Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/697

* CROMWELL. 601 CROMWELL. dissatisfied with Charles's arbitrary rule, and there is layed a subordinate part in the de- liberations of the Long Parliament. He had no share in the im|icacliiiient of Strali'ord. He was rather more interested in the constitutional re- forms, but most of all in ecclesiastical matters, and joined Sir Henry Vane and Hampden in de- manding the abolition of the episcopacy, 'root and branch.' On the outbreak of the Irish insur- rection of IG-tl, it was he who proposed that Par- liament should assume control of the militia. When the Civil War broke out in 1(!42, he was very active in securing the authority of Parlia- ment in the eastern count ies, and eonunandcd a troop of horse in the battle of Edgehill. October 2.3, lG-12. In 1643 the war everywhere went against Parliament except in the E.astern Asso- ciation, where Cromwell not only kept the royal- ists at bay, but even gained ground. His one troop had grown to ten, and afterwards grew to fourteen, forming two regiments of the best- drilled cavalry in England. For his services in the Eastern Association, Parliament made him Lieutenant-Gcncral of the Army of the Eastern Association (1644), and appointed him a member of the Committee of both King- doms. In the battle of Jlarston Aloor, July 2. 1644, he commanded the Parliamentary horse, whose final charge decided the fortunes of the day. Hitherto, the Parliamentarians had been inferior in cavalry, whose military impor- tance was greater in those days than now. It was due to Cromwell that this inferiority was overcome. It is at about this time that the division of the Puritans into two parties clearly appears. The Presbyterians, who were largely in the majority in Parliament, were alarmed at the growth of religious sects in the army, and they were anxious for an acconnnodation with Charles in order to be free to suppress Indciiendency. The army, on the other hand, had become the stronghold of Independency, and desired religious toleration and a vigorous prosecution of the war. Cromwell was the spokesman of the party of toleration. He impeached Manchester for lialf- heartedness in the prosecution of the campaign, and found support with the Connnons, but not with the Lords. He then disinterestedly proposed the reorganization of the army under new leaders, and on the adoption of the Xew ilodel (q.v.), and the Self-Denying Ordinance (q.v.), assume<l that his militivry career was over. On the contrary, he was appointed lieutenant-general in command of the cavalry, and by a charge of the Parliaraen- tarv horse, decided the dav at Xasebv. the last battle of the First Civil W.ir, June 14," 164.5. The distrust between the Presbvterian Parliament and the Independent army became an open breach when the Parliament not only proposed to dis- band the army without paying the arrears due to the men, but made overtures to Charles which seemed to the army a surrender of what they had been fighting for. Cronnvoll. now the recognized leader of the army, hesitated, as was his wont, and tried to mediate between the two parties, but in the end threw in his lot with the army. It was he who ordered the abduction of the King from Hobnbv. In Hie Second Civil War, a conse- quence of this rupture, in which the King played oil one party against the other, Cromwell defeated the Scots under Hamilton, who were over twice his number, in a remarkable three days' battle near Preston, August 17-1!), 1648. The army now clamored for the life of the King, whose duplicity had caused the renewal of the war. For a time Cromwell held back, but when his mind was on<e made up no legal teclinicality could stop him. "I tell you we will cut oil' his head with his crown upon it," he cried roughly, in answer to an argument denying the jurisdiction of Hie High Court of Justice. He had nothing to do with Pride's Purge, being absent at the time, but he aeceptcd the result of it, and was foremost in all the events leading up to the King's execution (.lanuary 30, 1640). On the abolition of the monarchy, the position of the CommoiTwealtli was extremely perilous. It was torn asunder by partisan strife, ami it was without a friend in Euro])e. Scotland, alienated by the execution of the King and hostile to the dominant Independent and Jlilitary party, pro- claimed Charles II. King, not only of Scotland, but of England and Ireland as well. Ireland de- manded immediate attention, for the Second Civil War had its counterpart there, and a coalition of the various ])arties had all but driven the Parlia- mentary forces out of the island. Cromwell accepted the command of the fortes destined for its rceonquest on March 10, 1G49, and landed at Dublin, August 13, with three regiments. At Drogheda, 'being in the heat of action,' he ordered the famous massacre of the garrison of 2800 men, which had refused to capitulate (September). This was in accordance with the strict rules of war of the time, though it had not been put into practice in England. Croiiiwcll explained that it was a just punishment for the outrages of 1641, which he looked upon as entirely wanton and without provocation. The immediate military effect of the massacre was advantageous, since for a time town after town surrendered with little resistance, but its unfortunate political elTect lasts until the present day. At Wexford there was another massacre, though not by Cromwell's order. In ilay. 16.')0. the resistance was so nearly bi'oken that Cromwell left the completion of the conquest to his successors, Ireton and Ludlow, and hastened back lo confront the danger from the side of .■Scotland. He swept away with impa- tience Fairfax's legal objection that the Scots had a right to choose their own King, for he saw clearly that England nnist either coerce the Scots or lie coerced by them. He defeated one Scotch army at Dunbar. Sep- tember 3, IG.50, and another, commanded by Charles II. in person, exactly one year later at Worcester. While he had to be on his guard from this time forth against plots and uprisings, Worcester marks the end of armed resistance to his rule. He brought Scotland and Ireland (or the Protestant part of Ireland) into legislative union with England, the first union of the three kingdoms, and gave them free trade and a better administration of just lee, but the taxes to support the English garrisons were heavy. In addition, Ireland groaned under the attempt to transplant her Catholic population, or. as the plan was after- wards modified, her Catholic land-owners, to the