C R O M 
tion he acquired in his military character, which laid the 
foundation of the pro eminence lie afterwards acquired. 
Li civil ccntefts, when the appeal is made to the fword, 
martial talents are tliofe which’ftand foremoft, and for a 
time eclnfo'all other excellence. He foon made liis re¬ 
giment the belt in the parliament fervice ; and the means 
lie employed cannot be better narrated than they have 
been in one of his own fpeeches, where he relates a con- 
verfation between him and Mr. Hampden, refpefting the 
inferiority hitherto (hewn of the parliament’s foldiers to 
the king’s. “ Your troops, faid I, are molt of them old 
decayed ferving men, and tapflers, and fuch kind of fel¬ 
lows ; and their troops are gentlemen’s younger fans, 
and perfons of good quality. And do you think that 
the mean fpirits of fitch bafe and mean fellows will ever 
be able to encounter gentlemen that have honour, and 
courage, and relolution, in them ? You muff get men of 
a fpirit ;'and, take it not ill what I fay, of a lpirit that 
is likely to go on as far as gentlemen will go, or elfe I am 
fare you will be beaten dill : I told him fo. He was a 
wife and worthy perfon, and he did think that I talked 
a good notion, but an impracticable one. 1 told him I 
could do fomewhat in it : and I accordingly railed fuch 
men as had the fear of God before them, and made fome 
confcience of what they did. And, from that day for¬ 
ward, they were never beaten, but, wherever they were 
engaged againft the enemy, they beat continually.” Here 
we fee nothing of the fanatic, but the matter-mind, ca¬ 
pable of applying to the belt advantage the inftru- 
jnents and principles with which he was to aft. His 
levies, we are told, confitted of his countrymen, fubftan- 
tial freeholders, or their fons, all acquainted with him, 
and one with another. He trained them in excellent dif- 
cipline, and gave them the true pride and fpirit of fol¬ 
diers. By way of trying his men, he placed at their firft 
mutter a dozen troopers in ambufeade, who fuddenly 
Yullied out upon them. About a fcore of his recruits 
rode off the field as fall as their horfes could carry them. 
Thefe he cafhiered, and enlitted bolder fpirits in their 
place. He likewife engaged their confidence, and pre¬ 
pared them to follow him to all extremities, by telling 
them plainly that “ lie did not mean to cozen them with 
the perplexed terms in his commiffion, to fight for king 
and parliament ■ for fho.uld the king be in the oppofite 
army, he would as foon fire his pilfol upon him as upon 
another man.” 
To give a particular account of Cromwell’s military 
Iran factions, would be to write a hiftory of the civil 
war ; which more properly belongs to, and will be given 
tinder, the article England. It will be enough for our 
puryofe, in this place, to mark the rnoft confiderable 
and characteriftic features of the man. Having, by va¬ 
rious important Cervices, acquired the confidence of the 
parliament, he was made lieutenant-general of the h.orfe 
in the army commanded by the duke of Manchetter; 
.and at the battle of Martton-moor, 1644, which gave the 
firft fevere blow to the royal party, it is allowed that 
his cavalry turned the fortune of the day. He diftin- 
guifhed himfelfajlo at the fec'ond battle 'of Newbury; 
and fo popular did his name become, that he was (filed 
by his party The Saviour of the Nation. This party was 
compofed of the independents^ who now began to take 
the lead, and by whofe policy the felf-denying ordinance 
patted in parliament, the profefted pv.rpofe of which was 
to ( xclude the members of either houfe from commands 
in the army. This proved an efi'eftual exclufion to the 
earl of Manchetter, with whom Cromwell had quarrelled, 
and to many other perfons of rank and confequence; 
while the favourite commander, on account of extraor¬ 
dinary merit, was firft temporarily, and afterwards abfo- 
‘hitely, exempted from its operation. And this manoeuvre 
mutt be regarded as one of the grand fteps in his eleva¬ 
tion. The chief command was then committed to fir 
T homas Fairfax, a brave foldier, and an honeft man, but 
itmich too deficient in lagacity so cope with a man like 
W ELL. m 
Cromwell, who was at the fame time made lieutenant- 
general of the army. He continued to diftinguifli him- 
(elf by brilliant exploits; and it was through his counfel 
that the decifive battle of Nafeby was brought on in 
June, 1645. In that combat Cromwell had the’com- 
mand of the right wing; and after Ireton, in the left 
wing, had been beaten and raflily purfued out of the 
field by prince Rupert, it v/as Cromwell’s timely charge 
which broke the king’s infantry, and fecured the vic¬ 
tory. As a pecuniary reward for his fervices, the flint 
of 2500]. per annum was voted him by parliament; and 
when he refurned his (eat in the houfe, thanks were re¬ 
turned to him in the warmed exprellions, which he re¬ 
ceived with great humility, and declarations of profound 
fubmiliion to the pleafure of that body. After the war 
was ended, by the delivering up of the king by the Scotch 
army, it was propofed to difband part of the forces. 
