The world's mistake in Oliver Cromwell, or, A short political discourse shewing that Cromwell's mal-administration, during his four years and nine moneths pretended protectorship, layed the foundation of our present condition in the decay of trade. Bethel, Slingsby, 1617-1697. 1668 Approx. 45 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A27546 Wing B2079 ESTC R2682 13174461 ocm 13174461 98342 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A27546) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 98342) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 446:9) The world's mistake in Oliver Cromwell, or, A short political discourse shewing that Cromwell's mal-administration, during his four years and nine moneths pretended protectorship, layed the foundation of our present condition in the decay of trade. Bethel, Slingsby, 1617-1697. [2], 20 p. [s.n.], London : Printed in the Year MDCLXVIII [1668] Attributed to Slingsby Bethel. Cf. Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.) Title page has inverted triangle of 16 ornaments between rules. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Great Britain -- History -- Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660 -- Sources. 2006-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-04 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-04 Ali Jakobson Sampled and proofread 2007-04 Ali Jakobson Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE WORLD'S MISTAKE IN Oliver Cromwell ; OR , A short Political Discourse , SHEWING , That CROMWELL'S Mal-administration , ( during his Four Years , and Nine Moneths pretended Protectorship , ) layed the Foundation of Our present Condition , in the Decay of TRADE . LONDON , Printed in the Year MDCLXVIII . THE WORLD'S MISTAKE IN Oliver Cromwell , &c. OF all the Sins , that the Children of Men are guilty of , there is none , that our corrupt Natures are more inclinable unto , than that of Idolatry , a Sin , that may be towards Men , so well as other Creatures , and things ; For , as that which a Man unmeasurably relyes , and setts his Heart upon , is Called his GOD , even as that which he falls down before , and worshippeth : so , when one hath the Person of another in an excess of admiration , whether for Greatness or Richness , &c. which we are subject to adore , we are said to Idolize him ; and therefore the wise Venetians , who , of all men , are most Jealous of their Liberty , Considering that as the nature of Man is not prone to any thing more than the Adoration of Men , So nothing is more destructive to Freedom , hath , for preventing the Mischiefs of it , made it unlawfull , even so much as to mourn for their Duke at his death ; Intimating thereby , that their Felicity and Safety depends not upon the uncertain Thred of any one Man's life ; but upon the Vertue of their good Laws , and Orders , well executed , and that they can never want vertuous Persons to succeed : and how do such Principles in men , lead by little more than Moralitie , reprove those , who have a great measure of Gospel-light , for their senseless excess , in their adoring the remembrance of Cromwell . For as the Objects of Idolatry are mistaken Creatures , or things , proceeding some times from self-love , so well as other causes , So the undeserved approbation , and applause , that Cromwell's memory seems to have with his Adherents , amounting to little less , than the Idolizing of him , appears to me , to be the product of an excessive Veneration of Greatness , and a selfish Partiality towards him ; for that the more honour is given to him , the more prayse they think will consequently redound to them , who were his Favourites ; and they fortifie themselves herein , with the Credit they say he hath abroad , though there is little in that , because the opinion that Strangers have of him , may well be put upon the accompt of their ignorance , in the Affairs of England , which Travellers do finde , to be so great , even amongst Ministers of State , as is to be admired . And now as this Error in Idolizing Oliver hath two moral Evils in it , ( besides the sin in it self : ) The one , a reflection upon the present times , as if the former were better than these ; And the other , the unjust defrauding the Long Parliament of that which is due to them , to give it Idolitrously to him , to whom it doth not belong ; I esteem it a Duty incumbent upon me , to discover the Mistake . I am not insensible , that I shall by this , draw the envye of those upon me , who , being Jealous of their Honour , will be angry for touching them in their Diana ; but knowing my self clear , from the Vices of envying Vertue in any , how contrary soever he may be to me in Judgment , so well , as from being unwilling to allow every one their due Commendations , I will cast my self upon Providence , for the success of this Paper ; And in reference to Cromwell's Government , and the present times , make some Observations relating to both , and , in order thereunto , shew , First , That the original cause of the low condition that we are now ( in relation to Trade ) reduced unto , had its beginning in Olivers time , and the foundations of it , layed , either , by his ignorant mistaking the Interest of this Kingdome , or wilfully doing it , for the advancement of his