action followed, in which Henderson was beaten, though his force was three times as numerous as that of the parliament. Cromwell had a horse killed under him, and while rising was himself struck down; but soon recovering, he joined in the battle, and much distinguished himself. After this success, and until the weather forbade further operations, Cromwell continued to act in the field. Parliament made him lieutenant-governor of the isle of Ely, and he was engaged during the winter in raising funds from Peterborough and Ely cathedrals, and from the university of Cambridge, and in reforming the university, 65 fellows being ejected. On Feb. 16, 1644, he was appointed one of the committee of both kingdoms, which was then constituted the executive authority for the conduct of the war, and affairs generally. The campaign of 1644 placed Cromwell clearly before the country. The earl of Manchester and Cromwell joined the army of Fairfax and Leven, and the battle of Marston Moor was fought, July 3, and resulted in the total defeat of the royalists. The victory was principally due to the valor, energy, and coolness of Cromwell and his Ironsides. Cromwell then accompanied Manchester in the march that was made to the south, where things had gone against the parliament. He commanded the horse. The second battle of Newbury was fought, Oct. 27, 1644, the king being with his army. The royalists retreated in the night, though it can hardly be said they were defeated. Cromwell, who had highly distinguished himself in the action, and in the proceedings preliminary to it, vainly entreated of Manchester to pursue. So little energy had that general, that he allowed the king to return, assume the offensive, and carry off the artillery and stores that were in Donnington castle. Manchester was not only listless, but he was a leader of the moderate party, the Presbyterians, who were not for pushing matters to extremity with the king. He did not wish to have the royal army destroyed, as it would have been had Cromwell moved forward with his cavalry as soon as the retreat was discovered. The Independents, of whom Cromwell was the ablest, and who had been little heard of at the beginning of the dispute, were now fast rising to importance in the state and in the army, their growth being not a little stimulated by the conduct of the Presbyterians, who were seeking to establish a tyranny as severe as that of Laud and Strafford, and which would have been unrelieved by any of those embellishments that belonged to the system of the latter. Cromwell determined that the army should pass under the influence of the Independents. He was supported by all the best men of the parliamentary party-Fairfax, Marten, Ireton, Vane, and others. The time had come for energetic action, and Cromwell, from his place in parliament, accused Manchester of backwardness, and of not desiring victory. He narrated all that had happened at Newbury, and bore hard upon the various com

manders who belonged to the moderates. Manchester retorted, in the upper house, and, in a narrative that he had written, accused Cromwell of being the cause of the failure of the campaign. He also said that Cromwell was hostile to the peerage, and to the Presbyterian ascendency, which was no doubt the truth. The famous self-denying ordinance was brought before the house of commons, Dec. 9, 1644. It forbade any member of parliament from holding either civil or military office during the war. Cromwell supported it with great plainness of speech, portraying the state of affairs with rough candor, and showing that the want of success was due to the selfish ambition of certain members of both houses, who held places and commands, and who had no wish, therefore, to bring about by vigorous action the settlement of a quarrel the continuance of which they found so profitable. He also pointed out the vices and corruptions that had found their way into the army, to the destruction of its efficiency; and he declared, that "till the whole army were new modelled, and governed. under a stricter discipline, they must not expect any notable success in any thing they went about." The first ordinance failed, but a milder one was successful. It provided that members of parliament who then held offices should be discharged. The 3 armies then existing were formed into one, 22,000 strong. Sir T. Fairfax was made lord general, and Skippon major-general. The office of lieutenant-general was not filled up, undoubtedly because it was meant Cromwell should have it, in spite of the self-denying ordinance. The army was entirely new modelled, and many officers were dismissed. Cromwell had been employed, with Sir William Waller, in the mean time, against the royal forces in the west; and when the time came for him to retire, Fairfax sent a petition to the commons, asking that Cromwell might command the horse in his army; and many of his officers signed the petition. The house cheerfully complied, and Fairfax was allowed to employ him for such time as the house should dispense with his attendance. The model had been successful in raising the character of the army, under Cromwell's direction. Before the house had received Fairfax's petition, Cromwell had been several times engaged with the enemy, and had been victorious in every encounter. Matters looked ill for the cause everywhere save in those places where Cromwell was present, and there can be no reason for supposing that Fairfax was not sincerely desirous for his lieutenant's presence, on plain and obvious military grounds. He wrote to him as soon as he received the commons' permission, and on June 13, 1645, Cromwell joined the army at Northampton, the royal forces being 6 miles distant. His arrival caused the army to become active, and he was the real commander of it at once. Causing Ireton to ascertain the whereabout of the royalists, which he did with skill, he declared for

