by Commissioning some of those Persons which he most apprehended in his Counsell to do his work whom under the Name of Major-Generals and with a Power at Liberty doubtless foreseeing how they would abuse it he places as Governours over the Several Counties These he employs to Levy his barbarous Decimation which when they had done and by a Thousand Insolencies enraged the People he laies them aside being now become of the most Popular of the Party the most Abominated Creatures of the Nation Touching the Royallists no good for him was to be hop'd for There but by Goals Exile Selling them for Slaves Famishings or Murther all which was abundantly provided for by Sequestrations Pretended Plots High-Courts of Iustice Spyes Decoyes c. Nay for the very Dispatch sake when they should resolve upon the Massacre which beyond doubt they meant us No Cavalier must be allow'd so much as the least piece of Defensive Arms by an Order of Nov. 24. 1655. No Person suffer'd to keep in his house as Chaplain or School-Master any Sequestred or Ejected Minister Fellow of a Colledge or School-Master nor suffer his Children to be taught by such Nor any Person of that Quality must be permitted to Teach a School either Publick or Private Nor Preach but in his Own Family nor Administer the Sacraments nor Marry nor use the Common-Prayer book c. This was the only Party the Rebels fear'd and ruin'd but for the Presbyterians they knew they 'd never Ioyn to help the King and single they were inconsiderable The Common-wealths-Men finally contented themselves with the Name of a Common-wealth under the Exercise of a Single Person so that by This Method of Engaging one Party conniving at another and crushing the Third This Tyrant gave himself the Means and Leisure to fortifie his Interests some other way He had already try'd a Parliament of his own Call that met Septemb. 3. 1654. Five or Six dayes are spent in dangerous Debates about the Government and the Authority by which they are Convened This Oliver did not like and sent them an Appointment to meet him on the 12. in the Painted Chamber where discoursing the Reciprocal tyes betwixt Him and his Parliament The Fundamentals of the Government as to a Single Person the Succession of Parliaments their mutual Interest in the Militia and Liberty of Conscience and that These Particulars they were Entrusted to maintain concluded that finding a Design among them to overthrow That Settlement he was necessitated to appoint a Recognition for every Man to sign before he could be re-admitted into the House which Recognition was as follows IA. B. do hereby Promise and Engage my self to be true and faithful to the Lord Protector and the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland and that according to the Tenure of the Indenture whereby I am returned to serve in This Present Parliament I will not propose or give my consent to alter the Government as it is setled in one Single Person and a Parliament This was no Conventicle for Cromwell's Turn so that after Five Months sitting This Puppet of a Prince did formally dissolve it in hope the next might use him better His Credit though but small at Home had better luck abroad The Dutch the Sweed and then the French entred a League with him and the effect of this Conjunction hasten'd his Ruine I must not overslip that One Condition with the French was the Extrusion of our Gracious Sovereign with his Adherents out of the French Kings Dominions Flush'd with Success and Vanity nothing less serves us now then the Spaniards part of the West-Indies By whose advice it matters not but in Decemb. 1654. a Considerable Fleet sets Sail from Ports-Mouth and about mid April 1655. arrives at St. Domingo Briefly the Voyage was disastrous and those that Scap'd the Fate of That Attempt dispos'd their After-game for Iamaica To Ballance This disgrace Blake made amends at Tunis firing Nine Frigates in the Port Ferino and came off fair at last Olivers nex design was to intercept the Plate-Fleet and within four Leagues of the Bay of Cadiz the English engaged eight Galeons whereof only One Scap'd Two were Taken and the Rest Sunk Burnt or Stranded This disappointment to the Spaniard was a bitter one and the Success as seasonable to the English Yielding them both a Prodigious Booty and a Dreadful Reputation But these Successes were to Cromwell as a good Hand or two to a Young Gamester only Temptations to a Course will ruine him While these Exploits were driving on Abroad Others were in the Forge at Home Here to gain Love There Awe and Credit with as much Money toward the Purchase as the Fates pleas'd Upon the Royallists his Flatteries wrought little as being a Party mov'd neither by Security nor Profit where the King's Interest was the Question Both which they freely Sacrificed in their first dutiful Engagement with him and to the last stood firm through the whole course of Oliver's most furious