1649-50

for King without Covenant; and the Presbyterian Royalists of Ulster were strong for King and Covenant and, lastly, Michael Jones and the Commonwealth-men were opposed to both King and Covenant.* At the date of Cromwell's arrival, Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians had combined against the Commonwealth, and the royal interest was predominant. The fleet, under Prince Rupert, rode triumphant along the coast; and the parliamentary commanders, Jones in Dublin, Monk in Belfast, and Coote in Londonderry, were confined within the limits of their garrisons.

He,

But the new lieutenant soon applied himself, with his wonted vigilance, to the establishment of the Commonwealth's supremacy. When he reached Dublin (August 15th), he found that Jones had already defeated Ormond at Rathmines (August 2nd). therefore, determined to begin his operations at once by Siege of the siege of Tredah, or Drogheda, which was defended Tredah. by Sir Arthur Aston, a veteran Cavalier. The place was twice assaulted without success; but, the third time, Cromwell led the attack himself; Ireton closely followed; and the town was captured, after a terrible slaughter. But no sooner had the fighting ceased, than Cromwell, "being in the heat of action," forbade his men to give quarter; and, for five days, the surviving defenders, as well as the unresisting inhabitants, were put to the sword. It has been said that Cromwell allowed these cruelties in revenge for the massacres of 1641; but the garrison of Tredah was mostly English; his true object was to terrify all other garrisons into submission. His policy had the desired effect. Wexford was taken, and the same horrible scenes were again enacted. Rosse, Cork, Kinsale, Youghal, Bandon-all the towns before which Cromwell presented himself, now opened their gates without resistance; and, next spring, Fethard, Callen, Gowran, and Kilkenny, surrendered in quick succession. But the horrors which were again committed, now taught men, who had no alternative but victory or death, to fight with the energy of despair; the garrison of Kilkenny resisted so successfully, that Cromwell, to spare his men, granted them honourable terms; while that of Clonmel repelled two assaults, and then escaped during the confusion. The capture of Clonmel was Cromwell's last exploit in Ireland, the parliament recalling him in May, 1650, to undertake a service of greater importance and difficulty.+ 4. The Scottish war. Capture and execution of Montrose.

* Carlyle's Cromwell, II., 43.

+ Guizot's Cromwell, 57-60; Forster's Lives, VI., 271-272; on Cromwell's rigour in Ireland, read his Declaration in Carlyle's Letters, &c., II., 99-118.

CHAP. X.

Immediately after the execution of the King, the Scots proclaimed his son, Charles II. (February 5th); but they insisted upon his taking the covenant before they actually placed him on the throne. Confident of the success of Ormond and the Irish Royalists, Charles rejected this demand, and he left the Hague in order to proceed to Ireland-a step which he was further compelled to take at that time, in consequence of the murder of Dr. Dorislaus, the parliamentary envoy to the court of Holland, by Charles some of the followers of Montrose (May 19th). But treaty with when he reached Jersey, he heard of Ormond's defeat at at Breda. Rathmines; he, therefore, returned to Breda, where, after some hesitation, he accepted the terms of the Scottish commissioners (May 13th, 1650).

Prince

concludes a

execution of

That which chiefly induced him to make this submission was the capture and execution of Montrose, whom he had, in the previous year, commissioned to invade Scotland, and gain, by force of arms, that crown which he now accepted upon hard conditions. This intrepid, but rash enthusiast, had embarked at Hamburgh, and landed at Kirkwall, in the Orkneys, with 500 men, most of whom were Germans. He crossed over to Caithness; but his name had lost that magic influence which success had once Capture and thrown around it; and none of the Highlanders flocked Montrose. to his standard. He was surprised and easily defeated by Strachan, near a pass called Invercarron, on the confines of Ross-shire; and, after wandering about in disguise for several days, was betrayed by a friend, and dragged in triumph from town to town till he reached Edinburgh, where further indignities awaited him. The Scottish parliament had already condemned him to death, and had ordered that he should be hanged on a gibbet thirty feet high; that his head should be fixed on the Tolbooth, and his limbs over the gates of Perth, Stirling, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. On the 21st of May, he underwent this barbarous sentence with a spirit superior to every insult, and unscared at the menaces of death.

5. Prince Charles in Scotland. A month after the execution of Montrose, Charles landed in Scotland, near the mouth of the river Spey (June 16th). He had assured the Scotch parliament that he had expressly forbidden Montrose to invade Scotland, and that he felt no regret in the defeat of one who had drawn the sword in opposition to the royal command. But this vile calumniation of one of his most devoted adherents availed him nothing; and before he was permitted to land, the rigid Presbyterians, of whom Argyle was the leader, compelled him to

1650

sign the covenant. Their ministers beset him with exhortations and sermons of immoderate length; they expatiated in violent terms on the sins of his father, the idolatries of his mother, his own sinfulness, and the backsliding of the malignants; and they took care that neither of the other two parties, viz., the Engagers, or moderate Presbyterians, under Lanark, Lauderdale, and Dunfermline, and the Royalists, or Malignants, should have any opportunity of obtaining influence over him. They even compelled him to subscribe a public document declaring his abhorrence of the sins of his family, and his resolution to tolerate nothing but the covenant in every part of his dominions. He thus found himself worse than a puppet in the hands of the dominant faction; the show of royalty he possessed only served to heap upon him greater indignities; he was consulted on no public measure; and his favour was sufficient to discredit any pretender to office or advancement.*

