of so much odium, were of but little service to the royal party. Being landed at Mostyne, in North Wales, and put under the command of lord Byron, they besieged and took the castle of Hawarden, Beeston, Acton, and Deddington-house: but a stop was soon put to their career of glory. Elated with success, and entertaining the most profound contempt for the parliamentary forces, they sat down before Namptwich in the depth of winter. This was the only place that now adhered to the parliament in Cheshire or its neighbourhood. Its importance was well known, and consequently the necessity of attempting its relief. Sir Thomas Fairfax, alarmed at the progress of the royalists in this quarter, accordingly assembled in Yorkshire an army of four thousand men; and, having joined sir William Brereton, suddenly attacked Byron's camp. The swelling of the river Wever by a thaw had divided one part of the royal army from the other, and the whole was routed and dispersed.(1)

The invasion from Scotland, in favour of the parliament, was attended with more momentous consequences. The Scottish army, under the command of the earl of Leven, having summoned the town of Newcastle without effect, passed the Tyne, and faced the marquis of Newcastle, who lay at Durham with an army of fourteen thousand men. The marquis did not decline the challenge; but before any action took place, he received intelligence of the return of sir Thomas Fairfax, with his victorious forces, from Cheshire. Afraid of being enclosed between two armies, he retreated to York; and Leven having joined lord Fairfax, they sat down before that city. The earl of Manchester arrived soon after with an accession of force; and York, though vigorously defended by the marquis of Newcastle, was so closely besieged by these combined armies, and reduced to such extremity, that the parliamentary generals flattered themselves with a speedy conquest.

A siege of so much importance roused the spirit of prince Rupert. By exerting himself vigorously in Lancashire and Cheshire, he collected a considerable army; and being joined by sir Charles Lucas, who commanded Newcastle's horse, he hastened to the relief of York with an army of twenty thousand men. The Scottish and parliamentary generals, on his approach, immediately raised the siege, and drew up their forces on Marston moor, where they proposed to give battle to the royalists. Prince Rupert entered the town by another quarter, and safely joined his forces to those of Newcastle, by interposing the river Ouse between him and the enemy. Having so successfully effected his purpose, the prince ought to have remained satisfied with his good fortune. The marquis was sensible of it, and endeavoured, by many arguments, to persuade him to decline a battle; but especially as the Scottish and English armies were at variance, and must soon separate of their own accord, while a few days would bring him a reinforcement of ten thousand men.

That violent partisan, however, whose martial disposition was not sufficiently tempered with prudence, or softened by complaisance, treated this advice with contempt, and without deigning to consult Newcastle, who had long been the chief prop of the royal cause in the north, he imperiously issued orders for battle, and led out the army to Marston moor. The mar quis refused to take any share in the command, but behaved gallantly as a volunteer. Fifty thousand British troops were, on this occasion, led to mutual slaughter. The numbers on each side were nearly equal, and victory continued long undecided. At length, lieutenant-general Cromwell, who conducted the prime troops of the parliament, having broken the right wing of the royalists, led by prince Rupert, returned from the pursuit, and determined a contest which before seemed doubtful. Sir Charles Lucas, who commanded the left wing of the royalists, and who had put the right wing of the parliamentary army to flight, being ignorant of the fortune of the day in other quarters, was surprised to see that he must again renew, with

(1) Rushworth, ubi sup.

this determined leader, the combat for victory. Nor was Cromwell a little disappointed to find, that the battle was yet to be gained. The second engagement was no less furious than the first. All the hostile passions that can inflame civil or religious discord were awakened in the breasts of the two parties; but, after the utmost efforts of courage by both, success turned wholly to the side of the parliament. The king's artillery was taken, and his army pushed off the field. (1)

The loss of this battle was, in itself, a severe blow to the royal cause, and its consequences were still more fatal than could have been expected. The marquis of Newcastle, enraged to find all his successful labours rendered abortive by one act of temerity, and frightened at the prospect of renewing the desperate struggle, immediately left the kingdom in despair, and continued abroad till the restoration.(2) Prince Rupert, with the utmost precipitation, drew off the remains of his army, and retired to Lancashire, instead of throwing himself into York, and waiting his majesty's orders; so that Glenham, the lieutenant-governor, was in a few days obliged to surrender that city.(3) Lord Fairfax, fixing his residence in York, established his government over the whole neighbouring country; while the Scottish army marched northward, in order to join the earl of Calendar, who was advancing with ten thousand additional forces, and, having formed that junction, laid siege to Newcastle, and carried it by assault.(4)

