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LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 OLIYER CR01¥ELL 
 
 Bt CHARLir^,ADAMS, 
 
 .^" 
 
 FOUR IUL.USTRATIONS. 
 
 New Vork : 
 PUBLISHED BY OAELTON & PORT 
 
 SUNDAT-SCUOOI. LNIOX, '200 MULBERBY-8TEEET, 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, ^ 
 
 BY CARLTON & PORTER, 
 
 in th« Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
 M • the Southern District of New York. 
 
 1 ' ' ? 
 
 
/ // i ? 
 
 PREFACE. ^/;? 
 
 This book attempts a true and unprejudiced 
 picture of a great and good man — a man who, 
 with some marked faults, was distinguished 
 by eminent virtues — who was great in arms 
 and in statesmanship ; and, in his views of 
 religious and civil liberty, stood a century 
 in advance of his times ; and who, from early 
 manhood to his death, feared and served his 
 God with an earnestness of purpose and a 
 depth and constancy of devotion rarely sur- 
 passed. 
 
 It will be seen that the author has made 
 free use of available resources. The various 
 English histories have not, of course, been 
 neglected. D'Aubigne's " Yindication," and 
 "Ideal's History of the Puritans," together 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 with the encyclopedias, have been laid under 
 contribution, while Carlyle's inimitable volumes 
 have been largely consulted and drawn upon 
 for both facts and embellishments. 
 
 It is hoped that this humble effort to attract 
 the attention of American youth to the most 
 remarkable man of the seventeenth century, 
 and one of the best abused men of history, will 
 not be in vain. 
 
 Illinois Female College, March 30, ISGT. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Birtli of Cromwell — Childhood and Youth — Associations — • 
 Huntingdon — Goes to Cambridge — Deaths — Goes to London 
 — Marriage — Occupation Page 21 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Fomiiug Tears of Life — Religious Awakening — Distress — 
 Conversion — Deep Devotion — Religious Associates — Testi- 
 monials 24 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 Cromwell in Parliament — Maiden Speech — Result — " What 
 are we to expect?" — His Course foreshadowed — Appear- 
 ance 27 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 The Eleven Years' Interim — Public Distress — CromwelPs 
 removal — Pursuits — Interior Life — Moses in Midian 30 
 
o CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 
 A Letter — Humility — Eeligious Experience — Faith — Grati- 
 tude — A Critic — The Critic rebuked Page S3 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 King Charles — Assembles a Parliament — Cromwell a Mem- 
 ber for Cambridge — Parliament dismissed— " Long Parlia- 
 ment "— Cromwell again a Member — His Personal Appear- 
 ance—Dress — Carlyle's Comments — " Petition and Remon- 
 strance " — Great Debate — Cromwell's Declaration 37 
 
 CHAPTER YH. 
 
 Dark Portents — Folly of the Kin^ — Demands upon Parlia- 
 ment — Unsuccessful — Great Excitement — King leaves Lon- 
 don—Preparations for War — Cromwell awake — Himself and 
 Sons enter the Army — Sad Partings — Magnitude of the 
 Cause •, 44 
 
 CHAPTER Tin. 
 
 Lord Digby — " That Sloven " — Hampton's memorable Reply 
 
 — The Providential Man — Confused Views of him— The true 
 View important 48 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Royal Standard erected at Nottingham — King calls to Arms 
 
 — Parliamentary Army — Cromwell's Proposal — He hastens to 
 Cambridge — Great Military Preparations — Cromwell's Mil- 
 itary Position and Character — His rapid Rise as an Officer 
 — Battle of Edgehill — Cromwell's Proposal to Hampden — 
 Executes his Plan — Decisive Results — Clarendon — D'Au- 
 blgne ,',... 50 
 
 i 
 
CONTENTS. 9 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Hampden killed in Battle — His excellent Character— Battle 
 of Marston Moor — Great Slaughter — King defeated — " Iron- 
 sides"— Letter of Cromwell— His Account of the Eight- 
 Sympathy with the Afflicted Page 56 
 
 CHAPTER Xi. 
 
 Cromwell as a Commander — Chateanhriand and Milton's 
 Testimony — Cromwell's impatience with dilatory Officers — 
 His Protest in Parliament — Speech in Committee of the Whole 
 — Urges the most vigorous Efforts 60 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " gelf-denying Ordinance " — Cromwell continues in the 
 Army — Appointed Lieutenant-General — Battle of Naseby — 
 Another great Victory — Cromwell's Keport to Parliament — 
 Commendations of the Soldiers — The Battle decisive — King's 
 Treachery revealed 65 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 Capture of Bristol — Great Spoils — Another Report to Par- 
 liament— Cromwell attributes all Success to Divine Help — His 
 Testimony to the Soldiers' Piety — His Views of Christian 
 Union — A Curious Soldier — Comments 69 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Further Successes — Winchester captured — Cromwell's Mag- 
 nanimity to the Enemy — Capture of Basing House — Hugh 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 Peters — Testimony of Cromwell — Close of first Civil War— 
 Eoyalists defeated— King goes to the Scots — Cromwell re- 
 turns to Parliament Page 73 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Distressed State of England— King a Prisoner in tlie Isle of 
 "Wiglit — Eoyalists — Presbyterians — London — Le velers — Di- 
 vided Parliament— Approach of a Scotch Army — Eiots — 
 Cromwell calls to Union — Falls Sick — Eeco vers — Letter to 
 Eairfax 77 
 
 CHAPTER XYL 
 
 A "Protracted Meeting" at Windsor Castle — Prayer — 
 Preaching — Self-searching — Reflection — Great Difficulty dis- 
 covered — Bitter Weeping — Light — A most solemn De- 
 cision 81 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 Heavings and Disquiet — Uprising in Wales and Kent — A 
 Scotch Army approaching — London Plotting for the King — 
 Parliament vacillates — Cromwell on the War-path — Dashes 
 upon the Scots — Great Victory at Preston — Report to Parlia- 
 ment — Great Eejoicings — Scotch retreat North — Followed by 
 Cromwell 86 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 Second Civil War ended — Parliament still vacillating — 
 Sends a Commission to the King — Forty-day Conference — • 
 King's double dealing — Cromwell's Discernment 91 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The real Alternative— The Army Officers — Eemonstrance — 
 Its Doctrines — Kesnlt in Parliament — Army approaches Lon- 
 don — "Pride's Purge" — Grave Consequences — Concurrence 
 of Cromwell Page 94 
 
 CHAPTER XXr 
 
 King brought to London — Charges prepared against him — 
 Cromwell hesitates— His Dilemma — The Protests against the 
 King's Trial — "High Court of Justice " — King arraigned — 
 Refusal to plead — Condemned to die — Death Warrant — Exe- 
 cution 99 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Shadows — Cromwell's Connection with the King's Death — 
 Verdict of Posterity — Cromwell's Scruples — Ultimate Convic- 
 tion — Character of Cromwell's Piety 105 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Council of State — Cromwell a Member — England declared 
 a Commonwealth — Monarchy abolished — Richard Cromwell's 
 Marriage — Letter to Richard's Father-in-law — News of a Vic- 
 tory in Ireland — Another Letter — A Letter to his Daughter- 
 in-law — His Domestic Character 109 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Cromwell starts for Ireland — Rides in State — Reaches Bris- 
 tol — Embarks at Milford Haven — Arrives at Dublin — Grand 
 Reception — His Speech — Great Applause 116 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Ireland — Its unhappy Condition — Massacres of Protestants 
 — Shocking Details — Picture by Carlyle — Nearly all Ireland 
 united against Cromwell — He smites the Foe Page 119 
 
 CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 Cromwell's Army — Its religious Character — One of two 
 Plans of Operation — The one adopted — Its prompt Execu- 
 tion — Fall of Drogheda — Details of the Siege — Wexford and 
 Eoss reduced — Nearly the whole Country yields to the Con- 
 queror 123 
 
 CHAPTER XXYI. 
 
 Ireland redeemed — Milton's Description of Cromwell's Sol- 
 diers — Letter to Mr. Mayor — Neal — Cromwell embarks for 
 England — Great Reception at Bristol — At London 130 
 
 CHAPTER XXYIL 
 
 Scotland opposed to the Commonwealth — Pavorable to the 
 Succession of Charles II. — He is invited to Scotland — His 
 Character — Cromwell marches with an Army to Scotland — 
 Has been appointed Generalissimo — Letter to Mr. Mayor. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XXYIIL 
 
 Cromwell encamps across the Border — Issues a Proclama- 
 tion — Asserts Uprightness of Motive — No harm intended 
 
CONTENTS. 13 
 
 except against the Pretensions of Charles — Scots bent upon 
 Ms Accession to the Throne — A large Army prepared to meet 
 Cromwell — The Great Battle of Dunbar — Splendid Victory 
 over the Scots — Cromwell's Eeport to Parliament Page 141 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Cromwell marches to Edinburgh — Ministers of Edinburgh 
 flee to the Castle — Cromwell invites them to occupy their 
 Pulpits as usual — Their Eeply — He expostulates with them 
 — His Views of the Ministry 146 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 Cromwell further Instructs the Ministers 150 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Edinburgh Castle summoned to surrender — Hume Castle — 
 Mosstroopers — Sickness of Cromwell — Letter to his Wife — 
 Letter to the President of the Council — Another Letter to his 
 Wife— Letter to Mr. Mayor 153 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 Battle and Victory of In verkeithing — Other Victories — King 
 and Scotch suddenly enter England — Cromwell in hot Pursuit 
 — Battle of Worcester — Great and decisive Victory — Crom- 
 well's Report — The last Battle — Scotland — Bishop Burnet — • 
 Other lAstorians 160 
 
14 CONTENTS. 
 
 • CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Cromwell to Eev. Jolin Cotton of New England — Death of 
 Ms Son-in-law, Ireton — Letter of Cromwell to his Daugh- 
 ter Page 166 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIY. 
 
 Ireland and Scotland — England — Eump Parliament un- 
 popular — Urged to dissolve Itself — Refuses — Attempts a Bill 
 to perpetuate Itself — The News reported to Cromwell — He 
 forcibly dissolves the Parliament — Dismisses the Council of 
 State 171 
 
 CHAPTER XXXY. 
 
 Cromwell issues an Explanation — He nominates a new Par- 
 liament — It assembles July 4, 1653 — Grave Inquiries — Crom- 
 well's Views of the Situation — Fanatical Element — He claims 
 Inspiration — Apology for his Extraordinary Conduct 175 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYI. ; 
 
 The "Little Parliament" — "Bare Bones" — Cromwell's 
 Speech to the Parliament — Descants on various Topics — Title 
 adopted by the Parliament — Council of State reappointed — • 
 Result unsatisfactory and unsuccessful — Parliament resigned 
 in five Months 178 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Establishment of the Protectorate — Cromwell Lord Pro- 
 tector — Inauguration — Imposing Ceremonies — Cromwell's per- 
 sonal Appearance at this Time 182 
 
CONTENTS- 15 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYIIL 
 
 The Instrument of Government — Eemark — The new Govern- 
 ment recognized by European Powers Page 185 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 The new Parliament opened with great Pomp — The Pro- 
 tector's Speech — Important Suggestions 189 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Parliament reveals a formidable Party opposed to the Gov- 
 ernment — Opposition Speeches — Parliament summoned to 
 the "Painted Chamber" — Another Speech by Cromwell — ■ 
 The Government must not be called in Question — A Pledge 
 required of each Member — More than a hundred decline the 
 Pledge, and return home 194 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Opposition of Parliament persisted in — The various Articles 
 of the Instrument of Government canvassed — Religious Tolera- 
 tion discountenanced — No Communication with the Protector 
 
 — Parliament summoned again to the "Painted Chamber" — 
 Protector's Speech — Parliament dissolved 198 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 An Extract from Carlyle — Death of Cromwell's Mother 
 
 — " Good-night ! " 203 
 
 CHAPTER XLin. 
 
 Plots in Favor of Charles II. — Hostility to Cromwell — 
 Wildman — Insiirrectionary attempts quelled — Foreign Ee 
 
-16 ) CONTENTS. 
 
 lations Prosperous — The EnglisTi Fleets — Cromwell interferes 
 for the persecuted Waldenses — Government of Major-Generals 
 
 — Eemarks of Carlyle Page 206 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 Another Parliament — A long Address — Enemies of the 
 State specified — Eeligious Toleration 209 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Condition of Admission to Parliament — One Hundred ex- 
 cluded — Apology for this Movement — Eemarks of D'AuhignS 
 
 — An Order of the Parliament 214 
 
 CHAPTER XLYI. 
 
 Character of the Parliament — Supplies voted — Major- 
 Generals suppressed — James Naylor — Carlyle's Sarcasm. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 The Kingship — Proposed to Cromwell — Agitation of the 
 Matter in Parliament — Disturbance — " Petition and Advice " 
 
 — Protracted Debate — Army OflScers opposed to the King- 
 ship — Cromwell's response to them — The new Instrument 
 matured in Parliament. 221 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 "Petition and Advice" presented to the Protector — He is 
 invited to the Kingship by the Parliament — Responds briefly 
 --Asks for Time — Gives a further Answer — Not decisive — 
 
CONTENTS. li 
 
 Parliament visits the Protector in a Body— Doubts and 
 Scruples — Committee of Ninety-nine — A long Conversa- 
 tion I'age 224 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 Another Conversation touching the Kingship — Eeasoning 
 of the Committee — The Protector's Answer — Adjourn- 
 ment 2^^ 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 A further Interview between the Committee and Protector — 
 Still another Interview on the next Day — Another Meeting ten. 
 Days afterward 235 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 May 8, 1657, the whole Parliament meets the Protector — He 
 addresses them in a brief Speech — Decides the great Ques- 
 tion, declining the Kingship - 238 
 
 CHAPTER LIL 
 
 Reflections apon Cromwell and his Decision — Extract . . 241 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 A new Inauguration — Brilliant Picture of the Scene — Parlia- 
 ment prorogued to January 20 245 
 
18 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LIT. 
 
 Administration prosperous in the Interim — England's proud 
 Position — Marriages of Lady Franoes Cromwell and Lady 
 Mary Cromwell — Protector's Manner of Life Page 248 
 
 CHAPTER LV. ' 
 
 Shadows Approaching — The reorganized Parliament — The 
 new House of Peers — Bearing of the Commons toward the 
 Peers — Wrangling touching the Title to be given to the 
 House of Peers — Both Houses summoned to Whitehall — 
 Addressed by the Protector 252 
 
 CHAPTER LYL 
 
 Protector's Appeal of no avail — Mischievous debatiags — 
 Infatuation — Cromwell indignant — Prorogues the Parlia- 
 ment — Last Public Words 257 
 
 CHAPTER LVIL 
 
 Death of Prances Cromwell's Husband — Lady Clajrpole — 
 Her distressing Sickness — The Protector's deep Sympathy 
 with his dying Daughter — Her Death — The Father's over- 
 whelming Sorrow — Scripture Consolation 261 
 
 CHAPTER LYIIL 
 
 Cromwell himself falls Sick — Case alarming — Great Prayer 
 in his Behalf— Some of his last Words — Death — Extract 
 from Carlyle 264 
 
'illnnixMan^. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cbomwell Addeessim-q Parliament in Favor of Eeligiotts 
 Liberty 2 
 
 Court of Charles I , 39 
 
 Place of the King's Execution, "Whitehall 103 
 
 House of Commons in Cromwell's Time 191 
 
 2 
 
LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Birth of Cromwell — Childhood and Youth — Early Associa- 
 tions — Huntingdon — Goes to Cambridge — Deatjis — Goes 
 to London — Marriage — Occupation. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell was born April 25, 1599. 
 He was tlie fifth child of Robert and Elizabeth 
 Cromwell ; and, both on his father's and mother's 
 side, seems to have been of the rank of the sub- 
 stantial gentry of the time.* 
 
 Little is known of the childhood and youth 
 of this boy, who was destined to act so promi- 
 nent a part in the history of his country, and to 
 exert so important an influence upon the inter- 
 ests of civil and religious liberty throughout the 
 civilized world.f 
 
 * A class of people in England between the nobility and 
 the common people. 
 
 •\ Many anecdotes are told of Cromwell's boyhood ; but they, 
 for the most part, are deemed unauthentic. 
 
22 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 He seems to have been an active and resolute 
 cliild, and grew up in tlie bosom of an austere 
 family, where the intrigues of the Jesuits and 
 the popish tendencies of the Anglican Church 
 on the one hand, and the rights and power of 
 the word of God on the other, were the engross- 
 ing subjects of thought and conversation. 
 
 The boy OHver listened to these somber dis- 
 cussions, and breathed in this spirit ; and here 
 were dropped into his juvenile mind the seeds 
 which, in the lapse of half a century, were to 
 grow into plants of gigantic dimensions, and 
 wondrous strength, fragrance, and beauty. 
 
 Huntingdon, forty or fifty miles northerly of 
 London, is pleasantly situated on the banks of 
 the Ouse ; and here, in a stately, pleasant house, 
 amid shady lawns and expanses, was the birth- 
 place of Oliver Cromwell. It has been twice 
 rebuilt within these two hundred and seventy 
 years ; and is, at present, a solid yellow brick 
 house with a walled court-yard, and occupied by 
 some townsman of the wealthier sort. A little 
 brook glides through the court-yard ; and the 
 river, at a short distance, winds its quiet way 
 eastward toward the fenlands, overlooked by 
 the town. Westward is a variegated and pic- 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 23 
 
 turesque country, bearing marks of careful 
 and long-continued cultivation. Here, on the 
 edge of the firm green land, and looking over 
 into the black marshes with their alder and 
 willow trees, did Oliver pass his young years. 
 
 At the age of seventeen he went to Cam- 
 bridge University, and was entered at Sydney 
 Sussex College. In the following year his 
 father and maternal grandfather died, leaving 
 his mother at once fatherless and a widow, 
 with six daughters and an only son. This 
 change of circumstances brought Oliver home 
 again from college, to return no more ; but to 
 supply, henceforth, as well as he might, his 
 ■ father's place at Huntingdon. He now pro- 
 ceeded to London, and passed a year or two in 
 law studies. In 1620, at the age of twenty- 
 one, he married Miss Elizabeth Boucher, and 
 returned to Huntingdon to assume the care of 
 his mother and her family, and to manage the 
 paternal estate, which was now his own. And 
 here dwelt Oliver during the next ten years of 
 his life, living in retirement, occupying himself 
 with farming and the various social duties inci- 
 dent to his position in life. 
 
24: LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Forming Tears of Life — Religious Awakening — Distress 
 — Conversion — Deep Devotion — Religious Associates — 
 Testimonials. 
 
 Of unutterable importance are the ten years 
 from twenty to thirty in the life of a man. To 
 a very great extent may they be reckoned the 
 forming years — the years when the youth takes 
 shape for life, perhaps for eternal ages. Full 
 often it is the pivotal period ; and as the needle 
 to the pole, so the man becomes settled for his 
 life-long course and for his immortal career. 
 
 Thus was it with Oliver Cromwell. Early, 
 amid these years, he became deeply interested 
 in religious things. He came to a pungent 
 conviction, such as he never felt before, that 
 he was a sinner against God. "Ere long," 
 writes one of his biographers, " he felt in his 
 heart the prickings of Grod's law. It disclosed 
 to him his inward sin. With St. Paul, he 
 was disposed to cry. out, ' O v^^retched man that 
 I am ; who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death ? ' And like Luther, pacing the 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. , 25 
 
 galleries of bis convent at Erfurtli, exclaiming, 
 ' My sin ! mj sin ! my sin ! ' Oliver, agitated 
 and heart-wrung, uttering groans and cries as 
 of a wounded spirit, Wandered, pale and de- 
 jected, along the gloomy banks of the Ouse. 
 He looked for consolation to God, to his Bible, 
 and to friends more enlightened than him- 
 self. His health, and even his strong frame, 
 were shaken ; and, in his melancholy, he 
 would often send at midnight for Dr. Simcott, 
 physician in Huntingdon, supposing himself to 
 be dying. At length peace entered into his 
 soul." • 
 
 "It is, therefore, in these years," says Mr. 
 Carlyle, " that we must place what Oliver, 
 with unspeakable joy, would name his conver- 
 sion — his deliverance from the iaws of eternal 
 death. Certainly a grand epoch for a man ; 
 properly the one epoch. He was henceforth a 
 Christian man ; not on Sundays only, but on 
 all days, in all places, and in all cases." * 
 
 The seqnel will amply illustrate the truth of 
 this last statement. Few men, in all history, 
 seem to have been more completely under the 
 influence of religion than was Cromwell from 
 
 * D'Aubigue's ViucUcation, p. 31. 
 
26 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 the period of his conversion to the day of his 
 death. A constant attendant upon the Puri- 
 tan ministry,^' he embraced all the strictness 
 and fervor of spiritual Christianity, and was a 
 companion of all, of every class, who zealously 
 feared and served the Lord. Such historic 
 names as Hampden, Pym, Lord Brook, Lord 
 Say, and Lord Montague, were his intimate 
 friends; and the great Milton — who was his 
 contemporary, and knew him well — writes of 
 him that " He had grown up in peace and 
 privacy at home, silently cherishing in his heart 
 a confidence in God, and a magnanimity well 
 adapted for the solemn times that were ap- 
 proaching. Although of ripe years, he had 
 not yet stepped forward into public life; and 
 nothing so much distinguished him from all 
 around as the cultivation of a pure religion 
 and the integrity of his life." f 
 
 Says another author : " Oliver was, hence- 
 forth, a Christian in earnest. ... A new 
 birth had given him a new life. He was at 
 
 * The Puritan Christians were so called in derision, on 
 account of their professing to follow the pure word of God, 
 in opposition to all traditions and superstitions. The sect 
 arose in England in the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 \ Defensio Secunda. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 27 
 
 peace witli God ; lie possessed the spirit of 
 adoption, and an easy access to the throne of 
 grace. From that time he became a man of 
 prayer, and so he remained for the rest of 
 his life." "In regard to the kingdom of 
 heaven, he had learned that it is the violent 
 who take it by force; and with the whole 
 energy of his soul, regenerated by the Holy 
 Ghost, he had seized upon it. Oliver was now 
 a real Christian ; he remained one to his latest 
 breath ; and, if we except a few moments of 
 trouble, to which the most godly men are 
 subject, he persevered in faith and confidence 
 till his course of mortality was completed." * 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Cromwell in Parliament — Maiden Speech — Result — " What 
 are we to expect?" — His Course Foreshadowed — Per- 
 sonal Appearance. ; 
 
 In 1628 was the third parliament summoned 
 by Charles I. ; and Oliver Cromwell, at the age 
 of twenty-nine, was a member of the House of 
 
 * D' Aubigne. 
 
28 LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 
 
 Commons for Huntingdon. It was a notable 
 parliament, and strongly distingnished by the 
 increasing friction between the Commons and 
 tbe king, and tlie^ struggle for ascendency be- 
 tween Protestantism and Popery. 
 
 At the second session of this parliament, in 
 the following year, Cromwell gave his maiden 
 speech. It is to be regretted that a small frag- 
 ment only of this speech found its way into 
 history. But the record of this fragment is 
 preserved in the British Museum, and is a 
 " world famous utterance." He said he had 
 heard, by relation of one Dr. Beard, (who had 
 been Oliver's old schoolmaster at Huntingdon,) 
 " that Dr. Alabaster had preached flat Popery 
 at Paul's Cross; and that the Bishop of Win- 
 chester had commanded him, as his diocesan, 
 that he should preach nothing to the contrary. 
 Mainwaring, so justly censured in this House 
 for his sermons, was, by the same bishop's 
 means, preferred to a rich living." '' If these 
 are the steps to Church preferment," he added 
 with emphasis, " what are we to expect ? " 
 "What else was included in this first speech of 
 Cromwell is now unknown. But the speech 
 was effectual; for it was immediately ordered 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 29 
 
 that " Dr. Beard, of Huntingdon, be written to 
 by Mr. Speaker to come np and testify against 
 the bishop, the order to be delivered to Mr. 
 Cromwell." 
 
 " What are we to expect ? " asked Cromwell. 
 Whether he proceeded to reply to this tremen- 
 dous question of his the record saith not. 
 But of the great thoughts and solemn misgiv- 
 ings that were then agitating his mind who can 
 fail to guess. " What are we to expect ? " 
 asked Oliver ; and this was, in truth^ the great 
 question of the age. " The re-establishment of 
 Popery was the object of the seventeenth 
 century, and Cromwell's first public words 
 were against it. He then set up the landmark 
 which determined and marked out the course 
 he had resolved to follow until his death. 
 Even Hume, generally so hostile to him, is 
 struck by seeing his first words correspond so 
 exactly to his character." * 
 
 Cromwell was, at this time, thirty years of 
 age ; and as he rose to speak, for the first time, 
 all eyes were turned upon him, and the House 
 listened with great attention. His eloquence 
 "was warm and animated; his frame, although 
 
 ^ D'Aubiarne. 
 
30 LIFE OF OLIVEE CROMWELL. 
 
 exceeding the middle height, strong and well 
 proportioned. He had a manly air, a bright 
 and sparkling eje, and stern look." * 
 
 CHAPTEE TV. 
 
 The Eleven Years' Interim — Public Distress — Cromwell's 
 Removal — Pursuits — Interior Life — ; Moses in Midian. 
 
 This speech of Cromwell occurred February 2, 
 1629 ; and about three weeks afterward the 
 parliament was prorogued by the king, and no 
 other parliament was summoned by him for 
 eleven years. During this long interval, the 
 king with his council attempted to rule the 
 country without any representation from the 
 people. Much oppression and disorder were | 
 the consequence ; and under the influence of 
 Charles, his popish queen, and the infamous 
 Archbishop Laud, Puritanism, Presbyterian- 
 ism, and Protestantism generally were dis- 
 countenanced and discouraged. J^umbers of 
 good men were subjected to mean persecutions 
 and detestable pnnishments for what in their 
 character and conduct was commendable rather 
 
 * Memoirs of Warwick. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 31 
 
 than criminal, and the endeavor seemed to be 
 the re-establishment of popery in the kingdom. 
 Cromwell, amid these unhappy years, was 
 in the peaceful pursn.it of his farming interests. 
 Having sold his properties, in part, at Hunting- 
 don, he had, with a view of more enlarged op- 
 erations, removed to St. Ives, 'Sive miles down 
 the river from Huntingdon, where he rented 
 extensive grazing lands, and made his residence 
 with his rising family during several years. 
 "A studious imagination may sufficiently con- 
 struct the figure of his equable life in those 
 years. Diligent grass-farming; mowing, milk- 
 ing, cattle marketing ; add ' hyp'ochondria,' fits 
 of the blackness of darkness, with glances of 
 the brightness of very heaven ; prayer, religious 
 reading, and meditation ; household epochs, joys 
 and cares — we have a solid, substantial, inof- 
 fensive farmer of St. Ives, hoping to walk with 
 integrity, and humble, devout diligence through 
 this world ; and, by his Maker's infinite mercy, 
 to escape destruction, and find eternal salvation 
 in wider divine worlds. This latter — this is the 
 grand clause in his life which dwarfs all other 
 clauses. Much wider destinies than he antici- 
 pated were appointed him on earth ; but that, 
 
32 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 in comparison to the alternative of heaven or 
 hell, was a mighty small matter." ^ 
 
 Probably something not very nnlike the above 
 picture, by Mr. Carlyle, was the exterior and 
 interior life of Cromwell during his five years 
 residence at St. Ives. Along these and several 
 subsequent years he seems to us like Moses in 
 Midian, hid away from public view, and utterly 
 unconscious of the great and arduous career for 
 whicli Providence was- preparing him. There 
 is full evidence that he was a deeply devoted 
 Christian, and actuated by a quenchless zeal for 
 the promotion of pure religion. Meanwhile, it 
 is not to be dbubted that the persecutions and 
 sufferings heaped upon many good men amid 
 these few years, filled Cromwell's heart with 
 intensest emotions, ""and were helping, in no 
 slight degree, to educate him for the prodigious 
 struggle he was destined to wage against the 
 tyranny and intolerance of the reigning sov- 
 ereign and his creatures. 
 
 * Carlyle, i, 66. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 33 
 
 CHAPTEK Y. 
 
 A Letter — Humility — Eeligious Experience — Faith — 
 Gratitude — A Critic — The Critic rebuked. 
 
 Theee is one other notice of Cromwell amid 
 these ten or eleven years of hS retirement and 
 obscurity. It consists of the following letter 
 of his, written at Ely, which was now his resi- 
 dence, dated October 13, 1638, and addressed 
 to a consin, Mrs. St. John. 
 
 •'Deae Cousin: I thankfully acknowledge 
 your love in your kind remembrance of me 
 upon this opportunity. Alas ! you do too 
 highly prize my lines and my company. I 
 may be ashamed to own your expressions, con- 
 sidering how^ unprofitable I am, and the mean 
 improvement of my talent ; yet to honor my 
 God by declaring what he hath done for my 
 soul, in this I am confident, and I will be so. 
 Truly, then, this I find, that he giveth spriags 
 in a dry, barren wilderness where no water is. 
 I live, you know where, in Meshec, which, 
 they say, signiSLeB prolonging ; in Kedar, which 
 signifies Uackness : yet the Lord forsaketh me 
 
34 i:iFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 not ; tbougli he do prolong, yet lie will, I trust, 
 bring rrfb to his tabernacle, to his resting-place. 
 My soul is with the congregation of the first- 
 born, my body rests in hope ; and if here I may 
 honor my God, either by doing or suffering, I 
 shall be most glad. 
 
 " Truly no poor creature hath more cause to 
 put himself forth in the cause of his God than 
 I. I have had plentiful wages beforehand, and 
 I. am sure I shall never earn the least mite. 
 The Lord accept me in his Son, and give me 
 to walk in the light, as he is in the light. He 
 it is that enlighteneth our blackness, our dark- 
 ness. I dare not say. He hideth his face from 
 me. He giveth me to see light in his light. 
 One beam in a dark place hath exceeding 
 much refreshment in it. Blessed be his name 
 for shining upon so dark a heart as mine ! 
 You know what my manner of life hath been. 
 O, I lived in and loved darkness, and hated 
 light ; I was a chief, the chief of sinners. This 
 is true. I hated godliness, yet God had mercy 
 on me. O the riches of his mercy ! Praise 
 him for me ; pray for me, that he who hath 
 begun a good work would perfect it in the day 
 of Christ. 
 
1 
 
 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 35 
 
 " Salute all my friends in that family where- 
 of yon are yet a member. I am much bonnd 
 nnto them for their love. I bless the Lord for 
 them ; and that my son, by their procnrement, 
 is so well. Let him have your prayers, your 
 counsel ; let me have them. Salute your hus- 
 band and sister from me. He is not a man 
 of his word ! He promised to write about Mr. 
 "Wrath, of Epping ; but, as yet, I receive no 
 letters. Put him in mind to do what with con- 
 veniency may be done for the poor cousin I did 
 solicit him about. 
 
 "Once more farewell. The Lord be with 
 you ; so prayeth your truly loving cousin, 
 
 "Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 Mark E'oble, one of Cromwell's biographers, 
 thinks he discovers in this letter the evidence 
 that its author was once a very dissolute man. 
 The scathing which this sapient critic receives 
 from Carlyle's pen is as just as it is terrible : 
 "O my reverend, imbecile friend, hadst thou 
 thyself never any moral life, but only a sensi- 
 tive and digestive? Thy soul never longed 
 toward the serene heights, all hidden from 
 thee; and thirsted as the hart in dry places 
 
36 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 wherein no waters be ! It was never a sorrow 
 for thee tliat the eternal pole-star had gone out, 
 vailed itself in dark clouds ; a sorrow only that 
 this or the other noble patron forgot thee when 
 a living fell vacant ! I have known Christians, 
 Moslems, Methodists,'^ and, alas ! also reverend 
 irreverent apes by the Dead Sea." The same 
 writer adds : " O modern reader, dark as this 
 letter may seem, I will advise thee to make an 
 attempt toward understanding it. There is in 
 . it a tradition of humanity worth all the rest ; 
 indisputable certificate that man once had a 
 soul ; that man once walked with God, his little 
 life a sacred island girdled with eternities and 
 godhoods. Was it not a time for heroes ? Heroes 
 were then possible. . . . Yes, there is a tone 
 in the soul of this Oliver that holds of the 
 perennial. With a noble sorrow, with a noble 
 patience, he longs toward the mark of the prize 
 of the high calling. He, I thiuk, has chosen 
 the better part. The world and its wild tu- 
 mults — if they will but let him alone ! Yet he, 
 too, will venture, will do and suffer for God's 
 cause if the call come. What man with better 
 reason ? He hath had plentiful wages before- 
 * A Classification quite Oarlylean! 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 37 
 
 hand ; snatched out of darkness into marvelous 
 light, he will never earn the least mite. . . . 
 Brother, hadst thou never, in any form, snch 
 moments in thy history ? Thoii knowest them 
 not, even by credible rumor ? Well, thy earth- 
 ly path was peaceabler, I suppose. But the 
 highest was never in thee, the highest will 
 never come out of thee. Thou shalt at best 
 abide by the stuff; as cherished house-dog 
 guard the stuff — perhaps with enormous gold 
 collars and provender ; but the battle, and the 
 hero-death, and victory's fire chariot carrying 
 men to the immortals shall never be thine. I 
 pity thee ; brag not, or I shall have to despise 
 thee." ^ 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 King Charles — Assembles a Parliament — Cromwell a Mem- 
 ber for Cambridge — Parliament dismissed — " Long Par- 
 liament " — Cromwell again a Member — His Appearance 
 and Dress — Petition and Remonstrance — Great Debate — 
 Cromwell's Declaration. 
 
 It is now 1640, and the long parliamentary 
 interregnum of eleven years is about to close. 
 King Charles is bent upon carrying war 
 
 *Carlyle, i, 98-100. 
 
33 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL, 
 
 into Presbyterian Scotland, for the purpose of 
 enforcing episcopacy upon that people. With 
 this great folly commenced the troubles and 
 commotions that ended only with the king's 
 losing his head. 
 
 Failing to secure supplies for an army, Charles 
 was obliged, with great reluctance, to summon 
 a parliament, which assembled April 13th. But 
 being not sufficiently prompt to furnish to the 
 king the sinews of war, he " dismissed it in a 
 huff," after a session of three weeks only, and 
 decided upon other means and methods of rais- 
 ing money and an army. 
 
