by stirring up against themselves the forces they disbanded, was by a self-denying vote in the house: "That because commanders in the army had much pay, and members of parliament should keep to the service of the house, therefore none of the latter should be members of the army." This put out at once the Earls of Essex and Manchester, the two generals, and Sir William Waller, a valiant major-general, with many colonels; and to avoid suspicion, Cromwell himself was put out at the first. They then chose Sir Thomas Fairfax General, as being neither too great to be commanded by the parliament, nor too subtil for Cromwell to make a tool of. He being chosen, Cromwell's men could not be without him and therefore the self-denying vote must be thus far dispensed with, that Cromwell may be in the army, though no other member of the house were allowed it; and so he was made lieutenant-general.

The army being thus new modelled, was really in the hands of Cromwell, though seemingly under Fairfax's command. Not long after the change, was the battle at Naseby, A. D. 1645, where the king's army was totally routed and put to flight, and about 5000 taken prisoners, with all the king's ordnance and carriage, and abundance of his letters to the queen and others in his cabinet. These letters the parliament printed, thinking they contained such things as greatly clouded the reputation of his word and cause. Cromwell in the army did all, and chose almost all the officers. He first made Ireton commissary-general; and by degrees headed the greatest part of the army with Separatists of several denominations, and united all together by the point of liberty of conscience. Sir Henry Vane procured the house to disband almost all the honest county forces and garrisons, which might have opposed them in their designs, and so the army went on with little fear of opposition. The next design of Vane and Cromwell was, to use the army to model the parliament. With this aim they stirred up the house to pass some votes, which they knew would be most displeasing to the army, and then stirred up the army to the deepest resentment. The parliament voted, That part of the army should go to Ireland. At Triploe-Heath they entered into an engagement to hold together, and were drawing up a declaration of their grievances. Colonel Harley acquainted the house with it. Cromwell denied it, although deep in the secret, as he afterwards acknowledged. The parliament ordered all that were faithful to forsake them;

which several officers, and many common soldiers, did; but these not being able to make a body to resist those that remained, it proved a great addition to their strength: For now, all that were against them being gone, they filled up their places with men of their own mind, and so were ever after the more unanimous.-Upon this, Cromwell and his adherents advanced in their design, came nearer the city, and drew up an impeachment against eleven of the most active members of the house; and forced the house to exclude them, as under accusation, but let fall their suit, and never proved them guilty. The city now took courage, and were for defending the parliament; but the army speedily advancing, their hearts failed them, and they let the army enter the city in triumph. Whereupon, several of the accused members fled into France. A. D. 1647.

As for the king, when Oxford was besieged by the parliament's forces, having no army left, he escaped to the north, and cast himself upon the Scots, who lay there with an army. The Scots were puzzled how to act in this critical juncture: After long consultations, the terror of the conquering army made them deliver him to the parliament's commissioners, upon condition that his person should be preserved in safety and honour, and that their army should have half the pay due to them advanced immediately. The parliament hereupon appointed Col. Greaves, and Major-General Brown, to attend the king at Holmby-House in Northamptonshire. Col. Joice by concert with the leading part of the army, fetched him thence, and kept him amongst them, till they came to Hampton-Court, where he was guarded by Col. Whalley. The army fawned upon the king at first; blamed the austerity of the parliament, who had denied him the at-tendance of his chaplains, and of his friends; gave them liberty to come to him, and pretended that they would protect him from the incivilities of the parliament and the presbyterians. But all on a sudden they began to cry for justice upon him. A council of agitators was chosen, who drew up a paper called, The agreement of the people, as the model of a new commonwealth. Cromwell seemed to be against them; and while they were contending, a letter came to Col. Whalley, from an unknown hand, intimating a design of these agitators to surprise and murder the king; which most people thought was contrived by Cromwell, to frighten him out of the land. On the sight of this letter, the king secretly escaped to the Isle of Wight, committing him

