HENRY CROMWELL, 1655-1659
[Sidenote: Appearance of Henry Cromwell.]
Though the Protector had not adopted his son's advice by at once
recalling Fleetwood, it soon became evident that he wished for a
stronger man. Before the end of 1654 the Lord Deputy gently complained
that he was kept in the dark about matters of policy, and doubted
whether this was for his Highness's service. A few days later Henry
Cromwell was appointed to the Council in Ireland, having already for
some months held a commission as Major-General of the forces there; but
he did not come over until July 1655. Fleetwood returned to England
some weeks later, but retained the office of Deputy, and continued to
give advice, while Henry became virtual head of the Irish Government.
Fleetwood had come very much under the influence of the Anabaptist
officers, and his supersession marks the decline of their reputation
with the now all-powerful Protector.[279]
[Sidenote: Fleetwood leaves Ireland, Sept. 1655.]
[Sidenote: Action of Ludlow.]
[Sidenote: Cromwell and Ludlow.]
When Fleetwood left Ireland, Henry Cromwell became President of the
Council. The other members were William Steele, Recorder of London, who
did not come over till the next year, Richard Pepys, who became Chief
Justice, Corbet, Goodwin, and Tomlinson. Hammond had died in 1654, and,
five being a quorum, it was necessary that all should be present. To
avoid this William Bury, of Grantham, was added in August 1656. The
Anabaptist party were very sorry to lose Fleetwood, and rejoiced in a
rumour of his probable return, but many superior officers, including
Sir Theophilus Jones, Sir Hardress Waller, and Commissary-General
Reynolds, circulated a petition to the Protector, suggesting that his
son should be Lord Lieutenant. Ludlow had given all the trouble he
could, refusing to surrender his commission to any but the Parliament
who gave it, and circulating pamphlets against the Protectorate, much
to the disgust of Fleetwood. He, however, allowed his commission to
be taken from him in an informal way, giving his parole to do nothing
against the Government until he came into the Protector's presence.
He then proposed to go to England on urgent private affairs, and
gave a second engagement to remain quiet until he had surrendered
to the Protector or the Lord Deputy. On this undertaking Fleetwood
gave him leave to go, and it was one of his last acts in Ireland.
When the Deputy was gone Henry Cromwell opposed Ludlow's departure,
while declining to restrain him forcibly; but he took steps to have
him intercepted at Beaumaris until the Protector's wishes were known,
and he was under arrest there for six weeks. Cromwell saw him after
his arrival in London, and there was much not altogether unfriendly
argument, but Ludlow stoutly refused to acknowledge the Government or
to give any security. As a matter of fact he remained quiet while the
protectorate lasted, and he was not molested.[280]
[Sidenote: Irish girls for Jamaica.]
[Sidenote: They are not sent.]
The infant settlement in Jamaica suffered much from a scarcity of
women, and the English Government suggested that Irish girls might
be sent out. 'Concerning the young women,' wrote Henry Cromwell in
reply, 'though we must use force in taking them up, yet it being so
much for their own good, and likely to be of so great advantage to the
public, it is not in the least doubted that you may have such numbers
of them as you think fit.' The Committee of Council in England voted
that a thousand girls and as many boys should be sent, but there is no
evidence that anything was actually done, and the probabilities are
the other way. The difficulties in Jamaica were great, and perhaps
Cromwell thought that the time for importing settlers had not yet
come.[281]
[Sidenote: Deportation to the West Indies.]
[Sidenote: Deportation not confined to the Irish.]
[Sidenote: Condition of the Irish at Barbadoes.]
Considerable numbers were, however, sent from Ireland to the West
Indies. They were not slaves, but were forced to work for wages, and
could not leave the islands, to which they were sent in the character
of masterless men, vagrants, rogues, and vagabonds. This system
began in 1653, and continued until the Restoration or later. It was
not confined to Ireland, many seditious persons in England having
been treated in the same way. James II. continued the practice after
Sedgemoor. For white men the climate alone was a terrible punishment. A
large number of prisoners were thus treated after Penruddock's rising.
After Dunbar and Worcester English and Scotch captives were sent to New
England, and others were ordered to Bermuda. At the beginning of 1655
the governor of Waterford was ordered to ship Morrice Cleere 'by the
first vessel bound for the Barbadoes, there to work for his living.'
About the same time it was ordered that 'when a peaceable person was
murdered' by any Tory or 'other Irish in rebellion,' three or four of
the chief Irish neighbours were to be shipped to Barbadoes, 'and other
American plantations,' unless they could show that they had done their
best to apprehend the guilty parties. An Irish priest who visited the
West Indies in 1669 enlarges on the state of the Irish sent by Cromwell
'and other fierce enemies of the Catholic Church and faith.' They had
been forced to work in the fields and 'treated cruelly and miserably in
temporal, and much more in spiritual things,' being entirely precluded
from Catholic worship, and from the ministration of their priests.
