[Illustration: 1-726-cromwell.jpg CROMWELL]
THE COMMONWEALTH.
{1653.} OLIVER CROMWELL, in whose hands the dissolution of the parliament
had left the whole power, civil and military, of three kingdoms, was
born at Huntingdon, the last year of the former century, of a good
family; though he himself, being the son of a second brother, inherited
but a small estate from his father. In the course of his education, he
had been sent to the university; but his genius was found little fitted
for the calm and elegant occupations of learning; and he made small
proficiency in his studies. He even threw himself into a dissolute
and disorderly course of life; and he consumed, in gaming, drinking,
debauchery, and country riots, the more early years of his youth,
and dissipated part of his patrimony. All of a sudden, the spirit
of reformation seized him; he married, affected a grave and composed
behavior entered into all the zeal and rigor of the Puritanical party,
and offered to restore to every one whatever sums he had formerly gained
by gaming. The same vehemence of temper which had transported him into
the extremes of pleasure, now distinguished his religious habits. His
house was the resort of all the zealous clergy of the party; and his
hospitality, as well as his liberalities to the silenced and deprived
ministers, proved as chargeable as his former debaucheries. Though
he had acquired a tolerable fortune by a maternal uncle, he found his
affairs so injured by his expenses, that he was obliged to take a
farm at St. Ives, and apply himself for some years to agriculture as a
profession. But this expedient served rather to involve him in further
debts and difficulties. The long prayers which he said to his family in
the morning, and again in the afternoon, consumed his own time and
that of his ploughmen; and he reserved no leisure for the care of his
temporal affairs. His active mind, superior to the low occupations
to which he was condemned, preyed upon itself; and he indulged
his imagination in visions, illuminations, revelations; the great
nourishment of that hypochondriacal temper to which he was ever subject.
Urged by his wants and his piety, he had made a party with Hambden, his
near kinsman, who was pressed only by the latter motive, to transport
himself into New England, now become the retreat of the more zealous
among the Puritanical party; and it was an order of council which
obliged them to disembark and remain in England. The earl of Bedford,
who possessed a large estate in the fen country near the Isle of Ely,
having undertaken to drain these morasses, was obliged to apply to
the king; and by the powers of the prerogative, he got commissioners
appointed, who conducted that work, and divided the new-acquired land
among the several proprietors. He met with opposition from many, among
whom Cromwell distinguished himself; and this was the first public
opportunity which he had met with, of discovering the factious zeal and
obstinacy of his character.
From accident and intrigue he was chosen by the town of Cambridge
member of the long parliament. His domestic affairs were then in greater
disorder; and he seemed not to possess any talents which could qualify
him to rise in that public sphere into which he was now at last entered.
His person was ungraceful, his dress slovenly, his voice untonable, his
elocution homely, tedious, obscure, and embarrassed. The fervor of his
spirit frequently prompted him to rise in the house; but he was not
heard with attention: his name, for above two years, is not to be found
oftener than twice in any committee; and those committees into which
he was admitted, were chosen for affairs which would more interest the
zealots than the men of business. In comparison of the eloquent speakers
and fine gentlemen of the house, he was entirely overlooked; and his
friend Hambden alone was acquainted with the depth of his genius,
and foretold that, if a civil war should ensue, he would soon rise to
eminence and distinction.
Cromwell himself seems to have been conscious where his strength lay;
and partly from that motive, partly from the uncontrollable fury of
his zeal, he always joined that party which pushed every thing to
extremities against the king. He was active in promoting the famous
remonstrance, which was the signal for all the ensuing commotions; and
when, after a long debate, it was carried by a small majority, he told
Lord Falkland, that if the question had been lost, he was resolved next
day to have converted into ready money the remains of his fortune, and
immediately to have left the kingdom. Nor was this resolution, he said,
peculiar to himself: many others of his party he knew to be equally
determined.
He was no less than forty-three years of age when he first embraced the
military profession; and by force of genius, without any master, he soon
became an excellent officer; though perhaps he never reached the fame of
a consummate commander. He raised a troop of horse; fixed his quarters
in Cambridge; exerted great severity towards that university which
zealously adhered to the royal party; and showed himself a man who would
go all lengths in favor of that cause which he had espoused. He would
not allow his soldiers to perplex their heads with those subtleties of
fighting by the king's authority against his person, and of obeying his
majesty's commands signified by both houses of parliament: he plainly
told them, that if he met the king in battle, he would fire a pistol in
his face as readily as against any other man. His troop of horse he soon
augmented to a regiment; and he first instituted that discipline, and
inspired that spirit, which rendered the parliamentary armies in the
end victorious. "Your troops," said he to Hambden, according to his own
account,[*] "are most of them old, decayed serving men and tapsters,
and such kind of fellows; the king's forces are composed of gentlemen's
younger sons and persons of good quality. And do you think that the
mean spirits of such base and low fellows as ours will ever be able to
encounter gentlemen, that have honor, and courage, and resolution in
them? You must get men of spirit; and take it not ill that I say, of a
spirit that is likely to go as far as gentlemen will go, or else I
am sure you will still be beaten, as you have hitherto been, in every
encounter."
* Conference held at Whitehall.
He did as he proposed. He enlisted the sons of freeholders and farmers.
He carefully invited into his regiment all the zealous fanatics
throughout England. When they were collected in a body, their
enthusiastic spirit still rose to a higher pitch. Their colonel, from
his own natural character, as well as from policy, was sufficiently
inclined to increase the flame. He preached, he prayed, he fought, he
punished, he rewarded. The wild enthusiasm, together with valor and
discipline, still propagated itself; and all men cast their eyes on so
pious and so successful a leader. From low commands, he rose with great
rapidity to be really the first, though in appearance only the second,
in the army. By fraud and violence, he soon rendered himself the first
in the state. In proportion to the increase of his authority, his
talents always seemed to expand themselves; and he displayed every day
new abilities, which had lain dormant till the very emergence by which
they were called forth into action. All Europe stood astonished to see a
nation, so turbulent and unruly, who, for some doubtful encroachments
on their privileges, had dethroned and murdered an excellent prince,
descended from a long line of monarchs, now at last subdued and reduced
to slavery by one who, a few years before, was no better than a private
gentleman, whose name was not known in the nation, and who was little
regarded even in that low sphere to which he had always been confined.
The indignation entertained by the people against an authority founded
on such manifest usurpation, was not so violent as might naturally be
expected. Congratulatory addresses, the first of the kind, were made
to Cromwell by the fleet, by the army, even by many of the chief
corporations and counties of England; but especially by the several
congregations of saints dispersed throughout the kingdom.[*]
* See Milton's State Papers.