 Cromwell was a member of this short parlia- 
 ment for Cambridge, as also of the next parlia- 
 ment, which the king was obliged to assemble 
 in the same year. 
 
 This famous body, called the Long Parliament, 
 met on the 3d of l^Tovember, 1640 ; and Crom- 
 well was in his seat in the House of Commons, 
 " the member for Cambridge, a man of known 
 zeal, good connection, and growing weight," 
 and forty-one years of age. 
 
 If one would gain some impression of the 
 personal appearance of Cromwell at this time 
 let him note the following, sketch, written by 
 
Court of Charles I. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 41 
 
 Sir Philip "Warwick, a fellow-member, but of a 
 very different genius from that of Oliver. " The 
 first time I ever took notice of Mr. Cromwell," 
 says Warwick, "was in the very beginnino- 
 of the parliament held in ITovember, 1640, 
 when I, a member for Eadnor, vainly thought 
 myself a courtly young gentleman, for we 
 courtiers valued ourselves much upon our g:ood 
 clothes. I came into the House one mornins" 
 Monday morning, well, clad, and perceived a 
 gentleman speaking whom I knew not, very 
 ordinarily appareled, for it was a plain cloth 
 suit, which seemed to have been made by an ill 
 country tailor; his linen was plain, and not 
 very clean ; and I remember a speck or two of 
 blood upon his little band, which was not much 
 larger than his collar. His hat was without a 
 hat-band. His stature was of a good size, his 
 sword stuck close to his side, his countenance 
 swollen and reddish, his voice sharp and un- 
 tunable, and his eloquence full of fervor,' for the 
 subject-matter would not bear much of reason, 
 it being on behalf of a servant of Mr. Prynne's 
 who had dispersed libels— yes, libels, and had 
 come to palace-yard for it, as we saw. I sin- 
 cerely profess it lessened much my reverence 
 
42 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 unto that great council, for tliis gentleman was 
 very mncli hearkened nnto." 
 
 Mr. Carlyle comments thus npon the above 
 sketch : " The ' band,' we may remind onr 
 readers, is a linen tippet, properly the shirt- 
 collar of those days ; which, when the hair was 
 worn long, needed to fold itself with a good 
 expanse of washable linen over the upper works 
 of the coat, and defend these and their velvets 
 from harm. The ' specks of blood,' if not fabu- 
 lons, we, not without general sympathy, at- 
 tribute to bad razors ; as for the hat-band, one 
 remarks that men did not speak with their hats 
 on, and therefore will, with Sir Philip's leave, 
 omit that. The 'untunable voice,' or what a 
 poor young gentleman in such circumstances 
 would consider as such, is very significant to 
 us."* 
 
 Some months after this, occurred the great 
 Irish rebellion and massacre ; and that country, 
 under popish influence, was ravaged with fear- 
 ful bloodshed and desolation. This was fol- 
 lowed, in the House of Commons, with the 
 famous "Petition and Remonstrance" to the 
 king, setting forth the griefs, necessities, and 
 
 * Carlyle, i, 108, 109. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 43 
 
 requirements of the people. It was drawn up 
 in precise business order, comprising two 
 hundred and six articles, " every line of which 
 thrilled electrically into all men's hearts." 
 The debate upon this instrument commenced 
 J^ovember 22, and was the longest and stormi- 
 est that had ever been known in parliament ; 
 and Warwick asserts " that had it not been for 
 Mr. Hampden's soft management we had like 
 to have sheathed our swords in each other's 
 bowels." J^e E-emonstrance passed by the 
 small majority of eleven; and as they came 
 out, at two o'clock in the morning, Cromwell, 
 as he was descending the stairs, is reported to 
 have exclaimed, "I would have sold all and 
 gone to New England had the Remonstrance 
 not passed." The stream of history would 
 have assumed a different channel had that 
 intention become reality. 
 
44: LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 Dark Portents — Folly of the King — Demands upon Parlia- 
 ment — Unsuccessful — Glreat Excitement — King leaves 
 London — Preparations for "War — Cromwell awake — 
 Himself and Sons enter the Army — Sad Partings — 
 Magnitude of the Cause. 
 
 The commencement of 1642 was an era in 
 British history. The king and the parliament 
 became pitted against each other; and clouds 
 were gathering thickly and rapidly, and the 
 storm would soon burst upon the country. 
 "Every day those men who felt the truest 
 affection for their country were* disturbed in 
 their homes at London, or in their more tran- 
 quil rural retreats, by reports of the massacre 
 of the Protestants in Ireland, of the king's con- 
 nivance at it, of his insincerity and falsehood, 
 of his projects, of the punishments already in- 
 flicted upon many of their brethren, of the ac- 
 knowledged popery of the queen, of the semi- 
 Romanism of the king, of the persecutions in 
 Scotland, the daily banishments of the best 
 Christians in the kingdom, and by other signs 
 and events no less alarming;." '"* 
 
 *D'Aubigne's Vindication. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 45 
 
 Charles commenced the actual contest. On 
 the 3d of January (1642) he called upon the 
 House of Commons to surrender to him, to be 
 tried for treason, five of its principal and most 
 influential members; namely, Pym, Hampden, 
 Hazlerig, Holies, and Strode. This singular 
 requisition not being immediately complied 
 with, on the morrow the king " rides down to 
 St. Stephens himself, with an armed, very mis- 
 cellaneous force of five hundred or of three hund- 
 red truculent, braggadocio persons at his back ; 
 enters the House of Commons — the truculent 
 persons looking in after him from the lobby — 
 with intent to seize the said five members, iive 
 principal hot coals, and trample them out for 
 one thing. It was the fatalest step this poor 
 king ever took. The ^ve members, timefuUy 
 warned, were gone into the city ; the whole 
 parliament removed itself into the city, ' to be 
 safe from armed violence.' From London city, 
 and from all England, rose one loud voice of 
 lamentation and condemnation ;" * that is, con- 
 demnation of the king. 
 
 The signal for war was thus raised, and 
 Charles immediately left London, never to 
 
 *Carlyle, i, 120, 121. 
 
46 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 return except as a helpless prisoner. The 
 revolution was commenced. Both parties, the 
 king and the parliament, at once proceed to rally 
 their forces. Extraordinary exertions are put 
 forth on both sides to provide the means and 
 sinews of war: the king, by subscriptions of 
 royal plate, pawning of crown jewels, and every 
 other possible way ; the parliament, by similar 
 means, by individual subscriptions of money 
 and otherwise. 
 
 Cromwell is on the alert in this great crisis. 
 He subscribes £500 ($2,500) for the service of 
 the Commonwealth. JSTor was this all, nor the 
 chief. He gave himself for the great contest ; 
 and two sons also, of the ages of twenty and six- 
 teen, followed their father to the field of conflict. 
 " The departure of his sons, Oliver and Kichard, 
 must have caused great sorrow in the peaceful 
 abode of the Huntingdon farmer. With diffi- 
 culty could these young men tear themselves 
 from 'the embraces of their mother and of their 
 sisters. But the hour was come when their 
 country called for the greatest sacrifices. All 
 must now be prepared either to stretch their 
 necks to the sword or to l^ow them beneath the 
 yoke of the pope. Cromwell's domestic society 
 
LirE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 47 
 
 was a pleasing one; lie had a wife whom he 
 loved most tenderly; his good mother was 
 still living ; he had passed the age of ambition, 
 yet he became a soldier, ' You have had my 
 money ; I hope in God, I desire to venture my 
 skin,' ' So do mine,' said he, with noble sim- 
 plicity, on another occasion. 
 
 '' For the space of fifteen years, from this day 
 until that of his death, all his thoughts, how- 
 ever well or ill conceived, were for Protestant- 
 ism, and for the liberty of his fellow-citizens, 
 
 " It is from this moral point of view that we 
 must study Cromwell ; this was his ruling prin- 
 ciple, and this alone explains his whole life. 
 
 "Can we look upon the departure of the 
 Huntingdon volunteers as an insignificant 
 event ? 
 
 " There was a great work to be accomplished, 
 no less than the settlement of England upon its 
 double foundations of Protestantism and Lib- 
 erty, for on these depended her future destinies. 
 "Where was the man to be found great enough 
 for so important a task ? " * 
 
 *D'AuMgne, pp. 44, 45. 
 
48 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 Lord Digby — "That Sloven" — Hampden's remarkable 
 Reply — The Providential Man — Confused Views of him 
 — The True View Important. 
 
 The momentous question at tlie close of the 
 last cliapter had its solution in Oliver Crom- 
 well. " One day a member rose and addressed 
 the House in an abrupt but warm tone. His 
 appearance was anything but courtly, and his 
 dress did not add to his importance. Lord 
 Digby leaned forward, and with astonishment 
 inquired the name of the speaker. Hampden, 
 who was a man of excellent abilities, and whom, 
 said Baxter, ' friends and enemies acknowledged 
 to be the most eminent for prudence,' answered 
 with a smile : ' That sloven whom you see be- 
 fore you, who hath no^ ornament in his speech ; 
 that sloven, I say, if we should ever come to a 
 breach with the king, (v^hich God forbid!) in 
 such a case, I say, that sloven will be the 
 greatest man in England.' 
 
 "The sloven was Oliver Cromwell. To 
 those who, like hi« Cousin Hampden, had en- 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 49 
 
 joyed the intimacy of liis private life, he had 
 already revealed the strength of his will and 
 the greatness of his genius, and he was then 
 beginning to manifest both to the nation in his 
 parliamentary life. Ere long, in his military 
 and political career, he was to make himself 
 known to the world as the greatest man of his 
 age ; but, at the same time, as a godly Chris- 
 tian." * 
 
 Without question, we think, this was the 
 providential man — the one man for the time — 
 the man who with a transcendent genius, an 
 iron will, a God-fearing spirit, and a mighty 
 arm, was to come forth to crush civil and 
 religions tyranny, and assert the great princi- 
 ples of Protestant liberty for the welfare of 
 mankind. 
 
 And it impresses the writer as being im- 
 portant that the youth of this generation, and 
 especially American youth, should secure the 
 true standpoint for viewing the character and 
 the exact drift of this wonderful man. Surely 
 for such a view the ingenuous and thonghtful 
 mind must draw off from the calumnies, fogs, 
 and confusion which for several generations 
 
 * D' Aubiffne. 
 
50 LIFE OF OLIVEE CKOMWELL. 
 
 have been permitted to blur and deface tlie 
 memory of Cromwell. 
 
 The spectator must peer solemnly into tbat 
 great and God-fearing heart, must follow care- 
 fully and constantly the direction of that keen 
 and far-reaching eye, and note most religiously 
 whither tend those heavy and sublime stoppings. 
 To such a vision and such a candor the veritable 
 genius and character of this man will stand forth 
 clearly revealed ; and, though having some spots, 
 yet resplendent with beauty and grandeur. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 Royal Standard erected at Nottingham — King calls to Arms — 
 Parliamentary Army — Cromwell's Proposal — He hastens 
 to Cambridge — Great Military Preparations — Cromwell's 
 Military Position and Character — Battle of Edgehill — 
 Cromwell's Plan — Results. 
 
 Ok the 22d of August, 1642, Charles I. erected 
 at Isottingham his standard, and summoned 
 his subjects to arms ; that is, summoned a part 
 of his subjects to arms against the other part. 
 At a short distance from the same place the 
 earl of Essex was organizing the parliamentary 
 army. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEK CEOMWELL. 51 
 
 About a month previous to the above date, 
 (July 15,) Cromwell^ in his place in the House 
 of Commons, moved to allow the townsmen of 
 Cambridge to raise two companies of volunteers, 
 and to appoint captains over them. Presently 
 Cromwell is in Cambridge in person, assuming 
 the chief management of the volunteers, seizing 
 the magazine in the castle at Cambridge, and 
 preventing the withdrawal of the plate from 
 the University. " The like," says Carlyle, " was 
 going on in all the shires of England ; wherever 
 the parliament had a zealous member, it sent 
 him down to his shire in these critical months, 
 to take what management he could or durst. 
 The most confused months England ever saw. 
 In every shire, in every parish — in court-houses, 
 ale-houses, churches^ markets— wheresoever men 
 were gathered together, England, with sorrow- 
 ful confusion in every fiber, is tearing itself into 
 hostile halves, to carry on the voting by pike 
 and bullet henceforth." ^" 
 
 Thus begins the military career of Oliver 
 
 CromwelL He was an active and influential 
 
 member of parliament ; but as the storm arose 
 
 his ^spirit was stirred within him, and he could 
 
 * Carlyle, i. 
 
6'2 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 not rest away from the scene of conflict. So 
 was it with his illustrions cousin, John Hamp- 
 den, who entered the service as a colonel — • 
 Cromwell as captain. Yet, from the outset, 
 Oliver was not merely a captain. He was at 
 the ripe age of forty-three, the precise age of 
 Washington when he assumed the command of 
 the American army. His views were broad, 
 his patriotism excelled by none, and his vigilant 
 eye was everywhere ; and his mind grasped the 
 "situation," and comprehended fully and at a 
 glance the immense interests at stake. And 
 then his brave heart feared no enemy, whether 
 high or low, whether of himself or of his 
 country. 
 
 It was not possible, of course, that such a 
 man could long remain in a mere captaincy. 
 Like our own distinguished chief general, he 
 soon cut his way upward by successive and 
 successful steps, till he surpassed all others in 
 military achievement, and stood forth the one 
 great and peerless commander. 
 
 The first great battle of this civil war was 
 fought at Edgehill, October 23, 1642. It was 
 a severe fight, and the result seems to have 
 been doubtful, both the royalists and the par- 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 63 
 
 liamentarians claiming tlie victory. Cromwell 
 at once, as lie thought, detected the cause of 
 weakness in the parliamentary army, and pro- 
 ceeded to remedy it. Addressing Col. Hamp- 
 den, he said, '^ How can we be otherwise than 
 beaten? Your troops are, most of them, old, 
 decayed serving-men and tapsters, and such 
 kind of fellows ; and theirs are gentlemen's 
 sons, younger sons, and persons of quality. 
 But I will remedy that. I will raise men who 
 will have the fear of God before their eyes, and 
 who will bring some (conscience to what they 
 do ; and I promise you they shall not be 
 beaten." Hampden replied that it was a good 
 notion if it could be executed. Cromwell at 
 once set himself about the execution of his 
 plan. " With this design he went through the 
 eastern counties, calling upon the young free- 
 holders, with whose piety he was acquainted, 
 to take up arms in the cause of God, ■ Fourteen 
 squadrons of zealous Protestants were soon 
 raised. It was this new element that decided 
 the destinies of the war a^pd of England. From 
 that hour the course of events was changed." '^ 
 Amid this army of zealous Protestants and 
 
 * D'Aubigne. 
 4 
 
54 LIFE OF OLIVEK CKOMWELL. 
 
 Christians the reli2:ioiis character of Cromwell 
 soon begins to manifest itself. 
 
 Says Clai^ndon, a royalist and an enemy: 
 " His (Cromwell's) strict and unsociable humor 
 would not allow him to keep company with the 
 other officers and their jollities and excesses, 
 which often made him ridiculous and contempt- 
 ible." And this same historian afterward in- 
 forms us that Qromwell, instead of frequenting 
 the dissolute meetings alluded to, passed his 
 leisure hours in singing psalms with the officers 
 and soldiers who participated in his religious 
 convictions, and in attending with them on the 
 preaching of the word. D'Aubigne, alluding 
 to these notices of Cromwell by Clarendon, 
 spiritedly remarks, that "if Oliver had been a 
 gambler and a drunkard, if he had practiced 
 the perfidious art of seducing innocence, if he 
 had taken part in jollities and excesses, it would 
 have been all very well ; he would have been a 
 good cavalier. These are the men whom the 
 world loves, and for whom historians and ro- 
 mance writers keep q|l their favor. But he 
 loved the assemblings of the saints, according to 
 St. Paul's command. In his hours of repose 
 he delighted to follow the precept of this apostle: 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 65 
 
 • Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but 
 be filled with the Spirit ; speaking to yourselves 
 in psalms and. hymns and spiritual songs, sing- 
 ing and making melody in your heart to the 
 Lord.' Eph. v, 18, 19. From that hour he 
 was held a contemj^tible man; and, for two 
 hundred years, all this servile, imitating race 
 of historians have continued to repeat this ab- 
 surdity, not to say impiety. ' Contem^tihle I ' 
 says Clarendon. It may well be so ; but Crom- 
 well is not the only man who has been under- 
 valued for avoiding bad company, and for not 
 having trod in the way of sinners. David, St. 
 Paul, and all Christian men have been con- 
 temned like him, and for the same reasons. 
 But it is written in the revelations of God : 
 'Woe unto them that call evil good and good 
 evil.' Isaiah v, 20. We do not think that 
 these false judgments, thus stigmatized by the 
 divine word, have ever been practiced on a 
 larger scale than in the case of Cromwell." * 
 
 * D'Autime's Yindication. 
 
56 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Hampden killed in Battle — His excellent Character — Battle 
 of Marstou Moor — Great Slaughter — King Defeated — 
 " Ironsides " — Letter of Cromwell. 
 
 Cromwell is now (1643) a colonel, and exert- 
 ing himself to the utmost. There are various 
 skirmishes here and there, and the cause of the 
 parliament appears rather dubious along these 
 months. 
 
 On the 18th of June, in a cavalry skirmish 
 near Oxford, the excellent Hampden received a 
 mortal wound, and died a few days afterward. 
 In all that was true, respectable, judicious, 
 dignified, noble, and brave, he was excelled by 
 none of the parliamentary chiefs, and his fall 
 was deeply and sorely lamented. To his kins- 
 man, Cromwell, whose son Oliver .had fallen 
 some time before, this new calamity must have 
 been mournful in the extreme. 
 
 In January of the next year (1644) a Scotch 
 army entered England to co-'bperate with the 
 army of the parliament. The combined forces 
 at once commenced the siege of York, defended 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 57 
 
 hj the Marquis of Newcastle, and on the 2d 
 of July following occurred the great battle of 
 Marston Moor. This battle seems to have been 
 the bloodiest of the whole war. " The most 
 enormous hurlj burly of firearms, smoke, and 
 steel flashings, and death 1:umult ever seen in 
 those regions; the end of which, about ten 
 o'clock at night, was four thousand one hundred 
 and fifty bodies to be buried, and total ruin to 
 the king's affairs in these northern parts." '-^ 
 Cromwell's cavalry performed prodigies of 
 valor in this terrible fight ; and the epithet 
 Ironsides was conferred upon them on the 
 battle-field. The king's army "lost more than 
 a hundred flags, which it was proposed to send 
 to the parliament ; but they were torn in pieces 
 by the conquerors, and bound as trophies round 
 their arms." f 
 
 To his brother-in-law, Col. Walton, Crom- 
 well addresses the following letter just after 
 the fight : 
 
 " Dear Sir : It's our duty to sympathize in 
 all mercies, and to praise the Lord together in 
 chastisements or trials, that so we may sorrow 
 together. 
 
 * Carlyle. | D'Aubigne. 
 
58 LIFE OF OLIVEK CEOMWELL. 
 
 " Truly England and the Chnrcli of God 
 hath had a great favor from the Lord in this 
 great victory given unto us, such as the like 
 never was since this war began. It had all the 
 evidences of an absolute victory obtained by the 
 Lord's blessing upon the godly party principally. 
 We never charged but "^e routed the enemy. 
 The left wing, which I commanded, being our 
 Own horse, saving a few Scots in our rear, beat 
 all the prince's horse. 
 
 " God made them as stubble to our swords. 
 We charged their regiments of foot with our 
 horse, and routed all we charged. The particu- 
 lars I cannot relate now; but, I believe, of 
 twenty thousand the prince hath not four 
 thousand left. Give glory, all the glory, to 
 God. 
 
 " Sir, God hath taken away your eldest son 
 by a cannon shot. It broke his leg. We were 
 necessitated to have it cut off, whereof he died. 
 
 " Sir, you know my own trials this way ; but 
 the Lord supported me in this, that the Lord 
 took him into the happiness we all pant for and 
 live for. There is your precious child full of 
 glory, never to know sin or sorrow any more. 
 He was a gallant young man, exceedingly 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 59 
 
 gracious. God give you his comfort. Before 
 his death lie was so full of comfort that to Frauk 
 Eussel and myself he could not express it, ^It 
 was so great above his paiu.' This he said to 
 us. Indeed it was admirable. A little after, 
 he said one thing lay upon his spirit. I asked 
 him what that was. He told me it was that 
 God had not suffered him to be any more the 
 executioner of his enemies. At his fall his 
 horse was killed with the bullet, and, as I am 
 informed, three horses more. I am told he bid 
 them open to right and left that he mi^ht see 
 the rogues run. Truly he was exceedingly be- 
 loved in the army of all that knew him. But 
 few knew him ; for he was a precious young man 
 fit for God. You have cause to bless the Lord. 
 
 "He is a glorious saint in heaven, wherein 
 you ought exceedingly to rejoice. Let this 
 drink up your sorrow, seeing these are not 
 feigned words to comfort you, but the thing is 
 so real and undoubted a truth. 
 
 " You may do all things by the strength of 
 Christ. Seek that, and you shall easily bear 
 your trial. Let this public mercy to the Church 
 of God make you to forget your private sorrow. 
 The Lord be your strength." 
 
60 LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 Cromwell as a Commander — Chateaubriand's and Milton's 
 Testimony — Cromwell's Impatience with Dilatory Officers 
 and Movements — His Protest in Parliament — Speech in 
 Committee of the Whole — Urges the most Vigorous 
 Efforts. 
 
 It was now evident that Oliver Cromwell was 
 destined to be tjie great leader in this war. 
 Thougli as yet holding no position higher that 
 that of colonel, he gave evidence of the highest 
 military abilities. '^' There was no officer in the 
 army who braved danger witK' greater intrepid- 
 ity. In the very heat of the action he preserved 
 admirable presence of mind. He led his sol- 
 diers np to within a few paces of the enemy, 
 and never allowed them to fire nntil their shots 
 were sure to take effect. J At the same time he 
 maintained the strictest discipline in the army. 
 The troops nnder his command thonght them- 
 selves sure of victory , and, in fact, he never 
 lost a battle." * 
 
 "His actions," said Chateaubriand, "had 
 all the rapidity and effect of lightning. . . . 
 
 P'Aubis:ne, 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 61 
 
 There was a certain invincibility in his genius, 
 like the new ideas of which he was the cham- 
 pion." 
 
 Says Milton, " From his thorough exercise in 
 the art of self-knowledge, he had either ex- 
 terminated or subjugated his domestic foes, 
 his idle hopes, his fears, and his desires. Ilav- 
 iug thus learned to engage, and subdue, and 
 triumph over himself, he took the field against 
 his outward enemies — a soldier practiced in all 
 the discipline of war." "^ 
 
 •iVith such a character and genius, joined 
 with a zeal profoundly earnest and sincere for 
 the cause of the parliament, and what he con- 
 sidered to be the cause of true liberty and 
 prosperity of his country, it is not at all 
 wonderful that Cromwell waxes impatient at 
 the dilatory movements and want of success 
 on the part of some of his superior officers.j, 
 The earl of Essex, the generalissimo of the 
 parliament forces, was meeting with reverses 
 in the west, while Cromwell and his fellow- 
 soldiers were so successful in the north. In 
 fact, the history of this period brings strikingly 
 to mind a trying crisis in the late war of the 
 
 * Chateaubriand. 
 
62 LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 
 
 rebellion, and certain liigli officers tliat were 
 prominent in tliose somber days. 
 
 Cromwell, for example, has left temporarily 
 his regiment of Ironsides a short time after the 
 great battle of Marston Moor, and is again in 
 the Honse of Commons ; for he is still a legis- 
 lator as well as a soldier. He rises in his place, 
 ]^ovember 25, and presents a charge against 
 one of his superior officers, the earl of Man- 
 chester, as follows : '' That the said earl hath 
 always been indisposed and backward to en- 
 gagements, and the ending of the war by the 
 sw^ord ; and ' always ' for such, a peace as a 
 thorough victory would be a disadvantage to; 
 and hath declared this by principles express to 
 that purpose, and by a continued series of car- 
 riao-e and actions answerable; that since the 
 taking of York, as if the parliament had now" 
 advantage fully enough, he hath declined what- 
 soever tended to further advantage upon the 
 enemy, hath neglected and studiously shifted 
 off opportunities to that purpose, as if he 
 thought the king too low and the parliament 
 too high — especially at Dennington Castle ; that 
 he hath drawn the army into, and detained 
 them in such a posture as to give the enemy 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 63 
 
 fresh advantages ; and this before his con- 
 junction with the other armies, by his own ab- 
 solute will, against or without his council of 
 war, against many commands of the Committee 
 of Both Kingdoms, and with contempt and vili- 
 fying of those commands; and since the con- 
 junction, sometimes against the councils of 
 war, and sometimes by persuading and deluding 
 the . council to neglect one opportunity with 
 pretense of another, and this again of a third, 
 and at last by persuading them that it was not 
 fit to fight at all." ^ 
 
 A few days afterward the Commons, sitting 
 in committee of the whole, and deliberating upon 
 the delicate matter of superseding one or two of 
 the principal army officers, after long silence, 
 " one looking upon the other to see who would 
 break the ice," Cromwell rose up and spake to 
 this effect : 
 
 " It is now a' time to speak or forever hold the 
 tongue. The iiriportant occasion now is no less 
 than to save a nation out of a bleeding, nay, 
 almost dying condition, which the long con- 
 tinuance of this war hath already brought it 
 into ; so that without a more speedy, vigorous, 
 
 * Rushworth, qnoted by Carlyle. 
 
64 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 and effectual prosecution of tlie war — casting 
 off all lingering proceedings like those of sol- 
 diers of fortune beyond sea, to spin out a war — 
 we shall make the kingdom weary of us, and 
 hate the name of a parliament. ... I am far 
 from reflecting on any. I know the worth of 
 tho^e commanders, members of both houses, 
 who are yet in power ; bnt if I may speak my 
 conscience without reflection upon any, I do 
 conceive that if the army be not put into an- 
 other method, and the war more vigorously 
 prosecuted, the people can bear the war no 
 longer, and will enforce to you a dishonorable 
 peace." 
 
 Thus, when amid this great struggle, it was 
 no part of Cromwell's genius or policy to seek 
 and maneuver " how not to do it ;" but he 
 was for "moving at once upon the enemy's 
 works," and bringing the conflict to a con- 
 clusion at the earliest possible date. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 65 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Self-denying Ordinance — Cromwell appointed Lieutenant- 
 General — Battle of Naseby — Another great Victory — 
 Cromwell's Report to Parliament' — Commendation, of the 
 Soldiers — The Battle decisive — King's Treachery revealed. 
 
 Early in 1645, the famous " Self-denying 
 Ordinance" passed both houses of parliament. 
 By this ordinance all members of parliament 
 were excluded from commands in the army, and 
 Cromwell, of course, prepared to take leave of 
 his general, Fairfax. " But circumstances, which 
 seemed to proceed from the hand of God, pre- 
 vented him. Hostilities broke out afresh, and 
 Oliver did not think it right, at such a moment, 
 to return his sword into the scabbard. He 
 rushed upon the ene„my at the head of his 
 Puritans, and everywhere the cavaliers fled 
 before him, Fairfax declared that he could 
 not dispense with him." ' , 
 
 "Indeed, to Fairfax and his officers, to the 
 parliament, to the Committee of both King- 
 doms, to all persons, it is clear that Cromwell 
 cannot be dispensed with. Fairfax and the 
 
6Q LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. . 
 
 officers petition parliament that he may be 
 appointed their lieutenant-general, commander 
 in chief of the horse. There is a clear neces- 
 sity in it. Parliament, the Commons somewhat 
 more readily than the Lords, continue, by in- 
 stallments of 'forty days,' of ' three months,' his 
 services in the army; and, at length, grow to 
 regard him as a constant element there. . . . 
 There is trace of evidence that Cromwell's con- 
 tinuance in the army had, even by the framers 
 of the Self-denying Ordinance, been considered 
 a thing possible, a thing desirable : it well 
 might ! To Cromwell himself there was no 
 overpowering felicity in getting out to be shot 
 at, except where wanted ; he very probably, as 
 Sprigge intimates, did let the matter in silence 
 take its own course." * 
 
 On the 14th of June was fought the great 
 battle of ITaseby ; of which Cromwell, on the 
 same night, forwards to parliament the follow- 
 ing account : 
 
 " We marched yesterday after the king, who 
 went before us from Daventry'to Harborough, 
 and quartered about six miles from him. This 
 day we marched toward him. He drew out to 
 
 '•'" Carlyle. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 67 
 
 meet us ; both armies engaged. "We, after three 
 hours' fight, very doubtful, at last routed his 
 army; killed and took about "Rve thousand — 
 very many officers, but of what quality we yet 
 know not. We took also about two hundred 
 carriages, all he had, and all his guns, being 
 twelve in number. . . . Sir, this is none other 
 but the hand of God ; and to him alone belongs 
 the glory, wherein none are to share with him. 
 The general served you with all faithfulness and 
 honor ; and the best commendation I can give 
 him is, that, I dare say, he attributes all to God, 
 and would rather perish than assume it to him- 
 self — which is an honest and a thriving way. 
 And yet as much for bravery may be given 
 to him, in this action, as to a man. Honest 
 men served you faithfully in this action. Sir, 
 they are trusty ; I beseech you, in the name of 
 God, not to discourage them. I wish this ac- 
 tion may beget thankfulness and humility in 
 all that are concerned in it. He that ventures 
 his life for the liberty of his country, I wish he 
 may trust God for the liberty of his conscience, 
 and you for the liberty he fights for." 
 
 This was a decisive battle, and fatal to the 
 royalists. " The king fought desperately, but 
 
68 LIFE OF OLIVEE CKOMWELL. 
 
 lost liis private cabinet of papers and letters, 
 which were sent to London, where it was care- 
 fully examined by the parliament. In it they 
 fonnd the clearest proofs that, notwithstanding 
 his frequent denials, he was perpetually solicit- 
 ing the aid of foreign princes, and that he had 
 protested against the name of parliament which 
 he had o^iven to the two Houses. These docu- 
 ments, which were published under the title of 
 " The King's Cabinet Opened," entirely ruined 
 Charles in the minds of his people. There is a 
 justice in heaven which permits neither kings 
 nor the humblest of their subjects to live by 
 falsehood and to make a mockery of oaths. By 
 his deception and perjury Charles had forfeited 
 the respect of many who were desirons to main- 
 tain the dignity of the throne, and from this 
 period no hope remained." * 
 
 * Yindication. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 69 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 liament- Cromwell attributes all Success to Divine Help 
 
 Chrfstian'n"°'^ 'l ''' '°''""' ^^^^^-^is Yiews of 
 Oiinstian Union -A curious Soldier _ Comments. 
 
 FoLLOwma the great and decisive battle of 
 ^aseby was the storming and capture of 
 Bristol, into which Prince Eupert'^ had shut 
 himself. Here, too, was a great struggle and' 
 victory. A great amount of arms and military 
 stores rewarded the victors. The garrison was 
 manned by two thousand five hundred foot 
 one thousand horse, besides from one to two' 
 thousand auxiliaries, all of whom were sur- 
 rendered. 
 
 Cromwel], after reporting to parliament, by ' 
 direction of his superior officer, a detailed ac- 
 count of the storming and capture of this for- 
 midable post, concludes his address as follows: 
 "Thus I have given you a true, but not a full 
 
 who had married Frederick Y., Elector Palatine. He es' 
 poused the cause of his uncle, and was a desperate fighter 
 
70 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 account of this great business ; wlierein he who 
 runs may read that all this is none other than 
 the work of God. He must be a very atheist 
 that doth not acknowledge it. ' 
 
 "It may be thought that some praises are 
 due to those gallant men of whose valor so 
 much mention is made — their humble suit to 
 you and all that have an interest in this bless- 
 ing is, that in the remembrance of God's praises 
 they be forgotten. It's their joy that they are 
 instruments of God's glory and their country's 
 good. It's their honor that God vouchsafes to 
 use them. Sir, they that have been employed 
 in this service know that faith and prayer ob- 
 tained this city for you ; I do not say ours only, 
 but of the people of God with you and all 
 England over, who have wrestled with God for 
 a blessing in this very thing. Our desires are 
 that God may be glorified by the same spirit 
 of faith by which we ask all our sufficiency, 
 and have received it. It is meet that he have 
 all the praise. Presbyterians, Independents — 
 all have here the same spirit of faith and 
 prayer, the same presence and answer; they 
 agree here, have no names of difference; pity 
 it is it should be otherwise anywhere ! All that 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 71 
 
 believe have the real unity, which is most 
 glorious ; because inward and spiritual, in the 
 Body and to the Head.* For being united in 
 forms, commonly called uniformity, every Chris- 
 tian will for peace' sake study and do as far as 
 conscience will permit. And for brethren, in 
 things of the mind we look for no compulsion 
 but that of light and reason. In other things, 
 God hath put the sword in the parliament's 
 hands, for the terror of evil doers and the praise 
 of them that do well. If any plead exemption 
 from that, he knows not the Gospel ; if any 
 would wring that out of your hands, or steal 
 it from you under what pretense soever, I hope 
 they shall do it without effect. That God may 
 maintain it in your hands, and direct you in 
 the use thereof, is the prayer of your humble 
 servant, Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 What a curious kind of 'a soldier was this 
 Lieutenant-General Cromwell 1 Is it a man of 
 war or a messenger of evangelism that writes 
 this report ? It is both. The sword had leaped 
 from its scabbard, and is uplifted for the terror 
 of evil doers. It is ready to be sheathed when 
 
 * " Head " is Christ ; " Body," Church of Christ. 
 
72 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 tlie enemies of peace and true religion are van- 
 quished. 
 