There were 8000 in Barbadoes, and about 4000 in other settlements. In
the French island of Guadeloupe there were 800, who were even worse
off than in the English possessions, for they lived in the worst parts
of it, and 'though the island was Catholic they had little advantage
by that, on account of the distance, difficult access, and scarcity of
priests.'[282]
[Sidenote: Henry Cromwell and Dublin University.]
[Sidenote: The Anabaptists.]
[Sidenote: Henry Cromwell's moderation.]
Oliver Cromwell became Chancellor of Oxford, and it was natural that
the University of Dublin should confer a like honour upon his son,
Ormonde being outlawed by the Act of 1652. Almost immediately after
his landing Henry was received in state and entertained at dinner by
the vice-chancellor, provost, and others, 'who, with many doctors,
were all robed in scarlet.' The vice-chancellor was Dr. Henry Jones,
who kept his bishopric of Clogher in the background, his services as
scoutmaster-general of the Parliamentary army having secured him in his
place. The provost was Dr. Samuel Winter, who ranked as an Independent,
but was inclined to maintain friendly relations with Episcopalians and
Presbyterians. Very probably his influence was great in determining
Henry Cromwell's tolerant policy towards Protestants of all sorts; but
this did not secure general good-will, for the Anabaptists were 'much
offended with him for coming every Lord's Day to parochial and public
congregations and with his chaplains for preaching against dipping.'
Winter himself preached and wrote in favour of infant baptism, and for
adhering to him 'a godly man' was solemnly excommunicated by the Dublin
Anabaptists, and had no alternative but to join the Independents. Henry
Cromwell's letters are full of complaints about the Anabaptists, and
their opposition in the Government and army was formidable, for they
could count twelve governors of cities or towns, twenty-four field
officers, many captains, two salaried preachers, and twenty-three
officials in civil pay. A clergyman at Galway complained of oppression
by Colonel Sadler, the governor of Galway, his offence being that
he had baptised children, and prevented 'dipping' in his church. He
recalled the tyranny of John of Leyden and Knipperdoling, and lamented
that so notable a town should be abandoned to a 'few mechanic barbers
and tailors.' Fleetwood had encouraged the sectaries more from weakness
than from actual sympathy. Military adventurers, who had enjoyed
despotic power during the war, were disgusted at having to share it
with moderate men, and especially at the re-establishment of regular
courts of law. Henry Cromwell was all for promoting 'the ancient
Protestant inhabitants,' who had been dispersed and were now trying to
return to their old occupations. Vincent Gookin and his friend Petty
were thoroughly in favour of this moderate policy. Of the discontented
people not one in a hundred had any property before the war, the rest
having gained possession of what they could in payment for service or
by buying out Adventurers and soldiers. 'And the confiscation of land
in Ireland,' adds Gookin prophetically, 'is so general, the settlers
and sellers so many, the buyers and takers so few, except them, that
it is certain within a year or two, all these men will have too great
interests in forfeited lands to give them up to Charles Stuart, or any
from him.'[283]
[Sidenote: Reduction of the army, Sept. 1655.]
[Sidenote: A mutiny quelled.]
The reduction of the army in Ireland was a gradual and difficult
operation. In 1652 its total strength was about 34,000 men, which were
reduced to about 24,000 in the following year. In 1655, about 5000
more were disbanded without any disorder, and Fleetwood estimated
that this would reduce the monthly cost to 28,000_l._, a saving of
some 17,000_l._ As much haste as possible was made to provide the
disbanded men with land, but they showed no disposition to settle upon
it. Cavalier plots and military discontents induced the Protector to
seek reinforcements in Ireland, and both Fleetwood and Henry Cromwell
feared lest their garrisons might be unduly weakened, for disturbances
in Great Britain always had their echo beyond the channel. In January
1655, 2300 men were sent to Liverpool, but they embarked very
unwillingly, saying that they had been engaged to fight Irish rebels,
whereas in England they might be employed against their best friends.
One company was cashiered by a court-martial, and one man was hanged at
the masthead. Later on troops were sent from Ireland to Jamaica.[284]
[Sidenote: Oliver Cromwell and his son.]
[Sidenote: Anabaptists and Quakers in the army.]
It may be doubted whether Oliver Cromwell really had any dream of
founding a dynasty. We have his own statement that he wished his sons
to live privately in the country, and that he was only induced to
promote Henry by the earnest persuasion of others. Having placed him
in authority in Ireland he supported him steadily, but in a tentative
way and without doing anything to estrange others. He was civil to
Hewson and others who were inclined to give trouble, and refused to
believe that Fleetwood was in any way disloyal. 'Take care,' he wrote
to his son, 'of making it a business to be too hard for the men who
contest with you. Being over-concerned may train you into a snare.
I have to do with these men, and am not without my exercise. I know
they are weak because they are so peremptory in judging others.' The
Anabaptists were chiefly in his mind, but Henry had troubles with
the Quakers also, and here, too, the Protector might sympathise. The
danger always was that the army would become ill-affected. One of the
most troublesome officers was Hewson, who took the lead in petitioning
the Protector to send back 'our present precious Lord Deputy,' whose
appointment had been 'a refreshment to all the godly in this nation.'