The

In the mean time, the king's affairs in the south, though there no less dangerous or critical, were conducted with more ability and success. parliament had made extraordinary exertions in that quarter. Two armies, of ten thousand men each, were completed with all possible speed; and Essex and Waller, the two generals, had orders to march with their combined forces towards Oxford, and attempt by one enterprise to put an end to the war. Leaving a numerous garrison in Oxford, the king passed with dexterity between the two armies, and marched towards Winchester. Essex gave orders to Waller to follow him, and watch his motions, while he himself marched to the west in quest of prince Maurice. But the king, eluding the vigilance of Waller, returned suddenly to Oxford; and having reinforced his army from that garrison, marched out in quest of his pursuer. The two armies faced each other at Cropedy bridge, near Banbury. The Charwel ran between them; and the king, in order to draw Waller from his advantageous post, decamped next day, and marched towards Daventry. This movement had the desired effect. Waller ordered a considerable detachment to ford the river, while he himself passed the bridge with the main body, and fell upon the king's rear with his whole forces. He was repulsed, routed, and pursued back to the bridge with great slaughter.(5)

The king thought he might now safely leave the remains of Waller's army behind him, and march westward against Essex, who carried all before him in that quarter. He accordingly followed the parliamentary general; and Essex, convinced of his inferiority, retired into Cornwall, entreating the parliament to send an army to fall upon the king's rear. General Middleton was despatched for that purpose, but came too late. Cooped up in a narrow corner at Lestwithiel, deprived of all forage and provisions, and seeing no prospect of relief, Essex's army was reduced to the greatest extremity. The king pressed them on one side, prince Maurice on another, and sir Richard

(1) Clarendon, vol. v. Rushworth, vol. vi. Whitlocke, p. 89.

(2) This nobleman, who was considered as the ornament of the court, and of his order, had been engaged, contrary to the natural bent of his disposition, by a high sense of honour and personal regard to his master, to take part in these military transactions. He disregarded the dangers of war, but its anxieties and fatigues were oppressive to his natural indolence of temper. Liberal, polite, courteous, and humane, he brought a great accession of friends to the royal party. But amid all the hurry of action, his inclinations were secretly drawn to the soft art of peace, in which he took particular delight; and the charms of poetry, music, and conversation stole him often from his rougher occupations. Though he lived abroad in extreme indigence, he disdained, by submission or composition, to recognise the usurped authority of the parliament, or look up to it for relief, but saw with indifference the sequestration of his ample fortune. Clarendon, vol. v. Huine, vol. vii.

(3) Rushworth, vol. vi.

(4) Whitlocke, p. 88.

(5) Rushworth, vol. vi. Clarendon, vol. v. Ruthven, a Scottish officer, who had been created earl of Brentford, attended the king as general in these operations

Granville on a third. Essex and some of his principal officers escaped in a boat to Plymouth; and Balfour, with the horse, having passed the king's outposts in a thick fog, got safe to the parliamentary garrisons; but the foot, under Skippon, were obliged to surrender their arms, artillery, ammunition, and baggage.(1)

By this surrender, which was no small cause of triumph to the royalists, the king obtained what he stood much in need of; and yet his enemies were not materially injured, as the troops were preserved. In order to conceal their disgrace, the commons voted thanks to Essex for his courage and conduct; and having armed his troops anew, they ordered Manchester and Cromwell, as well as Waller and Middleton, to join him, and offer battle to the king. Charles, having thrown succours into Deddington castle, long besieged by the parliamentary forces, and knighted the governor for his gallant defence, had taken post at Newbury, where an obstinate battle, as we have seen, was formerly fought. There the generals of the parliament attacked him with great vigour; and the royalsts, though they defended themselves with their wonted valour, were at last overpowered by numbers Night came seasonably to their relief, and prevented a total defeat. Leaving his cannon and baggage at Deddington castle, the king retreated to Wallingford, and afterward to Oxford; where, being joined by prince Rupert and the earl of Northampton, with considerable bodies of cavalry, he ventured again to advance towards the enemy. They did not choose to give him battle, though still greatly superior in forces; and the king had the satisfaction of bringing off his cannon from Deddington castle, in the face of his adversaries, and of distributing his army into winter-quarters without molestation.(2)

During this season of inaction, certain disputes between the parliamentary generals, which were supposed to have disturbed their military operations, were revived in London; and each being supported by his own faction, their mutual reproaches and accusations agitated the whole city and parliament. The cause of these disputes will require explication.

