 to rest, and expect no answer to carry to the prince, for the 

 c /uiicil of officers have been seeking Qod, as I also have done, and it 

 in resolved by them all that the king must die." The execution 

 followed accordingly. Five days afterwards the House of Lords was 

 voted useless ; and a council of state was formed, with Bradshaw for 

 president and Cromwell a principal member. Difficulties soon crowded 

 touud their government. A mutiny broke out in the army, which 

 required the immediate presence of the lieutenant general, but was 

 noon suppressed by him, after the execution of three of the ring- 

 In Ireland the majority were still hostile to the parliament, and an 

 army had been sent there to reduce the royalists to submission. 

 ( 'rum well having been appointed Lord-Lieutenant and Commander-iu- 

 ( ,'hief in Ireland, joined the troops in August 1649. He besieged and took 

 Drogheda (or Tredah as it was then usually called) by storm, gave no 

 quarter to the garrison, ami proceeded to capture Wexford, Kilkenny, 

 and Clonmell. Wexford, like Drogheda, resisted, and was stormed, 

 2000 of the garrison found within being put to death ; the other towns 

 terrified by so frightful a slaughter at once surrendered. In nine 

 months the country was nearly subdued. Satisfied with his success, 

 he left to Ircton the conduct of the troops against his panic-struck 

 adversaries; and having sailed for Bristol, proceeded to London, where 



.oa received with fresh honours by the parliament. 

 The children of the late king had suffered deeply from their fallen 

 fortunes : one had died of grief at her father's execution, another had 

 been Bent out of tho kingdom by Cromwell, and Piince Charles, the 

 h' ir to the crown, poor and neglected, had lived sometimes in Hol- 

 land, at other tjmes either in Jersey or in France. At length ho was 

 induced by tho Scottish army to take thelter among them, a pro- 

 tection which he bought by subscription to the covenant, and sub- 

 in to restrict ion* so severe as almost to rendir him a prisoner. 

 Whatever might be the circumstances under which this junction waa 

 fonn-d, the return of Charles to his kingdom could not fail to alarm 

 th" Kn.;li h. It was instantly resolved to march northward with all 

 the troupe thai conl 1 bo raised. Fairfax, himself a Presbyterian, 

 1 to lead the forces, and Cromwell was therefore nominated to 

 the coininnn.l, and became the general of the Commonwealth. This 

 Ulv. VOL. II. 



vast accession to his power induced him to resign the lieutenancy of 

 Ireland; the prospect of removing Ludlow to that post is said to 

 have formed an additional leasou for his withdrawal. Cromwell was 

 thought to be jealous of the influence of Ludlow, who, though he 

 did not receive this appointment, was ultimately set aside by his 

 promotion to an official situation in that kingdom. After these and 

 other preparations, he began his march with 16,000 men (1650). He 

 reached the neighbourhood of Edinburgh unopposed, but at Mussel- 

 burgh the Scottish army under Leslie was encamped, and there the 

 two armies continued for nearly a month watching each other. At 

 length Cromwell withdrew, and his opponents followed him to Dunbar, 

 where a battle became inevitable. The battle of Duubar was gained 

 by the English, and Edinburgh and Perth were taken. Upon this 

 the king suddenly marched into England. Cromwell, who had not 

 expected this movement, sent expresses to the parliament to inform 

 them of what had taken place, and with forced marches pursuing the 

 king, brought him to an engagement near Worcester, the result of 

 which was a total defeat of the royalists (September 3, 1651). For 

 this complete victory the parliament rewarded him with fresh honours 

 and an additional pension of 4000/. a year. 



The battle of Worcester placed Cromwell avowedly at the head of 

 public affairs. His views of the kind of government required by the 

 state of the nation were, according to Whitelock, now shadowed forth 

 at a meeting of army officers and members of parliament, which he 

 called together at the speaker's house immediately on his arrival iu 

 town. He told them that what the nation plainly needed was a settle- 

 ment with somewhat of monarchical power in it. He had made up 

 his mind that there must be government by a single person whatever 

 was the title he took : perhaps he thought that he was that person. 

 But it was not the right time yet War broke out with Holland, and 

 that fully occupied his attention and engrossed the thoughts of the 

 nation. At length (1653), perceiving that the remnant of the parlia- 

 ment became daily more jealous of his power, he determined to put 

 an end to their authority. He first sent them a remonstrance; his 

 next movement was to enter the House (April 20, 1653) with an 

 armed force, seize the mace, and to declare to them, " You are no 

 longer a parliament : the Lord has done with you ; he has chosen 

 other instruments for carrying on his work." Loading the members 

 with abuse, he drove them before him out of the House. Thus was 

 the memorable ' J.oug Parliament ' dissolved : and with it disappeared 

 all regularly constituted authority. Power, self-assumed, was wholly 

 in the hands of Cromwell : but it was as captain-general that he 

 wielded it. He now formed an interim council of state, composed 

 chiefly of his principal officers, and their first step was to summon 

 by name 139 persons, some gentry, some mechanics, all of them puri- 

 tans, and to constitute them a parliament. It was obvious that such 

 an assembly could iu no way assist in tho government of the realm. 

 They met for the first time on the 4th of July 1653. One measure 

 only seemed to be expected from them, and that they quickly deter- 

 mined upon ; it was to surrender (December 12, 1653) their power to 

 Cromwell, who, after their voluntary resignation, was declared ' Pro- 

 tector' by a council of the officers of his army, and solemnly installed 

 into his dignity, February 16, 1654. 



The first charter of tho Commonwealth was drawn up by the same 

 council of officers : it was called the ' Instrument of Government.' 

 The second, called the ' Petition and Advice,' was framed in May, 

 1657, by the parliament which the Protector had assembled in the 

 previous year. Under the first charter, the English government may 

 be ranged among republics, with a chief magistrate at its head. Under 

 the second it became substantially a monarchy, and Oliver Cromwell, 

 from 1657 to his death, was de facto king of England. (Hallam, 

 'Const. Hist.' ii. 421.) The difficulties of his administration were great, 

 but thv,y were surmounted by his vigorous abilities, which ehoue forth 

 as much in wielding his power as in obtaining it. That he was both 

 arbitrary and despotic cannot be denied. Such waa the temper of the 

 country, and, notwithstanding his general popularity, such the number 

 of his open or secret enemies, that immediate and forcible ac:tiou, 

 though sometimes illegal and tyrannical, was absolutely required. 

 There were opposed to him the royalists, who were still numerous; 

 the nobility, to whom he was hateful ; the whole body of Presby- 

 terians, who were jealous of having no share in the power which they 

 had helped to gain ; and iu the army, the mutinous and disaffected 

 ' Levellers." Severe measures then were requisite, and at times they 

 certainly were used, not, however, without apparent reluctance. The 

 point that seemed most to perplex him was the calling together of 

 parliaments : he would neither reign with them nor without them. 

 His first parliament met in September 1653; he found it as intract- 

 able as Charles had found his parliaments, and he abruptly dissolved 

 it in tho following. January, in direct contradiction to the advice of 

 Whitelock and hia friends generally, who recollected tho abuse that 

 had been poured upon King Charles under similar circumstances. In 

 1C 56 his successes at home and abroad encouraged him to assemblu 

 another parliament. Ireland, being in the hands of the army, elected 

 such officers as he nominated ; Scotland was nearly equally subservient 

 to him ; still tae majority was unfavourable to his policy. Tho next 

 step was difficult. He ordered the doors of the House of Commons to 

 be guarded, and that no member should bo admitted unless he 

 produced an order from his council. Thus he excluded nearly one 



3d 



