terest. The self-denying ordinance passed the upper house on the third of April, and it was to take effect at the end of forty days from that date. When that interval drew near its close, Cromwell, who had been occupied in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, joined the parliament army under Fairfax, then quartered near Windsor. On the day following, Fairfax received a command from the committee of both kingdoms, requiring him to send Cromwell into Oxfordshire to prevent a junction between the king's army and a body of cavalry under the command of prince Rupert. Cromwell discovered the enemy, consisting of four regiments, near Islip bridge in that county, and putting them to flight, he slew many, possessed himself of the queen's standard, and returned with about two hundred prisoners. He was then sent to protect the associated counties, the royalists having assembled in considerable force in their neighbourhood, while the Scots, dissatisfied with some recent proceedings, refused to advance southward. The first order from the committee to the army under Fairfax was, that it should march into the west; but the lord general was soon called from Taunton to watch the motions of the grand army under the king, which moved in the direction of the midland counties. In prospect of an engagement, which would probably decide this great controversy, Fairfax was anxious that his cavalry should be placed under the command of Cromwell. He wrote to the parliament to that effect, and Cromwell was immediately required, by a vote of the two houses, to join the grand army near Northampton. He did so on the thirteenth of June, and on the day following the battle of Naseby was fought. The victory of that day was mainly attributable to his courage and capacity; and the respect entertained for his services, as well as the probability of their being as important in the future as they had been in the past, produced a further suspension of the ordinance from time to time in his favour*.

In the spring of this year Charles left Oxford with an army of ten thousand men, a force more considerable than its numbers would suggest, as the cavalry were more numerous than the infantry. Early in June, Fairfax marched in search of the royal army, and was no sooner joined by Cromwell than he advanced upon the rear-guard of the royalists near Harborough in Leicestershire. This decisive movement spread the utmost joy through the ranks of the parliamentarians. The cavaliers had sneered at the "new model," from which so much was expected, calling it the

new noddle." The presbyterians had predicted every sort of evil as about to result from entrusting so important an enterprise in so great a measure to sectaries; and some old soldiers who had been removed by the late ordinance professed to see the utmost danger as attendant on this strange substitution of rashness for discretion, and of fanaticism for ex

Rushworth, vi. 16, 23-25, 27, 30, 34, 37, 39. Whitelocke, 144. The ordinance was dispensed with for a time in favour of several other persons. See Whitelocke, 140, 146.

perience. These reflections had haunted the imaginations of the Independents, and their kindred sectaries for some time, making them long for the hour in which they might put their many adversaries to scorn by such proofs of their skill and prowess as it would not be in the power of any to gainsay. That hour was now at hand.

Battle of

Naseby,

Charles would have declined an engagement until strengthened by some reinforcements which were on their way to join him, the advantage of numbers at present being on the side of his opponents; but the passions of his followers made July 14. them deaf to the suggestions of prudence. The two armies faced each other near the village of Naseby. The infantry of both was placed in the centre, their wings being formed as usual of cavalry. The attack was made with much order and courage by the royalists, and their right wing, under the command of prince Rupert, after some vigorous checks from the men under Ireton, carried every thing before them, pursuing the fugitives to some distance from the field. But the right wing of the parliamentarians, under the command of Cromwell, sustained the shock of their assailants, and, shouting aloud the name of their leader, dispersed or trod down their enemies in all directions. Cromwell possessed a self-controul which Rupert was never to learn: leaving several troops to prevent any rallying of the enemy, he returned to the field with the main body of his followers, and falling upon the rear of the royal infantry, gave a complete victory to the arms of the Parliament. The royalists never fought with more heroic valour, and had never experienced so total a defeat. Charles himself displayed great courage, and when all reasonable hope of victory had ceased, was with difficulty withdrawn from the contest. Those who fell in the field were little more than six hundred; but more than four thousand, including a large proportion of officers and distinguished persons, were made prisoners. The king also lost, on that day, nine thousand stand of arms, and the whole of his artillery and baggage, also his private cabinet, containing papers which it was of the utmost importance to have saved from the hands of his enemies *.

• Rushworth, vi. 42–49. Clarendon, v. 183–186.

CHAPTER IX.

Disunion among the leaders of both parties-Character of the Royalists and Parliamentarians who were most distinguished in supporting or conducting the war to this period- Diversity of character every where called forth by the conflictMethods of raising money-Ecclesiastical affairs-Relative position of the Civil and Ecclesiastical power-Assembly of divines-Erastians-Presbyterians-Independents New Directory-Proceedings against the Clergy-Trial and death of Laud-Treaty of Uxbridge-Depressed state of the Royalists-Publication of the King's letters-Propositions for Peace-Change in the state of PartiesMessages from the King-Commission of Glamorgan-New overture from the King-Charles leaves Oxford, and surrenders himself to the Scots.

Disunion among the leaders of both parties.

THE battle of Naseby produced a marked change in the relative position of the king, the parliament, and the army, and served to give the appearance of truth to those complaints which had ascribed the long continuance of the war to the want of vigorous conduct on the part of the parliamentary generals. Nothing but experience and necessity, it seems, could teach even the long parliament that there are seasons in the history of nations No student of when capacity is much more important than rank. history will have been surprised to find the camp of the parliamentarians the seat of those dissensions which led to that new disposition of military power of which this victory was the early fruit :-the same circumstances have rarely failed to produce them. Differences as numerous and considerable pervaded both the court aud camp of the royalists. Our authorities relating to those times abound with proofs of this fact. The men who followed the royal standard well knew that in this respect

they could cast no stone at their opponents. The royal army, no less than that of the parliament, consisted of voluntary soldiers, who were to be humoured rather than commanded. There were parties about the king's person who were ceaseless advocates for peace, and there were others who called as constantly for war; and while some maintained that the laws of the land should be suspended during civil commotion, many insisted on an observance of those laws, in all possible cases, even at such times. Charles frequently exercised his ingenuity to free himself from troublesome attendants, and it sometimes required his utmost patience to bear with such as were not to be dispensed with.