Oliver answered civilly, but without granting the request, cautioning
his son against believing anything discreditable to Fleetwood. Henry
Cromwell also objected to having John Jones sent back to Ireland as
likely to be 'dangerous and prejudicial to the public,' by nourishing
factions, but drew back rather penitently when he found that Jones
was to become his uncle by marrying the Protector's sister. Hewson
was not really dangerous: he made terms for himself, was knighted by
Oliver, and accepted a seat in his House of Lords. But Axtell, Vernon,
Barrow, and Allen laid down their commissions because the Anabaptists
ceased to be the ruling sect, Thurloe attributing their action merely
to disappointed greed or ambition. The army, nevertheless, remained
faithful, and Henry Cromwell did his best to get the soldiers regularly
paid.[285]
[Sidenote: Oliver's second Parliament.]
[Sidenote: Irish members.]
[Sidenote: Intolerance of this Parliament.]
[Sidenote: Oath of abjuration.]
In the summer of 1656 Henry Cromwell had become so weary of calumny
and so disheartened for want of effectual support that he wished
to retire; but Thurloe assured him that the tale-bearers were not
believed in England, and that he might go on with his work. It was
at this time that the Protector resolved to try a second Parliament,
and writs for the Irish elections were sent over. The major-generals
and the decimation tax were very unpopular in England, but in Ireland
the army was so completely master that there was not much difficulty
about getting thirty suitable members. Broghill, who as President of
the Council in Scotland managed the elections there, was returned in
his absence for the county of Cork, Sir Charles Coote for Galway and
Mayo, and Vincent Gookin for Cork and Kinsale. Broghill voted for the
title of king, but Henry Cromwell was against it, thinking little
of the constitutional argument which had such weight with men like
Whitelock, and esteeming it 'a gaudy feather in the hat of authority.'
The Protector refused the crown, and it would have been well for his
fame if he had also insisted on altering the eleventh article of the
Petition and Advice which secured religious liberty, provided 'it
should not be extended to Popery or Prelacy.' This having been admitted
as a principle of government, the logical consequence was to pass an
Act which obliged all suspected persons over sixteen to take an oath
abjuring the distinctive doctrines of the Roman communion, on pain of
having two-thirds of their property--real and personal--sequestered.
Those who afterwards became Protestants might be restored upon taking
the oath, but not unless they have given frequent attendance for
the previous six months at some authorised place of worship, being
subject to renewed sequestration if they relapsed. The same penalties
applied to any Protestant who married a Popish Recusant. 'The oath of
abjuration,' Henry Cromwell wrote, 'begets much disturbance here; for
the Irish, upon apprehension thereof, sell off their cattle to buy
horses, to put themselves into a shifting condition either for force or
flight.... I wish his Highness were made sensible hereof in time.' Dr.
Jones said the same thing, adding that the oath 'was the great engine
by which the Popish clergy stir up the people, and whereby they move
foreign states to their assistance.' Cromwell allowed this oppressive
law to pass, though it was a retrograde measure, and one which he
cannot really have approved. The unfortunate people affected by it in
Ireland were in no condition to give serious trouble, but it must have
led to the multiplication of Tories.[286]
[Sidenote: Royalist plots.]
[Sidenote: Weakness of Spain.]
[Sidenote: Loss of a transport.]
[Sidenote: Dishonest contractors.]
The Cavaliers abroad were constantly plotting against the English
Government and the Protector's life, but these intrigues had scarcely
any direct effect on Ireland. Richard and Peter Talbot were among the
most active conspirators, and the landing of Irish troops was always
regarded as part of the scheme. The exiles were discussing Sexby's
plans at the beginning of 1656, and the Protector, who was always
well informed, thought it possible that some attempt might be made
in Ireland. He directed his son, and the order was promptly obeyed,
to reduce garrisons as much as possible, and to keep a field army in
two or three divisions ready for any alarm. John Davies, who had been
elected for Carrickfergus and Belfast, was known to be an underhand
Royalist worker, and he was not allowed to go to England. It was
in the north that trouble was expected, but nothing happened. Five
thousand foot and nearly half as many horse were held in readiness,
and Henry Cromwell was after this averse to a reduction of the army,
at least until an efficient Protestant militia could be provided.
Helpless and decadent Spain was the enemy whose still remaining force
was overrated by Cromwell. Nevertheless, he failed in Hispaniola, and
dared not attempt Gibraltar, so that his naval strength was mainly
useful to hold Jamaica by occupying the Spaniards near home. The end
of 1656 was marked by Stayner's capture of the galleons, but also by
a disaster on the Irish coast. A fleet carrying reinforcements for
Jamaica was dispersed by a gale, and one ship, the _Two Brothers_,
having sprung a leak, drifted towards a lee shore to the westward
of the Old Head of Kinsale. Four men were detached on a raft 'with
a letter in a pitch box,' and they reached land too much bruised to
move further. The letter was taken to the governor of Kinsale, but the
ship's cable parted in the meantime and she was driven upon a rock.
