reason of that so sudden approach and to desire him to retreat with his Army who returned answer that he could do nothing till he heard from the Prince of Orange yet a little after he thought fit to quit his station and retire yet the Deputies of Holland being fast in the Castle of Lovenstaine the Prince of Orange had the advantage of makeing his own conditions which were these 1. That the Town of Amsterdam shall agree with the other six Provinces for continuing the Militia as it is now setled for four or five years 2. That the Prince shall repair to their City at pleasure and be received upon his entry with all respect and reverence as was used in times past to his predecessors Lievtenants of Holland and have access into their Assemblies 3. That the Lords of Amsterdam shall at the next Assembly of the States use their utmost endeavours to allay all jealousies and to reconcile differences in reference to the late action and bury all in oblivion 4. That the Lords Andrew and Cornelius Bicher shall forthwith be removed from Government with respect had to their good Names Integrity and future Security and if after they have had conference with his Highnesse the Prince of Orange he shall persist in his opinion touching them that then they shall be rendred uncapable of any Government hereafter Now though by this means he brought the States under his Lure and subjugated them to his humour yet this was not the prize he run for his greatest hopes and highest thoughts being fixed on that inexhaustible treasure then in the bank at Amsterdam with which he might not only have raised his declining state but also mount to an absolute degree of Soveraignty and Supremacy over that people and likewise might have contributed much towards the repairing the despicable and needy fortunes of his Brother in Law the Scots King to the troubling and disquieting the peace and tranquillity of these three Nations to all which it pleased God of his goodnesse to give a check The State of France had likewise a plentifull share in those incumbrances and common calamities that are incident to Nations and people by reason of forrein and domestique broyls The present Cardinall Mazarine was lookt upon as the very efficient cause of all their civill discords and the only ey-soar of that miserable people not much unlike the late blazing Star of Canterbury in England both Church-men and yet both Statesmen of like interest with their King and of like power over the people both alike emulated by the Nobility for their Greatnesse and of the Commonalty for their grievances But like Fate hath not befell them For this Cardinall is neither out of favour with his Prince nor is he fallen into the hands of the people for though they have often shewed their teeth it hath never been in their power to bite For during the minority of the present King of France Lewis the 14. the sole management of State affairs hath been in the hands of the Queen Regent and her beloved Favourite Cardinall Mazarine at which after some years forbearance the chief of the Nobility uttered their discontents both publickly and privately whereupon three of them were arrested and sent to prison viz. Lewis de Bourbon Prince of Conde Armant de Bourbon Prince of Conti and the Duke of Longueville this administred fresh occasion to the people to breath out their discontents those of Burdeaux against the Duke of Espernon more especially but all against the Cardinal So that on a sudden the whole Kingdome was inflamed with civill warres and the appurtenances thereunto unto belonging The principal promoters of and actors in those tumults were two famous Amazones the Princesse of Conde and the Dutchesse of Longueville in behalf of their imprisoned husbands Many others of quality appeared also in their behalf and to make themselves the more formidable contracted an underhand bargain with the Spaniard who greedy to fish in such troubled waters supplyed them with considerable summes of money The Parliaments of Burdeaux Paris Dijon Tholouse c. countenanced these designs in opposition to the Cardinall and his creatures So that in short space Armies were raised on both sides Towns garrison'd taken and re-taken many mens lives lost and the Countrey prey'd upon by all parties The Spaniard being not only a fomenter of but an actor in these portentous divisions for by this means he had the opportunity to march to and fro in that Nation without any considerable opposition taking Garrisons and wasting the Countrey at his pleasure These Insurrections after many ebbings and flowings strange Revolutions and transmigrations too tedious here to insert at length produced the liberty of the Princes the withdrawing the Duke of Espernon from Bourdeaux the banishing the Cardinall with all his kindred and si lends from the Court and Kingdome yet was he longer banishing then banished for it was not many moneths ere he returned in great pomp and glory to the extreame grief of his old malecontents and competitors the Prince of Conde the Duke of Orleance and others as appears by the present troubles wherewith that servile people is yet afflicted where praying for their deliverance I shall leave them and return to the more proper subject of this discourse viz. the English affairs in Scotland The moneth of August was neeâ— done and little action performed save the taking of Collington house and Readhall by storm and in it the Lord Hamilton Major Hamilton and sixtie Souldiers 60. Barrels of Pouder 100 Arms great