THE WORLD'S MISTAKE IN Oliver Cromwell; OR, A short Political Discourse, SHOWING, That CROMWELL'S Maladministration, (during his Four Years, and Nine Month's pretended Protectorship,) laid the Foundation of Our present Condition, in the Decay of TRADE.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year MDCLXVIII.   

THE WORLD'S MISTAKE IN Oliver Cromwell, etc.  
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 relies, and sets 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, etc. which we are subject to adore, we are said to Idolise 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 unlawful, even so much as to mourn for their Duke at his death; Intimating thereby, that their Felicity and Safety depends not upon the uncertain Thread of any one Man's life; but upon the Virtue of their good Laws, and Orders, well executed, and that they can never want virtuous Persons to succeed: and how do such Principles in men, lead by little more than Morality, 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 Idolising 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 praise they think will consequently redound to them, who were his Favourites; and they fortify 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 account of their ignorance, in the Affairs of England, which Travellers do find, to be so great, even amongst Ministers of State, as is to be admired. And now as this Error in Idolising Oliver hath two moral Evils in it, (besides the sin in itself:) 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 myself clear, from the Vices of envying Virtue in any, how contrary soever he may be to me in Judgement, so well, as from being unwilling to allow every one their due Commendations, I will cast myself 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, show,  
First, That the original cause of the low condition that we are now (in relation to Trade) reduced unto, had its beginning in oliver's time, and the foundations of it, laid, either, by his ignorant mistaking the Interest of this Kingdom, 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 days, 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 Idolised) but that the partiality of the world, should make him so great a favourite of ignorance, and forgetfulness, as he seems to be.  
When this late Tyrant, or Protector, (as some calls him) turned out the Long Parliament, the Kingdom 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 Customs and Excise, Nine hundred thousand pounds a year, being refused. The Riches of the Nation, showed itself, in the high value, that Land, and all our Native Commodities bore, which are the certain marks of opulency. Our Honour, was made known to all the world, by a Conquering Navy, which had brought the proud Hollanders upon their Knees, to beg peace of us, upon our own Conditions, keeping all other Nations in awe. And besides these advantages, the public 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 withal 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 sense and reason, he neglected all our golden opportunities, misimproved the Victory God had given us over the United Netherlands, making peace (without ever striking stroke) so soon as ever things came into his hands, upon equal terms with them. And immediately after, contrary to our Interest, made an unjust War with Spain, and an impollitick League with France, bringing the first thereby under, and making the latter too great for Christendom; and by that means, broke the balance betwixt the two Crowns of Spain, and France, which his Predecessors the Long Parliament, had always wisely preserved.  
In this dishonest War with Spain, he pretended, and endeavoured, 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 Foreign 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 Prelacy, and the French Court policies, could not but see, that the way to increase, or preserve the reformed Interest in France, was by rendering 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 balance betwixt Spain and France even, as that▪ which would consequently make them useful to their King: But by overthrowing the balance in his War with Spain, and joining with France, he freed the French King from his fears of Spain, enabled 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 Politics, 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 stand, 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 Spain's European Dominions, which must necessarily have fallen to the French Kings share, because of their joining, 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 cried up in the world, was not guilty of this error in State only, but committed as great a solecism, 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 potency, they would easily have gained) of being Masters of the whole Baltic Sea, on both sides▪ from the Sound or mouth down to the bottom 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 kremen) 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 Baltic Sea, divided amongst several petty 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 Maxim, endeavoured to put the whole Baltic 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 Baltic Sea to this Nation, he could not have been so impolitic, as to have projected so dangerous a design against his new Utopia, 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 Baltic, called the Sound, where all Ships Rides, and pays 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 Baltic; 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 Babbles, 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 general quarrel upon us, from most of the Princes, and States of the Northern parts of Europe.  
