There have been few men known to history, who can be worthily compared
with the subject of these pages for the extraordinary circumstances of
their rise to power, or for their prudence and greatness in its
enjoyment. We see in him a man of middle rank and moderate fortune,
breaking out from privacy, if not obscurity, at a time of life when the
fame of most men is at its meridian, of many at its close, and in a very
few years raising himself to absolute power on the shoulders of his
friends and on the necks of his enemies; and though we censure both the
end of his political labours and the measures which led the way to it,
yet in both there is much left for us to respect and to admire.
Oliver, the only son of Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Stuart (the
daughter of a knightly family in the Isle of Ely, said to have been
related to the royal house), was born at Huntingdon, April 24, 1599. His
grandfather, Sir Henry Cromwell, was four times Sheriff of the counties
of Cambridge and Huntingdon; his uncle, Sir Oliver Cromwell, after whom
he was named, was reputed to be the richest knight in England; and his
family was related to the Earls of Essex, and to the houses of Hampden,
St. John, and Barrington. It is necessary to mention the respectability
of Cromwell’s connexions, because he is reported to have been a man of
mean birth, by persons who vainly thought to fix a stigma on his great
name by assigning to him a low origin.
After having received a good school education he was sent, at the age of
seventeen, to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He did not remain there
long enough to complete his studies, but, leaving the University before
the usual time, was entered at Lincoln’s Inn. His enemies accuse him of
having been guilty of all manner of debaucheries, both at college and as
a student of law; but as we know that his whole life, from the age of
twenty-one, was severely moral, this accusation may be allowed to rest
with the obscure memories of its authors. His father dying when Oliver
had attained the age of twenty, he left London, and went to reside with
his mother, who eked out her small jointure with the profits of a
brewery which she had established, and conducted herself: hence came the
contemptuous appellation, often bestowed upon Cromwell, of the “brewer
of Huntingdon.” At the age of twenty-one he married Elizabeth, daughter
of Sir James Bourchier, of the county of Essex. At this period of his
life he was involved in some pecuniary difficulties, from which he was
relieved by the death of his maternal uncle Sir Thomas Stuart, who
bequeathed him an estate of between four and five hundred pounds yearly
value in the isle of Ely, on which he took up his residence. Some of his
biographers declare, “that because he prayed and expounded the word too
much, and caused his servants to do the like,” he became again
straitened in his circumstances. This has been the more readily
believed, because he at this time became highly disgusted with the want
of liberty of conscience in his own land, and had, in consequence,
determined to exile himself to New England, along with his friend and
cousin Hampden. He was actually embarked, when an order from the Privy
Council, disallowing emigration without special license from the crown,
put a stop to his voyage. He returned to his county, and was soon after
elected by the burgesses of the town of Cambridge to serve them in the
House of Commons. One of the first notices we have of his taking an
active share in public business was his determined opposition to a plan,
originated by the Earl of Bedford, and supported by government, for the
drainage of the fens. His objection to this scheme was entirely of a
political nature, since, during his Protectorate, it became a measure of
his own. Hampden foretold his future rise from his vigorous conduct in
this matter:—“He was a man who would sit well at the mark.” Cromwell was
not, properly so called, an eloquent man. His ordinary speeches were
rambling, verbose, and inelegant; but when he wished to make his purpose
clear, his style was close, bold, and manly.
In the memorable year 1640, Cromwell was returned by the same borough to
serve in the famous LONG PARLIAMENT,—the last Parliament of Charles the
First. It was unfortunate for this prince that he fell on such times and
such men. He came to the throne with his father’s overweening belief in
the sacredness of kingly prerogative, and with the same obstinate
notions concerning unity of creed and worship in matters of religion.
The consequence of the first of these inherited feelings was his
introduction, or rather enforcement, of unconstitutional modes of
raising money, and distributing justice, beyond the patience of an age
newly escaped from the thraldom of feudal restrictions; the effect of
the latter was also past the endurance of a nation jealous of its
lately-acquired and highly-prized religious liberty. In the struggle
between the prince and the people, which these causes produced, Cromwell
was among the foremost. He was one of seventy-five gentlemen who offered
to raise each a troop of sixty horse in the service of the Parliament.
