Leaving the Colonies, the reader's attention will now be directed
to other relations of a religious nature--relations which the Lord
Protector entered into with some of the Churches on the Continent, and
which, in reference to those Churches, he sustained towards different
European powers.
In approaching the subject we meet with a singular individual, whose
activity prepared for negotiations respecting spiritual matters
which were carried on with foreign States through the Commonwealth
ambassadors. A few notices of his early history are necessary for a
clear understanding of what he did in connection with the events about
to be described.
[Sidenote: _Durie and Laud._]
John Durie was a Scotch Presbyterian, whose father--banished for
opposing King James the Sixth of Scotland and his Bishops--went over
to the city of Leyden, and there laboured as pastor of a Church
consisting of British refugees. The son, who had been educated at
Oxford, settled for a while at Elbing, in Prussia, just after Gustavus
Adolphus had won that city from the Poles; and it happened that
whilst he was residing there, he received from Casper Godeman, the
Swedish Jurist, suggestions respecting a scheme of Protestant union,
to which he devoted the greatest part of his life. As early as the
month of April, 1633, we find him writing from Frankfort to Sir Thomas
Roe--a distinguished person who was sent as ambassador to several
Courts--informing him that the Swedish Chancellor, Oxenstiern, was
strongly in favour of a close union between the Lutheran and Reformed
Churches; and, at the same period, we discover Roe, who was then in
London, corresponding with Oxenstiern, and commending such an union as
of the highest importance to the interests of Germany. Hope, however,
soon began to waver in the breast of the Scotch minister with regard
to the Chancellor's steady pursuit of the object; on account, as he
said, of "political ends and respects." Yet, in the winter of 1633,
the former rejoiced in the favourable impression which his great
project had produced upon the mind of Secretary Coke, and in the
expectation which had been awakened of his obtaining assistance even
from so influential a personage as Archbishop Laud, through Secretary
Windebank. Durie succeeded in gaining access to the Prelate, and had
also correspondence with him upon the subject of a Protestant union.
Although it appeared that political interests came in the way of
the full success which this warm advocate so much desired, yet he
expressed it as his decided opinion, that his Grace of Canterbury was
well affected towards the cause.[537] Like other penniless men, John
Durie laboured in his self-chosen vocation at a great disadvantage,
and was constrained to mix up petitions for personal assistance with
appeals on behalf of his cause; but it ought to be remembered that his
whole life proved the latter to be dearer to him far than any pecuniary
interest whatever. The young Ambassador Oxenstiern, son of the great
Chancellor, on his reaching London in March, 1634, encouraged Durie
to return to Germany, where he would find that the state of affairs
promised more than ever a favourable issue; at the same time assuring
him also, that his father had no greater desire than to see this work
of Christian charity and brotherhood perfectly accomplished. There can
be no doubt that Durie's own desires were more sincere and earnest
than the Chancellor's; of this he gave proof in the honest enthusiasm
with which he declared to Sir Thomas Roe, that if not prohibited he
would persevere; and, to use his own words, where he could not ride he
would go afoot, and when he could not walk he would creep on all fours
rather than not proceed. It was so grievous, he added, to see such an
enterprise as his so little cherished, and he was led to suspect that
a main hindrance to a prosperous result would be the complication of
spiritual with political affairs.[538]
Strange as it may appear to some readers, Laud himself wrote to Roe
upon the subject, and told him that he had prepared letters to both
Lutherans and Calvinists, so far as it was in "any ways fit;" and that
he wished Durie's labours might be crowned with a happy success. If a
public act, he proceeded to observe, could be gained at the Frankfort
meeting, for a reconciliation between the Churches, he thought that a
footing might be thereby secured for further proceedings; but until
that preliminary was accomplished he could not discern much hope.
