- war)*} Cromwell says they had the execution of the enemy two or three miles, and that some of his soldiers killed two or three men apiece. He had a narrow escape the same year under the Earl of Manchester, when part of Newcastle's army were defeated near Horncastle. His horse was killed under him, and as he rose he was again knocked down, by the cavalier who charged him, and who is supposed to have been Sir Ingram Hopton. He was however remounted, and found himself, with that singular good fortune which always attended him, without a wound. At the close of the year he took Hilsdon House by assault, and alarmed Oxford. Though Essex and Waller, who was called by his own party William the Conqueror, were still the favourite leaders of the Parliamentary forces, Cromwell was now looked upon as a considerable person, and was opposed in public opinion to Prince Rupert, before they ever met as hostile generals in the field. When the Prince was preparing to relieve York, the London journals represented him as afraid to try himself against this rising commander. "He would rather suffer," they said, “his dear friends in York to perish than venture the loss of his honour in so dangerous a passage. He loves not to meet a Fairfax, nor a Cromwell, nor any of those men that have so much religion and valour in them." The battle of Marston Moor [2 July, 1644] soon followed; most rashly and unjustifiably brought on by Rupert, without consulting the Marquis of Newcastle, by whom, in all prudence, he ought to have been directed, and at a time when nothing but an immediate action could have prevented the Scotch and Parliamentary armies from quarrelling and separating, so that either, or both, would have been exposed to an utter overthrow. The Scotch, who were in the right wing, were completely routed; they fled in all directions, and were taken or knocked on the head by the peasantry: their general himself was made prisoner ten miles from the field by a constable. But the fortune of the day was decided by the English horse under Fairfax and Cromwell. They were equal in courage to the King's troops, and superior in discipline: and by their exertions a vic

[*Cousin to the loyal Marquis of Newcastle, and brother to the third Earl of Devonshire.]

[+ Ludlow's Memoirs, ed. 1771, p. 30.]

And so went on to Gloucester. Whitelock, p. 82.]

tory was gained, of which they were left to make full advantage at leisure, owing to the egregious misconduct of the Prince, and the resentment of the Earl of Newcastle, which in that fatal hour prevailed over a noble mind, and made him forsake the post of duty in disgust.

Hollis in his Memoirs has the folly as well as the baseness to accuse Cromwell of cowardice in this action.* Some intention of detracting from his deserts seems to have been suspected at the time. The Mercurius Britannicus' says, 6 "there came out something in print which made a strange relation of the battle: 'tis pity the gallant Cromwell and his godly soldiers are so little heard on, and they with God were so much seen in the battle! But in these great achievements by night, it is hard to say who did most, or who did least. The best way to end our quarrel of who did most, is to say God did all." On the other hand, Cromwell's partizans, to magnify his reputation, gave out that certain troops of horse, picked men, all Irish and all Papists, had been appointed by Prince Rupert, to charge in that part where he was stationed. And reports as slanderous as those which charged him with want of courage, were spread abroad to give him the whole credit of the day: it was said that he had stopt the commander-in-chief, Manchester, in the act of flight, saying to him, "You are mistaken, my lord: the enemy is not there!” The Earl of Manchester was as brave as Cromwell himself; no man who engaged in the rebellion demeaned himself throughout its course so honourably and so humanely (Colonel Hutchinson, in his station, perhaps alone excepted), and no man repented more sincerely, nor more frankly avowed his repentance for the part he had taken, when he saw the extent of the misery which he had largely contributed to bring upon his country.

Cromwell was now becoming an object of dislike or jealousy to those leaders of the rebellion whose reputation waned as his increased, or who had insanely supposed, when they let the waters loose, that it would at any time be in their power to restrain them again within their proper bounds. The open declaration which he made against the king at the commencement of hostilities, they had perhaps regarded with complacency, taking credit to

[* Hollis accuses him of cowardice not only at Marston-Moor, but at BasingHouse and Keynton. See Hollis's Life of Himself, in vol. i. of Maseres's Tracts.]

themselves for comparative moderation. Because they could manage a party, they fancied themselves capable of managing a rebellion, not remembering, or not knowing, that

When evil strives, the worst have greatest names:

and not perceiving that when Cromwell, in opposition to the impudent hypocrisy of the Parliament's language respecting the king, spoke boldly out like one who was resolved to go all lengths, by that declaration he became the head of that party which, in all such convulsions, is sure to obtain the ascendency. From the known opinions of Ireton, and the probable ones of Hampden, the two men whom he seems to have regarded with most deference, it is most likely that he entered into the war as a republican; and now he scrupled not to let his principles be known, saying he hoped soon to see the time when there would not be a single lord in England, and when Lord Manchester would be called nothing more than Mr. Montague. But in his political as in his puritanical professions, Cromwell, who began in sincerity, was now acting a part. Experience was not lost upon so sagacious a man. The more he saw of others, the higher he was led to rate himself; and Hobbes seems to have taken the just view of his motives when he says that his main policy was always to serve the strongest party well, and to proceed as far as that and fortune would carry him.