There were saved only about forty soldiers out of some 250, and sixteen
seamen out of twenty-nine. The Rev. Edward Worth, whose parsonage was
at Ringrone, not far off, thanked God that the wreck was in the barony
of Courcies, 'for the greater part inhabited by English and such Irish
as were never in rebellion; divers of the English and many more of the
Irish attended all that evening on the coast, not to get the plunder,
but to preserve the men whom it should please God to bring to shore.'
It was ebb tide, and as each poor wretch was thrown up by the sea, the
hardy natives ran down and helped him to escape before the next wave.
Worth and his neighbours provided shelter, and the people of Kinsale
vied with each other in providing for the castaways; for the natural
sentiments of humanity had survived the war, and were extended to
the soldiers of the Commonwealth. Another transport, the _Sapphire_,
from Carrickfergus, was driven into Cork harbour in an almost sinking
state, and 260 soldiers, forming her cargo, were quartered in the Great
Island, where they could be prevented from deserting. Both these ships
were the property of contractors, and supposed to be in good trim. When
the paint was off they proved to be 'very unsound and rotten, and I
think,' says Henry Cromwell, 'that those who were employed to contract
for those ships are deeply guilty of the loss of those poor men.'[287]
[Sidenote: Henry Cromwell Lord Deputy, Nov. 17, 1657.]
[Sidenote: Financial difficulties.]
After some hesitation and confusion, Henry Cromwell was appointed
Deputy in November 1657, with a new council of five, of whom Chancellor
Steele was the chief. Sindercome had already put an end to himself,
and Sexby was safe in the Tower, where he died mad a few weeks later.
Royalist plots with Spanish support had ceased to be formidable, and
some reduction of the army in Ireland was possible, if only money could
be had to pay off the soldiers, who were eight months in arrear before
the end of 1657. The Deputy maintained that nothing like an equilibrium
could be established unless 180,000_l._ were transmitted from England.
The regular revenue of Ireland was only about 72,000_l._, which was
absorbed by the ordinary charges of government, and the extraordinary
taxation for the army weighed upon the country. Broghill reported that
some who had been returned to Parliament could not possibly attend the
second session, being impoverished by the expenses of the first, and by
heavy taxes. The usual remittances from England were slow in coming,
and there was also 'extreme trouble and confusion about Spanish and bad
coins which made the soldiers apt to grow licentious in abusing the
country when they levied their contribution.' They naturally decided
questions of exchange in their own favour, 'partly of necessity, and
partly presuming 'twill seem unreasonable to punish severely, and pay
negligently.' Twenty thousand pounds were assessed upon Ireland for war
purposes during the three months ending June 24, 1657, and 9000_l._
a month for the three years then beginning. The monthly contribution
from England and Wales was 35,000_l._, and 6000_l._ from Scotland,
and many thought Ireland disproportionately burdened. Indeed, Henry
Cromwell says in one letter that she paid six times, and in another ten
times too much. The difficulty about money continued to the end of the
Protectorate, for Oliver had not time to summon a third Parliament,
and Richard's was short-lived. Without parliamentary authority it was
impossible to make the State self-supporting on either side of St.
George's Channel.[288]
[Sidenote: The army supports the Protector.]
[Sidenote: An Anabaptist on the constitution.]
It was almost customary for a viceroy to be on ill terms with a Lord
Chancellor, and Henry Cromwell thought that Steele was plotting to
make a separate interest among the Independents. Henry was by many
years the younger man, and he allowed his senior to lecture him,
'supposing that if I got nothing else I should get his measure.' But
Thurloe did not believe his suspicions well founded, and Steele, who
had only accidentally missed being a regicide, had really no course
open to him but to support the Protector. After Oliver dissolved his
second Parliament, calling upon God to judge between him and them,
most of the officers in England and Scotland agreed to an address of
confidence in him. The same course was taken in Ireland, but Major Low,
an Anabaptist, refused to express a wish that 'government should be
settled on such a basis as should be most suitable to the constitution
of these nations,' saying that it implied a return to kingship. Sankey
and others of the same sect said that if kingship were really the most
suitable they would desire it: the Deputy must have seen the writing
on the wall. Ormonde's courageous visit to London, in January, and the
abortive gathering at Ostend caused some momentary alarm, but there
was no disturbance, and a little later the capture of Dunkirk raised
Cromwell to his highest pinnacle of fame. The army remained faithful,
and as long as life lasted it was evident to all that his power would
last also.[289]
[Sidenote: Death of Cromwell, Sept. 3, 1658.]
[Sidenote: Henry Cromwell, Lord Lieutenant.]