He also informed him, that although the King highly approved of the
object, his Majesty could not publicly take part in the negotiations;
that, as to himself, he could assure him that though he was at Court,
yet he was almost as far from being able to render assistance, as was
Sir Thomas Roe--inasmuch as business of this description was handled by
a foreign committee, of which he did not happen to be a member.[539]
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, took an interest in this "treaty of the
ecclesiastical peace," as Sir Thomas Roe termed it; and, in a letter
to that illustrious lady, he spoke of Durie as an excellent man, whom
God had "raised up to be an instrument of the greatest treaty of the
age." Roe felt persuaded he should see the purpose accomplished, if, as
he remarks, "it fall not by us who should most affect both the benefit
and honour." Whilst Roe was writing to the Queen, Durie was writing
to Roe, full of anxiety as to whether he could start equipped with
such authority as he sought from princes and prelates, or "proceed in
a private way;" also as to the manner in which the Hollanders, "the
stiffest of all," were likely to behave; and further as to the mode in
which he should proceed with the Churches of the Low Countries, because
the business trenched upon their domestic controversies. The French
and Swiss, he believed, were well disposed, and if he himself could
but subsist in ever so mean a way, but for a year or two, his heart
told him that the seed which he was sowing would spring up, although
no sunshine should fall, nor any shower from England should rain upon
it.[540]
Episcopal patronage and the diplomacy of statesmen effected nothing
for this sanguine Apostle of union. He was left single-handed to plead
the cause, as best he could, at the Evangelical Congress of Frankfort,
in the year 1634, having been allowed by Sir Robert Anstruther to
travel thither with him in his coach--Durie's man being "shifted
sometimes in the baggage waggons, and sometimes afoot, and sometimes
in the second coach." As lodgings were dear during the Diet, the good
man's chamber cost him nine shillings a week, and he had "to put
himself in some fashion for clothes."[541]
In the same year, Durie published his "_Aliquot Theologorum Galliæ, et
trium ecclesiæ Anglicanæ Episcoporum, sententia de pacis rationibus
inter Evangelicos usurpandis_." Davenant, Morton, and Hale, were the
three Bishops referred to in the book. Other Latin treatises, on the
same absorbing theme, from the same pen, followed, but without effect.
The Churches of Transylvania, indeed, sent their advice and counsel;
and the Divines of Sweden and Denmark listened to what the Scotchman
had to say; but after all this correspondence, and after a consultation
with Universities to boot, this indefatigable minister, was as far
from realizing his dreams of union when Oliver Cromwell became Lord
Protector, as when he waited at the doors of Lambeth Palace upon
Archbishop Laud.
[Sidenote: _Protestant Alliance._]
A sweeping method of promoting the Protestant Alliance was recommended
by a correspondent of John Milton--which there can be no doubt would
have been found quite as inoperative for the accomplishment of the
end in view as the official position and influence at which it
ill-naturedly sneers. "Mr. Durie," said the writer, "has bestowed about
thirty years' time in travel, conference, and writings, to reconcile
Calvinists and Lutherans, and that with little or no success. But
the shortest way were--take away ecclesiastical dignities, honours,
and preferments on both sides, and all would soon be hushed; the
ecclesiastics would be quiet, and then the people would come forth into
truth and liberty."[542]
[Sidenote: _Protestant Alliance._]
Civil establishments of Christianity have doubtless greatly complicated
such difficulties as exist in the way both of international and
domestic religious union; but the deepest and most lasting source
of difficulty is to be found lower down than any ecclesiastical
organizations, even in human nature itself, in its blended good and
evil--on the one hand, in its mistaken but honest conscientiousness,
and on the other, in its selfishness, prejudice, and pride. When much
ecclesiastical wealth had been confiscated, and all ecclesiastical
dignities had disappeared in England, the great Protestant Alliance,
floating before Durie's imagination, approached no nearer its
realization than it had done before. Real Christian union can never
be reached through any diplomacy of that kind, nor even through
persistent endeavours such as those of the zealous individual whom we
have described. It must come as the unforced result amongst sects and
parties of a divine temper, such as we have never yet seen, and which
we find it not in human power to command. We can but intercede that God
would inspire it through His own good Spirit.
