Cromwell's original object appears to have been to organize a
government representing the will of the nation more completely than it
had ever been represented before. He strongly favored the restoration
of the House of Lords, he endeavored to reform the laws, and he sought
to secure religious toleration for the great body of Protestants. One
who knew Cromwell intimately said, "A larger soul, I think, hath
seldom dwelt in a house of clay, than his was."
Circumstances, however, were often against him; he had many enemies,
and in order to secure peace he was obliged to resort to the exercise
of absolute power. Yet the difference in this respect between
Cromwell and Charles I was immense: the latter was despotic on his own
account, the former for the advantage of those he governed.