There had long prevailed among the Puritans, or parliamentary party, a secret distinction, which, though concealed for a time, by the dread of the king's power, began to discover itself in proportion as the hopes of success became nearer, and at last broke forth in high contest and animosity The Independents, who had at first sheltered themselves under the wings of the PRESBYTERIANS, now openly appeared as a distinct party, actuated by different views and pretensions. They rejected all ecclesiastical establishments, and would admit of no spiritual courts, no government among pastors, nor any interposition of the magistrate in religious concerns. Each congregation, according to their principles, united voluntarily, and by spiritual ties, composed within itself a separate church; and as the election of the congregation was alone sufficient to bestow the sacerdotal character and office, to which no benefits were annexed, all essential distinction was denied between the laity and the clergy. No ceremony, no institution, no imposition of hands, was thought requisite, as in every other church, to convey a right to holy orders; but the soldier, the merchant, the mechanic, indulging the fervours of zeal, and guided by the illapses of the spirit, resigned himself to an inward and superior direction, and was consecrated by a supposed intercourse and immediate communication with heaven.(3)

Nor were the independents less distinguished from the presbyterians by their political than their religious principles. The presbyterians were only desirous of restraining within narrow limits the prerogatives of the crown, and of reducing the king to the rank of first magistrate; but the independ

(2) Rushworth, vol. vii.

(1) Whitlocke, p. 98. Clarendon, vol. v. Rushworth, vol. vi. (8) Sir Ed. Walker's Hist. of Independency. Hume, vol. vii. The independents were the first Christian sect, which, during its prosperity, as well as its adversity, always adopted the principle of toleration. The reason assigned by Mr. Hume for this liberty of conscience is truly ingenious. The mind, says he, set afloat in the wide sea of inspiration, could confine itself within no certain limits; and the same variations in which an enthusiast indulged himself, he was apt, by a natural train of thinking, to permit in .ouers. Hist. Eng. vol. vii.

ents, more ardent in their pursuit of liberty, aspired at a total abolition of the monarchical and even of the aristocratical branch of the English constitution. They had projected an entire equality of rank and order, in a republic quite free and independent. Of course, they were declared enemies to all proposals for peace; rigidly adhering to the maxim, that whoever draws his sword against his sovereign should throw away the scabbard. And by widely diffusing the apprehensions of vengeance, they engaged multitudes who differed from them in opinion, both with respect to religion and government, to oppose all terms of pacification with their offended prince.(1) Sir Henry Vane, Oliver Cromwell, Nathaniel Fiennes, and Oliver St. John were considered as the leaders of the independents. The earl of Northumberland, proud of his rank, regarded with horror their scheme, which would confound the nobility with the meanest of the people. The earl of Essex, who began to foresee the pernicious consequences of the war, adhered to the presbyterians, and promoted every reasonable plan of accommodation. The earls of Warwick and Denbigh, sir Philip Stapleton, sir William Waller, Hollis, Massey, Whitlocke, Maynard, Glyn, and other eminent men, had embraced the same sentiments; so that a considerable majority in parliament, and a much greater in the nation, were attached to the presbyterian party.(2) But the independents, first by cunning and deceit, and afterward by violence, accomplished the ruin of their rivals, as well as of the royal cause.

Provoked at the impeachment which the king had lodged against him, the earl of Manchester had long forwarded the war with alacrity; but being a man of humanity and sound principles, the view of the public calamities, ⚫ and the prospect of a total subversion of the established government, began to moderate his ardour, and inclined him to promote peace on any safe and equitable terms. He was even suspected, in the field, of not having pushed to the utmost the advantages obtained by the arms of the parliament; and Cromwell accused him, in the house of commons, of wilfully neglecting, at Deddington castle, a favourable opportunity of finishing the war, by a total defeat of the royalists. Manchester, by way of recrimination, informed the parliament, that Cromwell, on another occasion, in order to induce him to embrace a scheme to which he thought the parliament would not agree, warmly said, "My lord, if you will stick firm to honest men, you shall find yourself at the head of an army which shall give law both to king and parliament."(3) "This discourse," continued Manchester, " made the greater impression on me, because I knew the lieutenant-general to be a man of deep designs. And he has even ventured to tell me," added the earl, "that it would never be well with England till I was Mr. Montague, and there was ne'er a lord or peer in the realm.”(4)

