Northamptonshire to Doncaster, when these counter-movements of the enemy convinced him that to reach the borders was hopeless; and he made a sudden divergence south-east, to inflict a flying chastisement on those counties of the eastern association, which had so long kept him at bay, and sent out against him the invincible Cromwell and his ironsides. These were now engaged in the west, and he swept through Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, ravaging and plundering without stint or remorse. On the 24th of August he took Huntingdon itself by assault; but ha did not delay, but continued his marauding course through Woburn and Dunstable, thence into Buckinghamshire, and so to Oxford, where he arrived on the 28th. In this flying expedition, Charles and his soldiers had collected much booty from his subjects, and especially from the town of Huntingdon, no doubt with much satisfaction, from its being Cromwell's residence.
At Oxford Charles received the cheering news that Montrose had achieved another brilliant victory over the covenanters. He had, on again issuing from the mountains, menaced Perth, where the Scottish parliament was sitting, and then descended into the lowlands. It was evident that he was acting in concert with the king, who at that very time was making his hurried march for the borders. He crossed the Forth near Stirling, where at Kilsyth he was met by Baillie and his new army. The committee of estates would insist on Baillie giving battle. Fasting and prayer for four days had been held, and they were confident of success. But at the first charge the cavalry of the covenanters were scattered: the infantry fled almost without a blow, and such was the fury of the pursuit, that five thousand of them were slain. This victory opened all the lowlands to the royalists. Argyll and the principal nobles escaped by sea to England. Glasgow opened its gates to the conqueror, and the magistrates of Edinburgh hastened to implore his clemency towards the city, and to propitiate him by liberating all the royalist prisoners, promising obedience to the king. Most of these liberated prisoners, and many of the nobility, joined the standard of Montrose.
Had the king been able to effect his junction with him at this moment, the effect must have been great, but it could only have occasioned more bloodshed, without insuring any decided victory, for all England was by this time in the hands of the parliament. Sir David Leslie, instead of following the king with his cavalry southward again, had continued his march northward, to prevent any inroad on the part of Montrose, and the earl of Leven, quitting Hereford, advanced northward to support him. Charles immediately quitted Oxford, and advanced to Hereford, where he was received in triumph. Thence he set out to relieve Rupert, who was besieged by Fairfax and Cromwell in Bristol; but on reaching Raglan Castle, he heard the appalling news that it had surrendered. The prince had promised to hold it for four months, yet he surrendered in the third week of the siege. It was concluded by Fairfax to storm it on the 10th of September, 1645, which was done accordingly. It was assaulted, by the troops under colonel Welden, commissary-general Ireton, Cromwell, Fairfax, general Skippon, colonels Montague, Hammond, Rich, and Rainsborough, from different sides at the same time, The town was set on fire in three places by the royalists themselves, and Rupert, foreseeing the total destruction of the city, capitulated. He was allowed to march out, and was furnished with a convoy of cavalry, and the loan of one thousand muskets to protect them from the people on the way to Oxford, for he had made himself so detested by his continual ravagings of the inhabitants that they would have knocked him and his men on the head; even as he passed out of the city the people crowded round with fierce looks, and muttered, "Why not hang him?"
We have Cromwell's account of the taking of the place, who says that the royal fort was victualled for three hundred and twenty days, and the castle for nearly half as long. That there was abundant stores of ammunition, with one hundred and forty cannon mounted, between two and three thousand muskets, and a force of nearly six thousand men in foot, horse, train-bands, and auxiliaries. Well might Charles feel confounded at the surrender. He was so exasperated, that he overwhelmed Rupert with reproaches: he even accused him of cowardice or treason, revoked his commission, and ordered him to quit the kingdom. He ordered the council to take him into custody if he showed any contumacy. He arrested Rupert's friend, colonel Legge, and gave the prince's office of governor of Oxford to Sir Thomas Glenham. And yet Rupert appears to have only yielded to necessity. He was more famous at the head of a charge of horse than for defending cities. Bristol was carried by storm by a combination of the best troops and the most able commanders of the parliament army, and was already burning in three places. Further resistance could only have led to indiscriminate massacre.
But great allowance must be made for the irritation of Charles. The fall of Bristol coming after the defeat of Naseby, was a most disheartening event, and it was quickly followed by news still more prostrating.
The success of Montrose had proved the ruin of his army. A Highland force is like a Highland torrent; wider its clan chiefs, it is impetuous and overwhelming, but soon exhausted. The soldiers, gathered only for the campaign, no sooner collected a good booty than they walked off back to their mountains, and thus no Highland force, under the old clan system, ever effected any permanent advantage, especially in the Lowlands. So it was here; Montrose's descent from the hills resembled the torrent, and disappeared without any traces but those of ravage. He had secured no fortified places, nor obtained any means of permanent possession. He executed a few incendiaries, as they were called, at Glasgow, and then advanced towards the border, still in hope of meeting some royal forces. But the Gordon clan had disappeared; Colkitto had led back the other Highlanders to their mountains, and Montrose found himself at the head of only about six hundred men, chiefly the remains of the Irish. Meantime, Sir David Leslie, with his four thousand cavalry, was steadily advancing towards the Forth, evidently to put himself betwixt Montrose and the Highlands, and then suddenly wheeling westward, he returned on the unwary marquis, and surprised the commander who had before been accustomed to surprise every one else.
Montrose was in Selkirk, busy writing despatches to the king, and his little army was posted at Philiphaugh. Leslie