 D'Aubigne thus comments on the report of 
 General Cromwell : 
 
 " These are remarkable words. Glory to 
 God in heaven ; union among the children of 
 God upon earth. Such are the general's two 
 grand thoughts. How far superior he shows 
 himself to the petty quarrels which then di- 
 vided the Presbyterians and the Independents ! 
 At the same time he distinguishes with great 
 precision between spiritual and temporal things. 
 According to his views, love should prevail in 
 the one, the sword in the other. Full of charity 
 toward his brethren, rejecting every restraint 
 upon religion, and proclaiming the great princi- 
 ples of liberty of conscience, how terrible he 
 appears with his sword in his hand ! " "^ 
 * Yindication. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 73 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 Further Successes — "Winchester Captured — Report of the 
 Capture — Cromwell's Magnanimity to the Enemy — Cap- 
 ture of Bassing House — Hugh Peter's Testimony of Crom- 
 well — Close of first Civil War — Eoyalists defeated — King 
 goes to the Scots — Cromwell returns to Parliament. 
 
 The war goes on. From the capture of Bristol, 
 the army turns southward to grapple with the 
 remaining forces of royalism in that region. 
 
 '' The parliament army went steadily and 
 rapidly on, storming Bridgewater, storming all 
 manner of towns and castles, clearing the ground 
 before them.'^^ " 
 
 Cromwell is always in the midst of the forces 
 and the victories — always present in the general 
 or partial fights; and especially renowned by 
 his sieges, and the capture of many strong- 
 places. 
 
 Amid all this rapidity and brilliancy of suc- 
 cesses let us note the manner of spirit char- 
 acterizing this man of war. 
 
 Having, with several regiments, entered "Win- 
 chester, another of the royalist strongholds, and 
 
 * Carlyle. 
 
74 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 compelled the castle to surrender, Cromwell 
 thus reports to parliament : 
 
 ^' Sir, this is the addition of another mercj. 
 You see God is not wearj in doing you good, 
 I confess, sir, his favor to you is as visible 
 when he comes by his power upon the hearts 
 of your enemies, making them quit places of 
 strength to you, as when he gives courage to 
 your soldiers to attempt hard things. His good- 
 ness in this is much to be acknowledged ; for 
 the castle was well manned with six hundred 
 and eighty horse and foot, there being near 
 two hundred gentlemen officers and their serv- 
 ants; well victualed with fifteen thousand 
 weight of cheese, very great store of wheat and 
 beer; near twenty barrels of powder, seven 
 pieces of cannon. The works were exceeding 
 good and strong. It's very likely it would 
 have cost much blood to have gained it by 
 storm. We have not lost twelve men. This 
 is repeated to you that God may have all the 
 praise, for it's all his due." Oarlyle adds, that 
 "it was at the surrender of Winchester that 
 certain of the captive enemies having com- 
 plained of being plundered contrary to articles, 
 Cromwell had the accused parties, six of his 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 75 
 
 own soldiers, tried. Being all found guilty, 
 one of them, by lot, was hanged, and the other 
 ^ve were marched off to Oxford, to be there 
 disposed of as the governor saw fit. The Ox- 
 ford governor politely returned the five prison- 
 ers, with an acknowledgment of the lieutenant- 
 general's nobleness." 
 
 Basing House, another strong royalist gar- 
 rison, is next brought to surrender, October 14, 
 1645. 
 
 ' Col. Hammond and Mr. Hugh Peters were 
 commanded to carry the news of this victory 
 to the parliament at London. Among other 
 interesting things Mr. Peters states as follows : 
 
 " This is now the twentieth garrison that 
 hath been taken in this summer by this army ; 
 and, I believe, most of them the answers of the 
 prayers, and trophies of the faith of some of 
 God's servants.. The commander of this bri- 
 gade. Lieutenant-general Cromwell, had spent 
 much time with God in prayer the night before 
 the storm, and seldom fights without some 
 text of Scripture to support him. This time 
 he rested upon that blessed word of God, writ- 
 ten in the one hundred and fifteenth psalm, 
 eighth verse : ' They that make them are like 
 
76 LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 
 
 unto them ; so is everyone that trusteth in 
 them; which, with some verses going before, 
 was now being accomplished." 
 
 D' Aiibigne adds that, " Every day of his life 
 he retired to read, the Scriptures and to pray. 
 Those who watched him narrowly relate that, 
 after having perused a chapter in the Bible, he 
 was wont to prostrate himself with his face on 
 the ground, and with tears pour out his soul 
 before Grod. Who can charge with hypocrisy 
 these inward movements of a soul which pass 
 all knowledge ? For what ' man knoweth the 
 things of a man, save the spirit of man which 
 is in him ? ' " 
 
 So obvious is it that Oliver Cromwell was a 
 Christian as well as a warrior ; and when he 
 drew his sword it was " for God and liberty." 
 
 Here the war may be said to have closed. 
 The king retired to Oxford, and to obscurity; 
 a very few places held out till the following 
 year, '(1646.) The last of the distingnished 
 royalist generals. Sir Jacob Astley, approach- 
 ing Oxford with a small force, was beaten 
 and captured. Surrendering himself, the brave 
 veteran is reported to have said to his captors : 
 "Ton have now done your work ; you may go 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 77 
 
 to play, unless you will fall out among your- 
 selves." 
 
 Shortly after this the king, disguised and in 
 the nighty left Oxford, hardly knowing whither 
 he went ; but proceeded at length to Newark, 
 and to the Scotch army. About the same time 
 Cromwell returned to his place in parliament, 
 and what may be termed the Urst civil war was 
 ended. 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 Disturbed State of England — King a Prisoner at the Isle of 
 Wight — Royalists — Presbyterians — London Levelers — 
 Divided Parliament — Approach of a Scotch Army— Riots 
 — Cromwell calls to Union — Falls sick — Recovers — Let- 
 ter to General Fairfax. 
 
 From 1646 to 1648 there was a cessation of 
 actual hostilities, while yet a disturbed and un- 
 happy state of affairs troubled the people of 
 England. The king had failed to establish his 
 authority; his forces were vanquished mainly 
 by the consummate generalship of Cromwell 
 and the bravery of his invincible Ironsides. 
 Charles himself had come into the hands of the 
 parliament, and was now held in durance at 
 
78 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 the Isle of Wight. By Cromwell, the army, 
 and the parliament, he was esteemed "utterly 
 faithless, and an enemy of his country; and 
 the time was past when they conld come to 
 any accommodation with him or he with them. 
 Yet what should be done with him was a prob- 
 lem which seemed difficult of solution ; and he 
 seemed to stand as one of the prominent obsta- 
 cles to the peaceful settlement of the country. 
 Carlyle thus graphically sums up the grand 
 difficulties : 
 
 " The small governing party in England, 
 during those early months of 1648, are in a 
 position which might fill the bravest mind with 
 misgivings. Elements of destruction every- 
 where under and around them ; their lot either 
 to conquer or ignominiously to die. A king 
 not to be bargained with ; kept in Carisbrooke, 
 the center of all factious hopes, of world-wide 
 intrigues ; that is one element. A great royal- 
 ist party, subdued with difficulty, and ready at 
 all moments to rise again ; that is another. A 
 great Presbyterian party, at the head of which 
 is London city, ^ the purse-bearer of the cause,' 
 highly dissatisfied at the course things had 
 taken, and looking desperately around for new 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 79 
 
 combinations and a new struggle ; reckon tliat 
 for a third element. Add, lastly, a headlong 
 Mutineer, Kepublican, or Leveling Party ; and 
 consider that there is a working House of Com- 
 mons which counts about seventy, divided in 
 pretty equal halves too, the rest waiting what 
 will come of it."'^ 
 
 The same author does not omit to notice 
 still another " element," namely, the approach 
 of a Scotch army of forty thousand strong, " to 
 deliver the king from sectaries." This means 
 that a great array of Presbyterians was com- 
 ing to put down Episcopalians, Independents, 
 Quakers, Republicans, Levelers, and such 
 like. 
 
 Meanwhile Cromwell, deeply sensible of the 
 critical state of affairs, exerts himself to the 
 utmost to effect a union of all parties friendly 
 to the cause of the parliament, but with but 
 little effect. Serious disturbances and riots oc- 
 cur, especially in London, and such riots as 
 cannot be put down but by desperate charges 
 of cavalry. 
 
 Just amid these somber days, Cromwell was 
 seized with a dangerous illness. On his re- 
 
 -= Ciirlyle, i, 251. 
 
80 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 coverj he tlius addresses his superior officer, 
 General Fairfax : 
 
 "Sir: It hath pleased Grod to raise me out 
 of a dangerous sickness ; and I do most willing- 
 ly acknowledge that the Lord hath, in this visit- 
 ation, exercised the bowels of a father toward 
 me. I received in myself the sentence of death 
 that I might learn to trust in Him that raiseth 
 from the dead, and have no confidence in the 
 fiesh. It's a blessed thing to die daily. For 
 what is there in this world to be accounted of! 
 The best men, according to the flesh, are lighter 
 than vanity. I find this only good : To love 
 the Lord and his poor despised people ; to do 
 for them, and to be ready to suffer with them ; 
 and he that is found worthy of this hath ob- 
 tained great favor from the Lord ; and he that 
 is established in this shall (being confirmed to 
 Christ and the rest of the body) participate in 
 the glory of a resurrection which will answer 
 all." ^ 
 
 "What a way of writing from one general 
 officer to another ! What kind of soldiers were 
 these strange men ! Let us glance into the next 
 chapter and learn still more of them. 
 
 *Carlyle, i, 244. ' 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 81 
 
 CHAPTEE XYI. 
 
 A "Protracted Meeting" at Windsor Castle — Prayer — 
 Preaching — Self-searching — Reflection — Great Difficulty 
 discerned — Bitter weeping — Light — A most Solemn De- 
 cision. 
 
 Eaely in the year 1648, whether before or 
 after the sickness of Cromwell alluded to in 
 the last chapter, the army leaders, described by 
 Carlyle as " The longest heads and the strongest 
 hearts in England," held what, in these mt)dern 
 days, would be called a " protracted meeting," 
 and one of a deeply interesting character. It 
 was, in fact, so interesting that we cannot re- 
 frain from quoting one or two extracts descrip- 
 tive of its proceedings. The report of the said 
 proceedings is by the pen of Adjutant- General 
 Allen, one of the officers of the army, and " a most 
 authentic, earnest man." He writes : "^Accord- 
 ingly we did agree to meet at Windsor Castle 
 about the beginning of '48. And there we 
 spent one day together in prayer, inquiring into 
 the causes of that sad dispensation, (let all men 
 
82 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 consider it,) coming to no furtlier result, that daj, 
 but that it was* still our duty to seek. And on 
 the morrow, we met again in the morning, 
 where many spake from the word, and prayed ; 
 and the then Lieutenant- General ^Cromwell did 
 press very earnestly on all there present to a 
 thorough consideration of our actions as an 
 army, and of our ways particularly as private 
 Christians, to see if any iniquity could be found 
 in them, and what it was ; that if possible we 
 might find out, and so remove the cause of such 
 sad rebukes as were upon us (by reason of our 
 iniquities, as we judged) at that time. And the 
 way more particularly the Lord led us to herein 
 was this : To look back and consider what time 
 it was when, with joint satisfaction, we could 
 last say, to the best of our judgment, the 
 presence of the Lord was among us, and re- 
 bukes and judgments were not as then upon 
 us. Which time the Lord led us 'jointly to find 
 out and agree in ; and, having done so, to pro- 
 ceed, as we then judged it our duty, to search 
 into all oup public actions as an army afterward ; 
 duly weighing (as the Lord helped us) each of 
 them, with their grounds, rules, and ends, as 
 near as we could. And so we concluded this 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 83 
 
 second day witli agreeing to meet again on tlie 
 morrow. Which accordingly we did upon the 
 same occasion, reassuming the consideration of 
 onr debates the day before, and reviewing onr 
 actions again. 
 
 " By which means we 'were, by a gracious 
 hand of the Lord, led to find out the very steps 
 (as we were all then jointly convinced) by which 
 we had departed from the Lord, and provoked 
 him to depart from us. Which we found to be 
 those cursed carnal conferences our own con- 
 ceited wisdom, our fears, and want of faith had 
 prompted us, the year before, to entertain with 
 the king and his party. . . . 
 
 "And in this path the Lord led us, not only 
 to see our sin, but also our duty ; and this so 
 unanimously set with weight upon each heart, 
 that none was hardly able to speak a word to 
 each other for bitter weeping ; partly in the 
 sense and shame of our iniquities, of our unbe- 
 lief, base fear of men, and carnal consultations 
 (as the fruit thereof) with our own wisdom, 
 and not with the word of the Lord, which only 
 is a way of wisdom, strength, and safety, and 
 all besides it are ways of snares; and yet we 
 were also helped, with fear and trembling, to 
 
84 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 rejoice in the Lord, whose faithfalness and lov- 
 ing-kindness we were made to see yet failed ns 
 not ; who remembered ns still, even in our low 
 estate, because his mercy endures forever. 
 Who no sooner brought us to his feet, acknowl- 
 edging him in that way of his, (namely, search- 
 ing for, being ashamed of, and willing to 
 turn from, our iniquities,) but he did direct our 
 steps ; and presentl;^ we were led and helped 
 to a clear agreement among ourselves, not any 
 dissenting, that it was the duty of our day, 
 with the forces we had, to go out and fight 
 against those potent enemies which that year 
 in all places appeared against us; with an hum- 
 ble confidence, in the name of the Lord only, 
 that we should destroy them. And we were 
 also enabled there, after serious seeking his face, 
 to come to a very clear and joint resolution, 
 on many grounds at large there debated among 
 us, that it was our duty, if ever the Lord brought 
 us back again in peace, to call Charles Stuart, 
 that man of blood, to an account for that blood 
 he had shed, and mischief he had done, to his 
 utmost, against the Lord's cause and people 
 in these poor nations. 
 
 " And how the Lord led and prospered us in 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 85 
 
 all our undertakings that year in this way; 
 cutting his work short in righteousness, making 
 it a year of mercy, equal if not transcendent 
 to any since these wars began ; and making it 
 worthy of remembrance by every gracious soul 
 who was wise to observe the Lord, and the 
 operations of his hands, I wish may never be 
 forgotten." * 
 
 Carlyle thus comments on the above : 
 " Abysses, black chaotic whirlwinds ! does the 
 reader look upon it all as madness ? Madness 
 lies close by, as madness does to the highest 
 wisdom in man's life always ; but this is not 
 mad! This dark element, it is the mother of 
 the lightnings and the splendors; it is very 
 sane this ! " f 
 
 * Carlyle, i, 254-256. f Letters, i, 357. 
 
86 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTEK XYII. 
 
 Heavings and Disquiet — Uprising in Wales and Kent — A 
 Scotch Army approaching — London plotting for the King 
 — Parliament vacillates — Cromwell on the War-path — 
 Dashes upon the Scots — G-re at Victory at Preston — 
 Report to Parliament — Great Rejoicings — Scots retreat 
 North, followed by Cromwell. 
 
 It was well to praj and humble themselves 
 before God ; for, as we have seen, there were al- 
 ready heavings, and tumults, and general dis- 
 quiet. Charles, though a prisoner, was full of 
 intrigue and deception. The cavaliers were 
 plotting with the people. In the spring of 
 1648 a discontent, hourly becoming more gen- 
 eral, announced itself among the Presbyterians 
 and loyalists in Wales and in Kent. Several 
 of the parliamentary officers joined the king's 
 standard. The Scotch army was approaching, 
 prepared to fight for the restoration of Charles. 
 London was raising troops for the same pur- 
 pose; and even the parliament relented, and 
 voted that fresh negotiations shall immediately 
 be opened with the king at his place of con- 
 finement in the Isle of Wight. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 87 
 
 Meanwhile Cromwell is again on the war- 
 path. He is soon in Wales at the head of five 
 regiments, and suddenly crushes the rebellions 
 uprisings in the west. Then he hastens north- 
 ward to checkmate the Scots, who, with an 
 army of twenty thousand strong, are already 
 invading England. His marches ^re like the 
 lightning. Suddenly the invading cavalry no- 
 tify the Scotch commander that Cromwell is 
 approaching. " Impossible ! " replies the duke, 
 '' he has not had time to come." But the out- 
 posts were already engaged with the advanced 
 guard of the parliamentary general. Cromwell 
 defeats the royalists, dashes upon the Scots, 
 routs them thoroughly, crosses the river with 
 them, follows them closely as they flee; and, 
 after two days' pursuing and fighting, compels 
 them to surrender. A fortnight's campaign 
 suffices to sweep away the whole northern army. 
 Such was the famous fight of Preston ; and the 
 following are the closing sentences of General 
 Cromwell's report of the battle to parliament. 
 It presents another illustration of military suc- 
 cess, as also of the spirit of the chief actor : 
 
 " Thus you have a narrative of the particu- 
 lars of the success which God hath given you ; 
 
88 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 ■which I could hardly at this time have done, 
 considering the multiplicity of business ; but 
 truly when I was once engaged in it I could 
 hardly tell how to say less, there being so much 
 of God in it ; and I am not willing to say more, 
 lest there should seem to be any of man. Only 
 give me leave to add one word showing the dis- 
 parity of forces on both sides ; that so you. may 
 see, and all the world acknowledge, the great 
 hand of God in this business. The Scots army 
 could not be less than twelve thousand effective 
 foot, well armed, and five thousand horse ; Lang- 
 dale not less than two thousand five hundred 
 foot and fifteen hundred horse ; in all twenty- 
 one thousand; and truly very few of their 
 foot but were as well armed, if not better, than 
 yours, and at divers disputes did fight two or 
 three hours before they would quit their ground. 
 Yours were about two thousand five hundred 
 horse and dragoons of your old army; about 
 four thousand foot of your old army ; also about 
 sixteen hundred Lancashire foot, and about 'Slyq 
 hundred Lancashire horse; in all about eight 
 thousand six hundred. You see by computation 
 about two thousand of the enemy were slain ; 
 between eight and nine thousand prisoners, 
 
LIFE OF OLIYER CEOMWELL. 89 
 
 besides what are lurking in hedges and private 
 places, which the country daily bring in or 
 destroy. Where Langdale and his broken 
 forces are I know not; but they are exceed- 
 ingly shattered. 
 
 " Surely^ sir, this is nothing but the hand of 
 God; and wherever anything in this world is 
 exalted, or exalts itself, God will put it down ; 
 for this is the day wherein he a](^ne will be ex- 
 alted. It is not fit for me to give advice, nor to 
 say a word what use you should make of this, 
 more than to pray you, and all that acknowl- 
 edge God, that they would exalt him, and not 
 hate his people, who are as the apple of his eye, 
 and for whom even kings shall be reproved; 
 and that you would take courage to do the 
 work of the Lord in fulfilling the end of your 
 magistracy, in seeking the peace and welfare of 
 this land ; that all that will live peaceably may 
 have countenance from you, and they that are 
 incapable, and will not leave troubling the 
 land, may speedily be destroyed out of the 
 land. And if you take courage in this, God 
 will bless you, and good men will stand by 
 you, and God- will have glory, and the land 
 will have happiness by you in despite of all 
 
90 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 your enemies ; which shall be the prayer of your 
 most humble and faithful servant, 
 
 "Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 Of the two messengers deputed to bear the 
 news of this great success to the parliament, 
 one received $1,000, and the other $500. A 
 day of unusual thanksgiving for this wonderful- 
 ly great success was likewise ordered ; and ten 
 thousand copies of a printed schedule of items 
 to be thankful for were dispatched throughout 
 the land. 
 
 The remnant of the Scotch army, with their 
 commander the duke of Hamilton, a few days 
 after surrendered themselves, all except the 
 rearward of their forces, which immediately 
 turned back toward Scotland, marauding and 
 plundering as they wended their weary way 
 toward their own country. 
 
 Cromwell follows northward to look after 
 these enemies, and proceeds to Edinburgh to 
 compose matters, and where he is tendered a 
 magnificent reception. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 91 
 
 CHAPTEE XYIII. 
 
 Second Civil "War ended — Parliament still vacillating — It 
 sends a Commission to the King — Forty-day Conference — 
 King's Double-dealing — Cromwell's Discernment. 
 
 Thus, and in so few montlis, was the second 
 civil war ended. 
 
 "Will it be believed that, amid all this brill- 
 iant success and advantage — all purchased at 
 the cost of so much blood and toil and treasure 
 — the English parliament itself was in a vacil- 
 lating condition, was alarmed at the success of 
 their own cause, and still evincing a leaning 
 toward royalty, and toward the execrable 
 monarch who had been guilty of so much 
 bloodshed, who had brought so much sorrow 
 and distress npon the land, and was still plot- 
 iug the overthrow of liberty, and the complete 
 ruin of many of the best people of the country ? 
 In the very midst of this last civil war, amid 
 the very days when Cromwell was achieving 
 the great victory of Preston, and subsequently 
 thundering at the gates of Edinburgh, and 
 
92 LIFE OF OLIYEE CEOMWELL. 
 
 bringing tlae Scots to terms — at tliis very time 
 the parliament at home were deliberating about 
 proposals to the king, with a view to his re- 
 suming the throne and the government. Fif- 
 teen commissioners, live members of the Upper 
 House, and ten of the Commons, were deputed 
 to wait on the king at his place of confinement 
 in the Isle of Wight, with a view to reconcilia- 
 tion and restoration. There was a long con- 
 ference of forty days and more. Proposals 
 were made to the perfidious king; and the 
 commissioners entreated him to accept of these 
 before the return of the army from the north. 
 The king seemed inclined to comply; but, true 
 to his double-dealing, he was nourishing in his 
 heart a far different hope. Ormond, a royalist 
 renegade, "had quitted France, and was about 
 to reappear in Ireland, provided with money 
 and ammunition to enter upon a vigorous war. 
 Charles's heart was there ; he thought of escap- 
 ing and putting himself at the head of that 
 army. He solemnly promised to give orders 
 for the cessation of all hostilities in Ireland; 
 but, at the same time, secretly wrote to Ormond 
 on the 10th of October, ' Trouble not. yourself 
 about my concessions as to Ireland. Obey my 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 93 
 
 wife's orders, not mine.' And on the 9tli of 
 the same month he wrote to Sir "William Hop- 
 kins: ^My great concession this morning was 
 made only with a view to facilitate my ap- 
 proaching escape.' Such was the prince whose 
 dupe the parliament became. There never, 
 perhaps, was any body of men who showed 
 themselves so simple, or who gave such evi- 
 dence of folly and inexperience." * 
 
 Oliver Cromwell knows Charles Stuart bet- 
 ter — knows him thoroughly — knows him so 
 well as to have not the slightest confidence in 
 him — knows him to be false, to be a traitor, 
 and deserving of nothing less than dethrone- 
 ment and death, if so be that death were ever 
 deserved by man at the hand of his fellow-man. 
 
 But as the great Providence will have it, 
 these mean approaches to the king on the part 
 of the parliament, prove to be vain and fruit- 
 less. Charles has other plans ; and is pre|)aring 
 to add another to the illustrations that whom 
 the gods purpose to destroy they first make 
 mad. 
 
 * Yindication, p. 83, 
 
94 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The real Alternative — The Army Officers — Remonstrance — 
 Its Doctrines — Result in Parliament — Army approaches 
 London — " Pride's Purge " — Grave Consequences — Con- 
 currence of Cromwell. 
 
 Iw respect to the two great hostile parties pitted 
 against each other in these unhappy civil wars 
 —the parliament and its forces on the one hand, 
 and the king and royalists on the other — nearly 
 the following seems to have been the real alter- 
 native. 
 
 Either the parliament must maintain the ad- 
 vantages which, by its victorious arms, it had 
 secured, and go on, as it had begun, to estab- 
 lish a government guaranteeing a just civil and 
 religious liberty to the people ; or, on the other 
 hand, submitting again to the government and 
 power of the king, all the prodigies of valor, 
 long labors, great sacrifices, and astonishing vic- 
 tories in the cause of liberty and Protestantism 
 would be rendered vain ; Popery and tyranny 
 would resume their sway; good men through- 
 out the land would be oppressed, the army lead- 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 95 
 
 ers belieaded, the rank and file driven by thou- 
 sands into exile, and the hopes of Protestantism 
 crushed and overthrown. 
 
 The sagacious eye of Cromwell saw this great 
 and awful dilemma with a clear vision. He 
 saw that the great crisis was at hand, and he 
 would fain meet it in the fear of God and with 
 an eye upon the true welfare of his afflicted 
 country. But other officers of the army beside 
 Cromwell were, at this point of time, ill at ease 
 in contemplating the present aspect of affairs. 
 The principal forces were at St. Albans under 
 General Fairfax, while Cromwell, with the 
 troops under his command, was yet in the 
 north. At St. Albans a council of the officers 
 proposed a serious remonstrance to the House 
 of Commons, Avhich was presented by a deputa- 
 tion of their own body, and endorsed by a letter 
 from Gen. Fairfax. This remonstrance urged 
 their sad apprehensions of the danger and evil 
 of the treaty with the king, and of any accom- 
 modation with him ; that he ought to be brought 
 to trial on account of the evils done by him ; 
 that the English monarchy should henceforth 
 be elective, or that no king be hereafter admit- 
 ted but by the election of, and as upon trust 
 
96 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 from, the people by their representatives, nor 
 without first disclaiming and disavowing all 
 pretense to a negative voice against the determ- 
 inations of the said representatives or Com- 
 mons in parliament; and that to be done in 
 some certain form, more clear than heretofore, 
 in the coronation oath; that a period should 
 be set to this present parliament ; that parlia- 
 ments in future should be annual or biennial, 
 and that the elective franchise should be ex- 
 tended and made more equal. 
 
 Much more was embraced in this remon- 
 strance ; but it is curious to remark how, with 
 one or two slight modifications, the political 
 sentiments above stated harmonize with the prin- 
 ciples of enlightened republicanism as recognized 
 and adopted in the American political systems. 
 
 This famous remonstrance excited a long 
 and high debate, which was, at length, ad- 
 journed. 
 
 After some days, the question recurring of 
 resuming the consideration of the army re- 
 monstrance, it was negatived by the Presby- 
 terian majority. On the same eventful day the 
 House was informed, in the conclusion of an 
 additional declaration from a full council of the 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 97 
 
 army, that the armj was marching toward 
 London, " there to follow providence as God 
 should clear their way." 
 
 All this occurred 'Noy. 30. Six days after- 
 terward (December 6, 1648) was revealed, in 
 part, what these army officers meant by "fol- 
 lowing Providence." On that day, two regi- 
 ments surrounded the parliament house. A 
 regiment of horse occupied Palace yard, and a 
 regiment of foot, commanded by Colonel Pride, 
 occupied Westminster Hall and all the entrances 
 to the House of Commons. 
 
 Colonel Pride holds in his hand a list of pro- 
 scribed names of the House of Commons ; and 
 as each person approaches to enter and assume 
 his place, if his name is upon the colonel's list, 
 he is placed under guard, and escorted away 
 from the House. Thus, on this and the follow- 
 ing day, above a hundred members of the Com- 
 mons were summarily banished from the parlia- 
 ment. ]!!Tone were allowed to remain but such 
 as were acceptable to the council of officers, 
 and thus the minority became the majority. 
 This transaction, from the immediate agent 
 concerned, goes down in history by the name 
 of "Pride's Purge." A strange transaction, 
 
98 LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 
 
 indeed, and justifiable only amid the greatest 
 extremities ; and it was' followed by the most 
 grave and solemn consequences. But Oliver 
 Cromwell was not originally a party to this 
 proceeding, having arrived from the north while 
 the purging was in progress. Yet it must be 
 added that he endorsed it at once. " God is 
 my witness," said he in his place, " that I knew 
 nothing of what has been doing in this House. 
 But the work is in hand ; I am glad of it, and 
 now we must carry it through." 
 
 This, of course, was a measure entirely 
 revolutionary in its character; and opinions 
 will differ as to its righteousness, according as 
 they may differ in respect to the stern necessity 
 of the times. These officers seem to have de- 
 cided clearly and conscientiously that the in- 
 terests of religion, liberty, and their own lives 
 would almost certainly be sacrificed by this 
 parliament in their project of reinstating King 
 Charles, as was about to be done ; and, having 
 the power in their hands, they determined to 
 forestall and prevent such a catastrophe. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 King brought to London — Charges against him — Cromwell 
 hesitates — "High Court of Justice " — King arraigned — 
 Refusal to plead — Condemned to die — Death Warrant — 
 Execution. 
 
 A FAR more painfal scene immediately ensues. 
 Ten days after the purging, by the army, of 
 the House of Commons, a strong party of 
 horse, whether by order of the Commons or 
 army officers is not plain, was dispatched to 
 bring the king from the Isle of Wight to Lon- 
 don ; and, on the 23d of the month, he was 
 safely lodged a prisoner in Windsor Castle. 
 On the same day, the Commons ordered a com- 
 mittee of thirty-eight persons "to consider of 
 drawing 'tip a charge against the king, and all 
 other delinquents that may be thought fit to 
 bring to condign punishment." On the first 
 day of January, 1649, this committee reported 
 to the Commons an ordinance for bringing the 
 king to trial on a charge of high treason — as 
 the cause of all the blood which had been shed 
 during the last war. Pending the adoption 
 of this grave report Cromwell hesitated ; and. 
 
100 LIFE OF OLIVEE CROMWELL. 
 
 rising in his place and addressing the speaker, 
 he said : " Sir, if any man whatever have car- 
 ried on fhis design, [of deposing the king and 
 disinheriting his posterity,] or if any man have 
 stillsuch a design, he mnst still be the greatest 
 traitor and rebel in the world. But since the 
 providence of God hath cast this upon us, I 
 cannot but submit to Providence, though I am 
 not yet prepared to give you my advice." 
 
 D'Aubigne, as it appears to us, places in its 
 proper light the case of Cromwell at this solemn 
 juncture of affairs. " The initiative," he writes, 
 " in the case of Charles's trial did not proceed 
 from Cromwell. His scruples and his anxiety 
 grew stronger every day. Should he yield to 
 the powerful tide that was hurrying him along, 
 and which no one seemed capable of resisting ? 
 or should he withdraw from public affairs, and, 
 sacrificing the great interests of civil and re- 
 ligious liberty in behalf of which the struggle 
 had first begun, commit the direction of affairs 
 to unskillful hands whose weakness would in- 
 evitably lead to the return of despotism and of 
 popery? Seldom or never has there been a 
 more terrible conflict in human breast." * 
 
 * Yindication, p. 90. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVES CEOMWELL. 101 
 
 The same author adds with truth that "the 
 Episcopalians, the English Presbyterians, the 
 Church of Scotland, protested all against the 
 king's trial. 'No regard was paid, however, 
 to any opposition, and the parliament at 
 once proceeded to erect a "High Court of 
 Justice " for trying the sovereign, consisting 
 of one hundred and thirty-five commissioners ; 
 and, on January 20th, Charles was brought to 
 the bar. To the last the king disclaimed 
 the authority of the court, and persistently 
 refused to plead before it. After a sitting 
 of seven dav^^^nd the examination of many 
 witnesses, fthe court found their royal prisoner 
 guilty of the charge of tyranny, treason, and 
 murder ; of being the guilty cause of the whole 
 civil war, the death of thousands of the free 
 people of the nation, divisions within the land, 
 invasions from foreign parts, waste of the public 
 treasury, decay of trade, spoliation and desola- 
 tion of great parts of the country, etc. ;j and 
 ended with pronouncing upon the king the 
 sentence of death. 
 
 On the 29th of January the " High Court of 
 Justice'^ issued to Colonels Hacker, Hanks, 
 and Phayr the following warrant : 
 
102 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 " Wliereas, Charles Stuart, king of England, 
 is and standeth convicted, attainted, and con- 
 demned of high treason, and other high crimes ; 
 and sentence, npon Saturday last, was pro- 
 nounced against him by this court, to be put 
 to death by the severing of his head from his 
 body ; of v^hich sentence execution yet remain- 
 eth to be done : 
 
 " These, are, therefore, to will and require 
 you to see the said sentence executed in the 
 open street before Whitehall, upon the morrow, 
 being the 30th day of this instant month of 
 January, between the hours often in the morn- 
 ing and -Rve in the afternoon, with full eifect. 
 And for so doing this shall be your warrant. 
 
 "And these are to require all officers and 
 soldiers and others the good people of this 
 nation of England to be assisting unto you in 
 this service. 
 
 " Given under our hands and seals : 
 
 " JoHK Beadshaw, 
 
 " Thomas Geey, ' Loed Groby.' 
 
 "Olivee Ceomwell, 
 
 " (And fifty-six others.)" 
 This dreadful' warrant was executed on the 
 following day. 
 
IfQ 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 105 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 Shadows — Cromwell's Connection with the King's Death' — 
 Verdict of Posterity — Cromwell's Scruples — Ultimate 
 Conviction ^— Character of Cromwell's Piety. 
 
 The best, brightest eartlily lives have their 
 shadows; and the trial and execution of Charles 
 I. presents one of the shadows that rest upon 
 the career of Oliver Cromwell. He was a 
 member of the Rump Parliament, and doubtless 
 approved the plan of proceeding, and assisted 
 to create the " High Court of Justice," and 
 consented to be a member of this court. He 
 was the third signer of the warrant for the 
 king's execution. He was a particeps criminis 
 to all the extent that crime was involved in 
 this sad transaction. And that it was a crime 
 — a crime and a blunder — is, we think, the per- 
 vading sentiment of mankind. That Charles I. 
 was utterly unworthy to be a king; that he was 
 false, intriguing, cruel, tyrannical, and treason- 
 able ; that he was all of these, the world knows. 
 But it were better that he had been dethroned, 
 
106 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 exiled, disgraced. It was shocking, revolting, 
 horrible to bring him to the scaffold.'^ 
 
 Such seems to be the verdict of posterity ; 
 and Cromwell was in this thipg. It is true, as 
 we have seen, at the first proposal in parliament 
 to proceed against the king, Cromwell shrunk 
 back with horror ; but he acquiesced, notwith- 
 standing, and was one of the regicides. 
 
 Yet the whole truth should be told, and all 
 extenuating circumstances should be faithfully 
 brought to view. 
 
