LIFE

OF

OLIVER CROMWELL.

CHAPTER I.

Extending from the Execution of Charles, to the Subjugation of Ireland by Cromwell.

THE execution of the king struck with amazement the whole people of England. The royalists had not permitted themselves to believe that the republicans were in earnest, or that the formalities of a trial were intended for any other purpose than to compel Charles to submit to their terms, and to relinquish all such parts of the prerogative as appeared inconsistent with their more enlarged notions of freedom. But the event which marked the 30th of January removed all doubts as to the future views of the military faction, by whom it was brought to pass. It was now manifest that Cromwell and his confederates had resolved, not only to take away the life of the sovereign, but also to abolish monarchy in the nation, and to substitute in its place a form of government which should admit neither king nor House of Peers.

An attempt was made, meanwhile, to recruit the ranks of parliament, by filling up some of the vacant seats by new elections, and by receiving, on certain

conditions, a few of the excluded members. The Lords likewise met, and on the 6th of February proceeded to business; but the Commons, mindful of their secession during the trial of his majesty, refused to recognise them, and took no notice of some bills which were sent down for their consideration. In a few days afterward, they passed a resolution to make no more addresses to the Peers, nor to receive any from them; and finally, that as the existence of an Upper House was useless and dangerous, it ought to be forthwith abolished. About the same time they voted the extinction of monarchical government in England; declaring it high-treason to proclaim, or any otherwise to acknowledge, Charles Stuart, commonly called Prince of Wales. In pursuance of the same object, they issued orders to engrave a new Great Seal, on which was represented their own assembly in the act of deliberation, and the following legend inscribed, “ON THE FIRST YEAR OF FREEDOM BY GOD'S BLESSING RESTORED, 1648." The statues of his late majesty, too, at St. Paul's and the Royal Exchange, were thrown down by directions from parliament; and on the pedestal which supported the latter was written, "EXIT TYRANNUS, REGUM ULTIMUS"—the tyrant, the last of the kings, is gone.

To conduct the administration of affairs, a council of state was nominated, consisting of forty-one members, among whom were Fairfax, Cromwell, Bradshaw, St. John, and the younger Vane. Upon this body devolved the duties which formerly attached to the crown and its ministers in the two Houses. They received all addresses on national concerns; gave orders to generals, admirals, and all others employed in the public service; received and answered letters from foreign governments; executed the laws against criminals and offenders; and submitted to parliament all such questions as respected matters of finance, the expediency of peace or of war, and

the enactment of statutes suited to the wants of the infant commonwealth. As this power was acknowledged to come from the people, so did the council of state profess their intention of restoring it to the community at large, whenever they should have succeeded in settling the republic on a permanent basis.

The public mind had long been distracted by theories of government, as well as by theological speculations, of which the main object was to subvert every ancient institution, and to reconcile the nation to a complete change in all the wonted forms of church and state. Such, indeed, was the rage for innovation among a certain class of politicians, that the parliamentary leaders had no sooner taken upon themselves the direction of affairs, than they found that the great breach in the constitution to which they had given countenance was about to admit a host of radical reformers, determined to achieve alterations still more alarming. The fanatics who had sprung up in the army, and whose principles, now ingrafted upon those of the levellers, announced an immediate return to the state of equality in which the human race originally existed, framed a remonstrance, and sent it by the hands of five agitators to the general and council of war. Although in this step they did no more than follow the example which had been set to them by those whom they now addressed, it was thought necessary to check, by an unusual severity, a practice so inconsistent with military subordination. Lockier, an individual who belonged to a troop which refused to march without payment of arrears, was condemned to be shot. The sentence was executed in a yard near St. Paul's; but this punishment was so far from quelling the mutinous spirit which prevailed among the soldiers, that the funeral was attended by more than a thousand of them, accompanied by five times that number of citizens, men and women, who wore in their

hats ribands of a black and sea-green colour, indicative, it was said, of an approaching storm.*

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A more formidable insurrection took place at Banbury, under Captain Thompson, who, at the head of several hundred men, published a manifesto, called England's Standard Advanced," and invited the discontented regiments to unite with him against the tyranny of the military council. He was attacked and his followers dispersed before the mutinous troops could join; but as a large body of horse was proceeding from Salisbury to Burford, it was deemed expedient that the lord-general and Cromwell should take the field, to prevent the further increase of disaffection. Having in one day accomplished a march of forty miles, they found themselves towards evening in the neighbourhood of the insurgent cavalry; but being unwilling to put them down by strength of hand, they began by trying the effect of negotiation with their leaders. The terms proposed by Fairfax, and the speedy redress of all grievances which they were led to expect, induced the soldiers to deliberate; who, in the mean time, so far relaxed their usual vigilance, as to allow their horses to feed in the adjoining pastures, and even to lay aside their arms and go to bed. In the night Cromwell forced his way into the town with two thousand men, while he directed Colonel Reynolds to inter

*In a pamphlet, entitled the "Army's Martyr, or a more full relation of the barbarous and illegal proceedings of the Court-martial at Whitehall, upon Mr. Robert Lockier," there is the following notice: "At length the general and lieutenant-general came very furiously, breathing forth nothing but death to them all. But oh! how bloody and red did Cromwell look! And the general told them that they should be hanged all, and that they did deserve to be hanged presently in the court." "Another went to Colonel Whalley in behalf of this innocent, and found him come lately out of bed in his skie-colour satten waistcoat, laced with silver lace, and his pantophles dawbed with silver lace, and did present a petition to his honour, that he would be pleased to remember mercy to this poor gentleman, and mitigate the sentence to any other punishment, so as it was not to the taking away of his life. But, after many things passed between them, he said, 'that if it lay in his power to save him, he would not." For a petition to Fairfax, see Note A.