On August 23rd, 1648, letters were read in the House of Commons from Cromwell, giving an account of the fighting in Lancashire. The total number of prisoners was stated to be 10,000, including many of the Scottish nobility; 3,000 of the invading army had been killed, and much ammunition, together with 150 colours, had been taken.[205] September 7th was appointed as a public thanksgiving day, and Warden Heyrick was named as one of the preachers before the House of Commons. Cromwell returned at once to Lancashire, where he stayed one night at Stonyhurst; and then summoning all his troops which had been left in Lancashire to follow him, he marched after Monro into Scotland, where he remained for some months, returning to London in December. There was, however, still a little to be done in the way of reducing the royalists still in arms in the north of England, and this was entrusted to Assheton. But they were so disorganised that little or no fighting was necessary. Assheton and his Lancashire troops dislodged them from Cockermouth, whence they marched to Carlisle, but they were refused admittance to the town, and scattered in various directions; the main body of cavalry, about 1,000 in number, retreated to Appleby. Here Assheton followed them, and as the royalists had no spirit for further fighting terms were soon agreed upon. The inferior officers and common soldiers were to lay down their arms and have liberty on promising to observe all the Ordinances of Parliament; the Colonels were given six months in which to leave the country. Appleby Castle was surrendered on Oct. 9th together with 1,000 arms and 5 pieces of ordnance. Most of the 1,200 horses of the royalists were bought at low rates by the Parliamentarians before the actual surrender. The chief officers were Sir Philip Musgrave, Sir Thomas Tyldesley, Sir Robert Strickland, Sir William Huddleston; the whole list included 15 Colonels, 9 Lieutenant-Colonels, and 65 inferior officers.[206]
So once more the fighting in Lancashire was over, and the stricken country had again a few years more in which to recover from its distress. Its condition was now even more pitiable than before. Trade was destroyed, life disorganised, and everyone suffered indirectly if not directly from the Scotch Invasion. The care of the wounded soldiers scattered up and down the county was an added burden. Parliament had ordered that voluntary offerings made in all the churches and chapels of England and Wales on the Thanksgiving day, September 7th, should be devoted to the relief of Lancashire, one half to the care of the wounded soldiers, and one half for the relief of the general distress. The London treasurer of this fund was Henry Ashhurst, brother of William Ashhurst, M.P. for Newton, and of Major John Ashhurst. But the sum subscribed was not very large. Probably people's intentions were generous enough, but they had little to give. In the following May a pitiful appeal was issued by the Major and Bailiffs of Wigan, and four well known Lancashire Ministers, describing "the lamentable condition of the county of Lancashire and particularly of the towns of Wigan, Ashton and the parts adjacent." These two towns were perhaps worse off than the average, having been visited by pestilence; but the description given would apply in a less degree to the whole county. "In this county," the appeal runs, "hath the plague of pestilence been ranging these three years and upwards occasioned chiefly by the wars. There is a very great scarcity and dearth of all provisions, especially of all sorts of grain, particularly that kind by which that country is sustained, which is full six-fold the price that of late it hath been. All trade, by which they have been much supported, is utterly decayed; it would melt any good heart to see the numerous swarms of begging poore and the many families that pine away at home, not having faces to beg. Very many now craving almes at other men's dores, who were used to give others almes at their dores—to see paleness, nay death appear in the cheeks of the poor, and often to hear of some found dead in their houses, or highways, for want of bread."[207]
During the next few years, great events were being enacted in London, but in these Lancashire had no part. The county was full of unrest, which found its outlet in disturbances and riots. Two years later the Council of State was much concerned with disturbances which broke out at Preston, Ormskirk, Manchester, and Rochdale, in resistance to the imposition of the Excise. Large numbers of people were put in prison; and three troops of horse under Major Mayer were commissioned to remain in Lancashire until further orders to assist Colonel Birch and the Sheriffs to preserve the peace of the county. The Act for bidding the proclamation of a King was duly published in Lancashire from Feb. 5-10, 1649, but it evidently provoked no enthusiasm in the county, for the remnants of the royalist party began to carry themselves with much more boldness than formerly. In July, a party of them well armed and mounted, even dared to proclaim Charles II. as King at Manchester Cross. They then rode to Wigan and to Kendal with the same object; and it was only after some days that meeting with a troop of Parliamentarian soldiers they were dispersed.[208]
The same spirit of unrest was shown in the difficulties encountered in enforcing the Ordinance for Disbanding the militia. Four thousand of Colonel Assheton's troops, being zealous for the Covenant, at first refused to disband. On February 10th the House of Commons ordered that Assheton's and Shuttleworth's troops were to be disbanded by Major-General Lambert, who was authorised to use force if necessary; but some months at least elapsed before the order could be carried into effect. It was not altogether zeal for the Covenant but also the fact that their pay was largely in arrear, that caused the opposition among the Lancashire soldiers. The matter was considered important enough to receive the attention of Cromwell himself, and on February 27, 1648‑9, the Council of State requested him to urge on the House of Commons the necessity of providing a further sum of money for disbanding the Lancashire forces. On March 4th, accordingly, the Committee at Goldsmith's Hall were ordered to pay the sum of £1,444/14/10 which had been voted for this purpose. A month later practically all the soldiers were dispersed except one or two free companies, who gathered all the disorderly spirits in the county and lived by plunder. One of these under Captain Bamber was ordered to be disbanded by force by Major General Assheton, their horses and arms being restored to those from whom they had been stolen. They gave out that they were appointed for service in Ireland, but they had no commission. Bamber seems to have preyed upon the county for two months longer before he was actually subdued by Colonel Duckenfield.[209]
This was probably the last service which the Parliament ever asked Assheton to undertake. He and the other leaders who had subdued the county seven years before were now entirely out of sympathy with the existing government of the country. When the militia was further re-organised in 1650, the matter was taken out of their hands altogether. Assheton, Shuttleworth, Rigby, Colonel Richard Standish, and Sir Richard Hoghton, were formally dismissed from employment in connection with the Militia; and the commissions which were granted in the following summer to Lancashire officers, were nearly all given to new men. Joseph Rigby became Lieutenant-Colonel, and there were one or two names which had previously appeared in the records of the war; but for the most part those previously best known are absent. Colonel Thomas Birch seems to have been the only one of the former leaders who still enjoyed the confidence of the Parliament, and he was for the next few years largely entrusted with the direction of affairs in Lancashire.[210]
FOOTNOTES:
[192] "Political History of England," Vol. 7, p. 339.
[193] "C.W.T.," pp. 248-251.
[194] Rigby to the Speaker, May 6, 1648 ("Tanner MSS.," Cary, Vol. 1, pp. 407-410). May 5 was a Friday, and the following Monday was therefore May 8. Rigby says that May 6 had been appointed for a general royalist rising in Lancashire.