supplies. Here, in the mean time, is a Letter from Lesley himself; written in Broughton Village,' precisely while Oliver is on march towards the Pentlands:

"For his Excellency the Lord General Cromwell

"Bruchton, 13th August 1650.

"MY LORD,-I am commanded by the Committee of Estates "of this Kingdom, and desired by the Commissioners of the "General Assembly, to send unto your Excellency this enclosed "Declaration, as that which containeth the State of the Quarrel; "wherein we are resolved, by the Lord's assistance, to fight your Army, when the Lord shall be pleased to call us thereunto. "And as you have professed you will not conceal any of our "Papers, I do desire that this Declaration may be made known "to all the Officers of your Army. And so I rest,—your Excel'lency's most humble servant,

66

"DAVID LESLEY." 1

This Declaration, done by the Kirk, and endorsed by the Estates, we shall not on the present occasion make known, even though it is brief. The reader shall fancy it a brief emphatic disclaimer, on the part of Kirk and State, of their having anything to do with Malignants;-disclaimer in emphatic words, while the emphatic facts continue as they were. Distinct hope, however, is held out that the Covenanted King will testify openly his sorrow for his Father's Malignancies, and his own resolution for a quite other course. To which Oliver, from the slope of the Pentlands, returns this answer :

1 Newspapers (in Parliamentary History, xix. 330).

2' About Colinton' (Balfour, iv. 90). [On the Braid Hills; probably with outposts on Blackford Hill. Colinton House was occupied on the 18th. See Commonwealth and Protectorate, i. 309, 312, and Cromwell's Scotch Campaigns, pp. 54-57-]

LETTER CXXXVII

For the Right Honourable David Lesley, Lieutenant-General of the Scots Army: These1

SIR,

From the Camp at Pentland Hills, 14th August 1650.

I received yours of the 13th instant, with the paper you mentioned therein, enclosed; which I caused to be read in the presence of so many officers as could well be gotten together on a sudden; 2 to which your trumpet can witness. We return you this answer, by which I hope, in the Lord, it will appear that we continue the same which we have professed ourselves to the honest people of Scotland, wishing to them as to our own souls; it being no part of our business to hinder any of them from worshipping God in that way they are satisfied in their consciences by the Word of God they ought (though different from us), but shall therein be ready to perform what obligation lies upon us by the Covenant.3

But that under pretence of the Covenant, mistaken, and wrested from the most native intent and equity thereof, a King should be taken in by you, to be imposed upon us; and this called the cause of God and of the Kingdom; and this done to the satisfaction of God's people in both nations, as is alleged, together with the disowning of malignants, although he who is the head of them, in whom all their hope and comfort lies, be received; who, at this very instant, hath a Popish army fighting for and under him

[There are three texts for this letter: that given in the old Parliamentary History (used by Carlyle); a copy printed in the Clarendon State-Papers, ii. 547, stated to be made by Mr. Nicholas; and an old MS. copy amongst the papers of the Duke of Atholl, printed in the 12th Report of the Hist. MSS. Commissioners, App. 8, p. 30. Where variants occur, the letter is here printed according to the two texts which agree; the variant in the third being given in a footnote.] 2[" on a sudden" is omitted in Parl. Hist.]

3 Ungrammatical, but intelligible and characteristic.

4 Charles Stuart.

:

6

in Ireland; hath Prince Rupert, a man who hath had his hand very deep1 in the blood of many innocent men2 in England, now in the head of our ships, stolen from us upon a malignant account; hath the French and Irish ships daily making depredations on our coasts; and strong combinations by the malignants in England, to raise Arms in our bowels, by virtue of his commissions, he having 5 of late issued out very many to that purpose and how the interest you pretend you have received him upon, and the malignant Interest in the ends and consequences centering in this man, can be severed, we cannot discern! And how we should believe, that whilst known and notorious malignants fighting and plotting against us on the one hand, and you declaring for him on the other, should not be an espousing of a malignant party quarrel or interest; but be a mere fighting upon former grounds and principles, and in defence of the cause of God and of the Kingdom, as hath been these twelve years last past, as you say, for the security and satisfaction of the people of God in both nations; or the opposing which should render us enemies to the Godly with you, we cannot understand, especially considering that all malignants take their confidence and encouragement from the late transactions of your Kirk and State with your King. For as we have already said, so we tell you again, It is but satisfying security to those that employ us, and are concerned in that we seek, which we conceive will not be by a few formal and feigned submissions, from a person that could not otherwise tell how to accomplish his malignant ends, and 'is' therefore counselled to this compliance, by them who assisted his Father, and have hitherto actuated him 10 in his most evil and desperate designs; and 'designs which are now

1["deep" (only) in Parl. Hist.; "dipped" in Clar. S. P.]

