though their councils were distracted by ecclesiastical disputes. The more violent Covenanters in Renfrew, Ayr, Galloway, Wigton, and Dumfries, ignobly abandoned their King and the defence of their country. But their defection was amply compensated by the accession of multitudes who voluntarily crowded to the royal standard; and an army, not inferior in number to that which had been lately defeated, was assembled at Stirling. Charles assumed the command; the Duke of Hamilton was appointed lieutenant, and Lessly major-general.

With the view of finishing the contest, Cromwell advanced to give the enemy battle. Notwithstanding he used every exertion and stratagem to draw them from their intrenchments, the counsel of Lessly, who urged the necessity of remaining on the defensive, was inflexibly adhered to.

Six weeks were thus spent in unavailing manœuvres. To intercept the King's supplies, Cromwell sent a detachment across the Forth He followed soon after with his whole army, and completely effected his design. In this extremity, Charles was reduced to the necessity of disbanding his army or marching into England. The latter plan being considered the more eligible, the Scots, to the number of fourteen thousand, suddenly decamped and marched for England; expecting, upon their appearance in that kingdom, to be joined by their numerous friends. Their expectations were disappointed: None were prepared to support the invasion; and even the old Royalists were scared by the testiness of the Scottish clergy, who declined accepting help from any one that refused to subscribe the covenant.

If Cromwell committed a military error in throwing his forces in the rear of the Scots, he made a speedy and effectual reparation: He despatched Lambert, with a body of cavalry, to harass them; and having left General Monk with seven thousand troops, for the reduction of Scotland, he hastened homeward himself in pursuit of the King, who was within two days' march. Unable, through excessive fatigue, to reach the metropolis, the Scots were attracted to Worcester, a loyal city; where Charles, when too late, repented of his rashness.

He had the mortification to see his forces rather diminished than augmented. A body of eighteen thousand militia closely surrounded him; and Cromwell speedily arrived with a veteran army almost equally numerous. The anniversary of the battle of

Dunbar was appointed for a general assault. Reduced to despair by their situation, the Scots defended themselves with desperate courage for five hours; when they made a temporary capture of the English artillery; but, overpowered by numbers, and oppressed by superior discipline, they at length gave way. The citadel was stormed; and the garrison, about eighteen hundred, was put to the sword. Three thousand were slain in the battle, and ten thousand were made prisoners. Charles escaped with his cavalry, and abandoned his foot to destruction. Cromwell, in his despatch to the English Parliament, paid a well-merited tribute to the vaA.D. Įlour of his enemies. “Indeed, it was a stiff business-a very 1651. Š glorious mercy-as stiff a conflict as I have ever seen."

Six weeks passed after this defeat, before the King escaped from England. That he might the better escape the vigilance of his pursuers, he separated from his attendants, and assumed the meanest disguise. His romantic adventures and hairbreadth escapes, while they alternately surprise us and excite our pity, evince the beneficence of that superintending Providence which marks the destiny of every being. While the nation laboured under anxiety for the fate of the solitary wanderer, he received proofs of the most exemplary fidelity and attachment. Though fifty persons had been intrusted at different times with his concealment, and many of them were of the meanest class, they scorned to betray their sovereign by accepting a large reward which had been offered for his apprehension. A vessel was at last procured, in which he embarked for France.

CHAPTER VI.

Protectorate of Cromwell. Stirling castle surrenders to the English. Dun. dee sacked. Unsuccessful negotiation to unite the kingdoms. Cromwell's death and character. Restoration of Charles.

THE battle of Worcester, which utterly extinguished the hopes of the Royalists, afforded Cromwell what he termed his crowning mercy, an immediate prospect of attaining the sovereignty, which had secretly been the object of his wishes, In Scotland, his authority was acknowledged with little opposition. Stirling castle, though supplied with the means of defence, was garrisoned by Highlanders; who, unused to the perils of a siege, and terrified at the explosion of the bombs, mutinied against the governor, and

compelled him to capitulate. The fortified and rich town of Durdee was gained by surprise or storm, and the garrison was slaugh tered in cold blood. Lumsden, the gallant governor, shared the fate of his companions; the inhabitants of both sexes, old and young, were devoted by Monk to an indiscriminate slaughter.

Intimidated by this severe example, Montrose, Aberdeen, and St Andrew's, surrendered at discretion. Detachments of the Eng lish penetrated into the remote islands of the North; and Monk boasted that he had subdued a country impervious to the Romans, and which had resisted the arms and arts of Edward and Henry, A show of resistance was indeed made by the Estates; but, during their sitting at Alyth, they were surprised and imprisoned, and the levies which they had begun to collect were dispersed. The Earls of Huntly and Balcarras, unable to confront the English in the field, retired with their party to the Highlands.