action the next day. Fairfax acquiesced, and on June 14 was fought the battle of Naseby, which was fatal to the house of Stuart. Believing his enemies were retreating, the king was led to abandon an excellent position at Harborough, and to draw up his army on ground favorable to those enemies. The action of Marston Moor was repeated on a larger scale. Portions of each army were successful, but Cromwell held his Ironsides mostly well in hand, and assailed a body of royalist infantry, after he had routed half their cavalry, and so decided the event of the day. The royalists were utterly beaten, 2,000 of them being slain, and 8,000 captured. All their artillery, many thousand stand of arms, a hundred pair of colors, and all the spoil of the king and camp, fell into the hands of the victors. The most important capture was that of the king's cabinet, which afforded abundant proofs of its owner's total insincerity. Cromwell led the pursuit to Harborough, whence he wrote an account to the speaker of the commons of the victory. This letter reached the commons before that of Fairfax, and that was Cromwell's object in writing it so soon. The reading of it was the announcement to the Presbyterians that power had departed from them. Its tone has been called regal, and it was written in the terms of a master. The very day the news reached parliament, the commons resolved that his services should be continued in Fairfax's army during the pleasure of the houses, the lords substituting three months. He followed up the victory with wonderful celerity and success. Leicester was retaken, Taunton relieved, Goring beaten, and Bridgewater stormed. Soon afterward he put down the "club men," a third party, which might have reached to formidable dimensions if they had not been thus firmly dealt with at the outset. After taking Sherburne castle, Fairfax and Cromwell besieged Bristol, which was held by Prince Rupert at the head of 5,000 men. Cromwell, who was ever for bold measures in war, advised that the place should be stormed. This counsel was followed, but the attack failed. It was, however, made with so much spirit that Rupert surrendered, and the soundness of Cromwell's policy was vindicated. He then proceeded against Devizes, which he stormed. Berkeley castle shared the same fate. Winchester surrendered. Basing House, which had previously defied all attacks of the parliamentarians, fell before him. Longford House capitulated at once. He defeated Lord Wentworth at Bovey Tracy, inflicting a heavy loss on him, and taking, among other spoils, the king's standard. He and Fairfax stormed Dartmouth, defeated Lord Hopton at Torrington, and drove the last remains of the western royalists into Cornwall. Finally, Sir Jacob Astley, at the head of 3,000 horse, was routed at Stow-onthe-Wold, March 21, 1646, which was the last action of the English civil war. Sir Jacob was captured, and when taken to the head-quarters

