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nossessed exactly the qualities most required. od strategist, he excelled at raising and

Without being a politician, he had a bearing of a political situation on miliWithout being a leader of men, he knew them; and how to temper command with e and person might require. Although he manded regular, mercenary armies abroad, he to observe the subtle, but all-important, differauner that befits a leader of volunteers. He the peasants and burghers with confidence in his p, the ministers with satisfaction in his orthodoxy, les with acquiescence in his bearing towards them

e were feared,' wrote Baillie,' that emulation among our nobles at have done harme, when they should be mett in the fields; bot n was the wisdome and authoritie of that old, little, crooked uldier, that all, with ane incredible submission, from the beginning o the end, gave over themselves to be guided by him, as if he had been great Solyman. Certainlie the obedience of our nobles to that man's advyces was as great as their forbears wont to be to their king's commands'

fortunately, indeed, far greater than what they had shown to most of the vexed wearers of the crown of Macbeth

'yet that was the man's understanding of our Scotts humour, that gave out, not onlie to the nobles, bot to verie mean gentlemen, his directions in a verie homelie and simple forme, as if they had been bot the advyces of their neighbour and companion.'

It is often upheld that Leslie had little enthusiasm for the cause of the Covenant, or for any other cause whatever. This judgement appears to be based on the purely negative evidence afforded by his despatches, because they are not loaded with the usual texts of Scripture; but Cromwell's habit of expressing his religious and political feelings in business letters was by no means universal even among the English Puritans, and it may well be that it was still more rare in the school of Gustavus, where Leslie had learnt the duties of a general. Although it cannot be doubted that he was a less emotional man than Cromwell, there is reason to think that he carried about much silent devotion under an impassive exterior. In the first place, an old battered soldier nearer his sixtieth than his fiftieth year, and sated with wealth and honours, does not throw himself into a new and arduous service in which failure means hanging, without further incentives than pay and reputa

of state as well. The local importance of the nobles was no less threatened by the large grants of land already made to the new hierarchy, and the rumours of resumption in that interest of the confiscated Church lands in their possession. But it was not merely that their political and social position was endangered. They too had been brought up, like the rest of the nation, to love the Calvinistic doctrine and worship, which the bishops had hitherto done little to suppress, but which was now threatened by the new Prayer-book. What good effects two generations of upbringing in that strait school had had on the nobility may be judged by comparing the moderation and public spirit which they showed during these two years of crisis with the savage violence and untutored egoism by which their grandfathers had repeatedly endangered the same cause, and half enlisted the sympathy of mankind on the side of Mary Stuart. But the Scotch nobles were still, though in a lesser degree, the same mad forces as of old. To appoint one of their own number as commander-in-chief would be to awaken hereditary feuds and jealousies, while to appoint over their heads a burgher or a private gentleman of no reputation would merely be to expose him to their insolence. On the other hand, without a chief whom all would willingly obey, no army could be formed, still less held together. The Scotch enterprise would in all likelihood have gone to ruin but for the timely appearance of a man who curiously combined all the qualifications essential for this very peculiar post, which a man of greater genius might have filled less well.

Alexander Leslie was of gentle birth and profession, but being an illegitimate child had no hereditary pretensions. His claim to respect lay in the record of his services in the camp and on the field, for he was one of the first generals in the famed Swedish army. Having been in foreign employment practically without a break from his twenty-fourth to his fifty-seventh year, he appears to have bad in Scotland no connexions, and consequently no enemies, personal or public.* He was the very man to unite the quarrelsome leaders of his native land under his authority, provided his talents and his temper were as suitable as his position in the world.

He went with Lord Rothes to raise troops in Fife; Rothes was head of the Leslies, and his position among the Covenanters may have helped Alexander to obtain the post of general. But there is no proof of this, and certainly, if the connexion had involved further political consequences, more mention would have been made of it in Baillie or elsewhere.

Fortunately he possessed exactly the qualities most required. Without being a good strategist, he excelled at raising and disciplining armies. Without being a politician, he had a keen eye for the bearing of a political situation on military possibilities. Without being a leader of men, he knew how to manage them; and how to temper command with courtesy, as time and person might require. Although he had long commanded regular, mercenary armies abroad, he remembered to observe the subtle, but all-important, difference of manner that befits a leader of volunteers. He inspired the peasants and burghers with confidence in his leadership, the ministers with satisfaction in his orthodoxy, the nobles with acquiescence in his bearing towards themselves.

'We were feared,' wrote Baillie,' that emulation among our nobles might have done harme, when they should be mett in the fields; bot such was the wisdome and authoritie of that old, little, crocked souldier, that all, with ane incredible submission, from the beginning to the end, gave over themselves to be guided by him, as if he had been great Solyman. Certainlie the obedience of our nobles to that man's advyces was as great as their forbears wont to be to their king's commands'

fortunately, indeed, far greater than what they had shown to most of the vexed wearers of the crown of Macbeth

'yet that was the man's understanding of our Scotts humour, that gave out, not onlie to the nobles, bot to verie mean gentlemen, his directions in a verie homelie and simple forme, as if they had been bot the advyces of their neighbour and companion.'