This was the beginning of the military career which afterwards proved so
glorious. He took great pains in the formation of his levies. This
appears from his expostulation with Hampden, recorded by himself. “Your
troops, said I, are most of them old decayed serving men and tapsters,
and such kind of fellows, and their’s are gentlemen’s younger sons, and
persons of good quality. And do you think that the mean spirits of such
base and mean fellows will ever be able to encounter gentlemen that have
honour, and courage, and resolution in them? You must get men of a
spirit, and take it not ill what I say, of a spirit that is likely to go
as far as gentlemen will go, or else I am sure you will be beaten still:
I told him so. He was a wise and worthy person, and he did think that I
talked a good notion, but an impracticable one. I told him I could do
somewhat in it; and I accordingly raised such men as had the fear of God
before them, and made some conscience of what they did. And from that
day forward they were never beaten; but, whenever they were engaged
against the enemy, they beat continually.” It is probable that to this
choice of his recruits, Cromwell owed much of his military success and
his political fortune. Being desirous of proving their courage, he chose
from among their number a few that he could put confidence in, and
ordered them to lie in ambush on his route; then, at a preconcerted
signal, they rushed from their hiding place as if to charge the rest of
the troop, upon which the poltroons of the company fled, and, finding
their mistake too late, were glad to sneak home and leave their saddles
to be filled by better men. After this trial the ‘Ironsides’ of Cromwell
never shrunk from the enemy, and gradually the whole army was formed on
the same model.
One of Cromwell’s first military services was the securing the town and
county of Cambridge to the Parliamentary interest. He treated the
University, several colleges of which had transmitted plate and money
for the king’s use, with severity, arresting some of its principal
members. Then passing through the county he disarmed the cavalier
gentlemen, taking care not to provoke enmity by personal violence. An
anecdote may here be mentioned illustrative of Cromwell’s peculiar
character. While on this expedition, in the Isle of Ely, he visited his
uncle Sir Oliver, who was a staunch royalist. Having surrounded the
house with his troop he entered, hat in hand, nor could he be prevailed
on either to cover his head or to sit down in his uncle’s presence; but
having begged his blessing, and besought him to set what he did to the
account of strict performance of his duty, he departed, carrying with
him the various weapons that the house contained, as well as all the
plate and valuables.
From this time, as the cause of the commonwealth prospered, Cromwell
rose rapidly in the army, soon becoming the real head of it, though
nominally the second in command. When the House of Commons entered into
the agreement called the self-denying ordinance, for the separation of
civil and military offices, Cromwell, along with some few others, still
contrived to keep both his seat in the House and his command in the
army. It seems to have been a resolution of his never to give up an
authority once obtained.
The first battle in which he distinguished himself particularly was that
of Marston Moor, fought July 2, 1644. The parliamentary forces were
driven back on one side, and even their centre wavered under the furious
attack of the cavaliers; but Oliver completely changed the fortune of
the day by charging, at a critical period of the battle, with his
sword-arm in a sling, and “driving the enemy from before him like chaff
before the whirlwind.” Throughout the war he fought no battle in which
he was beaten. But while he was thus earnest in forwarding the cause in
which he was engaged in the field, he did not forget to fight his
private battles with fearful and envious enemies, who were alarmed at
his growing power. A plot between the Lord General Essex, the Scots
Commissioners, and others, was laid against him, which would have proved
the ruin of most men, but by his management and decision was crushed
before it had fully ripened. He was an Independent, and as such took the
covenant between the Scotch and English with great reluctance. “He was a
free soul in matters of faith and worship, and was desirous, before all
things, that men should be allowed to serve God in their own fashion,
and not be bound down to generally-established forms.”
After the loss of the decisive battle of Naseby, fought June 14, 1645,
the king was glad to trust himself to any party that might be willing to
receive him, rather than throw himself into the hands of the two Houses.