Had

of the victors, he said: "My masters, you have done your work, and may go play; unless you choose to fall out among yourselves." Cromwell had indeed done his work, to use an expression of that time, not negligently. He had applied Strafford's idea of "Thorough" in politics to military operations; and nothing like what he had accomplished in less than 10 months from the time he had joined Fairfax at Naseby had been seen in England since the time when Edward IV. crushed the Lancastrians at Barnet and Tewkesbury. The whole of England, as it were, had been subdued, though on the 13th of the preceding June the chances were decidedly in favor of the king, whose cause had been greatly advanced_in Scotland by the victories of Montrose. Cromwell died in 1646, he would have been entitled to a high place in the list of great commanders. In original genius for war hardly any man ever surpassed him. Yet it was to success in politics that he owed his success as a soldier; for if he had not carried the selfdenying ordinance through parliament, the royal cause must have triumphed in 1645. The "new model," emphatically his work, as well as his conception, he had explained it to Hampden in 1643,-was the cause of the military superiority of the parliament. The time was now come when he was to be as eminent in the cabinet as he had been in the field. Parliament heaped great rewards on him. Lands of the yearly value of £2,500 were conferred on him, taken from the estates of the marquis of Winchester, and from those of the Somersets and Herberts. It was resolved that the king should be recommended to create him a baron. The king had thrown himself into the hands of the Scotch forces then in England, and had been delivered up to the English parliament. The conduct of Cromwell for some time after this event is the subject of much dispute. He is supposed to have stirred up that agitation in the army which was directed against the king, and against any settlement with him, and which Cromwell is charged with only affecting to condemn, though at a later period he visited some of the agitators with military punishment. The army, perhaps the most intelligent body of soldiers that ever existed, appear to have formed a just estimate of the character of the king. They saw he was not to be trusted, and they determined not to trust him; and ultimately they determined to punish him for his attacks on the liberties of England, and for shedding innocent blood. It is not probable that they saw their way more clearly at first than other parties saw theirs, or that they arrived at an immediate conclusion. As in all other cases, events were evolved from events. That Cromwell had something to do with urging on the army to oppose the parliament, is very probable; and the army, in order that it might not be sacrificed by the Presbyterians, who controlled the parliament, seized the king's person, which it held until

late in 1647. If the parliament had dealt honestly and fairly with the army, the troubles might have been brought to an end in 1647, supposing the king to have been capable of dealing candidly with the parliament. It was the dispute between the army and the parliament that encouraged the king so to act as rendered a settlement impossible. Though every one of his schemes had failed, though all his armies had been annihilated, though the Scotch had delivered him up to the English, and though the army of the latter had seized and were holding him, he fell into the sad mistake of supposing that he was necessary to them all, and that he could choose as he pleased with which party to treat. Dominated by an enormous egotism, he set himself to work to outwit Cromwell. That the latter entered into a treaty with the king, and that he was supported by Fairfax and other distinguished soldiers of his party, are indisputable facts. The sincerity of Cromwell in this business is doubted by many; that of the king is believed in by no one competent to form an intelligent judgment. It cost Charles neither difficulty nor pain to deceive, and he seems to have preferred crooked ways, even when it was for his interest to walk in those which were straight. Cromwell's sincerity there is no good reason for doubting. He contemplated the settlement of England on some such basis as the great political dispute was settled 40 years later. His object was a free polity, government by parliament, toleration, the dismissal of the ultra royalists, and the reinstatement of strict legality. That he looked for some individual benefits is true. He was to be lord lieutenant of Ireland, a knight of the garter, and earl of Essex, a title to which one of his family might properly aspire, now that the last of its Devereux wearers was in his grave. Those who accuse Cromwell of hypocrisy in this instance, and assert that he was looking already to supreme power in the state, misjudge his position entirely. He could look no higher than the king professed to be willing to elevate him; and he could propose to himself no higher object than that of settling the kingdom in peace. That he then thought of the throne for himself, under any title, is very improbable. Such an ambition would, at that time, have been quite inconsistent with that good sense which was the prevailing element of his character. He had achieved much, but not sufficient to warrant an aspiration at once so irregular and so lofty, and so contrary to all modes of English thought. Had the king exhibited evidence of honesty, Cromwell would have closed with him, and would have become the founder of a line of nobles; but the most complete proof was obtained by him that Charles was practising the grossest deception, and that instead of a garter for his knee, he intended to decorate his neck with a rope. Then it was that Cromwell resolved upon the king's destruction. The army leaned strongly to republicanism, and contained not a

