centuries, was greatly to be pitied. The son of a king, who disregarded
the instructions of his wise preceptor, George Buchanan, and who, in his
rule over the English people, was prodigal, unprincipled, and tyrannical,
he ascended the throne with a corrupt education, and urged to despotism
and injustice by his infamous minister Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, he
speedily exhibited in his regal capacity, a passion for power, which, as
Macauley remarks, soon became “a predominant vice; idolatry to his regal
prerogative, his governing principle. The interests of the crown
legitimated every measure, and sanctified in his eye the widest deviation
from moral rule.” Such was the son of a kingly father who was fond of
cockfighting, and the brutal pleasures of inebriation, who utterly
neglected the affairs of state on the plea that “he should not make a
slave of himself;” who sold titles and privileges of all kinds, that his
vices might be fed; and who basely deprived people of their patents,
after having paid for them to himself. These were only a small portion
of the sire’s iniquities. What surprise then can be entertained that
Charles, his son, walked much in the father’s footsteps! Notwithstanding
his despotic and infatuated measures, to which all the evils of the civil
wars may be traced, yet he had many excellencies; and the closing scene
of his unhappy life proved that had he been blessed with a wiser
tutelage, and taught to govern with a just and righteous hand, he might
have descended into the tomb with virtue and honour, embalmed in the
grateful recollections of his country.
Of his powerful rival and successor much has, and still may be said, in
his praise and condemnation. His character, however, singular and
erratic as it was, was mixed, as that of other men; and whilst he
displayed a religious enthusiasm and sanctity in most of his public acts,
apparently impressed with the conviction that he “was doing GOD service”
in the course in which he had embarked; yet the troublous events of his
life—the fears, anxieties, and weakness of his mortal nature—must have
convinced him, if he sincerely believed in the religion of which he made
so loud and trumpet-tongued a profession, that “he had done many things
which he ought not to have done, and left undone many things he ought to
have done.” Now that we look calmly back upon Cromwell’s life, we can
see much in his administrative policy that elevated the nation during his
transient rule, and that has shed its salutary influences even upon the
present generation; but the deep, dark spot in his escutcheon—the murder
of Charles—a crime which harrows up the feelings, and rouses the
indignation of all right-minded men—that foul murder, with all its cruel
and inhuman associations, blots out any excellency that he ever did
achieve, and stamps his character indelibly as that of a religious,
enthusiastic professor only, and not of a Christian man. Charles may
have been guilty, and deserving of punishment for his misrule; but we
have yet to learn that Cromwell had plenary power to execute the mandate
of JEHOVAH, and to have adopted the inspired exclamation, “VENGEANCE IS
MINE!”
“At the breaking out of the Civil Wars,” says Pennant, “the whole of
Shropshire, with few exceptions of persons and none of places, adhered to
the cause of royalty. Oswestry, like the rest, was garrisoned for the
king. The town was defended by a new gate and draw-bridge; the castle
was fortified very strongly; and to prevent it from being commanded by
the church, in case of the capture of the town, the steeple was pulled
down, and a part of the sacred edifice was also demolished.” The same
popular author, with his fervid nationality, and strong royalist
principles, adds, with evident pride and delight, “The garrison consisted
chiefly of Welsh (a people almost to a man staunch in the cause of their
sovereign).” The governor of Oswestry Castle at this disturbed period
was a Colonel Lloyd. Edward Lloyd, Esq., of Llanvorda, compounded for
his estates, as a royalist, in the sum of £300; and at the period of
which we write (1643) he was in the prime of life, and therefore
physically able to assume the important command of Governor of the
Castle. Colonel Thomas Mytton, of Halston, near Oswestry, a man well
skilled in military art, and of great personal courage, had united as a
commander with the Parliamentary forces, and first signalized himself in
an assault upon the town of Wem, which he seized and garrisoned; that
place soon became the centre from which attacks were directed against the
royalist garrisons in the neighbouring towns. Mytton’s success at Wem
was achieved in the latter end of August, 1643; and although he actively
assisted the Parliamentary army in its attacks upon other parts of the
country, he frequently visited Wem to concert measures for fresh
conquests. In January of the following year, a plan was there determined
upon for a sudden and covert attack upon Oswestry. The story is on
record that Mytton well knew the _bon vivant_ qualities of the Governor
of Oswestry. It was said of this royalist Commandant, that in the social
circle he was the life and soul of the company, and that when he entered
upon the convivialities of the table, he found it a difficult matter to
interrupt the rosy hours by wending homewards. Colonel Mytton might know
the frailties of his gallant opponent; and, with a strategetic art
unworthy of a modern general, he devised a scheme for capturing the
Governor and seizing the town of Oswestry. The anecdote proceeds to
state, that Colonel Lloyd was to be invited to dinner at the house of a
neighbouring gentleman; and Mytton calculated that no dinner invitation
would be refused by good-humoured Col. Lloyd. The plot included the
spread of further net-work, in which the unsuspecting Governor was to be
surely caught. His gastronomic and vinous attachments were to be
plentifully gratified; and whilst indulging in bacchanalian revels, a
military force, under Mytton’s direction, was to enter the dining room in
which the innocent Governor was carousing, to seize him, _vi et armis_,
take him before his own garrison, in Oswestry, and there compel him to
issue orders to his officers to surrender the town and castle. The plot,
as we have described it, was partly successful, but eventually failed.