The royalists, though they could not love the man who had imbrued his
hands in the blood of their sovereign, expected more lenity from him
than from the jealous and imperious republicans, who had hitherto
governed. The Presbyterians were pleased to see those men by whom
they had been outwitted and expelled, now in their turn expelled and
outwitted by their own servant; and they applauded him for this last act
of violence upon the parliament. These two parties composed the bulk
of the nation, and kept the people in some tolerable temper. All men,
likewise, harassed with wars and factions, were glad to see any prospect
of settlement. And they deemed it less ignominious to submit to a
person of such admirable talents and capacity, than to a few ignoble,
enthusiastic hypocrites, who, under the name of a republic, had reduced
them to a cruel subjection.
The republicans, being dethroned by Cromwell, were the party whose
resentment he had the greatest reason to apprehend. That party, besides
the Independents, contained two sets of men who are seemingly of the
most opposite principles, but who were then united by a similitude
of genius and of character. The first and most numerous were the
Millenarians, or Fifth Monarchy men, who insisted that, dominion being
founded in grace, all distinction in magistracy must be abolished,
except what arose from piety and holiness; who expected suddenly the
second coming of Christ upon earth; and who pretended, that the saints
in the mean while, that is, themselves, were alone entitled to govern.
The second were the Deists, who had no other object than political
liberty, who denied entirely the truth of revelation, and insinuated,
that all the various sects, so heated against each other, were alike
founded in folly and in error. Men of such daring geniuses were not
contented with the ancient and legal forms of civil government; but
challenged a degree of freedom beyond what they expected ever to enjoy
under any monarchy. Martin, Challoner, Harrington, Sidney, Wildman,
Nevil, were esteemed the heads of this small division.
The Deists were perfectly hated by Cromwell, because he had no hold
of enthusiasm by which he could govern or overreach them; he therefore
treated them with great rigor and disdain, and usually denominated them
the heathens. As the Millenarians had a great interest in the army, it
was much more important for him to gain their confidence; and their size
of understanding afforded him great facility in deceiving them. Of late
years, it had been so usual a topic of conversation to discourse of
parliaments, and councils, and senates, and the soldiers themselves had
been so much accustomed to enter into that spirit, that Cromwell thought
it requisite to establish something which might bear the face of a
commonwealth. He supposed that God, in his providence, had thrown the
whole right, as well as power, of government into his hands; and without
any more ceremony, by the advice of his council of officers, he sent
summons to a hundred and twenty-eight persons of different towns
and counties of England, to five of Scotland, to six of Ireland. He
pretended by his sole act and deed, to devolve upon these the whole
authority of the state. This legislative power they were to exercise
during fifteen months; and they were afterwards to choose the same
number of persons, who might succeed them in that high and important
office.
There were great numbers at that time who made it a principle always to
adhere to any power which was uppermost, and to support the established
government. This maxim is not peculiar to the people of that age;
but what may be esteemed peculiar to them is, that there prevailed
a hypocritical phrase for expressing so prudential a conduct: it was
called a waiting upon providence. When providence, therefore, was so
kind as to bestow on these men, now assembled together, the supreme
authority, they must have been very ungrateful, if, in their turn, they
had been wanting in complaisance towards it. They immediately voted
themselves a parliament; and having their own consent, as well as that
of Oliver Cromwell, for their legislative authority, they now proceeded
very gravely to the exercise of it.
In this notable assembly were some persons of the rank of gentlemen;
but the far greater part were low mechanics; Fifth Monarchy men,
Anabaptists, Antinomians, Independents; the very dregs of the fanatics.
They began with seeking God by prayer: this office was performed by
eight or ten gifted men of the assembly; and with so much success, that,
according to the confession of all, they had never before, in any of
their devotional exercises, enjoyed so much of the Holy Spirit as was
then communicated to them.[*] Their hearts were, no doubt, dilated
when they considered the high dignity to which they supposed themselves
exalted. They had been told by Cromwell, in his first discourse, that he
never looked to see such a day, when Christ should be so owned.[**]
* Parl. Hist. vol. xx. p. 182.
* These are his expressions: "Indeed, I have but one word
more to say to you, though in that perhaps I shall show my
weakness: it is by way of encouragement to you in this work;
give me leave to begin thus: I confess I never looked to
have seen such a day as this,--it may be nor you neither,--
when Jesus Christ should be so owned as he is at this day
and in this work. Jesus Christ is owned this day by your
call, and you own him by your willingness to appear for him,
and you manifest this (as far as poor creatures can do) to
be a day of the power of Christ. I know you will remember
that scripture, 'he makes his people willing in the day of
his power.' God manifests it to be the day of the power of
Christ, having through so much blood and so much trial as
has been upon this nation, he makes this one of the greatest
mercies, next to his own Son, to have his people called to
the supreme authority. God hath owned his Son, and hath
owned you, and hath made you to own him. I confess I never
looked to have seen such a day: I did not." I suppose at
this passage he cried; for he was very much given to
weeping, and could at any time shed abundance of tears. The
rest of the speech may be seen among Milton's State Papers,
p. 106. It is very curious, and full of the same obscurity,
confusion, embarrassment, and absurdity, which appear in
almost all Oliver's productions.
They thought it, therefore, their duty to proceed to a thorough
reformation, and to pave the way for the reign of the Redeemer, and
for that great work which, it was expected, the Lord was to bring
forth among them. All fanatics, being consecrated by their own fond
imaginations, naturally hear an antipathy to the ecclesiastics, who
claim a peculiar sanctity, derived merely from their office and priestly
character. This parliament took into consideration the abolition of the
clerical function, as savoring of Popery; and the taking away of tithes,
which they called a relic of Judaism. Learning also and the universities
were deemed heathenish and unnecessary: the common law was denominated
a badge of the conquest and of Norman slavery; and they threatened the
lawyers with a total abrogation of their profession. Some steps were
even taken towards an abolition of the chancery,[*] the highest court
of judicature in the kingdom; and the Mosaical law was intended to be
established as the sole system of English jurisprudence.[**]
Of all the extraordinary schemes adopted by these legislators, they
had not leisure to finish any, except that which established the legal
solemnization of marriage by the civil magistrate alone, without the
interposition of the clergy. They found themselves exposed to the
derision of the public. Among the fanatics of the house, there was an
active member much noted for his long prayers, sermons, and harangues.
He was a leather-seller in London, his name Praise-God Barebone.
This ridiculous name, which seems to have been chosen by some poet or
allegorist to suit so ridiculous a personage struck the fancy of the
people; and they commonly affixed to this assembly the appellation of
Barebone's parliament.[***]
* Whitlocke, p. 543, 548.
* Conference held at Whitehall.