Oliver Cromwell died, and Richard succeeded as quietly as if he had
been the legitimate king. The news reached Dublin on October 10, and on
the same day the new Protector was proclaimed. Having been signed by
the Lord Deputy and such Privy Councillors, judges, and chief officers
as were on the spot, the proclamation was printed and dispersed over
the country next day. There was no opposition, Broghill among others
announcing his adhesion. A despatch was sent to Monck promising him the
unanimous support of the Irish army in any difficulty. The machinery of
government went on as usual, but on October 6 Richard made his brother
Lord Lieutenant, and Petty carried the commission over to Ireland. Lord
Harry, as he was called, was not anxious for the higher title; but
having been appointed he kept the same state as Strafford had done,
which caused some amusement. An address from the army in Ireland to the
new Protector was agreed to, the officers being quite or very nearly
unanimous. But Henry was almost afraid to write, knowing that his
letter would be opened, and Fauconberg kept him informed of the plots
against his brother. He dared not leave his post, though much in want
of a holiday. 'I am afraid,' he wrote to Richard as early as October
20, 'to come to your Highness lest I should be kept there, and so your
Highness lose this army, which, for ought I know, is the only stay you
have ... the flood is so strong, you can neither stem it nor come to an
anchor, but must be content to go adrift and expect the ebb.'[290]
[Sidenote: The Lord Lieutenant's difficulties.]
[Sidenote: Elections for Richard's Parliament.]
Henry Cromwell was ill and despondent during the months following
his father's death. He knew in his heart that the system could not
long outlive the man, and Thurloe, whose judgment was not warped by
fanaticism, could give him little comfort. 'The funeral,' he wrote,
'of his late Highness was solemnised this day with very great honour;
but alas! it was his funeral.' When the Lord Lieutenant's commission
came over it was found to contain no clause authorising him to leave
Ireland or to appoint a Deputy, and as if he felt Restoration in
the air he looked to Charles I. for a precedent, and sent over his
letter to Strafford as a model. He had, he wrote, been sentenced by
his enemies to an honourable banishment. Thurloe professed that the
omission was a mere oversight, but Fauconberg said bluntly that his
brother-in-law's presence in London was desired by no one. 'They that
hate you fear you too, and, therefore, oppose it, they that love you
have apprehensions neither Ireland nor Henry Cromwell are secure if
separated.' And Richard was of the same opinion. Moreover, he could
hardly be spared until the elections were over, and writs for the new
Parliament arrived about the middle of December. It had been decided
that thirty members should be sent from Ireland and the same from
Scotland by constituencies grouped upon Oliver's plan. The English
members were to be returned by the old counties and boroughs, giving
up the late Protector's attempt at parliamentary reform, but the
Upper House was left as he had devised it, and separate writs for it
were sent to the Lord Lieutenant, to Lord Chancellor Steele, and to
Lord Broghill. Petty was returned for West Loo, Coote for Galway and
Mayo, and Vincent Gookin for Bandon and Kinsale. Broghill thought a
Parliament necessary, but was not sanguine, and foresaw opposition from
the army.[291]
[Sidenote: Parliament of 1659.]
[Sidenote: Opinions of Irish members.]
The notice for the elections was so short that many or most of the
Irish members could not reach London in time for the opening of
Parliament; but this made little difference, for the House of Commons
was occupied at first in the discussion of the Protector's title,
the constitution of the 'other House,' and the status of the Scotch
members. Parliament met on January 27, and it was not till March 23
that it was debated whether the members for Ireland should continue
to serve. In the meantime they were allowed to speak and, apparently,
to vote. Major Ashton, who represented Meath and Louth, preferred a
separate legislature, partly on the ground that Ireland should have
no share in governing England. Arthur Annesley, who sat for the city
of Dublin, was of the same opinion--mainly, because Ireland would be
overtaxed by an assembly where she was always in a minority. At the
moment, he said, Ireland very unfairly paid 9000_l._ a month while
Scotland paid only 6000_l._, and his prayer was 'that they might
have some to hear their grievances in their own nation, seeing they
cannot have them heard here.' Sir Thomas Stanley, member for Tipperary
and Waterford, said he spoke not for Ireland, but for the English
in Ireland. 'Language, habit, laws, interest being in every respect
the same in kind,' he was in favour of the Union, for free-born
Englishmen beyond the channel had a natural right to representation
in the sovereign Parliament. A hundred and fifty-six voted for the
retention of the Irish members, and a hundred and six against, Thurloe
being one of the tellers for the majority. After this the Parliament
had but one short month of life, during which Irish affairs seem to
have been but little discussed, except in the matter of Petty and his
proceedings.[292]
[Sidenote: Petty and Sankey.]
