538 



CROMWELL. 



the occupation of Cambridge, where, with puritanical 

 teal, he seized the university plate, in the name of 

 God, to defray the expenses of the war. He then 

 routed the royalists, and made himself master of their 

 supplies. This success very much facilitated the 

 parliament's levies, while it had the opposite effect 

 on those of the royalists. His troops behaved with 

 remarkable order, except on occasions when their 

 religion^ feelings were excited. He laid the founda- 

 tion of his military fame by the relief of Gainsborough. 

 From that, time lie rivalled in boldness, in decision, 

 ami in presence of mind, the most practised warriors. 

 At Marston Moor, July 2, 1644, the cavalry wliich 

 lie had trained, and which were commanded by Fair- 

 fax and himself, decided the victory. And now liis 

 political influence began. Both a puritan and a re- 

 publican, he thought with Ireton and Hampden, but 

 spoke out more boldly and distinctly, and thus be- 

 came the prominent leader of the party tliat was re- 

 solved to carry matters to the last extremity. 



But amid all his real and feigned honesty, he was 

 already beginning to play the secret part, for which 

 his sagacity and knowledge of human nature soon 

 suggested the most politic course. He constantly 

 served, as Hobbes remarks, the strongest party, as 

 well as he was able, and carried matters with it as 

 far as it wished. Once, indeed, when he had charg- 

 ed lord Manchester with cowardice, before parlia- 

 ment, because, after the battle of Newbury (1643), 

 he would not permit the cavalry to charge the enemy 

 on their retreat, from fear that, if routed, they would 

 all be treated as rebels and traitors, the earl publicly 

 accused him of an intention of putting himself at the 

 head of the army, and giving the law to king and 

 parliament. Fortunately for Cromwell, the influence 

 of the Independents (q. v.) prevented a thorough in- 

 vestigation of the matter. From that time, however, 

 the English Presbyterians regarded him as a danger- 

 ous man ; and the commander-in-chief, Essex, joined 

 with the Scots, who hated Cromwell for his con- 

 temptuous treatment of them, in seeking his down- 

 fall. Upon this, Cromwell, in concert with his 

 friends, planned a measure which may be regarded 

 as the masterstroke of his political cunning. On 

 fast day, he induced the London clergy to preach 

 on the necessity of the parliament freeing itself 

 from the charge of selfish ends, which could be 

 done only by its members resigning all their lucra- 

 tive offices, civil and military, and leaving it to the 

 Lord to choose other instruments for bringing to a 

 conclusion so glorious a work. In consequence of 

 this, the parliament passed what was called the self- 

 denying ordinance, in accordance with which Sir 

 Harry Vane, Cromwell, and others, gave in their re- 

 signations, because the army, as they said, stood in 

 need of a stricter discipline, and, above all, of more 

 Christian leaders. The project was carried through : 

 Essex was dismissed, and the zealous but irresolute 

 Sir Thomas Fairfax was put in his place. As the 

 honourable but weak Fairfax did not feel himself 

 qualified for the duties of general, he obtained an 

 exemption from the above mentioned ordinance for 

 Cromwell, who, uniting ability with boldness, was 

 again placed under him, with the command of the 

 cavalry. Cromwell now introduced into the whole 

 army the excellent discipline in which he had 

 already trained a part of it, and gained the decisive 

 battle of Naseby (Jtme 14, 1645), in which the king 

 was routed with great loss. Cromwell got possession 

 of the correspondence of Charles I. with the queen, 

 from which the parliament published all the passages 

 which would injure the king and queen in public 

 opinion. After this victory, and the capture of' 

 Bristol, Cromwell wrote to the parliament, in that 

 affectedly humble and sanctified strain, with which 



he disguised his ambitious designs ; " This is none 

 other out the hnnd of God, and to him alone be- 

 longs the glory." The spirit in the army, which 

 the officers, and especially Cromwell, excited by 

 their sermons and prayers, had now risen to fanati- 

 cism ; at the same time that good order and morality 

 were so well maintained, that profanity, drunken- 

 ness, robbery, and the like offences, hardly ever 

 occurred. By this course, Cromwell succeeded in 

 crushing the last efforts of the royal party, which he 

 persecuted with fanatical bitterness. Charles I. at 

 last took refuge with the Scottisli army ; but was 

 given up by them to the parliament (May 5, 1646), 

 on which occasion Cromwell was one of the com- 

 missioners. Contrary to the expectation of the 

 people, Charles was treated as a prisoner by the 

 leaders of the war party and the Independents, who 

 carried their cruelty so far as even to deny him 

 the consolation of having one of his chaplains with 

 him. The parliament was now in possession of 

 the supreme power. It distributed rewards to its 

 adherents, and Cromwell received ,2500 a-year, 

 from the estates of the marquis of Worcester. But 

 when the parliament wished to disband the army, 

 which was infected with the fanatical spirit of the 

 Independents, the soldiers appointed, from the crea- 

 tures of Cromwell and the wildest visionaries, a 

 council of officers and a body of subalterns and 

 privates, called agitators, who insolently declared to 

 the parliament, that they would not lay down their 

 arms till the freedom of the nation was established. 

 Some of the soldiers conducted themselves with so 

 much boldness, that the parliament ordered their ar- 

 rest ; on which occasion Cromwell not only supported 

 the house, but, with tears in his eyes, deplored the sedi- 

 tious temper of the troops, which, he said, had even 

 put his own life in danger. Some of the members, 

 however, saw in him the secret mover of those 

 measures, and accordingly proposed his apprehen- 

 sion ; but, on that very day, Cromwell repaired to 

 the army, in order, as he wrote to the lower house, 

 to restore the deluded soldiers to their duty, and, at 

 the same time, requested that Fairfax and the other 

 officers would co-operate with him to this end. On 

 the same day (June 3, 1647), one of the agitators, 

 Joyce, forcibly carried off the king from Holmby, 

 and delivered him into the hands of the army. 

 Cromwell seems at this time to have contemplated 

 the restoration of the king. But he was convinced, 

 on a nearer view of the fanatical spirit that reigned in 

 the army, that he could not venture such a measure 

 without danger of his life ; besides, he was only 

 second in command, and could not reckon on the 

 assistance of the most influential men, some of 

 whom, as Vane and St John, were his equals in 

 cunning, and others, as Ludlow, Haselrigg, and many 

 more, his equals in courage. They were all zealous 

 republicans, and firmly resolved to destroy monarchy 

 with the monarch. Cromwell seems, too, to have 

 feared the political principles of his son-in-law, 

 Ireton. 



Thus he was finally obliged to continue in the 

 course which he had begun, and, in order to pre- 

 serve the favour of the army, to make a hypocri- 

 tical show of sentiments which he no longer felt- 

 He personally respected the king as an upright and 

 conscientious man. He is said to have connived at 

 his flight from Hampton court, and to have wished 

 that he might escape from the kingdom ; and spoke 

 with tears of his first meeting with his children ; foi 

 Cromwell, in private life, was mild and noble in his 

 temper. At last, yielding to the force of circum- 

 stances, he united himself entirely to the common- 

 wealth party, and, in their deliberations about the 

 futiu-e form of government, feebly advocated a 