* It was usual for the pretended saints at that time to
change their names from Henry, Edward, Anthony, William,
which they regarded as heathenish, into others more
sanctified and godly: even the New Testament names, James,
Andrew, John, Peter, were not held in such regard as those
which were borrowed from the Old Testament, Hezekiah
Habakkuk, Joshua, Zerobabel. Sometimes a whole godly
sentence was adopted as a name. Here are the names of a jury
said to be enclosed in the county of Sussex about that
time:--
Accepted, Trevor of Norsham. Redeemed, Compton of Battle.
Faint not, Hewit of Heathfield. Make Peace, Heaton of Hare.
God Reward, Smart of Fivehurst. Standfast on High, Stringer
of Crowhurst. Earth, Adams of Warbleton. Called, Lower of
the same. Kill Sin, Pimple of Witham. Return, Spelman of
Watling. Be Faithful, Joiner of Britling. Fly Debate,
Roberts of the same. Fight the good Fight of Faith, White of
Emer. More Fruit, Fowler of East Hadley. Hope for, Bending
of the same. Graceful, Harding of Lewes. Weep not, Billing
of the same. Meek, Brewer of Okeham.
See Brome's Travels into England, p. 279. "Cromwell," says
Cleveland, "hath beat up his drums clean through the Old
Testament. You may learn the genealogy of our Savior by the
names of his regiment. The mustermaster has no other list
than the first chapter of St. Matthew." The brother of this
Praise-God Barebone had for name, "If Christ had not died
for you, you had been damned, Barebone." But the people,
tired of this long name, retained only the last word, and
commonly gave him the appellation of Damn'd Barebone.
The Dutch ambassadors endeavored to enter into negotiation with this
parliament; but though Protestants, and even Presbyterians, they met
with a bad reception from those who pretended to a sanctity so much
superior. The Hollanders were regarded as worldly-minded men, intent
only on commerce and industry; whom it was fitting the saints should
first extirpate, ere they undertook that great work, to which they
believed themselves destined by Providence, of subduing Antichrist,
the man of sin, and extending to the uttermost bounds of the earth
the kingdom of the Redeemer.[*] The ambassadors, finding themselves
proscribed, not as enemies of England but of Christ, remained in
astonishment, and knew not which was most to be admired, the implacable
spirit or egregious folly of these pretended saints.
Cromwell began to be ashamed of his legislature. If he ever had any
design in summoning so preposterous an assembly beyond amusing the
populace and the army, he had intended to alarm the clergy and lawyers;
and he had so far succeeded as to make them desire any other government,
which might secure their professions, now brought in danger by these
desperate fanatics. Cromwell himself was dissatisfied, that the
parliament, though they had derived all their authority from him, began
to pretend power from the Lord,[**] and to insist already on their
divine commission. He had been careful to summon in his writs several
persons entirely devoted to him.
* Thurloe, vol. i. p. 273, 591. Also Stubbe, p. 91, 92.
** Thurloe, vol. i. p 393
By concert, these met early; and it was mentioned by some among them,
that the sitting of this parliament any longer would be of no service
to the nation. They hastened, therefore, to Cromwell, along with Rouse,
their speaker; and, by a formal deed or assignment, restored into his
hands that supreme authority which they had so lately received from him.
General Harrison and about twenty more remained in the house; and that
they might prevent the reign of the saints from coming to an untimely
end, they placed one Moyer in the chair, and began to draw up protests.
They were soon interrupted by Colonel White, with a party of soldiers.
He asked them what they did there. "We are seeking the Lord," said they.
"Then you may go elsewhere," replied he; "for to my certain knowledge,
he has not been here these many years."
The military being now, in appearance, as well as in reality the sole
power which prevailed in the nation, Cromwell though fit to indulge a
new fancy; for he seems not to have had any deliberate plan in all
these alterations. Lambert, his creature, who, under the appearance of
obsequiousness to him, indulged in unbounded ambition, proposed, in
a council of officers, to adopt another scheme of government, and
to temper the liberty of a commonwealth by the authority of a single
person, who should be known by the appellation of protector. Without
delay, he prepared what was called "the instrument of government,"
containing the plan of this new legislature; and as it was supposed to
be agreeable to the general, it was immediately voted by the council
of officers. Cromwell was declared protector; and with great solemnity
installed in that high office.
So little were these men endowed with the spirit of legislation, that
they confessed, or rather boasted, that they had employed only four
days in drawing this instrument, by which the whole government of three
kingdoms was pretended to be regulated and adjusted to all succeeding
generations. There appears no difficulty in believing them, when it
is considered how crude and undigested a system of civil polity they
endeavored to establish. The chief articles of the instrument are these:
A council was appointed, which was not to exceed twenty-one, nor be less
than thirteen persons. These were to enjoy their office during life or
good behavior; and in case of a vacancy, the remaining members named
three, of whom the protector chose one. The protector was appointed
supreme magistrate of the commonwealth: in his name was all justice to
be administered; from him were all magistracy and honors derived; he had
the power of pardoning all crimes, excepting murder and treason; to him
the benefit of all forfeitures devolved. The right of peace, war, and
alliance, rested in him but in these particulars he was to act by the
advice and with the consent of his council. The power of the sword
was vested in the protector jointly with the parliament, while it was
sitting, or with the council of state in the intervals. He was obliged
to summon a parliament every three years, and allow them to sit five
months, without adjournment, prorogation, or dissolution. The bills
which they passed were to be presented to the protector for his assent;
but if within twenty days it were not obtained, they were to become laws
by the authority alone of parliament. A standing army for Great Britain
and Ireland was established, of twenty thousand foot and ten thousand
horse; and funds were assigned for their support. These were not to be
diminished without *consent of the protector; and in this article alone
he assumed a negative, During the intervals of parliament, the protector
and council had the power of enacting laws, which were to be valid till
the next meeting of parliament. The chancellor, treasurer, admiral,
chief governors of Ireland and Scotland, and the chief justices of both
the benches, must be chosen with the approbation of parliament; and in
the intervals, with the approbation of the council, to be afterwards
ratified by parliament. The protector was to enjoy his office during
life; and on his death, the place was immediately to be supplied by the
council. This was the instrument of government enacted by the council of
officers, and solemnly sworn to by Oliver Cromwell. The council of
state named by the instrument, were fifteen; men entirely devoted to the
protector, and by reason of the opposition among themselves in party and
principles, not likely ever to combine against him.
Cromwell said, that he accepted the dignity of protector, merely that he
might exert the duty of a constable, and preserve peace in the nation.
Affairs indeed were brought to that pass, by the furious animosities of
the several factions, that the extensive authority and even arbitrary
power of some first magistrate was become a necessary evil, in order
to keep the people from relapsing into blood and confusion. The
Independents were too small a party ever to establish a popular
government, or intrust the nation, where they had so little interest,
with the free choice of its representatives. The Presbyterians had
adopted the violent maxims of persecution; incompatible at all times
with the peace of society, much more with the wild zeal of those
numerous sects which prevailed among the people. The royalists were so
much enraged by the injuries which they had suffered, that the other
prevailing parties would never submit to them, who, they knew, were
enabled, merely by the execution of the ancient laws, to take severe
vengeance upon them. Had Cromwell been guilty of no crime but this
temporary usurpation, the plea of necessity and public good, which he
alleged, might be allowed, in every view, a reasonable excuse for his
conduct.