Petty's great enemy was Sir Hierome Sankey, who had had a varied
career. At Cambridge, where he was a candidate for Holy Orders, he
was more noted for proficiency in athletic games than for study, and
soon rose in the army when he took the Parliamentary side at the
beginning of the Civil War. He became in turns a Presbyterian, an
Independent, and at last an Anabaptist. He migrated to Oxford, where he
became Fellow of All Souls, and was one of the proctors when Fairfax
and Cromwell were made Doctors of Civil Law in 1649. He sat in the
Parliament of 1654 for Tipperary and Waterford, and in that of 1656 for
Marlborough. Henry Cromwell knighted him, and in Richard's Parliament
he represented Woodstock. On March 24 he charged Petty with various
kinds of corruption, but without giving particulars, and in the accused
man's absence. Maynard, who was himself an Adventurer in Ireland and
who touched on his own experience in the Strafford trial, fixed upon
this want of particulars, and he was not without support. The most
that Sankey could do was to sign six articles, all of the most general
character; and these were sent to Petty in Ireland, with orders to
attend in his place that day month. The summons did not reach him until
April 3, so that he had only seventeen days to make his preparations
and travel from Dublin to London. He had some reason to complain of the
short time allowed him.[293]
[Sidenote: Petty's defence.]
[Sidenote: His revenge.]
On April 21 Petty attended as directed, and spoke at length in answer
to the articles. His speech was dignified and moderate, and made a
very good impression on the House. The first charge was that he had
received great bribes. To this he answered that as clerk of the Council
he had never taken anything but the bare salary, and that as secretary
to Henry Cromwell he had been a pecuniary loser, not exacting even the
customary fees, 'merely upon the account of preserving his Excellency's
honour clear, and myself clear from the least appearance of this evil.'
The burden of proof evidently lay upon the accuser. The second charge
was that he had been a wholesale purchaser of debentures, contrary to
the Act of Satisfaction, forcing people to sell as a condition for
having their lands set out to them. To this Petty replied that he
had many colleagues and was well watched, so that he could not use
coercion if he had wished; that the debentures bought by him were under
7000_l._ in value, and that he had got them from brokers, who profited
by the transaction. The third article charged him with the fraudulent
acquisition of much money and land, to which he answered that the
only public payment to him was by contract; that the 17,000_l._ which
the survey cost was well and hardly earned; and that the soldiers had
paid half of it themselves. As to land, he had no more than a fair
consideration for what was owed him. The fourth charge was a general
one of foul and unwarrantable practices, on which he was content to
challenge the production of a single instance. The fifth and sixth
articles accused Petty and his colleagues of malversation generally,
and was scarcely worth answering, since they did not fall particularly
on him. He abstained from recrimination in debate, but took ample
revenge by publishing a report of Sankey's reply, which begins thus:
'Mr. Speaker, you have heard here a long, starched, studied speech;
I say a starched, studied piece. Mr. Speaker, there has been a great
deal of rhetoric; I say a great deal of rhetoric. But I will prove
my charge; I will make it good, Mr. Speaker, from the front to the
rear--front, flank, and rear; Mr. Speaker, that I will,' and so forth.
No real evidence of any kind was adduced, or even mentioned, and the
business was referred to the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland.
Richard's Parliament was dissolved the next day, and we are justified
in believing his brother's oft-repeated assertion that Dr. Petty was a
very honest man.[294]
[Sidenote: Dissolution of Parliament, April 22.]
[Sidenote: The Rump restored.]
[Sidenote: Henry Cromwell recalled.]
Richard Cromwell probably knew quite well that the dissolution of
Parliament was virtually an abdication, and he resisted to the utmost.
But the officers were determined to depose him, and he had no hold upon
soldiers whom he had never led to victory. His brother in Ireland could
only wait upon events, rejoicing 'that our dear father went off in that
glory which was due to his actings.' He sent over Bury, Lawrence, and
Dr. Henry Jones to confer with Fleetwood as to what was to be done. The
Rump was restored in less than three weeks, but so attenuated was that
once formidable assembly that a quorum of forty was with difficulty
got together. Ninety-one members in all were admitted to sit, several
of whom had been elected in an unconstitutional manner, and the number
meeting at any one time never reached sixty. Lenthall, notwithstanding
his new-fangled peerage, was induced to take the chair. Immediately
after the late dissolution Coote had hurried to Ireland with the
news, and Broghill went over about the same time. On June 7 the House
resolved that Henry Cromwell, whose opposition they feared, should come
over to give an account of the state of Ireland, and that on the same
day the government should be handed over to five commissioners. Steele,
Jones, and Goodwin were named at once, Corbet and Tomlinson being added
two days later. Ludlow's name was rejected by twenty-six votes against
twenty-two, but a month later he was appointed to command the army, and
he reached Dublin about the end of July.[295]
[Sidenote: The Royalists endeavour to gain Henry.]
[Sidenote: He prefers private life.]
The rumour of his recall reached Henry Cromwell before he had any
official notice, and he decided to resign without waiting for it.
