urity is
attributed to the same influence which sanctioned Wagstaff's repair to
the rendezvous, and which protected him from Major Butler's horsemen.

Having thus dealt with that 'bold and dangerous insurrection in the
West,' Cromwell turned northward, and took in hand that rather vague
affair at Marston Moor, on which, as he asserted, 'the enemy most
relied.' His account of that event was, that the Royalists who met there
dispersed and ran away in confusion, partly because of a failure among
the plotters; but also, 'in respect that Our Forces, by their marching
up and down in the country, and some of them providentially, at that
time, removing their Quarters, near to the place of Rendezvous, gave
them no opportunity to reassemble.' Again, Cromwell is, to a certain
extent, correct. Divided counsels did keep one of the principal
Yorkshire Royalists from the meeting, and he may have had followers;
and others were stayed, when on the march, by a timely warning that they
were on a fool's errand. But the assertion, that the Royalists were
dispersed by a providential movement of troops, and by 'Our Forces
marching up and down' Yorkshire, is utterly false. And, as before, the
witness against Cromwell is one of Cromwell's servants. An officer,
responsible for the peace of Yorkshire, reported to his chief in London
regarding himself and his comrades, that 'notwithstanding all our
frequent alarums from London of the certainty of this plot, carried on
with such secrecy on the traitor's part, though we were upon duty, and
in close quarters, we had no positive notice of it till the day was
past.' And no other soldiers were in that neighbourhood during the night
of the 8th of March. The only martial display that the occasion called
forth, was the march of two troops of horsemen into York about three or
four days subsequently; and the officer in command reported that if more
men were wanted, they must be drawn from Durham, Newark, or Hull.[50]

Thus it was that Cromwell dealt with 'the Insurrection of Yorkshire.' If
the Royalists had, in truth, 'reckoned on 8000 in the North,' or if York
had been in danger, soldiers, and not 'alarums' would have been sent
into Yorkshire. Nor was he mistaken in deeming that the Royalists relied
most on that attempt. Hoping to find a large gathering of Levellers in
arms against the Protector, many of the principal Yorkshire landowners,
of higher rank and more influential than poor Penruddock or any of h