christening bowls, in order to assist members of the parliamentary party. him. But experience has fully proved He had borne arms on the Continent that the voluntary liberality of indivi- with credit, and, when the war began, duals, even in times of the greatest had as high a military reputation as excitement, is a poor financial resource any man in the country. But it soon when compared with severe and me- appeared that he was unfit for the post thodical taxation, which presses on the of Commander in Chief. He had little willing and unwilling alike. energy and no originality. The methodical tactics which he had learned in the war of the Palatinate did not save him from the disgrace of being surprised and baffled by such a Captain as Rupert, who could claim no higher fame than that of an enterprising partisan.

Charles, however, had one advantage, which, if he had used it well, would have more than compensated for the want of stores and money, and which, notwithstanding his mismanagement, gave him, during some months, a superiority in the war. His troops Nor were the officers who held the at first fought much better than those chief commissions under Essex qualified of the Parliament. Both armies, it is to supply what was wanting in him. true, were almost entirely composed of For this, indeed, the Houses are scarcely men who had never seen a field of to be blamed. In a country which had battle. Nevertheless, the difference not, within the memory of the oldest was great. The parliamentary ranks person living, made war on a great were filled with hirelings whom want scale by land, generals of tried skill and idleness had induced to enlist. and valour were not to be found. It Hampden's regiment was regarded as was necessary, therefore, in the first one of the best; and even Hampden's instance, to trust untried men; and the regiment was described by Cromwell preference was naturally given to men as a mere rabble of tapsters and serving distinguished either by their station, or men out of place. The royal army, on by the abilities which they had disthe other hand, consisted in great part played in Parliament. In scarcely a of gentlemen, high spirited, ardent, single instance, however, was the seaccustomed to consider dishonour as lection fortunate. Neither the grandees more terrible than death, accustomed nor the orators proved good soldiers. to fencing, to the use of fire arms, to The Earl of Stamford, one of the greatbold riding, and to manly and perilous est nobles of England, was routed by sport, which has been well called the the Royalists at Stratton. Nathaniel image of war. Such gentlemen, mounted Fiennes, inferior to none of his conon their favourite horses, and com- temporaries in talents for civil business, manding little bands, composed of their disgraced himself by the pusillanimous younger brothers, grooms, gamekeepers, surrender of Bristol. Indeed, of all the and huntsmen, were, from the very first statesmen who at this juncture accepted day on which they took the field, quali-high military commands, Hampden fied to play their part with credit in a skirmish. The steadiness, the prompt obedience, the mechanical precision of movement, which are characteristic of the regular soldier, these gallant volunteers never attained. But they were at first opposed to enemies as undisciplined as themselves, and far less active, athletic, and daring. For a time, therefore, the Cavaliers were successful in almost every encounter.

The Houses had also been unfortunate in the choice of a general. The rank and wealth of the Earl of Essex made him one of the most important

alone appears to have carried into the camp the capacity and strength of mind which had made him eminent in politics.

When the war had lasted a year, the advantage was decidedly with Successes the Royalists. They were of the victorious, both in the western Royalists. and in the northern counties. They had wrested Bristol, the second city in the kingdom, from the Parliament. They had won several battles, and had not sustained a single serious or ignominious defeat. Among the Roundheads adversity had begun to produce