Our account of this memorable struggle has been hitherto for the most part of a general nature; but it may be well in this place to take a review of the character of the persons who, until this period, had been most prominently engaged, either in the actual prosecution of the war, or in devising the means by which it was carried forward. On both sides, the leading men were of those two classes, or at least so much so that misunderstandings frequently arose with regard to the degree in which

persons who were chiefly occupied in civil affairs should be allowed to interfere with the course of military operations.

Charles appears to have excited some dissatisfaction in the mind of Clarendon, and of some other persons, by the preference which he generally manifested with regard to the opinion of the military chiefs, the principal of whom, through the greater part of the kingdom until this time, were Ruthen the general, recently created earl of Brentford, prince Rupert, the lords Wilmot and Hopton, and sir Jacob Astley. In his consultations with these persons, the king had been accustomed to require the presence of lord Digby, secretary of state, and of sir John Colepeper, master of the rolls; the remaining members of the privy council being rarely admitted to those conferences which related to military affairs.

Ruthen was made field-marshal on the death of the earl of Lindsay, who fell in the battle of Edgehill. He was confided in as an Character of officer of unquestionable courage, and of much experience, Ruthen, the having distinguished himself during a long service in the commanderGerman wars. But at this period, his capacity, which had in-chief. never been characterised by vivacity or readiness, was much impaired, in consequence, in a great degree, of the habit into which he had fallen of excessive drinking. His mind had never received the benefit of anything above the rudest elements of education; he spoke little, and though he is described as a person of integrity, his principal virtue appears to have been that of a faithful mercenary, the avowed or supposed wishes of the monarch, more than any regard to public principle, being the guide of his decisions. He was wounded in the second battle of Newbury, and prince Rupert, the nephew of the king, was then raised to the chief command *.

This person, so distinguished in the military affairs of the civil war, possessed considerable parts, but had passed his days amidst Prince Ruthe politics and contentions of Germany, which were by no pert. means favourable to the culture of his mind, or to his acquaintance with the state of society in the country of his mother. No amount of exertion seemed to diminish his physical energy, but his impetuous courage often needed the curb of discretion. The want of reflection, which always left him to the guidance of his first impulse in the field, was obvious in his whole conduct; so that from his natural temerity, ignorance of the real character of political parties in England, and his frequent regardlessness of the courtesies due to those with whom he acted, together with his manifest scorn of what might be thought or said by almost any person concerning him, he failed not to call forth enemies

his

The character of the persons to whom reference will be made in this place is given as the result of comparing the accounts supplied by Clarendon, Warwick, Ludlow, Hutchinson, May, and Herbert.

at every step of his career. He sought nothing less than to destroy the power of the parliament, and to place the king in circumstances that might enable him to restore peace on his own terms. In this policy he found himself opposed by persons of the greatest wisdom and authority among the royalists themselves, who saw no hope of permanent tranquillity except from a peace founded upon some equal adjustment of the questions at issue. In short, the character of prince Rupert was that of a mere military adventurer, who not unfrequently sacrificed by the rashness of a moment, what he had secured by the skill and courage of many days. The conduct of Charles in committing the chief command to such a person, has been censured by his apologists as among the principal causes of the disastrous issue of the civil war.

Prince Rupert and lord Wilmot were almost constantly opposed in opinion to each other. They agreed, however, in maintaining that Lord Wilmot. military proceedings should be regulated by military men only. Both were ambitious in their aims, and haughty in their manner of pursuing them; but Wilmot kept his pride under much better controul than his rival, and as he excelled in all the parts of good fellowship which characterised the finished cavalier, he attached to himself a large party in the army, particularly among the cavalry. In the absence of Rupert, and as the faculties of the general were found to give way, Wilmot's chief opponents were Digby and Colepeper, and he accordingly employed every artifice to undermine the authority of those councillors both with the general and the king. But though the wit and address of Wilmot made him acceptable to a numerous class of persons, no man of discernment could place confidence in his judgment, or in the stability of any of his plans. He not only wanted the comprehensiveness necessary to take an extended view of affairs, but the patience which might have enabled him to understand the particular points to which his attention was directed. He was, however, very zealous in endeavouring to promote a peace by adjustment, rather than by conquest; and on this account, in part, he became subject to some suspicions and slights, which led about this time to his withdrawing from the war. Lord Wilmot is the person whose irregular life made him but too notorious in the reign of Charles the second as lord Rochester.

ton.

Opposed to the rash or light counsels of Rupert and Wilmot, were the more wise and patriotic views of Hopton and Astley. Sir Ralph Hop- Hopton is described as a man superior to any temptation. "He abhorred enough," says Clarendon, "the licence and the levities with which he saw too many corrupted. He had a good understanding, a clear courage, an industry not to be tired, and a generosity that was not to be exhausted; a virtue that none of the rest had." His great fault was, that he not only formed his opinions slowly, but was liable to distrust his judgment even after he appeared to have decided. It was this want of promptitude and steadiness which prevented his rising to so