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Ludlow chief (Commons' Journals, vii. 152). Fleetwood did not land till October 1652, so that Ludlow held the chief command for nearly a year. Galway, the only important place in the possession of the Irish at Ireton's death, surrendered in April 1652, and the rest of the war consisted of skirmishes and capitulations. Ludlow narrates at length the hardships of campaigning in Ireland, and the severe measures which he used to force the Irish to submit. The royalist lord deputy, the Earl of Clanricarde, proposed to Ludlow (March 1652) a treaty for the settlement of the country, which the latter refused, saying that ‘the settlement of this nation belongeth of right to the parliament of the commonwealth of England, to whom we are obliged in duty to leave it’ (Memoirs, i. 358). On 22 June 1652 Ludlow concluded an agreement with Lord Muskerry [see under, earl of ] for the surrender of his forces, and on 28 June the Earl of Clanricarde also capitulated. Ireland was practically conquered before Fleetwood landed.

In the settlement of Ireland the confiscated estate of Walter Cheevers of Monkstown, near Dublin, was granted to Ludlow as satisfaction for his pay (, Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland, 2nd ed. p. 177). Of the policy of the transplantation, and of the principles on which the settlement was based, he thoroughly approved, and took part in the preliminary measures. The news that Cromwell had expelled the Long parliament (20 April 1653) did not prevent Ludlow continuing to act both in his civil and military capacity, but he obstructed for several weeks the proclamation of Cromwell as protector, and refused to sign it himself (30 Jan. 1654) (Memoirs, ii. 461, 483). After it took place he refused to act further as civil commissioner, lest he should seem to acknowledge Cromwell's authority as lawful; but he resolved to keep his commission as lieutenant-general till it should be forced from him (ib. ii. 484–6). Henry Cromwell, who attributed this to the fact that the military office was the more profitable, after failing to convince Ludlow of the lawfulness of the government, recommended his removal (ib. ii. 490;, ii. 149). But the Protector was reluctant to proceed to extremities, and Ludlow was allowed to continue in this anomalous position till January 1655, when it was found that he was circulating pamphlets hostile to the government. Fleetwood then demanded the surrender of his commission. To avoid this, Ludlow engaged to appear before Cromwell within a couple of months in order to answer the charge, and meantime to act nothing against his government (30 Jan. 1655). But Cromwell's council preferred to keep Ludlow in Ireland, and forbade him to come to England. On receiving a second and still more definite engagement (29 Aug.), Fleetwood gave him leave to go, but Henry Cromwell and the rest of the Irish council were against it, and had him arrested as soon as he landed in England (October 1655) (Memoirs, ii. 520–43;, iii. 113, 136, 142, 407, 744). After remaining six weeks a prisoner at Beaumaris, he was allowed to proceed, and had an interview with Cromwell at Whitehall on 12 Dec. 1655. Throughout he persistently refused to engage not to act against the government. He asserted that the present government was unlawful, but denied that he was privy to any plot against it. However, if Providence should open a way and give an opportunity of appearing in behalf of the people, he could not consent to tie his own hands beforehand, and oblige himself not to lay hold of it (Memoirs, ii. 553). On 1 Aug. 1656 Ludlow was again summoned before the council and ordered to give security to the amount of 5,000l. for his peaceable behaviour. ‘What is it that you would have?’ said Cromwell to Ludlow, praising the quiet the nation enjoyed under his rule. ‘That which we fought for,’ answered Ludlow, ‘that the nation might be governed by its own consent’ (ib. ii. 570). Though threatened with imprisonment for his refusal to give security, he was allowed to retire with his relations to Essex. The government was anxious to keep him out of his own county for fear he should obstruct the election of its partisans to the ensuing parliament. Both in 1654 and in 1656 a numerous party in Wiltshire wished to elect Ludlow as one of their members, but in each case the opposition of the presbyterian clergy and the influence of the government prevented it (ib. ii. 498, 578; Copy of a Letter sent out of Wiltshire wherein is laid open the dangerous designs of the Clergy, 4to, 1654). After Cromwell's death, however, Ludlow was returned to the parliament of January 1659 to represent Hindon. At first he would not take his seat, as he objected to the oath by which members were required to oblige themselves not to act or contrive anything against the Protector. Then he slipped in quietly, and, though attention was called to the fact that he had not taken the oath, was allowed to continue sitting (Memoirs, ii. 618–623;, Diary, iii. 68; Return of Members of Parliament, p. 510).

Before the parliament met Ludlow and