martyr. But for the time the Army was supreme. There was none left who could resist it.

XXIV.-BRITAIN GOVERNED BY AN

ARMY.

So far from making things more simple, Charles I.'s execution only led to more confusion. Many Englishmen thought the execution little better Result of than a murder, but Parliament and the the King's Execution. Army had seemed to agree about it, and for the moment nothing could be done against them. Yet while in England the office of king was abolished, and a Commonwealth set up in its place, both Scotland and Ireland recognized the king's son as King Charles II., and were ready to fight for him. Hence, for the present, Parliament had to support the Army, in order that it might subdue its enemies.

The turn of Ireland came first. Cromwell went over with his Ironsides. The Irish troops held the town of Drogheda against him. The town Ireland. was stormed, and Cromwell bade his men give no quarter. All the defenders were massacred. This violent and ruthless act so terrified the Irish that after it little resistance was made. Charles II.'s general and soldiers were driven from the country. The Irish Parliament was abolished, and instead Irish members were to be sent to Westminster.

Scotland, however, cost Cromwell more trouble. There two parties were trying to come to an agreement with Charles II. The Presbyterian Scotland; party was willing to have him back if he Death of would take the Covenant. Montrose offered to restore him the kingdom, by the aid of a Highland

Montrose.

army, without any conditions. Charles tried Montrose first. But when Montrose landed in Scotland and began to gather the clansmen he was defeated and captured. No one could forgive him for the cruelty which his Highlanders had shown in his former rising, so he was put to death.

Charles II. and

Charles then fell back on the Covenanters, headed by Argyll. He came to Scotland and took the Covenant. Cromwell at once made the Covenanters; ready an army to invade Scotland, but Dunbar, 1650. David Leslie, who commanded the Scots, was every whit as able a soldier as Cromwell. He laid waste the country north of Berwick through which Cromwell would have to march, and retired to a strong position near Edinburgh. Cromwell tried to tempt him from it, but in vain. At last, wearied out by want of food and long marching, the Ironsides fell back to Dunbar. Leslie followed, drew up his army on Doon Hill overhanging the Dunbar Road, and seized the defile at Cockburnspath, which cut off Cromwell's retreat. Cromwell appeared to be in a trap. It was hopeless to attack the Scots on Doon Hill, since they numbered two to one. It seemed that he must surrender, or retreat into his ships. Suddenly the Scots threw away the victory that was almost won. Fearing that Cromwell was embarking his men, and would so slip through his fingers, Leslie ordered an attack. Cromwell saw the mistake. "The Lord hath delivered them into my hands", he cried. The Ironsides fell on the Scottish right wing, and rolled it back in confusion on the centre; soon Leslie's whole force gave way. In the pursuit the Scottish army was almost destroyed.

All Scotland south of the Forth fell into Cromwell's hands as the fruit of his victory. Leslie, however,

gathered another force, and entrenched himself near Stirling. Cromwell crossed the Firth of Battle of Forth and began to ravage Fifeshire. This Worcester, left the road to England open, and Charles 1651. promptly took it. At the head of 18,000 men he marched south. The Ironsides were soon at his heels. He was headed off from the London road, and at last brought to bay at Worcester. The battle which followed Cromwell called his "crowning mercy". Charles's men were scattered; the king himself had to flee for his life; for six weeks he wandered about in hourly peril. At last he escaped to France.

Meanwhile with the last Scottish army thrown away in England, Monk, whom Cromwell had left to command in his place, had an easy Abolition task. The country was subdued, even the of Scottish The Scottish Parliament. Highlands were pacified. Parliament was done away with, though it was restored at the Restoration.

Cromwell and his army of Independents seemed invincible. They had conquered the Royalists, Presbyterian Scotland, and Catholic Ireland. They had laid low a king and two Parliaments. Now we shall see them continue their work by subduing the English Parliament also.

Part of the work indeed had been done already, when Colonel Pride, by Cromwell's orders, had "purged" Parliament of the ninety The "Rump" leading Presbyterians who opposed the Dissolved by king's trial. But even the "Rump", the Army. as the remaining members were contemptuously called, fell to quarrelling with the Army. Cromwell wished them to dissolve and call a new Parliament; they refused, unless it was laid down that they were all to have seats in the new Parliament; they also

urged that the Army should be disbanded. At last Cromwell lost patience. He went down to the House himself, banged his fist on the table, and bawled out, "Get you gone! Give place to honester men." His soldiers poured in and turned out the members by force.

Failure of

Parliaments.

This was one way of settling the question, but it was not the right way. King had gone and House of Lords had gone; the House of Commons was the last relic of legal government left. Now that had gone too, destroyed by military violence. Many people had despised the "Rump", but they did not approve of this way of getting rid of it. Cromwell's Consequently, none of Cromwell's later schemes for new Parliaments were ever successful. He tried first an assembly of "faithful persons, fearing God and hating covetousness recommended by ministers throughout the country. These were called in mockery "Barebone's Parliament", from the name of one of the members, Praise-God Barebone. This assembly soon resigned its power to its maker, Cromwell. Thrice again, under different arrangements, Parliaments were called, but with none of them could Cromwell get on. Having destroyed the proper Parliament, it was impossible to get sham ones to work satisfactorily.

Thus the government fell into the hands of Cromwell; he had a Council of State to help him, and one Cromwell of his constitutions had given him the title a Despot. of Protector, but his real power rested on the Army. He could not afford to quarrel with it, and thus he refused to take the title of king, because the Army hated the idea of a king. The result was that Cromwell, having taken arms for a Parliament against a despotic king, became himself in the end more

despotic than ever Charles I. had been. He ruled without Parliament; he took taxes without Parliament; his major-generals, who governed various parts of Britain, were more absolute than Strafford himself at the height of his power.

England had become a military state. It had overthrown Ireland and Scotland. It made war on the Dutch Republic. Blake and Monk, both by profession soldiers, soon proved themselves excellent sailors. The Dutch fleets were defeated, and the Dutch forced to beg for peace. Cromwell wished to put himself at the head of a great League of Protestants in Europe, and he allied himself with France, because France though Catholic was a bitter enemy of Spain. English fleets took Jamaica, and captured Spanish treasure-galleons as they had done in Elizabeth's reign. Cromwell's death, however, put an end to these ambitious schemes.

He left his power to his son Richard, but Richard was not a soldier, and the Army would not obey him. In a short time it appeared that the Death of CromArmy would obey no one; the "Rump" well; Disunion in the Army. was recalled, and again expelled. Everyone hated the Army, but no one could suggest a means of getting rid of it.

Fortunately the Army was not united. Monk marched southwards from Scotland with his men; Lambert at the head of another section Monk and the of Ironsides tried to stand against him Restoration. and failed. Monk reached London, and to everyone's joy declared for a free Parliament. This meant the recall of Charles II., for all alike, Cavaliers and Parliamentarians, had grown united in their hatred of the Army, and were ready to welcome back a lawful king. The Convention Parliament, which

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