48

BASING HOUSE TAKEN.

[1645.

Speaker. On the 10th of September the city was stormed. The royalists caused the city to be set on fire at three places. Whilst the parliamentary commanders "were viewing so sad a spectacle," Rupert sent a trumpet to propose a surrender. The articles were agreed upon; and the prince marched out with a convoy of two regiments of horse. He went to Oxford. Charles wrote him a bitter letter of reproach from Hereford: "My conclusion is, to desire you to seek your subsistence until it shall please God to determine of my condition, somewhere beyond seas." A royal proclamation was issued the same day, revoking and disannulling all commissions of military authority given to "our nephew prince Rupert." The surrender of Bristol was perhaps the wisest act of Rupert's life; for he had no chance of holding it against the parliamentary forces, and the king was utterly unable to render him assistance. But Charles would not learn from the bitter lessons of adversity. It is justly said, "after his defeat at Naseby his affairs were, in a military sense, so irretrievable that, in prolonging the war with as much obstinacy as the broken state of his party would allow, he displayed a good deal of that indifference to the sufferings of the kingdom, and of his adherents, which has been sometimes imputed to him."*

It

At the beginning of October, Winchester surrendered to Cromwell; and he then went on to the siege of Basing House. Of the many memorable places of the Civil War there is none more interesting than this. It was amongst the strongest of those private houses of the nobility which offered such strenuous resistance to the progress of the parliamentary troops. had endured siege after siege for four years. The traveller on the South Western railway looks down upon a great ruined pile, not far from Basingstoke, lying on the other side of a little stream. The ruin will repay a closer inspection. This was the house called "Loyalty" which Cromwell battered from the higher ground till he had made a breach; and then stormed with a resolution which made all resistance vain. Never was such a rich plunder offered to the Roundheads, as was found in the mansion "fit to make an emperor's court," of the magnificent Pawlet, marquis of Winchester.

* Hallam, vol. ii. p. 182.

Destruction of Manor Houses-Miseries of Sieges-Montrose defeated at Philiphaugh-Defeat of Digby-His Cabinet taken-The King in Oxford-Overtures for Pacification-Termination of the War in the West-Prince of Wales leaves for Scilly-The King negotiates with the Scots-The King's Flight from Oxford-Adventures of the King on his way to the Scottish Army-The King with the Army before Newark-State of Parties-Negotiations-The King surrendered to English Commissioners--Capitulation of Oxford-End of the first Civil War.

THE traces of the Civil War in England are to be found in the existing ruins of several old mansions, besides those of Basing House. Amongst the most interesting and picturesque are the remains of the manor-house of South Winfield. This was one of the estates of the Shrewsbury family; and here Mary, Queen of Scots, resided for some time under the care of the earl, who is associated with her unhappy story. Sir John Gell, who was very active in the parliamentary interest in Derbyshire, here placed a garrison. In 1643 the place was taken by the Royalists. But it was retaken by Sir John Gell; and Colonel Dalby, the governor, was killed in the storming. In 1646 the Parliament ordered the place to be dismantled. Such was the course with regard to other great mansions of historical interest. Of the various conflicts for the possession of detached castles and manor-houses, that of Basing House is amongst the most memorable. The rapine and slaughter there were probably greater than at any other of such strongholds. It was a post of importance,

50

DESTRUCTION OF MANOR HOUSES.