dissension and discontent. The Parlia- | branch men, or, to use the kindred ment was kept in alarm, sometimes by phrase of our own time, radicals. Not plots, and sometimes by riots. It was content with limiting the power of the thought necessary to fortify London monarch, they were desirous to erect a against the royal army, and to hang some commonwealth on the ruins of the old disaffected citizens at their own doors. English polity. At first they had been Several of the most distinguished peers inconsiderable, both in numbers and in who had hitherto remained at West- weight; but before the war had lasted minster fled to the court at Oxford; two years they became, not indeed the nor can it be doubted that, if the largest, but the most powerful faction operations of the Cavaliers had, at this in the country. Some of the old parseason, been directed by a sagacious liamentary leaders had been removed and powerful mind, Charles would soon by death; and others had forfeited have marched in triumph to Whitehall. the public confidence. Pym had been But the King suffered the auspicious borne, with princely honours, to a grave moment to pass away; and it never among the Plantagenets. Hampden returned. In August 1643 he sate had fallen, as became him, while vainly down before the city of Gloucester. endeavouring, by his heroic example, That city was defended by the inha- to inspire his followers with courage bitants and by the garrison, with a to face the fiery cavalry of Rupert. determination such as had not, since Bedford had been untrue to the cause. the commencement of the war, been Northumberland was known to be lukeshown by the adherents of the Parlia- warm. Essex and his lieutenants had ment. The emulation of London was shown little vigour and ability in the excited. The trainbands of the city conduct of military operations. At volunteered to march wherever their such a conjuncture it was that the services might be required. A great Independent party, ardent, resolute, force was speedily collected, and began and uncompromising, began to raise to move westward. The siege of Glou- its head, both in the camp and in the cester was raised: the Royalists in House of Commons. every part of the kingdom were disheartened: the spirit of the parliamentary party revived; and the apostate Lords, who had lately fled from Westminster to Oxford, hastened back from Oxford to Westminster.

Rise of

pendents.

The soul of that party was Oliver Cromwell. Bred to peaceful Oliver occupations, he had, at more Cromwell. than forty years of age, accepted a commission in the parliamentary army. No sooner had he become a soldier And now a new and alarming class than he discerned, with the keen glance of symptoms began to appear in of genius, what Essex and men like the Inde the distempered body politic. Essex, with all their experience, were There had been, from the first, unable to perceive. He saw precisely in the parliamentary party, some men where the strength of the Royalists lay, whose minds were set on objects from and by what means alone that strength which the majority of that party would could be overpowered. He saw that have shrunk with horror. These men it was necessary to reconstruct the were, in religion, Independents. They conceived that every Christian congregation had, under Christ, supreme jurisdiction in things spiritual; that appeals to provincial and national synods were scarcely less unscriptural than appeals to the Court of Arches, or to the Vatican; and that Popery, Prelacy, and Presbyterianism were merely three forms of one great apostasy. In politics the Independents were, to use the phrase of their time, root and

army of the Parliament. He saw also that there were abundant and excellent materials for the purpose, materials less showy, indeed, but more solid, than those of which the gallant squadrons of the King were composed. It was necessary to look for recruits who were not mere mercenaries, for recruits of decent station and grave character, fearing God and zealous for public liberty. With such men he filled his own regiment, and, while he subjected them to

a discipline more rigid than had ever before been known in England, he administered to their intellectual and moral nature stimulants of fearful potency.

over the whole kingdom. Charles fled to the Scots, and was by them, in a manner which did not much exalt their national character, delivered up to his English subjects.

The events of the year 1644 fully While the event of the war was still proved the superiority of his abilities. doubtful, the Houses had put the PriIn the south, where Essex held the mate to death, had interdicted, within command, the parliamentary forces un- the sphere of their authority, the use derwent a succession of shameful dis- of the Liturgy, and had required all asters; but in the north the victory of men to subscribe that renowned instruMarston Moor fully compensated for ment known by the name of the Solemn all that had been lost elsewhere. That League and Covenant. Covenanting victory was not a more serious blow to work, as it was called, went on fast. the Royalists than to the party which Hundreds of thousands affixed their had hitherto been dominant at West-names to the rolls, and, with hands minster; for it was notorious that the lifted up towards heaven, swore to day, disgracefully lost by the Presbyterians, had been retrieved by the energy of Cromwell, and by the steady valour of the warriors whom he had trained.

Selfdenying OrdiDance.

These events produced the Selfdenying Ordinance and the new model of the army. Under decorous pretexts, and with every mark of respect, Essex and most of those who had held high posts under him were removed; and the conduct of the war was entrusted to very different hands. Fairfax, a brave soldier, but of mean understanding and irresolute temper, was the nominal Lord General of the forces; but Cromwell was their real head.