store of Meal Malt Beer Wine and other rich plunder This was done on the 24 of Aug. 1650. The body of the English Army removed forthwith from Pencland Hills to Collington Readhall and other parts within a mile of the whole Army of the Scots on the 27 th both Armies marched side by side a great bog only betwixt them which hindred an engagement yet the Great Guns plaid on both sides Aug. 28. the Canon from the English Camp plaid hard upon the Enemy and greatly annoyed them all which provoked them not to fight but still they kept within the protection of the Bog The English being in some want of Provisions drew off to to their old Quarters at Pencland Hills then with much difficulty to Musâ—leborough to recruit which done they drew off their Forces quitted their Garrisons and marched to Haddington the Scots attending on their right wing fell into their Quarters with a râ—solute Party and were as valiantly repuls'd by a Regiment of Foot commanded by Coll. Fairfax Septemb. 1. The Scots being so advantagiously drawn up at the west end of the Town the English drew Eastward into fair and champion ground fit for both Armies ro engage in but finding after severall hours expectation of the enemies approach that they would not move after them but to dog them to advantages they marched towards Dunbar whither the Scots moved apace after them and at a Pass endeavoured to fall upon the rear
Britains Triumphs OR A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WARRES AND OTHER STATE-AFFAIRS OF Great Britain From the Death of the late KING to the third year of the Government of the LORD PROTECTOR Vide quam repentè tempus res mutat humanas Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis LONDON Printed for Edward Farnham and are to be sold at his Shop in Popes-head-Alley neer Cornhill 1656. that have hapned in this little corner of the Earth for these five years last past which although peradventure they may be imbased by the course and mean allay of this impolisht dresse yet in this as in all other Histories you may find some things which may aut prodesse aut delectare either profit or delight thee One wisely and truely calls History the faithfull preserver of things past and the certain Prophet of things to come First here is related the Fall of one of the mightiest Monarchs in Europe and in him of Monarchy it self with the severall designs and transactions that were set on foot for the instating of his Sonne in the Throne and the fruitlesse events thereof The Conquest of Scotland The Reducing os Ireland The Revolt of the Carybe Islands and the reducing thereof and of the Islands of Scilly Jersey and Man The Breach between England and the Vnited Provinces and all the memorable Sea-fights that ensued thereupon The Dissolution of the commonly called everlasting Parliament The Calling another Assembly or Parliament with the manner and cause of the dissolution thereof The Lord Generall made Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England c. the Solemnities used therein his Reception and Entertainment in the City of London Other things of lesse moment are interwoven and promiscuously mingled up and down the Book as the nature thereof requireth And further finding thy kind acceptance of the first Impression it hath enboldened me to bring down the Story of all the Warres and other memorable things of Britain to the third year of the Protector all which as to matter and form I leave to thy Impartiall judgement there to be arraigned and condemned according to the nature of the offence and withall I request thee that with patience thou wilt passe by such faults as have escaped the Presse whether verball syllabicall or literall and so farewell A COMPENDIOUS NARRATIVE of the most Important Affairs of Great Britain from the death of the late KING to the third year of the Government of his Highness the Lord Protector AS to the external Causes of the many evils and miseries wherewith this Nation hath been afflicted for these few years past much might be said but the chief I have reduc'd to the following Heads The first and generall Cause was the Sins of the People who taking a surfet of ease plenty and pleasure and growing wanton thereby gazed after novelty that magneticall attraction of the Plebeian rout and as discontented with their present condition sought felicity in things they wanted Malv Rom. and were still unsatisfied even in the accomplishment thereof whence is occasioned the hatred of tranquillity the desire of motion the loathing of present things and seeking after future Another principal Cause was the lamentable corruptions of the Court not inferior in vice to the most infamous Court in Europe not excelling in any thing that might be called vertuous but inur'd themselves to a soft and luxurious life abounding in all manner of voluptuous and effeminate pleasures rejecting the more noble dictates of nature and grace not atchieving any one enterprize that might render them either feared abroad or loved at home but still wanting fuell for the fire of their prodigality daily invented some new and indirect courses and wayes to torment the people whose jealousies and fears encreasing with their grievances brought forth a most bloudy and intestine warre which ended not but in the subversion of Church and State as then established viz. Episcopacy and Monarchy the head of both being cut off and the bodies discomfited And though the King was judged to be the Patron of those many innovations and