Colonel Lloyd accepted the apparently-friendly invitation to dinner; and
all went merrily on with him for a brief period. The detachment of
troops was sent from Wem to take him prisoner, so that the first act of
the drama was nearly completed. Whilst, however, the Parliamentarians
were on their way to surprise him, two of their scouts were seized by
some royalist friends; they confessed their share in the treacherous
plot; the Colonel was apprized of the danger he was in, fled from the
habitation of his Judas-like host, reached the “post of honour” which he
had so improperly abandoned for the pleasures of the table, and secured
from the grasp of his enemies both the town and castle. Colonel Lloyd’s
misconduct was reported, it seems, to the royalist commander-in-chief,
who removed him from his important position, and appointed as his
successor Sir Absetts Shipman.
The parliamentary leaders were numerous and powerful, and they were all
fired with zeal and enthusiasm in the cause which they espoused. The
town of Oswestry was a military post of distinction in their eyes; and to
possess it was an achievement “devoutly to be wished.” Oswestry stood on
a towering height, vigilantly watching the varied movements of the
parliamentary hosts, and protecting the communication between the town
and Wales. The opposite party were equally active and observant.
Colonel Mytton was well acquainted, from his local connexion, with the
strength and resources of the town, and brought to his aid, in his
meditated attack upon it, Sir Thomas Fairfax, the equal to Cromwell in
military tactics. In the month of March, 1644, Fairfax and Mytton, with
a strong force under their command, made a sudden attack upon the town,
which was gallantly repulsed by Prince Rupert (the King’s nephew), who
commanded the royalist troops in garrison. This triumph was but of short
duration, for the town was attacked in a few months afterwards, and in
this renewed onslaught, the parliamentary forces were victors. The
Battle of Oswestry, if such it may be called, was fought on the 22nd
June. The Earl of Denbigh, a young parliamentary leader of some military
talents, and son of a nobleman who had died in defence of the crown,
suddenly left the main body of his army, and marched, with his “forlorn
hope” upon Oswestry, determined upon taking the town by a _coup de main_.
He reached the vicinity in company with Colonel Mytton, about two o’clock
in the afternoon of June the 22nd, the former probably knowing, from the
“false brethren,” as spies were then called, that the garrison was partly
defenceless, the Governor having imprudently gone to Shrewsbury with
certain parliamentary prisoners. Denbigh’s force consisted merely of two
hundred infantry, and two troops of cavalry. The engagement was short
and sharp. After a hot affair of about two hours, in which Lord
Denbigh’s artillery played fiercely upon the garrison with small and
great shot, a breach was made in the walls of the town, and the infantry
poured in, headed by Major Fraser, with the loss of only one man killed
and three wounded. “The New-gate,” adds Pennant, “was next demolished by
the cannon, when a young fellow, one George Cranage, went with a hatchet,
and cutting down the chains of the draw-bridge, enabled the cavalry also
to enter. The besieged made an attempt to maintain the Church, but soon
finding it untenable, fled to the castle. Hither they were closely
pursued, and the pioneers were quickly called in to undermine its walls;
in which, we are informed, the skill as well as valour of Colonel Mytton
was very conspicuous. He was probably enabled, from his residence in the
neighbourhood, to direct the miners to proceed with most effect. But the
daring valour of Cranage again anticipated these slower operations. He
was persuaded to hang a _Buttar_ (a petard) at the castle-gate! Being
well animated with sack, he undertook this desperate attempt, crept with
the engine from house to house, till he got to that next to the castle,
fastened it to the gate, set fire to it, and escaped unhurt! The gate
was then burst open, and the garrison, finding it impossible to make any
further resistance, surrendered the castle upon promise of quarter for
their lives. * * * It is greatly to the honour of the victorious
commanders that they restrained their soldiers from pillage, at the
expense of a gratuity of £500. One can scarcely err in ascribing this
noble and uncommon act of mercy to Colonel Mytton’s solicitude for the
welfare of his neighbours. The Earl dispatched intelligence of his