Great offers had been made to him on the part of the exiled King,
and he seems to have wavered for a moment, though finally he thanked
God for having been enabled to resist temptation. The Royalists had
relied on Fauconberg's powers of persuasion, and Charles expected
Broghill's help, though he prudently avoided making any direct advance
to that astute politician. In his letter of resignation to the Speaker
he complained that he had had 'the unhappiness of late to receive
intelligence only from common fame and very private hands, and to be
forced rather to guess what to do upon all emergencies than to be
intrusted with the clear commands of superiors.' He had secured the
fidelity of the army to the English Government so that that 'dangerous,
numerous, and exasperated people, the Irish natives and Papists,' might
be no cause for anxiety. He warned the Parliament that as they had
been turned out of doors in 1653, so they might well be again and by
the same people. He was himself a lover of peace and of orderly civil
government, but 'I cannot,' he said, 'promote anything which infers
the diminution of my late father's honour and merit.' The Royalists,
having failed to gain him over, were afraid of his heading a separate
interest; and Clarendon, who had been concerned in the abortive
negotiations, says that 'by the jolliness of his humour and a general
civility towards all, he had rendered himself gracious and popular
to all sorts of people.' He left Ireland soon after his resignation,
told his story to the Council of State on July 6, and retired to
Cambridgeshire.[296]
[Sidenote: Public character of Henry Cromwell.]
It is probable that materials do not exist for a full account of Henry
Cromwell. His public career ended at the age of thirty-one, and he
had no opportunity of showing much originality. The confiscation of
Irish land to pay the expenses of conquering the country was decided
upon when he was quite a boy, and he had no voice in the subsequent
legislation. So far as Protestants were concerned, he leaned towards
comprehension, and allowed no sect or party to dominate over the rest.
As to the Roman Catholics, there was little scope for any movement in
the direction of toleration, but he disliked the oath of abjuration. 'I
wish,' he said, 'this extreme course had not been so suddenly taken,
coming like a thunder-clap upon them. I wish the oath for the present
had provided (though in severest manner) for their renouncing all
foreign jurisdiction; and as for other doctrinal matters, that some
means had been first used to have informed their judgments with such
ordinary smaller penalties as former experience has found effectual.
I wish his Highness were made sensible thereof in time.' He was fain
to dispense with the oath, but Thurloe thought this could not be done
without an Act of Parliament, though it might be modified in practice
by those on the spot; and this was just what Henry Cromwell did. In
other political matters he showed good judgment, questioning the real
value of Dunkirk, objecting to penal taxation of the Cavaliers, and
showing how impossible it was to bind a nation by oaths or any other
contrivance. 'To what,' he asked, 'shall men swear? Have you any
settlement? Does not your peace depend upon his Highness's life, and
upon his peculiar skill and faculty and personal interest in the army
as now modelled and commanded?' He was always loyal to his father, but
he had been in love with Dorothy Osborne, and he had no objection to
Royalists as such. It seems that he might have made a party for himself
at the cost of much bloodshed, and he deserves nothing but praise
for preferring to retire quietly. Oliver had warned him against the
temptation to build up a great estate, and though he did not refuse
to take grants of land like everyone else, he had at the end of his
government scarcely money enough to carry him back to England.[297]
FOOTNOTES:
[279] Fleetwood to Thurloe, December 15, 1654, _Thurloe_, iii. 23.
[280] Taylor to Harrison, December 17, 1655 (wrongly placed among
papers of 1654) in _Thurloe_, iii. 29; _ib._ iv. 260, 327; _Clarke
Papers_, iii. 60; _Ludlow_, i. 406 _sqq._, with Mr. Firth's notes for
Ludlow's proceedings. Fleetwood writes on January 3, 1654-5, 'Here hath
been some papers called mementoes spread up and down the army by that
gentleman, who, I had hoped, my friendship would have prevented any
such attempt,' _Thurloe_, iii. 70.
[281] Correspondence between H. Cromwell and Thurloe from September 11,
1655, till January 22 following, in _Thurloe_, iv. 23, 40, 75, 198,
443. See Gardiner's _Commonwealth_, iii. 452.
[282] Minutes of Irish Council, January 22, 1654-5 and March 27, Irish
R.O. A/60. Rev. John Grace's report, July 5, 1669, in _Spicilegium
Ossoriense_, i. 484 (Latin). See Gardiner's _Commonwealth_, chaps. 40
and 44. A shipload was sent to St. Christophers from Kinsale, Robert
Southwell to H. Cromwell, March 6, 1656-7, _Lansdowne MSS._, 821.
[283] _Clarke Papers_, iii. 49, 52; Rev. Thomas Harrison (Independent)
to Thurloe, October 17, 1655, _Thurloe_, iv. 90; Vincent Gookin to
the Protector (written in London), _ib._ November 22, 1656; Stubbs,
_Hist. of the University of Dublin_, p. 90. Winter with two elders and
forty-one other parishioners signed a letter to the Protector praising
Henry warmly for his charity and justice and his countenance 'to all
that fear God though of different judgments,' _Milton State Papers_,
p. 137, June 3, 1656; Rev. R. Easthorp to H. Cromwell, June 11, 1657,
_Lansdowne MSS._, p. 822.
[284] _Ludlow_, i. 360, 402, 415; _Thurloe_, iii. 70, 136, 710, 715,
744; iv. 73.