[1645. which had held out against the Parliament so long that it was deemed almost impregnable. Its large garrison was amply supplied by the rich surrounding country. The roads between London and the "Western Parts "were entirely commanded by this fortified mansion, and by Donnington Castle, near Newbury. At the siege of Basing House was present Hugh Peters, a chaplain in the parliamentary army, and at that time secretary to Cromwell. After the storm he "took a view of the works, which were many, the circumvallation being above a mile in compass." He then looked about him to see the extent of the victualling department; finding "provisions for some years rather than months; four hundred quarters of wheat; bacon, divers rooms-full, containing hundreds of flitches; cheese proportionable; with oatmeal, beef, pork; beer, divers cellars full, and that very good." Seventy-four persons, according to Mr. Peters, were slain in the house; amongst whom was one lady "who by her railing provoked our soldiers, then in heat, into a further passion." Amongst the slain was "Robinson the player, who a little before the storm was known to be mocking and scorning the Parliament and our army."* Some of the details of the plunder and destruction, as given by Peters, will furnish an idea of the havoc of this terrible Civil War: "The plunder of the soldiers continued till Tuesday night; one soldier had a hundred and twenty pieces in gold for his share; others plate, others jewels; among the rest, one got three bags of silver, which (he being not able to keep his own counsel) grew to be common pillage amongst the rest, and the fellow had but one half-crown left for himself at last. The soldiers sold the wheat to country-people, which they held up at good rates awhile; but afterwards the market fell, and there were some abatements for haste. After that, they sold the household stuff, whereof there was good store, and the country loaded away many carts; and they continued a great while fetching out all manner of household stuff, till they had fetched out all the stools, chairs, and other lumber, all which they sold to the country-people by piecemeal. In all these great buildings there was not one iron bar left in all the windows (save only what were on fire) before night. And the last work of all was the lead; and by Thursday morning they had hardly left one gutter about the house. And what the soldiers left, the fire took hold on, which made more than ordinary haste, leaving nothing but bare walls and chimneys in less than twenty hours ;-being occasioned by the neglect of the enemy in quenching a fire-ball of ours at first. We know not how to give a just account of the number of persons that were within. For we have not quite three hundred prisoners; and, it may be, have found a hundred slain, whose bodies, some being covered with rubbish, came not at once to our view. Only, riding to the house on Tuesday night, we heard divers crying in vaults for quarter; but our men could neither come to them, nor they to us."

The details of horror in sieges of large towns; the misery of blockades; the more sudden distress of assaults and bombardments; are generally passed over slightingly in the official narratives of such scenes. But some notion of

* From the construction of a sentence in the report of Peters, it does not seem quite clear that Robinson was slain by Harrison, as Sir Walter Scott assumes in "Woodstock :" "There lay dead upon the ground Major Cuffle, a man of great account amongst them, and a notorious Papist, slain by the hands of Major Harrison, that godly and gallant gentleman; and Robinson, the player, who," &c. (See Carlyle, vol. i. p. 194.)

1645.]

MISERIES OF SIEGES.

51

the sufferings of the people, to whichever party they belonged, may be derived even from such a formal document as an Ordinance of Parliament. Taunton had been besieged three times by the Royalists. It was undergoing the horrors of a siege on the 3rd of July, when Fairfax, after the great victory of Naseby, came to its relief. But, a month before this, the Parliament, having regard to its calamities, had ordered " that a collection be made of all well-affected persons" for the relief of "the poor distressed inhabitants of the town of Taunton," and adjacent places. This Ordinance is written with remarkable unction: "It is notoriously known to all the kingdom, that the said town hath for these two years past, endured all the calamities almost that war (the sharpest of all outward judgments) can bring upon a people. .They endured three as sharp and cruel sieges from a bloody enemy as ever any place hath suffered since the wars began; in which their houses were consumed by fire, their persons slain, the famine and the sword contendeth which should prey upon them first; poor mothers looking when the time would come that they should hear the children cry for bread, and there would be none to give them; when they should see them swoon in the top of every street,' as Lam. ii. 11. However, God upholds their spirits with unshaken resolution in the midst of fire and blood. . . . . But yet, by these calamities and troubles, the estates of those who have escaped the sword are utterly exhausted and consumed, five hundred of their houses burnt down to the ground (being one-half of the town), by which almost one thousand families are turned harbourless and helpless to the mercy of their neighbours, who can only melt upon them, and weep over them, but are not able to relieve them. And therefore, you that have escaped these miseries are earnestly besought to look upon this sad distressed town (sometimes the most eminent of those parts for building and situation, and, which is more, for Piety and true Religion), now by the just displeasure of the Lord against it raked in its own ashes, reduced almost to the extremity of misery and want, for the defence of that Cause which you profess, and take upon you to maintain: listen, and hear it crying to you in the Churches' Lamentations, 'See if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger;' and do not stop your ears against their cry for pity from you, lest the Lord deal accordingly with you, and stop His ears against your crys for mercy, when you have most need of it. In such a singular and extraordinary case as this, stir up yourselves to do some extraordinary thing; do not draw out your purses only to your poor distressed brethren, but your very souls too, as the Prophet speaks. This is your duty, and this will be your policy, if you desire to save your persons, houses, and estates from that heavy misery which hath exposed them to your mercy.'