own particular Interest . Secondly , That his time , for the short continuance , had as much of oppression , and injustice , as any former times . Thirdly and lastly , That he never in his later dayes , valued either honour or honesty . when they stood in the way of his ambition , and that there is nothing to be admired in him ( though so much Idolized ) but that the partiallity of the world , should make him so great a favorite of ignorance , and forgetfullness , as he seems to be . When this late Tyrant , or Protector , ( as some calls him ) turned out the Long Parliament , the Kingdome was arrived at the highest pitch of Trade , Wealth , and Honour , that it , in any Age , ever yet knew . The Trade appeared , by the great Sums offered then for the Customes and Excise , Nine hundred thousand pounds a year , being refused . The Riches of the Nation , shewed it self , in the high value , that Land , and all our Native Commodities bore , which are the certain marks of opulencie . Our Honour , was made known to all the world , by a Conquering Navie , which had brought the proud Hollanders upon their Knees , to begg peace of us , upon our own Conditions , keeping all other Nations in awe . And besides these advantages , the publick stock , was Five hundred thousand pounds in ready Money , the value of seven hundred thousand pounds in Stores , and the whole Army in Advance , some four ▪ and none under two months ; so that though there might be a debt of near Five hundred thousand pounds upon the Kingdom , he met with above twice the value in lieu of it . The Nation being in this flourishing and formidable posture , Cromwell began his Usurpation , upon the greatest advantages imaginable , having it in his power to have made peace , and profitable Leagues , in what manner he had pleased withall our Neighbours , every one courting us then , and being ambitious of the friendship of England ; But as if the Lord had infatuated , and deprived him of common sence and reason , he neglected all our golden opportunities , misimproved the Victory God had given us over the United Netherlands , making peace ( without ever striking stroak ) so soon as ever things came into his hands , upon equal tearms with them . And immediately after , contrary to our Interest , made an unjust Warr with Spain , and an impollitick League with France , bringing the first thereby under , and making the latter too great for Christendome ; and by that means , broke the ballance betwixt the two Crowns of Spain , and France , which his Predecessors the Long Parliament , had alwayes wisely preserved . In this dishonest Warr with Spain , he pretended , and indeavoured , to impose a belief upon the world , that he had nothing in his eye , but the advancement of the Protestant Cause , and the honour of this Nation ; but his pretences , were either fraudulent , or he was ignorant in Forreign affairs ( as I am apt to think , that he was not guilty of too much knowledge in them ) For he that had known any thing of the temper of the Popish Prelacie , and the French Court pollicies , could not but see , that the way to increase , or preserve the reformed Interest in France , was by rendring the Protestants of necessary use to their King , for that longer than they were so , they could not be free from persecution , and that the way to render them so , was by keeping the ballance betwixt Spain and France even , as that ▪ which would consequently make them usefull to their King : But by overthrowing the ballance in his Warr with Spain , and joyning with France , he freed the French King from his fears of Spain , inabled him to subdue all Factions at home , and thereby to bring himself into a condition of not standing in need of any of them , and from thence , hath proceeded the persecution that hath since been , and still is , in that Nation , against the reformed there ; so that Oliver , instead of advancing the reformed Interest , hath by an error in his Polliticks , been the Author of destroying it . The Honour and Advantage he propounded to this Nation , in his pulling down of Spain , had as ill a foundation ▪ For if true , as was said , that we were to have had O stend , and Newport , so well as Dunhirk ( when we could get them ) they bore no proportion in any kind , to all the rest of the King of Spains European Dominions , which must necessarily have fallen to the French Kings share , because of their joyning , and nearness to him , and remoteness from us , and the increasing the greatness of so near a Neighbour , must have increased our future dangers : But this man , who through ignorance , is so strangely cryed up in the world , was not guilty of this error in State only , but committed as great a solecisme , in his designing the outing of the King of Denmark , and setting up of the King of Sweden : For had the Sweeds , but got Copenhagen , ( as in all probability had Oliver lived , they would have done ) they had wanted nothing of consequence , but the Cities of Lubeck and Dantzigge , ( which by their then potencie , they would easily have gained ) of being Masters of the whole Baltick Sea , on both sides ▪ from the Sound or mouth down to the bottome of it ; by which , together with all Denmark ▪ Norway , and the Danes , part of Holstein , which would consequently have been