the most perplexing solicitude. The office of lord lieutenant was offered to Cromwell. He affected to hesitate; at his request two officers from each corps March 15. received orders to meet him at Whitehall, and seek the Lord in prayer; and, after a delay of two weeks, March 23. he condescended to submit his shoulders to the burthen, because he had learned that it was the will of March 29. heaven.* His demands, however, were so numerous, the preparations to be made so extensive, that it was necessary to have recourse in the interval to other expedients for the preservation of the forces and places which still admitted the authority of the parliament. One of these was to allure to the cause of the independents the catholics of the two kingdoms; for which purpose, the sentiments of sir Kenelm Digby and sir John Winter were sounded, and conferences were held, through the agency of the Spa- March. nish ambassador, with O'Reilly and Quin, two Irish ecclesiastics. It was proposed that toleration April. should be granted for the exercise of the catholic worship, without any penal disqualifications, and that the catholics in return should disclaim the temporal pretensions of the pope, and maintain ten thousand men for the service of the commonwealth. In aid of this project, Digby, Winter, and the Abbé Montague, were suffered to come to England under the pretence of compounding for their estates; and the celebrated Thomas White, a secular clergyman, published a work entitled “The Grounds of Obedience and Government," to show that the people may be released from their obedience to the civil magistrate by his misconduct; and that, when he is once deposed (whether justly or unjustly makes no difference), it may be for the common interest to acquiesce, rather than attempt his restoration. That this doctrine was satisfactory to the men in power cannot be doubted; but they had so often reproached the late king with a coalition with the papists, that they dared not make the experiment, and, after some time, to blind perhaps the eyes of the people, severe votes were passed against Digby, Montague, Aug. 31. and Winter, and orders were given for the apprehension of priests and jesuits.

* Journals, Mar, 30. Whitelock, 389. 391, 392.

On this obscure subject may be consulted Walker, ii. 150. Carte's Collec tion of Letters, i. 216. 219. 221, 222. 224. 267. 272. 297; ii. 363, 4; and the Journals, Aug. 31.

Treaty with

O'Nial.

In Ireland an attempt was made to fortify the parliamentary party with the friendly aid of O'Nial. That chieftain had received proposals from Ormond, but his jealousy of the commissioners of trust, his former adversaries, provoked him to break off the Feb. 20. treaty, and send a messenger of his own with a tender of his services to

the lord lieutenant, attacked and reduced his garrisons of Maryborough March 21. and Athy; and O'Nial, in revenge, listened to the April 25. suggestions of Monk, who had retired before the su

March 16. earl of Castlehaven, by order of immediately the

perior force of the Scottish royalists from Belfast to Dundalk. A cessation of hostilities was concluded for May 8. three months; and the proposals of the Irish chieftain, modified by Monk, where transmitted to England for the ratification of parliament. By the "grandees" it was thought imprudent to submit them to an examination, which would make them public; but the answer returned satisfied the contracting parties; Monk supplied O'Nial with ammunition, and O'Nial undertook to intercept the communication between the Scottish regiments in the north, and the grand army under Ormond in the heart of the kingdom.*

May 22.

Ireland.

Cromwell Though the parliament had appointed Cromwell departs for lord lieutenant of Ireland, and vested the supreme authority, both civil and military, in his person for three years; he was still unwilling to hazard his reputation and his prospects in a dangerous expedition without the adequate means of success. Out of the standing army of forty-five thousand men, with whose aid Eng

June 22.

*O'Nial demanded liberty of conscience for himself, his followers, and their posterity; the undisturbed possession of their lands, as long as they re. mained faithful to the parliament; and, in return for his services, the restoration of his ancestor's estate, or an equivalent. (See both his draft, and the corrected copy by Monk in Philop. Iren. i. 191, and in Walker, ii. 233-8). His agent, on his arrival in London, was asked by the grandees, why he ap plied to them and refused to treat with Ormond. He replied, because the late king had always made them fair promises; but when they had done him service, and he could make better terms with their enemies, had always been ready to sacrifice them. Why then did not O'Nial apply to the parliament sooner? Because the men in power then had sworn to extirpate them; but those in power now professed toleration and liberty of conscience. (Ludlow, i. 255.) Ludlow adds, that the proposal was rejected, because the Ulster men had been the chief actors in the murder of the English, and liber ty of religion would prove dangerous to public peace. But this rejection happened much later. It is plain that Jones, Monk, Coote, and O'Nial, un derstood that the agreement would be ratified, though it was delayed. Walk ér, ii. 198. 231. 245.

land was now governed, he demanded a force of twelve thousand veterans, with a plentiful supply of provisions and military stores, and the round sum of 100,0007. in ready money.* On the day of his departure his friends assembled at Whitehall; three ministers solemnly invoked the July 10. blessing of God on the arms of his saints, and three

officers, Goff, Harrison, and the lord lieutenant himself, expounded the scriptures "excellently well, and pertinently to the occasion." After these outpourings of the spirit, Cromwell mounted his carriage, drawn by six horses. He was accompanied by the great officers of state and of the army; his life guard, eighty young men, all of quality, and several holding commissions as majors and colonels, surprised the spectators by their splendid uniforms and gallant bearing, and the streets of the metropolis resounded, as he drove towards Windsor, with the acclamations of the populace and the clangor of mili tary music. It had been fixed that the expedition should sail from Milford-haven; but the impatience of the general was checked by the reluctance and desertion of his men. The recent transaction between Monk and O'Nial had diffused a spirit of distrust through the army. It was pronounced an apostacy from the principles on which they had fought. The exaggerated horrors of the massacre in 1641 were recalled to mind; the repeated resolutions of parliament to extirpate the native Irish, and the solemn engagement of the army to revenge the blood which had been shed, were warmly discussed; and the invectives of the leaders against the late king, when he concluded a peace with the confederate catholics, were contrasted with their present backsliding, when they had taken the men of Ulster for their associates in the cause and their brethren in arms. To appease the growing discontent, parliament annulled the agreement. Monk, who had returned to England, was publicly assured that, if he escaped the pu nishment of his indiscretion, it was on account of his past services and good intentions. Peters from the pulpit employed his eloquence to remove the blame from the grandees; and, if we may judge from the sequel, promises were made, not only that the good cause should be supported, but that the duty of revenge should be amply discharged.‡

Cromwell received 30001. for his outfit, 102. per day as general while he remained in England, and 20001. per quarter in Ireland, besides his salary as lord lieutenant. Council Book, July 12 No. 10.