Accordingly, he sought refuge in the Scottish camp at Newark, and the
Scotch rewarded his confidence by selling him to the Parliament. The
Presbyterians, who formed the majority of that assembly, hoped that they
could now dispense with the army, of which they began to be afraid. This
caused great discontent. A system of agitation was instituted, at which
Cromwell connived; and the troops became rebellious to their employers,
though they remained faithful to their leaders who seemed to have no
concern in the matter. Skippon, Cromwell, Ireton, and Fleetwood were
sent down by the Parliament to conciliate them, in which they were
partially successful. Nevertheless the army marched towards London for
the purpose of intimidating the Houses into a concession to their
wishes. After this matter was concluded, the Parliament (of which at
that time the majority was Presbyterian) thought fit to invite the king
to Richmond, and, having agreed to their proposal, he was shortly after
removed to Hampton Court, where he was kept in an honourable captivity.
Being now in the power of the army, he entered into treaties both with
it and with the Parliament concerning his restoration, contriving, at
the same time, to play both parties false. From this period the ambition
of Oliver Cromwell to govern the state without a rival or master may be
safely dated. He knew and felt that he was, in power and capacity, the
first man in his country. He had risen to that height by his own
individual exertions; and, perhaps perceiving that the communications of
Charles with the Long Parliament might be brought to an amicable close
destructive of his own power, he determined on the bold strokes which
followed. He accordingly contrived to entrap the king into a flight from
Hampton Court to the Isle of Wight, where he was placed under the care
of Hammond, Governor of Carisbrook Castle. While at this place Charles
kept up his correspondence with the Parliamentary and Scottish
Commissioners, and also with those of the army. He moreover intrigued
with the Irish party and with foreign courts for assistance. He planned
an unsuccessful escape from his prison; and, to fill up the measure of
distrust of him on the part of Cromwell, it was asserted that his
intercepted letters to the queen hinted, in no obscure terms, at the
expediency of removing the general by the method of private
assassination. It became clear that there could be no hope of a cordial
reconcilement or cooperation between them; and Cromwell from this time
became the king’s most vigorous enemy, and spared no pains to bring him
to the scaffold. The rest is well known. The king was brought to London,
and refusing to plead his cause, or acknowledge the authority of his
judges, was condemned and executed, January 30, 1649. Upon this the
House of Commons declared the House of Peers to be useless, and that
monarchy in England was at an end.
Soon after this another and a more dangerous mutiny broke out in the
army, which was speedily quelled by the decision of Cromwell and the
authority of Fairfax. The former was then appointed to serve in Ireland
against Ormond and his supporters, who were in arms for the young king.
As his presence was almost necessary in England, he resolved to perform
this duty with vigour. At that time the Commonwealth had to bear the
brunt of insurrections at home, the impending likelihood of a Scotch
war, and the cabals of its own members. The case was urgent, and his
measures were stern, arbitrary, and severe. Wanton cruelty does not
appear to have been a part of Cromwell’s character; yet neither does the
plea of a bold and unscrupulous policy excuse the wholesale slaughters
perpetrated in that unhappy island. At the reductions of Drogheda,
Wexford, Kilkenny, and Clonmel, both the avowed defenders and the
citizens were slaughtered without quarter. Cromwell says, in his
dispatch after the first of these sieges, “that the enemy was filled
with much terror at this issue, and that he was persuaded that the
bitterness used on this occasion would prevent much effusion of blood.”
He added to his severities this kindness:—a proclamation was issued,
“that no soldier should on pain of death take any thing from the
inhabitants of conquered Ireland without paying for it, and that all
should have the peaceable exercise of their religion.” In ten months’
time Cromwell was again in his seat in Parliament, having brought that
country into complete subjection: a subjection bought with much blood
and suffering, yet alleged by him to be better than a harassing and
long-continued warfare. Lord Broghil, whom he had won over by his
judicious kindness from the royalist party, was of great service to him
in this campaign. He was a man of sound and temperate character, and
seems to have been one of Oliver’s most faithful friends.
On his return to England he found that much remained to be done.
