The Siege of Colchester.

BY JOSEPH W. SPURGEON.

N the early part of 1648, Charles, unwilling to

yield without a final struggle, had concluded his secret negotiations with the Scots which led to the Second Civil War. The Duke of Hamilton mustered the Scottish forces, and marched across the Border, where he was joined by the English Cavaliers, under Sir Marmaduke Langdale. There were other formidable risings in favour of the king, especially in the south-eastern counties.

On June 1st Fairfax defeated the Kentish Royalists at Maidstone. Another body of Royalists under the newly-created Earl of Norwich (better known as Lord Goring), who were marching to join their friends, on hearing of their defeat turned aside to Blackheath, intending to enter London, but Fairfax pressed them so closely that they crossed the Thames into Essex, arriving at Chelmsford on June 9th. Here they were strengthened by a body of Essex horse, commanded by Sir Charles Lucas of Colchester,

and a party of Hertfordshire men under Lord Capel. The united forces, numbering some four thousand men, now marched to Colchester, and after a short struggle with the inhabitants forced their way into the town on the afternoon of June 12th. The resistance of the townspeople arose from the fact that their sympathies were on the side of the Parliament. They had helped to form the "Eastern Counties Association," and from 1642 to 1648 had contributed no less than £30,000 to the Parliamentary cause. Their uninvited guests therefore

met with but scant welcome.

But

The plan of the Royalists was to occupy Colchester for a few days, until their northern allies should reach the Midlands; meanwhile keeping Fairfax fully employed, and thus preventing his junction with Cromwell. Fairfax had followed them more rapidly than they expected. On the 11th he reached Brentwood; leaving his army to continue the march, he fetched Sir Thomas Honeywood, with 2,000 Essex volunteers, from Coggeshall, and by the 13th, less than a day after Goring's seizure of Colchester, the whole of his forces had arrived before its walls. A peremptory demand for

surrender was sent to Goring, which he disdainfully refused, and forthwith Fairfax attempted to carry the town by assault, but after a stubborn contest, with severe loss on both sides, he was repulsed. This was the only defeat, says Mr. Malden, that Fairfax ever encountered. He then determined to compel the Royalists to surrender, and proceeded at once to beleaguer the town. It was ill-prepared for a siege, and its defenders had had too little time to lay in sufficient provisions.

Within seven days the investment was all but complete. The approaches to Colchester by road and river were secured; on the west and south a continuous line of earthworks was erected, and the north side of the river was guarded by detached forts. The Royalists had meanwhile been busy. Several of the larger buildings were adopted by them as defensive posts, such as the Abbey gateway, Grimston's house, the Priory church, and the churches of St. Leonard-at-Hythe and Greensted. Batteries were placed at intervals round the walls. Their most important outposts were the Hythe and Greensted, especially the latter, because it gave them access to the district on the east, which they foraged for supplies.

On the 20th the arrival of the Suffolk volunteers considerably augmented the strength of the besiegers. On July 1st they assisted Col. Whalley in the capture of Greensted church and the mill at East Bridge, thus completing the investment, and on the 14th they took the Hythe. By the next day the defenders had to retreat within the walls, leaving the outer portions of the town in the enemy's hands. Fairfax now made the Hythe his headquarters, and prepared to starve the enemy into surrender. A number of bold but unsuccessful sallies were made by the besieged, the last one being on the 27th July.

For a month after this the siege continued. Fairfax, confident of the eventual submission of the Royalists, contented himself with holding the positions he had gained; while the garrison still held out in the hope of the Scottish forces coming to their relief. By the end of July most of the food had gone, and a diet of horseflesh commenced. The non-belligerent inhabitants petitioned Fairfax to allow them to leave the town, but he said his trust did not permit him to do so, as it would enable the garrison to hold out the longer. So things went on until the 24th of

August, when the news arrived of the defeat of Hamilton and Langdale at the battle of Preston; which tidings Fairfax conveyed to the besieged by means of a kite flown over the walls.

The Royalist officers, seeing that all hope of relief was now destroyed, decided to make one last desperate effort to break through the enemy's lines; but the common soldiers were mutinous, being in favour of accepting the terms of surrender offered by Fairfax, viz. :—all under the rank of captain should have “fair quarter," the superior officers "surrendering to mercy;" and having discovered that their officers intended to desert them, they forcibly prevented them leaving the town. Seven hundred and fifty horses having been slaughtered and eaten, only a few were now left, and all other provisions were gone. There was therefore no course open to them but to capitulate, which they did on Sunday, 27th of August; and at two o'clock in the afternoon Fairfax entered the town in triumph. Thus ended the memorable siege of Colchester, which had lasted seventy-six days.

On Monday morning the Royalist soldiers gave up their arms, and were disbanded, while the chief officers "surrendered to mercy." This