 Let it be understood, then, that Cromwell 
 fully understood the character of King Charles. 
 He had evidence, clear as demonstration, of his 
 
 * We object very decidedly to the author's views respecting 
 the execution, of Charles I. He admits the king's treason, 
 which was a crime punishable with death under the laws 
 he had sworn to maintain. If the parliament possessed any 
 governmental rights, it certainly had the right to try, convict, 
 and punish a criminal, even though he might be a king. 
 Where, then, was Charles's execution a crime? We think it 
 was a merited punishment for a grave offense against liberty 
 and law. Had he been only exiled, he would have stirred up 
 the monarchs of continental Europe to aid him in recovering 
 his crown. Moreover, his execution was politic as well as 
 right, for it did much toward breaking down that popular 
 superstitious reverence for the persons of king;s which up to 
 that time had been a formidable bulwark of despotism. We 
 think this is the general opinion of the best friends of civil 
 liberty in modern times. — D. W. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 107 
 
 falsity and hypocrisy, and tliat, if reinstated, lie 
 would bring Ms prominent enemies to the halter. 
 Thus, knowing the king as he did, Cromwell 
 and those with whom he acted entertained not 
 the least doubt that he richly deserved to die, 
 and they judged that the circumstance of his 
 being king should be no hinderance to the exer- 
 cise of justice upon him. Cromwell's pole-star 
 was the civil and religious liberty of mankind, 
 and he contemplated Charles as aiming to de- 
 stroy both the one and the other ; and hence he 
 came to believe that such a monster should be 
 swept from the earth. 'Nor yet was he hasty 
 and rash in reaching so grave a conclusion. 
 The religion of this remarkable man was ardent 
 and constant, and he was not prepared at once 
 to sign the king's death warrant. For a time 
 he seems to have been uncertain and w^avering. 
 He longed above all things to do right ; but 
 what was the right in this case? Painful 
 dilemma indeed ! In the midst of his per- 
 plexity he told his cousin, John Cromwell, 
 that he had " fasted and prayed to know the 
 will of God in respect to the king, but that 
 God had not yet pointed out the way." When 
 his cousin, who was opposed to Oliver's signing 
 
108 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 the fatal warrant, had retired, " Cromwell and 
 his friends again sought by prayer the path 
 they ought to follow ; and it was then the par- 
 liamentary hero first felt the conviction that 
 Charles's death alone could save England. 
 From that moment all was fixed; God had 
 spoken ; Oliver's indecision was at an end ; it 
 remained now merely to act and accomplish 
 that will, however appalling it might be. At 
 one o'clock in the morning a messenger from 
 the general knocked at the door of the tavern 
 where John Cromwell lodged, and informed 
 him that his cousin had at length dismissed 
 his doubts, and that all the arguments so long 
 put forward by the most decided republicans 
 were now confirmed by the will of the Lord." "^ 
 
 The propriety of all this we neither affirm 
 nor deny ; but must submit it as evidence that 
 Cromwell was sincere in his convictions of duty 
 in so grave a matter, and that conscience, per- 
 verted though it may have been, was the ruling 
 principle by which he was actuated. 
 
 The religion of Cromwell, as was very com- 
 mon in that age, was more or less tinctured 
 with fanaticism, and this one blemish accounts 
 
 '"' D'Aiibigne. » 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 109 
 
 for much that appears shadowy and doubtful 
 in the character of this great man. '' This," 
 says one of his biographers, " is the key which 
 opens and explains his whole life. His piety 
 was sincere, but it was not always sober. 
 
 " Yet if this error be a great extenuation of 
 the protector's fault, the crime to which it led 
 him must ever remain in history as a warning 
 to terrify those who may base their conduct on 
 their inward impressions rather than on the 
 sure, positive, and ever-accessible inspirations 
 of that word of God which never deceives." 
 
 CHAPTEK XXII. 
 
 Council of State — Cromwell a Member — England a Com- 
 monwealth — Monarchy abolished — Richard Cromwell's 
 Marriage — Letter to Richard's Father-in-law — News of a 
 Victory in Ireland — Another Letter — A. Letter to his 
 Daughter-in-law — Cromwell's Domestic Character. 
 
 By way of the settlement of the nation the 
 parliament presently created a " Council of 
 State " to act as the executive branch of the 
 government. This council consisted of forty- 
 one members, and commenced its sessions in 
 
110 LIFE OF OLIVEU CROMWELL. 
 
 about two weeks after the king's deatli. Of 
 this council were Cromwell, Fairfax — the general 
 of the parliament forces, Bradshaw, (the pres- 
 ident of the court that tried and condemned 
 King Charles,) and other names of note. En- 
 gland and all its appurtenances were declared 
 a commonwealth, or free state ; and was de- 
 creed to be governed as such " by the supreme 
 authority of this nation, the representatives of 
 the people in parliament, and by such as they 
 shall appoint and constitute officers and minis- 
 ters under them for the good of the people ; 
 and that without any king or House of 
 Lords." * 
 
 And here, within an interim of a few months, 
 and while but a few events of a public or ex- 
 citing character are transpiring, let us pause to 
 illustrate, by one or two brief extracts, the 
 more private and domestic character of Crom- 
 well, and contemplate yet further the " ruling 
 passion " of his heart. 
 
 On May 1st of this year, (1649,) Cromwell's 
 eldest son, Richard, was married to a- daughter 
 of Kichard Mayor, Esq. In July following he 
 thus writes to his brother Mayor : 
 
 *Carlyle, i, 336. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. Ill 
 
 " Loving Brother : I received your letter 
 by Major Long. ... I am very glad to hear 
 of your welfare, and that our children have so 
 good leisure to make a journey to eat cherries. 
 It's very excusable in my daughter ; I hope she 
 may have a very good pretense for it. I assure 
 you, sir, I wish her very well, and I believe she 
 knows it. I pray you tell her for me, I expect 
 she writes often to me ; by which I shall under- 
 stand how all your family doth, and she will be 
 kept in some exercise. I have already delivered 
 my son up to you, and I hope you will coun- 
 sel him ; he will need it ; and, indeed, I believe 
 he likes well what you say, and will be advised 
 by you. I wish he may be serious ; the times 
 require it. 
 
 "I hope my little sister* is in health, to 
 whom I desire my very hearty affections and 
 service may be presented ; as also to my cousin 
 Ann,f to whom I wish a good husband. I 
 desire my affections may be presented to all 
 your family, to which I wish a blessing from 
 the Lord. I "hope I shall have your prayers in 
 the business to which I am called. My wife, I 
 trust, will be v/itli you before it be long on her 
 
 * Mrs. Mayor. f Ann Mayor. 
 
112 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 way toward Bristol. Sir, discompose not your 
 thoughts or estate for what you are to pay me. 
 Let me know wherein I may comply with your 
 occasions and mind ; and be confident you will 
 find me to you as your own heart. 
 
 "Wishing your prosperity and contentment 
 very sincerely, with the remembrance of my 
 love, I rest. 
 
 " Your affectionate brother and servant, 
 " Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 A few days after, on receiving news of a 
 signal victory in Ireland on the part of the parlia- 
 mentary troops, he addresses his brother Mayor 
 again as follows : 
 
 " This (the victory) is an astonishing mercy ; 
 so great and seasonable that indeed we are like 
 them that dreamed. What can we say ! The 
 Lord fill our souls with thankfulness, that our 
 mouths may be full of his praise — and our lives 
 too ; and grant we may never forget his good- 
 ness to us. These things seem to strengthen 
 our faith and love against more difficult times. 
 Sir, pray for me, that I may walk worthy 
 of the Lord, in all that he hath called me unto ! 
 
 " I have committed my son to you ; pray give 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 113 
 
 him advice. I envy him not his contents;* 
 but I fear he should be swallowed up in them. 
 I would have him mind and understand busi- 
 ness, read a little history, study the mathematics 
 and cosmography ; these are good, with subordi- 
 nation to the things of God. Better than idle- 
 ness, or mere outward worldly contents. These 
 fit for public services, for which a man is 
 born. 
 
 " Pardon this trouble. I am thus bold be- 
 cause I know you love me ; as, indeed, I do you 
 and yours. My love to my dear sister and my 
 cousin Ann your daughter, and all friends. 
 '' I rest, sir, your loving brother. 
 
 '^P. S. Sir, I desire you not to discommo- 
 date yourself because of the money due to me. 
 Your welfare is as mine ; and, therefore, let me 
 know, from time to time, what will convenience 
 you in any forbearance ; I shall answer you in 
 it, and be ready to accommodate you ; and, 
 therefore, do your other business ; let not this 
 hinder." 
 
 At the same date (August 13) he thus ad- 
 dresses his daughter-in-law : 
 
 * His joys — pleasures. 
 
114 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 "My Dear Daughter: Tour letter was 
 very welcome to me. I like to see anything 
 from your hand ; because, indeed, I stick not to 
 say I do entirely love you, and therefore I hope 
 a word of advice will not be unwelcome or un- 
 acceptable to thee. 
 
 "I desire you both to make it, above all 
 things, your business to seek the Lord, to be 
 frequently calling upon him, that he would 
 manifest himself to you in his Son ; and be 
 listening what returns he makes to you; for he 
 will be speaking in your ear and in your heart, 
 if you attend thereunto. I desire you to pro- 
 voke your husband likewise thereunto. As for 
 the pleasures of this life, and outward business, 
 let that be upon the bye. Be above all these 
 things, by faith in Christ ; and then you shall 
 have the true use and comfort of them, and not 
 otherwise. I have much satisfaction in hope 
 your spirit is this way set; and I desire you 
 may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; and that I 
 may hear thereof. The Lord is very near, which 
 we see by his wonderful works ; and therefore 
 he looks that we of this generation draw near 
 to him. This late great mercy of Ireland is a 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 115 
 
 p-reat manifestation thereof. Your husband 
 will acquaint you with it. We should be 
 much stirred up in our spirits to thankfulness. 
 We much need the Spirit of Christ to enable 
 us to praise God for so admirable mercy. 
 
 " The Lord bless thee, my dear daughter. 
 " I rest, thy loving father, 
 
 "Oliyee Ceomwell." 
 
 Such was Oliver Cromwell — such was Oliver 
 Cromwell's heart. He was a terrible man of 
 war, for he evidently believed he was divinely 
 called to fight for the great and vital interests 
 of humanity. Yet when wars were distant 
 he was eminently a man of peace, and de- 
 lighted in the beautiful amenities of social 
 life, and to invite all that were dear to him 
 within the sacred precincts of the life divine. 
 
110 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIII. 
 
 Cromwell starts for Ireland — Rides in State — Reaches 
 Bristol — Embarks at Milford Haven — Arrives at Dublin 
 — Grand Reception — His Speech — Great Applause. 
 
 "Wheit Cromwell penned the several extracts 
 of letters presented in the preceding chapter, 
 he had already proceeded far on his way to 
 Ireland as commander-in-chief of the forces 
 destined to set in order that distracted realm. 
 Carlyle, in his own style, thus pictures to us 
 the scene as Cromwell leaves London on this 
 important expedition. 
 
 " Tuesday, 10th of July, 1649. This even- 
 ing, about five of the clock, the lord lieutenant 
 of Ireland began his journey ; by the way of 
 Windsor, and so to Bristol. He went forth in 
 that state and equipage as the like hath hardly 
 been seen — himself in a coach with six gallant 
 Flanders mares, whitish gray; divers coaches 
 accompanying him, and very many great of- 
 ficers of the army ; his life-guard consisting of 
 eighty gallant men, the meanest whereof a 
 commander or esquire, in stately habit ; with 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 117 
 
 trumpets sounding almost to tlie shaking of 
 Charing Cross^ liad it been now standing. Of 
 his life-guard, many are colonels ; and, believe 
 me, it's such a guard as is hardly to be par- 
 alleled in the world. And now have at you, 
 ray lord of Ormond ! You will have men of 
 gallantry to encounter; whom to overcome 
 will be honor sufficient, and to be beaten by 
 them will be no great blemish to your reputa- 
 tion. If you say, Cesar or nothing ; they say, 
 A republic or nothing. The lord-lieutenant's 
 colors are white." ^'' 
 
 Pie proceeded westward to Bristol and Pem- 
 broke, embarked at Milford Plaven, where, just 
 as he was about to sail, he was greeted with 
 the joyful news of the great Dublin victory 
 alluded to in one of the foregoing letters. 
 After two days sail, with a prosperous wind, he 
 arrived in Dublin, '' where," say the old chron- 
 icles, " he was received with all possible dem- 
 onstrations of joy ; the great guns echoing 
 forth their welcome, and the acclamations of 
 the people resounding in every street. The lord- 
 lieutenant being come into the city, where the 
 concourse of the people was very great, they 
 
 *Letter5<, i, 366. 
 
lis LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 all flocking to see him of whom before they 
 had heard so much — at a convenient place he 
 made a stand, ' and with his hat in his hand 
 made a speech to them,' to this effect : ' That 
 as God had brought him thither in safety, so he 
 doubted not, by Divine Providence, to restore 
 them all to their just liberties and properties,' 
 and that all persons whose hearts' affections 
 were real for the carrying on of this great 
 work against the barbarous and blood-thirsty 
 Irish, and their confederates and adherents, 
 and for propagating of Christ's Gospel and 
 ■establishing of truth and peace, and restoring 
 of this bleeding nation of Ireland to its former 
 happiness and tranquility — should find favor 
 and protection from the parliament of England 
 and him ; and withal receive such rewards and 
 gratuities as might be answerable to their merits. 
 This speech," say the old newspapers, " was en- 
 tertained with great applause by the people; 
 who all cried out, ' We will live and die with 
 
 you 
 
 !'" 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEH CEOMWELL. 119 
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 Ireland — Its unhappy Condition — Massacres of Protestants 
 — Shocking details — -'Picture by Carlyle — JSTearly all Ire- 
 land united against Cromwell — He smites the Foe. 
 
 At the time of Cromwell's expedition to Ire- 
 land that country had been for several years in 
 a naost disordered and unhappy condition. In 
 1640 the Irish Roman Catholics had broken 
 out into rebellion, and massacred an incredible 
 number of Protestants, varying, according to 
 the different accounts, from fifty to two hundred 
 thousand victims. This was the Hibernian 
 Saint Bartholomew. At that time the Roman 
 Catholics of Ireland had no cause of complaint ; 
 Charles I. had taken care of them. They had 
 their archbishops, bishops, vicars-general ; and, 
 above all, a great number of Jesuits. It was 
 in such a state of things that, shrouding them- 
 selves in the deepest secresy, like the West In- 
 dia negroes meditating a plot for the massacre 
 of the white man, the Irish conceived the design 
 not only of erasing from their country every 
 trace of the English nation and of Protestant- 
 
120 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 ism, but also of crossing over into England, of 
 becoming its masters with the aid of Spain and 
 the pope, and of abolishing the reformed religion 
 in that island. 
 
 The details of this bloody scene were too 
 dreadful to be named ; whi^e yet a specimen 
 or two should be noted as some explanation 
 of the terrible punishment that, by the glitter- 
 ing sword of Cromwell, subsequently befell the 
 murderers : " The Catholics burned the houses 
 of the Protestants, , turned them out naked in 
 the midst of winter, and drove them like herds 
 of swine before them. If ashamed of their 
 nudity, and desirous of seeking shelter from the 
 rigor of a remarkably severe season, these un- 
 happy wretches took refuge in a barn, and 
 concealed themselves under the straw, the 
 rebels instantly set fire to it, and burned them 
 alive. At other times they were led without 
 clothing to be drowned in rivers; and if, on 
 the road, they did not move quick enough, 
 they were urged forward at the point of the 
 pike. When they reached the river or the sea, 
 they were precipitated into it in bands of 
 several hundred, which is doubtless an exag- 
 geration. If these poor wretches rose to the 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 12i 
 
 surface of the water, men were stationed alona? 
 
 * 
 
 , ^^^ ,,^^^ ^^^^.^^^y^ cvxv/x^g, 
 
 tlie brink to plunge them in again with the 
 butts of their muskets, or to fire at and kill 
 them. Husbands were cut to pieces in the 
 presence of their wives ; wives and virgins were 
 abused in the sight of their nearest relations ; 
 and infants of seven or eight years were hung 
 before the eyes of their parents. Nay, the 
 Irish even went so far as to teach their own 
 children to strip and kill the children of the 
 English, and dash out their brains against the 
 stones. ISTumbers of Protestants were buried 
 alive, as many as seventy in one trench. An 
 Irish priest, named Mac Ocdeghan, captured 
 forty or fifty Protestants, and persuaded them 
 to abjure their religion on a promise of quarter. 
 After their abjuration, he asked them ,if they 
 believed that Christ was bodily present in the 
 host, and that the pope was the head of the 
 Church ? and on their replying . in the affirma- 
 tive, he said, 'Now, then, you are in a very 
 good faith,' and for fear they should relapse 
 into heresy cut all their throats." ■"^- 
 
 Nor did cruel fighting, desperate violence, and 
 frightful misery cease to afflict that wretched 
 
 * D'Aubiffne. 
 
122 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 people during all the eight years previous to 
 Cromwell's arrival there. Carlyle writes : 
 "There has been no scene under the sun 
 like Ireland for these eight years. Murder, 
 pillage, conflagration, excommunication ; wide- 
 flowing blood, and bluster high as heaven and 
 St. Peter ; as if wolves or rabid dogs were in 
 fight here ; as if demons from the pit had 
 mounted up to deface this fair green piece of 
 God's creation with their talkings and work- 
 ings ! It is and shall remain very dark to us. 
 Conceive Ireland wasted, torn in pieces ; black 
 controversy, as of demons and rabid wolves 
 rushing over the face of it so long ; incurable 
 and very dim to us; till here at last, as 'in the 
 torrent of heaven's lightning descending liquid 
 on it, we have clear and terrible views of its 
 affairs for a time ! " * 
 
 On Cromwell's approach, all the parties that 
 had been engaged in ravaging Ireland united 
 to oppose him. Pilate and Herod were at once 
 mad,e friends. Catholics of different shades, 
 Episcopalians and Presbyterian royalists, all 
 rallied to the standard of the enemy. " In all 
 Ireland," says Carlyle, "when Cromwell sets 
 
 * Letters, i, 376. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVE:^ CROMWELL. 123 
 
 foot on it, there remain only two towns, Dub- 
 lin and Berry, that hold for the Commonwealth. 
 Dublin lately besieged, Derry still besieged. 
 A very formidable combination. All Ireland 
 kneaded together, by favorable accident and 
 the incredible patience of Ormond, stands up 
 in one great combination, resolute to resist the 
 commonwealth. Combination great in bulk, 
 but made of iron and clay ; in meaning not so 
 great. Oliver has taken survey and measure 
 of it; Oliver descends on it like the hammer of 
 Thor; smites it, as at one fell stroke, into dust 
 and ruin, never to reunite ao;ainst him more." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 Cromwell's Army — Its Religious Character — One of two 
 Plans of Operation — The one adopted — Its prompt Exe- 
 cution — Fall of Drogheda — Details of the Siege — Wex- 
 ford and Ross reduced — Nearly the whole Country yields 
 to the Conqueror. 
 
 Cromwell came to Ireland with twelve thou- 
 sand men; not a large army, but formidable 
 an d terrible. ' ' Before they embarked the troops 
 observed a day of fasting and prayer; three 
 ministers solemnly invoked the blessing of God 
 
124 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 on the expedition ; and three officers — the 
 Colonels Gough and Harrison, with the lord- 
 lieutenant himself — expounded certain pertinent 
 passages of Scripture. The army was under the 
 strictest discipline ; not an oath was to be heard 
 throughout the whole camp, the soldiers spend- 
 ing their leisure hours in reading their Bibles, in 
 singing psalms, and in religious conferences." * 
 It was a momentous question with Cromwell, 
 as a general, what was the proper and effectual 
 plan of operations for the restoration of order 
 in distracted Ireland. " Should he employ a 
 few weeks, with the sacrifice of five thousand 
 men, or several years, with the loss of perhaps 
 twenty thousand? If he took prompt and 
 formidable measures, such as were calculated 
 to spread terror on every side, he w^ould im- 
 mediately check the disease. If, on the con- 
 trary, he proceeded with a light and hesitating 
 hand, he would prolong it indefinitely. To 
 Cromwell the most energetic way appeared the 
 most humane. He acted as men do in a great 
 conflagration, where the adjoining houses are 
 pulled down to save the more remote ; or, as in 
 an hospital, where a diseased limb is cut off to 
 
 * D' Aiibicrne. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 125 
 
 preserve the others. Havhig weighed every- 
 thing, he decided for the hand of iron. That 
 hand is never amiable, but yet there are cases 
 in which it is salutary." * 
 
 Such was Cromwell's plan, which he pro- 
 ceeded at once to put in execution. His suc- 
 cess was great and decisive. But details of 
 blood are painful ; let a single specimen suffice 
 for the whole. • 
 
 As soon as Ormond is informed of the arrival 
 of Cromwell, he determines, with the flower of 
 his forces to put Drogheda in a position to resist 
 the enemy, and to render the port as formidable 
 as possible. On the following day Cromwell 
 appears before the city and orders a general 
 assault. This being partially unsuccessful, the 
 attack is renewed the next morning, and he 
 enters the city by two different breaches. Let 
 his report to parliament, dated Dublin, lYtli 
 September, 1649, tell the remainder of the story : 
 
 "Divers of the enemy retreated into the 
 Mill-mount, a place very strong and of difficult 
 access, being exceedingly high, having a good 
 graff and strongly palisaded. The governor, 
 Sir Arthur Ashton, and divers considerable 
 
126 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 officers being there, our men getting up to them 
 were ordered by me to put them all to the 
 sword. And,? indeed, being in the heat of 
 action, I forbade them to spare any that were 
 in arms in the town ; and, I think, that night, 
 they put to the sword about two thousand men ; 
 divers of the officers and soldiers being fled 
 over the bridge into the other part of the town, 
 where about one hundred of them possessed St. 
 Peter's Church steeple, some the west gate, 
 and others a strong round tower next to the 
 gate, called St. Sunday's. These being sum- 
 moned to yield to mercy, refused. Whereupon 
 I ordered the steeple of St. Peter's Church to 
 be fired ; when one of them was heard to say 
 in the midst of the flames : ' God damn me, God 
 confound me ; I burn, I burn.' 
 
 " The next day the other two towers were 
 summoned, in one of which was about six or 
 seven score, but they refused to yield them- 
 selves; and we, knowing that hunger must 
 compel them, set only good guards to secure 
 them from running away until their stomachs 
 were come down. From one of the said 
 towers, notwithstanding their condition, they 
 killed and wounded some of our men. When 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 127 
 
 they submitted, their officers were knocked on 
 the head, and every tenth man of the soldiers 
 killed, and the rest shipped for the Barbadoes. 
 The soldiers in the other tower were all 
 spared, as to their lives only, and shipped 
 likewise for the Barbadoes. 
 
 "I am persuaded that this is a righteous judg- 
 ment of God upon these barbarous wretches, 
 who have imbrued their hands in so much in- 
 nocent blood ; and that it will tend to prevent 
 the effusion of blood for the future, which 
 are the satisfactory grounds to such actions, 
 which otherwise cannot but work remorse and 
 regret. . . . And now give me leave to say 
 how it comes to pass that this work is wrought. 
 It was set upon some of our hearts that a great 
 thing should be done, not by power or might, 
 but by the Spirit of God. And is it not so, 
 clearly 1 That which caused your men to storm 
 so courageously, it was the Spirit of God, who 
 gave your men courage, and took it away again ; 
 and gave the enemy courage, and took it away 
 again ; and gave your men courage again, and 
 therewith this happy success. And, therefore, 
 it is good that God alone have all the glory." ^"■ 
 
 * Letters, i, ?,83, 384. 
 
128 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELI/. 
 
 Cromwell at once marclied to Wexford, where 
 horrible cruelties had been perpetrated upon 
 the English residents by the Irish, and where 
 death had been proclaimed as punishment for 
 every Irish person who should harbor or re- 
 lieve an Englishman. The summons to surren- 
 der being refused, Cromwell gave orders for the 
 assault, and became master of the place with a 
 loss to the enemy of two thousand men, who 
 were put to the sword. 
 
 Then the victorious army appears before 
 Ross, another stronghold of the enemy, and 
 sent the following summons to the commander : 
 
 '^ Sir ; Since my coming into Ireland I have 
 this witness for myself, that I have endeavored 
 to avoid effusion of blood ; having been before 
 no place to which such terms have not been 
 first sent as might have turned to the good and 
 preservation of those to whom they were offered ; 
 this being my principle, that the people and 
 places where I come may not suffer, except 
 through their own willfulness. 
 
 " To the end I may observe the like course 
 with this place and people therein, I do hereby 
 summon you to deliver the town of Ross into 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 129 
 
 my hands, to the use of the parliament of 
 England. Expecting yonr speedy answer, 1 
 rest. 
 
 •' Your servant, Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 After some correspondence the place was 
 surrendered. The terrible lessons of Drogheda 
 and Wexford had produced their effect. Crom- 
 well's severe policy was successful. " The arms 
 fell from the rebels' hands in every quarter of 
 Ireland before the formidable name of Crom- 
 well. By the middle of May the whole country 
 was reduced, with the exception of one or two 
 places, which Ireton subsequently captured. 
 Ormond escaped to France. Thus, by inflict- 
 ing these two terrible blows, at Drogheda and 
 Wexford, the victor taught the murderers the 
 necessity of submission, prevented a greater 
 effusion of blood, and restored peace in Ire- 
 land." * 
 
 * Vindication, p. 111. 
 
130 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXYI. 
 
 Ireland redeemed — Milton's Description of Cromwell's Sol- 
 diers — Letter to Mr. Maj^or — ISTeal — Cromwell embarks for 
 England — G-reat Reception at Bristol — At London. 
 
 D'AuBiaNE writes that " historians, even those 
 most opposed to Cromwell, acknowledge that 
 no statesman ever did so much as he for the 
 good of that poor country. Public order and 
 security, such as had not been known for many 
 years, revived. The province of Connaught, 
 then a vast desert district, was soon changed 
 into a fruitful country, and the rest of Ireland 
 was everywhere cultivated with activity and 
 confidence. In the space of little more than 
 two years, the whole kingdom was covered 
 with elegant and useful buildings, fine planta- 
 tions, and new inclosures. Peace, ease, and 
 industry had returned to that unhappy land. 
 Clarendon, and M. Yillemain after him, cannot 
 conceal their astonishment at it; and there is 
 no impropriety in applying the rule of Scrip- 
 ture to Cromwell's conquest of Ireland, the tree 
 is hnown hy itsfruitP 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 131 
 
 The same writer adds :- " We need not won- 
 der at these results, if we call to mind Milton's 
 description of Cromwell's soldiers : ' He raised 
 an army as numerous and well equipped as was 
 ever before done within so short a period ; les- 
 soned to the most perfect obedience, high in 
 the affections of its fellow-citizens, and not 
 more formidable to its enemies in the field than 
 admirable for its behavior to them out of it ; 
 having so foreborne all injury to their persons 
 or properties, in comparison with the violence, 
 intemperance, profaneness, and debauchery of 
 their own royalists, as to make them exult in 
 the change, and hail in them a host not of 
 fiends but of friends, {non hostes sed hosjntes /) 
 a protection to the good, a terror to the bad, 
 and an encouragement to every species of piety 
 and virtue." ^ 
 
 Together" with many official dispatches to the 
 parliament, touching the progress of affairs, we 
 have the following note to his brother Mayor, 
 bearing date, Carrick, 2d April, 1650 : 
 
 '' Dear Brother : For me to write unto you 
 the state of our affairs here were more indeed 
 
 * Yindication, pp. Ill, 112, 
 
132 " LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 than I have leisure well to do, and, therefore, 
 I hope you do not expect it from me; seeing 
 when I write to the parliament I usually am, 
 as becomes me, very particular with them, and 
 usually from thence the knowledge thereof is 
 spread. 
 
 '' Only this let me say, which is the best 
 intelligence to friends that are truly Christian : 
 The Lord is pleased still to vouchsafe us his 
 presence, and to prosper his own work in our 
 hands; which to us is the more eminent 
 because truly we are a company of poor, 
 weak, worthless creatures. Truly our work 
 is neither from our own brains nor from ou'r 
 courage and strength; but w^e follow the 
 Lord, who goeth before, and gather what he 
 scattereth, that so all may appear to be from 
 him. 
 
 " The taking of the city of Kilkenny hath 
 been one of our last works ; which, indeed, I 
 believe hath, been a great discomposing of the 
 enemy, it's so much in their bowels. We have 
 taken many considerable places lately without 
 much loss. "What can we say to these things ? 
 If God be for us, who can be against us? Who 
 can fight against the Lord and prosper ? Who 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER. CROMWELL. 133 
 
 can resist Ms will? The Lord keep us in his 
 love. 
 
 " I desire your prayers ; your family is often 
 in niine." * 
 
 After having been nine months in Ireland, 
 and having charged his son-in-law, Ireton, with 
 the completion of the work there, Cromwell, 
 at the earnest solicitation of parliament, pre- 
 pares to return to Englarfd. During these 
 few months " he had gained as a soldier," says 
 Mr. E"eal, " more laurels, and done more won- 
 ders, than any age or history could parallel." f 
 Amid the last days of May, 1650, he steps on 
 board the frigate President, which had been 
 sent over to attend his- excellency's pleasure, 
 and, after a rough passage, reaches England in 
 safety. At Bristol, on his way to London, he 
 is received with great honors and acclamations. 
 Approaching London, "all the world is out to 
 welcome him." " Pairfax, and chief officers, 
 and members of parliament, with solemn salu- 
 tation, on Hounslow Heath; from HoudsIow 
 Heath to Hyde Park, where are trainbands and 
 lord mayors; to Whitehall and the Cockpit, 
 
 * Letters, i, 423, 424. f deal's History of the Puritans. 
 
134: LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 whicli are better than these, it is one wide 
 tumult of salutation, congratulation, artillerj- 
 voUeying, human shouting, hero-worship after 
 a sort, not the best sort. It was on this occa- 
 sion that Oliver said, or is reported to have 
 said, when some sycophantic person observed, 
 " What a crowd come out to see your lord- 
 ship's triumph ! " " Yes, but if it were to see 
 me hanged, how many would there be ! " * 
 
 Arriving at the' place which had been pre- 
 pared for him, he was visited by the lord mayor 
 and aldermen of London, and by many other 
 persons of quality, all of them expressing their 
 own and the nation's great obligations to him 
 for Mb eminent services in Ireland. After some 
 time of respite and refreshment he attended 
 his charge in parliament, where the speaker, in 
 an elegant speech, gave him the thanks of the 
 House, f 
 
 * Letters i, 426. - f Perfect Politician, 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XXYII. 
 
 Scotland opposed to the Commonwealth — Favorable to the 
 Succession of Charles II. — He is invited to Scotland — His 
 Character — Cromwell marches with an Army to Scotland 
 — Had been appointed Generalissimo — A Letter to Mr, 
 Mayor, 
 
 Cromwell reached London from his great 
 Irish campaign on the 31st of May, 1650. On 
 the 29th of June, within a single month from 
 his arrival home, he passed again from London 
 on another military expedition to Scotland. 
 
 The Scots, although opposed to the tyranny 
 of the Stuarts, and opposed to Rome, at once 
 put themselves in opposition to the Common- 
 wealth of England. D'Aubign^ gives us the 
 true position of the Scots at this particular 
 period. " In spiritual things the Scots acknowl- 
 edged Jesus Christ ag their king ; in temporal, 
 they recognized Charles the Second. They had 
 no wish that the latter should usurp the king- 
 dom of the former ; but they also had no desire 
 that Cromwell should seize upon the Stuarts' 
 throne. They possessed a double loyalty — one 
 toward the heavenly King, and another to 
 
136 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 their earthly sovereign. They had cast off the 
 abuses of the latter, but not the monarchy itself. 
 They accordingly invited the prince, who was 
 then in Holland, to come to Scotland and take 
 possession of his kingdom." * But in taking 
 the crown of Scotland the prince must adopt 
 the Presbyterian covenant also ; a thing which 
 he was very slow to do. Yet, as he could not 
 have one without the other, he reluctantly and 
 hypocritically yielded. The most serious think- 
 ers in the nation saw that they could expect 
 little else from him than duplicity, treachery, 
 and licentiousness. It has been said that the 
 Scotch compelled Charles to adopt their detested 
 covenant voluntarily ! Most certainly the po- 
 litical leaders cannot be entirely exculpated of 
 this charge ; but it was not so with the re- 
 ligious part of the government. "When he de- 
 clared his readiness to sign that deed on board 
 the ship, even before he landed, Livingston, 
 who doubted his sincerity, begged him to wait 
 until he had reached Scotland, and given satis- 
 factory proofs of his good faith. But it was all 
 to no effect ; and when again, at Dunfermline, 
 Charles wished to append his signature to a 
 
 * Yindication, pp. 128, 129. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 137 
 
 % 
 
 new declaration, by wMcL. he renounced Popery 
 and Episcopacy, and asserted that he had no 
 other enemies than those of the covenant, the 
 Kev. Patrick Gillespie said to him : ' Sire, un- 
 less in your soul and conscience you are satis- 
 fied, beyond all hesitation, of the righteousness 
 of this declaration, do not subscribe it ; no, do 
 not subscribe it, not for the three kingdoms.' 
 ' Mr. Gillespie, Mr. Gillespie,' replied the king, 
 ' I am satisfied, I am satisfied ; . . . and there- 
 fore will subscribe.' " * 
 
 The same author adds : " If Charles Stuart 
 had thought of ascending his native throne 
 only, Cromwell and the English would have 
 remained quiet ; but he aimed at the recovery 
 of the three kingdoms, and the Scotch were 
 disposed to aid him. Oliver immediately saw 
 the magnitude of the danger which threatened 
 the religion, liberty, and morals of England, 
 and did not hesitate." 
 
 All this will sufficiently explain the new 
 military expedition to Scotland. Of this expe- 
 dition, much against his will, Cromwell was 
 placed in command. There seems to have 
 been earnest intercessions, solemn conferences, 
 
 * Yindication, pp. 129, 130. 
 
138 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 held witli General Fairfax, accompanied with 
 prayer to Heaven, "intended, on Cromwell's 
 part, to persuade Fairfax that it is his duty 
 again to accept the chief command, and lead ns 
 into Scotland. Fairfax, nrged by his wife, who 
 was a zealous Presbyterian, dare not and will 
 not go ;" and, the next day, resigns his commis- 
 sion of general-in-chief of the forces of the Com- 
 monwealth, in order that Cromwell might be 
 appointed to that office. 
 