theirs ( they then having as they still have the Land of ●remen ) there would have been nothing , but the small Counties of Ouldenburge , and East-Friezland , ( which would easily have fallen into their mouths ) betwixt them , and the United Netherlands ▪ whereby Sweden , would on the one side to the North , and North-East , have been as great , as France on the other , to the South , and South-West , and they two , able to have divided the Western Empire betwixt them . And whereas , it had in all Ages been the policies of the Northern States and Potentates , to keep the Dominion of the Baltick Sea , devided amongst several pettie Princes and States , that no one might be sole Master of it ; because otherwise , most of the necessary Commodities for shipping , coming from thence and Norway , any one Lord of the whole , might lay up the shipping of Europe , by the walls , in shutting only of his Ports , and denying the Commodities of his Country to other States . Cromwell contrary to this wise Maxime , endeavoured to put the whole Baltick Sea into the Sweeds hands , and undoubtedly had ( though I suppose ingnorantly ) done it , if his death had not given them that succeeded him , the Long Parliament , an opportunity of prudently preventing it : For if he had understood the importance of the Baltick Sea to this Nation , he could not have been so impolitick , as to have projected so dangerous a design against his new Vtopia , as giving the opening and shutting of it to any one Prince . I am not ignorant , that this error is excused , by pretending that we were to have had Elsinore and Cronenburge Castle , ( the first , the Town , upon the narrow entrance of the Baltick , called the Sound , where all Ships Rides , and payes Toll to the King of Denmark ; and the latter , the Fortress , that defends both Town and Ships , ) by which we should have been Masters of the Sound , and consequently of the Baltick ; but they that knows those Countries , and how great a Prince the Sweed would have been , had he obtained all the rest , besides these two Bables , must confess , we should have been at his devotion , in our holding of any thing in his Countries : And further , if the dangerous consequence of setting up so great a Prince , had not been in the case , it had been against the Interest of England to have had an obligation upon us to maintain places so remote , against the enmity of many States and Princes ; and that for these reasons : First , because the ordinary Tolls of the Sound , would not have defrayed half the charge , and to have taken more than the ordinary Tolls , we could not have done , without drawing a generall quarrel upon us , from most of the Princes , and States of the Northern parts of Europe . Secondly , because the experience of all former times sheweth us , that foreign acquisitions , have ever been Chargeable , and prejudicial to the people of England , as Sir Robert Cotton makes it clearly appear , That not only all those Pieces of France , which belonged to us by rightfull succession ; but also those we held by Conquest , were alwayes great burthens to our Nation , and cause of much poverty and misery to the People . And it is not our Case alone , to be the worse for Conquests , ( although more ou●s , than other Countries , because of the Charge and uncertainty of the Windes and Weather in the Transportation of Succours and relief by Sea , which contiguous Territories , which are upon the Maine , are not subject to , ) but the Case also of ( I think I may say ) all other Kingdoms . In France , their burthens and oppressions have grown in all ages , with the greatness of their Kings ; Nay , even after their last peace with Spain , by which they had given them peace with all the world , besides many places in the Spanish Netherlands , and Catalonia into boot : Upon which the poor people promised themselves ( though vainly ) an unquestionable abatement of Taxes ; instead of that , they found their pressures increased dayly , and their King , though overgrownly great and rich himself , yet the people so poor , that thousands are said to dye in a plentifull year , for want of bread to their water , nothing being free there , but fresh water and aire ; For ( except in some few priviledged places ) wherever they have the conveniencie by their Situation of Sea-water , ( least they should make use of the benefit of that , which God and Nature hath given them , for saving the charge of Salt , ) every family is forced to take so much Salt of the King , at his own rate , ( which is above ten times the price it is sold for to strangers , for transportation ) as is judged they may spend in a year ; the Lord deliver all other Countries from their example . In Sweden , that King , Cou●t ▪ and their Military Officers , are the better for their Conquests , in Germany , Denmark , Russia , and some places antiently belonging to Poland ; but the Commons the worse : Spain is undone ▪ by the great number of people sent thence to the West-Indies , which hath depopulated the Country , France reaping more benefit by keeping their people at home to Manufactures , than Spain doth by sending theirs abroad for Silver and Gold ▪ and now , though by these instances it may appear to be the Interest of the people of other Nations , so well as ours , to