45 CHAPTER IV. SITUATION OF CROMWEL WITH REGARD TO FO- DEN. IV. WHEN Cromwel took upon him the chief ma- CHAP. gistracy of England, he gained as to all other countries, however he might appear in some respects to lose with regard to his own. The Cromwel's transactions of cabinets and states with each other are most expeditiously carried on where there is a single head. Inter-national questions are adjusted with greater facility; and different powers seem more clearly to understand each other's views and intentions. Cromwel had been ever since June 1650, commander in chief of the armies of England; and therefore persons in foreign countries unavoidably looked upon him as in a degree the head of the state. His abilities were well known; his military successes had been uninterrupted. Though he was not born to a crown, he was in an uncommon degree worthy of one, and well qualified to discharge all the functions of a 1653. acceptance with fo reign states. IV. BOOK Sovereign. The princes of the continent therefore were best pleased to see him seize the unoccupied sceptre, and seat himself on the same level as themselves. 1653. Considerations on the Dutch war. Meanwhile Cromwel saw the number of his adversaries increasing on every side at home. The episcopalian royalists and the presbyterians formed a very large part of the nation: and now, in addition to these, he had offended the soberest of the republicans by the dispersion of the Long Parliament, and another body of men by no means to be despised, the anabaptists, by assuming the character and the name of the chief civil magistrate. He held it therefore necessary, as soon as possible, to free himself from the pressure of foreign enemies. He had fully concurred with the religious sectaries last named, in the project of reducing Great Britain and the United Provinces into a great federal republic, with one legislative assembly deciding upon the paramount interests of both. This sort of comprehensive procedure was peculiarly congenial to the minds of Cromwel and Ireton, as well as to those of the men who had principally directed the proceedings of the commonwealth-parliament. He had personally entered into a long expostulation on the subject with the Dutch deputies on the second of August lasta. * Le Clerc, Histoire des Provinces Unies, Tom. II, p. 340. CHAP. IV. 1654. Treaty of peace, arti on. Now however he felt it so deeply his interest to conclude a peace with Holland, that he was willing to waive this question, which would necessarily be a topic of long discussion, if not of insuperable difficulty. The Dutch were not less cles agreed anxious than he to put an end to the destructive maritime war, in which they had now been engaged for nearly two years; and it was accordingly understood that the peace was substantially concluded early in January. They were contented to cede the question of the flag, to exclude from their territories the enemies of the English government, to stipulate for a treaty of mutual defence, to punish the survivors, if any, of the aggressions at Amboyna, and to yield such a compensation as should appear to be just for the losses sustained by the English East India company. Some difficulties however remained to be adjusted. A difference arose respecting the manner in which Denmark was to be included in the treaty; and the Dutch ambassadors withdrew, that they might obtain new instructions on the point. But Cromwel sent after them, and gave up his objection. This occurred in the month of January b. The whole progress of this negociation is calculated to illustrate the energy of the mind of Cromwel, and the awe with which foreign powers Thurloe, Vol. II, p. 29. Lettres de Jean de Wit. Ascendcof Cromwel in the nego in the IV. 1654. treaty. BOOK regarded him. He abandoned the question of a national union between England and the United Provinces; but the treaty abounds in a very sinStyle of the gular degree with the expressions of a perfect alliance. It stipulates, that there shall be "a true, firm and inviolable peace, and a sincere, close and intimate friendship, affinity, confederacy and union" between the two republics, that the friends of the one shall be regarded as the friends of the other, and that they shall espouse each other's quarrels c. Settlement glish claims mark. The treaty was negociated at Westminster. of the En- That perhaps is not material: treaties of peace upon Den- or alliance must in most cases be agreed on within the territories of one of the coalescing parties. But the Dutch consent to an arbitration of two English and two Dutch referees on the injuries which England had sustained from the proceedings of Denmark; and they engage in a bond with sufficient sureties, of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, to make good such damages as the referees should agree on. The referees were to sit at Goldsmiths' Hall in London, to commence their deliberations on the twentyseventh of June, and, if their investigations were • Dumont, Corps Diplomatique Universel, Tom. VI, Partie II, Traité xvii. Collection of Treaties, 1732, Vol. III, p. 67, et seqq. See above, Vol. III, p. 393. IV. 1654. of the Dutch ag gressions in not closed by the first of August, to be shut up CHAP. at that time without fire, candle, meat or drink, till they came to a conclusion. In like manner four commissioners from each side were to meet at London on the eighteenth of May, to examine the East the mutual complaints of the English and Dutch Indies, for aggressions in the East Indies, ever since the year 1611. They were allowed three months for this business; and, if it were not then concluded, it was to be referred to the arbitration of the Protestant Swiss cantons. Judgment was given on the Danish question on the thirty-first of July; and the award was for the sum of ninetyeight thousand pounds. The question of the English and Dutch in the East Indies was finished on the thirtieth of August; and the decree was, that the Dutch should restore to the English the isle of Poleron, and pay a sum of eighty-five thousand pounds to the English East India company, beside a further sum of three thousand six hundred pounds to certain individuals who had been aggrieved'. There was another article in the treaty that was more obstinately debated. Cromwel insisted, that the Dutch should expressly engage that nei * Dumont, ubi supra, Traité xxiv. Collection of Treaties, p. 112, et seqq. 'Dumont, ubi supra, Traité xxv. Collection of Treaties, p. 119, et seqq. Article prince of against the range in sisted on, |