Under the specious pretext of effecting an incorporating union of the two countries, Cromwell procured the appointment of commissioners, by the English Parliament, for the regulation of the civil administration of Scotland. Writs were transmitted to the sheriffs in that kingdom, and to the royal boroughs, to choose commissioners to meet the English representatives and arrange the conditions of the union.

Against this measure the Scottish clergy protested, as they ap prehended the overthrow of their religious establishment. The nation at large was unprepared for a coercive union; for, out of ninety counties and boroughs from which delegates were expect ed, only thirty-four appeared; the shires and municipal bodies. that disregarded the Parliamentary mandate were disfranchised or excluded from the protection of government. The conditions of the treaty were never finally adjusted; and the project was superseded by Cromwell's dismissal of the Parliament and his usurpation of the government.

A.D.

He established a military government in Scotland, and erected a chain of forts which rendered him independent of any local commotion, and indifferent to the effervescence of public opinion. The last effort of resistance made by the Scottish Roy. 1653. alists during the protectorate of Cromwell, was directed by the Earls of Balcarras, Glencairn, Angus, and Montrose, with the Lords Kenmure and Lorn; who collected an army of five thousand men in the Highlands. Cromwell had the sagacity to

detach the leaders from the cause they had espoused, by offering an indemnity privately to each. By their defection, the army crumbled and dispersed.

Though in the civil war the Scots had maintained a distinguished character, their importance vanished with the inglorious surrender of their liberties under the domination of Cromwell. As the relation which subsisted between them and the English was merely that which subsists between the vanquished and their conquerors, the spirit of freedom necessarily languished. The Government, indeed, with a vigorous arm maintained subordination and repressed disorder; yet the nation became gradually prepared to endure, with surprising patience, the despotism of the two succeeding reigns. But it must be admitted, that at no period was justice administered with greater impartiality than during the A.D. Į usurpation. The Court of Session was composed of 1657. English and Scottish judges: But the latter were virtually restricted to the exposition of the laws; while the former endeavoured to assimilate the jurisprudence of Scotland to the usages of the English law.

In ecclesiastical affairs, the Protector discovered considerable sagacity and prudence. By introducing a temperate forbearance, he restrained the intolerance of the Covenanters, and divested the censure of excommunication of the terrors of corporeal or legal punishment.

While the authority of Cromwell was recognized by the Continental powers, and a tide of success had rendered the English navy under Admiral Blake triumphant on the ocean, his domestic government was assailed and distracted by the machinations of his enemies, and his mind was continually haunted with the fear of assassination. Even his own family loaded him with bitter reproaches, which rendered his mental sufferings intolerably painful. Cromwell died, of a tertian ague, in the sixtieth year of 1658. ) his age. He possessed a daring spirit, an invincible courage, and great military talents: But to these must be added the wildest enthusiasm, unbounded ambition, and consummate hypocrisy. By the combination of these discriminative qualities, he was fitted for directing the events which Providence had placed under his control.

A.D.

His death terminated that authority which, had he lived, he could not probably have upheld much longer. He had nomi

nated his son Richard, on his deathbed, as his successor; but he possessed not his father's abilities to retain his perilous situation. The leaders of the army undermined his power and procured his deposition.

The remains of the Long Parliament were reassembled; which immediately summoned the assistance of General Monk, who commanded a veteran army in Scotland. That general, collecting his scattered forces, prepared to march into England, to oppose Fleetwood and Lambert; who, at the head of the English army, attempted to overawe the Parliament. Monk was encouraged to take this decisive step, by the unanimous voice of the Presbyterians, the Royalists, and the Independents themselves, whose diminutive Parliament the army had dispersed.

The returning spirit of loyalty was unequivocally expressed in the addresses which were sent from every part of the kingdom for a free Parliament. The fleet was prepared to declare for the King; and the leading Presbyterians had separately tendered their services to him. At length, Monk gradually disclosed his intentions. He admitted an emissary of the King to a secret interview, and despatched him to Charles with a verbal assurance of his attachment and fidelity.

After the new Parliament had assembled, in which the Peers resumed their hereditary seats, a royal messenger appeared with a letter of conciliation and indemnity, addressed to the Two Houses by the King. A vote was instantly passed by acclamation for his restoration; but a motion to consider upon what conditions they should restore him, was artfully overruled by Monk.

Charles landed at Dover, and embraced the General; whom he decorated with the insignia of the garter. He afterwards proceeded to London; which he entered on his birth-day, the 29th of May; A.D. and, after twenty years of civil war, was restored to the throne of his ancestors.

1660.