Cromwell made haste to organise the whole army on the same principles on which he had organised his own regiment. As soon as this process was complete, the event of the war was decided. The Cavaliers had now to encounter natural courage equal to their own, enthusiasm stronger than their own, and discipline such as was utterly wanting to them. It soon became a proverb that the soldiers of Fairfax and Cromwell were men of a different breed from the soldiers of Essex. At Naseby took place the first great encounter between the Royalists and the remodelled army of the Houses. The victory of the Roundheads was complete and decisive. It was followed by other triumphs in rapid succession. In a few months the authority of the Parliament was fully established

Victory of the Parliament.

endeavour, without respect of persons, the extirpation of Popery and Prelacy, heresy and schism, and to bring to public trial and condign punishment all who should hinder the reformation of religion. When the struggle was over, the work of innovation and revenge was pushed on with increased ardour. The ecclesiastical polity of the kingdom was remodelled. Most of the old clergy were ejected from their benefices. Fines, often of ruinous amount, were laid on the Royalists, already impoverished by large aids furnished to the King. Many estates were confiscated. Many proscribed Cavaliers found it expedient to purchase, at an enormous cost, the protection of eminent members of the victorious party. Large domains, belonging to the crown, to the bishops, and to the chapters, were seized, and either granted away or put up to auction. In consequence of these spoliations, a great part of the soil of England was at once offered for sale. As money was scarce, as the market was glutted, as the title was insecure, and as the awe inspired by powerful bidders prevented free competition, the prices were often merely nominal. Thus many old and honourable families disappeared and were heard of no more; and many new men rose rapidly to affluence.

But, while the Houses were employing their authority thus, it suddenly passed out of their hands. It had been obtained by calling into existence a power which could not be controlled.

In the summer of 1647, about twelve right and duty it was to watch over months after the last fortress of the the welfare of the nation which they Cavaliers had submitted to the Parlia- had saved. ment, the Parliament was compelled to submit to its own soldiers. Thirteen years followed, during which England was, under various tion and names and forms, really governed by the sword. Never before that time, or since that time, was the civil power in our country subjected to military dictation.

Domina

character

of the army.

A force thus composed might, without injury to its efficiency, be indulged in some liberties which, if allowed to any other troops, would have proved subversive of all discipline. In general, soldiers who should form themselves into political clubs, elect delegates, and pass resolutions on high questions of state, would soon break loose from all control, would cease to form an army, and would become the worst and most dangerous of mobs. Nor would it be safe, in our time, to tolerate in any regiment religious meetings, at which a corporal versed in Scripture should lead the devotions of his less gifted colonel, and admonish a backsliding major. But such was the intelligence, the gravity, and the selfcommand of the warriors whom Cromwell had trained, that in their camp a political organisation and a religious organisation could exist without destroying military organisation. The same men, who, off duty, were noted as demagogues and field preachers, were distinguished by steadiness, by the spirit of order, and by prompt obedience on watch, on drill, and on the field of battle.

The army which now became supreme in the state was an army very different from any that has since been seen among us. At present the pay of the common soldier is not such as can seduce any but the humblest class of English labourers from their calling. A barrier almost impassable separates him from the commissioned officer. The great majority of those who rise high in the service rise by purchase. So numerous and extensive are the remote dependencies of England, that every man who enlists in the line must expect to pass many years in exile, and some years in climates unfavourable to the health and vigour of the European race. The army of the Long Parliament was raised for home service. The pay of the private soldier was much above the wages earned by the great In war this strange force was irrebody of the people; and, if he distin- sistible. The stubborn courage characguished himself by intelligence and teristic of the English people was, by courage, he might hope to attain high the system of Cromwell, at once regucommands. The ranks were accord-lated and stimulated. Other leaders ingly composed of persons superior in station and education to the multitude. These persons, sober, moral, diligent, and accustomed to reflect, had been induced to take up arms, not by the pressure of want, not by the love of novelty and license, not by the arts of recruiting officers, but by religious and political zeal,' mingled with the desire of distinction and promotion. The boast of the soldiers, as we find it recorded in their solemn resolutions, was that they had not been forced into the service, nor had enlisted chiefly for the sake of lucre, that they were no janissaries, but freeborn Englishmen, who had, of their own accord, put their lives in jeopardy for the liberties and religion of England, and whose