success to the Parliament. His letter was read to the House of Commons,
on the 27th June, giving an account of his taking the town and castle of
Oswaldstree, with 400 prisoners and 300 arms. Thanks were voted to him
for this his good service, and former testimonies of affection to the
house.” The circumstantial narrative proceeds to state that “his
Lordship returned, after this exploit, to his main army at Drayton,” and
left Colonel Mytton in defence of the town. The fall of Oswestry was a
severe blow to the royal party. Besides opening a door for the reduction
of North Wales to the power of the Parliament, it lowered them in the
scale of public opinion, a loss, in the declining posture of their
affairs, of incalculable importance. Active and energetic as were both
Lord Denbigh and Colonel Mytton, in their attack upon Oswestry, still
they did not escape the slanders even of their own party. The Earl of
Denbigh seems to have felt their calumnies acutely, for a few months
after the siege his Lordship wrote a letter to Mytton, vindicating the
gallantry of both; which we subjoin:—
“COLL. MITTON,
I will not trouble you with the injuries that are offered to you and
myselfe, by the Committe of Wem. I am sure you have deserved more of
the Parliament then the rest of that Committe. Captaine Clive, as I
am informed, reports I was not at the takeing of Oswaldstre, and that
my horse stood att too great a distance; I am sure they entred with
the foote; but the false representations of passages heere shall not
divert me from those occasions that may fully expresse me to be
Your faithfull frend and servant,
DENBIGH.”
“Condor, 29th Oct. 1644.”
At this period the King’s position was critical and alarming. In the
early part of the month he determined to take refuge within the walls of
Shrewsbury, in his march through Worcester and Bewdley. Waller, the
parliamentary leader, hearing of Charles’s movements, broke up from
Oxford, and hastened in the direction of Shropshire. On this
intelligence the King left Shrewsbury, and retraced his steps. The
battle of Copredy Bridge (June 29th) terminated in the defeat of the
parliamentary forces; and in July the Earl of Denbigh, encouraged by his
success at Oswestry, drew his forces towards Shrewsbury, but was repulsed
by the royalist army, with a loss of 120 of his men. The King’s defeat
at Marston Moor (July 3rd) added, however, to his disasters and dangers.
The whole of Shropshire was in arms, and jeopardy and distress stared
every man in the face.
Among the prisoners taken in the late disaster at Oswestry was Francis
Newport, Esq., who had served both in the short and long Parliaments.
The historians of Shrewsbury have furnished us with an interesting
account of this distinguished man:—
“Mr. Newport was son and heir of Sir Richard Newport, of High Ercall,
one of the knights of the shire. This young gentleman was but just
eligible to serve in parliament, having arrived at full age only on
the 23rd day of the preceding February. He manifested the same
ardent loyalty which actuated his father: and ventured, with rare but
honourable gallantry, to vote for the acquittal of Lord Strafford, at
a time when such votes exposed those who gave them to no small
personal hazard; the populace, with their usual toleration of
sentiments differing from their own, denouncing all such, fifty-six
in number, as _Straffordians_; and exposing their names to execration
and danger by public placards. Mr. Newport was soon expelled from
the house as a _malignant_; appeared in arms against the parliament;
and was among the prisoners taken at Oswestry, on the capture of that
town by the Earl of Denbigh and Colonel Mytton. It is needless to
say that he suffered very considerably in his estate: being obliged
to compound in the large sum of £5284, in addition to £3287, and £170
a year extorted from his father for the same crime of loyalty. Yet
though attached to the monarchy, he was friendly to the rights of the
subject; and it is not a little remarkable, that he who had suffered
so deeply for the first Charles, was so much disgusted by the base
and arbitary measures of the two succeeding kings, by the last of
whom he had the honour of being dismissed from the office of lord
lieutenant of this county; that he was a great promoter of the
Revolution, and was excepted, by the abdicated monarch, from his
general pardon. He was created earl of Bradford by king William; and
died Sept., 1708, in the eighty-ninth year of his age.”