[285] Oliver Cromwell to Fleetwood, June 22, 1655, _Carlyle_, ii. 451;
to Henry Cromwell, November 21, _ib._ 479; Henry Cromwell to Thurloe,
September 19, 1655 (as to 'Colonel Hewson with his three Anabaptist
sons'), _Thurloe_, iv. 327; December 26, _ib._ 348; February 6 and
April 2, 1655-6 (as to military Quakers), _ib._ 508, 672; and H.
Ingoldsby's letter from Limerick, March 29, 1657, _Lansdowne MSS._, p.
822; Thurloe to Henry Cromwell, January 1, _ib._ 573; Henry Cromwell to
Thurloe (as to John Jones), March 12 and April 2, 1655-6, _ib._ 606,
672; same to same (for the field officers who resigned), December 3,
1666, _ib._ 670.
[286] The Act for convicting Popish Recusants, reciting the form of
oath, in _Scobell_, ii. 443; Henry Cromwell to Thurloe, September 23,
1657, _Thurloe_, vi. 527; Dr. Henry Jones to same, September 30, _ib._
539.
[287] Dr. Worth's letter, October 31, 1656, _Clarke Papers_, iii. 77;
H. Cromwell's letters of November 5 and November 17, _Thurloe_, v. 558,
570, and Col. Moore's to him, November 2, _ib._ 571. For the Royalist
plots referred to, _ib._ 348, 422, 443.
[288] _Scobell_, ii. 424, 491; Henry Cromwell's letters in vols. vi.
and vii. of _Thurloe_, particularly that to the Protector of December
2, 1657, vi. 649; to Fleetwood, April 14, 1658, vii. 71; and to
Thurloe, May 5, _ib._ 144. Broghill to Thurloe, December 11, 1657,
_ib._ vi. 670. On April 27, 1658, Fleetwood wrote, 'If we can get you
30,000_l._ by borrowing, it will be the most,' _ib._ vii. 100.
[289] Henry Cromwell to Thurloe, March 24 and 31, 1658, and May 26 and
June 23; Thurloe's answer, July 13, _Thurloe_, vii. 21, 39, 145, 198,
269.
[290] Henry Cromwell's letter (with the proclamation), in _Thurloe_,
vii. 384, 425, 453; Steele, _ib._ 388; Broghill (from Mallow), _ib._
399; Fauconberg, _ib._ 406, 413, 437, 450; Colonel T. Cooper, _ib._
425; _Liber Munerum Publicorum_, vol. i. part ii. 8; _Clarke Papers_,
iii. 166.
[291] Thurloe to H. Cromwell, November 23, 1658, _Thurloe_, vii. 528;
three letters of Broghill's, December 18 to January 24, _ib._ 573, 597,
600; Fauconberg's letter, _ib._ 528; List of members in _Parliamentary
Hist._ xxi. 262. It does not appear that Petty was returned for any
place in Ireland, as stated in his _Life_, p. 79. Gookin's opposition
to Broghill was unsuccessful, Neal's _Hist. of the Puritans_, iv. 182.
[292] Burton's _Diary_, iv. 237-242; Broghill to Thurloe, January 24,
1658-9, in _Thurloe_, and Neal's _History of the Puritans_, iv. 183.
[293] Wood's _Fasti Oxonienses_, vol. iv. in Bliss's edition, 119, 148,
156; Burton's _Diary_, iv. 244 _sqq._; _Hist. of Down Survey_, p. 292.
[294] Burton's _Diary_, iv. 244, 470; _Hist. of Down Survey_, 290-300,
where Petty gives Sankey's speech 'as near as the memory of such as
were present can recollect.' H. Cromwell to Thurloe, April 11, 1659,
'he has curiously deluded me these four years if he be a knave,'
and another letter to Fleetwood in June, _Thurloe_, vii. 651, 684.
Sankey's speech with some amusing comments may be also read in Petty's
_Reflections_ on some persons and things in Ireland.
[295] Henry Cromwell to Richard, May 23, 1659, and to Fleetwood next
day, _Thurloe_, vii. 674; Broghill to Thurloe, April 29, _ib._ 665;
_Old Parliamentary Hist._, xxi. 372 _sqq._; _Ludlow_, ii. 177 _sqq._
[296] H. Cromwell to the Speaker, June 15, 1659, _Thurloe_, vii. 683,
and to Fleetwood, _ib._ 685; _Clarendon State Papers_, iii. 500;
Clarendon's _Hist. of the Rebellion_, xvi. 16; _Ludlow_, ii. Clarendon
states in a letter that Henry Cromwell had at one time actually
determined to declare for the King, 'but that wretched fellow had no
courage,' to Ormonde, October 25, 1659, in Carte's _Original Letters_,
ii. 242.
[297] H. Cromwell to Thurloe, September 23, 1657, _Thurloe_, vi. 527;
March 27, 1657-8, _ib._ 39; June 30, _ib._ 218; to Fleetwood, June
1659, _ib._ 684. Writing both to Thurloe and Broghill on April 7, 1658,
he mentions that Inchiquin's son came to him without any pass after
three weeks' stay among his father's friends in Munster: 'I will be as
civil as I may be to him, and to all men else,' _ib._ vii. 55, 57.