few persons who entertained extreme opinions in religion and politics. Always disliking the king, and convinced of his insincerity, the soldiers saw Cromwell's course with unfriendly eyes. The king sought to cheat every party, and was so weak as to say to Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law, and who acted with him in all this business: "I shall play my game as well as I can;" to which that stern and honest republican replied: "If your majesty have a game to play, you must give us also the liberty to play ours." The king's " game " became hopeless from the moment he had Cromwell for an antagonist. The king soon saw that he had made one of his mistakes. He believed his life was in danger from the more violent portion of the soldiery, known as Levellers; and Cromwell is supposed to have feared that the monarch would be seized by them, and to have operated on the royal mind, which was also startled by intimations from the Scotch commissioners. Charles, therefore, left Hampton court, in disguise, on the night of Nov. 11, 1647. He took refuge at Carisbrooke castle, in the isle of Wight, instigated by Cromwell. Hammond, governor of the island, was a connection of Cromwell's by marriage. The resolution of the house of commons, not to hold any more treaties with the king, led to much excitement in England, and to some fighting. Cromwell proceeded to Wales, where he put down the royalists with the strong hand. Then came his campaign against the Scotch, popularly called the commencement of the second civil war. The majority of the Scotch were for setting up the king again, and they invaded England with a large army, which was joined by some English cavaliers. Hastening to the north with such rapidity that the Scotch knew not of his arrival, Cromwell effected a junction with Lambert. Their united forces numbered only 8,600 men; the enemy were 21,000. On August 17, 1648, the battle of Preston was fought, and it was Naseby over again. The enemy lost several thousand men in the battle, and the duke of Hamilton, their commander, was among the prisoners. Following up the Scotch with great vigor, Cromwell completed their ruin, so that they were mostly killed, captured, or dispersed. Not in the days of the Edwards and Henrys had the English been more successful over their ancient enemies. Perhaps none of Cromwell's military actions were of a higher order than those of this campaign. They displayed alike daring valor and consummate generalship. The victor pushed on to Edinburgh, where he was welcomed by the extreme anti-Stuart party, headed by the marquis of Argyle. The king's fate was determined by these successes. He had been engaged in his usual "game," and gave further evidence of his bad faith. The army caused him to be removed from the isle of Wight to Hurst castle, where he was civilly treated, but whence escape was impossible. The parliament voted to close with the king,

but the majority were turned out of the house of commons by Col. Pride, or by other soldiers. The king was then brought to Windsor castle, by a detachment commanded by Col. Harrison. The ordinance for erecting the high court of justice was passed, and the king was tried and executed. That Cromwell wastat the bottom of these doings there can be no doubt in minds that consider all the circumstances. He was the most powerful man in the state. So far as any one man could be said to rule, he was then the ruler of England. That he acted with free will may be doubted. It may be that he was obliged to comply with the demands of the army, that body being determined that the king should suffer. He may have been urged on by the knowledge he had that the king could not be trusted. His name stands third on the death-warrant of the king, which he signed as a member of the high court. He refused to use his influence to save the king's life. The story that he visited the body, and remarked on the likelihood that the king would in the course of nature have reached to extreme old age, is a melodramatic invention, and to be classed with the scene in Scott's "Woodstock," in which he is represented as going into a fit of delirium on looking at Vandyke's picture of the king. There appears no ground for believing that his conscience ever troubled him for the part he had in that "memorable scene." When the council of state was constituted, for performing the executive duties of government, Cromwell was appointed one of its members. He was made lord lieutenant of Ireland, and proceeded to that country, in much state, at the head of 12,000 men. He reached Dublin, Aug. 15, 1649, and instantly commenced a campaign as brilliant as it was merciless in its character. Drogheda was stormed, and the entire garrison either butchered or sent as slaves to the plantations. Most of the victims were English royalists, and their commander was an Englishman. Cromwell's object was to strike terror into the enemy, and so prevent further resistance. He did not wish to be long absent from England. He was mostly successful, but at Wexford the horrors of Drogheda were repeated; and at Clonmel he met with so stern a resistance that he granted an honorable capitulation. This was owing, not to his humanity, but to his impatience to cross the channel. Appointing Ireton, his sonin-law, lord deputy, he hastened to London, which he reached May 31, 1650, and was received with great enthusiasm. His presence was much needed. The Scotch had set up Charles II., and made a covenanted king of him. They intended to invade England, for the purpose of forcing him on that country. The government of the commonwealth determined to anticipate them, and to send an army into Scotland. Fairfax, being under Presbyterian influence and petticoat government, refused to serve. Cromwell was made generalin-chief, and lord general. He entered Scot