 Accordingly, on Wednesday, 26th June, 1650, 
 the Commons' journals record for the day " the 
 act, appointing that Oliver Cromwell, Esquire, 
 be constituted captain-general and commander- 
 in-chief of all the forces raised or to be raised 
 by authority of parliament witliin the Com- 
 monwealth of England," was passed. Where- 
 upon, says one of the old writers, there were 
 great ceremonies and congratulations of the 
 new general from all sorts of people ; and three 
 days from that of his appointment " the l^ord 
 General Cromwell went out of London toward 
 the north ; and the news of his marching north- 
 ward mu.ch startled the Scots." * 
 
 From Northumberland, about a fortnight 
 
 * Letters, i, 439. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 139 
 
 after leaving London, lie addresses tlie follow- 
 ing note to his brother Major, who, it will be 
 held in mind, was the father of Eichard Crom- 
 well's wife : 
 
 ''Dear Brother: The exceeding crowd of 
 business I had at London is the best excuse I 
 can make for my silence this way. Indeed, 
 sir, my heart beareth me witness I want no 
 affection for you or yours ; you are all often in 
 my poor prayers. 
 
 " I should be glad to hear how the little brat 
 doth.* I could chide both father and mother 
 for their neglects of me ; I know my son is idle, 
 but I have better thoughts of Doll. I doubt 
 now her husband hath spoiled her; pray tell 
 her so from me. If I had as good leisure as 
 they I should write sometimes. . . . The 
 Lord bless them! I hope you give my son 
 good counsel; I believe he needs it. He is 
 in the dangerous time of his age, and it's a 
 very vain world. O how good it is to close 
 with Christ betimes! there is nothing: else 
 worth looking after. I beseech you call upon 
 liim. I hope you will discharge my duty 
 
 * Richard has an heir. 
 
140 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 and your own love; you see how I am em- 
 ployed. I need pity. I know what I feel. 
 G-reat place and business in the world is not 
 worth the looking after; I. should have no 
 comfort in mine, but that my hope is in the 
 Lord's presence. I have not sought these 
 things ; truly I have been called unto them by 
 the Lord ; and, therefore, am not without some 
 assurance that he will enable his poor worm 
 and weak servant to do his will and to fulfill 
 my generation. In this I desire your prayers. 
 Desiring to be lovingly remembered to my 
 dear sister, to our son and daughter, to my 
 Cousin Ann and the good family, I rest. 
 "" Your very affectionate brother, 
 
 "Oliver Cromwell." 
 
LIFE OF OLIVES CEOMWELL. 141 
 
 CHAPTEE XXYIII. 
 
 Cromwell encamps across the Border — Issues a Proclama- 
 tion — Asserts Uprightness of Motive — ISTo Harm in- 
 tended except against the Pretensions of Charles — Scots 
 bent upon his' Accession to the Throne — A large Army 
 j)repares to meet Cromwell — The great Battle of Dunbar — 
 Splendid Victory over the Scots — Cromwell's Report to 
 Parliament. 
 
 Cromwell and his army readied Scotland on 
 the 22d of July, and encamped across the bor- 
 der. On the march, and now after his arrival, 
 he causes to be issued a Declaration "to all 
 that are saints and partakers of the faith of 
 God's elect in Scotland ;" also a Proclamation 
 " to the people of Scotland " in general. The 
 declaration asserts and argues to the Scots that 
 in Charles Stuart and his party there can be 
 no salvation ; that the English forces in enter- 
 ing Scotland were seeking the real substance of 
 that covenant which was so indispensable in 
 the minds of the good people of Scotland, 
 which substance it was perilous to desert for 
 the mere outer form thereof. It affirmed that 
 the English were not sectaries and blasphemers, 
 
142 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 as had been charged upon tliem by the Scots ; 
 and that it went against their hearts to hurt a 
 hair of any sincere servant of God. 
 
 Eut the Scots, as we have seen, were greatly 
 incensed with the trial and execution of King 
 Charles, and were bitterly opposed to the 
 commonwealth that had been established in 
 place of monarchy. Hence they were bent 
 upon the restoration of the Stuart dynasty, not 
 only over themselves, but over all the three 
 nations.* Thus they invited Charles II. to 
 Scotland, who had hypocritically signed their 
 covenant, thereby pledging himself to rule with 
 Presbyterianism as the established religion. 
 And to establish his authority throughout Scot- 
 land, England, and Ireland they had raised an 
 army, and were preparing to march with their 
 new king into England. 
 
 It was to checkmate all this bad business that 
 the English army, with Cromwell at its head, 
 was now encamped within the borders of Scot- 
 land. The Scots were determined to saddle 
 upon the whole country Charles, who was a 
 papist, and a licentious and abandoned char- 
 acter; while the English were equally deter- 
 
 * England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 143 
 
 mined that no such thing should be done. Thus 
 the matter comes to arms, and the two hostile 
 forces are now arrayed against each other. 
 
 The English arnij, as we have seen, reached 
 Scotland on the 22d of July. There were^ hard- 
 ly more than twelve thousand effective soldiers 
 while the army of the Scots, as it lay entrenched 
 before Edinburgh, amounted to twenty-seven 
 thousand men. Various movements and skir- 
 mishes between the two armies occurred in the 
 course of the five or six weeks ensuing. At 
 length, the forces of Cromwell, in a somewhat 
 reduced and forlorn condition, were hemmed 
 in at Dunbar by the powerful forces of their 
 enemies. Cromwell, seizing a favorable oppor- 
 tunity, made a prodigious onset on the right 
 wing of the Sco.ts, and after several hours of 
 hard fighting routed them utterly, achieving 
 one of the most splendid victories recorded in 
 history. 
 
 Cromwell's official report to parliament, of 
 which the following is an extract, will present 
 the best view of this great success. 
 
 " The best of the enemy's horse being broken 
 through and through in less than an hour's dis- 
 pute, their whole army being put into confusion, 
 
144 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 it became a total route, our men liaviug the 
 chase and execution of them near eight miles. 
 We believe that upon the place and near about 
 it were about three thousand slain. Prisoners 
 taken : of their officers, you have this inclosed 
 list ; of private soldiers near ten thousand. 
 The whole baggage and train taken, wherein 
 was good store of match, powder, and bullet ; 
 all their artillery, great and small — thirty 
 guns. We are confident they have left behind 
 them not less than fifteen thousand arms. I 
 have already brought in to me near two hund- 
 red colors, which I herewith send you. What 
 officers of theirs of quality are killed we yet 
 cannot learn; but yet surely divers are; and 
 many men of quality are mortally wounded: 
 as Colonel Lumsden, the Lord Libberton, and 
 others. And that which is no small addition, 
 I do not believe we have lost twenty men. 
 ISTot one commissioned officer slain as I hear of, 
 save one cornet, and Major Rooksby, since 
 dead of his wounds ; and not many mortally 
 wounded ; Col. Whalley, only cut in the hand- 
 wrist, and his horse (twice shot) killed under 
 liim ; but he well recovered another horse, and 
 went on in the chase." 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 145 
 
 In the very act of reporting such a great 
 achievement and success his eye is upon the 
 true welfare of England. Mark him as he 
 further writes : 
 
 " Thus you have the prospect of one of the most 
 signal mercies God hath done for England and 
 his people this war ; and now may it please you 
 to give me the leave of a few words. It is easy 
 to say, ' The Lord hath done this.' It would 
 do you good to see and hear our poor foot to 
 go up and down making their boast of God. 
 But, sir, it's in your hands ; and by these emi- 
 nent mercies God puts it more into your hands 
 to give glory to him ; to improve your power 
 and his blessings to his praise. We that serve 
 you beg of you not to own us, but God alone. 
 We pray you own his people more and more, 
 for they are the chariots and horsemen of Israel. 
 Disown yourselves, but own your authority; 
 and improve it to curb the proud and the inso- 
 lent, such as would disturb the tranquillity of 
 England, though under what specious preten- 
 sions soever. Relieve the oppressed, hear the 
 groans of poor prisoners in England. Be 
 pleased to reform the abuses of all professions ; 
 and if there be any one that makes many poor 
 
146 LIFE OF OLIYER CROMWELL. 
 
 to make a few rich, that suits not a common- 
 wealth. If He that strengthens your servants 
 to fight, please to give your hearts to set upon 
 these things, in order to his glory and the 
 glory of your commonwealth, then, besides the 
 benefit England shall feel thereby, you shall 
 shine forth to other nations, who shall emulate 
 the glory of such a pattern, and through the 
 power of God turn in to the like." '^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Cromwell marches to Edinburgh — Ministers of Edinburgh 
 flee to the Castle — Cromwell invites them to occupy their 
 Pulpits as usual -^ Their Reply — He expostulates with 
 theai — His Yiews of the Ministry. 
 
 To unfold, so far as may be, the heart of Oliver 
 Cromwell, and to point youthful students of 
 history to the grand drift of this wonderful 
 man's energies and life, are the main purposes 
 of these pages. Hence let us follow him as, 
 immediately after the battle of Dunbar, he 
 proceeds to Edinburgh. He follows thither 
 the scattered remnant of the Scotch army, a 
 
 "Letters, i, 411, 4*72. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 147 
 
 part of which return to the strong castle in the 
 midst of the town. 
 
 The ministers of the town, it seems, had 
 taken refuge in the same stronghold, as being 
 fearful of the victorious chief who was lately 
 come into their country. 
 
 The great battle was fought on Tuesday, Sep- 
 tember 3. In the course of the same week 
 Cromwell reached Edinburgh ; and on the Sab- 
 bath observed that there was no preaching 
 in the churches, the preachers, as we have 
 seen, having fled to the castle. On Monday 
 he directed the Lieutenant-General Whalley 
 to address to the governor of the castle the fol- 
 lowing note : 
 
 " Sir : I received command from my lord 
 general to desire you to let the ministers of 
 Edinburgh, now in the castle with you, know 
 that they have free liberty granted them, if 
 they please to take the pains, to preach in 
 their several churches ; and that my lord hath 
 given special command, both to officers and 
 soldiers, that they shall not, in the least, be mo- 
 lested. Sir, I am your most humble servant, 
 
 " Edward Whalley.-' 
 
148 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 The ministers, in a note, replied "That 
 though they are ready to be spent in their 
 Master's service, and to refuse no suffering so 
 they may fulfill their ministry with joy; yet 
 perceiving the persecution to be personal, by 
 the practice of your party, upon the ministers 
 of Christ in England and Ireland, and in the 
 kingdom of Scotland since your unjust invasion 
 thereof, and finding nothing expressed in yours 
 whereupon to build any security for their per- 
 sons while they are there, and for their return 
 hither, they are resolved to reserve themselves 
 for better times, and to wait upon Him who 
 hath hidden h'is face for a while from the sons 
 of Jacob." 
 
 E'ot a very becoming reply, this, to such a 
 message as that which was sent to these minis- 
 ters ; and sent, too, by the victorious Cromwell. 
 
 But let us note a part of his response. It is 
 written by Cromwell himself, and the address 
 is still to the governor of the castle : 
 
 " Sir : The kindness offered to the ministers 
 with you was done with ingenuity,^ thinking it 
 
 * Ingeiiiionsness. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 149 
 
 miglit have met witli the like ; but I am satis- 
 fied to tell those with jou, that if their Master's 
 service (as thej call it) were chiefiy in their eye, 
 imagination of suffering would not have caused 
 such a return ; much less would the practice 
 of our party, as they are pleased to say, upon 
 the ministers of Christ in England, have been 
 an argument of personal persecution. 
 
 " The ministers in England are supported, 
 and have liberty to preach the Gospel ; though 
 not to rail, nor, under pretense thereof, to over- 
 top the civil power, or debase it as they please. 
 'No man hath been troubled in England or Ire- 
 land for preaching the Gospel; nor has any 
 minister been molested in Scotland since the 
 coming of the army hither. The speaking 
 truth becomes the ministers of Christ. 
 
 "When ministers pretend to a glorious 
 reformation, and lay the foundations thereof 
 in getting to themselves worldly power, and 
 can make worldly mixtures to accomplish the 
 same, such as their late agreement with their 
 king, and hope by him to carry on their de- 
 sign, they may know that the Zion promised 
 will not be built of such un tempered mortar." ^ 
 
 *L|fters, i, 479,480. 
 
150 LIFE OF OLIVEK CEOMWELL. 
 
 In the course of some furtlier correspondence 
 witli these ministers, we have some interesting 
 views of Cromwell touching the Christian min- 
 istry itself. Alluding to the arrogance of his 
 clerical correspondents up in the castle, he 
 tells them : " We have not so learned Christ. 
 We look at ministers as helpers of, not lords 
 over, God's people. I appeal to their con- 
 sciences, whether any person trying their 
 doctrines, and dissenting, shall not incur the 
 censure of sectary ? And what is this but to 
 deny Christians their liberty, and assume 
 the infallible chair? What doth he* whom 
 we would not be likened unto do more than 
 
 this?" 
 
 ^^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Cromwell further instructs the Scotch Ministers. 
 
 "You say you have just cause to regret that 
 men of civil employments should usurp the 
 calling and employment of the ministry, to 
 the scandal of the Reformed kirks. Are you 
 troubled that Christ is preached ? Is preaching so 
 exclusively your function? Doth it scandalise 
 the Reformed kirks, and Scotland in particular ? 
 
 * Referring to the pope of Rome. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 161 
 
 Is it against the Covenant? Away with the 
 Covenant, if this be so ! I thought the Covenant 
 and these 'professors of it' could have been 
 willing that any should speak good of the name 
 of Christ ; if not, it is no covenant of God's ap- 
 proving ; nor are these Kirks you mention, in- 
 so-much the spouse of Christ. Where do you 
 find in the Scripture a ground to warrant such, 
 an assertion, that preaching is exclusively your 
 function? Though an approbation from men 
 hath order in it, and may do well, yet he that 
 hath no better warrant than that hath none at 
 all. I hope He that ascended up on high may 
 give his gifts to whom he pleases ; and if those 
 gifts be the seal of mission, be not you envious 
 though Eldad and Medad prophesy. You know 
 who bids us co'Det earnestly the lest gifts, but 
 chiefly that we may prophesy / which the apostle 
 explains there to be a speaking to instruction, 
 and edification and comfort ; which speaking, the 
 instructed, the edified, and comforted can best 
 tell the energy and effect of. If such evidence 
 be, I say again, take heed you envy not for 
 your own sakes, lest you be guilty of a greater 
 fault than Moses reproved in Joshua for envy- 
 ing for his sake. 
 
 10 
 
/ 152 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 "Indeed you err through mistaking of the 
 Scriptures, Approbation* is an act of con- 
 veniencj in respect of order ; not of necessity, 
 to give faculty to preach the GospeL Your 
 pretended fear lest error should step in, is 
 like the man who would keep all the wine out 
 of the country lest men should be drunk. It 
 will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to 
 deprive a man of his natural liberty upon a 
 supposition he may abuse it. When he doth 
 abuse it,, judge. If a man speak foolisUy, ye 
 suffer him gladly because ye are wise ; if erro- 
 neously, the truth more appears by your con- 
 viction of him. Stop such a man's mouth by 
 sound words which cannot be gainsaid. If 
 he speak blasphemously, or to the disturbance 
 of the public peace, let the civil magistrate 
 punish him ; if truly, rejoice in the truth. 
 And if you will call our speakings together 
 since we came into Scotland, to provoke one 
 another to love and good works, to faith in our 
 Lord Jesus Christ and repentance from dead 
 works, and to charity and love toward you, to 
 pray and mourn for you, and for your bitter 
 returns to ' our love of you,' and your in- 
 
 * License to preach the Gospel. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 153 
 
 credulity of our professions of love to you, 
 of the truth of which we have made our solemn 
 and humble appeals to the Lord our God, which 
 he hath heard and borne witness to — if you 
 will call these things scandalous to the Kirk, 
 and against the Covenant, because done by men 
 of civil callings, we rejoice in them notwith- 
 standing what you say." * 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXI. 
 
 Edinburgh Castle summoned to Surrender — Hume Castle — 
 Moss-troopers — Sickness of Cromwell — Letter to his Wife 
 — Letter to the President of the Council — Another Letter 
 to his Wife — Letter to Mr. Mayor, 
 
 On the 12th of December Cromwell summons 
 Edinburgh Castle, the governor, soldiers, preach- 
 ers, stores, and all, to surrender to his forces. 
 This, after considerable correspondence, was 
 done with great reluctance. 
 
 After this, during the winter, there seems to 
 have been not many military movements, Crom- 
 well making his head-quarters at Edinburgh. 
 Hume Castle is summoned to surrender in Feb- 
 ruary, to which the governor of the castle re- 
 
 * Letters, i, pp. 484, 485. 
 
154 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 plies : " I know not Cromwell ; and as for mj 
 castle, it is built upon a rock." The guns 
 played upon the fortress, while the redoubtable 
 governor, instead of yielding, sends back the 
 following note : 
 
 "I, WUiiam of the Wastle, 
 Am now in my castle ; 
 And aw the dogs in the town 
 Shanna gar me gang down." 
 
 " So that there remained nothing but open- 
 ing the mortars upon this William of the 
 Wastle, which did gar him gang down, more 
 fool than he went up." * 
 
 There seems to have been also, in the course 
 of this winter, some skirmishes with "moss- 
 troopers," a class nearly or quite identical with 
 modern guerrillas. 
 
 Toward the close of the winter, Cromwell, 
 from overmuch exposure, was seized with a 
 dangerous illness, from which he did not fully 
 recover till the following summer. One or two 
 letters, written aniid, these days, are not with- 
 out interest. 
 
 To his wife he writes, under date of April 
 12, 1651, as follows : 
 
 * Letters, i, pp. 513, 514. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 155 
 
 "My Dearest: I praise the Lord I am in- 
 creased in strength in my outward man. But 
 that will not satisfy me except I get a heart to 
 love and serve my heavenly Father better, 
 and get more of the light of his countenance, 
 which is better than life, and mo'lre power over 
 my corruptions ; in these hopes I wait, and am 
 not without expectation of a gracious return. 
 Pray for me ; truly I do daily for thee, and the 
 dear family ; and God Almighty bless you with 
 all his spiritual blessings. 
 
 " Mind poor Betty of the Lord's great mercy. 
 O, I desire her not only to seek the Lord in her 
 necessity, but in deed and in truth to turn to 
 the Lord ; and to keep close to him ; and to 
 take heed of a departing heart, and of being 
 cozened with worldly vanities and worldly 
 company, which I doubt she is too subject 
 to. I earnestly and frequently pray for her, 
 and for him. Truly they are dear to me, very 
 dear ; and I am in fear lest Satan should 
 deceive them, knowing how weak our hearts 
 are, and how subtile the adversary is, and what 
 way the deceitfulness of our hearts and the 
 vain world make for his temptations. The 
 Lord give them truth of heart to him. Let 
 
156 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 them seek Mm in truth, and they shall find 
 him. 
 
 " My love to the dear little ones ; I pray for 
 grace for them. I thank them for their letters ; 
 let me have them often. 
 
 "Beware of my Lord Herbert's resort to 
 your honse. If he do so it may occasion 
 scandal, as if I were bargaining with him. 
 Indeed be wise ; you know my meaning. 
 Mind Sir Henry Yane of the business of my 
 estate. Mr. Floyd knows my whole mind in 
 that matter. 
 
 " If Dick Cromwell and his wife be with 
 you, my dear love to tKem. I pray for them ; 
 they shall, God willing, hear from me. I love 
 them very dearly. Truly I am not able, as 
 yet, to write much ; I am weary, and rest thine,' 
 
 " Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 A few days previous to penning the above 
 letter to his wife he thus addresses the president 
 of the Council of State : 
 
 " My Lord : I do with all humble thankful- 
 ness acknowledge your high favor and tender 
 respect of me, expressed in your letter; and 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 157 
 
 the express sent tlierewitli to inquire after one 
 so nnwortliy as myself. 
 
 " Indeed, my lord, your service needs not 
 me ; I am a poor creature, and liave been a 
 dry bone, and am still an unprofitable servant 
 to my Master and you. I thought I should 
 have died of this fit of sickness ; but the Lord 
 seemeth to dispose otherwise. But truly, my 
 lord, I desire not to live unless I may obtain 
 mercy from the Lord to approve my heart and 
 life to him in more faithfulness and thankful- 
 ness, and to those I serve in more profitable- 
 ness and diligence. 
 
 " And I pray God your lordship, and all in 
 public trust, may improve all those unparal- 
 leled experiences of the Lord's wonderful work- 
 ings in your sight with singleness of heart to 
 his glory, and the refreshment of his people, 
 who are to him as the apple of his eye; and 
 upon whom your enemies, both former and 
 latter, who have fallen before you, did split 
 themselves. 
 
 "This shall be the unfeigned prayer of, my 
 lord, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 " Oliver Cromwell." 
 1 
 
158 LIFE OF OLIYER CEOMWELL. 
 
 On the Sd of May lie addresses another 
 brief note to his wife, as follows : 
 
 " Mt Deakest : I could not satisfy myself 
 to omit this post, although I have not much to 
 write ; yet, indeed, I love to write to my dear, 
 who is very much in my heart. It joys me to 
 hear thy soul prospereth ; the Lord increase his 
 favors to thee more and more. The greatest 
 good thy soul can wish is, that the Lord lift 
 upon thee the light of his countenance, which 
 is better than life. The Lord bless all thy good 
 counsel and example to all those about thee, and 
 hear all thy prayers, and accept thee always ! 
 
 " I ajn glad to hear thy son and daughter 
 are with thee. I hope thou wilt have some 
 good opportunity of good advice to him. Pre- 
 sent my duty to my mother, my love to all the 
 family. Still pray for thine, 
 
 " Oliyek Ceomwell." 
 
 Indeed, the interest of his son Kichard, to 
 whom he alludes in the preceding letter, seems 
 to lie very near the father's heart. Some time 
 afterward he thus writes to Mr. Mayor : 
 
 " I desire your faithfulness to advise him to 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 159 
 
 approve liimself to tlie Lord in liis course of 
 life; and to searcli his statutes for a rule to 
 conscience, and to seek grace from Christ to 
 enable him to walk therein. This hath life in 
 it, and will come to somewhat ; what is a poor 
 creature without this? This will not abridge 
 of lawful pleasures ; but teach such a use of 
 them as will have the peace of a good con- 
 science going along with it. Sir, I write what 
 is in my heart ; I pray you communicate my 
 mind herein to my son, and be his remem- 
 brancer in these things. Truly I love him, he 
 is dear to me ; so is his wife ; and for their sakes 
 do I thus write. They shall not want comfort 
 nor encouragement from me, so far as I may 
 afford it. . . . Sir, I beseech you believe I here 
 say not this to save my purse ; for I shall will- 
 ingly do what is convenient to satisfy his occa- 
 sions, as I have opportunity. But as I pray he 
 may not walk in a course not pleasing to the 
 Lord, so I think it lieth upon me to give him, 
 in love, the best counsel I may ; and know not 
 how better to convey it to him than by so good 
 a hand as yours. Sir, 1 pray you acquaint him 
 with these thoughts of mine." * 
 
 "Letters, i, 542. 
 
160 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. , 
 
 Battle and Victory of Inverkeithing — Other Victories — 
 King and Scotch suddenly enter England — Cromwell in 
 hot pursuit — Battle of Worcester — Great and decisive 
 Victory — Cromwell's Report — Great Rejoicings — The 
 last Battle — Scotland — Bishop Burnet — Other His- 
 torians. 
 
 Another important battle and victory occurred 
 about the middle of July, remembered afterward 
 as the battle of Inverkeitbing. Cromwell re- 
 porting this fight to parliament, writes : 
 
 " They (his forces) came to a close charge 
 and in the end totally routed the enemy, having 
 taken about forty or fifty colors, killed near two 
 thousand, some say more ; have taken Sir John 
 Brown, their major-general, who commanded 
 in chief, and other colonels, and considerable 
 officers killed and taken, and about five or six 
 hundred prisoners. The enemy is removed 
 from their ground with their whole army ; but 
 whither we do not certainly know. 
 
 " This is an unspeakable mercy. I trust the 
 Lord will follow it until he have perfected peace 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 161 
 
 and truth. We can truly say we were gone as 
 far as we conld in our counsel and action ; and 
 we did say one to another, We know not what 
 to do. Wherefore, it's sealed upon our hearts, 
 that this, as all the rest, is from the Lord's 
 goodness, and not from man. I hope it he- 
 cometh me to pray, that we may walk humbly 
 and self-denyingly before the Lord, and believ- 
 ingly also ; that you whom we serve, as the 
 authority over us, may do the work committed 
 to you with uprightness and faithfulness, and 
 thoroughly as to the Lord ; that you may not 
 suffer anything to remain that offends the eyes 
 of his jealousy ; that common weal may more 
 and more be sought, and justice done impar- 
 tially. For the eyes of the Lord run to and 
 fro ; and as he finds out his enemies here, to be 
 avenged on them, so will he not spare them for 
 whom he doth good, if by his loving-kindness 
 they become not good. I shall take the humble 
 boldness to represent this engagement of Da- 
 vid's, in the hundred and nineteenth Psalm, 
 verse hundred and thirty-fourth, 'Deliver me 
 from the oppression of man, so will I keep thy 
 precepts.' " 
 
 Other victories followed in rapid succession, 
 
162 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 until tlie Scotch, both king and army, finding 
 their supplies cut off, break up suddenly from 
 Stirling, and march straight into England, de- 
 termined to strike directly at the heart of the 
 commonwealth itself. Cromwell follows in hot 
 pursuit, and comes up with the Scotch army at 
 Worcester, where Charles's standard had been 
 erected. 
 
 This was August 28 ; and on the 3d of Sep- 
 tember, the anniversary of the battle of Dun- 
 bar, occurred the great and decisive battle of 
 Worcester. 
 
 One or two extracts from Cromwell's report 
 to parliament will present a sujficient view of 
 this fight. 
 
 "This battle," he writes, "was fought with 
 various success for some hours, but still hopeful 
 on your part ; and, in the end, became an abso- 
 lute victory; and so full an one as proved a 
 total defeat and ruin of the enemy's army; 
 and a possession of the town, our men entering 
 at the enemy's heels, and fighting with them in 
 the streets with very great courage. We took 
 all their baggage and artillery. What the 
 slain are I can give you no account, because 
 we have not taken an exact view ; but they are 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 163 
 
 very many ; and must needs be so, because tbe 
 dispute was long and very near at hand ; and 
 often at push of pike, and from one defense to 
 another. There are about six or seven thou- 
 sand prisoners taken here; and many officers 
 and noblemen of quality. . . . Their army was 
 about sixteen thousand strong, and fought ours 
 on Worcester side of Severn almost with their 
 whole force, while we had engaged half our 
 army on the other side but with parties of 
 theirs. Indeed it was a stiff business; yet I 
 do not think we have lost two hundred men. 
 . . . The dimensions of this mercy are above 
 my thoughts. It is, for aught I know, a crown- 
 ing mercy. Surely, if it be not, such a one we 
 shall have, if this provoke those who are con- 
 cerned in it to thankfulness ; and the parlia- 
 ment to do the will of Him who hath done his 
 will for it and for the nation; whose good 
 pleasure it is to establish the nation and the 
 change of the government, by making the 
 people so willing to the defense thereof, and so 
 signally blessing the endeavors of your servants 
 in this late great work. I am bold humbly to 
 beg that all thoughts may tend to the promoting 
 His honor who hath wrought so great salvation ; 
 
164 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 and that tlie fatness of these continued mer- 
 cies may not occasion pride and wantonness, 
 as formerly the like hath done to a chosen 
 nation;'^ but that the fear of the Lord, even 
 for his mercies, may keep an authority and 
 a people so prospered and blessed and wit- 
 nessed unto,, humble and faithful ; and that 
 justice and righteousness, mercy and truth, 
 may flow from you as a thankful return to our 
 gracious God. This shall be the prayer of, sir, 
 " Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 "Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 On the following Sabbath, by order of parlia- 
 ment, the report was read from all the London 
 pulpits with general rejoicings and thanksgiv- 
 ings. On the succeeding Friday, September 
 12, Lord General Cromwell came to London; 
 came "in very great solemnity and triumph; 
 speaker and parliament and council of state, 
 sheriffs, mayors, and an innumerable multitude 
 of quality and not of quality — all were in attend- 
 ance and splitting the welkin with their human 
 shoutings, and volleys of great shot and small ; 
 in the midst of which Lord General Cromwell 
 
 * " Jeshurim waxed fat, and kicked." Deut. xxxii, 15. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 165 
 
 carried himself with much affability. And now 
 . and afterward, in all his discourses about Wor- 
 cester, would seldom mention anything of 
 himself; mentioned others only, and gave, as 
 was due, the glory of the action unto God." 
 
 ^' This, then," adds Carlyle, '' is the last of 
 my lord general's victories, technically so called. 
 Of course, his life, to the very end of it, con- 
 tinues as from the beginning it had always 
 been, a hattle^ and a dangerous and strenuous 
 one, with due modicum of victory assigned now 
 and then ; but it will be with other than steel 
 weapons henceforth. He here sheaths his war.- 
 sword ; with that it is not his order from the 
 great Captain that he fight any more." ^ 
 
 Meanwhile, Lieutenant-General Monk soon 
 closed up matters in Scotland; and that coun- 
 try, as well as Ireland, came under the admin- 
 istration of Cromwell ; and such were the wis- 
 dom and moderation with which affairs were 
 settled there that, according to Bishop Burnet, 
 " there was good justice done, and vice was sup- 
 pressed and punished ; so that we always reckon 
 these eight years of usurpation a time of great 
 peace and prosperity." f 
 
 * Letters, i, pp. 556, 551. f " Cromwell's Administration." 
 
166 LIFE OF OLIVEE CKOMWELL. 
 
 Dr. Huntingdon, the historian of the Scottish 
 Church, also testifies' that ''throughout the 
 whole of Scotland, during the period of Crom- 
 well's domination, there prevailed a degree of 
 civil peace beyond what had almost ever before 
 been experienced." 
 
 Another Scotch historian, writing of the same 
 period, still further testifies : " I verilj believe 
 there were more souls converted to Christ in 
 that short period of time than in any season 
 since the Keformation, though of triple its 
 duration." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIIL 
 
 Cromwell to Rev. John Cotton of New England — Death 
 of his Son-in-law, Ire ton — Letter of Cromwell to his 
 Daughter, 
 
 An interesting letter is preserved of Cromwell's, 
 written to the famous Rev. John Cotton of 'New 
 England. It appears to have been written about 
 a fortnight after his return home, and was ad- 
 dressed to "My esteemed friend, Mr. Cotton, 
 pastor of the Church at Boston, in New En- 
 gland." 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 16T 
 
 There is a Mud of special interest in the 
 thought that Oliver Cromwell, at the height of 
 his renown, and onlj thirty-one years after the 
 landing of the Pilgrims, directs, for an hour, his 
 clear eye over the sea, and speaks to one of the 
 ISTew England Puritans, and speaks such words 
 as these : 
 
 London, M October^ 165L 
 
 " Worthy Sir, and my Christian Friend : 
 I received yours a few days since. It was wel- 
 come to me because signed by you, whom I love 
 and honor in the Lord ; but more so to see some 
 of the same grounds of our actings stirring in 
 you that are in us, to quiet us in our work, and 
 support us therein ; which hath had great diffi- 
 culty in Scotland, by reason we have had to do 
 with some who were, I very think, godly, but 
 through weakness and subtilty of Satan were 
 involved against the interests of the Lord and 
 his people. 
 
 " With what tenderness we have proceeded 
 
 with such, and that in sincerity, our papers 
 
 (which I suppose you have seen) will, in part, 
 
 manifest ; and I give you some comfortable 
 
 assurance of the same. The Lord hath marvel- 
 
 ously appeared even against tliem. And now, 
 
 11 
 
168 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 again, when all the power was devolved into the 
 Scottish king and the malignant party — they 
 invading England — the Lord rained upon them 
 such snares, as the inclosed will show. Only 
 the narrative is short in this, that of their whole 
 army, when the narrative was framed, not "Rve 
 men had returned. 
 
 " Surely, sii", the Lord is greatly to be feared 
 and to be praised I We need your prayers in 
 this as much as ever. How shall we behave 
 ourselves after such mercies? What is the 
 Lord a-doing? What prophecies are now 
 fulfilling? Who is a God like ours? To 
 know his will, to do his will, are both of 
 him. * 
 
 " I took this liberty from business to salute 
 you thus in a word. Truly I am ready to serve 
 you, and the rest of your brethren and Churches 
 with you. I am a poor weak creature, and not 
 v/orthy the name of a worm ; yet accepted to 
 serve the Lord and his people, indeed, my 
 dear friend, between you and me, you know 
 not me — my weakness, my inordinate passions, 
 my unskillful n ess, and every way unfitness to my 
 work. Yet, yet the Lord, who will have mercy 
 on whom he will, does as you see ! Pray for 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 169 
 
 me. Salute all Christian friends, though un- 
 known. 
 
 " I rest, your affectionate friend to serve you, 
 " Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 Two months after the date of the above 
 letter, a heavy shadow darkens the house of 
 Cromwell. His son-in-law, Ireton, whom he 
 had left as his deputy in Ireland, suddenly died 
 there. He had married Bridget Cromwell 
 about five years before, who was now, at the 
 early age of twenty-seven, left a widow. Alas, 
 for the early perishing of earthly hopes ! And, 
 with such a view, how rational are such senti- 
 ments as follow, penned to her, a few months 
 after her marriage, by her honored father : 
 
 "London, 25th Ododer, 1646. 
 
 " Dear Daughter : I write not to thy hus- 
 band ; partly to avoid trouble, for one line of 
 mine begets many of his, which I doubt not 
 makes him sit up too late ; partly because I am 
 myself indisposed^ at this time, having some 
 other considerations, 
 ' " Your friends at Ely are well ; your sister 
 
 * Xot in a mood to write. 
 