live in peace , without covering additions ; yet it is more our true Interest , ( because , by reason of our Situation , we have no need of Forreign Frontier Towns , our Ships well ordered , being better than other Princes bordering Garrisons ) than any other Kingdoms to neglect especially Europian acquisition , and colonies , and apply our selves : First , To the improving of our own Land , of which we have more than we have people to manage . Secondly , To the Increasing our Home and Forreign Trades , for which we have natural advantages above any other Nation . Thirdly and Lastly , ( by our strength which Trade will increase ) To make use of it , together with the helps that God and Nature hath given us in our Situation , and otherwise , in keeping the Ballance amongst our Neighbours ; For if the Province of Holland , which is but Four hundred thousand Acres of profitable ground , is by the benefit of Trade able to do so much , as we experienced the last Warr , what might we do , if Trade were improved , who have much more advantages for it , than they have : I ascribe what was done by the Netherlands in the late Warr to the Province of Holland ; because , that though the Provinces are seven in number , Hollands due proportion of all charges , is 58⅓ in a hundred , to all the others 41⅔ , of which 41⅔ , Holland gets little more than 20 ▪ honestly paid them , insomuch , that it alone may be reckoned to beat four fifths in a hundred , to one fifth that all the other six bears ; and how prodigious a thing is it , that Holland , no bigger than as before mentioned , should be able to Coap with England , Scotland , and Ireland , and that though their Charges in the late Warr was abundantly greater than ours , yet by their good management , to be so little the worse for it , that at the conclusion of the Warr , to have their Credits so high , that they could have commanded what Money they had pleased at Three in the Hundred , and all this by the meer additional benefit of Trade and good Order ; and how by Comwells indiscreet neglecting of Trade , and choosing Warr when he was in Peace , did he miss the true Interest of England , as by his ill founded designs , he did the Interest of the Reformed Religion ; For if he had succeeded in his unjust Invasion of the Spanish Territories in the West-Indies , ( as God seldome prospereth dishonest undertakings ) it being intended for a State acquisition , the benefit would not have been defusive , but chiefly to himself and Favorites , and prejudicial to the people in generall , thought at the expence of their substance , the acquests would have been made ▪ For had he met with so much success in the gaining those Countries , and in them , that plenty of Gold and Silver as he vainly hoped for , we should have been as unhappy in them ( in the depopulating of our Countries , by the loss of the multitude of people that must have been sent thither , and in impoverishing our Nations by the vast charge of a continual Warr ) as Spain is , and to no other end , than the making of him only Rich , able to Inslave the remaining people , and to make himself absolute over them ; for the preventing of which , in such Tyrants as Cromwell , surely Moses had an eye , when he said that they should not greatly multiply Silver and Gold. And thus , as Cromwells designs must , to an impartial Judgement , appear to have been laid , some dishonestly , others impolitickly , and all contrary to the Interest of the Kingdome , so the Issue of them was dammageable to the people of England : As , First , in his sudden making a Peace with Holland , so soon as he got the Government , without those advantages for Trade , as they who beat them did intend to have had , as their due , and just satisfaction for their Charges in the War. Secondly , in his War with Spain , by the losse of that beneficial Trade to our Nation , and giving it to the Hollanders , by whose hands we drave ( during the War ) the greatest part of that Trade which we had of it , with 25. in the hundreth profit to them , and as much losse to us . Thirdly , by our losse in that War with Spain , of 1500 English ships , according as was reported to that Assembly , called Richards Parliament . Fourthly , in the disgracefullest defeat at Hispaniola that ever this Kingdom suffered in any age or time . Fifthly , and lastly , in spending the great Publick stock he found , and yet leaving a vast Debe upon the Kingdom , as appeared by the Accompts brought into Richards Assembly ; which had , ( I believe ) been yet much higher , but that they who under him managed the Affairs , were a sort of People who had been long disciplin'd , ( before his time ) to a Principle of Frugality , and against Cheating ; though at cousening the poorer People ▪ for their Masters benefit ▪ some of them were grown as dexterous , as if they had been bred in the Court of Spain ; For besides imposing Richard upon the People , after his Fathers death , by a forged Title , according to the very Law they took to be in being , when by his Assembly , they were ordered to bring in an Accompt of the Receipts , and payments of the Kingdom ; they made about Sixty thousand pounds spent in Intelligence , whereas it cost not above Three or Four thousand at most ; and calculating the rest by these , it may well