Burnet, F. 79. mulation fo far, as to mock God and religion, by expref- 1658. fing a piety and devotion which he had not, and by making long prayers, full of feeming zeal. If it be true, that his mouth uttered what his heart never meant, no man ought to endeavour to vindicate him. But his ftrong biafs to en-Warwick's thufiafm is well known; and who can affirm, it was rather Mem. out of hypocrify than real perfuafion? We are not rafhly to alcribe to men inward motives, which no mortal can know. His diffimulation, practifed for the better management of the feveral parties, all equally his enemies, has nothing that I can fee, very blameable in it, unless it was a crime, not to leave it in the power of his enemies to deftroy him with eafe. I fhall juft mention fome of his methods to maintain himfelf in his dignity, by which it may be judged whether Cromwell's diffimulation is to be justly imputed to him as a crime. The parliament he diffolved, was compofed of independents, republicans, enthufiafts, or fifth monarchy men. If Whitelock, this parliament had continued longer, things would have been p. 560, 681. carried to the last extremity. They began to talk of pulling Burnet. p. 67. down the churches, difcharging the tithes, deftroying the clergy, and every thing that looked like the union of a national church. The prefbyterians, who knew this, were in continual apprehenfions of their executing their defigns, and confequently, the diffolution of this parliament was confidered by them, as a great happinefs. Cromwell, to gain Ibid. their confidence, pofitively promifed, he would maintain their miniftry on the foot of the present establishment, and kept his word, though he was far from being prefbyterian. By this means, the prefbyterians were attached to his intereft, by reafon of their dread to fall again under the tyranny of the independents. In the republican party were two forts of men, whom Ibid. it was very difficult to govern. The one were deifts, or men very indifférent as to religion, who acted only upon the principles of civil liberty. The others were enthusiasts, who expected every day when Chrift should appear to reign upon earth. These were the moft difficult to manage, because they would not hear reason, when it contradicted their headstrong and violent zeal. Cromwell's accepting the protectorship was confidered by them as a ftep to kingfhip, to which they were fuch enemies, that they affirmed it to be the great antichrift, that hindered Chrift's reign upon earth. Cromwell found means fo to divide thefe two parties, that all combinations betwixt them for his ruin became impoffible H 3 1658. Id. p. 68. Burnet, P. 68, Burnet's ble. To the deifts, he made himself merry with the extravagant zeal of the fanaticks; and to thefe, he talked of the others as of heathens and infidels. But as the enthusiasts were the most obftinate, he intimated to fome of them, that he would rather have taken a fhepherd's ftaff than the protectorship, had it not been to prevent every thing from running into confufion: that he would refign this dignity with more joy than he accepted it, as foon as things fhould be fettled that nothing was more contrary to his inclination and principles, than a grandeur which obliged him to affume an outward fuperiority over his fellow labourers. To convince them of what he faid, he frequently called them into his clofet, and fhutting the door, made them fit covered, familiarly talking with them as his equals. Commonly these difcourfes ended in a long prayer. It is not to be doubted, but there was in this much diffimulation. The question is, whether it was fo criminal as it is pretended? He had likewife chaplains of all forts. So, hinting fometimes to one, fometimes to another, that he was not averse to their principles; the report was fpread throughout the whole party, and made each hope for an advantageous change. He took care to have fpies amongst all the parties, and was thereby fully informed of what was contriving against his perfon or government. Among others, he gained fir Hift. p. 65. Richard Willis, chancellor Hyde's agent for conveying the 66, 67. king's orders to his friends in England. All the royalifts confided in Willis, knowing he received the king's orders, and yet he betrayed them. But to keep the correspondence. more fecret, Cromwell affured him, that the informations from him fhould only be used to difconcert the plots of his enemies, that none might ever fuffer for them; and if he imprisoned any of them, it fhould only be for a little time, and on other pretences. By that means, he defeated their defigns, as by accident, in committing them to prison for i He laid it down for a maxim, to fpare no coft or charge in order to procure intelligence. When he understood what dealers the Jews were every where in that trade, that depends upen news, the advancing money upon high or low intereft, in proportion to -the rifque they run, or the gain to be made as the times might turn, and in the buying and felling of the actions of money fo advanced, he brought a fuppofed company of them over to England, for which fome fay, he received a confideration of two hundred thousand pounds, and gave them leave to build a fynagogue. Burnet, p. 71.-Among other good regulations, he alfo appointed a council of trade, to confider how to improve, order and regulate, the trade and navigation of the commonwealth. Whitelock, p. 632. fuppofed crimes, and releafing them when their measures 1658. were broken. He sometimes intimated a willingness to treat with the king. Probably, his aim was to engage the royalifts to offer propofitions, which would have given him opportunity to amuse them and prevented any confpiracies againtt his perfon; for he was informed from feveral parts of defigns to affaffinate him. Wherefore he affected to speak publickly of Burnet, affaffinations with the utmost deteftation, and to declare, he P. 65 would never begin them, but if an attempt was made upon his life, and mifcarried, he fhould not fcruple to use the fame method, and that he did not want inftruments to execute it, nor money to reward them. This declaration kept the royalifts in awe, through a fear of their own