The Works of Thomas Carlyle/Volume 6/Letter 11
The ‘great Service,‘ spoken of in this Letter, we must still understand to be the deliverance of Lincolnshire in general; or if it were another, it did not take effect. No possibility yet of getting over into Yorkshire to coöperate with the Fairfaxes,—though they much need help, and there have been speculations of that and of other kinds.[1] For the War-tide breaks in very irregular billows upon our shores; at one time we are pretty clear of Newark and its Northern Papists; and anon ‘the Queen has got into Newark,’ and we are like to be submerged by them. As a general rule, intricate perilous difficulties abound; and cash is scarce. The Fairfaxes, meanwhile, last week, have gained a Victory at Wakefield;[2] which is a merciful encouragement.
“TO THE MAYOR ETC. OF COLCHESTER: THESE”
Gentlemen,—I thought it my duty once more to write unto you For more strength to be speedily sent unto us, for this great Service.
I suppose you hear of the great Defeat given by my Lord Fairfax to the Newcastle Forces at Wakefield. It was a great mercy of God to us. And had it not been bestowed upon us at this very present, my Lord Fairfax had not known how to have subsisted. We assure you, should the Force we have miscarry,—expect nothing but a speedy march of the Enemy up unto you.
Why you should not strengthen us to make us subsist,—judge you the danger of the neglect; and how inconvenient this improvidence, or unthrift, may be to you! I shall never write but according to my judgment: I tell you again, It concerns you exceedingly to be persuaded by me. My Lord Newcastle is near Six-thousand foot, and above Sixty troops of horse; my Lord Fairfax is about Three-thousand foot, and Nine troops of horse; and we have about Twenty-four troops of horse and dragooners. The Enemy draws more to the Lord Faizfax: our motion and yours must be exceeding speedy, or else it will do you no good at all.
If you send, let your men come to Boston. I beseech you hasten the supply to us:—forget not money! I press not hard; though I do so need that, I assure you, the foot and dragooners are ready to mutiny. Lay not too much upon the back of a poor gentleman who desires, without much noise, to lay down his life, and bleed the last drop to serve the Cause and you. I ask not your money for myself: if that were my end and hope,—viz. the pay of my place,—I would not open my mouth at this time. I desire to deny myself; but others will not be satisfied. I beseech you hasten supplies. Forget not your prayers. Gentlemen, I am yours, OLIVER CROMWELL.[3]
‘Lay not too much upon a poor gentleman,’—who is really doing what he can; shooting swiftly, now hither, now thither, wheresoever the tug of difficulty lies; struggling very sore, as beseems the Son of Light and Son of Adam, not to be vanquished by the mud-element!
Intricate struggles; sunk almost all in darkness now:—of which take this other as a token, gathered still luminous from the authentic but mostly inane opacities of the Commons Journals’:[4] ‘21 June 1643, Mr Pym reports from the Committee of the Safety of the Kingdom,’ our chief authority at present, to this effect, That Captain Hotham, son of the famed Hull Hotham, had, as appeared by Letters from Lord Grey and Colonel Cromwell, now at Nottingham, been behaving very ill; had plundered divers persons without regard to the side they were of; had, on one occasion, ‘turned two pieces of ordnance against Colonel Cromwell’; nay, once, when Lord Grey’s quartermaster was in some huff with Lord Grey, ‘about oats,’ had privily offered to the said quartermaster that they two should draw out their men, and have a fight for it with Lord Grey;—not to speak of frequent correspondences with Newark, with Newcastle, and the Queen now come back from Holland: wherefore he is arrested there in Nottingham, and locked up for trial.
This was on the Wednesday, this report of Pym’s: and, alas, while Pym reads it, John Hampden, mortally wounded four days ago in a skirmish at Chalgrove Field, lies dying at Thame;—died on the Saturday following!