Cromwell was, perhaps, as desirous of active fellowship between
Protestant Churches as was Durie; and the latter, with such a powerful
person to countenance his mission, might well imagine himself within
sight of the port towards which he had been steering for so many
years. Thurloe, Secretary of State, and Dr. John Pell, who was the
Protector's minister abroad, entered largely into the plans of this
enthusiastic individual, the latter of the two being engaged in
performing important missions to foreign Protestants, especially the
Swiss.[543]
After repeated discouragements the ecclesiastical diplomatist returned
to England, and found, to his great joy, the Protector most gracious,
and the Parliament most friendly. He forwarded to Pell a resolution of
the House, that his Highness "would be pleased to encourage Christian
endeavours for assisting the Protestant Churches abroad"--a few kind
words which Durie fondly hoped would "open a door for action." His
hands might appear to be strengthened by this vote; yet he still went
on spending his strength for naught. It is needless to follow him any
further through his fruitless negotiations, except to state, that
without "bating one jot of heart or hope," he still pressed onward;
and when Cromwell's death, and the Restoration of Charles had left him
without any aid from the English Government, this man of unquenchable
ardour published another book on his favourite theme. Fourteen more
years of Sisyphus-like labour did, indeed, dishearten him in the
attempt to draw together the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches,
only however, to inspire him with the resolve to attempt union upon
a still larger scale; and at the same time he sought, amidst his
disappointments, consolation in the study of the Apocalypse, a part
of Scripture which, in his view, satisfactorily explained his want of
success, its cause and its remedy. This singular person, so generous
in purpose, and so persistent in toil, ended his days in Germany.[544]
[Sidenote: _Persecution of the Vaudios._]
John Durie's name is further connected with the earliest intelligence
conveyed to England, respecting the persecutions of the Piedmontese
Protestants by the Duke of Savoy. On the 24th of February, 1655, he
wrote from the pleasantly-situated town of Aarau, in Switzerland, to
Mr. Pell, informing him that the Lords of Zurich had been entreating
help on behalf of their brethren in Piedmont, who were now commanded
either to go to mass, or to leave their native hills.[545] Just one
month before this letter was written, an edict had been issued to that
effect, in consequence of tumults which had disturbed the peaceful
valleys, and which had arisen out of the propagandist labours of
certain Capuchin friars. The zeal of the proselyting Roman Catholic
had come into collision with the zeal of the primitive Vaudois.
Assassinations and abductions had been added to arguments on the one
side; natural indignation against such violence had arisen on the
other. Savoyard troops troubled and oppressed the peasantry; the
peasantry resisted the Savoyard troops; war was blazing in the green
glens under the snowy hills. Then came the edict of expatriation,
terrible as death to those mountaineers, who clung to the land of their
fathers' sepulchres as fondly and closely as the pine trees cling
to the rocks on which they grow. Totally unprepared for travelling,
the peasantry received orders to depart from their native country
within the space of twenty days. They were now obliged to desert
their village homesteads, and make rude encampments upon heights in
the neighbourhood. On the 21st of April, the sufferers wrote to the
French ambassador, declaring that they were, at last, forced to take up
arms in self-defence, against enemies who came to burn their houses;
that never had they entertained an idea of rebelling against their
royal master, the Duke of Savoy; nay, that they were ready to change
their weapons "into mattocks" if he would but place them in their
former condition. They referred to Roman Catholics in the vicinity
as witnesses of their wrongs. They challenged investigation. They
begged for mediators. They would leave all in their hands.[546] On the
very day these brave and pious people thus appealed to France, Pell,
in the city of Geneva, was watching the movements of Savoy, and he
intimated to Secretary Thurloe that a massacre was in the wind--that
the Duke took counsel from those who, under the pretence of propagating
Christian faith, minded nothing so much as the advancement of the
Pope's interest. Before he sealed his letter, the diplomatist added,
that the Canton of Berne had sent to the Lords of Zurich, to signify
that the Duke with his army was certainly descending upon the poor
Protestants, so that it would be a wonder if they were not utterly
destroyed before any one could come to their help. Direct intelligence