be concluded , that they were expert in their Trades . It is confessed , that Olivers Peace and League with France , was upon honourable Articles ; but as the tottering Affaires of France then stood , much more could not have been sooner asked , than had ; For Mazerine , being a Man of a large and subtle wit , apprehending the Greatness of England at that time , which was then dreadfull to the World , and the Vast advantages France would have in pulling down , by their help , of Spain , granted him , not onely any thing for the present that he demanded , but disregarded also , even his Parties making their boasts of the awe he had him under , Considering , that when Cromwell had helped him , to do his Work , in bringing under the House of Austria , and therein casting the ballance of Christendom on his side , he should afterwards have leisure to recover what then he seemed to part with ; And though nothing is more ordinary ▪ than to hear Men bragg , how Oliver Vapoured over France , I do esteem Mazerine's complying with him , for his own ends , to be the Chief piece of all his Ministry ; For by that means only , and no other , is his Master become so great at this day , that no Factions at home can disturb his Peace , nor Powers abroad frighten him , Which is more than any King of France , since Charles the Great , could say ; And when his Neighbour Nations have ( too late I fear ) experienced his Greatness , they will finde cause to Curse the ignorance of Oliver's Politicks ; and therefore , when a true measure is taken of Cromwell , the approbation that he hath in the World , will not be found to have its Foundation in sence or reason , but proceeding from Ignorance , and Atheisme : From Ignorance , in those that takes all that was done by him , as a Servant , and whilest under the direction of better Heads , than his own , to be done by him alone ; And from Atheisme , in those that thinks every thing lawfull that a man doeth , if it succeed to his advancement ; But they that shall take an impartial View of his Actions whilest he was a Single Person , and at liberty to make use of his own Parts without controll , will finde nothing worthy Commendations , but cause enough from thence to observe , that the wisedom of his Masters , and not his own , must have been that by which he first moved ; and to attribute his former performances , whilest a Servant , ( as is truly due ) to the Judgement and Subtilty of the Long Parliament , under whose Conduct and Command he was . And now from Cromwells neglecting to live in peace , as if he had pleased he might have done with all the World , to the great enriching of this Nation ; The improvement of our Victory over Holland in his peace with them , His being the Cause of the losse of our Spanish Trade , during all his time , Of the losse of 1500 English ships in that War , besides , by it , breaking the Ballance of Europe , Of the expence of the Publick Stock and Stores he found , with the contracting a Debt of Nineteen hundred thousand pounds , according to his own accompt , ( which , for ought I know he left behinde him , but am apt to think the Debt was not altogether so great ▪ though made so to his Sonne Richard's Assembly , as a means to get the more Money from the poorer people : ) And lastly , of the dishonourable overthrow we met with at Hispaniola , It may well be Concluded that he lay the Foundation of our present want of Trade , to what we formerly enjoyed ; and that the reason why his miscarriages were not sooner under observation , is ▪ because our Stock of Wealth and Honour at his Coming to the Government , being then unspeakably great , stifled their appearance , untill having since had some unhappy additional Losses , they are now become discernable as first Losses to a Merchant , who Concealedly bears up under them , are afterwards discovered by the addition of second Losses , that sincks him : When I contemplate these great Failings , I cannot but apprehend the sadd Condition any people are in , whose Governour drive on a distinct contrary Interest to theirs ; for doubtless Cromwell's over-weening Care to secure his particular Interest , against His Majesty , ( then abroad ) and the Long Parliament , whom he had turned out , with a prodigious Ambition of acquiring a glorious Name in the World , carried him on to all his Mistakes and Absurdities , to the irrepairable losse and dammage of this famous Kingdom . To prove the second Assertion , That Oliver's Time was full of Oppression and Injustice , I shall but instance in a few of many Particulars , and begin with John Lilburne , not that I think him in any kinde one that deserved favour or respect , but that equal Justice is due to the worst so well as best men , and that he comes first in order of time . 1. John in 1649. was by Order of the then Parliament tryed for his Life , with an intent ( I believe ) of taking him away , but the Jury not finding him Guilty , he was immediately , according to Law , generously set at liberty by those , that had quarrell enough against him . This Example in the Parliament of keeping to the Laws in the Case of one , who was a professed implacable Enemy to them , ought to have been Copied by Cromwell ; but in the contrary , to shew that there was a difference betwixt his and his Predecessors ( the Long Parliaments ) Principles , when the Law had again upon a second Tryal ( occasioned by Oliver ) Cleared Lilburne , the Parliaments submitting to the Law was no Example to him ; For , contrary to Law , he kept him in Prison , untill he was so far spent in a Consumption , that he onely turned him out to dye . 