Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/324

310 The death of this young man, who was greatly beloved, roused all the soldiers and the working men and women of the city to a fearful degree. He was shot on Friday, amid the tears and execrations of thousands. On Monday his troop proceeded to bury him with all a soldier's honours. Whitelock says, "About a hundred went before the corpse, five or six in a file, the corpse was then brought, with six trumpets sounding a soldier's knell. Then the trooper's horse came, clothed all over in mourning, and led by a footman. The corpse was adorned with bundles of rosemary, one half-stained in blood, and the sword of the deceased along with them. Some thousands followed in rank and file; all had sea-green and black ribbon tied on their hats and to their breasts, and the women brought up the rear. At the new church in Westminster, some thousands more, of the better sort, met them, who thought not fit to march through the city."

This was not a promising beginning for the generals, but they were not men to be put down. They arrested Lilburne and his five small beagles, who published, on the 1st of May, their "Agreement of the People," and clapped them in the Tower, and hastened down to Salisbury to quell the insurrection which had broken out in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Wilts in the army. The regiments of Scrope, Ireton, Harrison, Ingoldsby, Skippon, Reynolds, and Horton, all declared for the Lilburne "Agreement," and swore to stand by each other. At Banbury, a captain Thompson, at the head of two hundred men, issued a manifesto called " England's Standard Advanced," demanding the completion of public freedom, vowing justice on the murderers of Arnold and Lockyer, and threatening, if a hair of Lilburne's was touched, they would avenge it seventy-and-seven fold. Reynolds, the colonel of the regiment, attacked Thompson, put him to flight, and prevailed on the soldiers to lay down their arms; but another party of ten troops of horse, a thousand strong, under cornet Thompson, brother of the captain, marched out of Salisbury for Burford, increasing their numbers as they went., But Fairfax and Cromwell were marching rapidly after them. They came upon them in the night at Burford, took them all prisoners, and the next day, Thursday, the 17th of May, shot cornet Thompson and two corporals in Burford churchyard. The rest were pardoned, and agreed to go to Ireland. A few days after captain Thompson was overtaken in a wood in Northamptonshire, and killed. The mutiny was at an end, if we except some partial disturbances, in Devon, Wilts, and Somersetshire. Fairfax and Cromwell were received at Oxford in triumph, and feasted and complimented, being made doctors; and on the 7th of June a day of thanksgiving was held in London, with a great dinner at Grocers' Hall, given to the officers of the army and the leaders of parliament, and another appointed for the whole kingdom on the 21st.

Cromwell was already appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and on the 10th of July he set forth at five in the evening from London, by way of Windsor to Bristol. He set out in state approaching to royalty. He rode in a coach drawn by six Flanders mares, whitish grays, a number of carriages containing other officers following, attended by a life-guard of eighty men, the meanest of whom was a commander or esquire; many of them were colonels in very rich uniforms, and the whole procession attended by a resounding flourish of trumpets. But before following the farmer of Huntingdon, now risen to all but royal grandeur, we must notice the affairs of Scotland. Though Argyll held the chief power in Scotland, and was on friendly terms with Cromwell, he could not prevent a strong public feeling showing itself on the approaching trial of the king. The Scots reproached themselves for giving up Charles to the English army, and considered that heavy disgrace would fall upon the country if the king should be put to death. They demanded, therefore, that a strong remonstrance should be sent to the parliament of England, and Argyll was too timid or too cautious to oppose this. The commissioners in London received and presented the remonstrance, but obtained no answer till after the execution of the king, and that which they did then receive was in very unceremonious terms. Forth^with the authorities in Edinburgh proclaimed Charles as king, and the commissioners at London, protesting against what was done, and against the alteration of the government into a republic, and declaring themselves guiltless of the blood of the king, hastened to Gravesend, to quil the kingdom. But the parliament, resenting this language as grossly rebellious, and calculated to excite sedition, sent an officer to conduct them under guard to the frontiers of the kingdom.

Passing over this insult, the Scots in March despatched the earl of Cassilis to the Hague, attended by four commissioners, to wait on Charles and invite him to Scotland. They found there the earl of Lanark, now duke of Hamilton by the execution of his brother, earls of Lauderdale, Callendar, Montrose, Kinnoul, and Seaforth. Some of these were old royalists, some of whom were called "Engagers," or of the party of Hamilton. The court of Charles, small as it was, was rent by dissensions, and both the engagers and the commissioners under Cassilis, joined in protesting against any junction with Montrose, whose cruelties to the covenanters, they said, had been so great, that to unite with him would turn all Scotland against the king. They insisted on Charles taking the covenant, but this Montrose and the old royalists vehemently resisted, declaring that to do that would alienate both catholics and episcopalians, and exasperate the independents to tenfold bitterness.

Whilst matters were in this unsatisfactory state. Dr. Dorislaus arrived as ambassador from the English parliament to the states of Holland. He was a native of that country, but had lived some time in England, had been a professor of Gresham College, and drew the charge for parliament against the king. That very evening, six gentlemen with drawn swords entered the inn where he was at supper, and desiring those present not to alarm themselves, as they ha,d no intention of hurting any one but the agent of the English rebels who had lately murdered their king, they dragged Dorislaus from the table, and one of them stabbed him with a dagger. Seeing him dead, they sheathed their swords, and walked quietly out of the house. They were known to be all Scotchmen and followers of Montrose; and Charles, seeing the mischief this base assassination would do his cause, and especially in Holland, prepared to quit the country. It was first proposed that he should go to Ireland, where Ormond was labouring in his favour, and where