586 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



York and 

 Ncwcasile 

 t;tken by 

 the parlia- 

 ment aiy 

 anny. 



The parlia- 

 mentary 

 army under 

 Essex sur- 

 renders. 



both sides were nearly equal in number; and it was 

 observed, that, for the first time in the 17th century, 

 50,000 British subjects were drawn up for mutual de- 

 struction. The signal for close combat was given intlie 

 evening, after an ineffectual cannonade across a bank 

 and ditch that intervened between the armies, and 

 after a siience of suspense which succeeded on both 

 tides, in expectation of mutual attack. Cromwell and 

 David Lesly surmounting the mound, broke the 

 right wing of Rupert, dispersed his own cavalry, and 

 destroyed part of his centre. Fairfax the younger 

 was beat on the other wing of the parliamentary 

 army, by the irresistible charge of General Hurry, 

 who also cut up a reserve of the Scotch infantry. 

 But while the royalists were pushing on to the bag- 

 gage of their opponents, Cromwell and Lesly wheel- 

 ed round, and the battle was restored, after both 

 ;>.rmies had reversed their front, and exchanged their 

 ground. The shock was short, bloody, and decisive; 

 the royalists were entirely routed. By Lesly's three 

 Scottish regiments, and Cromwell's iron brigade, 

 this eventful victory was won. 



Rupert retired with his shattered forces into Lan- 

 cashire, York surrendered to the victors, and in that 

 city Lord Fairfax established his authority over the 

 whole county. While the Scottish army marching 

 northward, joined Lord Callender with new forces, 

 ;ind took Newcastle by storm. 



The campaign in other parts of the kingdom pre- 

 sented great vicissitudes of fortune. Waller, after 

 having defeated the royalists in the south, under 

 General Ilopton, turned to Oxford, where the king 

 was already pressed by Essex ; but the king escaped 

 by a nightly march to Worcester, leaving some troops 

 in Oxford, which, for the present, were not mo- 

 lested, as Essex proceeded against Prince Maurice 

 into Connv.aH, and l*ft the king to Waller. Charles, 

 whose measures were taken wisely, either by his own 

 contrivance or that of his general, Ruthven, sudden- 

 ly rejoined his foot at Oxford ; and Waller, who was 

 stunned I y a check which his troops sustained on 

 the Charuell, as well as by the recal of his London 

 auxiliaries, allowed the king to pursue Essex, who 

 was soon enclosed between Charles's troops and those 

 of Mrj'.rice, and his army reduced to surrender their 

 foot, artillery, and baggage, while his cavalry, with 

 difficulty, broke through the lines of their surround- 

 ing enemies, and the general himself escaped to Ply- 

 mouth. 



Though Essex appeared to have despaired of the 

 public cause, the parliament wisely expressed their 

 opinion of his fidelity after this disaster ; and as no 

 stipulation had been made, that the troops who had 

 been taken and dismissed by Charles, should not 

 serve again, they were equipped again in six weeks. 

 The generals Manchester, Cromwell, Waller, and 

 Middleton, and the soldiers of Essex, (for Essex 

 himself was unfitted by sickness for commanding 

 them,) i;ave battle to Charles at Newbury, which be- 

 came a second time the scene of bloodshed. Night 

 alone prevented the king from a total overthrow. 

 His ordnance was deposited in Dcnnington Castle, 

 as he continued his precipitate retreat to Oxford ; 

 but within a few days he returned reinforced by Prince 

 Rupert's arrival from the north, and, in presence of 







a victorious army, withdrew his artillery, and diitri- Bi 

 buted his troops into winter quarters. * " 



The war in Scotland was supported on the side of *-'"' 

 royalty by the single ability of Montrose. That 



II i r ' 11 i -IT- ouct 



active leader, with a tew troops collected in West- t i, e ro _ 

 moreland, made at first an unsuccessful attempt to xlists in 

 erect the royal standard at Dumfries. Retiring to Scotland. 

 Athol in disguise, with only two attendants, he was 

 met by a body of Irish, who had been sent over from 

 Ulster by the Earl of Antrim, and hod already ra- 

 vaged i he coast of Argyle. At the head of these, and 

 of his Highland adherents, who flocked immediately 

 to his standard, he gave the Covenanters a sanguinary 

 defeat, iirst at Tippermuir near Perth, arid after ob- 

 taining possession of that city, another at the bridge 

 of Dee. Aberdeen fell into his hands, which he gave 

 up to pillage and slaughter. Argyle, who was his 

 chief antagonist in the field, could not prevent him 

 from descending, by rapid marches, into the remote 

 recesses of Argyleslure, and extending his devasta- 

 tions over Braedalbin, Argyle. and Lorn, to the con- 

 fines of Lochaber; but, baffled by his superior bold- 

 ness and skill, fled by sea to escape being involved in 

 the ruin of his clan. 



Negotiations for peace were renewed in England. Negotia- 

 Although the parliament, by their late answer to the "' 

 king's propositions from Oxford, held out the most ro 

 rigorous offers, and a list of proscriptions ; yet the 

 rising power of the Independents made it now the 

 interest of many of the Presbyterians to conclude a 

 peace, if it could be obtained with security. Sixteen 

 commissioners from Charles, twelve from parliament, 

 and four from the Scotch, assembled at Uxbridge. 

 The treaty was limited to three subject. , religion, 

 the militia, and Ireland. On the first head, the kind's 

 opponents required prelacy to be abolished, and the 

 acts of the assembly of divines at Westminster to be 

 confirmed, and the solemn league and covenant to be 

 taken by the king, and universally enjoined. Charles, 

 refused their propositions, and the reformations in 

 episcopacy which he offered to concede appeared in- 

 significant to the opposite party. On the second 

 head, parliament reduced their demand of managing 

 the militia, to seven or three years after peace, when 

 it might be again adjusted, and proposed an act of 

 mutual oblivion. On the subject of Ireland, the 

 parliament required, that the cessation of arms should 

 be declared void; that the Irish war should be di- 

 rected by them, and no peace concluded without 

 their consent. Charles would make no concession 

 on this point ; no offer of compromise, nor attempt 

 to make his own pretensions approach nearer to those 

 of the parliament, came from his side. On the con- 

 trary, his commissioners studiously obstructed a con- 

 elusion. The Earl of Southampton, one of them 

 more faithful to lus interests, knelt and implored him 

 to yield to the necessity of the times. His assent 

 was obtained to the most material propositions ; but 

 the news of Montrose's victories in Scotland made ij u t t) ie i 

 Charles recal this assent ; and reliance on this parti- again fai 

 /.an, together with the hopes of 10,000 men under 

 the Duke of Lorrain, for which the queen had nego- 

 tiated, were the chief causes of the failure of a treaty, 

 in which Charles's letters to the queen shew him to 

 have been insincere. 



7 