It is often upheld that Leslie had little enthusiasm for the cause of the Covenant, or for any other cause whatever. This judgement appears to be based on the purely negative evidence afforded by his despatches, because they are not loaded with the usual texts of Scripture; but Cromwell's habit of expressing his religious and political feelings in business letters was by no means universal even among the English Puritans, and it may well be that it was still more rare in the school of Gustavus, where Leslie had learnt the duties of a general. Although it cannot be doubted that he was a less emotional man than Cromwell, there is reason to think that he carried about much silent devotion under an impassive exterior. In the first place, an old battered soldier nearer his sixtieth than his fiftieth year, and sated with wealth and honours, does not throw himself into a new and arduous service in which failure means hanging, without further incentives than pay and reputa

tion. Secondly, his later conduct showed that he was not prepared, as is often asserted, to engage in any quarrel for which the Scotch Estates were ready to hire his service. When in 1648 they organised an invasion of England in alliance with the Cavaliers, he disapproved so strongly that he resigned his command. On the other hand, in the Dunbar campaign two years later, when Scotland was again in arms for the Covenant, he consented to go down into the field as Lord General, though his extreme old age forced him to leave most of his duties to David Leslie. Lastly we have the evidence of a letter to Hamilton, which for once is something more than a despatch. Here only, in all the correspondence that Mr. Terry gives, does Leslie utter the thoughts of his heart. But on this occasion it is no uncertain voice; there is no touch of conventionality, coldness, or hypocrisy in his lament for Gustavus:

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So ar we to our unspeakable greife deprived of the best and most valorous commander that evir any souldiers hade, and the Church of God with hir good cause of the best instrument under God, we becaus we was not worthe of him, and she for the sinnes of hir children; and altho' our lose who did follow him sal be much greater, for how can it be when the heade which gave such heavenly influence unto all the inferiore members that nevir any distemperature or weakness was seen in them, how can it be since that heade is taken from the body, bot the members thereof gall fall unto much fainting and confusion? But this I say not, that after I doubt of God's providence, or of these whom he has left as actores behind him, for I am persuaded that God wil not desert his own cause, bot will yet stirre up the heartis of some of his anoynted ones to prosecute the defence of his cause, and to be emolouse of such renowne as his Majestie has left behind him for evir. . . . Now it remaines that we turne our sorrow to revenge, and our own hearts to God by earnest prayer that he would stirre up the heartis of such men as may doe good to his cause, and now tak it in hand when it is in such a case' (p. 31).

It is to be observed that it is not the man so much as the cause that Leslie has at heart. His is not the cry of Heine's grenadier on hearing that Napoleon has fallen. It is not the lament of a soldier for his chief, but of a Protestant for his religion. He came to Scotland to uphold the same cause, and he did it all the better because he was a shrewd and businesslike man who preferred action to long dis

courses.

In the spring of 1638 Leslie had bring away his wife and children.

visited Scotland to But he found his

This visit to Scotland in the spring has escaped Mr. Terry's

native land convulsed by an agitation which, by appealing to his sympathies, altered not only his immediate plans, but the whole future course of his life. He returned quietly to the Continent, retired from the Swedish army where he had served thirty years, busied himself in the arrangements for the import of arms and ammunition into Scotland, and used the great influence he had with numbers of his countrymen to induce them to throw up their commissions and return home to defend their country. In the autumn he and many of his comrades in arms found their way home by slipping through the watch of the English cruisers. Posterity, misled by the obvious analogy of Sir Walter's hero, has sometimes regarded these men as inspired by the motives of Sir Dugald Dalgetty. But this was not the impression they left on those who knew them best.

To help their boasted mother-church and country,' says Baillie, 'they have deserted their charges abroad to their great losse, which they knew she was never able to make up: they have here, on verie easie and small conditions, attended her service. . . . The renowne of their kindness, and the conscience of their desert at the hand of their mother, for ever will be their greatest and most glorious recompence.'

With the help of these professional subordinates, many of whom had already served under him and knew his methods, Leslie was able to carry out his designs in his own way, and to weld the enthusiastic Scotch volunteers into a real army. The nobles and gentlemen were made colonels and captains over the troops they had led to the muster, but the lieutenants who advised them were nearly all officers from over the sea. The vigour that inspired this national armament was first tested in operations which reduced all resistance within the covenanted districts of Scotland. Edinburgh and Dumbarton Castles, which in more than one civil war, both before and after this date, proved insuperable obstacles to the complete triumph of the stronger party, were surprised and captured. All centres of royalism throughout the country were stamped out by military expeditions, and when in the late spring of 1639 Charles approached the border, a united nation and a disciplined army stood in his path.

In England Charles had not been paralysed by resistance, but he had been hampered by want of support. His

notice. But see Gardiner (cabinet edition), vol. viii. p. 388, text and

note.

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