The enemy had broken down part of the stone bridge which gave entrance to the town, had planted guns on the remaining part, and had also placed guns on a newly-made fort on a hill, near the town, commanding the road from York. This affair is worthy of notice because, as will presently be seen, it reflects upon the character of Goring, the Lieutenant-General of the Horse.
“My Lord ... ordered a march before the said Town in this manner: That the greatest part of his Horse and Dragoons should in the night march to a Pass at Weatherby, five miles distant from Tadcaster, towards North-west, from thence under the Command of his then Lieutenant General of the Army, to appear on the West side of Tadcaster early the next morning, by which time my Lord with the rest of his Army resolved to appear at the East-side of the said Town; which intention was well design’d, but ill executed; for though my Lord with that part of the Army which he commanded in person, that is to say, his Foot and Cannon, attended by some Troops of Horse, did march that night, and early in the morning appear’d before the Town on the East side thereof, and there drew up his Army, planted his Cannon, and closely and orderly besieged that side of the Town, and from ten in the morning till four a Clock in the afternoon, battered the Enemies Forts and Works, as being in continual expectation of the appearance of the Troops on the other side, according to his order; yet (whether it was out of Neglect or Treachery that my Lords Orders were not obeyed) that days Work was rendered ineffectual as to the whole Design.”
“Ineffectual” because Goring and his horse did not “appear on the West side of Tadcaster early the next morning”. Consequently the enemy escaped during the night and went “to another strong hold not far distant from Tadcaster, called Cawood-Castle, to which, by reason of its low and boggy Scituation, and foul and narrow Lanes and passages, it was not possible for my Lord to pursue them without too great an hazard to his Army; whereas had the Lieutenant General performed his Duty, in all probability the greatest part of the principal Rebels in Yorkshire would that day have been taken in their own trap, and their further mischief prevented”.
Although Goring is not mentioned by name, in the above account, there can be little doubt that he was the delinquent. We know the name of the Lieutenant-General who commanded “the greatest part of the horse and dragoons”. Whether his conduct was due to drunkenness, or to treachery, or to jealousy of Newcastle, does not appear. The poet, whose guns “battered the enemy’s forts and works,” may have done better than might have been expected on this occasion.
At about this period a very courteous correspondence took place between Newcastle and the younger Hotham. The relations of the Hothams to Newcastle are a matter of history concerning which the Welbeck manuscripts contain many interesting and important details. Only fragments from those manuscripts can be given here.
In December, 1642, Captain John Hotham, Sir John’s son, wrote to Newcastle[56] about an exchange of prisoners, offering to release “as many as the Earl has released, without an exchange”. On the 27th he wrote: “Your free and noble expressions of doing me so many great and real favours shall make me endeavour either to requite them or be extremely thankful for them”.
[56] Portland MSS., vol. I, 80, 84, 87.
A few days later he wrote: “With faith and honour to serve the King and the Commonwealth is all our ambition, and to leave that to posterity which our ancestors left us, an untainted name”. And he goes on to “bewail the unhappiness of these distractions, that hinder me from attending upon your Lordship”.
A week afterwards he wrote again to Newcastle: “I honour the King as much as any and love the Parliament, but do not desire to see either absolute conquerors.... If the honourable endeavours of such powerful men as yourself do not take place for a happy peace, the necessitous people of the whole Kingdom will presently rise in mighty numbers and whosoever they pretend for at first, within a while they will set up for themselves, to the utter ruin of all the nobility and gentry of the kingdom.”