Secondly, because the experience of all former times showeth 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 rightful succession; but also those we held by Conquest, were always great burdens 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 Winds and Weather in the Transportation of Succours and relief by Sea, which contiguous Territories, which are upon the Main, are not subject to,) but the Case also of (I think I may say) all other Kingdoms. In France, their burdens 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 daily, and their King, though overgrownly great and rich himself, yet the people so poor, that thousands are said to die in a plentiful year, for want of bread to their water, nothing being free there, but fresh water and air; For (except in some few privileged places) wherever they have the conveniency by their Situation of Sea-water, (lest 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 anciently 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 Foreign 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 ourselves:  
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 Foreign 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 Balance 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 War, 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 War to the Province of Holland; because, that though the Provinces are seven in number, Holland's 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 Cope with England, Scotland, and Ireland, and that though their Charges in the late War was abundantly greater than ours, yet by their good management, to be so little the worse for it, that at the conclusion of the War, 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 mere additional benefit of Trade and good Order; and how by Comwells' indiscreet neglecting of Trade, and choosing War 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 seldom prospereth dishonest undertake) it being intended for a State acquisition, the benefit would not have been defusive, but chiefly to himself and Favourites, and prejudicial to the people in general, thought at the expense 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 War) as Spain is, and to no other end, than the making of him only Rich, able to Enslave 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 Cromwell's designs must, to an impartial Judgement, appear to have been laid, some dishonestly, others impolitickly, and all contrary to the Interest of the Kingdom, so the Issue of them was damageable 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 loss of that beneficial Trade to our Nation, and giving it to the Hollanders, by whose hands we drove (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 loss to us.  
Thirdly, by our loss in that War with Spain, of 1500 English ships, according as was reported to that Assembly, called Richard's 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 Public stock he found, and yet leaving a vast Debe upon the Kingdom, as appeared by the Accounts brought into Richard's 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 disciplined, (before his time) to a Principle of Frugality, and against Cheating; though at cozening the poorer People▪ for their Master's 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 Father's 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 Account 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 oliver's Peace and League with France, was upon honourable Articles; but as the tottering Affairs 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 dreadful to the World, and the Vast advantages France would have in pulling down, by their help, of Spain, granted him, not only 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 balance 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 brag, 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 find cause to Curse the ignorance of Oliver's Politics; 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 sense or reason, but proceeding from Ignorance, and Atheism: From Ignorance, in those that takes all that was done by him, as a Servant, and whilst under the direction of better Heads, than his own, to be done by him alone; And from Atheism, in those that thinks every thing lawful that a man doth, if it succeed to his advancement; But they that shall take an impartial View of his Actions whilst he was a Single Person, and at liberty to make use of his own Parts without control, will find nothing worthy Commendations, but cause enough from thence to observe, that the wisdom of his Masters, and not his own, must have been that by which he first moved; and to attribute his former performances, whilst a Servant, (as is truly due) to the Judgement and Subtlety of the Long Parliament, under whose Conduct and Command he was. And now from Cromwell's 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 loss of our Spanish Trade, during all his time, Of the loss of 1500 English ships in that War, besides, by it, breaking the Balance of Europe, Of the expense of the Public Stock and Stores he found, with the contracting a Debt of Nineteen hundred thousand pounds, according to his own account, (which, for aught I know he left behind him, but am apt to think the Debt was not altogether so great▪ though made so to his Son Richard's Assembly, as a means to get the more Money from the poorer people:) And last, 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, until having since had some unhappy additional Losses, they are now become discernible as first Losses to a Merchant, who Concealedly bears up under them, are afterwards discovered by the addition of second Losses, that sinks him: When I contemplate these great Failings, I cannot but apprehend the sad Condition any people are in, whose Governor drive on a distinct contrary Interest to theirs; for doubtless Cromwell's overweening Care to secure his particular Interest, against His Majesty, (than 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 irreparable loss and damage 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 kind 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 tried 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 quarrel 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, aught to have been Copied by Cromwell; but in the contrary, to show that there was a difference betwixt his and his Predecessors (the Long Parliaments) Principles, when the Law had again upon a second Trial (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, until he was so far spent in a Consumption, that he only turned him out to die.  
