of the hands of the parliament's commiffioners refolved, That the officers of this army, not in com- Such (ƒ) P. 250. This will appear from the ordinance for the repeal of the declaration, which runs thus in the Journal:· :-- Whereas the lords and commons did, by a declaration of the 30th of March laft, declare their fenfe upon a petition, with the reprefentation thereunto annexed: and whereas they have been fince informed, that the petitioners intended 6 not thereby to give any offence to the parliament, or any way to reflect upon, or leffen their authority and calling to mind the great and eminent fervice done by the army to the parliament and kingdom: the lords and commons, being tender of the honour of the faid army, have thought fit to ordain and declare, and be it declared and ordained, 'by the faid lords and commons, in the parliament of England aflembled, and by the authority of the fame, that the faid former declaration, of the 30th of March, be rafed and expunged out of the Records and books of the faid houses; and wholly taken away, and made void : and that no member of the faid army fhall receive any damage, prejudice or 8 reproach, for any thing in the faid former declaration." M 2 • hand, (g) Vol. i. P. 190. quotation fioners at Holdenby, to whom he had been de hand, given countenance to this defign; but, he being advertised of it, went that afternoon towards the C army, fo that they miffed of him, and were not willing to fhew their teeth fince they could do no more (g). Holles charges him with the fame fault, and fpeaks likewife of his going down to the army, on (4) See the his being fufpected by the house, and joining in the subfrom Holles fcription of a rebellious letter (b). Lord Clarendon, in note (u). fpeaking of thefe matters, fays, Cromwell hitherto carried himself with that rare diffimulation (in which, fure, he was a very great mafter) that he feemed exceedingly incenfed against this infolence of the foldiers; was ftill in the house of commons when any fuch addreffes was made; and inveighed bitterly against the prefumption, and had been the cause of the commitment, of fome of the officers. He proposed that the general might be fent down to the army, who, he said, would conjure down this mutinous fpirit quickly; and he was fo eafily believed, that he himself was fent once * or twice to compose the army; when, after he had ftaid two or three days, he 'would again return to the house, and complain heavily of the great licence that was got into the army: that, for his own part, by the artifice of his enemies, and of those who defired that the nation should be again imbrewed in blood, he was rendered fo odious unto them, that they had a purpose to kill him, if, upon fome difcovery made to him, he had not efcaped out of their hands. And in thefe and the like difcourfes, when he spake of the nation's being . 4 In the Journal of the 30th of April 1647, we find it refolved, &c. That field-marshal Skippen, lieutenant-gencral Cromwell, commiffary Ireton, and colonel Fleetwood, be injoined forthwith to go down to their charges in the army, and employ their endeavours to quiet all distempers in the army.- -The houfe, probably, were led into favourable opinions of thefe officers from Skippon's and Cromwell's delivering that day the letters they had received from the troopers. te delivered by the Scots, in oppofition to the au to be involved in new troubles, he would weep bitterly, and appear the most afflicted man in the world with the sense of the calamities which were like to enfue. But, as many of the wifer fort had long difcovered his wicked intentions, fo his hypocrify could no longer be concealed. The moft active officers and agitators were known to be his own creatures, and fuch who neither did, nor would, do any thing but by his direction. So that it was privately refolved, by the principal perfons of the house of commons, that, when he came the next day into the house, which he feldom omitted to do, they would fend him to the Tower; presuming, that, if they had once fevered his perfon from the army, they fhould eafily re<duce it to its former temper and obedience: for they had not the leaft jealoufy of the general Fairfax, ⚫ whom they knew to be a perfect Prefbyterian in judg· ment, and that Cromwell had the afcendant over him, purely by his diffimulation and pretence of con• fcience and fincerity. There is no doubt, Fairfax did not then, nor long after, believe that the other had thofe wicked defigns in his heart against the King, or the least imagination of disobeying the parliament. This purpose, of feizing upon the perfon of Cromwell, could not be carried fo fecretly, but that he had notice