Fairfax, as Commander-in-Chief, and Cromwell were almost immediately
ordered into Scotland to stop the progress of the young Charles Stuart
in that country. The Lord-General being unwilling to fight against his
friends the Presbyterians, resigned his command, and Cromwell was
immediately appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the English army. He
prepared for service with the utmost dispatch, and marched directly to
Edinburgh. Thence he fell back upon Musselburgh, the Scotch Presbyterian
army being close at hand. Both parties attempted to reduce the other to
extremity by want of provisions, and Cromwell made a retreat on Dunbar
for the purpose of supplying his troops from the sea. His army consisted
of ten thousand men; the Scotch of more than twice that number. For some
time the Parliamentary army continued in a state of blockade, but by
skilful manœuvring Cromwell at last induced the enemy to come down into
the plain and risk the issue of a pitched battle. The moment that,
looking through his glass, he saw them move, he said, “I profess they
run: the Lord hath delivered them into our hands!” The Scotch were
beaten with tremendous slaughter. This failure for a time seemed to have
done Charles more good than harm: for it freed him from the heavy yoke
of the Presbyterians, and his cause became more generally popular on
that account. Another and a better army was soon collected on his
behalf. Oliver allowed this second host to make a descent upon England;
but following it, and harassing its rear, and gathering to himself fresh
troops in his course, he finally came up with Charles at Worcester, and
gained what he called, in his letter to the Parliament, “the crowning
victory.” After this he returned to London, almost adored by the
inhabitants of every place in his progress, and welcomed at the end of
it by the sincere and earnest praises of his masters, fated soon to
become his subjects.
The remainder of the Long Parliament, although sneered at and hated,
were the flower of the patriots, whose energy had begun and continued
the contest, and well they supported the character of able rulers to the
end of their domination: but their time was come. Cromwell, finding
himself in reality the most powerful man in his country, was desirous of
putting the key-stone to the structure of his ambitious fortunes.
Without notice of his intention, he closed up the avenues of the House
of Commons, surrounded it with his soldiers, and, entering the House,
upbraided the members severally with their ingratitude, besides
launching at them other idle charges of a personal kind: then stamping
with his foot, the signal for his soldiers who were in the lobby, “Let
them come in,” he cried, and they entered. At his command they took away
the mace, and forcibly removed the Speaker from his chair. Then, turning
out the members, Cromwell shut up the doors, and declared the Parliament
at an end. Having completed this extraordinary performance, he is said
to have put the key into his pocket, and walked quietly away to his
lodgings at Whitehall. After this he issued a commission for calling
together a new Parliament, which proved equally unfavourable to his
views of government, but finally resigned its powers into his hands.
On December 16, 1653, he was installed Protector of England, Scotland,
and Ireland, not daring to accept the proffered title of “King,” as it
was opposed to the feelings and opinions of his most powerful friends.
The first act of his reign was to make peace on honourable and
advantageous terms with the Dutch: soon after he broke off a treaty with
Spain, and entered into an agreement with France. In these transactions
he was blamed by some, but his genius was of a stamp not to be lightly
judged. The Spanish war was conducted under the captainship of Admiral
Blake, whose name will ever stand in the first rank of the prudent, the
daring, and the free. Judgment in the choice of men was one of
Cromwell’s most peculiar talents: witness the names of Milton, Hale, and
Ludlow, of Ireton, Blake, Monk, and Henry Cromwell; with a crowd of
lesser men, all exactly suited to the stations in which he placed them.
He concluded peace with Denmark and Sweden, dictated advantageous terms
of reconciliation and alliance to Portugal, and caused the name and flag
of England to be respected throughout Europe during his Protectorate.
His court was grave and orderly; and as it is plain, from several
passages of history, that he would willingly with the power have assumed
the name and ensigns of a king, so in his mode of life he adopted
something not far short of kingly state. After having tried to govern
England by the unpopular Major-Generals of Districts, and by the
constitutional method of Parliaments, his only obstacle to success
seeming to be the want of the name and hereditary strength of royalty;
after having passed through many private dangers and public
difficulties, Cromwell called a third and last Parliament, and
instituted a House of Peers; but before they ever met in Parliament, the
Protector was seized with a quartan ague, which, after a few weeks’
illness, brought him to the grave at the age of fifty-nine years.