2ly. Mr. Coneys Case is so notorious, that it needs little more than naming: He was a Prisoner at Cromwell's Suit, and being brought to the King's Bench Barr by a Habeas Corpus, had his Counsel taken from the Bar, 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 Vain, above any one Person, was the Author of oliver's Advancement, and did so long, and cordially Espouse his Interest, that he prejudiced himself (in the opinion of some) by it, yet so ungrateful 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 Public Day of Humiliation, and seeking of God for him, invited all God's people in his Declaration, to offer him their advice 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 endeavoured 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 Richard's 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 show by what Authority he kept those persons in hold, produceth a Paper all under oliver's own Hand▪ as followeth. Sir, I pray you selfe 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 Richard's Assembly debated, and having first Richards own Counsels opinion in the Case, as Sergeant Maynard, etc. they Voted the Commitment of the Complainants to be Illegal, 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 shown 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 Englishman 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 sudden dissolution.  
5ly. The Tyranny in the decemating a party restored to common Privileges with all others, and the public Faith given for it, by a Law made to that end, by the then powers in being, is sufficiently showed 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 Assembly, next following, it may be remembered, that they no sooner came together, than like true Englishmen, who are always jealous of the Rights and Privileges of the people, damned the Act of Decemation as an unjust and wicked breach of Faith.  
The third Assertion of Cromwell's 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 War with Spain, without the least provocations, merely 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 unlawful desires, he proceeded in it, by employing his Creatures in the City, to draw the Merchants 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 Merchants remonstrated to him, the great prejudice that a War with Spain would be to England, and showed, that, that King, had been so far from jujuring 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 War of his own accord, in which, he was highly ingrateful in designing the ruin of that Prince, who all along had been most faithful 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 Engagements, 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 Fury 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, wound himself into so good an opinion with his Soldiers, (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 sly 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 ways, and then complaining of them to his Soldiers, 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 forgetfulness: And his deserting his Major Generals, 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, etc. 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 Apostasy & Ambition, and exceeding Tiberius 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 Soldiers which he Commanded; though he, hath also had the trouble of pressing, and sometimes forcing Uniformity in Religion▪ which he found under several Forms; whereas Oliver, kept the Nation purposely divided in opinions, and himself of no declared Judgement, as the securest way of ingageing all several persuasions equally to him; which Artifice, together, with his leaving the Church Lands alienated as he found them, were all the true Principles of Policy that I know of, which he kept unto. The Honesty of these Principles, I refer to the judgement of every man's 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 Balance 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 Rome's mercies, are (by their Principles) Cruelties, so had they power answerable to the natural richness of the Soil of their Countries, and extent of their Territories, they would long ere this have swallowed up the Protestant Churches, and made Bonfires of their Members; but as God, in his Mercy and Wisdom, hath by his Over Ruling Hand of Providence, preserved his Church; so for the Romish Churches inability 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 Moiety belonging to Churchmen, Monks, Friars, and Nuns, who like Drones, 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 expenses, in the building, and richly adorning of many needless and superfluous Churches, chapels, and Crosses, etc. with the making chargeable Presents by the better, and Pilgrimages by the meaner sort, to their Idols, keeps all degrees under.  
Fourthly, The many Holidays, upon which, the labouring man is forbidden to work, adds much to their poverty.  
But Fifthly and Lastly, The vast number of begging Friars, who living Idly, and purely upon the sweat of other men's 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 Country's lies, 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, Friars, and Nuns, (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 anciently 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 Kingdom, in the times of Popery, was in no measure so formidable as now it is; so before the Restauration of our Hierarchy to their Lands, their hoarding 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 Country, should be so far forsaken of the Lord as to be suffered to turn unto Popery, these Observations will be made good in their visible loss of the Splendour, Riches, Power, and Greatness, that they now know.  
Had Cromwell been a Person of an open profane 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 Practices, 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 far 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 Month's time, done either wisely, Virtuously, 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 show, that if Mazerine (at the hearing of oliver's death) thought he had then reason for calling him a Fortunate Fool, if he were now living he would find 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 impolitic Government, (from whose Entrance we may date the commencement of our Trade's decay;) And (through want of memory) in men's 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.