miscarriages that befell the Church and Common-wealth yet I am fully perswaded they proceeded not from the depravedness of his will but the flexibility of his nature overwhelm'd by his pernicious Councell by which he seem'd of a lesser magnitude then otherwise he would have done yet was he not the worst although the most unfortunate of Princes and in him ended Monarchy but not the miseries of these Nations for after some years civil and yet unnaturall warre betwixt King and Parliament they at length terminated in the vanquishing of his Armies the surprizall captivity and death of his person upon a scaffold before his Palace of White-Hall Jan. 30th 1648. The third and last Cause which I shall mention though not the least was the Pride Avarice Ambition and slothfulnesse of the Clergy who not only starv'd their flocks by withholding the spirituall food of their souls but also tormented their bodies by exhausting and sucking their bodily substance insomuch that the Nation groaned under the burden of their abominable corruptions who should have been the examples and leading-cards of piety and sanctity yet did the popular fury contribute more to the confusion of their Hierarchy then all their Crime put together nor were they cry'd down with more heat then afterwards cry'd up verifying that of the Poet Quid populi tibi voce places Mori Epigr saepe optima caecus Dat vitio temerè deteriora probat Having now hinted out unto you the Causes of our Warres and the distractions that followed the beginning progresse and conclusion thereof to the beheading of the King being accurately and briefly described by another hand I shall proceed to that which remains May 's Brev. No sooner was this mighty Prince bereaved of his life and dignity in such sort as is before related bnt Monarchy the darling of the multitude was voted chargeable unnecessary and uselesse and the Government was resolved into that of a Common-wealth Yet this mutation hapned-not for want of such as by a lineall descent and according to the usage of this Nation might pretend a Title to the Crown for there was a plentifull Issue of the late King both Male and Female then surviving but from some other politicall reasons best known to the then swaying Powers the which added and ministred hopes equal to the discontents of the people Now Charles though eldest Son of the late King inherited little save the misfortunes of his Father and what else he could chaulk out with his Sword yet his greatest hopes and expectations were from Ireland where the severall factions united proclaimed him King and bent their whole strength against the Interest of the Commonwealth of England and in short space became so formidable and prevail'd so much that they possest all the strong holds of that Country Dublin and Londonderry excepted both which were straitly besieged the former by an Army of 22000.
men under the Marq. of Ormond the latter by a party of the Irish Rebels he had likewise adjoyning to the territories of England the Islands of Scilly Jersey and Man which yet advantaged him no more then by nourishing a few small Picaroons to infest the narrow seas But his affairs in Ireland were no sooner at this height but they begun as suddenly to decline for there being about 3000 Horse and Foot safely landed at Dublin as the forlorn of a greater body they were join'd with what other Forces they could then make all which made not above 9000 at the utmost and commanded by the valiant and never to be forgotten Coll. Mich. Jones sallied forth and not only raised the siege but routed the whole Army of the Marqu of Ormond himself hardly escaping about 2000 were slain in the place and in the pursuit some thousands were taken Prisoners as likewise all their Ordinance Ammunition Carriages Provision with great store of rich Booty To adde to their declining estate and help forward the destruction of these grand confederates who were thus defeated in the midst of their mighty Attempts and huge imaginations Generall Cromwell landed in Ireland Aug. 1649. Oliver Cromwell Lord Deputy of Ireland landed at Dublin with a powerful Army about the midst of Aug. 1649. well accommodated for the accomplishment of that enterprise so happily began And first he laid fiege to Drogheda and in small time though with some difficuly and losse took it by storme and that he might chastise their obstinacy and strike terror into other Garrisons put to the sword all that were found in Armes which were about 3000. Presently after which there fell into his hands many other Garrisons some by force others by surrender viz. Trim Dundalk the Nury Wexford Rosse Bandonbridge Kinsale Passagefort with many more too tedious to relate In other parts of Ireland several Garrisons of the Enemy were taken and many considerable Parties were routed by others of the Parliaments Chieftains viz. the Lord Broghill Sr. Charles Coot Coll. Venables Coll. Jones and others and though this people have been still on the losing hand yet have they held out in Boggs and fastnesses even to this day whereby we see that the vanquishing this Nation was not so feasible as in the dayes of Henry the second who made it but a winters work to reduce and subject the people thereof a thing scarce credible sayes our Author that a Country so populous Dan. Chro. a Nation of that disposition should not lift up a hand to defend it self But it seems saith he they were wholly unacquainted with such strange kind of fights or such weapons insomuch that the terror