THE CIVIL WARS
were not allayed until Death had silenced the two great actors in the tragic and murderous drama. The present volume, devoted principally to local history, is not an appropriate organ in which to discuss the merits and demerits of Charles I. and his sturdy rival Cromwell. Charles was doubtless guilty of many gross violations of his prerogative, and plunged into a reckless course of misgovernment, accompanied with galling taxation, which the people, beginning to learn the lessons of liberty, and to understand the genius of the British constitution, would not tamely submit to.
The ill-fated monarch, looking at him through the long vista of two 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,
I received a letter subscribed by yourself and the Governor of Conway, wherein you gave an account of the late successe wherewith God hath beene pleased to blesse the forces under both yor commands and conductes in yor late expedition into Carnarvonshire, against Sir John Owen and his rebellious crewe, wch I have imparted to the house, and hath beene there read. Yor good and faithfull service in that expedition is soe well represented, that I am comanded, as from the house and in their name, to returne thanks for the same, wch hereby I doe, and you are desired to do the like to those officers and souldiers under the charge and comand wch God hath beene pleased to make instrumentall in the obteyning of such a seasonable mercy, and withall to represent to the house what course (like to be effectual) may bee taken for remunerating ye officers and souldiers for their good service. This beeing all I have in comand at present, I shall only add that I am
Yor assured loveing freind,
WM. LENTHALL, Speaker.”“June the 13th, 1648.”
Lenthall, the Speaker, was profuse, as we have shewn, in compliments, but still no substantial mark of favour upon General Mytton was bestowed. The Committee to whom the appointment of Governor of Shrewsbury Castle had been referred had long before found “reasons of weight to put another” in that office, after having held it in their own hands for some time. In 1647 the Governorship was filled by Humphrey Mackworth, Esq., of Betton, a Presbyterian, and Colonel in the army, who occupied the post till his death, in 1654, and having been one of Cromwell’s Privy Council, was buried in Henry VII.’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey, on the 26th December, with great magnificence. He was succeeded in office at Shrewsbury by Thomas Hunt, Esq., representative of the town in Parliament, and a Colonel in the army. Mytton retired to London, from what immediate cause there is no record to show; but some writers assert that he resigned his command. In 1651 we find that the Parliament again solicited Major-General Mytton’s services, the following letter having been forwarded to him by the President Bradshawe. The kingdom was disturbed at this period by the Scottish Covenanters, under the nominal command of Charles II.:—
“Sr,
The Scotts army being now entred into England, and bending their course towards those parts where wee know you have a good interest, wee conceive your presence there may bee of use for the service of the Commonwealth; wee therefore desire you forthwith to repaire into the Countie of Salop, and there, with the rest of your fellow Commissioners, doe your best endeavour, and put out your interest there for the raiseing of what force of horse and foot you can, for the service of the Commonwealth in this present exigency of affaires.
Signed in the name and by order of the Councell of
State, appointed by authority of Parliament,
JO: BRADSHAWE, Prsidt.”“Whitehall, 14th August, 1651.”
“For Major General Thomas Mytton.”
Most probably by this time General Mytton had grown tired with the hard toils of intestine warfare, and become disgusted with the faithlessness of the men whom he had so ardently and faithfully served; for we do not find that he complied with Bradshawe’s letter, or took any further part in public affairs. He died in the metropolis in the year 1656, and his body was taken down to Shrewsbury, and interred in St. Chad’s Church there.