of the horrid cruelties perpetrated upon the Vaudois was dispatched
by Pell to Thurloe the last day of April; and upon the 8th of May
following, Thurloe thus wrote to Pell:--"I do assure you it is a matter
which his Highness lays very much to heart, and will rejoice to hear
that other Protestants do think themselves concerned in it also. And
I do not doubt but you and Mr. Durie will also contribute your utmost
endeavours to make the Protestants in those parts sensible of this
horrid action, and to get a true measure of their intentions about it,
and to certify them hither by the first opportunity."[547]
The lion was roused; and from Cromwell's Council Chamber there went
forth in that month of May such letters to foreign powers as have
been rarely read--being filled with Cromwell's decision and Milton's
eloquence, and with the Protestant anger which was fiercely burning
in the hearts of both. Religion, and hatred of the hellish wrongs
committed in its name, then stirred the government of England,
and lifted her foreign diplomacy into a region far loftier than
that which comes within the range of vulgar and selfish politics.
Despatches--which, for their spirit, argument, and language an
Englishman may be proud to read--were sent to Louis XIV., to the Duke
of Savoy, to the Prince of Transylvania, to Gustavus Adolphus, to the
United States of Holland, to the evangelic cities of Switzerland,
to the King of Denmark, and to the Consul and Senators of Geneva.
All these letters may be found in Milton's prose works; and let not
the unmistakeable threat of something beyond words of indignation be
overlooked in these missives. The threat did more than anything else to
stop the bloodshed, and prevent its recurrence; only the wily power of
France played its part of mediatorship so quickly and so cunningly, as
to settle the business upon terms far less just than the Lord Protector
would have exacted, had the winding up of the affair fallen into his
vigorous hands.
[Sidenote: _Cromwell's Interference._]
Cromwell dispatched Sir Samuel Morland as ambassador to the Duke of
Savoy, and put in his possession the following speech, prepared by
the same pen as that which wrote those magnificent letters:--"My
most serene master, Oliver, Protector of the Commonwealth of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, has sent me to your Royal Highness, to whom
he bids all health, life, and a long and prosperous reign, which he
trusts you may enjoy, amid the greetings and good wishes of a hearty
and well-affected people. He is encouraged to hope this by merits of
your own--regarding the noble disposition of your Royal Highness--your
birth, the high expectation formed of you, no less than the old
historical amity existing between the old Kings of this realm and the
House of Savoy, which he calls to mind. My most serene and good master
it has pleased, to send me on a mission of importance, though I am but
a youth, unripe and unpractised, yet devoted to your Royal Highness,
and a hearty friend to the interests of Italy. King Crœsus,
according to the old story, had a son who was born dumb, yet he, the
moment he saw a soldier aiming a wound at his father, recovered his
tongue. Even so it is with me. My tongue this day is unloosed by those
cruel wounds dealt at our mother, the Church--unloosed to plead a cause
on which the safety and all the hopes of many turn, trusting, as they
do, by loyalty, obedience, and lowliest prayers, to pacify the heart
of your Royal Highness, now turned against them. In the cause of these
distressed people--if even pity may improve their plight--his Highness,
the Protector of England, comes forward as a suitor, and earnestly
prays and beseeches your Royal Highness to vouchsafe to grant mercy to
these poor and exiled subjects, who, dwelling at the roots of the Alps,
in certain vales under your rule, have given their name to the religion
of Protestants. He has heard a fact--no one will dare to say it was
done by consent of your Royal Highness--that these wretched people
have been, some of them, cruelly slaughtered by your troops--some
of them driven out by force, thrust out from their dwelling-place
and country, homeless, houseless, penniless, utterly destitute, have
gone over rough and inhospitable tracts, over hills heaped high with
snow--gone as vagrants with their wives and children. If there be any
truth in the report everywhere heard--would, indeed, it were a false
report!--what deed of horror was not done, or unattempted in those
days. Everywhere was the sight of smoking houses, mutilated limbs, and
the earth reeking with blood, nay, maidens expired in wretched agony,
after being atrociously violated--even the aged and the sick were burnt
with fire, infants were dashed on the rocks, and the brains of others
cooked and eaten,--horrible wickedness, and unheard of before cruelty.