Whitelock, 413, Leicester's Journal, 76.

Walker, ii, 230. 243. Whitelock, 416. Leicester's Journal, 82.

Jones

gains the victory at

Rathmines,

Aug 1.

While the army was thus detained in the neighbourhood of Milford-haven, Jones, in Dublin, reaped the laurels which Cromwell had destined for himself. The royal army advanced on both banks of the Liffy to the siege of that capital; and Ormond, from his quarters at Finglass, ordered certain works to be thrown up at a place called Bogatrath. His object was to exclude the horse of the garrison from the only pasturage in their possession; but, by some mishap, the working party did not reach the spot till an hour before sunAug. 2, rise; and Jones, sallying from the walls, overpowered the guard, and raised an alarm in the camp. The confusion of the royalists encouraged him to follow up his success. Regiment after regiment was beaten; it was in vain that Ormond, aroused from his sleep, flew from post to post; the different corps acted without concert; a general panic ensued, and the whole army on the right bank fled in every direction. The artillery, tents, baggage, and ammunition, fell into the hands of the conquerors, with two thousand prisoners, three hundred of whom were massacred in cold blood at the gate of the city. This was called the battle of Rathmines, a battle which destroyed the hopes of the Irish royalists, and taught men to doubt the abilities of Ormond. At court, his enemies ventured to hint suspicions of treason; but Charles, to silence their murmurs, and assure him of the royal favour, sent him the order of the garter.*

lands. Aug. 13. Aug. 18.

The news of this important victory hastened the Cromwell departure of Cromwell. He sailed from Milford with a single division; his son-in-law, Ireton, followed with the remainder of the army, and a fortnight was allowed the soldiers to refresh themselves after their voyage. Aware that the royalists could assemble no army in the field, he marched to the siege of Drogheda. The defences of the place were contemptiSep. 3. ble; but the garrison consisted of two thousand five hundred chosen men, and the governor, Sir Arthur Aston, had earned in the civil war the reputation of a brave and Sep. 9. experienced officer. In two days a breach was ef

King's Pamphlets, No. 434, xxi. Whitelock, 410, 1, 2. 4, 5. 7.9. Clarendon, viii. 92, 93. Carte, Letters, ii. 394. 402. 408. Baillie, ii. 346., Ludlow, i. 257, 8. Ormond, before his defeat, confidently predicted the fall of Dublin (Carte, Letters, ii. 383. 389. 391.); after it, he repeatedly asserts that Jones, to magnify his own services, makes the royalists amount to eighteen, whereas, in reality, they were only eight thousand men. Ibid. 402.

fected; but Aston ordered trenches to be dug within the wall, and the assailants on their first attempt were quickly repulsed. In the second, more than a thousand men penetrat

1650.

cre at

ed through the breach; but they suffered severely Sep. 11. for their temerity, and were driven back with considerable loss: Cromwell now placed himself at the head of the reserve, and led them to the assault, animating them by his voice and example. In the heat of the conflict, it chanced that the royalist officer who defended one of the trenches fell; his men wavered; quarter was offered and accepted; and the enemy, surmounting the breast-work, obtained possession of the bridge, entered the town, and successively overcame all opposition. The pledge which had Massabeen given was now violated; and, as soon as resist- Drogheance ceased, a general massacre was ordered or da. tolerated by Cromwell. During five days the streets of Drogheda ran with blood: revenge and fanaticism stimulated the passions of the soldiers; from the garrison they turned their swords against the inhabitants, and one thousand unresisting victims were immolated together within the walls of the great church, whither they had fled for protection.* From Drogheda the conqueror led his men, flushed with slaughter, to the siege of Wexford. The Wexford." timid counsels of the townsmen were repressed by the resolution of the governor; but a traitor opened the castle to the enemy; the adjacent wall was immediately scaled; and, after a stubborn but unavailing resistance in the market place, Wexford was abandoned to the mercy of the assailants. The tragedy, so recently acted at Drogheda, was renewed. No distinction was made between the defenceless inhabitant and the armed soldier; nor could the shrieks and prayers of three hundred females, who had gathered round the great cross, preserve them from the

At

Oct. 12.

See Carte's Ormond, ii. 84. Carte, Letters, ii. 412. Philop. Iren. i. 120. Whitelock, 428. Ludlow, i. 261. Lynch, Cambrensis Eversus, in fine. Ormond repeatedly asserts that quarter was granted before the massacre. "All his officers and soldiers promising quarter to such as would lay down their arms, and performing it as long as any place held out which encouraged others to yield. But when they had once all in their power, and feared no hurt that could be done them, then the word no quarter went round, and the soldiers were many of them forced against their wills to kill their prisoners. Carte, Letters, ii. 412. Cromwell seems to assert the contrary in his public despatch. "Being thus entered, we refused them quarter, having the day before summoned the town. I believe we put to the sword the whole number of the defendants....This is a marvellous great mercy.' In another letter is admitted the additional massacre of a thousand of the inhabitants, who had fled to the great church for security, Whitelock, 428.