| When
Major-General Richard Deane gave up his command in Scotland
at the end of 1652 in order to serve at sea it was reported
that 'all things at present are at a strange kind of hush'.
But it was the quiet before a storm. Lord Middleton, who had
managed to escape from the Tower of London after being taken
prisoner at the battle of Worcester, was nominated by King
Charles II as his commander in the Highlands and pending his
arrival there the Earl of Glencairne initiated a period of
guerrilla warfare. Colonel Robert Lilburne, the Anabaptist
officer who took over from Deane, though without the rank
of Major-General, found his task too much for him. A rising
began in the Highlands in July 1653 and Lilburne soon discovered
that he had neither the strength nor the means to suppress
it. Though the Marquis of Argyll remained cautiously neutral,
his son, Lord Lorne, threw in his lot with the Royalists and
Lilburne reported that without reinforcements of cavalry he
was unable to cope with the outbreak. He was a sound officer,
but he soon lost heart and was delighted when at the end of
1653 Monk was ordered to return to Scotland.
 Monk
did not assume his appointment until April 1654, when he
was given extensive powers. Meanwhile Middleton had arrived
and the fire of revolt spread. By February of that year
Middleton had 8000 warriors at his command. It is a measure
of Monk's personality and influence that while his demands
on London were similar to those of Lilburne much more notice
was taken of them. As soon as he reached Dalkeith, which
he made his headquarters, and had grasped the situation,
he asked Cromwell for reinforcements both of soldiers and
of warships as well as for money - he had found only £500
in the Scottish Treasury. His needs having been met, he
launched a campaign against Middleton's forces in the Highlands
in June, as soon as the grass had grown enough to feed his
horses. He divided his army into two columns, one led by
himself, the other under the command of Major-General Thomas
Morgan, and after a brilliant display of the art of manoeuvre
amid the lochs and hills, Monk drove his enemy back on to
Loch Garry where Morgan awaited them. Mobility was the secret
of Monk's success, for his men were provided with seven
days' rations. Thenceforward Middleton was never able to
collect a force of more than a few hundred men. Monk and
Morgan systematically devastated the Highlands, imposing
fines on fathers who let their sons fight and offering rewards
for the capture of Royalist leaders. 'We have followed the
enemy these five weeks,' reported Monk to Cromwell on July
17th, 'and have now dispersed them into many several parts,
having marched them from 3000 to 1200 . . . We have burnt
such parts of the Highlands where they were utterly engaged
against us . . .' and since the Scottish Cavaliers, for
their part, threatened to set on fire the estates of the
neutral Marquis of Argyll, he thought 'that the whole of
the Highlands will, in all probability, be laid waste'.
Afterwards Monk, who had established
a first-class intelligence system, arranged for a policing
of the Highlands that prevented his enemies from rallying
or uniting. He also completed the building of fortresses
at Inverlochy, Inverness, Ayr, Perth and Leith, which enabled
him to maintain the peace and at the same time release troops
for punitive expeditions. But the policy of allowing Scots
to volunteer for military services overseas, which had been
practised on the Irish by Fleetwood, did not work so well
as it had done in Ireland, though Monk himself preferred
it to the wholesale transportation of prisoners of war to
the West Indies. By these means he was able to reduce the
English garrison of Scotland from thirteen regiments of
foot and seven of horse to eleven of foot and five of horse
and also to lower the establishment of the regiments. Thus
the burden upon the English Treasury was diminished, although
Monk continued to complain to Whitehall that the pay of
his men was nearly always in arrears. He also protested
to Cromwell that the assessment of taxes on Scotland was
higher than the country could bear and managed to persuade
him to reduce it.
- Maurice Ashley, 'Cromwell's
Generals - "General Monck"'.
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