O good God! such as the heroes of all times and ages, if they were to
come to life this very day, would have been ashamed of, seeing that
they had never invented aught so inhuman. Nay, even angels shudder,
mortals are amazed, the very heaven itself seems astonished at these
outcries, and the earth blushes at the blood of so many innocent
persons overspreading it. Do not thou, O God, Most High!--do not thou
require the vengeance due to this deed! Wash out, O Christ! with Thy
blood this stain. Nay, I will not tell them in order, nor dwell longer
on these details; and what my serene master asks, you will better learn
from his letters."[548]
Several ministers of the City of London waited upon the Protector to
solicit his sympathy and assistance on behalf of the sufferers, for
which request he thanked them, and declared that he was extremely
shocked at the tidings which he had received. He afterwards assured
the Dutch ambassador that he was moved to his very soul by all he had
heard--that he was ready to venture his all for the protection of
Protestantism--that in this cause he would swim or perish--and that the
example of Ireland was fresh in his memory, where he said 200,000 souls
had been inhumanly massacred.[549]
[Sidenote: _Collections for the Sufferers._]
By the end of June, 1655, collections were on foot throughout England;
and even the French ambassador was not exempted from contributing
to the fund, although, he says, he had as much need of charity as
the Piedmontese. A few days later, the same gentleman wrote home
declaring, that the gatherings amounted to a vast sum, for everybody
gave something, to seem charitable, and the ministers "played their
parts to some purpose to stir the people up to assist their persecuted
brethren."[550] How the clergy in Genevan cloaks, with hour-glasses by
their side, thundered forth anathemas against Rome, and appealed to the
hearts and purses of their crowded congregations in those summer weeks,
can be readily imagined; and that the appeals were followed by great
success the Dutch ambassador indicates when, writing to the States
General on the 16th of July, he says: "Several persons have assured me
that the collection doth amount to above £100,000."[551]
[Sidenote: _Proceedings of the Committee._]
A committee was formed by order of his Highness and the Council, to
superintend the business involved in this enterprise of beneficence,
and the members of that committee appear to have diligently discharged
their duties; for they collected information respecting the whole
subject, they corresponded with the sufferers, they consulted as to the
best methods of relief, and they bestowed much time and thought upon
the appropriation of the money, minute accounts of it being kept, and
carefully audited from time to time.[552] In the month of June we find
them resolving to prepare a narrative of events, to be accompanied by
letters patent for making collections through the medium of ministers
and churchwardens, both publicly and from house to house,--each
contributor being requested to write down his name with the amount
of his donation, and each parish to return an accurate schedule of
subscriptions. When some of the money had been distributed to meet
immediate necessities, the committee further resolved in the following
January to request his Highness to take into consideration how the poor
Piedmontese Protestants were to be provided for in the future--because
the residue of the money raised would be in time exhausted, and then
they would be left in a lingering condition, if their security and
their subsistence were not provided for in some other way. A paper,
laid before them by Morland the same month, suggested--forasmuch as
letters from Geneva and other places recently received, had informed
them of the roads to the valleys being stopped up by an abundance
of snow, and as, in all probability, the inhabitants were in great
extremities, and the remittances last sent were exhausted--that his
Highness and the Council would be graciously pleased to consider what
sum should be forwarded for their relief. In a letter from Geneva,
dated the 14th of February, 1657, it is related--"our poor people
are in extreme necessity, the greatest part of our families being
destitute of houses, movables, cattle, or anything else whereby to
subsist. For although there was lately a considerable distribution
made, yet the greatest part of our people were more indebted than their
portion amounted to, for bread and other sustenance, which they had
been forced to take upon trust before, to preserve themselves from
perishing with hunger. If you did but know, sirs, the greatness of our
miseries, you would certainly have compassion on us, and pity our sad
condition. God is now in good earnest chastising us for our sins and
iniquities, to which we most willingly submit, kissing the rod, and
confessing that He is still just and righteous."