thereof laid them prostrate to the overrunner but though the winning of that Nation was accomplisht with so much ease yet in the keeping thereof was more difficulty and cost In short The Affairs of the Catholick and other their confederate party mouldered and declined more and more to the great grief and disheartning of the Royall Party Virginia and the Carybe Iflands revolt Much about this time hapned a generall defection of the English Plantations from their obedience to the Parliament viz. Virginia and the Carybe Islands where in the ardency of Popular fury Liturgy and Monarchy were cry'd up and the Nonconformists were some stigmatized some fined and some banished which courses procured them no small trouble and losse in the decay of their Trade and loss of their ships all Nations being prohibited from trading or traffiquing with them upon pain of forfeiture Are reduced All which were in a few months reduced by a Fleet of ships from England under Sr. George Ayscue not being able to subsist for any considerable space of time without Trade The English coasts were likewise miserably infested with Pirates from Scilly Jersey Ireland and France but the very Prince of Pirates and Plunderers was one commonly known by the name of Prince Rupert who with the remnant of that Fleet that not long before had revolted from the Commonwealth of England being about nine tall and warlike Shipps committed many spoyls and depredations not only upon the English coasts but in other places likewise whereby the Merchants inccurred no small losse Now for the encouraging of Trade and reducing of Pirates a stout and lusty Fleet of Ships well rigg'd and man'd were set forth which with Gods blessing scour'd the channel and blockt up Prince Rupert in the Harbour of Kingsale which with the Town being taken by the Lord Gen. Cromwell they were forced thence to make all the saile they could away leaving about three Ships behind at length arrived at Lizbon the Impeâ—ial City of the King of Portugall and craved his protection which was not denyed them the which caused much trouble losse and detriment to that King and was the only cause of that unhappy difference that fell out between him and this Commonwealth as hereafter will appear Other designs were set on foot by the Royal party for the obtaining their ends The first was tht Commissionating of James Graham Earle of Montrose for â—he raising what Forces he could in Holland and other parts to invade Scotâ—and The second was the procuring a Treaty between the Scots and their King whereby they might by force or â—raud work him into an absolute Soveraignty over that Nation making good that known distich If the Lyons skin will not prevaile They 'l piece it with the Foxes taile To give more life to these undertakings Ambassadors were dispatcht to Spain Italy Denmark Sweden Russia Turky c. in the name of Charles the Second King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith which Title with much confidence â—he assumed to himself yet obtained â—either Men nor Monies worth noting from any of them but excuses pleas and complements in abundance for alas they had rather he should not be at all than be too great they that have equall dignity of birth had rather have no equall than any superior Montrose according to his Masters Instructions Montrose enters Scotland having got together some inconsiderable supplies of men and monies at length lands in the North of Scotland where he had not long been ere he was assailed and routed by a party from the Kirk Is routed taken prisoner and executed and his Person brought prisoner in most disgracefull manner to the Castle of Edinburgh where to fill up the measure of their malice they hanged him ten yards from the ground an act so barbarous and inhumane as admits of no comparison thus lived and thus dy'd the Mirrour of Manhood and Map of misery who for many years together had been a thorn in the side of the Kirk witnesse the severall defeats he gave them and who from small beginnings accomplisht vast enterprizes whose hard fateit was at last to fall into their bloudy hands Sic transit gloria mundi One would have thought this one act of theirs had been of force
of Holland and West Friesland and upon the 11 th of June 1650. he delivered his Message in Parliament which though it produced no more then a mutuall desire of an amicable compliance yet was it very well resented by the Parliament that they shewed themselves the leading cards to the rest of the Provinces at such a time as that Now when as the Treaty at Breda was fully ended and that all their Jealousies and animosities notwithstanding the vast disproportion and notable antipathy that was erewhile between the Royalists and Presbyterians was by this means fully allayed at least in shew The Scots seemed to want nothing save the presence of their King whereby to crown their desires and confront the English in order whereunto he hasts from Breda to the Hague from thence to Scheveling where he took shipping and at last in despight of foul weather and the English Kingfishers that lay there to intercept him he landed at the Spey in the North of Scotland where he found the greatest difficulty in ascending the Throne and least enjoyed it of any Prince that was ever heard or read of For upon all occasions he was compeld to trace the steps and follow the dictates of that haughty Clergy in all their fanatick humours and imperious decrees who bereaved him first of all his old friends Counsellors and