6. Cromwell's invasion. The Battle of Dunbar. But this mock royalty was of short duration; for in less than a fortnight after the prince's landing, Cromwell, now lord general of the Commonwealth's forces, in the place of Fairfax, was on his way to the Borders, at the head of 12,000 veterans, accompanied by Generals Fleetwood, Lambert, and Whalley; and Colonels Pride, Overton, and Monk. He found the whole country between Berwick and Edinburgh abandoned by the population, and stripped of everything which could supply his army; the Scotch clergy having described the English as monsters, who delighted in the murder and mutilation of women and children. But Cromwell conducted his troops by the sea coast, and daily received provisions from the fleet which accompanied him; while his proclamations and severe discipline soon re-assured the inhabitants, who returned to their homes. When he approached Edinburgh, he found the Scottish army, under David Leslie, posted behind a deep intrenchment running from Edinburgh to Leith, fortified with numerous batteries, and flanked by the castle at one end, and the harbour at the other. Nothing could induce the Scots to come out of these strong defences; a month went by without a blow being struck; and the position of the English army became critical. The provisions were nearly exhausted; sickness broke out; the communication with the fleet grew daily more precarious. Cromwell, therefore, retreated to Dunbar, where he took up a position on the peninsula, having Belhaven Bay on his right, and Brocksmouth House on his left, "about a mile and a half from * Scott, I., 484.

CHAP. X.

sea to sea" (September 1st). This movement induced the Scots to come out, with the intention of intercepting the enemy's return to England; and, as they took the shorter and more inland road, they were enabled to place themselves in a strong position on Doon Hill, about two miles to the south of the invaders. They The battle- occupied all the passes; while the deep grassy glen ground. through which the Brock runs, separated them from the enemy. The brunt of the battle took place at the point where the London road now crosses this burn; another pass led from this, called Cockburn's path, which Leslie held with a strong force; for there, says Cromwell, "ten men to hinder were better than forty to make way," and safe retreat to England could only be made through that pass. Cromwell was not ignorant of the danger of his situation; he had even thought of putting the infantry on board the fleet, and of attempting to escape with the cavalry, by the only outlet, Cockburn's path, on the high road to Berwick. In this crisis, the interference of the preachers and of the committees of the kirk and the estates, ruined this fair promise of success, and they insisted that Leslie should leave his strong position, descend into the plain, and "go down against the Philistines at Gilgal." When Cromwell saw the enemy The battle. leaving their fastnesses, in obedience to this order, he at once perceived his advantage, and planned the battle on the instant. The night was wild and wet, and the harvest moon waded deep among clouds of sleet and hail. The English had tents, but the Scots had none; and, when the battle began, the rain had extinguished all the matches of their firelocks. About four o'clock in the morning (September 3rd), Lambert began the attack by endeavouring to seize the pass across the Brock; but the Scottish lancers, aided by their artillery, charged down the hill, drove the English cavalry from their position, and broke through the foot. The English, however, immediately rallied, and charged. desperately; they fell like a tornado upon the Scottish cavalry, who turned and fled in mad panic, trampling to death their own infantry. At that instant the mist dispersed; over St. Abb's Head and the German Ocean, the first gleams of the rising sun burst upon the combatants; and Cromwell, in a transport of inspiration, exclaimed "They run; I profess they run! Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered." soldiers caught his spirit, and rushed upon the foe with terrible fury; in a few moments the Scottish army was shivered to utter ruin; the infantry, 10,000 in number, threw down their arms, and surrendered in a mass; the cavalry fled, some to Belhaven,

The

1651

some to Haddington, some even to Dunbar, to the very heart of the enemy's quarters, so panic-stricken were they. Cromwell's regiment halted to sing the 117th psalm, and then continued the pursuit for more than eight miles. 3,000 Scots were slain on this dreadful day, and the greater portion of the prisoners were sent to the West Indian and American plantations. The whole of the south of Scotland submitted to the conquerors, who thought no more of retreat; and Cromwell returned to Edinburgh, which he entered in triumph.*

7. The Scots invade England. The Battle of Worcester. The defeat of Dunbar was attributed by the rigid party to the presence of malignants in the Scottish army; and, in the western counties, they carried the opinion so far as to declare that the defeat was a punishment for their having espoused the King's cause. These extreme fanatics, called Remonstrators, assembled, to the The Remonnumber of about 4,000 men, and, under Strachan and strators. Kerr, began to make war against both Cromwell and Charles. The latter, afraid of his father's fate, escaped from Perth to Clova, at the invitation of Huntley, Athol, and the Highland Royalists; but the reception he met with not being such as he had anticipated, he was easily induced to return to Perth, with Colonel Montgomery, who had been sent in pursuit of him (October). This adventure, which was called the Start, The Start. led the Committee of Estates to treat the Prince with more consideration, and they caused him to be crowned, at Scone, soon afterwards (January 1st, 1651).

In the meantime, Cromwell had obtained possession of Edinburgh Castle and most of the neighbouring fortresses; and in July (1651), he advanced against Stirling, where Charles and the Scottish army were strongly posted behind the river Carron. But he failed to bring the Scots to an engagement; he crossed the Firth, however, and took Perth; and thus cut off the King's supplies and communications from the north (August). In this emergency, Charles adopted a bold and decisive measure. He resolved to invade England, hoping to raise his friends there before Cromwell could overtake him. On the 31st of Prince July, he broke up his camp, near Torwood, and on the Charles 6th of August, reached Carlisle, at the head of about England. 12,000 men.†

invades

Cromwell was engaged in fortifying Perth, when he received the news of this daring movement. As at Dunbar, his spirit rose

*

Carlyle's Cromwell, II., 180-194; Lingard, X., 309-316; Forster's Lives, VI., 284-292. + Scott, I., 492-494; Lingard, X., 318-324.