Under date June the 5th, 1657, there exists a document signed by the
Protector (with a trembling hand) recommending that the widow of one
of the Vaudois, who had been put to death in the massacre, should
receive an exhibition of £100, and such further sum as "will release
her son out of prison and be a little help to her present support."
Probably to the same year belongs another paper, in which war is
anticipated between the Protestant cantons and their Popish enemies. It
contains proposals to aid the belligerents by means of the remainder
of the funds which had been collected two years before. "This just and
seasonable way of the disposal of these moneys will yet more fully
appear if it be considered, that a good part thereof hath been already
sent for the relief of the present necessities of the Waldenses, and
that the portion intended for the succour of the Protestant cantons
is only to be lent to them upon very good security, to be repaid, for
the use of those to whom it was given--there being likewise a very
considerable sum still remaining in readiness for them, as their urgent
pressures shall require, and they be able to receive it. To all which
we may add the necessity of this proceeding in regard to that sum, the
late collection--such great alterations have happened both by the wars
amongst the cantons, and that unhappy compliance of the Waldenses with
the Duke of Savoy (formerly related), as that a great part of the money
collected will otherwise be as a dead stock in Guildhall; the loan of
which for a little time may, by God's blessing, be a means to preserve
both the Protestant cantons and also the distressed Waldenses for whom
the collection was made."[553]
The pacification which had taken place in the month of August, 1655,
putting a stop to the outrages upon the Protestants, was, as to its
terms, considered by Morland, the envoy, very unsatisfactory; for
which terms he greatly blamed the Swiss ambassadors. He looked on
such a peace as worse than the continuance of war, and mourned over
the scandal that the sufferers should have been forced to confess
themselves guilty of rebellion. Thurloe, representing the Government
at home, sent out instructions to the minister to complain to the
Bernese of the unfair conditions which they had sanctioned; to let
them know it was everywhere amongst Protestants "laid to heart;" to
attempt arresting the ratification of the treaty; and to "prosecute its
amendment." Allusion occurs to "the sixty thousand pounds voluntarily
gathered in England for the relief of these people;" and then the
instructions end with the clause--"that the treaty between his Highness
and the King of France is agreed, but that his Highness will not sign
it until he have satisfaction in this business of Piedmont--and that as
he hath caused a large contribution to be made for them, so that he
cannot nor will not desert them."[554] To write thus, however, was at
that time too late, the Swiss States, through fear of France, having
already agreed to the ratification.
[Sidenote: _Cromwell and Louis XIV._]
Three years afterwards, Cromwell, upon learning that the treaty had
been violated, and apprehending the occurrence of fresh massacres,
wrote once more to Louis XIV. In a letter dated May, 1658:--"New
Levies," he said, "are privately preparing against 'em, and all that
embrace the _Protestant Religion_ are commanded to depart by a prefix'd
day; so that all things seem to threaten the utter extermination of
those deplorable wretches whom the former massacre spar'd. Which I
most earnestly beseech and conjure ye, _most Christian King_, by
_that_ RIGHT HAND _which sign'd the League_ and Friendship
between us, by _that same goodly ornament of your Title_ of MOST
CHRISTIAN, by no means to suffer, nor to permit such liberty
of Rage and Fury, uncontroul'd we will not say, in any Prince (for
certainly such barbarous severity could never enter the breast of any
Prince, much less so tender in years, nor into the female Thoughts of
his mother), but in those sanctify'd cut-throats who, professing
themselves to be the Servants and Disciples of our Saviour Christ,
who came into this World to save Sinners, abuse His meek and peaceful
name and precepts to the most cruel slaughter of the Innocent. Rescue,
you that are able in your tow'ring Station, worthy to be able, rescue
so many Suppliants prostrate at your feet, from the hands of Ruffians
who, lately drunk with Blood, again thirst after it, and think it
their safest way to throw the Odium of their Cruelty upon Princes. But
as for you, great Prince, suffer not, while you reign, your Titles,
nor the Confines of your Kingdom, to be contaminated with this same
Heaven-offering Scandal, nor the peaceful Gospel of Christ to be
defil'd with such abominable Cruelty."[555]
[Sidenote: 1658.]
