thing that did very nearly concern him, and to give him his advice in the matter. He then proceeded to say that the council of state were acquainted with his designs; and in fact immediately unfolded all his lordship's secret projects. He assured him, at the same time, that he could even show copies of his letters respecting them; and added, that the council had ordered him to be sent to the Tower upon his arrival in town, which would have been immediately executed had not he himself interposed in his behalf, and procured some time to confer with him, to see whether he might not be drawn off from his purpose. Upon this, being sufficiently assured that he was discovered, Broghil begged his excellency's pardon, thanked him for his kindness, and desired to be advised what to do. Cromwell told him that neither he nor the council were strangers to his lordship's actions in the Irish war; and therefore the subduing of the rebels in that country being now left to his care, he had obtained leave to make an offer to him, that if he would serve in the wars against the Irish, he should have a general officer's command, and should have no oaths or engagements laid upon him, nor should be obliged to fight against any but the natives themselves. Amazed though he was at so generous a proposal, Broghil would nevertheless at first have excused himself, and desired some time to consider; but Cromwell told him he must resolve presently, because the council, from whom he came, were determined to send his lordship to the Tower as soon as ever he should return to them, in case this offer were not accepted. His lordship prudently agreed to the proposed terms -engaging, upon his word and honour, faithfully to assist his excellency in subduing the Irish rebellion. Upon which Cromwell briefly desired him to hasten down to Bristol, where troops should be immediately sent to him, and ships ordered to effect their

transportation into Ireland; adding, that he himself would shortly follow with the main body of the army. It is well known that Lord Broghil fulfilled most honourably the promise given in the circumstances now described, and contributed not a little, by his important services, to complete the conquest of Ireland. Nor did he relinquish, in the mean while, his principles as a royalist, but was ready, when a favourable opportunity presented itself, to co-operate with his friends in England for the restoration of the monarchy in the person of Charles the Second.* On the 15th of August, 1649, Cromwell reached Dublin, whence, after allowing his men two weeks to prepare for the fatigues of the approaching campaign, he proceeded to reduce Drogheda, or Tredagh, as it was then called, garrisoned by more than three thousand brave soldiers under Sir Arthur Ashton, an officer of great courage and experience. It was a rule with the parliamentary general to spend as little time as possible in the formalities of a siege, but to storm every fortress which he invested, as soon as a practicable breach could be effected in its walls. He pursued the same system at Drogheda; but as the troops within were animated by the presence of leaders who would rather be buried under the ruins of the place than submit to the fanatical host under the command of Cromwell, he met, on this occasion, with a most determined resistance. In his letter to the parliament he admits, that "through the advantages of the place, and the courage God was pleased to give the defenders, our men were forced to retreat quite out of the breach, not without some considerable loss." His veterans were induced to make a second attempt, "wherein," says he, " God was pleased to animate them so, that they got ground of the enemy, and by

* Morrice's Life of Lord Orrery, p. 9; Oliver Cromwell and his Times, p. 535.

the goodness of God forced him to quit his intrenchments; and after a very hot dispute, the enemy having both horse and foot, and we foot only within the walls, the enemy gave ground, and our men became masters."

As the humanity of Cromwell has been impeached on the evidence of the cruelties which he commanded or allowed in the sacking of Drogheda, the reader will be enabled to form his judgment on this head by perusing part of the despatch which the victor sent to his colleagues at Westminster. After he had made a passage for his cavalry into the town, "the enemy retreated, diverse into the Mill-mount, a. place very strong, and of difficult access, being exceeding high, having a good graft and strongly palisadoed; the governor, Sir Arthur Ashton, and diverse considerable officers being there, our men, getting up to them, were ordered by me to put them all to the sword: and indeed, being in the heat of action, I forbade them to spare any that were in arms in the town, and I think that night they put to the sword about two thousand men. Diverse of the officers and soldiers being fled over the bridge into the other part of the town, where about one hundred of them possessed St. Peter's church steeple, some the west gate, and others a strong round tower next the gate, called St. Sunday. These, being summoned to yield to mercy, refused; whereupon I ordered the steeple of St. Peter's church to be fired. The next day the other two towers were summoned, in one of which was about six or seven score-but they refused to yield themselves; and we, knowing that hunger must compel them, set only good guards to secure them from running away, till their stomachs were come down. From one of the said towers, notwithstanding their condition, they killed and wounded some of our men; when they submitted, their officers were knocked on the head, and every tenth man of the soldiers

killed, and the rest shipped for the Barbadoes; the soldiers in the other tower were all spared, as to their lives only, and shipped likewise for the Barbadoes."-"I believe all the friars were knocked on the head promiscuously but two, the one of which was Father Peter Taaf, brother to the Lord Taaf, whom the soldiers took the next day and made an end of; the other was taken in the round tower, under the repute of lieutenant, and when he understood that the officers in that town had no quarter, he confessed he was a friar; but that did not save him."*

Having given these details, Cromwell adds, "I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbrued their hands in so much innocent blood, and that it will tend to prevent the effusion of blood for the futurewhich are the satisfactory grounds to such actions which otherwise cannot but work remorse and regret. And now give me leave to say how it comes to pass that this work is wrought. It was set upon some of our hearts that a great thing should be done, not by power or might, but by the Spirit of God; and is it not clearly that which caused your men to storm 90 courageously? It was the Spirit of God who gave your men courage and took it away again, and gave the enemy courage and took it away again, and gave your men courage again, and therewith this happy success; and therefore it is good that God alone have all the glory."†

The apology that Cromwell suggests for his severity, which assuredly in most minds would have created remorse and regret, is founded on two circumstances, neither of which can be admitted in his justification. He asserts that the barbarous

* Letters from Ireland, &c., printed by John Field, printer to the parliament of England, 1649.

The same letter already quoted. It is dated Dublin, September 17 1649, and addressed to the Speaker, Lenthal.

wretches whom he put to the sword had imbrued their hands in much innocent blood-alluding, we may presume, to the massacre which disgraced the insurrection of 1641. But the defenders of Drogheda were not Irish. Ludlow, on the contrary, assures us that when Oliver arrived at Dublin, the royalists "put most of their army into their garrisons-having placed three or four thousand of the best of their men, being mostly English, in the town of Tredagh, and made Sir Arthur Ashton governor thereof."* The same author mentions, that when the place was taken," the slaughter continued all that day and the next; which extraordinary severity, I presume, was used to discourage others from making opposition." This, there is no doubt, was the real motive; and it is implied in the expression employed by Cromwell in his letter to the Speaker, where he says that it will tend to prevent the effusion of blood for the future. In short, his object was to set such an example of military execution as would terrify other garrisons from resistance-a policy of the most barbarous nature, and which cannot be defended upon any principle of humanity or of international law.

But the cruelty with which Cromwell is justly chargeable has been aggravated by the assertion that quarter was actually granted before the walls of Drogheda were entered, and that the subsequent massacre took place in violation of a sacred promise. Dr. Lingard relates, that "in the heat of the conflict, it chanced that the royalist officer who defended one of the trenches fell; his men wavered, quarter was offered and accepted; and the enemy, surmounting the breastwork, obtained possession of the bridge, entered the town, and successively overcame all opposition. The pledge which had been given was now violated; and as soon as resist

* Vol. i, p. 301.