2ly . Mr. Conyes Case is so notorious , that it needs little more than naming : He was a Prisoner at Cromwells Suit , and being brought to the Kings Bench Barr by a Habeas Corpus , had his Counsell taken from the Barr , and sent to the Tower for no other reason , than the pleading of their Clients Cause ; an Act of Violence , that I believe the whole Story of England doth not parallel . 3ly . Sir Henry Vaine , above any one Person , was the Author of Olivers Advancement , and did so long , and cordially Espouse his Interest , that he prejudiced himself ( in the opinion of some ) by it , yet so ungratefull was this Monster of Ingratitude , that he studied to destroy him , both in Life and Estate , because he could not adhere to him in his Perjury and Falseness . The occasion he took was this , He appointing a Publick Day of Humiliation , and seeking of God for him , invited all Gods people in his Declaration , to offer him their advise in the weighty affairs then upon his shoulders : Sir Henry taking a rise from hence offered his Advise by a Treatise , called The Healing Question ; But Cromwell ▪ angry at being taken at his word , Seized , Imprisoned , and indeavoured to proceed further against him , for doing only , what he had invited him to do ; and some may think , that Sir Henry suffered justly , for having known him so long , and yet would trust to any thing he said . 4ly . In Richards Assembly , certain Prisoners in the Tower , under the then Lieutenant , and some sent thence to Jersey , and other places beyond the Sea , complained of false Imprisonment . Their Goalor was sent for , and being required to shew by what Authority he kept those persons in hold , produceth a Paper all under Olivers own Hand ▪ as followeth . Sir , I pray you seife such and such Persons , and all others , whom you shall judge dangerous men , do it quickly , and you shall have a Warrant after you have done . The nature of this Warrant was by Richards Assembly debated , and having first Richards own Counsells opinion in the Case , as Serjeant Maynard , &c. they Voted the Commitment of the Complainants to be Illegall , Unjust , and Tyrannical ; and that first , because the Warrant by which they were Committed was under the hand of the then ( as they called him ) Chief Magistrate , who by Law ought not to commit any by his own Warrant . Secondly , because no Cause was shewn in the Warrant ; And Thirdly , ( in the Case of those sent out of the reach of a Habeas Corpus , which in Law is a Banishment ) because no English-man ought to be Banished by any less Authority than an Act of Parliament . And therefore , for these reasons , they Voted farther , that the Prisoners should be set at Liberty without paying any Fees , or Charges , but the turning out , and punishing the Lieutenant by the Assembly ( for obeying so unjust a Warrant ) was prevented by their sodain dissolution . 5ly . The Tyrany in the decemating a party restored to common Priviledges with all others , and the publick Faith given for it , by a Law made to that end , by the then powers in being , is sufficiently shewed in the mentioning of it , only there is this aggravating Circumstance in it , That Cromwell , who was the principal ▪ Person in procuring that Law , when he thought it for his advantage not to keep it , was the only Man for breaking it : But to the honour of his first Assemblie , next following , it may be remembred , that they no sooner came together , than like true English-men , who are alwayes jealous of the Rights and Priviledges of the people , damned the Act of Decemation as an unjust and wicked breach of Faith. The third Assertion of Cromwells knowing no honesty , where he thought his particular Interest was concerned , is made good ; First ( though therein he mistook his Interest ) in his odious and unjust Warr with Spain , without the least provocations , meerly out of an ambitious and covetous design of robbing that Prince of his Silver and Gold Mines , and because he judged it for his Credit to disguise his unlawfull desires , he proceeded in it , by imploying his Creatures in the City , to draw the Marchants to complain of Injuries done them by Spain , and to Petition for Reparations ; but by a cross Providence , his Project had a contrary Success ; for instead of answering his seekings , the Marchants remonstrated to him , the great prejudice that a Warr with Spain would be to England , and shewed , that , that King , had been so farr from Iujuring us , that he had done more for Compliance and preventing a Breach with England , than ever he had done in favour of any other Nation ; But when Oliver saw his Method would not take , he called the Remonstrators Malignants , and begun the Warr of his own accord , in which , he was highly ingratefull in designing the ruine of that Prince , who all along had been most faithfull to his Party . Secondly , His Falseness and Ingratitude , appeared superlatively in turning out his Masters , who had not only advanced