The town of Oswestry was now in the hands of the parliamentarians, under
the temporary Governorship of Colonel Mytton, but was not long permitted
to remain quietly in the power of the victors. Only one short week
elapsed before a formidable attempt was made by part of the royalist
army, under Colonel Marrow, a skilful and intrepid commander, to retake
the town, and drive the parliamentary forces from their position.
Colonel Marrow invested the town with 3,500 infantry, and 1,500 cavalry,
and maintained a close siege for the three following days. This sudden
assault greatly embarrassed Colonel Mytton, whose only hope for relief
was from Sir Thomas Myddleton, his kinsman by marriage, who was then
stationed at Knutsford, in Cheshire, more than fifty miles distant.
Colonel Mytton, however, succeeded in making Sir Thomas acquainted with
his position in less than twelve hours from the commencement of the
royalist attack; and the gallant knight, who was heartily engaged in the
parliamentary cause, immediately mustered three regiments, namely,
Booth’s, Mainwaring’s, and Croxen’s, with Major Lothian at the head of
the reserve, and marching onwards with all speed, reached in two days
within sight of Oswestry—it is supposed between Halston and Whittington.
During this interval of time the royalists had not obtained full
possession of the town, though consisting, as Sir Thomas Myddleton says,
“of the most valiant commanders and soldiers, drawn out of the garrisons
of Chester, Cheshire, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Ludlow, Denbighshire,
Flintshire, and other places.” They had possessed themselves of the
Church, but had made no inroad upon the Castle. Myddleton’s approach
having been made known, Colonel Marrow marched out from the town,
determined to attack him before his troops could recruit themselves after
their long march. “They had taken the passage of water neere to
Whittington,” says Sir Thomas, in his letter to Lenthall, the Speaker,
“and very furiously assaulted and charged us, but were repulsed and
forced to retire, through the courage of our horse, who most courageously
entertained the enemy. Three several times the skirmish was doubtful;
either side being forced so often to retreat. But in the end, our foot
forces, coming up, relieved the horse, beat back the enemy, and pursued
them with such force, that our horse being thereby encouraged, which
indeed was formerly weary, joining with the foot, they put the enemy to
an absolute flight, in which we pursued them five miles towards
Shrewsbury, to a place called ‘Felton Heath,’ and where we remained after
their flight, again masters of the field. In the skirmish with the
enemy, and in the pursuite, we lost several of our horse, some of our
troopers, but never a footman, which I am yet informed of. As for the
enemy they lost several stout men; had many of them taken prisoners, some
of them being of great quality, as the Lord Newport’s eldest son; and
besides, in their flight, such was their haste, that we found in our
pursuite the highway as it were strewed with bread, cheese, bacon, and
other good provisions; clothes, and such necessary appurtenances to an
army, besides some whole veals and muttons, new killed.” Sir Thomas
adds, that “his forces followed up their blow nearly to Shrewsbury, and
that Majors Manley and Whitney were afterwards taken under the walls of
that town, in pursuite of them.”
This affair closed the struggle between the royalist and parliamentary
forces for the possession of Oswestry. On the very day on which Sir
Thomas Myddleton raised the siege, Prince Rupert was signally defeated at
Marston Moor, with the loss of ten thousand men killed and taken
prisoners. Colonel Mytton must subsequently have delegated his command
as temporary Governor of Oswestry, as we find him soon afterwards
actively engaged in commanding the parliamentary troops in the conquest
of Shrewsbury. That event happened early in 1645, when the town was
placed in the hands of the parliamentarians. At this period we find
Mytton named, in several public documents, as Major-General in the
parliamentary army, and some time afterwards as Commander-in-chief of the
forces in North Wales.
All the historical records referring to this period give evidence of the
arduous duties of General Mytton, and of the difficulties which he had
suffered in maintaining his hold upon Oswestry. A letter which we here
give indicates the straits he was in, and at the same time the friendly
offers of support made to him in the county. The letter is from a Mr.