During the variety of ridiculous and distracted scenes which the civil
government exhibited in England, the military force was exerted with
vigor, conduct, and unanimity; and never did the kingdom appear more
formidable to all foreign nations. The English fleet, consisting of a
hundred sail, and commanded by Monk and Dean, and under them by Pen
and Lauson, met near the coast of Flanders with the Dutch fleet equally
numerous, and commanded by Tromp. The two republics were not inflamed by
any national antipathy, and their interests very little interfered: yet
few battles have been disputed with more fierce and obstinate courage,
than were those many naval combats which were fought during this
short but violent war. The desire of remaining sole lords of the ocean
animated these states to an honorable emulation against each other.
After a battle of two days, in the first of which Dean was killed, the
Dutch, inferior in the size of their ships, were obliged, with great
loss, to retire into their harbors. Blake, towards the end of the fight,
joined his countrymen with eighteen sail. The English fleet lay off the
coast of Holland, and totally interrupted the commerce of that republic.
[Illustration: 1-734-blake.jpg ADMIRAL BLAKE]
The ambassadors whom the Dutch had sent over to England, gave them hopes
of peace. But as they could obtain no cessation of hostilities, the
states, unwilling to suffer any longer the loss and dishonor of being
blockaded by the enemy, made the utmost efforts to recover their injured
honor. Never, on any occasion, did the power and vigor of that republic
appear in a more conspicuous light. In a few weeks, they had repaired and
manned their fleet; and they equipped some Ships of a larger size than
any which they had hitherto sent to sea. Tromp issued out, determined
again to fight the victors, and to die rather than to yield the contest.
He met with the enemy, commanded by Monk; and both sides immediately
rushed into the combat. Tromp, gallantly animating his men, with his
sword drawn, was shot through the heart with a musket ball. This event
alone decided the battle in favor of the English. Though near thirty
ships of the Dutch were sunk and taken, they little regarded this loss
compared with that of their brave admiral.
Meanwhile the negotiations of peace were continually advancing. The
states, overwhelmed with the expense of the war, terrified by their
losses, and mortified by their defeats, were extremely desirous of an
accommodation with an enemy whom they found by experience too powerful
for them. The king having shown an inclination to serve on board their
fleet, though they expressed their sense of the honor intended them,
they declined an offer which might inflame the quarrel with the English
commonwealth. The great obstacle to the peace was found, not to be any
animosity on the part of the English, but, on the contrary, a desire too
earnest of union and confederacy. Cromwell had revived the chimerical
scheme of a coalition with the United Provinces; a total conjunction of
government, privileges, interests, and councils.
{1654.} This project
appeared so wild to the states, that they wondered any man of sense
could ever entertain it; and they refused to enter into conferences with
regard to a proposal which could serve only to delay any practicable
scheme of accommodation. The peace was at last signed by Cromwell now
invested with the dignity of protector, and it proves sufficiently, that
the war had been impolitic, since, after the most signal victories, no
terms more advantageous could be obtained. A defensive league was made
between the two republics. They agreed, each of them, to banish the
enemies of the other: those who had been concerned in the massacre of
Amboyna were to be punished, if any remained alive; the honor of the
flag was yielded to the English: eighty-five thousand pounds were
stipulated to be paid by the Dutch East India Company for losses which
the English Company had sustained; and the Island of Polerone, in the
East Indies was promised to be ceded to the latter.
Cromwell, jealous of the connections between the royal family and that
of Orange, insisted on a separate article; that neither the young
prince nor any of his family should ever be invested with the dignity of
stadtholder. The province of Holland, strongly prejudiced against that
office, which they esteemed dangerous to liberty, secretly ratified this
article. The protector, knowing that the other provinces would not be
induced to make such a concession, was satisfied with this security.
The Dutch war, being successful, and the peace reasonable brought credit
to Cromwell's administration. An act of justice, which he exercised at
home, gave likewise satisfaction to the people: though the regularity of
it may perhaps appear somewhat doubtful. Don Pantaleon, brother to the
Portuguese ambassador, and joined with him in the same commission,[*]
fancying himself to be insulted, came upon the exchange, armed and
attended by several servants. By mistake, he fell on a gentleman whom he
took for the person that had given him the offence; and having butchered
him with many wounds, he and all his attendants took shelter in the
house of the Portuguese ambassador, who had connived at this base
enterprise.[**] The populace surrounded the house, and threatened to set
fire to it. Cromwell sent a guard, who seized all the criminals.
They were brought to trial; and notwithstanding the opposition of the
ambassador, who pleaded the privileges of his office, Don Pantaleon was
executed on Tower Hill. The laws of nations were here plainly violated;
but the crime committed by the Portuguese gentleman was to the last
degree atrocious; and the vigorous chastisement of it, suiting so well
the undaunted character of Cromwell, was universally approved of at
home, and admired among foreign nations. The situation of Portugal
obliged that court to acquiesce; and the ambassador soon after signed,
with the protector, a treaty of peace and alliance, which was very
advantageous to the English commerce.
* Thurloe, vol. ii. p. 429.
** Thurloe, vol. i. p. 616.
Another act of severity, but necessary in his situation, was, at the
very same time, exercised by the protector, in the capital punishment of
Gerard and Vowel, two royalists, who were accused of conspiring against
his life. He had erected a high court of justice for their trial; an
infringement of the ancient laws which at this time was become familiar,
but one to which no custom or precedent could reconcile the nation.
Juries were found altogether unmanageable. The restless Lilburn, for new
offences, had been brought to a new trial; and had been acquitted with
new triumph and exultation. If no other method of conviction had been
devised during this illegal and unpopular government, all its enemies
were assured of entire impunity.