self

i nes ma Dr. Daman, vere ent down is immissumes

n

will tur. ker. Dr. Hammond, Dr. tion, at hers arte ang liviness icbates vere med. mu each pire tongit her ad he dexter. Acp. &ner nen offered tie ang interaction of Episcopacy to the form of Pres Winci le vand lave accepted, and he ariament pronsset sending or um p. n order a personal renty. But Gromwell and his conndants, seeing al ner tesiges ziketa o le disappointed, sent Co. Prue to he ouse wa a parodiers, who guarded he door. Suca members as were o neir purpose never n, aners they turned away, and some hev morisoned. The remainder of the case was henceforward sailed me Ramp. The secluded mi inprisoned members published their vindication; and some of hem woud aterwards have pushed into me house, but the guard of midiers ken hem out; and the Rump were cried op for he only honest men. They passed 1 vore to establish * government without a king and house of lords; and so the unr is dissolved, and these commons at and did all alone. Tacy erected a nigh-court of Justice, brought the king to Ais Wal, condemned him, erected a scaffoid at WritehallGafe, and here before a large concourse of people beheaded Aim. Jan 30, 1349. The Lord General Farrar stood by mi he while, full of regret, but tricked and overpowered by bie jantanunt Cromwell, who it was said, kept him praymg md conquring, fill me stroke was given. But soon af armæde, when war was determined against Scotland, he kid deyma his dommission, and Cromwell became general in

In minstage fil this time generally preached and prayed against faverpanty. They had drawn up a writing to the Pra general, which was printed, declaring their abhorrence of an whence against the person of the king, and urging him and his army to have no concern in it. This petition

they

they presented to him, when the king was in danger, subscribed by near sixty of the presbyterian ministers of London, (whose names are below *) together with many country ministers. So unjustly were the presbyterians accused as regicides.

Thus these intestine commotions came to an issue, little thought of at first by any that began them, which cannot but surprise all future generations.

SECT. II.

Reflections on Public Transactions, from the Death of Charles I. to the Restoration of Charles II.

THE

HE king being taken out of the way, Cromwell proposes a Commonwealth, till he had laid a sufficient foundation for his own advancement. The Rump parliament drew up a form of an engagement, to be subscribed by all of eighteen years of age and upwards, viz. "I do proimise to be true and faithful to the commonwealth as it is now established, without a king or house of lords." Without taking this engagement no man could have the benefit of suing another at law, nor hold any mastership in the universities, nor travel above a certain distance from his house, &c. Mr. Vines, and Dr. Rainbow were hereupon put out

N. B. The two names printed in italic are not in the copy of the original

paper printed at the time, in which the number is 57.

of

whom they gave that name. They cried up the bishops, partly because they were against the Puritans, and partly because they were earnest for that way of worship which they found most suitable to their ignorance, carelessness and formality; and thus the interest of the Diocesans, and of the prophane and ignorant, was unhappily united.

Many also were prejudiced against the bishops, by observ.. ing that fasting, praying, and other religious exercises, were punished in the High-Commission and the Bishops Courts, as if they were worse than common-swearing and drunkenness : And it added to their disturbance, to have a book published for recreations on the Lord's-Day, with the bishops' approbation, as if they concurred with the prophane: That afternoon sermons and lectures, tho' carried on by Conformists, were put down in divers counties: That so many pious ministers were suspended or punished for not reading the Book of sports, and for neglecting the ceremonies, &c. and so many thousand families, and so many worthy ministers were driven out of the land: That bowing towards altars, and other innovations, were daily brought in by the Hyperconformists, none knowing where they would end: And finally, that the bishops proceeded so far, as to swear men to their whole government by the et cætera oath, and that they approved of ship-money and other such encroachments on their civil interests. These were the causes why so many of those who were counted most religious fell in with the parliament.

It hath indeed been asserted, "That seditious preachers stirred up the people, and were the cause of all the commotions;" which is a notorious falsity. Many indeed discovered their dislike of the Book of Sports, bowing to altars, putting down afternoon sermons, silencing ministers, &c. and were glad that the parliament attempted a reformation ; but very few, even of these, had any concern in promoting the war, of which they dreaded the consequences. And it is certain, that of those who were more or less active in the business, almost all were Conforming ministers; the laws and bishops having cast out the Nonconformists before. They who made up the assembly at Westminster, and who thro' the country were the honour of the parliament's party, were almost all such as had till then conformed, esteeming some things to be lawful in case of necessity, though they longed to have that necessity removed.

The