land, July 23, at the head of 11,000 men. Lesley, an experienced soldier, commanded double that number of Scotch, and, had he been left free to follow his own will, would have baffled the invaders. He held a strong position between Edinburgh and Leith, and while he refused battle, harassed Cromwell, and destroyed all sources of supply. The country was wasted on all sides, the Scotch following their old modes of resistance to English invasion. There was some fighting, in which the Scotch showed spirit, but generally were beaten. Cromwell was forced to retreat to Dunbar. On Aug. 17 he again advanced, his aim being to cut off the communication between Edinburgh and the western counties; but for this movement Lesley, with the prescience of a true soldier, had been prepared, and he instantly took a new position, not less strong than that which had previously baffled the English. The latter vainly assaulted several posts garrisoned by the Scotch, and occasionally were defeated in affairs of cavalry. The foot had some skirmishing, and there were brisk cannonades. In the end, Lesley won, Cromwell retreating, and the Scotch horse harassing him as his demoralized army, which had suffered much from sickness, fell back once more upon Dunbar, his grand depot and base of operations. In a worse position no army ever found itself than that in which Cromwell had now placed his. Dunbar is in a valley, surrounded on three sides by hills, through which there are but two narrow passes. The Scotch had possession of the hills and passes, and by the labor of a few hours might have shut up the English in a trap. Such was Lesley's plan; but he had in his own camp far worse enemies than he had in that of Cromwell. The preachers were bent upon Cromwell's destruction, and thought it could be accomplished with the sword. Their influence was overwhelming, and, after they had succeeded in driving from the army all the cavaliers in it, they compelled Lesley to lead it into the plain, thus giving up an impregnable position. Meantime, the English in Dunbar, after discussing some desperate expedients, the adoption of either of which would have been an admission of defeat, resolved to send out a strong column to the right on the morning of Sept. 3. This column marched, and fell in with the Scotch, who had just descended from the hills, whereupon the battle commenced. The result was doubtful, as between the infantry, until a body of English cavalry came to their countrymen's assistance, and so the Scotch were routed, their very excess of number causing their defeat to be the more complete. On the other wing, and in the centre, the English were also successful. The vanquished lost 12,000 men, mostly prisoners, all their artillery, 200 colors, and 15,000 stand of arms. Like Inkermann, Dunbar was the soldiers' battle, being won by hard fighting, and without any generalship on the part of the victor, who frankly disclaimed