The protector had occasion to observe the prejudices entertained against
his government, by the disposition of the parliament, which he summoned
on the third of September, that day of the year on which he gained
his two great victories of Dunbar and Worcester, and which he always
regarded as fortunate for him. It must be confessed that, if we are left
to gather Cromwell's intentions from his instrument of government, it
is such a motley piece, that we cannot easily conjecture whether he
seriously meant to establish a tyranny or a republic. On one hand, a
first magistrate in so extensive a government seemed necessary both for
the dignity and tranquillity of the state; and the authority which he
assumed as protector was, in some respects, inferior to the prerogatives
which the laws intrusted and still intrust to the king. On the other
hand, the legislative power which he reserved to himself and council,
together with so great an army, independent of the parliament, were
bad prognostics of his intention to submit to a civil and legal
constitution. But if this were not his intention, the method in which he
distributed and conducted the elections, being so favorable to liberty,
form an inconsistency which is not easily accounted for. He deprived of
their right of election all the small boroughs, places the most exposed
to influence and corruption. Of four hundred members which represented
England, two hundred and seventy were chosen by the counties. The rest
were elected by London, and the more considerable corporations. The
lower populace too, so easily guided or deceived, were excluded from
the elections: an estate of two hundred pounds' value was necessary
to entitle any one to a vote. The elections of this parliament were
conducted with perfect freedom; and, excepting that such of the
royalists as had borne arms against the parliament and all their sons
were excluded, a more fair representation of the people could not be
desired or expected. Thirty members were returned from Scotland; as many
from Ireland.
The protector seems to have been disappointed, when he found that
all these precautions, which were probably nothing but covers to his
ambition, had not procured him the confidence of the public. Though
Cromwell's administration was less odious to every party than that of
any other party, yet was it entirely acceptable to none. The royalists
had been instructed by the king to remain quiet, and to cover themselves
under the appearance of republicans; and they found in this latter
faction such inveterate hatred against the protector, that they
could not wish for more zealous adversaries to his authority. It was
maintained by them, that the pretence of liberty and a popular election
was but a new artifice of this great deceiver, in order to lay asleep
the deluded nation, and give himself leisure * rivet their chains more
securely upon them: that in the instrument of government he openly
declared his intention of still retaining the same mercenary army, by
whose assistance he had subdued the ancient established government, and
who would with less scruple obey him in overturning, whenever he should
please to order them, that new system which he himself had been pleased
to model: that being sensible of the danger and uncertainty of all
military government, he endeavored to intermix some appearance, and but
an appearance, of civil administration, and to balance the army by a
seeming consent of the people: that the absurd trial which he had made
of a parliament, elected by himself, appointed perpetually to elect
their successors, plainly proved, that he aimed at nothing but temporary
expedients, was totally averse to a free republican government, and
possessed not that mature and deliberate reflection which could qualify
him to act the part of a legislator: that his imperious character, which
had betrayed itself in so many incidents, could never seriously submit
to legal limitations; nor would the very image of popular government be
longer upheld than while conformable to his arbitrary will and pleasure:
and that the best policy was to oblige him to take off the mask at once;
and either submit entirely to that parliament which he had summoned, or,
by totally rejecting its authority, leave himself no resource but in his
seditious and enthusiastic army.
In prosecution of these views, the parliament, having heard the
protector's speech, three hours long,[*] and having chosen Lenthal for
their speaker, immediately entered into a discussion of the pretended
instrument of government, and of that authority which Cromwell, by the
title of protector, had assumed over the nation.
* Thurloe, vol. ii. p. 588.
The greatest liberty was used in arraigning this new dignity; and even
the personal character and conduct of Cromwell escaped not without
censure. The utmost that could be obtained by the officers and by the
court party,---for so they were called,--was to protract the debate
by arguments and long speeches, and prevent the decision of a question
which, they were sensible, would be carried against them by a great
majority. The protector, surprised and enraged at this refractory spirit
in the parliament, which, however, he had so much reason to expect,
sent for them to the painted chamber, and with an air of great authority
inveighed against their conduct. He told them, that nothing could
be more absurd than for them to dispute his title; since the same
instrument of government which made them a parliament, had invested him
with the protectorship: that some points in the new constitution were
supposed to be fundamentals, and were not, on any pretence, to be
altered or disputed: that among these were the government of the nation
by a single person and a parliament, their joint authority over the
army and militia, the succession of new parliaments, and liberty of
conscience: and that, with regard to these particulars, there was
reserved to him a negative voice; to which, in the other circumstances
of government, he confessed himself nowise entitled.
The protector now found the necessity of exacting a security, which,
had he foreseen the spirit of the house, he would with better grace have
required at their first meeting.[*]
* Thurloe, vol ii. p. 620.
He obliged the members to sign a recognition of his authority, and
an engagement not to propose or consent to any alteration in the
government, as it was settled in a single person and a parliament;
and he placed guards at the door of the house, who allowed none but
subscribers to enter. Most of the members, after some hesitation,
submitted to this condition; but retained the same refractory spirit
which they had discovered in their first debates. The instrument of
government was taken in pieces, and examined, article by article, with
the most scrupulous accuracy: very free topics were advanced with the
general approbation of the house: and during the whole course of their
proceedings, they neither sent up one bill to the protector, nor took
any notice of him. Being informed that conspiracies were entered into
between the members and some malecontent officers, he hastened to
the dissolution of so dangerous an assembly. By the instrument of
government, to which he had sworn, no parliament could be dissolved
till it had sitten five months; but Cromwell pretended, that a month
contained only twenty-eight days, according to the method of computation
practised in paying the fleet and army. The full time, therefore,
according to this reckoning, being elapsed, the parliament was ordered
to attend the protector, who made them a tedious, confused, angry
harangue, and dismissed them.
{1655.} Were we to judge of Cromwell's capacity by this, and indeed
by all his other compositions, we should be apt to entertain no very
favorable idea of it. But in the great variety of human geniuses, there
are some which, though they see their object clearly and distinctly
in general, yet, when they come to unfold its parts by discourse or
writing, lose that luminous conception which they had before attained.
All accounts agree in ascribing to Cromwell a tiresome, dark,
unintelligible elocution, even when he had no intention to disguise his
meaning: yet no man's actions were ever, in such a variety of difficult
incidents, more decisive and judicious.
The electing of a discontented parliament is a proof of a discontented
nation: the angry and abrupt dissolution of that parliament is always
sure to increase the general discontent. The members of this assembly,
returning to their counties, propagated that spirit of mutiny which they
had exerted in the house. Sir Harry Vane and the old republicans, who
maintained the indissoluble authority of the long parliament, encouraged
the murmurs against the present usurpation; though they acted so
cautiously as to give the protector no handle against them. Wildman
and some others of that party carried still further their conspiracies
against the protector's authority. The royalists, observing this general
ill will towards the establishment, could no longer be retained in
subjection; but fancied that every one who was dissatisfied like
them, had also embraced the same views and inclinations. They did not
consider, that the old parliamentary party, though many of them were
displeased with Cromwell, who had dispossessed them of their power,
were still more apprehensive of any success to the royal cause; whence,
besides a certain prospect of the same consequence, they had so much
reason to dread the severest vengeance for their past transgressions.