With the exception of a few conflicts for the possession of garrisoned towns and detached manor-houses, the war, during the autumn of 1645, was wholly in the west. The great royalist army was utterly broken and dispersed. After the surrender of Bristol all reasonable hope was gone of once more matching the Cavaliers of Rupert against the Ironsides of Cromwell. But in Scotland there was a royalist leader whose name had become a terror to the Covenanters. Wherever Montrose led his Highlanders he was

Husband's "Ordinances in Parliament," 1642 to 1646, p. 51.

52

MONTROSE DEFEATED AT PHILIPHAUGH.

[1645. victorious. As he carried the war into the Lowlands he was joined by many who had formerly dreaded to declare themselves. It was no longer a war of clanship, but a great national contest. On the 15th of August the Covenanting army, commanded by Baillie, was utterly defeated. It was the seventh great victory of Montrose; and it laid Scotland, for a few weeks, at his feet. Edinburgh surrendered to him. In the king's name he summoned a parliament at Glasgow. Before the surrender of Bristol, Charles had conceived the possibility of joining Montrose. The hope returned even after Bristol was lost. He decided to attempt the relief of Chester, then besieged by the Parliament's forces; for at that port only could he receive succours from Ireland. He was at Hereford, anxious and undecided, when, after a week's delay, he marched, with five thousand men, over the Welsh mountains; and on the 24th of September was within view of Chester. Poyntz, the parliamentary commander, was watching the king's movements; and he suddenly came upon the rear-guard of the Royalists, at Rowton Heath. Sir Marmaduke Langdale, he who had fought at Naseby,-vigorously charged the parliamentary forces; but a detachment of the besieging troops came upon his rear, and decided the day. The king retired again to the mountains. His chance of joining Montrose was gone. But at this juncture, if Charles had defeated Poyntz and relieved Chester, this last faint hope would have been destroyed. On the 24th of September, Montrose was himself a fugitive. He had advanced towards the English border, with diminished followers. His Highlanders had dispersed; his Lowland adherents had fallen off. Lesley had moved from England to encounter him. On the 13th of September, at Philiphaugh, on the left bank of the Ettrick, Montrose was surprised by the veteran Covenanter. There was a thick mist. No scout gave notice of Lesley's approach. The camp of Montrose was attacked on each flank. The great leader himself was in the town of Selkirk, on the right bank of the Ettrick. He hastened upon the first alarm to cross the river with his cavalry. But it was impossible to rally the main body of his followers. He retreated to the Highlands. Instead of being the commander of a victorious army, he was now only the leader of a few bands of mountaineers. Lesley re-established the Covenanting power in the Lowlands. His victory was disgraced by a cold-blooded slaughter of prisoners; and by the subsequent execution of many of the royalist leaders. One, who was a true Scotsman in his nationality, but whose genius was too high to make him blindly partial, has thus compared his countrymen with the English during this warfare: "Greatly to the honour of the English nation,-owing, perhaps, to the natural generosity and good-humour of the people, or to the superior influence of civilisation,-the civil war in that country, though contested with the utmost fury in the open field, was not marked by any thing approaching to the violent atrocities of the Irish, or the fierce and ruthless devastation exercised by the Scottish combatants. The days of deadly feud had been long past, if the English ever followed that savage custom, and the spirit of malice and hatred which it fostered had no existence in that country. The English parties contended manfully in battle, but, unless in the storming of towns, when all evil passions are afloat, they seem seldom to have been guilty of cruelty or wasteful ravage. They combated like men who have quarrelled on some special point, but, having had no ill-will against