Cromwell, whofe overgrown authority it was meant to 
check by this meafure, had the art to turn it to his ad¬ 
vantage ; for by his emiflaries he impretted the foldiers 
with a fenfe of the ingratitude of the parliament towards 
their merits; and, in the reduction, he contrived to pro¬ 
cure an exemption for Fairfax’s army, which was, in faft, 
his own. The death of the earl of Eftex, in 164-6, re¬ 
moved another obftacle to his ambition. From this time, 
till the king’s trial and execution, it is difficult to trace 
the crooked and intricate paths of Cromwell’s politics, 
who alternately deceived the parliament, the army, and 
the king, as it fuited his temporary views during the 
various (hiftings of the feene. His durable conneftions, 
however, were with the army, and lie only appeared to 
be the fervant of the parliament, and the friend of the 
king, in order to cover his real defigns, and to prevent 
that agreement of the two latter, which might have re¬ 
duced him to infignificance. It was at his inftigation 
that cornet Joyce feized the king’s perfon at Holmby- 
lioufe, and carried him to the head-quarters of the army. 
His behaviour to the king in this fituation was fo refpeft- 
ful, and almoft affectionate, that it may be fufpefted lie 
had fome real intention of b'eing the inftrument of his 
reftoration. He even went fo far as to procure a letter 
from the army to the parliament, in which they avowed 
the king’s caufe to be theirs. At tiie fame time he, and 
his fon-in-law, and molt confidential agent, Ireton, fo¬ 
mented the mutinous fpirit of the army againft the par¬ 
liament, which, after a (truggle, terminated in the vic¬ 
tory of the former. The next game he played was to 
remove the king from Hampton-court, where he feemed 
to be regaining much of his conlideration; which Crom¬ 
well effected by intimidating him with fufpicions of dan¬ 
ger to his life, from the party of levellers which was 
Tprung up in the army. Charles imprudently withdrew 
in fecrecy, and put himfelf into the hands of Hammond, 
governor of the Ille of Wight, a perfon devoted to Crom¬ 
well. A fecopd civil war then arofe, in which the Scotch, 
and fume of the former parliamentarians, joined with the 
loynlifts in attempting to reftore the monarchical confti- 
tution. This called Cromwell, and the other military 
leaders, again into the field. Cromwell marched into 
Wales, and, with great celerity, quelled an infurreftion 
in that country. His conduct there admirably chanter 
terii'es his difpolition. Without paffion or relennnent, 
Ire aimed merely at performing his bufinefs eifeftually, 
and with difpatch, which laft was a very neceffary point. 
If he could procure a furrender upon terms, no com¬ 
mander gave better, or kept them more faithfully : jf 
he was obliged to make ufe of force, he (lied blood un- 
fparingly, but not beyond the limit of the occaiion. 
Having thus, in a month, effefted what would have em¬ 
ployed many for fix, he marched northwards to joia 
Lambert, who was attending the motions of the bcotcli 
army under the duke of Hamilton, and a body of Englitti 
under fir Marmaduke Langdale. Thefe were entirely 
defeated by the parliament leaders, find of the Scotch not 
a tenth part reached home again. Cromwell then pro¬ 
ceeded 
