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 important secrets, that the whole conspiracy was speedily discovered. He afterwards acted as president in the resulting court-martial in June and July (, Studies, p. 561, quoting from D'Ewes). Manchester was one of the ten peers nominated to sit as lay members in the Westminster Assembly of Divines in July of the same year.

The fortunes of the parliamentary forces in the eastern counties had in the early summer been seriously imperilled by local quarrels. Cromwell recognised the danger, and appealed to parliament to appoint a commander of high position and authority. On 9 Aug. accordingly the commons resolved to make Manchester major-general of the associated counties in the place of Lord Grey of Wark. The choice was confirmed by the lords on the following day, and Essex at once complied with the request to give him the commission (, Civil War, i. 224-6). Cromwell and Manchester were thus brought into close connection. They were already well acquainted with each other. Each belonged to a leading family of Huntingdonshire, had been educated at Sidney Sussex, Cambridge (, Studies, pp. 202-5), and had been concerned in a dispute relating to the enclosing of common lands in the eastern counties, which had been before a committee of the House of Commons (, Life, 1857, i. 73-4;, Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, 1866, i. 90).

By 28 Aug. Manchester, in his new capacity, was besieging Lynn-Regis in Norfolk; the town capitulated 16 Sept., and the governorship was bestowed upon him (21 Sept.) On 9 Oct. he joined Cromwell and Fairfax, then besieging Bolingbroke Castle, and the three commanders won Winceby or Horncastle fight on 11 Oct. (see Manchester's letter of 12 Oct. in Lords' Journals, vi. 255-6). On 20 Oct. the town of Lincoln surrendered to Manchester. On Cromwell's motion (22 Jan. 1644), Lord Willoughby of Parham, who had been commanding in Lincolnshire as serjeant-major-general of the county, was ordered to place himself under Manchester's orders. Charges of misconduct had been brought against Willoughby, who resented the position now forced on him, and challenged Manchester as he was on his way to the House of Lords. Both houses treated Willoughby's conduct as a breach of privilege, but after Manchester had defended himself against Willoughby's complaints, the subject dropped (Harl. MS. 2224, ff. 12-16), and Willoughby returned to his duties under him.

On 22 Jan. 1644 (, p. 415), Manchester was directed to ' regulate ' the university of Cambridge, and to remove scandalous ministers in the associated counties. On 24 Feb. he accordingly issued his warrants to the heads of colleges, and began the work of reformation. About the same time (19 Dec. 1643) he authorised William Dowsing [q. v.] to destroy 'superstitious pictures and ornaments.' In February 1644 Manchester became a member of the new committee of both kingdoms, meeting at Derby House. In April he was again with his army watching the movements of Prince Rupert. The town of Lincoln had been retaken by the royalists in March, but Manchester successfully stormed the close on 6 May, and thus secured the county for the parliament (True Relation, E. 47 [2], Manchester's letter read in the House of Commons on 9 May). A bridge was thrown over the Trent at Gainsborough, and Manchester marched to the aid of Lord Fairfax and the Scots, who were besieging York. This junction was effected on 3 June. On the same day the committee of both kingdoms sent Vane to York, ostensibly to urge the generals to send a force into Lancashire to arrest Prince Rupert's progress, but in reality to propose the formation of a government from which Charles was to be excluded. Manchester and his colleagues rejected the suggestion, but Cromwell, Manchester's lieutenant-general, probably accepted Vane's proposals, and to this difference of view may be traced the subsequent breach between the two (, Civil War, i. 431-3). Cromwell at the battle of Marston Moor (1 July) commanded Manchester's horse, while the earl himself exercised a general control as a field officer. Though carried away in the flight, he soon returned to the field, and successfully rallied some of the fugitives. After the surrender of the city of York on 16 July, the armies divided, and Manchester marched to Doncaster, which he reached on 23 July. While there Tickhill Castle surrendered (26 July) to John Lilburne [q. v.], who had summoned it contrary to Manchester's orders, Sheffield Castle surrendered (10 Aug.) to Major-general Lawrence Crawford [q. v.], and Welbeck House to Manchester himself (11 Aug.) But Pontefract Castle had been passed by, and Manchester paid no attention to the entreaty of the officers to blockade Newark (Pickering's Deposition, Cal. State Papers, 1644, p. 151). Proceeding leisurely to Lincoln, he subsided into inaction. The committee of both kingdoms (3 Aug.) directed him to march against Prince Rupert, but he (10 Aug.) shrank from ' so large a commission, and a worke so difficult,' in the 