In concert with the king, a conspiracy was entered into by the royalists
throughout England, and a day of general rising appointed. Information
of this design was conveyed to Cromwell. The protector's administration
was extremely vigilant. Thurloe, his secretary, had spies every
where. Manning, who had access to the king's family, kept a regular
correspondence with him; and it was not difficult to obtain intelligence
of a confederacy so generally diffused, among a party who valued
themselves more on zeal and courage, than on secrecy and sobriety Many
of the royalists were thrown into prison. Others, on the approach of the
day, were terrified with the danger of the undertaking, and remained at
home. In one place alone the conspiracy broke into action. Penruddoc,
Groves, Jones, and other gentlemen of the west, entered Salisbury with
about two hundred horse, at the very time when the sheriff and judges
were holding the assizes. These they made prisoners; and they proclaimed
the king. Contrary to their expectations, they received no accession of
force; so prevalent was the terror of the established government. Having
in vain wandered about for some time, they were totally discouraged; and
one troop of horse was able at last to suppress them. The leaders of
the conspiracy, being taken prisoners, were capitally punished. The rest
were sold for slaves, and transported to Barbadoes.
The easy subduing of this insurrection, which, by the boldness of the
undertaking, struck at first a great terror into the nation, was a
singular felicity to the protector; who could not, without danger, have
brought together any considerable body of his mutinous army in order
to suppress it. The very insurrection itself he regarded as a fortunate
event; since it proved the reality of those conspiracies which his
enemies on every occasion represented as mere fictions, invented to
color his tyrannical severities. He resolved to keep no longer any
terms with the royalists, who, though they were not perhaps the most
implacable of his enemies, were those whom he could oppress under
the most plausible pretences, and who met with least countenance and
protection from his adherents. He issued an edict, with the consent
of his council, for exacting the tenth penny from that whole party; in
order, as he pretended, to make them pay the expenses to which their
mutinous disposition continually exposed the public. Without regard to
compositions, articles of capitulation, or acts of indemnity, all the
royalists, however harassed with former oppressions, were obliged anew
to redeem themselves by great sums of money; and many of them were
reduced by these multiplied disasters to extreme poverty. Whoever was
known to be disaffected, or even lay under any suspicion, though no
guilt could be proved against him, was exposed to the new exaction.
In order to raise this imposition, which commonly passed by the name of
decimation, the protector instituted twelve major-generals; and divided
the whole kingdom of England into so many military jurisdictions.[*]
* Parl. Hist. vol. xx. p. 433.
These men, assisted by commissioners, had power to subject whom they
pleased to decimation, to levy all the taxes imposed by the protector
and his council, and to imprison any person who should be exposed to
their jealousy or suspicion; nor was there any appeal from them but
to the protector himself and his council. Under color of these powers,
which were sufficiently exorbitant, the major-generals exercised an
authority still more arbitrary, and acted as if absolute masters of the
property and person of every subject. All reasonable men now concluded,
that the very mask of liberty was thrown aside, and that the nation was
forever subjected to military and despotic government, exercised not
in the legal manner of European nations, but according to the maxims of
Eastern tyranny. Not only the supreme magistrate owed his authority to
illegal force and usurpation; he had parcelled out the people into
so many subdivisions of slavery, and had delegated to his inferior
ministers the same unlimited authority which he himself had so violently
assumed.
A government totally military and despotic, is almost sure, after
some time, to fall into impotence and languor: but when it immediately
succeeds a legal constitution, it may, at first, to foreign nations
appear very vigorous and active, and may exert with more unanimity that
power, spirit, and riches, which had been acquired under a better form.
It seems now proper, after so long an interval, to look abroad to the
general state of Europe, and to consider the measures which England at
this time embraced in its negotiations with the neighboring princes.
The moderate temper and unwarlike genius of the two last princes, the
extreme difficulties under which they labored at home, and the great
security which they enjoyed from foreign enemies, had rendered them
negligent of the transactions on the continent; and England, during
their reigns, had been, in a manner, overlooked in the general system of
Europe. The bold and restless genius of the protector led him to extend
his alliances and enterprises to every part of Christendom; and partly
from the ascendant of his magnanimous spirit, partly from the situation
of foreign kingdoms, the weight of England, even under its most legal
and bravest princes, was never more sensibly felt than during this
unjust and violent usurpation.
A war of thirty years, the most signal and most destructive that had
appeared in modern annals, was at last finished in Germany,[*] and by
the treaty of Westphalia, were composed those fatal quarrels which had
been excited by the palatine's precipitate acceptance of the crown of
Bohemia. The young palatine was restored to part of his dignities and of
his dominions.[**] The rights, privileges, and authority of the several
members of the Germanic body were fixed and ascertained: sovereign
princes and free states were in some degree reduced to obedience under
laws: and by the valor of the heroic Gustavus, the enterprises of the
active Richelieu, the intrigues of the artful Mazarine, was in part
effected, after an infinite expense of blood and treasure, which had
been fondly expected and loudly demanded from the feeble efforts of
the pacific James, seconded by the scanty supplies of his jealous
parliaments.
* In 1648.
** This prince, during the civil wars, had much neglected
his uncle, and paid court to the parliament; he accepted of
a pension of eight thousand pounds a year from them, and
took a place in their assembly of divines.
Sweden, which had acquired by conquest large dominions in the north of
Germany, was engaged in enterprises which promised her, from her success
and valor, still more extensive acquisitions on the side both of Poland
and of Denmark. Charles X., who had mounted the throne of that kingdom
after the voluntary resignation of Christina, being stimulated by the
fame of Gustavus, as well as by his own martial disposition, carried his
conquering arms to the south of the Baltic, and gained the celebrated
battle of Warsaw, which had been obstinately disputed during the space
of three days. The protector, at the time his alliance was courted by
every power in Europe, anxiously courted the alliance of Sweden; and
he was fond of forming a confederacy with a Protestant power of such
renown, even though it threatened the whole north with conquest and
subjection.
The transactions of the parliament and protector with France had been
various and complicated. The emissaries of Richelieu had furnished fuel
to the flame of rebellion, when it first broke out in Scotland; but
after the conflagration had diffused itself, the French court, observing
the materials to be of themselves sufficiently combustible, found
it unnecessary any longer to animate the British malecontents to an
opposition of their sovereign. On the contrary, they offered
their mediation for composing these intestine disorders; and their
ambassadors, from decency, pretended to act in concert with the court of
England, and to receive directions from a prince with whom their master
was connected by so near an affinity. Meanwhile Richelieu died, and soon
after him the French king, Louis XIII., leaving his son, an infant
four years old, and his widow, Anne of Austria, regent of the kingdom.