him , but made themselves the more odious by their partial affection towards him , and in his doing it , with the breach of a positive negative Oath , taken once a year , when made a Counsellor of State , besides the breach of all other Ingagements , Voluntary Imprecations ▪ Protestations , and Oaths , taken frequently upon all occasions in Discourse and Declarations ; and yet further ( when he had turned them out ) and left them void of Protection , and exposed them to the Furie of the people , in pursuing them with false reproachful Declarations , enough to have stired up the rude multitude to have destroyed them , wherever they had met them . Thirdly , His want of Honour , so well as Honesty , appeareth , yet further , in that having by a long series , of a seeming pious deportment , gained by his dissimulation , good thoughts in his Masters , the Long Parliament , and by his Spiritual gifts , winded himself into so good an opinion with his Souldiers , ( men generally of plain breeding , that knew little besides their Military Trade , and Religious Exercises ) that he could impose , in matters of business , what belief he pleased upon them ; he made use of the credit he had with each , to abuse both , by many vile practices , for making himself popular , and the Parliament and Army odious to one another , and because the Artifices he used are too many to innumerant , I shall but instance in some few ; As his slie complaining Insinuations against the Army to the Parliament ▪ and against them to the Army : His being the chief Cause of the Parliaments giving rewards to his Creatures , and then , whispering Complaints amongst his Officers , of their ill Husbandry : His obstructing the House in their business , by long drawling Speeches , and other wayes , and then complaining of them to his Souldiers , that he could not get them to do any thing that was good : His giving fair words to every one , without keeping promise with any , except for his own advantage , and then excusing all with forgetfullness : And his deserting his Major Generalls , in their decimations , crying out most against them himself , when he only had set them at work , because questioned by his Assembly , is not to be sorgotten , &c. I would not be understood , to remember any thing here , in Favour of the Long Parliament , for what might be Wicked in him , might be Just as to them ; And though , if what he did , had been for the Restauration of his Majesty , he might have been excused , yet being for his own Single Advancement , it is unpardonable , and leaves him a Person to be truly admired for nothing but Apostasie & Ambition , and exceeding Tyberius in dissimulation . I am not ignorant , that some thinks it matter of praise in him , that he kept us in peace , four years , and nine months ; but that hath little in it , his Majesty having done the like , almost double his time , since his Return , with one fifth part of that number of Souldiers which he Commanded ; though he , hath also had the trouble of pressing , and sometimes forcing Uniformity in Religion ▪ which he found under severall Forms ; whereas Oliver , kept the Nation purposely divided in opinions , and himself of no declared Judgement , as the securest way of ingageing all severall perswasions equally to him ; which Artifice , together , with his leaving the Church Lands alienated as he found them , were all the true Principles of Policie that I know of , which he kept unto . The Honesty of these Principles , I referr to the judgement of every mans Conscience ; but if we may judge of things by experience and success , they seem to have been very happy in the world ; For in comparing the Condition of the Protestant Countries at present , to what they were in times of Popery , we shall find them abundantly more considerable now , than formerly ; for in taking a true Survey of the Reformed Dominions , we shall discover them to bear no proportion at all in largeness , to the Popish , and that there is nothing , that keeps the Ballance betwixt the two parties , but the advantage that the first hath , in being free from the Bondage of the Church of Rome , and the latters being under it ; For as the Church of Romes mercies , are ( by their Principles ) Cruelties , so had they power answerable to the naturall richness of the Soyl of their Countries , and extent of their Territories , they would long ere this have swallowed up the Protestant Churches , and made Bonefires of their Members ; but as God , in his Mercy and Wisdome , hath by his Over Ruling Hand of Providence , preserved his Church ; so for the Romish Churches inabilitie to effect that which they have will , and malice enough to carry them on to do , there are these natural reasons . First , There being generally of the Popish Countries , above one Moyetie belonging to Churchmen , Monks , Fryars , and Nunns , who like Droans , spends the Fat of the Land , without contributing any thing to the good of mankind , renders them much the less considerable . Secondly , Marriage being forbidden to all these Sorts , and Orders , occasions great want of people every where , ( they being uncapable of any Children but those of darkness ) except in France , which is an extraordinary Case , proceeding partly , by not being so subject to Rome , as other