But Cromwell, who seldom mistook the characters of men, deceived himself when he supposed that he could make Manchester his instrument, as he afterwards duped Fairfax. For this must have been his secret object when discoursing with him freely upon the state of the kingdom, and proposing something to which the Earl replied that the Parliament would never approve it, he made answer, "My Lord, if you will stick firm to honest men, you shall find yourself in the head of an army that shall give the law to King and Parliament." This startled

Manchester, who already knew him to be a man of deep designs : and the manner in which the speech was received made Cromwell perceive that the earl must be set aside, as a person who was altogether unfit for his views. Their mutual dislike broke out after the second battle of Newbury.* Cromwell would have attempted to bring that doubtful conflict to a decided issue, by charging [* 27th October, 1644. The first battle was fought 20th Sept., 1643.]

D

the King's army in their retreat; and from the excellent disci pline of his brigade, and his skill and intrepidity in action, it is probable he might have inflicted a severe blow upon troops who, it is acknowledged on their own part, were well enough pleased to be rid of an enemy that had handled them so ill. But Manchester thought the hazard too great in that season, being the winter, and that the ill consequences of a defeat would be far greater than the advantage to be gained by a victory; for, he said, if they should be routed before Essex's army were reinforced, there would be an end of their pretences; and they should be all rebels and traitors, and executed as such by law. Cromwell repeated this to the House of Commons, and accused him of having betrayed the Parliament out of cowardice: Manchester justified himself, and in return charged Cromwell with the advice which he had offered him, to overawe both King and Parliament by means of the army. This open rupture occasioned much debate and animosity, and much alarm. What," it was said, "shall we continue bandying one against another? See what a wide gap and door of reproach we open unto the enemy! A plot from Oxford could have done no more than work a distance between our best resolved spirits." The Parliament, though indignant at first at what the Earl had said concerning the course of law in case of their overthrow, were on the other hand alarmed at the discovery of a danger from their own army, which, if it had been apprehended by far-sighted men, had never before been declared. Inquiry was called for, more on account of Cromwell's designs than the Earl's error of judgment; and the independents, as Cromwell's party now began to be called, chose rather to abandon their charge against Manchester, than risk the consequences of further investigation.

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Manchester, on his part, made no further stir,-contented with as much repose as a mind not altogether satisfied with itself would allow him to enjoy. But Essex, the Lord General, who had acted less from mistaken principles than from weakness and vanity and pride, which made him the easy instrument of designing men, gave on this occasion the only instance of political foresight which he ever displayed. He perceived that Cromwell was a dangerous man; and taking council with Hollis and Stapleton, leading men among the Presbyterians, and with the

Scotch Commissioners, resolved, if it were possible, to disable one whose designs were so justly to be apprehended. In serving with the Scotch, Cromwell had contracted some dislike and some contempt for them; which they were not slow in perceiving, as indeed he took little pains to disguise it; and Essex was in hopes that the Scotch might be brought forward to overthrow a man whom he now considered a formidable rival, as by their means the plans for rebellion had first been ripened, and the superiority afterwards obtained for the parliamentary forces. A meeting was held at his house to deliberate upon the best mode of proceeding, and Whitelock and Maynard were sent for at a very late hour, to give their opinions as lawyers. The Scotch Chancellor explained the business to them in a characteristic speech. He began by assuring "Master Maynard and Master Whitelock" of the great opinion which he and his brethren had of their worth and abilities, else that meeting would not have been desired. “You ken vary weel," said he, (as Whitelock reports his words)" that Lieutenant General Cromwell is no friend of ours; and since the advance of our army into England, he hath used all underhand and cunning means to take off from our honour and merit of this kingdom; an evil requital of all our hazards and services. But so it is; and we are nevertheless fully satisfied of the affections and gratitude of the gude people of this nation in the general. It is thought requisite for us, and for the carrying on the cause of the twa kingdoms, that this obstacle or remora may be removed out of the way, whom, we foresee, will otherwise be no small impediment to us and the gude design we have undertaken. He not only is no friend to us and to the government of our church, but he is also no well-wisher to his excellency, whom you and we all have cause to love and honour: and if he be permitted to go on his ways, it may, I fear, endanger the whole business; therefore we are to advise of some course to be taken for the prevention of that mischief. You ken vary weel the accord twixt the twa kingdoms, and the union by the solemn league and covenant; and if any be an incendiary between the twa nations, how he is to be proceeded against. Now the matter is, wherein we desire your opinions, what you tak the meaning of this word incendiary to be, and whether Lieutenant General Cromwell be not sic an incendiary as is meant