confederates whether of the Clergy or Layety who to say the truth had alwayes accompanied his Father and him in all their dysasters and dangers and had shipwrackt their own fortunes to carine and repair his though it may be by this desertion he intended their restauration But now the Scots had a King yet as though they had none they did what seemed right in their own eyes The first and most pernicious potion they made him to take and of hardest digestion was the solemne League and Covenant that ignis fatuus and only seminary of bloud and mischief in these three Nations The next was a declaration of the Kirks own framing and fashioning wherein he is taught to renounce the sinnes of his Fathers house and of his own the Idolatry of his Mother by a constant adhering to the Cause of God according to the Covenant in the firm establishment of Church government as it is laid down in the Directory for publike Worship Confession of Faith and Catechism This with divers others of the like nature although with much reluctancy he also signed which it's like burthened his spirit yet bettered not his condition which was like that of a Child under Tutors and Governours for there was not an Officer in that Church or Commonwealth how vile and abject soever in place or person but enjoyed more freedome in body and mind then he Guarded indeed he was but little regarded so that move he must not but in the sphaere of the Kirk they were the primum mobile whereby it 's apparent that the Government of that Nation was not truly Monarchicall though they had a King but Hierarchicall the confusion whereof I shall now set before you The Parliament of England weighing right well the condition into which their affairs were now reduced by reason of the Agreement that was peeced up between the Scots and their King after a serious and solemne debate Gen. Fairfax layes down his Commission which was presently confer'd upon General Cromwell Lord Deputy of Ireland voted that Thomas Lord Fairfax with the Army under his command should march Northwards who after some conference had with the Parliament and being prompted by an indisposition of body or mind laid down his Commission which was forthwith conferr'd upon Oliver Cromwell Lord Deputy of Ireland who in order to this Northern expedition arrived a while after from his victorious archievements in that country leaving his Son in Law Henry as Lord Deputy in his room Accordingly Orders were issued forth for the speedy advance of the Army into Scotland who had no sooner begun their March but the Scots took the Alarme and sent two or three Papers to Sr. Arthur Hasterig then Governour of Newcastle wherein they expostulated the Case about the sudden approach of the English Army endeavouring thereby to impede their march till such time as their designs were ripe alledging as scar-Crowes to fright fools the Covenant the large treaty and Union between the two Nations with other circumstances of the like nature as frivolous as they were fruitless The Parliament of England then published likewise a Declaration shewing the grounds and reasons of their Armies advance towards Scotland accompanied with another from the Generall and officers of the Army The Declaration of the English Army in their march to Scotland shewing that that which moved them to that great undertaking was not any reliance upon the arme of flesh or being lifted up with the remembrance of former successes or the desire of accomplishing any designs of their own that they had forelaid but the full assurance they had that their Cause was just in the sight of God looking at the precedent changes and the successes that produced them not as the work of the policy or strength of man but as the eminent actings of the Providence and Power of God to bring forth his good will and pleasure concerning the things which he hath determined in the world adding that nothing was so predominant with them next to their duty to God not to betray a cause to which he had so much witnessed as the love they had to those that feared God there who might possibly suffer through their own mistakes or their disability to distinguish in a common calamity of which Christian love they hoped that they gave some proof when they were before in Scotland with that Army and were by God made instrumentall to break the power of those that oppressed the godly Party there for which say they their late Engagement to their new King against England was no good requital nor their heaping on them the reproach of a Sectarian Army a Christian dealing all which by the grace of God they could forget and forgive and did as they say desire of God that the precious might be separated from the vile beginning and concluding with a most solemn and dreadful imprecation and appeal That to the truth of these things the God of Heaven in his great mercy pardoning their weaknesses would judge of them when they came to meet the Enemy in the Field This Declaration was sent by the Generall of the English Forces from their Head-Quarters at Barwicke to Edenburgh by a Trumpeter whom they blinded coming and going what effect this wrought the sequel of the Story will relate From Barwick the Army marched to the Lord Mordingtons House July 22. 1650. where they lay three dayes on the 25. they marched to Copperspeth the 26. to Dunbar where they received some provisions from the Ships sent on purpose to attend the motions of the Army forasmuch as the people of the Countrey had forsook their habitations and