These violent dissensions brought matters to extremity between the two sects; and pushed the independents to the immediate execution of their designs. The command of the sword was their grand object; and this they craftily obtained, under pretence of new modelling the army. The first intimation of such a measure, conformable to the genius of the hypocritical policy of that age, was communicated from the pulpit on a day of solemn humiliation and fasting, appointed through the influence of the independents. All the reigning divisions in the parliament were ascribed, by the fanatical preachers, to the selfish ends pursued by the members; in whose hands, it was observed, were lodged all the considerable commands in the army, and all the lucrative offices in the civil administration. "It cannot be expected," added these spiritual demagogues, "that men, who fatten on the calamities of their country, will ever embrace any effectual measure for bringing them to a period, or the war to a successful issue." The independents in parliament caught the same tone, and represented the concurrence of so many godly men, in different congregations, in lamenting ONE evil, as the effect of the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit. Such,

(1) Sir Ed. Walker's Hist. of Independency.
(3) Clarendon, vol. v.

(2) Hume, vol. vii.

(4) Id. ibid.

in particular, was the language of sir Henry Vane; who, therefore, entreated the members, in vindication of their own honour, and in consideration of their duty to God and their country, to lay aside all private views, and renounce every office attended with profit or advantage. Cromwell also acted his part to admiration. He declared, that until there was a perfect reformation in these particulars, nothing which they undertook could possibly prosper; for although the parliament, he added, had doubtless done wisely, on the commencement of hostilities, in engaging several of its members in the most dangerous military commands, in order to satisfy the nation that they intended to share all hazards with the meanest of the people, affairs were now changed; and a change of measures, he affirmed, must take place, if they ever hoped to terminate the war to advantage.(1)

On the other side, it was urged by the presbyterians, and particularly by Whitlocke, who endeavoured to show the inconveniency, as well as danger of the projected alteration, that the rank possessed by such as were members of either house of parliament prevented envy, retained the army in obedience, and gave weight to military orders; that greater confidence might safely be reposed in men of family and fortune than in mere adventurers, who would be apt to entertain views distinct from those embraced by the persons that employed them; that no maxim in policy was more undisputed than the necessity of preserving an inseparable connexion between the civil and military power, and of retaining the latter in strict subordination to the former; that the Greeks and Romans, the wisest politicians, and the most passionate lovers of liberty, had always intrusted to their senators the command of the armies of the state; and that men, whose interests were involved with those of the public, and who possessed a vote in civil deliberations, would alone sufficiently respect the authority of the parliament, and never could be tempted to turn the sword against those by whom it was committed to them.(2) Notwithstanding these arguments, a committee was appointed to frame what was called the Self-denying Ordinance; by which the members of both houses were excluded from all civil and military employments-a few offices, which were specified, excepted; and through the envy of some, the false modesty of others, and the republican and fanatical views of many, it at last received the sanction of parliament.

In consequence of this ordinance, Essex, Warwick, Manchester, Denbigh, Waller, Brereton, and others, resigned their commands, and received the thanks of both houses. Cromwell, who was a member of the lower house, should also have been discarded; but this impartiality would have disappointed the views of those who had introduced the self-denying ordinance. Care was therefore taken, at the time the other officers resigned their commissions, that he should be sent with a body of horse to relieve Taunton, then besieged by the royalists. His absence being remarked, orders were despatched for his immediate attendance in parliament. But sir Thomas Fairfax, the new general, having appointed a rendezvous of the army, desired leave to retain for a few days lieutenant-general Cromwell, whose advice, he wrote to the parliament, would be useful in supplying the place of those officers who had resigned: and shortly after, he begged, with much earnestness, that Cromwell might be permitted to serve during the ensuing campaign.(3)

Thus, my dear Philip, the independents, though the minority, prevailed by art and cunning over the presbyterians; and bestowed the whole military authority, in appearance, upon Fairfax, but in reality upon Cromwell. Fairfax, who was equally eminent for courage and humanity, sincere in his professions, disinterested in his views, and open in his conduct, would have formed one of the most shining characters of that age, had not the extreme narrowness of his genius, in every thing but war, diminished the lustre of his merit, and rendered the part which he acted, even when vested with the supreme command, but secondary and subordinate. Cromwell by whose

(1) Rushworth, vol. vi. Clarendon, vol. v.

(3) Clarendon, vol. v. Whitlocke, p. 141

(2) Whitlocke, p. 114, 115.