danger, or that of the king and royal family. If this conduct of Cromwell be confidered impartially, it will, doubtless, appear, that his diffimulation and artifices for his own prefervation, were not fo criminal as they have been reprefented. What has moft offended thofe who fpeak of them with moft paffion, is, that they were proper to difconcert the projects of his enemies. The dif fimulation of queen Elizabeth, for the fame reason, has been extolled, though she used it only for her own prefervation. The third and laft charge against Cromwell, is cruelty, for having, whilft protector, put fome men to death for confpiring against his perfon and government. That is, according to this reproach, he should have patiently fuffered the plots against him, and when one failed, liberty should have been given for a second and a third, till fome one had fucceeded. This deferves no confutation. But to fhow, that Cromwell was not for an unneceffary effufion of blood, we need only recite what is owned by the earl of Clarendon in his history, who affures, that when it was pro- Clarendon, pofed in a council of officers, that there might be a gene-III. p. 509. ral maffacre of the royalifts, Cromwell would never confent to it. To finish Cromwell's character, I will add, that in the beginning of the long parliament, he was a prefbyterian. After that, he threw himself into the independent party, and was even one of their leaders, and affected to be of the number of the enthufiafts. But when he had accepted the protectorship, he was neither prefbyterian, nor independent, nor republican, nor enthusiast. As he had to manage all thefe different parties, who were equally oppofite to him, 11658. he was not to appear an enemy to any in particular, and this management furnishes convincing proofs of his great ability. It is, nevertheless, certain, that Cromwell was very much hated, while he lived, by all the parties then in England, though they could not help tearing and efteeming him. But if it be now confidered, that the prejudices against him are not fo ftrong as they were then, it will be found that the hatred of him was owing to intereft, and founded chiefly upon his ability to difconcert the measures and defigns of all the parties. This general hatred is folely referred to his principal action; that is, to the ufurpation of the government, which equally difgufted the royalifts, prefbyterians, and republicans. The royalifts thereby faw their hopes more defperate than ever of the king's reftoration. The prefbyterians could hardly expect, by their intrigues, to render themselves once more fuperior in the parliament, after the diffolution. The republicans were enraged to fee the fu preme power, which they had affumed, wrefted from them. It is therefore no wonder, that he has incurred fo much cenfure, fince all the people of England, that is thefe three parties, were equally concerned to afperfe him. It was not for the enormity of the action, but because, by his advancement, each party defpaired of acquiring the fuperiority over the reft. This is what has drawn from many writers, exId. p. 506, preffions fo injurious to his memory. The lord Clarendon fpeaks thus of him and his ufurpation. Without doubt "no man with more wickedness ever attempted any thing, ❝or brought to pafs what he defired more wickedly, more P. 509. in the face and contempt of religion, and moral honefty. "Yet wickedness, as great as his, could never have accom plifhed thofe defigns, without the affiftance of a great * fpirit, an admirable circumfpection and fagacity, and a moft magnanimous refolution." It is eafily feen, that this wickedness is referred only to his ufurpation of the govern ment. In a word, (continues the fame author) as he was guilty of many crimes, against which damnation is denounced, and for which hell-fire is prepared, fo he had fome good qualities which have caufed the memory of fome men in all ages to be celebrated, and he will be "looked upon by pofterity as a brave wicked man." Here the author, no doubt, has an eye to the murder of Charles I. in which Cromwell was too deeply concerned for me to pretend to excufe hin. I fhall only obferve, that this ac cufation cufation is not peculiar to him, but is common to him with 1658. the whole independent parliament. To form a juft and rational idea of Cromwell's character, his conduct and actions in themselves must be examined, and joined to the juncture of the time, independently of the opinions of his enemies. We have no other hiftorians of thofe times than the royalifts, who have laid down certain principles, by which he is condemned. But, it must be obferved, these principles were not generally received, in England, during his life. What can never be entirely excufed in him, is the death of Charles I. to which he contributed to the utmost of his power, and which will be an indelible blot upon his memory. Another principle, and Burnet, of which he made great use, is likewise to be condemned P. 79. in him: which was, that moral laws were only binding on ordinary occafions, but might be difpenfed with upon extraordinary cafes; which is abfolutely falfe. His ufurpation of the government has been already confidered, and the reader is left to his judgment. I fhall only obferve, that the confufion which prevailed in England, foon after the death of Cromwell, clearly fhows the neceffity of that ufurpation. In general it can't be denied, that Cromwell was one of the greatest men of his age, if it is confidered, that without the advantages of birth or fortune, he rose fo near a throne, that it was in his power to mount it. History furnishes very few inftances of this kind *. Cromwell's death was followed with fo many alterations in the government, that the interval between that and the restoration, may be juftly called a time of true anarchy. Cromwell should have had a fucceffor like himself, to finish what he had fo ably begun. But two fo great men are not commonly found so near one another, nor often in the fame age. k The wife of Oliver Cromwell, was Elizabeth daughter of fir James Bourchier. Life. p. 2. His mother, who was daughter of fir Richard Steward, muft have lived to a very THE |