Cardinal Mazarine succeeded Richelieu in the ministry; and the same
general plan of policy, though by men of such opposite characters,
was still continued in the French councils. The establishment of royal
authority, the reduction of the Austrian family, were pursued with ardor
and success; and every year brought an accession of force and grandeur
to the French monarchy. Not only battles were won, towns and fortresses
taken; the genius too of the nation seemed gradually to improve, and
to compose itself to the spirit of dutiful obedience and of steady
enterprise. A Condé, a Turenne were formed; and the troops, animated
by their valor, and guided by their discipline, acquired every day
a greater ascendant over the Spaniards. All of a sudden, from
some intrigues of the court, and some discontents in the courts of
judicature, intestine commotions were excited, and every thing relapsed
into confusion. But these rebellions of the French, neither ennobled
by the spirit of liberty, nor disgraced by the fanatical extravagancies
which distinguished the British civil wars, were conducted with little
bloodshed, and made but a small impression on the minds of the people.
Though seconded by the force of Spain, and conducted by the prince
of Condé, the malecontents in a little time were either expelled or
subdued; and the French monarchy, having lost a few of its conquests,
returned with fresh vigor to the acquisition of new dominion.
The queen of England and her son Charles, during these commotions,
passed most of their time at Paris; and notwithstanding their near
connection of blood, received but few civilities, and still less
support, from the French court. Had the queen regent been ever so much
inclined to assist the English prince, the disorders of her own affairs
would, for a long time, have rendered such intentions impracticable. The
banished queen had a moderate pension assigned her; but it was so ill
paid, and her credit ran so low, that, one morning, when the cardinal
De Retz waited on her, she informed him that her daughter, the princess
Henrietta, was obliged to lie abed for want of a fire to warm her. To
such a condition was reduced, in the midst of Paris, a queen of England,
and daughter of Henry IV. of France.
The English parliament, however, having assumed the sovereignty of the
state, resented the countenance, cold as it was, which the French court
gave to the unfortunate monarch. On pretence of injuries of which the
English merchants complained, they issued letters of reprisal upon the
French; and Blake went so far as to attack and seize a whole squadron of
ships which were carrying supplies to Dunkirk, then closely besieged by
the Spaniards. That town, disappointed of these supplies, fell into
the hands of the enemy. The French ministers soon found it necessary
to change their measures. They treated Charles with such affected
indifference, that he thought it more decent to withdraw, and prevent
the indignity of being desired to leave the kingdom. He went first to
Spaw, thence he retired to Cologne; where he lived two years, on a small
pension, about six thousand pounds a year, paid him by the court of
France, and on some contributions sent him by his friends in England.
In the management of his family he discovered a disposition to order and
economy; and his temper, cheerful, careless, and sociable, was more
than a sufficient compensation for that empire of which his enemies had
bereaved him. Sir Edward Hyde, created lord chancellor, and the marquis
of Ormond, were his chief friends and confidants.
If the French ministry had thought it prudent to bend under the English
parliament, they deemed it still more necessary to pay deference to the
protector, when he assumed the reins of government. Cardinal Mazarine,
by whom all the counsels of France were directed, was artful and
vigilant, supple and patient, false and intriguing; desirous rather to
prevail by dexterity than violence, and placing his honor more in the
final success of his measures, than in the splendor and magnanimity
of the means which he employed. Cromwell, by his imperious character,
rather than by the advantage of his situation, acquired an ascendant
over this man; and every proposal made by the protector, however
unreasonable in itself, and urged with whatever insolence, met with a
ready compliance from the politic and timid cardinal. Bourdeaux was sent
over to England as minister; and all circumstances of respect were paid
to the daring usurper, who had imbrued his hands in the blood of his
sovereign, a prince so nearly related to the royal family of France.
With indefatigable patience did Bourdeaux conduct this negotiation,
which Cromwell seemed entirely to neglect; and though privateers with
English commission committed daily depredations on the French commerce,
Mazarine was content, in hopes of a fortunate issue, still to submit to
these indignities.[*]
* Thurloe, vol. iii. p. 103, 619, 653. In the treaty, which
was signed after long negotiation, the protector's name was
inserted before the French king's in that copy which
remained in England. Thurloe vol. vi. p. 116 See further,
vol. vii. p. 178.
The court of Spain, less connected with the unfortunate royal family,
and reduced to greater distress than the French monarchy, had been still
more forward in her advances to the prosperous parliament and protector.
Don Alonzo de Cardenas, the Spanish envoy, was the first public minister
who recognized the authority of the new republic; and in return for this
civility, Ascham was sent envoy into Spain by the parliament. No
sooner had this minister arrived in Madrid, than some of the banished
royalists, inflamed by that inveterate hatred which animated the English
factions, broke into his chamber, and murdered him together with
his secretary. Immediately they took sanctuary in the churches; and,
assisted by the general favor which every where attended the royal
cause, were enabled, most of them, to make their escape. Only one of the
criminals suffered death; and the parliament seemed to rest satisfied
with this atonement.
Spain, at this time, assailed every where by vigorous enemies from
without, and laboring under many internal disorders, retained nothing of
her former grandeur, except the haughty pride of her counsels, and
the hatred and jealousy of her neighbors. Portugal had rebelled,
and established her monarchy in the house of Braganza: Catalonia,
complaining of violated privileges, had revolted to France: Naples was
shaken with popular convulsions: the Low Countries were invaded with
superior forces, and seemed ready to change their master: the Spanish
infantry, anciently so formidable, had been annihilated by Condé in the
fields of Rocroy: and though the same prince, banished France, sustained
by his activity and valor the falling fortunes of Spain, he could only
hope to protract, not prevent, the ruin with which that monarchy was
visibly threatened.
Had Cromwell understood and regarded the interests of his country,
he would have supported the declining condition of Spain against the
dangerous ambition of France, and preserved that balance of power on
which the greatness and security of England so much depend. Had he
studied only his own interests, he would have maintained an exact
neutrality between those great monarchies; nor would he have hazarded
his ill-acquired and unsettled power by provoking foreign enemies who
might lend assistance to domestic faction, and overturn his tottering
throne. But his magnanimity undervalued danger; his active disposition
and avidity of extensive glory made him incapable of repose: and as the
policy of men is continually warped by their temper, no sooner was peace
made with Holland, than he began to deliberate what new enemy he should
invade with his victorious arms.
The extensive empire and yet extreme weakness of Spain in the West
Indies, the vigorous courage and great naval power of England, were
circumstances which, when compared, excited the ambition of the
enterprising protector, and made him hope that he might, by some gainful
conquest, render forever illustrious that dominion which he had assumed
over his country. Should he fail of these durable acquisitions, the
Indian treasures, which must every year cross the ocean to reach Spain,
were, he thought, a sure prey to the English navy, and would support
his military force without his laying new burdens on the discontented
people. From France a vigorous resistance must be expected: no plunder,
no conquests could be hoped for: the progress of his arms, even
if attended with success, must there be slow and gradual; and the
advantages acquired, however real, would be less striking to the
multitude, whom it was his interest to allure. The royal family,
so closely connected with the French monarch, might receive great
assistance from that neighboring kingdom; and an army of French
Protestants landed in England would be able, he dreaded, to unite the
most opposite factions against the present usurpation.[*]
These motives of policy were probably seconded by his bigoted
prejudices; as no human mind ever contained so strange a mixture of
sagacity and absurdity as that of this extraordinary personage. The
Swedish alliance, though much contrary to the interests of England, he
had contracted merely from his zeal for Protestantism;[**] and Sweden
being closely connected with France, he could not hope to maintain that
confederacy, in which he so much prided himself, should a rupture ensue
between England and this latter kingdom.[***]
* See the account of the negotiations with France and Spain
by Thurloe, vol. i. p. 759.
