[205] "C.J.," Vol. 5, pp. 680, 685. On September 25 the Committee at Derby House was asked to grant a Commission to Assheton as Major-General in Lancashire, and for him to have 40 shillings per diem as pay in addition to his pay as Colonel of horse and Colonel of foot. The Lancashire Committee were also to be asked to recommend to the House of Commons some way of paying the arrears due to the soldiers. "C.J.," Vol. 6, p. 32.
[206] "A Great Victory at Appleby, by Col.-General Ashton, etc." "C.W.T.," pp. 273-276. Whitelock's "Memorials" (1732 edition), p. 390.
[207] "C.J.," Vol. 5, p. 680. "C.W.T.," p. 277.
[208] Sir Gilbert Ireland, Sheriff of Lancashire in 1649, wrote to the Speaker giving a full list of the times and places at which the Act forbidding the Proclamation of a King was published in the county ("Tanner MSS.," Vol. 57, fol. 522).
"C.S.P.," 1650, pp. 40, 44, 50, 75, 78. Complaint is made of 'pulpit incendaries' who "have endeavoured for the setting up of an interest of their own, destructive of that of the people, to stir up the people to disobedience, and again to embroil us in new troubles, and enflame the nation into another war."
[209] Whitelock's "Memorials" (1732 edition), p. 390; also quoted in "C.W.T.," p. 277. "C.S.P.," 1649‑1650, pp. 70, 98, 139, 163.
[210] "C.S.P.," 1650, p. 34. For the reorganisation of the Militia, ibid., pp. 308, 509, a list of the Commissions being given.
[CHAPTER X.]
The Last Stand. Battle of Wigan Lane. Trial and Death of the Earl of Derby.
During the last five years the Earl of Derby had been in the Isle of Man. Since the failure of the former overtures made to him by the Parliament through the agency of Sir John Meldrum, he had been living in retirement at Castle Rushen. It was the life which he liked best, and had it not been for the recollections of the events of the preceding years, he might have been happy in the leisure afforded for the exercise of the literary tastes in which he delighted. He composed, during this period, his Commonplace Books and several Books of Devotions which manifest his deeply religious nature. But confinement and reflection only deepened the natural melancholy of his nature, and increased his hatred for the enemies who had deprived him of his position and his estates. In 1644 Meldrum had found him willing to listen to reason; proposals made a few years later were rejected with contempt. In 1649 Derby was summoned to surrender the Isle of Man, being offered the enjoyment of half his estate if he would do so. He had apparently petitioned to compound in the ordinary way and particulars of his estate were furnished by himself, upon which his fine was estimated at £15,572; but when matters had gone so far the Earl changed his mind, and he refused to "forfeit his allegiance and sell his loyalty for £15,000."[211] Apparently there would have been opposition on the other side. Representations were made to the Council of State about the resentment with which the prospect of admitting the Earl of Derby to his composition had been received in some parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. It was urged that if he should complete his surrender and be free to enter Lancashire again the peace of the county would be in danger; and the Council of State ordered that the matter should not be proceeded with until the pleasure of Parliament was known.[212] Evidently therefore there were insuperable obstacles on both sides. The last proposals had apparently been made through General Ireton, and in reply to these the Earl of Derby wrote his famous letter of defiance. "I scorn your proffers, disdain your favour, and abhor your treason; and am so far from delivering up this Island to your advantage, that I will keep it to the utmost of my power to your destruction. Take this for your final answer, and forbear any further solicitations; for if you trouble me with any more messages on this occasion, I will burn the paper, and hang the bearer; this is the immutable resolution, and shall be the undoubted practice of him who accounts it his chiefest glory to be his Majesty's most Loyal and Obedient Servant Derby."