Whether prevented by Cromwell's remonstrance or not, the horrors
anticipated did not occur; although, after the Protector's death, and
the restoration of Charles II., the unhappy Vaudois were again plunged
into the miseries of war. The letter just quoted ends Milton's immortal
correspondence on the subject--a correspondence which moves with
admiration the depth of one's soul: whenever since that time has the
Protestantism of England burnt with such a vivid and steady light in
the midst of her foreign diplomacy?
[Sidenote: _Other Persecuted Protestants._]
Nor were the Piedmontese the only foreign Protestants who excited
sympathy in the breast of the Protector, and amongst the reformed
Churches of England. Brethren in Poland and Silesia had suffered exile
for their faith; and, on their behalf, as in the case of the Vaudois,
collections were promptly ordered to be made. The same thing was
effected in the case of the persecuted Bohemians. A committee was
appointed in this instance, as in the former one, and a declaration was
drawn up touching the condition of the Polish Protestants. "If a cup
of cold water," says that document, "given to one disciple as such,
shall not lose its reward, how much more when a bountiful relief is
given to more than five thousand disciples; which we should be the more
forward to advance, because they acknowledge they have received much
confirmation in the religion for which they suffer by light received
from our countryman, John Wicklif, that famous witness of Christ
against Antichrist, even in the darkest times of Popery." A letter,
by John Durie, begged an extension of charity to other suffering
Protestants in Germany; and another letter, by Morland, stated:--"There
are above five thousand left whom God hath snatched out of their cruel
rage, wandering miserable, naked, and, indeed, reduced unto plain
beggary. There remains no refuge for them but in God, and those who in
God's stead do watch for the good of the Church."
Upon its being represented that the Papists had burned Bibles printed
in the Bohemian and Polonese languages, and that the exiled Protestants
were in great want of the Scriptures, it was ordered that out of the
fund collected for the relief of the sufferers, the sum of £1,000
should be paid to procure for them copies of the Word of God. In
another document amongst the papers of the Committee, it is said:--"The
poor exiled Churches are in great want of this spiritual food, as of
their daily bread, and desire rather to take something from their
mouths to supply the necessity of their souls." The Committee was
resolved that the cause of these sufferers should be commended to the
King of Sweden, to be remembered in any treaty of peace between him
and the King of Poland.[556]
[Sidenote: 1658.]