have maintained order as strict. Other leaders have inspired their followers with zeal as ardent. But in his camp alone the most rigid discipline was found in company with the fiercest enthusiasm. His troops moved to victory with the precision of machines, while burning with the wildest fanaticism of Crusaders. From the time when the army was remodelled to the time when it was disbanded, it never found, either in the British islands or on the Continent, an enemy who could stand its onset. In England, Scotland, Ireland, Flanders, the Puritan warriors, often surrounded by difficulties, sometimes contending against threefold odds, not only never failed to conquer, but never failed to destroy and break in pieces

military

ment sup

whatever force was opposed to them. | No sooner was the first pressure of miliThey at length came to regard the day tary tyranny felt, than the na- Risings of battle as the day of certain triumph, tion, unbroken to such servi-gainst the and marched against the most renowned tude, began to struggle fiercely. govern battalions of Europe with disdainful Insurrections broke out even pressed," confidence. Turenne was startled by the in those counties which, during the reshout of stern exultation with which his cent war, had been the most submissive English allies advanced to the combat, to the Parliament. Indeed, the Parand expressed the delight of a true liament itself abhorred its old defenders soldier, when he learned that it was ever more than its old enemies, and was the fashion of Cromwell's pikemen to desirous to come to terms of accomrejoice greatly when they beheld the modation with Charles at the expense enemy; and the banished Cavaliers of the troops. In Scotland, at the felt an emotion of national pride, when same time, a coalition was formed bethey saw a brigade of their countrymen, tween the Royalists and a large body outnumbered by foes and abandoned of Presbyterians who regarded the docby friends, drive before it in headlong trines of the Independents with detestarout the finest infantry of Spain, and tion. At length the storm burst. There force a passage into a counterscarp were risings in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, which had just been pronounced im- Kent, Wales. The fleet in the Thames pregnable by the ablest of the Marshals suddenly hoisted the royal colours, of France. stood out to sea, and menaced the southern coast. A great Scottish force crossed the frontier and advanced into Lancashire. It might well be suspected that these movements were contemplated with secret complacency by a majority both of the Lords and of the Commons.

But that which chiefly distinguished the army of Cromwell from other armies was the austere morality and the fear of God which pervaded all ranks. It is acknowledged by the most zealous Royalists that, in that singular camp, no oath was heard, no drunkenness or But the yoke of the army was not to gambling was seen, and that, during be shaken off. While Fairfax supthe long dominion of the soldiery, the pressed the risings in the neighbourproperty of the peaceable citizen and hood of the capital, Oliver routed the the honour of woman were held sacred. Welsh insurgents, and, leaving their If outrages were committed, they were castles in ruins, marched against the outrages of a very different kind from Scots. His troops were few, when comthose of which a victorious army is pared with the invaders; but he was generally guilty. No servant girl com- little in the habit of counting his eneplained of the rough gallantry of the mies. The Scottish army was utterly redcoats. Not an ounce of plate was destroyed. A change in the Scottish taken from the shops of the goldsmiths. government followed. An administraBut a Pelagian sermon, or a window tion, hostile to the King, was formed on which the Virgin and Child were at Edinburgh; and Cromwell, more painted, produced in the Puritan ranks than ever the darling of his soldiers, an excitement which it required the returned in triumph to London. utmost exertions of the officers to quell. One of Cromwell's chief difficulties was to restrain his musqueteers and dragoons from invading by main force the pulpits of ministers whose discourses, to use the language of that time, were not Savoury; and too many of our cathedrals still bear the marks of the hatred with which those stern spirits regarded every vestige of Popery.

To keep down the English people was no light task even for that army

against

And now a design, to which, at the commencement of the civil war, Prono man would have dared to ceedings allude, and which was not less the King. inconsistent with the Solemn League and Covenant than with the old law of England, began to take a distinct form. The austere warriors who ruled the nation had, during some months, meditated a fearful vengeance on the captive King. When and how the scheme originated; whether it spread