Edward Mynshull, of Bearstone, near Drayton:—
“Honoble Sr,
I came to Drayton, hearinge you were there, butt unfortunately mist
of you, yor honor lyeinge in Stafforde the night before; I have since
then waited yor retorne from London, haveinge 30 able men in
readiness, and 20 of them well armed, to doe yor honor servise. I
have kepte them together upon my owne charge, and should have bin
glad they might have bin accepted in Ossestrie, to doe duty for
theire free quarters till yor honor had returned. I motioned this to
Major Goldegay, butt itt could nott be granted without an order from
the Comitte. Sr, I am resolved to doe you servise, or no man; and
for my fidelity, I will engage £400, paid in Shropshire, and if you
please, as much in Cheshire; if yor honor please, I could wish to
have a comission sent me by the first, because I only tooke itt in
direction from yor honor, and whether thatt may suporte me in yor
honor’s absence, (should I be questioned) I make a doubte of. Sr, my
request is, I may have order by the first, to martch to Osestree,
where I and my men will doe duty for free quarters, (requireinge noe
pay) till yor honor retorneth; and lett me receive order from Major
Goldegay to thatt purpose, if you soe please, for were I settled in a
garrison, I could have men sufficient. I beseech yor honor retorne
me yor pleasure by the first, and I shall willingly embrace yor
commands; if yor honor send to Hugh Bate, Shoemaker, in Wem, he will
convey yor letter to Mr. Jon. Grosvenor, in Berson, from whence itt
will come safe to me. Sr, I pray for yor honors prosperity and safe
retorne, and whilst I live I shall remaine
Att yor servise,
EDWARDE MYNSHULL.”
“Berson, April 25th, 1645.”
The fall of Shrewsbury into the power of the Parliament was marked by “a
solemn thanksgiving throughout the City of London,” on the 12th March;
Mytton was summoned to appear before the House of Commons on the 29th of
that month, and “Master Speaker, in the name, and by the command of the
whole House, gave him hearty thanks for his many and faithfull services
done to the state; giving him all encouragement to persist in the same:
especially for that gallant service of Shrewsbury; assuring him that he
shall never want the encouragement of the House of Parliament in his
undertakings.”
General Mytton had evidently embarked all his energies in the
parliamentary cause; yet notwithstanding the tribute paid to him by the
Commons, it does not appear that he obtained from that source any more
substantial honours. This neglect seems to have given him much pain. A
letter to him from the Duke of Northumberland, about this period, shews
that even the Governorship of Oswestry was not actually accorded to him
till late in the year 1645. The letter we subjoin:—
“Sr,
By an indisposition in my health, I have not beene able for some
dayes to attend the Committie of both kingdomes, so as I can not give
you so good an account of your businesse as I desired, but I heare
that a commission for your being governor of Oswallds-tree is
alreadie signed; to-morrow I shall make a further enquirie after this
particular, and if it be in my power to contribute any thing towards
your satisfaction, none shall more readily assist you then
Your very affectionate freind and servant,
“London, Nov. 21, 1645.”
NORTHUMBERLAND.”
“For my very loveing Freind, Col. Mytton.”
The conquest of Shrewsbury, by the parliamentary troops, is generally
acknowledged to have been achieved by the gallantry and superior tactics
of General Mytton; and having accomplished so signal a service for his
party, he naturally expected, now that the Governorship of that town was
vacant, that the office would he conferred upon him. His ancient
relation to the town, his ancestors having been inhabitants and burgesses
for upwards of four centuries, added strength to his claim. All his
important services to the Parliament were, however, of no weight, and the
Governorship was bestowed upon another man. We are told that “Colonel
Mytton’s politics were getting very fast out of fashion. He had sided
with the Parliament only for the limitation of prerogative, not for the
subversion of the monarchy. The Presbyterians, to whom, it appears, he
belonged, had no insurmountable objections to the office of a king,
provided he was under their controul: or to a national establishment of
religion, if its revenues were at their disposal. But those who commence
important changes in a state have seldom the satisfaction of reaping the
fruit of their labours. Spirits more ardent, with views more extensive,
step in between them and the consummation of their designs.” With Sir
William Waller, another of the ablest and most successful commanders of
the Presbyterian party, he could say, “after the expence of so much blood
and treasure, all the difference between our former and present estate is
this, that before-time, under the complaint of a slavery we lived like
freemen; and now, under the notion of a freedom, we live like slaves,
enforced by continual taxes and oppressions, to maintain and feed on our
miseries.”
Although General Mytton had been thus ungratefully treated by the
Parliament, he still occupied his military position, for we find that in
1648 he was engaged with Sir Thomas Myddleton in the attack upon
Caernarvonshire and Anglesey. In June of that year the Speaker of the
House of Commons communicated to him a letter, highly approving his “good
and faithfull service” against “Sir John Owen and his rebellious crewe.”
The letter referred to is a curiosity, as it shows the blasphemous
freedom which Cromwell’s parliament took with the holy name of GOD:—
“Sir,