all merit, and who had put his men in a position where nothing could save them from destruction save the folly of the enemy. Advancing for a third time into Scotland, Cromwell took Edinburgh, the castle of which held out until Dec. 24. The winter was passed in political intrigues and in some military operations in the southern districts. In the spring, when about to take the field in force, he was seized with ague, and was not able to act until July 1, 1651. Lesley had done his best to reorganize his army, and though much harmed by the continued interference of the preachers, he baffled Cromwell for some weeks. The latter, by a bold manoeuvre, sent a corps into Fifeshire, which defeated the Scotch there, and the consequence was that the English were enabled to besiege and take Perth. While thus engaged, Cromwell learned that the enemy had marched into England, which course had been taken by Charles II. in the belief that he should be joined by the English cavaliers, and the people generally, almost all of whom were opposed to the new government. The Scotch reached Worcester, where they halted; but if they had pushed on to London, it would have fallen into their hands, and with it the whole country. The prompt and skilful measures taken by Cromwell on hearing of Charles's march had brought 30,000 English troops to the vicinity of Worcester, including regulars, train bands, and militia. The king had but 13,000. On Sept. 3, the anniversary of Dunbar, the battle of Worcester was fought, and ended in the annihilation of the invaders, 2,000 of whom were killed, and 8,000 captured. Cromwell believed it to be "a crowning mercy," as it was, for it was fatal to the royal cause; and had the victor not died prematurely, or had his successor been a man of talent, a new dy nasty, if not a new polity, would have been set up in Britain. It is related, as an evidence of his elation after the battle, that he offered to knight some of his officers. The government showed itself most grateful, not to say servile, to the victor. An estate of £4,000 a year was conferred on him, and Hampton court was prepared for his abode. He was made chancellor of the university of Oxford. Sept. 3 was ordered to be observed annually "for all time to come," which the event showed to be 8 years. But nothing short of supreme power would content him. He was determined to be master of all. His demeanor changed, and he bore himself as Cæsar is said to have done after he had struck down the last of his open enemies. He was determined to settle the state, but in his own way, and with himself as its chief. In 1647 he would have been content with the highest honors of a subjest, could he have relied upon the king; but in 1951 he had put the king to death, had conquered Wales and Ireland, had won three of the greatest battles of that age, and had driven the hole Stuart family from all its dominions. With the increase of his influence and power

his political horizon had extended. Unquestionably he aimed at the throne, not from any love of the mere trappings of monarchy, to which his robust nature was indifferent, but because he knew that the kingly office and title were grand elements of strength. He wished to be a liberal, constitutional monarch, and had he been met in his own spirit such a monarch he would have become. But he encountered opposition from many who had thus far acted with him, and the soldiery themselves, attached though they were to his person, and ready to do most of his work, were sincerely devoted to republicanism. With their consent he might be any thing he chose but king. The best of the republican statesmen, headed by Vane, were for maintaining the existing order of things; and they were right, the gov ernment that existed since Charles I.'s execution having proved itself worthy of trust, and having managed the internal affairs of the state, and its foreign policy, with a vigor and a prudence that had not been known since the death of Elizabeth. Could Cromwell have been content with a just share of power in the new gov ernment, it would have been maintained; and as the new system would then not have depended on the life of one man, the royal family would have been kept out for ever. But he was bent upon being sole ruler. The 19 months that followed the final overthrow of the royalists were spent in discussions and intrigues, and they constitute the least reputable part of Cromwell's career. On April 20, 1653, he drove the remnant of the long parlia ment out of the house of commons by force. The council of state was broken up the same day. For some weeks England was as near to an anarchy as any civilized nation has ever been; but on June 6, Cromwell issued summons to 156 persons to meet at Westminster, as a parliament. All but two obeyed, and the new parliament met July 4. the famous Barebone's parliament, which has been a by-word for two centuries. One of the members was named Barbone, and this was scurrilously changed into Barebone. All but 17 of the members were summoned for England, Ireland and Wales having 6 each, and Scotland 5. Cromwell made to this body a long speech, and resigned his power into its hands. The parliament was a well-meaning body, but it contained few men of influence, and its conduct, though honest, only added to the public confusion. On Dec. 12, a portion of its members resigned their power into the hands of Cromwell, and the rest either retired silently or were driven out by soldiers from their hall. On Dec. 16 came forth the new institute of government, by which Cromwell was made lord protector, and the supreme legislative authority was vested in him and a parliament. The parliament was to be imperial in its character, and not to exceed 400 members for England, 30 for Scotland, and 30 for Ireland. The protector was to be assisted by a council of state. There

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