170 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 Clajpole is, I trust in mercj, exercised with, 
 some perplexed thouglits. She sees her own- 
 vanity and carnal mind — bewailing it; she 
 seeks after (as I hope also) what will satisfy; 
 and thus to be a seeker is to be of the best sect 
 next to a finder ; and such, a one shall every 
 faithful, humble seeker be at the end. Happy 
 seeker, happy finder ! Who ever tasted that 
 the Ldrd is gracious without some sense of self- 
 vanity and badness? Who ever tasted that 
 graciousness of his, and could go less in desire, 
 less than pressing after full enjoyment? Dear 
 heart, press on ; let not husband — let not any- 
 thing cool thy affections after Christ. I hope 
 he will be an occasion to inflame them. That 
 which is best worthy of love in thy husband is 
 that of the image of Christ he bears. Look on 
 that and love it best, and all the rest for that. 
 I pray for thee and hira ; do so for me. Thy 
 dear father." 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 171 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIY. 
 
 Ireland and Scotland — England — Rump Parliament unpop- 
 ular — Urged to dissolve Itself — Refu'ses — Attempts pass- 
 ing a Bill to perpetuate Itself — The News reported to 
 Cromwell — He forcibly dissolves the Parliament — Dis- 
 misses the Council of State. 
 
 "We have seen tliat the English arms, under the 
 generalship of Cromwell, had been successful 
 in Ireland and Scotland; and affairs in those 
 countries seemed to be in a way of prosperous 
 settlement. At the same time, matters in En- 
 gland were in a condition becoming more and 
 more unsatisfactory to the people. The Hump 
 Parliament, as it was nicknamed since the 
 famous Pride's Purge, was daily growing more 
 and more unpopular, and was attacked by 
 every party. ]^or did it at all add to its good 
 repute with the people, that it seemed in- 
 clined to perpetuate itself indefinitely. On the 
 other hand, the expressed wish coming in from 
 all sides, as well of the people as of the army, 
 urged the parliament to dissolve itself. This it 
 persistently refused to do ; but at its sitting, on 
 
172 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 tlie 20tli of April, 1653, was in the act of pass- 
 ing a bill for prolonging its own duration. 
 Cromwell at the same hour was at his lodgings 
 at Whitehall, with a council of officers. A 
 message being brought to him of what was 
 passing in parliament, he exclaimed with great 
 excitement and indignation, " It is not honest ; 
 yea, it is contrary to common honesty." He 
 then hastened down to the House, followed by 
 a company of musketeers, whom he left in the 
 lobby. He entered the hall, and composedly 
 seated himself in his usual place, listening 
 attentively to the debate. His dress was a 
 plain suit of black cloth, with gray worsted 
 stockings, the ordinary costume of the Puritans. 
 For about a quarter of an hour he sat still; 
 but when the speaker was going to put the 
 question, he whispered to Lieutenant-general 
 Harrison, " This is the time, I must do it." . . . 
 " After pausing for a minute, Cromwell arose, 
 and, taking off his hat, addressed the members 
 at first in laudatory terms. Gradually becom- 
 ing warmer and more vehement, he charged 
 them with injustice and self-interest, and then 
 declared that he had come down to put an end 
 to a power of which they had made such bad use. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 173 
 
 He WP.S very excited, walking up and down, 
 and occasionally stamping the floor with his 
 feet. ' You are no parliament,' he said, ' I'll 
 put an end to your sitting. Some of you are 
 drunkards, (and he pointed to those whom he 
 had in view ;) others live a corrupt and scandal- 
 ous life, (and his eye glanced formidably upon 
 them.) I say you are no parliament. Get 
 you gone ! Give way to honester men ! ' And 
 stamping his foot his musketeers rushed in and 
 surrounded him, and presently the House was 
 cleared. There was some blustering and pro- 
 testing ; but not a man offered to draw his 
 sword against Cromwell, or to make any resist- 
 ance, but all tamely departed' from the House. 
 The doors w^ere then locked, and Cromwell, 
 with the keys in his pocket, returned to White- 
 hall. Arriving, he told the council of officers, 
 still assembled there, what he had done, and 
 added : ' When I went to the House I did not 
 think to have done this ; but perceiving the 
 Spirit of God strong upon me, I wotild no 
 longer consult flesh and blood.' " 
 
 On the afternoon of the same memorable 
 day he dismissed also the Council of State. 
 Proceeding to Derby Plouse, where they were 
 
174 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 assembled, he said to them as he entered, 
 '■' Gentlemen, if you are met here as private 
 persons you shall not be disturbed ; but if as a 
 council of state this is no place for you ; and, 
 since you cannot but know what was done at 
 the House in the morning, so take notice that 
 the parliament is dissolved." After a few words 
 they all arose and departed, " perceiving them- 
 selves to be under the same violence." 
 
 Thus expired — expired by violence — the fa- 
 mous Long Parliament. " Such," says Carlyle, 
 '• was the destructive wrath of my Lord-general 
 Cromwell against the national Eump Parlia- 
 ment of England. "Wrath which innumerable 
 mortals since have accounted extremely dia- 
 bolic, which some now begin to account partly 
 divine. Divine or diabolic, it is an indisputable 
 fact, left for the commentaries of men. The 
 Kump Parliament has gone its ways ; and 
 truly, except it be in their own, I know not in 
 what eyes are tears at their departure. They 
 went very softly, softly as a dream, say all wit- 
 nesses. ' We did not hear a dog bark at their 
 going,' asserts my lord-general elsewhere." ^ 
 
 * Letters, ii, 28, 29. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 175 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER XXXy. 
 
 Cromwell issues an Explanation — He nominates a new Par- 
 liament — It assembles July 4, 1653 — G-rave Inquiries — 
 Cromwell's Views of the Situation — Fanatical Element 
 — He claims Inspiration — Apology for his Extraordinary 
 Conduct. 
 
 A DECLARATION was immediately issued by 
 Cromwell and his advisers, setting forth the 
 grounds and reasons for dissolving the parlia- 
 ment. Dilatoriness, wavering, selfishness, cor- 
 ruption, and mutual jealousies were alleged 
 against the members, who could never ''answer 
 those ends which Cod, and his people, and the 
 whole nation expected from them. Hence, it 
 seemed a duty incumbent upon those who had 
 se'en so much of the power and presence of 
 God to consider some effective means whereby 
 to establish righteousness and peace in these 
 nations." 
 
 It was finally determined that the supreme 
 government should be devolved upon ''known 
 persons fearing God, and of approved integrity, 
 for a time, as the most hopeful way to coun- 
 
176 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 tenance all God's people, reform tlie law, and 
 administer justice impartially.'' 
 
 Accordingly, on the 6tli of June, one hundred 
 and fifty-six persons, from England, Ireland, 
 Scotland, and Wales, were summoned by writ, 
 simply under the authority of Cromwell, to 
 meet in the Council Chamber at Whitehall, 
 and to take upon them the trust of providing 
 for the future government." 
 
 On the 4th of July following, one hundred 
 and twenty of these persons, of Cromwell's own 
 selection, assembled at the place appointed. 
 
 The thoughtful young reader will inquire, 
 " What of all this ? Were these extraordinary 
 proceedings justifiable and right ? In violently 
 breaking up the parliament, and in assuming 
 to appoint another in its place, did he act the 
 part of a good and righteous man ? " 
 
 Unhesitatingly we reply that we think not. 
 High-handed measures these, and to be justified 
 only in the most extreme cases. But it must 
 be remembered that Cromwell really supposed 
 such extremities had arisen. He seems to have 
 judged that the country would be lost unless he 
 should violently and, as we may say, lawlessly 
 interfere. That such was his deep cgnviction 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 177 
 
 there can be no reasonable doubt ; and in 
 judging his conduct we should allow him the 
 benefit of such an impression. 
 
 We have here further evidence that a degree 
 of fanaticism was mixed np with the sincere 
 and ardent piety by which Cromwell seemed to 
 be ever actuated. It is qnite observable that 
 he often took it for granted that the voice of 
 God spoke directly to him, and urged him 
 onward. In the act of breaking np the parlia- 
 ment, and as the paramount reason for his con- 
 duct in this matter, he perceived (as he thonght) 
 " the Spirit of God strong upon him, and he 
 would no longer consult flesh and blood," 
 Here was as decided a claim to inspiration as 
 was maintained for himself by the Apostle Paul. 
 And while very few of us are ready to yield to 
 Cromwell this high claim, yet his own views 
 of this matter, associated with the sublime piety 
 which seems to have been constant with him as 
 the vestal flame, should have the efl'ect to miti- 
 gate, to a very considerable extent, onr disap- 
 probation of the man and his acts. That in 
 the honesty and piety of his heart he " verily 
 thonght he ought to do " as he did, and that to 
 his dying hour he never came to think difler- 
 
178 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 entlj, are facts which we think have never been 
 disproved, and never can be. It was his idea 
 — clear to him as if written on the sky — that 
 he had an extraordinary call to interfere vio- 
 lently, and without 'law, for the great cause of 
 civil and religious liberty, and the safety and 
 welfare of his country. This conviction was 
 inwrought into the man, and inseparable from 
 him, and is the key to his whole extraordinary 
 career. 
 
 Thus viewing and interpreting Oliver Crom- 
 well, let us still follow him as he advances to 
 accomplish his remarkable destiny. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXYL 
 
 The " Little Parliament " — " Barebone " — Cromwell's Speech 
 to the Parliament — Descants on various Topics — Title 
 adopted by the Parliament — Council of State reappointed 
 — Result unsatisfactory and unsuccessful — Parliament re- 
 signed after five Months' Session. 
 
 It is said that only two out of all that were 
 summoned to compose this "Assembly of ]^ota- 
 bles " failed to attend. It met, as we have seen, 
 July 4, 1653, and bears the name of the "Little 
 
= LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 179 
 
 Parliament." It was also nicknamed "Bare- 
 bone's Parliament," from the circumstance that 
 one of its members had the name of Praisegod 
 Barebone, a leather merchant of London. 
 
 All being assembled in the Council Chamber 
 in Whitehall, and seated in chairs provided for 
 them, his Excellency Lord-General Cromwell, 
 accompanied by as many army officers as the 
 room could contain, entered the hall and ad- 
 dressed them in a grave and lengthy speech. 
 
 In this speech he stated to the assembly the 
 cause of their summons ; that they had a clear 
 call to take upon them the supreme authority 
 of the Commonwealth. He reminded them of 
 the wonders of God's mercy, shown to himself in 
 the battles he had fought from the besinninp; 
 of the civil war " down to the marvelous salva- 
 tion wrought at Worcester." He insisted that 
 he and his friends had been eminently and visi- 
 bly protected by the special providences of the 
 Almighty, and alleged that their enemies them- 
 selves had many times confessed that God was 
 engaged against them. He explained his action 
 in the dissolution of the Long Parliament; that 
 such dissolution was as necessary as the pres- 
 ervation of the country ; and he urged it upon 
 
180 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 those before Mm that God had called them to 
 the work of the government by as wonderful 
 providences as ever passed upon the sons of 
 men, and that he meant to be a servant to 
 them who were called to the exercise of the 
 supreme authority. 
 
 He dwelt much upon the religious interests 
 of the people, beseeching the new parliament 
 to have a care of the whole flock of Christ, to 
 countenance all in whatever was good; to pro- 
 tect all, even the meanest and poorest, who 
 aimed to lead a godly life; to lend their en- 
 deavors to the promotion of the Gospel ; to 
 encourage the ministry, especially such as were 
 faithful in the land. He expressed little regard 
 for what was termed succession in the ministry. 
 " The true succession " he says, " is through the 
 Spirit given in its measure. The Spirit is given 
 for that use to make proper speakers-forth of 
 God's eternal truth ; and that is right succes- 
 sion." He counts it one of the great issues of 
 all the wars and trials of the nation, that now 
 the people of God are called to the supreme 
 authority; and tells them that he had not al- 
 lowed himself in the choice of a single one of 
 them in whom he had not the good hope that 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 181 
 
 there was in him a faith in Jesus Christ, and 
 love to all his people and saints. 
 
 " What a parliament 1 " exclaims Carlyle, 
 " unexampled before and since in this world ! " 
 
 Many other things were uttered in this long 
 speech, which must have occupied one or two 
 hours in the delivery. 
 
 The assembly adopted for themselves the 
 name of " The Parliament of the Common- 
 weath of England ; " and after prayer, fasting, 
 and preaching, proceeded to business. They 
 reappointed the late Council of State, of which 
 Cromwell was the head. 
 
 The result of this parliament was, on the 
 whole, unsatisfactory and unsuccessful; and, 
 after a sessicto of five months, they resigned to 
 the lord-general the powers which he had 
 intrusted to them, and returned to private life. 
 
182 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYII. 
 
 Establishment of the Protectorate — Cromwell Lord Protector 
 — Inauguration — Imposing Ceremonies — Cromwell's per- 
 sonal Appearance at this time. 
 
 Immediately tlie Lord-General Cromwell called 
 a council of officers, and certain other persons, 
 and it was resolved that there should be a com- 
 monwealth m a single person y and that this 
 person should be Cromwell, under the title and 
 dignity of Lord Protector of England, Scotland, 
 and Ireland', to be advised and assisted by a 
 council of godly, able, and discreet persons, to 
 be not more than twenty-one. 
 
 The inauguration of the lord protector was 
 an imposing ceremony. On the 16th of Decem- 
 ber he proceeded from Whitehall to the Chancery 
 Court, attended by lords commissioners of the 
 great seal of England, the barons of the Ex- 
 chequer, and the judges all in their robes, the 
 council of state, the lord mayor, aldermen, 
 and recorder of the city of London, in their 
 scarlet gowns, and many of the chief officers of 
 the army. A chair of state was set in the midst 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 183 
 
 of the Court of Chancery, and there Cromwell, 
 in a plain suit of black velvet, stood on the left 
 hand of the chair, uncovered, till a large writing 
 in parchment was read, specifying the power 
 with which he was to be invested, and the rules 
 for governing the three nations. 
 
 After the reading of the instrument of govern- 
 ment he appended to it his signature, promising 
 in the presence of God not to violate or infringe 
 the matters and things therein contained. 
 
 He then sat down in the chair of state, and 
 the lords commissioners delivered to him the 
 great seal of England, and the lord mayor his 
 sword, and cap of maintenance. The court then 
 rose, and the newly-installed protector went 
 back in state to the Banqueting-house at White- 
 hall, the lord mayor carrying the sword before 
 him all the w^ay, the soldiers shouting, and the 
 great guns firing. On the following day the lord 
 protector was proclaimed by sound of trumpet 
 in the palace yard, at Westminster, at the Royal 
 Exchange, and other places in the city. '^■■ 
 
 The personal appearance of Cromwell on this 
 great occasion, and at this period of his life, aged 
 fifty-four, is thus presented to us by Carlyle : 
 
 * Yarious authors. 
 12 
 
184 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. • 
 
 " His highness was in a rich but plain suit ; 
 black velvet, with cloak of the same ; about his 
 hat a broad band of gold. Does the reader see 
 him? A rather likely figure, I think. Stands 
 some five feet ten, or more ; a man of strong, solid 
 stature, and dignified, now partly military car- 
 riage ; the expression of him valor and devout 
 intelligence, energy and delicacy on a basis of 
 simplicity. Fifty-four years old gone April 
 last ; brown hair and mustache are getting 
 gray. A figure of sufficient impressiveness ; 
 not lovely to" the man-milliner, nor pretending 
 to be so. Massive stature, big, massive head, 
 of somewhat leonine aspect; wart above the 
 right eyebrow ; nose of considerable blunt aqui- 
 line proportions ; strict yet copious lips, full 
 of all tremulous sensibilities, and also, if need 
 were, of all fierceness and rigors ; deep, loving 
 eyes, call them grave, call them stern, looking 
 from those craggy brows as if in life-long sor- 
 row, and yet not thinking it sorrow, thinking 
 it only labor and endeavor; on the whole, a 
 right noble lion-face and hero-face ; and to me 
 royal enough." * 
 
 * Letters, i, pp. 64, 65. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 185 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXYIII. 
 
 The Instrument of Government — Remark — The new Gov- 
 ernment recognized by European Powers, 
 
 The following is the main substance of the 
 instrument of government which the lord pro- 
 tector at his inauguration swore to administer : 
 The instrument declared that the supreme 
 legislative authority should be and reside in the 
 lord protector and the people assembled in par- 
 liament ; that all writs, processes, commissions, 
 patents, etc., which then ran in the name and 
 style of the keepers of the liberty of England, 
 should run in the name and style of the lord 
 protector ; from whom, for the future, should be 
 derived all magistracy and honors, and all 
 pardon, except in cases of murder and treason ; 
 that he should govern in all things by the ad- 
 vice of the council, and according to the present 
 instrument and laws; that the militia and all 
 forces both by sea and land should, during the 
 sitting of parliament, be in his and their hands, 
 but in the intervals of parliament in his and 
 
186 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 the council's only; that he and the council 
 should have the power of making war and peace 
 with foreign princes ; that the laws should not 
 be altered, suspended, abrogated, or repealed, 
 nor any new law made, nor any tax, charge, or 
 imposition laid upon the people, except by com- 
 mon consent in parliament; that a parliament 
 should be called within six months, and after- 
 ward every third year, and if need, often er, 
 which the protector should not dissolve without 
 its own consent till after &ve months; that 
 the parliament should consist of four hundred 
 English members, thirty Scotch members, and 
 thirty Irish, to be chosen by equal distribution 
 in counties and boroughs; that none that had 
 borne arms against the parliament, no Irish 
 rebels or papists, should be capable of being 
 elected ; that none should be elected under the 
 age of twenty-one years, or that were not per- 
 sons of known integrity, fearing God and of 
 good conversation ; that all persons seized or 
 possessed of any estate, real or personal, to the 
 value of £200, should have votes in county 
 elections ; that sixty members should be deemed 
 a quorum ; that bills offered to the protector, if 
 not assented to by him within twenty days, 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 187 
 
 should pass into and become law notwith- 
 standing; that Philip Lord Yiscount Lisle, 
 Charles Fleetwood, Esq., John Lambert, Esq., 
 Sir Gilbert Pickering, baronet. Sir Charles 
 "Wolsey, baronet. Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, 
 baronet, Edward Montague, John Desborough, 
 "Walter Strickland, Henry Lawrence, William 
 Sydenham, Philip Jones, Pi chard Major, 
 Francis Pouse, Philip Skipton, Esquires, or any 
 seven of them, should be a council of govern- 
 ment, with power in the lord protector and the 
 majority of the council to add to their number; 
 that a regular yearly revenue should be settled 
 for the maintenance of ten thousand horse and 
 fifteen thousand foot, and that the navy should 
 not be altered or lessened but by advice of the 
 council ; that the office of lord protector should 
 be elective, and not hereditary, care being taken 
 that none of the children of the late king, nor 
 any of his line or family, should ever be elected ; 
 that Oliver Cromwell, captain-general of the 
 forces of England, Scotland, and Ireland, should 
 be declared to be lord protector for life ; that 
 all the great officers, as chancellor, keeper or 
 commissioner of the great seal, treasurer, ad- 
 miral, chief governors of Ireland and Scotland, 
 
188 LIFE OF OLIVER 'CROMWELL. 
 
 and the chief justices of both the benches, should 
 be chosen by approbation of parliament, and in 
 the intervals of parliament by the majority of 
 the council, whose choice was to be afterward 
 approved by the parliament ; that the Christian 
 religion, as contained in the Scriptures, should 
 be held forth and recommended as the public 
 profession of these nations ; that, as soon as 
 might be, a provision less subject than tithes 
 to scruple, and contention, and uncertainty, 
 should be made for the encouragement and 
 maintenance of able and painful teachers, and 
 that, until such provision were made, the 
 present maintenance should not be taken 
 away or impeached ; that none should be com- 
 pelled to consent to the public profession of 
 faith by fines, or penalties, or otherwise, but that 
 endeavors should be used to win them by per- 
 suasion or example ; and that such as professed 
 faith in God by Jesus Christ, though differing 
 in judgment from the doctrine, worship, or dis- 
 cipline publicly held forth, should not be re- 
 strained from, but protected in the exercise of 
 their religion, so that they did not quarrel and 
 disturb others in the exercise of theirs, pro- 
 vided that this liberty were not extended to 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 189 
 
 Popery or Prelacy, or to such as under the pro- 
 fession of Christ held forth and practiced licen- 
 tiousness." * 
 
 But slight exceptions can be taken with these 
 provisions, save that relating to Popery and 
 Prelacy. The great and true idea of universal 
 toleration was not as yet matured. 
 
 We merely add that the new government 
 was at once recognized by the several courts of 
 Europe. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 The New Parliament — Opened with great Pomp — The 
 Protector's Speech — Important Suggestions. 
 
 Writs for the new parliament were issued^ and 
 the parliament assembled, as provided, Sept. 3, 
 1654 It was the first election in England 
 during fourteen years. The opening of the 
 parliament was with great pomp and display. 
 "The protector rode in state from Whitehall 
 to the Abbey Church in Westminster. Some 
 hundreds of gentlemen and officers went before 
 him bare, with the life-guard ; and next before 
 
 * Pictorial Historj-, iii, pp. 399, 400. 
 
190 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 the coach his pages and lackeys richly clothed. 
 On the one side of his coach went Strickland, 
 one of his council and captain of his guard, 
 with the master of the ceremonies, both on foot. 
 On the other side went Hpward, captain of the 
 life-guard. In the coach with him were his 
 son Henry, and Lambert ; both sat bare. Aft- 
 er him came Claypole, master of the horse, 
 with a gallant led horse richly trapped. ISText 
 came the commissioners of the great seal, com- 
 missioners of the treasury, and divers of the 
 council in coaches ; last the ordinary guards. 
 
 ''' He alighting at the Abbey Church door 
 and entering, the officers of the army and the 
 gentlemen went first ; next them four maces ; 
 then the commissioners of the seal, Whitlocke 
 carrying the purse ; after him Lambert, carry- 
 ing the sword bare; the rest followed. His 
 highness was seated over against the pulpit, 
 the members of the parliament on both sides. 
 
 " After the sermon, which was preached by 
 Mr. Thomas Goodwin, his highness went in the 
 same equipage to the Painted Chamber, where 
 he took his seat in a chair of state set upon 
 steps, and the members upon benches round 
 about — all bare. All being silent, his highness, 
 
House of Commons in Crcmwell's Tl 
 
 me. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 193 
 
 rising, put off his hat, and made a large and 
 subtile speech to them." * 
 
 Among other things, in this long speech, the 
 protector warned the parliament against the 
 anarchic principles of the Levelers and the 
 Fifth Monarchy men ; that the common enemy 
 was not sleeping ; that swarms of Jesuits were 
 invading the country, and meddling with the 
 affairs of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He 
 commended the new government that had been 
 instituted, asserting that it had endeavored to 
 reform the laws, had appointed suitable persons 
 to simplify and revise them, had been careful 
 to place in the seats of justice men of the most 
 known integrity and ability ; that the Chancery 
 had been reformed, he hoped, to the satisfaction 
 of all good men ; that appropriate commissions 
 had been established for examining candidates 
 for the ministry, and for dismissing such incum- 
 bents as proved themselves unworthy of their 
 office ; and that a free parliament had been 
 called which, he hoped above his life, would be 
 kept free. As he closed he said: "I persuade 
 you to a sweet, gracious, and holy understand- 
 ing of one another, and of your business. . . . 
 * Whitlocke, quoted by Carljle. 
 
194: . LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 I liave not spoken these tMngs as one who 
 assumes to himself dominion over you ; but as 
 one who doth resolve to be a fellow-servant 
 with you to the interest of these great affairs 
 and of the people of these nations." 
 
 " At this speech all generally seemed abund- 
 antly to rejoice, by extraordinary expressions 
 and hums at the conclusion — Hum-m-m ! His 
 highness withdrew into the old House of Lords, 
 and the members of parliament into the Parlia- 
 ment House. His highness, so soon as the par- 
 liament were gone to their House, went back 
 to Whitehall privately in his barge by water." * 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Parliament reveals a formidable Party opposed to the G-overn- 
 ment — Opposition Speeches — A Summons to the Painted 
 Chamber — Another Speech by Cromwell — Government 
 not to be called in Question — A Pledge required of each 
 Member — More than a Hundred decline the Pledge and 
 retire. 
 
 It immediately appeared that this parliament 
 embraced a formidable number who were un- 
 favorable to Cromwell and to the protectorate 
 
 * Garlyle. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 195 
 
 government, under whose auspices and author- 
 ity they were elected and assembled. Ac- 
 cordingly, their very first deliberations were 
 upon the question of the government itself. 
 One member declared that God had made him 
 instrumental in cutting down tyranny in one 
 person, (Charles I.,) and now he could not 
 endure to see the nation's liberty ready to be 
 shackled by another, (Cromwell,) whose right 
 to the government could be measured out no 
 other way than by the length of his sword. 
 In the sam^e style were many speeches made, 
 all in direct opposition to a single person. 
 
 Thus aifairs proceeded in the parliament 
 during eight days, when CromwelF summoned 
 all the members before him in the "Painted 
 Chamber," and again addressed them at length. 
 He gave them to understand that the govern- 
 ment by a single person and a parliament was 
 a fundamental principle, fully established, and 
 not subject to their discussion; that the "In- 
 strument of Government " expressly provided 
 that no parliamentary bills should contain any- 
 thing in them contrary to the clauses of the 
 said instrument ; that the same Instrument of 
 Government that made them a- parliament 
 
196 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 made him a protector; tliat as they were in- 
 structed with some things, so was he with 
 others ; that these fundamentals could not be 
 called in question; that the fundamentals were, 
 1. That the government should be in one 
 person and a parliament. 2. That parliament 
 should not be made perpetual. 3. That the 
 militia was not to be trusted to any one hand 
 or power, but to be so disposed that the parlia- 
 ment should have a check upon the protector, 
 and the protector upon the parliament ; and, 
 4. That in matters of religion there should be 
 a due liberty of conscience, with bounds and 
 limits set, so as to prevent persecution. All 
 other points he assumed, then, were examina- 
 ble and alterable as the occasion and the state 
 of affairs might require ; that they were a free 
 parliament so long as they recognized the 
 government and authority that assembled them. 
 ' "Warming with his subject, the protector af- 
 firmed, "I called not myself to this place. 1 
 say again, I called not myself to this place ; of 
 that God is witness. ... If my calling be from 
 God, and my testimony from the people, God 
 and the people shall take it from me, else I will 
 not part with it." At the same time, he sol- 
 
LIFE OF, OLIVER CROMWELL. 197 
 
 emnly assured them that the protectorship was 
 not his own choice. " I say to yon," he con- 
 tinues, " I hoped to have had leave to retire 
 to private life. I begged to be dismissed of 
 my charge ; I begged it again and again ; and 
 God be judge between me and all men if I lie in 
 this matter. That I lie not in matter of fact is 
 known to very many ; but whether I tell a lie 
 in my heart, as laboring to represent to you 
 what was not upon my heart, I say, the Lord be 
 judge! Let uncharitable men, who measure 
 others by themselves, judge as they please ; as 
 to the matter of fact, I say it is true. But I 
 could not obtain what I desired, what my soul 
 longed for." 
 
 The protector concluded his address to the par- 
 liament by requiring each one of them, before he 
 should be admitted again into the Parliament 
 House, to sign the following instrument : ^'^ I 
 do hereby freely promise and engage myself 
 to be true and faithful to the lord protector 
 and the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, 
 and Ireland ; and shall not (according to the 
 tenor of the indenture whereby I am returned 
 to serve in this present parliament) propose 
 or give my consent to alter the government 
 
198 LIFE OF OLIVEE CKOMWELL. 
 
 as it is settled in a single person and a parlia- 
 ment." 
 
 This pledge was placed on the table, near 
 the door of the Parliament House, and a hundred 
 or more signed it at once ; about three hund- 
 red ultimately. The remainder, a hundred or 
 more, utterly declined the test, and returned 
 home. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Opposition of Parliament persisted in — The Various Articles 
 of the Instrument of Government canvassed — Religious 
 Toleration discountenanced — No Communication with the 
 Protector — Another Summons to the Painted Chamber — 
 Protector's Speech — Parliament dissolved. 
 
 The speech of the protector to the parliament, 
 and the pledge of recognition of the govern- 
 ment, seemed to have but little influence with 
 them, and their main proceedings were a species 
 of opposition measures. They at once voted 
 that the recognition comprehended only that 
 part of the Instrument of Government which 
 concerned the government of the Common- 
 wealth by a single person and successive parlia- 
 ments. Thus they deemed themselves at liberty 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 199 
 
 to deliberate upon all the other of the forty-two 
 articles of the instrument; and, in committee of 
 the whole, proceeded to canvass the whole of 
 them, and to confirm or reject them as they 
 saw fit. They began to trench seriously upon 
 religious liberty, for the maintenance of which 
 Cromwell was always so strenuous an advocate ; 
 and, under Presbyterian influence, which was 
 strong in the parliament, they voted that none 
 should be tolerated who did not profess the 
 fundamental doctrines of Christianity. Ac- 
 cordingly they appointed a committee to draw 
 up a catalogue of these doctrines; and by the 
 sixteen fundamental articles reported by this 
 committee. Deists, Socinians, Papists, Arians, 
 Antinomians, and Quakers, all were excluded 
 from toleration. And thus was about to be 
 sacrificed one of the great and prominent ob- 
 jects' for which so much blood and treasure had 
 been devoted. 
 
 During the five months within which the 
 parliament could not be prorogued — in all this 
 time they did much in doing nothing — they 
 had not presented a single bill to the protector ; 
 they had not honored him with the slightest 
 communication; and they had not voted him 
 
200 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 a sixpence for meeting the expenses of the 
 government. 
 
 Hence, as soon as the ^ye months were 
 ended, the protector again summoned the mem- 
 bers of the parliament to the Painted Chamber, 
 and addressed them in another lengthy speech. 
 He told them he regretted that they should 
 have lost so good an opportunity of establishing 
 a national government ; that he had carefully 
 declined to intrench npon their privileges ; 
 that he had offered them no manner of inter- 
 ruption or hinderance ; no injury, no indignity ; 
 no vexing vs^ith messages or questionings. He 
 assumed the liberty to tell them that he did not 
 know what they had been doing ; that he did 
 not know whether they had been alive or dead ; 
 that he had not once heard from them during 
 all their session, and they knew it well. He 
 further proceeded to tell them what he had 
 been doing, and what the enemies of the coun- 
 try had been doing : that while they had been 
 disputing, the enemies of the country had been 
 at work ; that the Cavalier party had been de- 
 signing and preparing to deluge again the 
 nation with blood and confusion more desper- 
 ate and dangerous than England ever yet saw. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 201 
 
 He assured them the enemies of the state had 
 confessed that they built their hopes upon the 
 assurances they had of the parliament ; that 
 they had given these enemies great advantages, 
 by losing the precious moments in their power 
 for effecting the happiness of the people. " You 
 might," he tells them with terrible emphasis, 
 "you might have settled peace and quietness 
 among all professing godliness; you might 
 have healed the breaches of these nations, and 
 rendered them secure and well satisfied. You 
 have done none of these things. But, instead 
 of that,, you have been disputing about things 
 already settled by the constitution. You have 
 thus consumed all your time, and have done 
 nothing." 
 
 On the subject of civil liberty he hurls at 
 them these rasping sentences : " Is there not 
 yet upon the spirits of men a strange itch? 
 J^othing will satisfy them unless they can press 
 their finger upon their brethren's consciences, 
 to pinch them there. To do this was no part 
 of the contest we had with the common ad- 
 versary. For, indeed, religion was not the 
 thing at first contested for at all ; but God 
 
 brought it to that issue at last, and gave it 
 
 13 
 
202 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 unto US by way of redundancy ; and at last it 
 proved to be that which was most dear to us. 
 And wherein consisted this more than in obtain- 
 ing that liberty from the tyranny of the bishops 
 to all species of Protestants to worship God ac- 
 cording to their own light and consciences? 
 For want of which many of our brethren for- 
 sook their native countries to seek their bread 
 from strangers, and to live in howling wilder- 
 nesses, [oicr poor brethren of New England!'] 
 and for which also many that remained here were 
 imprisoned and otherwise abused, and made the 
 scorn of the nation. Those that were sound in 
 the faith, how proper was it for them to labor ' 
 for liberty, that men might not be trampled 
 upon for their consciences ! Had not they 
 ' themselves ' labored, but lately, under the 
 weight of persecution ? and was it fit for them 
 to sit heavy upon others? Is it ingenuous to 
 ask liberty and not to give it ? What greater 
 hypocrisy than for those who were oppressed 
 by the bishops to become the greatest oppressors 
 themselves so soon as their yoke was removed? 
 I could wish that they who call for liberty now 
 also had not too much of that spirit if the 
 power were in their hands ! " 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 203 
 
 The protector closed by saying, " I think it 
 my duty to tell you that it is not for the profit 
 of these nations, not for common and pub- 
 lic good, for you to continue here any longer. 
 And therefore I do declare unto you that I do 
 dissolve this parliament." 
 
 CHAPTEE XLII. 
 
 Extract from Carlyle — Death of Cromwell's Mother — " Good- 
 Night 1" 
 
 " So ends," writes Carlyle, "the first protectorate 
 parliament, suddenly, very unsuccessfully. A 
 most poor, hidebound, pedant parliament, which 
 reckoned itself careful of the liberties of En- 
 gland, and was careful only of the sheepskin 
 formulas of these ; very blind to the realities 
 of these. Regardless of the facts and clamorous 
 necessities of the present, this parliament con- 
 sidered that its one duty was to tie up the 
 hands of the lord protector well ; to give him 
 no supplies, no power ; to make him and keep 
 him the bound vassal and errand-man of this 
 and succeeding parliaments. This once well 
 done, they thought all was done; Oliver 
 
204: LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 thought far otherwise. Their painful new- 
 modeling and rebuilding of the instrument of 
 government, with an eye to the sublime object, 
 was pointing toward completion ; little now but 
 the keystones to be let in, when Oliver sud- 
 denly withdrew the centers ! Constitutional arch 
 and ashler-stones, scaffolding, workmen, mortar- 
 troughs, and scaffold poles, sink in swift con- 
 fusion and disappear, regretted or remembered 
 by no person — not by this editor for one. 
 