of it; and the very next morning, after he had fo much lamented his defperate misfortune, in having ⚫ loft all reputation, and credit, and authority, in the army, and that his life would be in danger if he were with it; when the house expected every minute his prefence, they were informed, that he was met out of town, by break of day, with one fervant only, on the way to the army; where he had appointed a rendezvous of fome regiments of the horse, and from ‹ whence he writ a letter to the house of commons, That having the night before received a letter from < fome officers of his own regiment, that the jealousy M 3 • the the troops had conceived of him; and of his want of kindness towards them, was much abated, fo that they believed, if he would be quickly prefent with them, they would all in a fhort time, by his advice, be reclaimed: upon this he had made all the hafte he could, and did find that the foldiers had been abused by misinformation; and that he hoped to difcover the fountain from whence it fprung; and, in the mean time, defired that the general, and the other officers in the houfe, and fuch as remained about the town, might be prefently fent to their quarters; and that he believed it would be very neceffary in order to the fuppreffion of the late diflempers, and for the prevention of the like for the time to come, that there might be a general rendezvous of the army; of which the general would beft confider when he came down, which he wifhed might be hastened. It was now to no purpose to discover what they had formerly intended, or that they had any jealousy of a perfon who was out of their reach; and fo they expected a better conjuncture; and, in a few days after, the general, and the other officers, left the town, and went to their quarters (i).'- -Thefe concurrent testimonies will, I prefume, clearly evince that Cromwell was deemed the chief raiser and manager of the ftorm which carried all things before it, and levelled whatever came in its way. Fairfax, the general, declares ftrongly his difinclination to, and his abhorrence of, thefe proceedings. He attributes them to the agitators: but, I believe, he deemed Cromwell the chief of them, and had him and Ireton in his eye in the following paffage: This mercy [the fuccefs of the in the years 1645 and 1646] was foon clouded with abominable hypocrify and deceit, even in those men who had been inftrumental in bringing this war to a conclufion. Here was the vertical point on which the army's honour and reputation turned into a reproach and fcandal. Here the power of the army I once had was ufurped by the agitators, the foreMemorials, runners of confufion and anarchy (k). None but (i) Vol. v. P. 46, (k) Short P. 103. ( army thefe 1 authority of parliament (cc), and the fentiments of Fairfax. This opened a new fcene thefe men were able to ufurp Fairfax's power of the army. (cc) They took the King out of the hands of the commiffioners of the parliament, &c.] Cromwell feems to have been determined at all events to fecure and enlarge his power and authority. The tumults and commotions raised by his means were intended as trials of his capacity and influence over the army. The fuccefs he had in thefe emboldened him, and caused him to afpire to fomething beyond what he yet was. Fully fenfible that the parliament, though through fear it had truckled to him, yet hated him heartily, and longed only to crush him, as they would have done on the conclufion of a peace with the King: fully fenfible, I fay, of this, he determined to prevent them, and to give the law both to Charles and the parliament. For this end he fecretly urged on the agitators to feize his Majefty's perfon, and thereby put it out of the power of the houses to conclude any thing with him, without the army's confent and approbation. The following authorities will explain and enlarge what is here faid. One thing was yet wanting (as they [the managers of the army] thought) for the carrying on their defign, and amufing the poor people of England with ⚫ an expectation of their fettling a peace, fo to make them fit ftill and look on, whilft they trampled upon parliament, city and kingdom; which was to be poffeft of the King's perfon, and make the world believe they would bring him up to his parliament, and fet him on his throne. For this, it feems, a meeting was appointed at lieutenant-general Cromwell's, upon the thirtieth of May, where it is refolved, That cornet Joyce fhould, with a party of horse, go (See Hunto Holmby and feize upon his Majefty; which is pre- tington's fently executed, and given out that others had the account of like defign, which they had prevented (). At first this in note (AA). |