** He proposed to Sweden a general league and confederacy of
all the Protestants. Whitlocke, p. 620. Thurloe, vol. vii.
p. 1. In order to judge of the maxims by which he conducted
his foreign politics see, further, Thurloe, vol. iv. p. 295,
343, 443; vol. vii. p. 174.
*** Thurloe, vol. i. p. 759.
The Hugonots, he expected, would meet with better treatment while he
engaged in a close union with their sovereign.[*] And as the Spaniards
were much more Papists than the French, were much more exposed to the
old Puritanical hatred,[**] and had even erected the bloody tribunal of
the inquisition, whose rigors they had refused to mitigate on Cromwell's
solicitation,[***] he hoped that a holy and meritorious war with such
idolaters could not fail of protection from Heaven.[****] A preacher,
likewise, inspired as was supposed by a prophetic spirit, bid him "go
and prosper;" calling him "a stone cut out of the mountains without
hands, that would break the pride of the Spaniard, crush Antichrist, and
make way for the purity of the gospel over the whole world."[v]
* Thurloe, vol. i. p. 759.
** Thurloe, vol. i. p. 759.
*** Thurloe, vol. i. p. 759. Don Alonzo said, that the
Indian trade and the inquisition were his master's two eyes,
and the protector insisted upon the putting out both of them
at once.
**** Carrington, p. 191.
v Bates.
Actuated equally by these bigoted, these ambitious, and these interested
motives, the protector equipped two considerable squadrons; and while he
was making those preparations, the neighboring states, ignorant of his
intentions, remained in suspense, and looked with anxious expectation
on what side the storm should discharge itself. One of these squadrons,
consisting of thirty capital ships, was sent into the Mediterranean
under Blake, whose fame was now spread over Europe. No English fleet,
except during the crusades, had ever before sailed in those seas; and
from one extremity to the other there was no naval force, Christian or
Mahometan, able to resist them. The Roman pontiff, whose weakness and
whose pride equally provoked attacks, dreaded invasion from a power
which professed the most inveterate enmity against him, and which so
little regulated its movements by the usual motives of interest and
prudence. Blake, casting anchor before Leghorn, demanded and obtained
from the duke of Tuscany reparation for some losses which the English
commerce had formerly sustained from him. He next sailed to Algiers, and
compelled the dey to make peace, and to restrain his piratical subjects
from further violences on the English. He presented himself before
Tunis; and having there made the same demands, the dey of that republic
bade him look to the castles of Porto-Farino and Goletta, and do his
utmost. Blake needed not to be roused by such a bravado: he drew
his ships close up to the castles, and tore them in pieces with his
artillery. He sent a numerous detachment of sailors in their long
boats into the harbor, and burned every ship which lay there. This bold
action, which its very temerity perhaps rendered safe, was executed with
little loss, and filled all that part of the world with the renown of
English valor.
The other squadron was not equally successful. It was commanded by Pen,
and carried on board four thousand men under the command of
Venables. About five thousand more joined them from Barbadoes and
St. Christopher's. Both these officers were inclined to the king's
service;[*] and it is pretended that Cromwell was obliged to hurry the
soldiers on board, in order to prevent the execution of a conspiracy
which had been formed among them in favor of the exiled family.[**] The
ill success of this enterprise may justly be ascribed as much to the
injudicious schemes of the protector who planned it, as to the bad
execution of the officers by whom it was conducted. The soldiers were
the refuse of the whole army: the forces enlisted in the West
Indies were the most profligate of mankind: Pen and Venables were of
incompatible tempers: the troops were not furnished with arms fit for
such an expedition: their provisions were defective both in quantity and
quality: all hopes of pillage, the best incentive to valor among such
men, were refused the soldiers and seamen: no directions or intelligence
were given to conduct the officers in then enterprise: and at the same
time they were tied down to follow the advice of commissioners, who
disconcerted them in all their projects.[***]
* Clarendon.
* Vita de Berwici, p. 124
** Burchet's Naval History. See also Carte's Collection,
vol. ii. p. 46, 47. Thurloe, vol. iii. p. 505.
It was agreed by the admiral and general to attempt St. Domingo, the
only place of strength in the Island of Hispaniola. On the approach of
the English, the Spaniards in a fright deserted their houses, and fled
into the woods. Contrary to the opinion of Venables, the soldiers were
disembarked without guides ten leagues distant from the town. They
wandered four days through the woods without provisions, and was still
more intolerable in that sultry climate, without water. The Spaniards
recovered spirit, and attacked them. The English, discouraged with the
bad conduct of their officers and scarcely alive from hunger, thirst,
and fatigue, were unable to resist. An inconsiderable number of the
enemy put the whole army to rout, killed six hundred of them, and chased
the rest on board their vessels.
The English commanders, in order to atone as much as possible for
this unprosperous attempt, bent their course to Jamaica, which was
surrendered to them without a blow. Pen and Venables returned to
England, and were both of them sent to the Tower by the protector, who,
though commonly master of his fiery temper, was thrown into a violent
passion at this disappointment. He had made a conquest of greater
importance than he was himself at that time aware of; yet was it much
inferior to the vast projects which he had formed. He gave orders,
however, to support it by men and money; and that island has ever since
remained in the hands of the English; the chief acquisition which they
owe to the enterprising spirit of Cromwell.
{1656.} As soon as the news of this expedition, which was an
unwarrantable violation of treaty, arrived in Europe, the Spaniards
declared war against England, and seized all the ships and goods of
English merchants, of which they could make themselves masters. The
commerce with Spain, so profitable to the English, was cut off; and near
fifteen hundred vessels, it is computed,[*] fell in a few years into the
hands of the enemy. Blake, to whom Montague was now joined in command,
after receiving new orders, prepared himself for hostilities against the
Spaniards.
Several sea officers, having entertained scruples of conscience with
regard to the justice of the Spanish war, threw up their commissions,
and retired.[**]
* Thurloe, vol. iv. p. 135. World's Mistake in Oliver
Cromwell in the Harl. Miscel. vol. i.
** Thurloe. vol. iv. p. 670, 688.