 " By the arithmetical account of heads in 
 England the lord protector may surmise that 
 he has lost his enterprise. But by the real 
 divine and human worth of thinking souls in 
 England he still believes that he has it ; by 
 this and by a higher mission too ; and ' will 
 take a little pleasure to lose his life ' before he 
 loses it ! He is not here altogether to count 
 heads or to count costs, this lord protector ; he 
 is in the breach of battle; placed there, as he 
 understands, by his great Commander : whatso- 
 ever his difficulties be, he must fight them, can- 
 not quit them, must fight these till he die. That 
 is the law of his position in the eye of God, and 
 also of men. There is no return for him out 
 of this protectorship he has got into. Called 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 205 
 
 to this post as I have been, placed in it as I am, 
 ' to quit it, is what I will be willing to be rolled 
 into my grave, and buried with infamy, before 
 I wiir consent unto ! ' " * 
 
 A month or two before, amid the closing days 
 of that somber autumn, died the aged mother 
 of Cromwell. A little before her death she 
 gave him her blessing in these words : " ' The 
 Lord cause his face to shine upon you, and 
 comfort you in all your adversities ; and enable 
 you to do great things for the glory of your 
 most high God, and to be a relief unto his 
 people. My dear son, I leave my heart with 
 thee. A good-night ! ' and therewith sank into 
 her long sleep. Mnety-four years old, the roy- 
 alties of Whitehall, says Ludlow very credibly, 
 of small moment to her ; ' at the sound of a 
 musket she would often be afraid her son was 
 shot, and could not be satisfied unless she 
 saw him once a day at least.' She, old, weak, 
 wearied one, she cannot help him with his re- 
 fractory pedant parliaments, with his Anabaptist 
 plotters, royalist assassins, and world-wide con- 
 fusions ; but she bids him be strong, be com- 
 forted in God. And so good-night ! " f 
 
 * Letters, ii, pp. 157, 158. f L^^tters, i, 131. 
 
206 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIII. 
 
 Plots in favor of Charles 11. — Hostility to Cromwell — Wild- 
 mau — Insurrectionary attempts quelled — Foreign Rela- 
 tions Prosperous — The* Englisla Fleets — Cromwell inter- 
 terferes for the Persecuted Waldenses — G-overument of 
 Major-G-enerals — Remarks of Carlyle. 
 
 As the protector could have no assistance from 
 the parliament, no sooner was this dismissed 
 than he determined to seize upon whatever 
 means were within his reach for the safety and 
 prosperity of the country. Yarious parties were 
 contending against the protector, and there was 
 a conspiracy to bring in Charles Stuart and 
 place him upon the throne. In a multitude 
 of minds there seemed to be a bitter hostility 
 to Cromwell ; and not a few who had no sym- 
 pathy with monarchy, yet appeared to prefer 
 almost anything to the authority of the pro- 
 tector. One Wildman, who was of the parlia- 
 ment members that refused to sign the recog- 
 nition of the Protestant 2;overnment, was ar- 
 rested and imprisoned. At the time of his 
 arrest he was found in his chamber, leaning 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 207 
 
 upon his elbow and dictating to his amanuensis, 
 " The declaration of the free and well-affected 
 people of England now in arms against the 
 tyrant Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 Other serious attempts at insurrection were 
 made, but were all forestalled and quelled by 
 the vigilance and prompt energy of Cromwell. 
 
 Meanwhile, the foreign relations of England 
 were at this time decidedly prosperous, and the 
 Protestant government was greatly respected 
 throughout Europe. " Spain and France, at war 
 with each other, both courted the friendship 
 of Cromwell, and neither of them spared any 
 baseness of prostration to secure his alliance. He 
 demanded of Spain that no Englishman should 
 ever be subject to the Inquisition, and that the 
 West Indies and South America should be 
 thrown open to his flag, with a free trade to all 
 English subjects. His fleets were formidable 
 and victorious upon the seas, making conquests 
 in the' West Indies, subduing the Barbary pi- 
 rates in the Mediterranean, and exactin,o- indem- 
 nities where England had been insulted. He 
 also, pending a treaty between himself and the 
 French king, compelled that monarch to in- 
 terfere to restrain the Papal duke of Savoy 
 
208 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 from the persecutions wliicli he was inflicting 
 npon the Protestant Waldenses within his 
 dominions. 
 
 Meanwhile at home, and as a temporary 
 arrangement, he instituted a strong military 
 government over England and Wales, dividing 
 them into eleven districts, each presided over 
 by a major-general, "who was authorized to 
 exact payments of fines and forfeitures imposed 
 on the royalists, to suppress tumults, and to 
 secure obedience to the existing government." 
 These officers, with the forces under their com- 
 mand, " effectually put down insurrection, and 
 established everywhere the indisputable author- 
 ity of the protector." 
 
 " A terrible protector this," says Carlyle ; 
 " no getting of him overset ! He has the ring- 
 leaders all in his hand, in prison or still at 
 large ; as they love their estates and their life, 
 let them be quiet. He can take your estate ; 
 is there not proof enough to take your head, if 
 he pleases ? He dislikes shiedding blood ; but' 
 is very apt 'to harbadoes^ an unruly man ; has 
 sent and sends us by hundreds to Barbadoes, so 
 that we have made an active verb of it : Ear- 
 badoes you. Safest to let this protector alone ! 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 209 
 
 Charles Stuart withdraws from Middleburgli 
 into the interior of obscurities ; and Mr. Hyde 
 will not be so ' cock-sure ' another time." * 
 
 Further on the same writer adds, '' It is in 
 this way that Oliver Protector coerces the un- 
 ruly elements of England ; says to them, 
 ' Peace, ye ! ' With the aid. of parliament and 
 venerable parchment, if so may be ; without it, 
 if so may not be, I, called hither by very good 
 authority, will hold you down. Quiet shall 
 you, for your part, keep yourselves '; or be ' bar- 
 badosed,' and worse. Mark it ; not while I live 
 shall you have dominion, you nor the master 
 of you ! " 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIY. 
 
 Another Parliament — A long Address — Enemies of the 
 State specified — Religious Toleration. 
 
 We thus reach the autumn of 1656 ; and in 
 September, 17th day, another parliament as- 
 sembles. The usual preliminaries are observed. 
 The protector and the members assemble to 
 hear the sermon ; after which all adjourn to the 
 
 * Letters, ii, pp. 1G4, 165. 
 
210 LIFE OF OLIVEE CROMWELL. 
 
 " Painted Cliamber," wliere lie delivers to them 
 a Ions: address. In this address he descants 
 largely upon the enemies of the state, among 
 which he reckons Spain especially; and speci- 
 fies Papists, Cavaliers, Levelers, Commonwealth- 
 men, Fifth Monarchy-men, etc., as among the 
 dangerous enemies of the nation. He then 
 proceeds to recommend certain remedies, and 
 especially advises a vigorous prosecution of the 
 war with Spain. He also takes occasion to pre- 
 sent in this address his views of religious tolera- 
 tion. So interesting are his remarks here that 
 we cannot refrain from quoting a specimen or 
 two. 
 
 " Our practice since the last parliament hath 
 been, to let all this nation see that, whatever 
 pretensions to religion would continue quiet 
 and peaceable, they should enjoy conscience 
 and liberty to themselves, and not to make 
 religion a pretense for arms and blood. Truly 
 we have suffered them, and that cheerfully, so 
 to enjoy their own liberties. Whatsoever is 
 contrary, and not peaceable, let the pretense be 
 never so specious, if it tend to combination, to 
 interests and factions, we shall not care, by the 
 grace of Gocl, whom we meet withal, though 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 211 
 
 never so specious, if they be not quiet ! And 
 truly I am against all liberty of conscience 
 repugnant to this. If men will profess — be 
 tliey those under baptism, be they those of 
 the Independent judgment simply, or of the 
 Presbyterian judgment, in the name of God 
 encourage them, countenance them, so long as 
 they do plainly continue to be thankful to God, 
 and to make use of the liberty given them to 
 enjoy their own consciences ! . . . Men who be- 
 lieve in Jesus Christ ; that is the form that gives 
 being to true religion, namely, to faith in 
 'Christ, and walking in a profession answerable 
 to that faith : men who believe the remission 
 of sins through the blood of Christ, and free 
 justification by the blood of Christ ; who live 
 upon the grace of God ; those men who are cer- 
 tain they are so, are members of Jesus Christ, 
 and are to him the apple of his eye. Whoever 
 hath this faith, let his form be what it will — 
 he walking peaceably without prejudice to 
 others under other forms — it is a debt due to 
 God and Christ, and he will require it, if tli^t 
 Christian may not enjoy his liberty. ... If a 
 man of one form will be trampling upon the 
 heels of another form ; if an Independent, for 
 
212 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 example, will despise him who is under Baptism, 
 and will revile him, and reproach and provoke 
 him, I will not suffer it in him. If, on the 
 other side, those of the Anabaptist judgment 
 shall be censuring the godlj ministers of the 
 nation who profess under that of IndependeDcj ; 
 or if those that profess under Presbytery shall 
 be reproaching or speaking evil of them, tra- 
 ducing and censuring of them — as I would not 
 be willing to see the day when England shall be 
 in the power of the Presbytery, to impose upon 
 the consciences of others that profess faith in 
 Christ — so I will not endure any reproach to 
 them. But God give us hearts and spirits to 
 keep things equal. Which, truly, I must profess 
 to you, hath been my temper. I have had some 
 boxes on the ear and rebukes — on the one" hand 
 and on the other — some censuring me for Pres- 
 bytery; others as an inletter to all the sects and 
 heresies of the nation. I have borne my re- 
 proach; but I have, through God's mercy, not 
 been unhappy in permitting any one religion 
 to impose upon another." * 
 
 Such words were uttered more than two 
 hundred years ago, when the true principles of 
 
 * Letters, ii, pp. 23*7, 238. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 213 
 
 religious toleration were understood but by few. 
 Such a government and sucb a magistrate 
 would never have compelled tlie pilgrim fa- 
 thers to emigrate to America in order to obtain 
 " freedom to worship God." 
 
 Carlyle, commenting on this speech, remarks 
 that "no royal speech like this was ever de- 
 livered elsewhere in the world ! It is, witli all 
 its prudence — and it is very prudent, sagacious, 
 courteous, right royal in spirit — perhaps the 
 most artless, transparent piece of public speak- 
 ing this editor has ever studied. Rude, mass- 
 ive, genuine ; lilie a rock of unbeaten gold. A 
 speech not so fit for Drury Lane as for Valhalla 
 and the sanhedrim of the gods. The man him- 
 self, and the England he presided over there and 
 then, are, to a singular degree, visible in it ; open 
 to our eyes, to our sympathies. He who would 
 see Oliver will find more of him here than in 
 most of the history-books yet written about 
 him."* 
 
 * Letters, ii, p. 250. 
 
214 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 . CHAPTER XLY. 
 
 Condition of Admission to Parliament — One Hundred ex- 
 cluded — Apology for this Movement — Remarks of D'Au- 
 bigne — An Order of the Parliament. 
 
 The protector's address was finislied, and the 
 members passed to the ParL'ament House ; when, 
 lo ! no one was allowed to enter except such as 
 received at the door a certificate that they were 
 approved by "his highness's council." Thus, 
 about one hundred out of four hundred mem- 
 bers were excluded from the House. 
 
 Here was another higli-handed measure of 
 the protector, and one which all must acknowl- 
 edge to be difficult to justify. Yet even in this 
 strange transaction Cromwell should not be 
 judged too hastily. We should throw ourselves 
 as fully as possible into the circumstances that 
 encompassed him. It was a dark and extreme- 
 ly critical time for the country. There were 
 many enemies of the protector and his govern- 
 ment. There were divers plottings to overturn 
 this whole government fabric, involve the land 
 in confusion and bloodshed ; and, by enthroning 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 215 
 
 Charles Stuart, to re-enact tyranny, persecntion, 
 and war. The protector was thoronghly famil- 
 iar with all these designs and movements. He 
 also knew men. His penetration was nnequal- 
 ed, and his knowledge of mankind unsurpassed. 
 He discerned clearly who were his enemies, and 
 the enemies of the public good ; and he deeply 
 felt that the national welfare hung upon the 
 success of his government. Moreover, he had 
 had much experience of parliaments, and the 
 evil which designing men were capable of ac- 
 complishing there ; and he knew the char,acter . 
 of the men who were excluded from this parlia- 
 ment, and that everything was at stake, and he 
 determined not to hesitate. He must again risb 
 above all constitutions, precedents, or law, and 
 save his country at all events and at every 
 hazard. 
 
 Such was the state of the case; and, being 
 such, who is ready to strike down this great 
 and sublime man as he stands in the breach, 
 and decides and determines to save his country, 
 and scatter and prostrate its enemies ? 
 
 D'Aubigne, commenting upon this extraor- 
 dinary act of Qromwell, judiciously remarks as 
 follows : '' If we allow, as we are bound to do, 
 
216 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 tliat the measure employed by Cromwell was 
 inconsistent with the freedom of parliament 
 and with the principles of constitutional gov- 
 ernment, we must also Acknowledge that these 
 stretches of power were at that time necessary 
 to the stability of his authority, and that with- 
 out these somewhat despotic acts the nation 
 would inevitably have been again involved in 
 war and confusion. Above all, we should re- 
 member that the necessary check upon repre- 
 sentative governments — an Upper House — no 
 longer existed in England. The right, there- 
 fore, which he claimed, of rejecting a portion 
 of the representatives, must, in his mind, have 
 been intended to supply the want of a House of 
 Lords. There was, therefore, a constitutional 
 element in this measure of exclusion." * 
 
 We merely add that one of the acts of this 
 parliament was that, for the future, no member 
 should be excluded from parliament except by 
 vote of the House ; in which order the protector 
 acquiesced. 
 
 * Yinclication, p. 236. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CROMWELL. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XLYI. 
 
 Character of the Parliament — Supplies voted — Major-Gen- 
 erals suppressed — James Naylor — Carlyle's Sarcasm. 
 
 As the autumn and winter advanced, but few 
 noticeable things seemed to have been accom- 
 plished by this second protectorate parliament. 
 It was an utterly different body of men from 
 the preceding parliament. There was a general 
 acquiescence in the existing government, and in 
 the administration of Cromwell. Carlyle, in 
 his own style, thus descants upon the state of 
 affairs. 
 
 " Since the first constitutioning parliament 
 went its ways, here is a great change among 
 us. Three years of successful experiment have 
 thrown some light on Oliver and his mode of 
 ruling to all Englishmen. What can a wise 
 Puritan Englishman do but decide on comply- 
 ing with Oliver ; on strengthening the hands 
 of Oliver? Is he not verily doing the thing 
 we all wanted to see done? The old parch- 
 ments of the case may have been a little hustled, 
 
 as indeed in a ten years' civil war, ending in the 
 
 14 
 
218 LIFE OF OLIVER CKOMWELL. 
 
 execution of a king, tliey conld hardly fail to be ; 
 but the divine fact of the case, meseems, is well 
 cared for ! Here is a governing man, nndenia- 
 bly the most English of Englishmen, the most 
 Puritan of Puritans — the pattern man, I must 
 say, according to the model of that seventeenth 
 century in England ; and a great man, denizen 
 of all the centuries, or he could never have been 
 the pattern one in that. Truly, my friends, I 
 think you may go further and fare worse ! To 
 the darkest head in England, even to the assas- 
 sinative, truculent, flunky-head in steeple hat, 
 worn brown, some light has shone out of these 
 three years of government by Oliver, An un- 
 common Oliver, even to the truculent fluuky. 
 If not the noblest and worshipfulest of all En- 
 glishmen, at least the strongest and terriblest, 
 with whom, really, it might be as well to 
 comply; with whom, in fact^ there is small 
 hope in not complying ! " ^' 
 
 The parliament cheerfully voted the neces- 
 sary supplies ; suppressed, on hint of the pro- 
 tector himself, the government of the major- 
 generals ; and, among other matters, seems to 
 have wasted considerable time in trying and 
 
 * Letters ii, 261 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL., 219 
 
 condemning a certain James Naylor^ a poor 
 fanatic who had succeeded in bringing him- 
 self into notice. By way of episode, we will 
 listen as Carljle here launches upon the parlia- 
 ment a little characteristic sarcasm. 
 
 " Its (the parliament's) next grand feat was 
 that of James ]^ajlor and his procession, which 
 we saw at Bristol lately. Interminable debates 
 about James ISTaylor ; excelling in stupor all the 
 human speeches, even in English parliaments, 
 this editor has ever been exposed to. J^ajdor, 
 in fact, is almost all that survives with one, from 
 Burton^ as the sum of what this parliament did. 
 If they did aught else, the human mind, eager 
 enough to carry off news of them, has mostly 
 dropped it on the way hither. To posterity 
 they sit there as the James N^aylor parliament. 
 Four hundred gentlemen of England, and, I 
 think, a sprinkling of lords among them, as- 
 sembled from all counties and boroughs of the 
 three nations, to sit in solemn debate on this 
 terrific phenomenon — a mad Quaker fancying, 
 or seeming to fancy, himself, what is not uncom- 
 mon since, a new incarnation of Christ. Shall 
 we hang him, shall we whip him, bore the 
 tongue of him with hot iron ; shall we imprison 
 
220 LIFE OF OLIVEE CROMWELL. 
 
 him, set hiin to oakum ; shall we roast, or boil, 
 or stew him ; shall we put the question whether 
 this question shall be put ; debate whether this 
 shall be debated ; in Heaven's name what shall 
 we do with him, the terrific phenomenon of 
 ITaylor ? This is the history of Oliver's second 
 parliament for three long months and odd. ISTo- 
 where does the unfathomable deep of dullness 
 which our English character has in it, more 
 stupendously disclose itself. Something almost 
 grand in it, nay, something really grand, though, 
 in our impatience, we call it dull." . . . I^ot 
 insignificant this English character, which can 
 placidly debate such matters, and even feel a 
 certain smack of delight in them ! A massive- 
 nes^ of eupeptic vigor speaks itself there, which 
 perhaps the liveliest wit might envy. Who is 
 there that has the strength of ten oxen, that is 
 able to support these things? Couldst thou 
 debate on l^aylor day after day, for a whole 
 winter ? Thou, if the sky were threatening to 
 fall on account of it, would sink under such la- 
 bor, appointed only for the oxen of the gods 1 
 The honorable gentlemen set !Naylor to ride 
 with his face to the tail, through various streets 
 and cities ; to be whipped, (poor ITaylor,) to be 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 221 
 
 branded, to be bored tbroiigh the tongue, and 
 then to do oakum ad libitum upon bread and 
 water ; after which he repented, confessed him- 
 self mad, and this world-great phenomenon, 
 visible to posterity and the west of England, 
 was got winded up." * 
 
 This parliament, however, did something 
 more, connected with which occurs an im- 
 portant era in the history of Cromwell, and 
 out of which have come some of the most 
 prominent misrepresentations of the aims and 
 character of the man. 
 
 CHAPTEK XLYII. 
 
 The Kingship — Proposed to Cromwell — Agitation of the 
 Matter in Parliament — Disturbance — "Petition and Ad- 
 vice " — Protracted Debate — Army Officers opposed to the 
 Kingship — Cromwell's response to them — The new In- 
 strument matured in Parliament. 
 
 The matter alkided to at the close of the pre- 
 ceding chapter is that of the effort of this par- 
 liament for inducing Cromwell to accept the 
 title of king. 
 
 ='•■' Letters, ii, pp. 269, 2tO. 
 
222 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 On the 23d of February Sir Christopher 
 Pack, a member from London, introduces a 
 document entitled "A Humble Address and 
 Remonstrance of the Knights, Burgesses, and 
 Citizens assembled in Parliament." This paper 
 set forth that, as the best way of settling the 
 nation, the lord protector should be desired to 
 assume the tit]e of king. He had scarcely said 
 the words when the republican and military 
 members forced him from his seat near the 
 speaker down to the bar of the House. But 
 Pack's friends sprang to his assistance, and, in 
 spite of much tumult and violence, his paper 
 was read to the House. It proposed, in ad- 
 dition to the kingship, that the parliament 
 should consist of two houses instead of one, as 
 at present constituted. A long debate ensued, 
 extending from February 23 to March 26, when 
 the paper was in substance adopted, under the 
 altered title of "The Humble Petition and 
 Advice of the Parliament of England and Ire- 
 land." At the close of the debate, the blank 
 left for the title to be borDe by Cromwell was 
 filled up with the word " king " by a majority 
 of 123 against 62. 
 
 As this long debate proceeded, there waited 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 223 
 
 upon tlie protector a hundred army officers and 
 persons of note, with a view of dissuading him 
 from accepting the kingship, signifying to him 
 that they contemplated the project under debate 
 with dismay ; that it was a " scandal to the peo- 
 ple of Grod," hazardous to his own person, and 
 would be otherwise disastrous. 
 ' The protector responded with dignity, and 
 some severity, that he now specifically heard 
 of this project for the first time; that he 
 had not been caballing about it, either for or 
 a2:ainst it : that the matter need not startle 
 them so much, inasmuch as some of them well 
 knew that the kingship had been already offered 
 to him and pressed upon him hy themselves, 
 when he had undertaken the government in its 
 then present form. He further told them that 
 the title king was of as little value to him as to 
 them ; that as to parliaments, at least, some 
 reform was certainly needed ; that the little 
 parliament, the first protectorate pat4iament, 
 and the major-generalcies, had all proved fail- 
 ures, and that the present parliament was nearly 
 a failure ; that the House of Lords, as a check 
 upon a single house of parliament, might be of 
 real use ; that, in short, '' the Deputation of a 
 
224 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 Hundred Officers liad better go its ways and 
 consider itself again." 
 
 Meantime, the parliament is proceeding with 
 great diligence in modeling and maturing the 
 instrument of "Petition and Advice;" and, by 
 the end of March, it is in a state of readiness, 
 comprising eighteen carefully-constructed arti- 
 cles engraved on vellum, and ready to be pre- 
 sented to the protector, with the understanding 
 that he is to adopt the whole document, or no 
 part of it is to be binding. 
 
 CHAPTER XLYHI. 
 
 "Petition and Advice" presented to the Protector — He is 
 invited to tlie Kiagship by the 'Parliament — Responds 
 briefly — Asks for Time — Gives a further Answer — Not 
 Decisive — Parliament Visits the Protector in a Body — 
 Doubts and Scruples — Committee of Ninety-Nine — A long 
 Conversation. 
 
 On the 31st of March the speaker of the House 
 and all the members went in a body to White- 
 hall to present the "Petition and Advice" to 
 the protector. After a speech by the speaker, 
 setting forth the object of their visit, and in- 
 viting him to take upon himself the title and 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 225 
 
 office of king, and presenting several reasons 
 for sucli a step, the protector responded, some- 
 wliat briefly, that the proposal, including the 
 frame of government offered to him, ought to 
 beget in. himself the greatest reverence and 
 fear of God that ever possessed a man in the 
 world, and that the matter was of the greatest 
 possible weight. " I have lived the latter part 
 of my age in — if I may say so— the fire ; in the 
 midst of troubles. But all the things that have 
 befallen me since I was first engaged in the 
 affairs of this Commonwealth, if they could be 
 supposed to be all brought into such a com- 
 pass that I could take a view of them at once, 
 truly I do not think they would so move, nor 
 do I think ought so to move, my heart and 
 spirit with that fear and reverence of God that 
 becomes a Christian, as this thing that hath 
 now been offered by you to me ! And truly 
 my comfort in all my life hath been that the 
 burdens which have lain heavy on me, they 
 were laid upon me by the hand of Cod. . . . 
 And should I give any resolution in this matter 
 suddenly, without seeking to have an answer 
 put into my heart, and so into my mouth, by 
 Him that hath been my God and my guide 
 
226 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 liitlierto, it would give you very little cause of 
 comfort in such, a choice as you have made in 
 such a business as this. ... I have, therefore, 
 but this one word to say to you : that seeing 
 you have made progress in this business, and 
 completed the work on your part, I, on my 
 side, may have some short time to ask counsel 
 of God and of my own heart. . . . And truly I 
 may say this also ; that as the thing will deserve 
 deliberation, the utmost deliberation and con- 
 sideration on my part, so I shall think myself 
 bound to give as speedy an answer to these 
 things as I can." 
 
 Having deliberated upon so great a matter 
 for three days, at the end of that time he noti- 
 fied the parliament that if a committee from 
 that body would wait upon him they should 
 receive his answer to the "Petition and Ad- 
 vice." A large committee accordingly attends 
 upon his highness on that afternoon at three 
 o'clock. 
 
 In his address to this committee, the pro- 
 tector submitted to them that he had, as well 
 as he could, taken into consideration their im- 
 portant proposal presented to him a few days 
 before, and had sought of God that he might 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 227 
 
 return sucb. an answer as might become him- 
 self and be worthy of the parliament. He 
 commended the parliament for their interest in 
 secnring to the people religious and civil liberty ; 
 two great interests which he declared were ever 
 prominent in all his fightings and sufferings. 
 In respect to the kingship, he fully acknowl- 
 edged the exceedingly high honor and respect 
 had for him in connection with this matter, for 
 which honor and respect he should always keep 
 a grateful memory in his heart, and for which, 
 also, he, by the committee, returned to the par- 
 liament his grateful acknowledgments. " But 
 I must needs say," he adds, " that that may be 
 fit for you to offer which may not be fit for me 
 to undertake ; and as I should reckon it a very 
 great presumption were I to ask the reason of 
 your doing any one thing in this paper, so you 
 will not take it unkindly if I beg of you this 
 addition to the parliament's favor, love, and in- 
 dulgence to me, that it be taken in tender part 
 if I give such an answer as I. find in my heart 
 to give in this business, without urging many 
 reasons for it, save such as are most obvious and 
 most to my advantage in answering ; namely, 
 that I am not able for such a trust and charge. 
 
228 LIFE OF OLIVEK CROMWELL. 
 
 . . . I must say I have been able to attain 
 no further than this, that, seeing the way is 
 hedged up so as it is to me, and I cannot accept 
 the things offered unless I accept all, I have not 
 been able to find it my duty to Grod and you to 
 undertake this charge under that title. . . . 
 This is all I have to say. I desire it may, and 
 do not doubt but it will, be with candor and 
 ingenuity * represented unto them by you." f 
 
 The answer of the protector did not impress 
 the minds of the committee and the parliament 
 as entirely decisive ; and, accordingly, a few 
 days after the above named interview of the 
 committee with the protector, the parliament, 
 having decided to adhere to the " Petition and 
 Advice," went again in a body to confer with 
 his highness. Concerning this conference there 
 seems to be no reports except that it was not 
 successful. The protector seems to have doubts 
 and scruples, " on which, however, he is willing 
 to be dealt with." 
 
 With a view, therefore, of satisfying the 
 scruples of Cromwell, a committee is im- 
 mediately appointed to lay before him the 
 entire argument for the great measure proposed. 
 
 * Ingenuousness. f Letters, ii, pp. 279, 280. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 229 
 
 This committee comprised ninety-nine persons, 
 in chiding, of conrse, a large number of the 
 ablest and most distinguished members of the 
 parliamentary body. 
 
 The first meeting of this committee with the 
 protector was April 11, when a long conversa- 
 tion ensued between himself and several mem- 
 bers of the committee, winding up with no 
 special result ; and another meeting was ap- 
 pointed for the 13th. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLIX. 
 
 Another Conversation toucliing the Kingship — Reasoning of 
 the Committee — The Protector's Answer — Adjournment. 
 
 At the second visit of the Committee of I^inety- 
 Nine to the protector, he, in a somewhat pro- 
 tracted speech, reviewed the controversy be- 
 tween the committee and himself on the subject 
 of the kingship. The gist of the argument 
 which had been urged upon Cromwell for 
 assuming the title of king was, that this title 
 appeared to be a necessity; that the kingship 
 was not merely a title but an ofiice, and thus 
 was so interwoven with the fundamental laws 
 
230 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 of the nation that these laws could not well be 
 executed without it; that the laws knew no 
 other title than that of king, and the people 
 knew no other; but that this title, name, or 
 office of king is understood by the people in its 
 dimensions, and in its power and prerogatives, 
 all of which are made certain by law, together 
 with the checks and limitations thereof; and it 
 was urged that the laws defining all these, the 
 people are familiar with them; and the people 
 knowing them love them, and it would not be 
 for the safety of the people nor of the parliament 
 to obtrude upon them what they do not nor 
 cannot understand.^ It was further urged 
 by the committee that the people had always 
 been unwilling to vary names ; that when King 
 James wished to change his title from that of 
 King of England to King of Great Britain^ it 
 was refused ; as, also, when, in the Long Parlia- 
 ment, it was proposed to substitute the name 
 of '' representatives " for that of " parliament." 
 The committee yet further argued that holding 
 to the word Mng -would strengthen the new 
 settlement that was now pending in the parlia- 
 ment, for thus there would be nothing done de 
 
 * As, for example, the name proUdor^ instead of king. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 231 
 
 novo^ but thiTigs would merely revolve in their 
 old current. And, finally, it was alleged that 
 the change of title from protector to Icing would 
 tend to the security of the chief magistrate him- 
 self, and of all who act under him, as well as 
 of the whole people. 
 
 To these considerations, urged by the com- 
 mittee upon the mind of the protector, he 
 calmly responded, that though the kingship 
 was not a mere title, but the name of an office 
 which runs through the whole of the law, yet it 
 is not so by reason of the name, but by reason 
 of what the name signifies; and he hence in- 
 ferred that the supreme authority acting un- 
 der any other name, as protector^ for example, 
 would be equally eifectual ; and he asserted that, 
 for himself, he would rather have any name for 
 that parliament than any other name without 
 it. He was confident. that what the parliament 
 should settle in respect to the name of the chief 
 magistrate will run and have currency through 
 the law, and will lead " the thread of govern- 
 ment" equally well as what had been in the 
 past. He submitted that, save that there had 
 been a long continuance of the kingship, its 
 authority was from the same source. It had its 
 
232 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 origin somewhere, and that somewhere was the 
 consent of the whole people ; and the consent 
 of the whole, he said, will still be the needle 
 that will lead the thread, and no man wonld 
 pretend right against it or wrong. 
 
 He hence modestly inferred that the argu- 
 ments drawn from the laws of the land proved 
 not the necessity of the title king, but merely 
 its convenience J and that what the present 
 parliament should enact and settle would be 
 just as authoritative as matters that were en- 
 acted in the olden times. 
 
 He then passes from the ground of expediency 
 to that of experience ; and reminds the com- 
 mitteee that the supreme authority had, in 
 recent years, been maintained under two other 
 names than that of king : by the Long Parlia- 
 ment under the title of heepers of the liberties 
 of England^ and by himself under the title 
 of protector; and he could truly assert that 
 under both of these administrations, without 
 the title of king, almost universal obedience 
 had been yielded by all ranks and sorts of 
 men. The new name or title was obeyed, did 
 pass current, was received, and did carry on 
 the public justice of the nation. This was true 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 233 
 
 under the Long Parliament ; and then, as to 
 his own administration, under the name of 
 protectorate^ he gave it as his sober judgment, 
 though he would not speak it vainly, that, since 
 the beginning of that change in government, 
 there had been as free a procedure of the laws 
 as in those years called the " halcyon days of 
 peace," under the reigns of Elizabeth and 
 James I. 
 
 He concluded, therefore, that these two ex- 
 periences of another name than king for the 
 chief magistracy manifestly showed that it 
 was not a tUle^ though ever so intimately inter- 
 woven with the laws, that gives the law its free 
 passage, and enables it to do its office without 
 interruption ; and he doubted not that if a par- 
 liament should determine that another name 
 should run through the laws, it would run with 
 as free a passage as that of king. 
 
 In further arguing with the committee, the 
 
 protector urged his fears that if the title of 
 
 king should be resumed by the chief magistrate, 
 
 it would be a grief to multitudes of the best 
 
 people of the land. He was certain that, very 
 
 generally, good men did not swallow the title 
 
 of king ; and though it was no part of their 
 
 15 
 
234 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 goodness to be unwilling to submit to the judg- 
 ment of the parliament, yet he begged that he 
 might not be obliged to take any step, or as- 
 sume any title that would be aiHictive to them. 
 Such dislike of a name might be a weakness and 
 infirmity ; but he thought that by being patient 
 and indulgent toward it they would be better 
 able to eradicate the spirit and principle of dis- 
 obedience from the nation. 
 
 Cromwell's experience as a soldier had taught 
 him the value of God-fearing people, and he 
 was extremely reluctant to adopt any measures 
 that would tend to disaffect them. It pained 
 him to think of the nation's sacrificing a single 
 friend of the country. 
 
 The protector having finished his speech, the 
 interview was adjourned to the next day at 
 three o'clock. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 235 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 A further Interview between the Committee and the Pro- 
 tector — Still another Interview on the next Day — Another 
 Meeting ten Days afterward. 
 
 The protector being indisposed, the adjourned 
 interview witli the Committee of Ninety-Xine 
 did not occur till the 16th, when several mem- 
 bers proceeded to answer the arguments which 
 had been presented at the last interview. 
 
 Another meeting took place on the 20th ; 
 and another speech of the protector to the 
 committee, partially responding to their argu- 
 ments at the preceding meeting. We pass this 
 speech by, except to quote from it these few 
 words of his highness : 
 
 " And now when I say (I speak in the plain- 
 ness and simplicity of my heart, as before 
 Almighty Cod) I did, out of necessity, under- 
 take that business, which I think no man but 
 myself would have undertaken, it hath pleased 
 God that I have been instrumental in keeping 
 the peace of the nation to this day ; and have 
 kept it under a title {protector) which, some say, 
 signifies but a keeping of it to another's use, to a 
 
236 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 better use ; a title which may improve it to a bet- 
 ter use ! And this I may say : I have not desired 
 the continuance of my power or place either un- 
 der one title or another ; that have I not ! . . . 
 and, therefore, I say, if the wisdom of this par- 
 liament — I speak not this vainly, or as a fool, 
 but as to God — if the wisdom of this parliament 
 should have found a way to settle the interests 
 of this nation upon the foundations of justice 
 and truth and liberty to the people of God, 
 and concernments of men as Englishmen, I 
 would have lain at their feet, or at anybody 
 else's feet, that things might have run in such 
 a current ! I say I have no pretensions to 
 things for myself; to ask this or that, or to 
 avoid this or that. I know the censures of the 
 world may quickly pass upon me, and are al- 
 ready passing ; but, I thank God, I know where 
 to lay the weight that is laid upon me — I mean 
 the weight of reproach and conteinpt and scorn 
 that hath been cast upon me." * 
 
 Alluding to these sentiments, dropping from 
 the lips of this great man, a judicious writer 
 remarks : " Who has any right to accuse Crom- 
 well of dissimulation when he made these 
 
 * Letters, ii, pp. 309, 310. 
 