The French Protestants were indebted to Cromwell for effectual
protection when they were exposed to imminent danger. Some of them, who
were citizens of Nismes in Languedoc, had, amidst the excitement of a
municipal election, been betrayed into acts of very great violence,
and had even assailed their opponents with a volley of musket shot,
upon which the French Government despatched a party of troops to take
vengeance upon the offenders. The successors of the Huguenots in that
ancient city, justly fearing, that as chastisement had been entrusted
to the hands of the soldiers, the innocent would be liable to suffer
with the guilty, despatched a representative to Cromwell to request
his intercession on their behalf. The Protector gave him an audience
immediately upon his arrival, and invited him to "refresh himself after
so long a journey, and he would take such care of his business that
by the time he came to Paris he should find it despatched." That very
night he sent a messenger to his ambassador Lockhart, with a despatch
commanding him to secure mercy on behalf of the Protestant citizens of
Nismes, or take his departure from the French Court. Mazarin complained
of this as being too imperious, but confessed that he could not help
himself in the matter; and orders were forthwith sent to arrest the
march of the troops. "So that nobody," remarks Clarendon who relates
this incident, can wonder that Cromwell's "memory remains still in
those parts, and with those people, in great veneration." In other ways
also the Protector made the Cardinal feel and acknowledge his great
power. For, as his Eminence told Madame Turenne, "he knew not how to
behave himself; if he advised the King to punish and suppress" the
insolence of the Protestants, Cromwell "threatened him to join with the
Spaniards, and if he shewed any favour to them, at Rome they accounted
him a heretic."[557]
[Sidenote: _Cromwell's Foreign Policy._]
Nothing could surpass the zeal of Cromwell in the support of the
Protestant interest at home and abroad. Burnet, on the authority
of Stoupe,[558] informs us that he contemplated a sort of
anti-propagandist society, to be conducted by seven councillors and
four secretaries for four provinces. France, Switzerland, and the
Valleys were to be the first; the Palatinate and other Calvinistic
countries the second; Germany, the North, and Turkey, the third; and
the East and West Indies the fourth. The secretaries were to maintain
a correspondence throughout the world so as to watch and promote the
spread of Protestantism everywhere. They were to be paid salaries of
£500 a year each, and to have at their disposal a fund of £10,000 for
ordinary contingencies. Chelsea College, then an old and decayed
building, was constituted the head quarters of this mission; and thus,
as it was said, those premises were restored to something like the very
purpose in reference to which Laud had nicknamed the place "Controversy
College"--whilst "the Papists, in derision, gave it the name of an
alehouse."[559]
[Sidenote: _Treatment of the Jews._]
The condition of the Jews received attention from the Protector
principally with regard to their social status in England. Cromwell
wished to concede to them liberty of trade and of worship, and to
grant them both synagogues and cemeteries; but prejudice against the
people of Israel, which had been nursed throughout the middle ages,
and had not yet expired, proved too strong even for the iron will of
England's ruler to overcome. The inveterate intolerance which down
to our day excluded them from a full share in political rights, then
resisted even their moderate claims to a home, a house of prayer,
and a grave on British soil. Not only the narrow-minded Mr. Prynne,
but even Durie--with all his zeal for union amongst Protestants, as
fellow-religionists--contended earnestly against the participation of
the Jews in the social rights which were enjoyed by Christians. Men of
that class contended that to tolerate Israelites was a sin; that they
would seduce the English people; that their possession of religious
freedom would be a scandal to Christian Churches; that their customs
were unlawful; and that association with them would prove injurious to
morals and mischievous to trade. It was all in vain to answer, as did
certain Divines--who were themselves by no means free from popular
prejudice--that no civil or ecclesiastical authority was intended to be
conferred upon the Jews; that they would not be allowed to defame the
Christian religion, or work on the Christian Sabbath, or have Christian
servants; that they would not be allowed to discourage efforts for
their conversion; and that penalties would be inflicted on any
person who might apostatize from Christianity to Judaism. The ground
of defence thus laid for the scanty toleration which was proposed
indicates what erroneous ideas existed, even under the Commonwealth,
as to the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty.[560]
But Cromwell, though not perceiving all which the subsequent teaching
of Divine Providence has made known to us, saw much further than many
of his contemporaries who in theological matters were more learned than
himself. Guided by the instinct of genius, and moved by the impulse of
charity, he was prepared to allow, even to the hated sons of Jacob,
the rights of industry and worship; and doing so, this great man
aroused unfair suspicions on the part of people who ought to have known
better.[561] A feeling of interest respecting the children of Israel
appeared in other quarters, and certain individuals, with no mere
proselyting zeal, watched the movements of God's ancient nation, and
longed to witness its conversion to the faith of Jesus Christ.[562]
[Illustration]