kindness and respect. After delivering their message, each of them received from him a horse and two Scottish prisoners, as a token of his thankful reception of the Parliament's regard in sending them to congratulate his late successes. At Acton the victorious General found the Speaker, the Lord President Bradshaw, many members of Parliament, the Council of State, the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, waiting to do him honour; and, escorted by this splendid retinue, he entered London in a magnificent carriage, where he was saluted by the populace with the loudest expressions of admiration and praise. The government, animated by a similar spirit, immediately resolved, that lands, to the amount of L.4000 a-year, belonging to the public, should, in addition to the L.2500 per annum formerly granted, be settled upon the Lord-General Cromwell and his heirs, as a mark of favour from the Parliament for his great and eminent services to the Commonwealth. Nor were the other officers altogether forgotten. To reward merit which was so general, it was determined to bring in an act for asserting the right of the Commonwealth to so much of Scotland as was then possessed by its forces, and from thence to make an allotment of estates to the commanders who had served in the late campaigns.

On the 17th of September, the day on which he resumed his seat in the House, Cromwell received in person the solemn thanks of the members; after which he and his principal officers were entertained by the city with all possible magnificence. As a still farther honour to

the conquerors, it was resolved that the anniversary of the battle of Worcester should be kept as a festival for ever throughout the three kingdoms.

It cannot be asserted with any degree of justice, that the victors abused their success, except in their treatment of the inferior order of prisoners. A practice was introduced by Cromwell, which does little credit to his memory, of sending to the plantations abroad, as purchased slaves, such common soldiers as fell into his hands in the course of regular warfare. The few survivors of the miserable captives taken at Dunbar were shipped to the West Indies, and sold to the factors of sugar estates. Thousands of their countrymen met the same fate after the defeat at Worcester; and, at a somewhat later period, he condemned to the same punishment a considerable number of royalists in the western parts of England, who had risen against his government. In other respects the suppression of this revolt, for in such a light it was viewed by the Parliament, was not accompanied with excessive severity. Several noblemen, indeed, lost their lives on the scaffold; but as they were, generally speaking, subjects of the new Commonwealth, they might, without any unusual stretch of law, be regarded as traitors to the supreme authority of the country. Eight suffered death by the sentence of a court martial sitting at Chester. One of these was the gallant Earl of Derby, who pleaded that quarter had been granted to him by Captain Edge, and that terms ought always to be respected by a court martial. It was answered that

quarter could be granted to enemies only, not to traitors. It is said that he offered to surrender the Isle of Man in exchange for his life, and that he petitioned Cromwell and the Parliament for mercy. But his petition was not delivered by Lenthal the Speaker until it was too latea neglect which can hardly be regarded as accidental.

Ludlow remarks that the General, after this action, took upon him a more stately behaviour, and chose new friends. Neither must it be omitted, that, instead of acknowledging the services of those who came from all parts to assist against the common enemy, though he knew they had deserved as much honour as himself and the standing army," he frowned upon them;" and the very next day after the fight dismissed and sent them home; well knowing that an experienced militia was more likely to obstruct than to second him in his ambitious designs.

As the course of our narrative will not again turn towards Scotland, it may be more convenient to introduce into this chapter a brief sketch of Cromwell's government in that country, than to notice particular events under a variety of dates, during the whole period of the protectorate.

It is well known that, when he crossed the Tweed in pursuit of Charles, he left General Monk to prosecute his plans in the north, and to carry his conquests beyond the Tay and the Grampian range. His lieutenant lost no time in accomplishing the objects which were thus indicated to him. After a siege of three days, he reduced Stirling Castle, in which were

deposited the royal robes, the chair of state, and some of the principal records of the kingdom. On the 1st of September, he took Dundee by storm, and put to the sword a great number of the unarmed inhabitants, including two hundred women and children. About the same time having received information that the Committee of Estates, with certain members of the General Assembly, were met at a small town in the neighbourhood of Perth, he sent Colonel Alured, at the head of five hundred men, to attack them, who, coming upon them by surprise, took the whole party prisoners, and sent them off to London. 66 They were takin," says Balfour, "stript of all they had, and carried to Brughtie, and ther shipped for England. Among the number were Lord Leven, the Earle of Crawford, Earle Marischall, and Lord Ogilvie."

Following up his advantages, he marched to Aberdeen, which made no resistance, and afterwards to Inverness, where he built a fort, to protect his men from the sudden assaults of the neighbouring Highlanders. The strong barrier of the mountains prevented him, indeed, from reducing to complete subjection certain clans who occupied the fastnesses which stretch towards the west; but by means of the regular discipline which he was accustomed to enforce, as well as by repeated examples of severity upon the marauders who fell into his hands, he succeeded in repressing the disposition to plunder, which had long been dreaded by the inhabitants of the contiguous plains. Eighteen garrisons, established in different parts of Scotland, afforded protection to the peaceable, and at the

same time intimidated those restless spirits whom the habits of a protracted war had inured to the practice of arms. In short, if we except the local disturbances occasioned by the rising of Glencairn, it will be found that Scotland enjoyed, during the usurpation of Cromwell, a greater degree of repose than had fallen to her lot since the union of the two crowns.*

The Parliament, upon hearing of the successes of Monk, suggested the plan of an union with Scotland, on terms to be settled by commissioners mutually appointed. To prepare the way for this desirable object, St John, Vane, Lambert, Dean, and three others, were sent down to assist the Lieutenant-General in settling the affairs of the northern kingdom; but the aversion manifested by the Scots, as well as the political events which soon afterwards took place at Westminster, rendered abortive the good intentions of the commonwealth. The civil government was afterwards administered

"After this

The

Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 87. Scotland was kept in great order. Some castles in the Highlands had garrisons put into them, that were so careful in their discipline, and so exact to their rules, that in no time the Highlands were kept in better order than during the usurpation. There was a considerable force of seven or eight thousand men kept in the country; these were paid exactly, and strictly disciplined. pay of the army brought so much money into the kingdom, that it continued all that while in a very flourishing state. Cromwell built three citadels, at Leith, Ayr, and Inverness, beside many little forts. There was good justice done; and vice was suppressed and punished; so that we always reckon those eight years of usurpation, a time of great peace and prosperity,"