LIFE OF OLIYEE CEOMWELL. 237 
 
 solemn declarations ? If lie was calumniated 
 in Ms day of power, it is still more easy to 
 calumniate him now that he is dead; and in 
 this, many individuals have shown no lack. of 
 zeal. We feel no inclination for so dishonor- 
 able a task. In studying the protector's char- 
 acter, let them only exercise a little of that 
 impartiality which is due to every man, even 
 to the most useless and obscure, and I entertain 
 no doubt they will shake off the prejudices 
 which darken his memory." * 
 
 Another meeting of the protector and com- 
 mittee was held on the following day, when he 
 descanted at large on the several provisions of 
 the new instrument, suggesting certain altera- 
 tions and amendments ; but, to the disappoint- 
 ment of tljp committee, making little or no 
 allusion to the grand object of the committee — 
 the acceptance of the kingship. 
 
 This greq,t matter hangs yet in suspense, 
 some imagining that the protector will accept 
 the title, others doubting it ; while, as to what 
 w-as passing, in these days, in the mind of his 
 highness, there is no witness and no report. 
 
 At the end of ten days from the last meeting, 
 
 * D'Aubigne, pp. 242, 243. 
 
238 LIFE OF OLIVEK CEOMWELL. 
 
 the Committee of Mnetj-l^ine wait again upoii 
 the protector with the " Petition and Advice " 
 revised, so far as the parliament judged fit to 
 accord with the suggestions of his highness in 
 his las^^ddress to the committee. He answers 
 briefly, and promises to appoint a day when he 
 will give his final answer. 
 
 CHAPTEK LI. 
 
 May 8, 1651, the whole Parliament meet the Protector — 
 He addresses them hi a brief Speech — Decides the great 
 Question, declining the Kingship. 
 
 May 8th, 166Y, was the important day. On 
 that day, not the Committee o^ I^inety-Nine 
 merely, but the whole parliament in a body, 
 by special invitation, attends his highness. He 
 addresses them in a brief speech, from which 
 we give one or two extracts. After commend- 
 ing the act of government for the settlement of 
 the national affairs, affirming that " the inten- 
 tions and things (embraced by the said act) are 
 very honorable and honest, and the product 
 worthy of a parliament," he adds : 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 239 
 
 " I have only had the unhappiness, both in 
 my conferences with your committees and in the 
 best thoughts I could take to myself, not to be 
 convinced of the necessity of that thing which 
 hath been so often insisted on by you ; to wit, the 
 title of king, as in itself so necessary as it seems 
 to be apprehended by you. And yet I do, with 
 all honor and respect, testify that, cmteris jpari- 
 hus^ no private judgment is to be in the balance 
 with the judgment of parliament. But in things 
 that respect particular persons, every man who 
 is to give an account to God of his actions must, 
 in some measure, be able to prove his own work, 
 and to have an approbation in his own con- 
 science of that which he is to do or to forbear. 
 And while you are granting others liberties, 
 surely you will not deny 7ne this ; it being not 
 only a liberty but a duty, and such a duty as I 
 cannot, without sinning, forbear, to examine 
 my own heart, and thoughts, and judgment, in 
 every work which I am to set my hand to, or 
 to appear in or for. 
 
 " I must confess, therefore, though I do ac- 
 knowledge all the other points, I must be a 
 little confident in this, that what, with the cir- 
 cumstances which accompany human actions — 
 
240 LIFE OF OLIVBE CEOMWELL. 
 
 whether they be circumstances of thne or per- 
 sons — whether circumstances that relate to the 
 whole, or private and particular circumBtances, 
 such as compass any person who is to render 
 an account of his own actions, I have truly 
 thought, and I do still think, that, at the best, 
 if I should do anything on this account to an- 
 swer your expectation, at the best I should do 
 it doubtingly. And certainly whatsoever is so 
 is not of faith ; and whatsoever is not so, what- 
 soever is not of faith, is sin to him that doth it. 
 ... I, lying under this consideration, think it 
 my duty — only I could have wished I had done 
 it sooner, for the sake of the House, who have 
 laid such infinite obligations on me. I wish I 
 had done it sooner for your sake, and for saving 
 time and trouble, and for the committee's sake^ 
 to whom I must acknowledge I have been un- 
 reasonably troublesome ! But truly this is my 
 answer, that (although I think the act of govern- 
 ment doth consist of very excellent parts, in all 
 but that one thing of the title as to me) I should 
 not be an honest man if I did not tell you that 
 I cannot accept of the government, nor undertake 
 the trouble and charge of it — as to which I have 
 a little more experimented than everybody what 
 
LIFE OF OLIYEE CKOMWELL. 241 
 
 troubles and difficnlties do befall men nnder 
 such trusts and in such undertakings. I say I 
 am persuaded to return this answer to you ; 
 that I cannot undertake this government with 
 the title of king. And that is my answer to 
 this great and weighty business."^ 
 
 Such was the hnale of this great question of 
 Cromwell and the kingship. 
 
 a rpj^Q -j,gg^ q£ ^]^q Petition and Advice, so 
 
 long discussed and conferenced upon, is of 
 course accepted ; a much improved frame of 
 government with a second house of parlia- 
 ment, with a chief magistrate who is to nomi- 
 nate his successor, and be king in all points 
 except the name." 
 
 , CHAPTER LII. 
 
 Eeflections upon Cromwell and his Decision — Extract. 
 
 Thus did Cromwell decline the crown of 
 England ; and it has been well remarked by 
 another that "there are few men recorded in 
 ancient and modern history who have been able, 
 like him, to resist a similar temptation." 
 
 * Letters, ii, pp. 344-346. 
 
242 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 If it be tliouglit that, in this matter of the 
 kingship, we have been too minute, our apology 
 is that directly here it is that the enemies of 
 Oliver Cromwell seem to have been the most 
 eager to ^x upon him the charge of hypocrisy 
 and unholy ambition. But facts, as we have 
 presented them, seem to us to prove all such 
 attempts to be utter failures. It is not neces- 
 sary to assert that the crown of England pos- 
 sessed no attractions for Cromwell. We may 
 concede that it did present to his mind a very 
 strong attraction. Nor are we convinced that 
 such a fact, if fact it were, was any proof of 
 wrong or guilt on his part. Desire for place or 
 office — even the highest office — is not, in itself, 
 a sin ; it may be a positive virtue rather, as 
 being coveted with a simple view of a stronger 
 and wider influence for good. 
 
 Or suppose the kingship, as millions have 
 supposed, to have been a temptation to the 
 mind of Cromwell — a temptation which he 
 very reluctantly resisted ; yet is it nothing that 
 he actually did resist it ? resist it, when to ac- 
 cept the crown was for successive weeks pressed 
 upon him by the parliament of England, and 
 with a voice that seemed to the protector little 
 
LIFE OF OLIYER CEOMWELL. 243 
 
 less than law? wi:h a pressure that was over- 
 shadowing, with arguments that were next to 
 overwhelming, and with an earnestness and a 
 plausibility which would have vanquished al- 
 most every other man, and which it required the 
 firmness and the conscientiousness of a Crom- 
 well to resist ? You are pleased to assert that 
 this man was ambitious, and was eager for the 
 meed of royalty. But facts are against you. 
 Almost his entire history is against you. His 
 genius, manner of spirit, conversations, letters, 
 speeches, all are against you ; and the crowning 
 fact of his cautious, deliberate rejection of the 
 kingship is decisive, and should ever have been 
 recognized as the end of all controversy touch- 
 ing this grave matter. JSTever, we think, might 
 a man more sincerely and fully than Oliver 
 Cromwell adopt the great words of the apostle, 
 as h.e affirmed that " Our rejoicing is this : the 
 testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity 
 and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, 
 but by the grace of God, we have had our 
 conversation in the world." 
 
 Harmonious, in the main, with these views 
 is the following extract : 
 
 Was there no ambitious sentiment in the 
 
244 LIFE OF OLIVER C:^iOMWELL. 
 
 protector, especially in this affair of tlie king- 
 sliip ? To deny this absolutely would be mak- 
 ing Mm superior to the conditions of mortal 
 existence. ' There is no man that sinneth not,' 
 says the Scripture. Oliver was not exempt 
 from this general rule. All that we would say 
 is, that he was conscientious in this struggle, 
 and that if the flesh lusted against the spirit, 
 the spirit fought against the flesh. Cromwell 
 possessed a living faith; and that faith is a 
 power which every day grows stronger in the 
 heart. The object for which God places this 
 heavenly and divine power in man is to over- 
 come the evil, the earthly, and the sensual 
 powers that have taken up their abode in his 
 bosom. The question, therefore, is not whether 
 these two contrary elements — the new man and 
 the old man — do not exist together in the same 
 individual; but whether the struggle between 
 them is sincere and loyal. In Oliver the strug- 
 gle was indeed sincere." * 
 
 *D'Aubigne, p. 246. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 245 
 
 CHAPTEE LIII. 
 
 A new Inauguration — Brilliant Picture of the Scene — Par- 
 liament prorogued to January 20. 
 
 The new inauguration ensues. The full recog- 
 nition of the protectorship by the parliament 
 itself calls for a second and more imposing in- 
 stallation. "He cannot yet, as it proves, be 
 crowned king," says Carlyle ; " but he shall be 
 installed in his protectorship with all solemnity 
 befitting such an occasion." 
 
 As we have thus invited Mr. Carlyle to intro- 
 duce this scene of the new inauguration, we 
 will permit him, with his own sprightly pencil, 
 to complete for us the picture. 
 
 "Friday, 26th June, 1657, the parliament 
 and all the world are busy with this grand 
 affair ; the labors of the season being now com- 
 plete, the last finish being now given to our 
 new instrument of government, to our elaborate 
 ^ Petition and Advice,' we will add this top- 
 stone to the work, and so, amid the shoutings 
 of mankind, disperse for the recess. Friday at 
 two o'clock, 'in a place prepared,' duly pre- 
 
24:6 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 pared witli all manner of ' platform,' ' cloths of 
 state,' and ' seats raised one above the other,' 
 'at the npper end of Westminster Hall.' 
 Palace-yard and London generally is all a tip- 
 toe out of doors. Within doors Speaker Wid- 
 drington and the master of the ceremonies have 
 done their best ; the judges, the aldermen, the 
 parliament, the council, the foreign embassadors 
 and domestic dignitaries without end; chairs 
 of state, cloths of state, trumpet-peals and ac- 
 clamations of the people. Let the reader con- 
 ceive it ; or read in old pamphlets the ' exact 
 relation ' of it, with all the speeches and phe- 
 nomena, worthier than such things nsually are 
 of being read. 
 
 " ' His highness standing under the cloth of 
 state,' says Bulstrode, whose fine feelings are 
 evidently touched by it, Hhe speaker, in the 
 name of the parliament, presented to him, first, 
 . a rohe of purple velvet ; which the speaker, as- 
 sisted by Whitlocke and others, put upon his 
 highness.' Then he, the speaker, delivered to 
 him the BiUe richly gilt and bossed, an affect- 
 ing symbolic gift. After that the speaker girt 
 the sword about his highness, and delivered 
 into his hand the scepter of massive gold. And 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 247 
 
 then, this done, he made a speech to him on 
 the several things presented; eloquent, mel- 
 liflnons speech, setting forth the high and true 
 significance of the several symbols ; speech still 
 worth reading, to which his highness answered 
 in silence by dignified gesture only. Then 
 Mr. Speaker gave him the oath ; and so ended 
 really in a solemn manner. And Mr. Manton, 
 by prayer, recommended his highness, the par- 
 liament, the council, the forces by land and sea, 
 and the whole government and people of the 
 three nations, to the blessing and protection of 
 God. • And then the people gave several great 
 shouts, and the trumpets sounded ; and the pro- 
 tector sat in his chair of state, holding the 
 scepter in his hand ; a remarkable sight to see. 
 On his right sat the embassador of France, on 
 his left some other embassador ; and all around, 
 standing or sitting, were dignitaries of the high- 
 est quality; and near the earl of Warwick 
 stood the Lord Yiscount Lisle, stood General 
 Montague and Whitlocke, each of them having 
 a drawn sword in his hand, a sublime sight to 
 some of us ! And so this solemnity transacts it- 
 self, which at the moment was solemn enough ; 
 and is not yet, at this or any hoUowest moment 
 
248 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 of human history, intrinsically altogether other. 
 A really dignified and veritable piece of sym- 
 bolism, perhaps the last we hitherto, in these 
 quack-ridden, historic ages, have been privileged 
 to see on such an occasion." ^ 
 
 Such was the final and crowning act of this 
 session of the parliament, which was immedi- 
 diately prorogued to the 20th of January 
 following. 
 
 CHAPTER LIY. 
 
 Administration prospers in the Interim — England's Proud 
 Position — Marriages of Lady Prances Cromwell and Lady 
 Mary Cromwell — Protector's Manner of Life. 
 
 Thus the interim between the first and second 
 sessions of this parliament was from June 26, 
 1657, to January 20, 1658, about seven months. 
 In this brief interval the administration 
 seems to have been prosperous ; public affairs 
 had reached a settlement. The allied English 
 and French armies against Spain were success- 
 ful, attempted insurrections were suppressed, 
 and England was holding a proud position 
 among the nations of Europe. 
 
 * Letters, i, pp. 350, 351. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 249 
 
 Meantime, in ^^Tovember, was married Lady 
 Frances Cromwell, youngest daughter of- the 
 protector, to Robert Rich, son of Lord Rich, 
 grandson of the earl of Warwick and of the count- 
 ess dowager of Devonshire. Also, on Thurs- 
 day of the following week. Lady Mary Crom- 
 well, an older sister, was wedded to Lord Fran- 
 conburg, a young man of extraordinary parts. 
 
 Thus was it with Cromwell's public and 
 domestic affairs as the new parliamentary 
 session approaches. 
 
 Extracts from several sources present us with 
 the following picture of the protector's manner 
 of life and administration at this period : '' The 
 court and the manner of life of Cromwell con- 
 tinued quiet and modest as they ever had been ; 
 not wanting, however, a certain sober dignity, 
 which was more imposing than the tinsel and 
 parade of most royalties. Everything at Hamp- 
 ton Court, his favorite residence, had an air of 
 sobriety and decency ; there was no riot, no de- 
 bauchery seen or heard of; yet it was not a 
 dull place, the protector's humor being natural- 
 ly of a cheerful turn. " He now provided him 
 a guard of halberdiers in gray coats, welted 
 
 with a black velvet, over whom Walter Strick- 
 
 16 
 
250 LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 
 
 land was captain. He frequently diverted him- 
 self at Hampton Court, wMther he went and 
 returned, commonly in post, with his guards 
 behind and before. His own diet was spare and 
 not curious, except in public treatments, which 
 were con&tantly given the Monday in every week 
 to all the officers in the army not below a cap- 
 tain, when he used to dine with them. A table 
 was likewise spread every day of the week for 
 such officers as should casually come to court. 
 He was a great lover of music, and entertained 
 the most skillful in that science in his pay and 
 family. He respected all persons that excelled 
 in any art, and would procure them to be sent 
 or brought to him. Sometimes he would, for a 
 frolic, before he had half dined, give order for 
 the drum to beat and call in his foot-guards, who 
 were permitted to make booty of all they found 
 on the table. Sometimes he would be jocund 
 with some of the nobility, and would tell them 
 what company they had lately kept ; when and 
 where they had drank the king's health and 
 the royal family's; bidding them, when they 
 did it again, to do it more privately ; and this 
 without any passion, and as ' festivous, droll 
 discourse.' He delighted especially to sur- 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 251 
 
 round himself witli the master minds of Ms age 
 and conntry, with men who had left immortal 
 names behind them. Milton, the Latin secre- 
 tary, was his familiar ; honest Andrew Marvel 
 was his frequent guest ; Waller was his friend 
 and kinsman ; nor was the more youthful genius 
 of Dryden excluded. Hartlib, a native of Po- 
 land, the bosom-friend of Milton, and the advo- 
 cate of education, was honored and pensioned ; 
 and so was Usher, the learned and amiable 
 archbishop, notwithstandiDg his prelacy ; and 
 John Biddle, called the father of English Uni- 
 tarians, received an allowance of a hundred 
 crowns a year. Even the fantastic, plotting 
 Catholic, Sir Kenelm Digby, was among the 
 protector's guests, and received support or 
 assistance on account, chiefly, of his literary 
 merits. The general course of the protector's 
 government was mild and just. One who was 
 his physician, but not his panegyrist, says : 
 ' Justice (that we may not scourge him beyond 
 his desert) was renewed almost to her former 
 grace and splendor, as well distributive as com- 
 mutative ; the judges executing their office with 
 equity and justice, far from covetousness ; and 
 the laws suffered, without delay or let, to have 
 
252 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 tlieir fall force upon all, (a few days excepted, 
 where he himself was immediately concerned.) 
 The lives of men, outwardly at least, became 
 reforlned either by withdrawing the incentives 
 to luxury, or by means of the ancient laws now 
 newly put into execution. There was also a 
 strict discipline kept in his court; one could 
 find none here that was either drunkard or 
 whoremaster, none that was guilty of extortion 
 or oppression, but he was severely rebuked. 
 !Kow trade began to flourish ; and (to say all in 
 a word) all England over, these were halcyon 
 days." 
 
 CHAPTEE LY. 
 
 Shadows approaching — The reorganized Parliament — The 
 new House of Peers — Bearing of the Commons toward the 
 Peers — Wrangling touching the Title to be given to the 
 House of Peers — Both Houses summoned to Whitehall — 
 Addressed by the Protector. 
 
 But the " halcyon days " were soon to be num- 
 bered, and all this bright sunshine was presently 
 to be quenched in quick and cold eclipse. 
 The new parliamentary sessidn approached, 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 263 
 
 and there were strong probabilities tbat it 
 would be different from the former session. 
 
 Two grand points of difference will at once 
 occur to the reader: first, tbe addition of a 
 House of Lords ; and, second, the admission to 
 the House of Commons of the hundred or more 
 members who, for want of certificates, were 
 excluded at the first session. These are new 
 elements, and such as would probably occasion 
 disturbance. 
 
 The creation of the new peerage must have 
 been a matter of much delicacy, and the more 
 so as multitudes, and no small proportion of 
 the Commons, were disaffected to the whole 
 measure. It was provided in the new instru- 
 ment of government that the peers should be 
 nominated by the protector and confirmed by 
 the Commons. Sixty4hree in all were sum- 
 moned, of whom about forty took their seats, 
 mostly selected from the House of Commons, 
 ^' the worst effect of which was that his highness 
 thereby lost some forty favorable votes in that 
 other House, which, as matters went, proved 
 highly detrimental there." 
 
 The Commons were determined that the 
 House of Lords should be second and inferior 
 
254: LIFE OF OLIVEE CKOMWELL. 
 
 to the House of Commons in all respects. The 
 latter would not recognize them as "Lords," or 
 as the "TJi3per House," but simply as the 
 '' Other House," and protested against their 
 assuming any other title. 
 
 The parliament, comprising both houses, 
 assembled at the day appointed, January 20, 
 1658. All are summoned to the House of 
 Lords, and the protector addresses them briefly. 
 
 Shadows are thickening now both alM*oad and 
 at home. The two Houses had scarcely sepa- 
 rated after the address before the Commons 
 commenced wrangling about the title to be given 
 to the House of Lords. This weak controversy 
 continued day after day, to the neglect of affairs 
 of. great importance that were pressing, and 
 demanded immediate attention. 
 
 Accordingly, on the fifth day after the assem- 
 bly of parliament, a message from the protector 
 summoned both Houses to Whitehall to listen 
 to another address from his highness. 
 
 He gave it to them as his opinion that not 
 merely the wellbeing but the being itself of 
 the nation was at stake; that it was a time 
 when the most serious and wise counsels were 
 needed ; that the grand design now on foot, in 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 255 
 
 comparison witli wliicli all other designs are but 
 low things, is, whether the Christian world shall 
 be all Foperj ; that the great Protestant cause 
 was struck at; that if all the Protestants in 
 Europe had but one head, that head had in the 
 late persecution of the Waldenses been cut off; 
 that the pope was influencing all the potentates 
 of Europe to the ruin of Protestantism. 
 
 In speakiog of home affairs he adds : " We 
 have two blessings, peace and the Gospel. Let 
 us have one heart and soul ; one mind to main- 
 tain the honest and just rights of this nation. 
 I If you run into another flood of blood and war, 
 this nation must sink and perish utterly. I 
 beseech you, and charge you in the name and 
 presence of God, and as before him, be sensible 
 of these things, and lay them to heart. If you 
 prefer not the keeping of peace, that we may 
 see the fruit of righteousness in them that love 
 peace and embrace peace, it will be said of this 
 poor nation. Actum est de Anglia^ It is all over 
 with England. 
 
 " While I live and am able, I shall be ready 
 to stand and fall with you. I have taken my 
 oath to govern according to the laws, and I 
 trust I shall fully answer it. And know, I 
 
256 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 souglit not tliis place; I speak it before God, 
 angels, and men ; I did not. You souglit me 
 for it, you brought me to it. And I took my 
 oath to be faithful to the interests of these na- 
 tions ; to be faithful to the government. All 
 those things were implied, in my eye, in the oath 
 to be faithful to the government upon which we 
 have now met. And 1 trust, by the grace of God, 
 as I have taken my oath to serve this Common- 
 wealth on such an account, I shall, I must see it 
 done according to the articles of government. 
 That every just interest may be preserved ; that a 
 godly ministry may be upheld, and not affront- 
 ed by seducing and seduced spirits ; that all 
 men may be preserved in their just rights, 
 whether civil or spiritual. Upon this account 
 did I take oath, and swear to this govern- 
 ment ! And so, having declared my heart and 
 mind to you in this, I have nothing more to 
 say, but to pray God Almighty bless you." ^ 
 
 "Letters, ii, 388. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 257 
 
 CHAPTER LYI. 
 
 Protector's Appeal of no avail — Mischievous Debatings — 
 Infatuation — Cromwell indignant — Prorogues the Parlia- 
 ment — Last Public "Words. 
 
 Strange to saj, tlie noble appeal of tlie pro- 
 tector, glanced at in the last chapter, was of 
 little or no avail. Miserable and mischievous 
 debatings continued — debatings abont the Other 
 House, and even about the protectorate itself. 
 It would seem that these men were infatuated. 
 Ignoring all the great and pressing interests and 
 dangers of the nation, thej appeared unable to 
 look beyond the little narrow circle of their own 
 jealousies, envyings, and bickerings. Various 
 important bills and notices of bills were intro- 
 duced by well-aifected members, who attempted 
 some useful legislation, but nothing could be 
 accomplished. Cromwell was indignant and 
 discouraged ; and after days more of vain dis- 
 putings, he, on the 4th of February, and with- 
 out giving any intimation of his design, went 
 to the House of Lords and summoned the Com- 
 mons to attend him there. He addressed them 
 
258 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 in another speech — a scathing speech, whose 
 closing words were : "I think it high time that 
 an end be put to your sitting, and I do dissolve 
 this parliament. And let God be judge be- 
 tween you and me ! " These were the last 
 public words of Cromwell. 
 
 ]^ot an hour too soon, this proroguing of 
 such a parliament. ^'Believe me," writes 
 Hartlib, "believe me it was of such necessity 
 that if their session had continued but two or 
 three days longer, all had been blood in city 
 and country upon Charles Stuart's account." 
 
 " The protector," says another writer, " was 
 never in so much danger as at this moment; 
 the republicans and their friends were ready 
 both with arms and men to fall in with swords 
 in their hands; the army was murmuring for 
 want of pay ; the royalists were spirited and 
 combined by means of the marquis of Ormond, 
 who, during the sitting of parliament, had 
 passed several days in disguise and conceal- 
 ment in the city of London, and had returned 
 safely to Charles II. at Bruges; the Levelers 
 and Fifth-monarchy men were pledging their 
 desperate services to those that could dupe 
 them; Cromwell's old friend Harrison, who 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 259 
 
 had been released from tlie Tower after a short 
 confinement, 'was deep in the plot;' Colonel 
 Silas Titus, a Presbyterian royalist, or Colonel 
 Sexby, or whoever was the author of the 
 famed tract entitled 'Killing no Murder,' had 
 invited all patriots to assassination, proclaiming 
 that the greatest benefit any Englishman could 
 render his country would be to murder Crom- 
 well ; and yet the protector, even sick and dis- 
 pirited as he was, was capable of conjuring this 
 universal storm. He called a meeting of of- 
 ficers ; he harangued the city and common 
 council; beheaded Dr. Hewitt and Sir Henry 
 Slingsby ; threw other plotters into prison ; 
 hanged three that were taken with arms in their 
 hands at Cheapside ; and not only preserved his 
 authority at home, but also prosecuted his wars 
 abroad with vigor and success." * 
 
 Another extract here from Carlyle. 
 
 " The lord protector, his parliament having 
 been dismissed with such brevity, is somewhat 
 embarrassed in his finances. But otherwise his 
 affairs stand well, visibly in an improved con- 
 dition. Once more he has saved Puritan En- 
 gland ; once more approved himself invincible 
 
 * Pictorial History,, iii, p. 412. 
 
260 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 abroad and at home. He looks with confi- 
 dence toward summoning a new parliament 
 of juster disposition toward Piiritan England 
 and him. "With a parliament, or, if extremity 
 of need arrive without a parliament, and in 
 spite of parliaments, the Puritan Gospel 
 cause, sanctioned by a higher than parliaments, 
 shall not sink while life remains in this man. 
 ISTot till Oliver Cromwell's head lies low shall 
 English Puritanism bend its head to any created 
 thing. Erect, with its foot on the neck of 
 hydra Babylon, with its open Bible and drawn 
 sword, shall Puritanism stand, and with pious 
 all-defiance victoriously front the world. That 
 was Oliver Cromwell's appointed function in 
 this piece of sublunary space, in this section of 
 swift-flowing time ; that noble, perilous, painful 
 function ; and he has manfully done it, and 
 is now near ending it, and getting honorably 
 relieved from it." * 
 
 * Letters, ii, p. 399. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVEE CEOMWELL. 261 
 
 CHAPTER LYII. 
 
 Death of Frances Cromwell's Husband — Lady Claypole — 
 Her distressing Sickness — The Protector's deep Sympathy 
 with his dying Daughter — Her Death — The Father's 
 overwhelming Sorrow — Scripture Consolation. 
 
 "Not till Oliver Cromwell's head lies lo# shall 
 EnglaDd's Puritanism bend its head to any cre- 
 ated thing," Even so ; but how soon now must 
 * that " head lie low."" Dark days are gathering 
 rapidly over the protector's household. Within 
 a fortnight after the dissolution of the parliament 
 died Mr. Rich, the husband of Frances Crom- 
 well, and only four months after their mar- 
 riage. Thus, at seventeen years of age, poor 
 Prances was left a widow. 
 
 Of the protector himself w^e quote from 
 Carlyle : 
 
 " Oliver's look was yet strong, and young for 
 his years, which were fifty-nine last April. The 
 * threescore and ten years,' the Psalmist's limit, 
 which probably was often in Oliver's thoughts 
 and those of others there, might have been an- 
 ticipated for him. Ten years more of life; 
 
262 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 which we may compute would have given an- 
 other history to all the centuries of England. 
 But it was not to be so; it was to be other- 
 wise. Oliver's health, as we might observe, 
 was but uncertain in late times; often 'indis- 
 posed' the spring before last. His course of 
 life had not been favorable to health! 'A 
 burden too heavy for man,' as he himself with 
 a sigh would sometimes say. Incessant toil; 
 inconceivable labor, of head and heart and 
 hand; toil, peril, and sorrow manifold, con- 
 tinued for near twenty years now, had done 
 their part: those robust life-energies, it after- 
 ward appeared, had been gradually eaten out. 
 Like a tower, strong to the eye, bnt with 
 its foundations nndermined^ which has not 
 long to stand, the fall of which, on any shock, 
 may be sudden."* 
 
 In the summer, Lady Claypole, the protect- 
 or's favorite daughter, Elizabeth, lay sick unto 
 death at Hampton Court. She seems to have 
 been a person of great excellence, and whom 
 all the world loved. Her disease was of a very 
 distressing character, and her sufferings for 
 many days and nights were intense and dread- 
 
 * Letters, ii, p. 401. 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 263 
 
 ful. Her father was continually at her bed- 
 side, unable to attend to any business whatever, 
 his great heart breaking with " sorrow upon sor- 
 row." For Cromwell was a most affectionate 
 and tender father, and it is presumable that 
 the profound sympathy of his spirit with his 
 dreadfully afflicted and dying daughter, joined 
 with other sufferings connected with his official 
 position, was too much for him, and fatally 
 undermined his life. ^' The sorrow of the 
 world worketh death." 
 
 Elizabeth's death, which occurred on the 6th 
 of August, overwhelmed the father with an- 
 guish. A few days after, being then sick him- 
 self, he called for his Bible and requested one 
 to read to him from Philippians iv : '' JSTot that 
 I speak in respect of want; for I have learned 
 in whatsoever state I am therewith to be con- 
 tent. I know both how to be abased, and I 
 know how to abound. Everywhere, and by all 
 things, I am instructed ; both to be full and to 
 be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 
 I can do all things through Christ who strength- 
 en eth me." 
 
 He then said: "This scripture did once save 
 my life when my eldest son died, which went 
 
264 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 as a dagger to my heart ; indeed it did." He 
 added: "It is trae, Paul, you have learned 
 this, and attained to this measure of grace ; bnt 
 what shall / do ? Ah, poor creature, it is a 
 hard lesson for me to take out ! I find it so. 
 But reading on to the thirteenth verse, where 
 Paul saith, 'I can do all things through Christ 
 which strengtheneth me; then faith began to 
 work, and his heart to find support and com- 
 fort, and he said thus to himself: He that was 
 Paul's Christ, is my Christ too ! And so drew 
 waters out of the well of salvation." * 
 
 CHAPTER LYin. 
 
 Cromwell himself falls Sick — Case alarming — Great Prayer 
 in bis behalf — Some of his last Words — Death — Extract 
 from Carlyle. 
 
 As the days passed the protector himself was 
 now sick, and grew sicker and still sicker ; and 
 as his case became alarming, prayer on every 
 side was incessantly and earnestly ofiered on 
 his behalf. " For there were many hearts,"' 
 says Carlyle, " to whom the nobleness of this i/ 
 
 * Letters, ii, pp. 403, 404. 
 
LIFE OF OLIYEE CEOMWELL. ' 265 
 
 man was known." He adds truly: "It is a 
 great scene of world-history, this in old White- 
 hall ; Oliver Cromwell drawing nigh to his end ; 
 the exit of Oliver Cromwell and of EngKsh/ 
 Puritanism; a great light^ one of our few 
 authentic solar luminaries going down amid 
 the clouds of death. Like the setting of a 
 great victorious summer sun, its course now 
 finished." 
 
 But let a few of his own words speak for him 
 amid this great and last trial. 
 
 " Lord, thou knowest, if I do desire to live 
 it is to show forth thy praise and declare thy 
 works." 
 
 "The Lord hath filled me with as much 
 assurance of his pardon and his love as my soul 
 can hold." 
 
 " I think I am the poorest wretch that lives, 
 but I love God, or rather, am beloved of 
 God." 
 
 "I am a conqueror, and more than a 
 conqueror, through Christ that strengtheneth 
 me." 
 
 A day or two before he died he was heard to 
 
 utter the following prayer, which was noted 
 
 down by his attendants : 
 
 17 
 
266 LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 
 
 " Lord, though I am a miserable and wretch- 
 ed creature, I am in covenant with thee through 
 grace, and I may, I will, come to thee for thy 
 people. Thou hast made me, though very un- 
 worthy, a mean instrument to do them some 
 good, and thee service; and many of them 
 have set too high a value upon me, though 
 others wish, and would be glad of, my death. 
 Lord, however thou do dispose of me, continue 
 and go on to do good for them. Give them 
 consistency of judgment, one heart, and mutual 
 love ; and go on to deliver them, and with the 
 work of reformation ; and make the name of 
 Christ glorious in the world. Teach those who 
 look too much on thy instruments to depend 
 more upon thyself. Pardon such as desire to 
 trample upon the dust of a poor worm, for 
 they are thy people too. And pardon the 
 folly of this short prayer, even for Jesus Christ's 
 sake. And give us a good night, if it be thy 
 pleasure. Amen ! " 
 
 On the morning of September 3, 1658, Crom- 
 well was speechless ; and ere the sun of that 
 day went down he had ceased to live. Septem- 
 ber 3, the anniversary of the great victory at 
 Dunbar, also of the great victory at Worcester 
 
LIFE OF OLIVER CEOMWELL. 267 
 
 — a day of national thanksgiving for these 
 wonderful successes in arms under the general- 
 ship of Cromwell — this was also the day of his 
 decease. 
 
 Thus the national thanksgiving was changed 
 to sadn'ess. " The sorrow of the protector's 
 ■friendS; and of the majority of the nation, can- 
 not be described." "The- consternation and 
 astonishment of all people," wrote Faucouberg 
 to Henry Cromwell, "are inexpressible; their 
 hearts seem as if sunk within them." " I am 
 not able to speak or write," said Thurloe; 
 "this stroke is so sore, so unexpected, the 
 providence of God in it so stupendous, con- 
 sidering the person that has fallen, the time 
 and season wherein God took him away, with 
 other circumstances, I can do nothing but put 
 my mouth in the dust and say. It is the Lord. 
 ... It is not to be said what affliction the 
 army and people show to his late highness ; his 
 name is already precious. ]N"ever was there 
 any man so prayed for.' 
 
 Let Carlyle add, as the conclusion of our 
 story of Cromwell : " Oliver is gone, and with 
 him England's Puritanism, laboriously built 
 together by this man, and made a thing far- 
 
268 LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELI,, 
 
 shining, miraculous to his own century, and 
 memorable to all the centuries, soon goes. 
 Puritanism, without its king, is hingless, an- 
 archic; falls into dislocation, self-collision, 
 staggers, plunges into ever-deeper anarchy; 
 king, defender of the Puritan faith, there can 
 now none be found." 
 
 THE END. 
 

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