2

4

people" in Atholl MS.]

Armies," Parl. Hist.]

6" centred," Atholl MS.]

["who hath," ibid.] "["who hath," ibid.]

7" secured," Parl. Hist., probably merely a misprint.]

86 are fighting," ibid.]

["yours," Atholl MS.]

10["acted him," Atholl MS. and Clar. S.P.; but meaning as above, and so given in Parl. Hist.]

again1 set on foot. Against which, how you will be able, in the way you are in, to secure us or yourselves is (for as much as concerns ourselves), our duty to look after.

If the state of your quarrel be thus, upon which, as you say, you resolve to fight our army, you will have opportunity to do that; else what means our abode here? And if our hope be not in the Lord, it will be ill with us. We commit both you and ourselves to Him who knows the heart and tries the reins; 3 with whom are all our ways; who is able to do for us and you above what we know: Which we desire may be in much mercy to His poor people, and to the glory of His great name.

And having performed your desire, in making your papers so public as is before expressed, I desire you to do the like, by letting the State, Kirk, and Army have the knowledge thereof. To which end I have sent you enclosed two copies of this Letter;' and rest,

Your humble servant,

OLIVER CROMWELL.*

The encampment on Pentland Hills, 'some of our tents within sight of Edinburgh Castle and City,' threatens to cut off Lesley's supplies; but will not induce him to fight. The gude wives fly with their bairns and gear' in great terror of us, poor gude wives; and when we set fire to furze-bushes, report that we are burning their houses.' 5 Great terror of us; but no other result. Lesley brings over his guns to the western side of Edinburgh, and awaits, steady within his fastnesses there.

Hopes have arisen that the Godly Party in Scotland, seeing now by these Letters and Papers what our real meaning is, may perhaps quit a Malignant King's Interest, and make bloodless

1["by them" added in Parl. Hist.]

"tries the heart and searches the reins," quotation from any passage in the Bible.] 4["We" in Atholl MS.]

2[" for us," Atholl MS.] Atholl MS. Neither is an exact

Narrative of Farther Proceedings, dated 'From the Camp in Musselburgh Fields, 16th August 1650;' read in the Parliament 22d August (Commons Journals); reprinted in Parliamentary History (xix. 327) as a 'Narrative by General Cromwell; though it is clearly enough not General Cromwell's, but John Rushworth's. * Newspapers (in Parliamentary History, xix. 331-333).

peace with us, which were the best of all.' The King boggles about signing that open Testimony, that Declaration against his Father's sins which was expected of him. A great Commander of the Enemy's, Colonel Gibby Carre' (Colonel Gilbert Ker, of whom we shall hear farther), solicits an interview with some of ours, and has it; and other interviews and free communings take place, upon the Burrow-Moor and open fields that lie between us. Gibby Ker, and also Colonel Strahan who was thought to be slain : 1 these and some minority of others are clear against Malignancy in every form; and if the Covenanted Stuart King will not sign this Declaration-!--Whereupon the Covenanted Stuart King does sign it; signs this too 2—what will he not sign? -and these hopes of accommodation vanish.

Neither still will they risk a Battle; though in their interviews upon the Burrow-Moor, they said they longed to do it. Vain that we draw out in battalia; they lie within their fastnesses. We march, with defiant circumstances of war, round all accessible sides of Edinburgh; encamp on the Pentlands, return to Musselburgh for provisions; go to the Pentlands again,—enjoy one of the beautifullest prospects, over deep-blue seas, over yellow cornfields, dusky Highland mountains, from Ben Lomond round to the Bass again; but can get no Battle. And the weather is broken, and the season is advancing,-equinox within ten days, by the modern Almanac. Our men fall sick; the service is harassing; and it depends on wind and tide whether even biscuit can be landed for us nearer than Dunbar. Here is the Lord General's own Letter 'to a Member of the Council of State,' -we might guess this or the other, but cannot with the least certainty know which.4

1 Letter CXXXV.

2 At our Court at Dumfermline this 16th day of August 1650 (Sir Edward Walker, pp. 170-6; by whom the melancholy Document is, with due loyal indignation, given at large there).

3 Cromwell, in fact, had been thoroughly out-generalled. Partly perhaps through the difficulty of carrying provisions so far from his ships, partly through his desire to avoid bringing his conflict with brother Protestants to the arbitrament of battle, he had shown himself, for once in his career, halting and irresolute, whilst Leslie had on every occasion known his own mind and had carried out his designs with promptness and resolution." Commonwealth and Protectorate, i. 314.

4[It might certainly be supposed to be the despatch to the President, if it were not that it begins "Sir," and after the formation of the Second Council of State, Cromwell appears always to have addressed Bradshaw as "my Lord."]