His reign was momentous, short, and arbitrary; yet less severe than
would be supposed in the circumstances in which he placed himself. His
severity was chiefly directed against the cavalier party, who never
ceased to plot against his person and his power. But his vengeance,
though strict, was not bloody, his punishments seldom exceeding
confiscation, fine, or imprisonment. There are some instances of his
packing juries, and some of his diverting the ordinary course of justice
by other means. His parliaments were elected unconstitutionally; it
could hardly be otherwise, when the power that brought them together was
usurped and absolute. But his main object seems to have been the general
happiness, virtue, and honour of his people. Few of England’s hereditary
kings had governed so well or so mildly; scarcely any so bloodlessly.
His prayer on his death-bed was as follows:—“Lord! I am a poor, foolish
creature; this people would fain have me live; they think that it will
be best for them, and that it will redound much to thy glory. All the
stir is about this. Others would fain have me die. Lord, pardon them,
and pardon thy foolish people; forgive their sins, and do not forsake
them; but love, and bless, and bring them to a consistency, and give
them rest; and give me rest, for Jesus Christ’s sake; to whom, with
thyself and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory.” He died Sept. 3,
1658, on the anniversary of his victories at Dunbar and Worcester. Some
hours before his death he declared his eldest son Richard to be his
successor in the Protectorate. He was buried with the pomp that became
his high place, and his remains were interred amidst those of England’s
kings. The empty spite of the minions of the Restoration was wreaked on
his dead body, which was disinterred, hanged at Tyburn, and burnt. This
was the only revenge that the courtly followers of Charles could take on
the man, the terror of whose name still made them tremble.
Cromwell’s natural character was kindly and benevolent, in proof of
which may be adduced the ardent love felt for him by his family, his
personal friends, and his soldiers. His humanity was displayed in his
toleration of religious differences of opinion, and in his earnest
interference against the persecutions of the Vaudois. Those of his
letters which remain, though often on subjects where a contrary feeling
might have been shown, contain nothing contradictory, and much that is
favourable to this opinion. His humour was wont to show itself in a rude
and boisterous manner. He laughed, and joked, and even romped with his
friends and officers. This, perhaps, was not done without motive; for
the discovery of character was one of Cromwell’s main objects, and in
the unrestrainedness of this kind of mirth the minds of many men were
laid open to his view. His return from such scenes to his wonted manly
and quiet dignity, destroyed the undue familiarity which might have been
their consequence.
Cromwell has been called by some an enthusiast; by others, a hypocrite.
Tillotson says of him, that he seems to have deceived others so long
that he at last deceived himself. It would, perhaps, be more just to
say, that he long deceived himself, and when that ceased, he began to
deceive others. That he had a strong sense of religion there can be no
doubt, inasmuch as that at one time of his life he had determined to
give up his native country for the free exercise of his faith. On his
death-bed he declared, that he had assuredly at one time been in a state
of grace. His judgment was sound, and his mind powerful; and it is not
men of this character who commonly prove self-deceivers. That he
deceived others there is no doubt; but that deception was rather
political than moral. He was very diligent to inspect the minds of his
friends and followers, and in doing so, frequently kept his opinions and
feelings in the background, the better to effect his purpose: that this
can be called hypocrisy may be well doubted. He left his kingdom in a
flourishing condition; respected abroad, in a good state at home, and
notwithstanding the few grants of money given to him, inconsiderably in
debt.
Cromwell was possessed of a robust body, and of a manly but stern and
unprepossessing aspect. The picture from which our portrait is engraved
was presented by him to Nathaniel Rich, then serving under him as
Colonel of a regiment of horse in the Parliamentary army. It was
bequeathed to the British Museum by the great-grandson of that
gentleman, Lieut.-General Sir Robert Rich. The books in which the
history of this period may be studied are too well known to require
minute enumeration. Milton, Harris, Godwin, are favourable to Cromwell:
most other writers of note have gone against him. The character given of
him by Cowley is justly celebrated.
[Illustration:
[Central Group from West’s Picture of the Dissolution of the Long
Parliament.]
]
[Illustration:
_Engraved by J. Posselwhite._