Countries of that belief are ; but especially from the Multitude of Protestants , that are among them . Thirdly , The blind Devotion of these People , carrying them on to vast expences , in the building , and richly adorning of many needless and superfluous Churches , Chapells , and Crosses , &c. with the making chargeable Presents by the better , and Pilgrimages by the meaner sort , to their Idolls , keeps all degrees under . Fourthly , The many Holydayes , upon which , the labouring man is forbidden to work , adds much to their poverty . But Fifthly and Lastly , The vast number of begging Fryars , who living Idly , and purely upon the sweat of other mens brows , without taking any labour themselves , makes it impossible , for the lower sort of people , who thinks they are bound in Conscience to relieve them , ever to get above a mean Condition ; Now whosoever shall seriously weigh and ponder these Circumstances , under which the Popish Countries lyes , and consider the Reformeds advantage in being free from them , must confess it the less wonder , that the Evangelical Princes , and States , with their small Dominions , compared to the others great , are able to bear up against them ; and now as the alienation of Church-lands , the turning out the Romish Vermin , the Priest , Monks , Fryars , and Nunns , ( who devours all Countries where ever they come ) and freedom from the Popish Imposition upon Conscience , hath mightily increased the greatness of the Protestant Princes , and States , to what they antiently were , and the not doing the same in the Popish Countries , keeps those Princes under ; so , even amongst the Reformed , where the Church Lands are most alienated , and Liberty of Conscience most given , they prosper most , as in Holland , and some parts in Germany , with other places . And on the contrary Denmark , where Church Lands are least alienated of any of the Reformed Countries ▪ and the City of Lubeck , where , of all the free Imperial Cities of Germany Liberty of Conscience is least given they thrive least in both places . And I think it will also hold , that as this famous Kingdome , in the times of Popery , was in no measure so formidable as now it is ; so before the Restauration of our Hierarchie to their Lands , their hoording up the money which before went in Trade , and their discouraging and driving into corners the industrious sort of people , by imposing upon their Consciences , it flourished more , was richer , and fuller of Trade , than now it is ; And I dare undertake to be a Prophet in this , That if ever any Protestant Countrey , should be so farr forsaken of the Lord as to be suffered to turn unto Popery , these Observations will be made good in their visible losse of the Splendor , Riches , Power , and Greatness , that they now know . Had Cromwell been a Person of an open prophane Life , his Actions had been less scandalous ; but having been a Professor of Religion , they are not to be pleaded for , neither can it be consistent with Religion to palliate them which have been of so much offence , and ( as may be feared ) made so many Atheists in the World ; And I cannot but stand amazed , when I hear him extolled by some , not Ignorant of his Practises , knowing in Religion , and ( as I hope ) fearing God. Now I will suppose , I may be suspected to have been injured , or disobliged by Oliver ; but I can with Truth affirm , I never received either Good or Evil from him in all my Life , more than in Common with the whole Kingdom ( which I think may be allowed to render me the more a Competent Judge in his Case ; ) and that I am so farr from being moved unto this , out of any quarrel to him , that , as I have here mentioned , some few of many Injustices , and State-errors , that he was guilty of in his short time , If I were conscious of any thing more , during his Protectorship , worthy applause , than I have here mentioned , I should not envy it him , but freely remember it ; and if any think I have not said enough on his behalf , and too much to his disadvantage , I have this for my Buckler , that I wish I could have said more for him , and had known less against him ; professing , that besides what I have here hinted , I am wholly ignorant of any one Action in all his Four Years and Nine Moneths time , done either wisely , Vertuously , or for the Interest of this Kingdom , and therefore that I am none of his Admirers , I ought to be pardoned by my Readers . Much more might be said upon this Subject , but this may suffice to shew , that if Mazerine ( at the hearing of Olivers death ) thought he had then reason for calling him a Fortunate Fool , if he were now living he would finde more Cause for it , Cromwell's Lott , as to Reputation , having been exceedingly much greater since his death , than whilst he was in the World : And that from forgetfulness of his impolitick Government , ( from whose Entrance we may date the commencement of our Trades decay ; ) And ( through want of memory ) in mens giving to him the Cause of our former Wealth and Prosperity , which truly belongeth to others . But what opinion soever Mazerine may have had of Oliver , he was without all peradventure a Person of more than ordinary Wit , and no otherwise a Fool than as he wanted Honesty , no Man being wise but an Honest Man. FINIS .