Extremities But other Instruments there were of a more tractable and complying Temper and These Foresooth Ten Twenty perhaps in a Country worship'd the Golden Calf and in the Name of the People of England Addressed Congratulated Engaged themselves to stand by and assist him to the Vttermost in the discharge of the Trust which so remarkably was devolved upon him This is the Style of that from Bucks To these Appearances of a general Good-liking were added the Conjoynt-endeavours of his Dependents and Allies which being Numerous in Truth and Considerable by Employment gave no small Succour and Support to his Ambitious Project and Tottering Greatness As by the Influence they had upon the Iuncto in Sep. 1656 more eminently appear'd consisting of near a 100 Military Officers 40 or 50 of his Allies Domesticks and particular Creatures I speak the least beside their Seconds a mixture there was likewise of certain Persons truly Honourable but divers being excluded and the rest over-voted their Interest came to nothing These were no Strangers to their Masters pleasure and what That was may be collected from the Votes they passed to please him The Main were these 1. An Act for Renouncing and Annulling the Title of Charles Stuart to the Three Kingdoms 2. For the Securing of the Protectors Person and preserving the Peace of the Nation 3. The humble Petition and Advice Wherein was plentifully provided whatever might conduce to his Establishment the most material Points being these following Only Protector should have been King if he had pleas'd 1. That under the Name and Style of Lord Protector c. He should in his Life-time Declare his Successor and Govern according to the Petition and Advice in Matters therein exprest and in other things according to the Law of the Land 2. That he would call Parliaments for the future Consisting of Two House c. and Triennial at least 3. That the Quorum of the Other House
Capable to do Mischief and the Exchange Welcome to all that Lov'd his Majesty By the Court-Interest as they call'd it Addresses thick and threefold were brought in to Condole and Gratulate but Those Complements had no Sap in them The Dutch the Swede and the French sent their Embassadours on the same Errand And now the Funerals come on A Solemn and Expensive Pageantry yet in my Conscience the Chief-Mourners were his Highness Drapers These Ceremonies over to keep the Wheel in Motion a Supply was Resolv'd upon for the King of Swede and little further of Moment before Ian. 27. When in the Language of the Time met Richards Parliament The First and Last of his Reign It cost These people some time to agree the Powers of the Chief-Magistrate and the New Peerage which came to this result that Richard should be Recognized but with limitations consistent with the Rights of Parliament and People and that for quiet sake they would transact with the Persons then sitting in the Other House as an House of Parliament during that Session The House proceeded by Degrees to make dangerous Inspections into the Militia the Revenue to look into the Exorbitances of Major Generals to threaten the Excise and finally by all Popular pretenses to engage the Multitude Effectually against both Protector and Army enduring the Government neither of the One nor of the Other Whereupon the Officers set up a Counsel at Wallingford-House the Protector advises at White-hall and Aprill 6. 1659. comes a Paper to Richard from the Generall Counsell of Officers Entituled A Representation and Petition c. importing the great danger the Good Old Cause is in from Enemies of all sorts the Poverty of the Souldiery the Persecution of Tender consciences c. which Particulars they Petition his Hignesse to represent to the Parliament with their Desire of Speedy Supply and Certainty of Pay for the future Declaring likewise their Resolution with their Lives and Fortunes to stand-by and assist his Highness and Parliament in the plucking the Wicked out of their places wheresoever they may be discovered c. The Paper boded a Purge at least Sign'd it was by 230 Officers presented by Fleet-wood Publish'd throughout the Army and followed soon after with a Day of Humiliation the never-failing Sign of Mischief at hand In this Juncture Each of the Three Parties was Enemy to the Other Two saving where Either Two were united to Maintein themselves against the Third and All Three of Them Enemies to the Good of the Nation The House being Biass'd for a Common-wealth and not yet enabled to go Through with it Dreaded the Army on the one hand and Hated the Single-Person on the Other Richard finding his Power limited by the Members and Envy'd by the Officers willing to please Both and Resolv'd to Hazzard nothing becomes a Common Property to the House and Army a Friend to Both by Turns Theirs to day T'others to Morrow and in all Tryals Meekly submitting to the Dispensation The Army on the other side had their Protector 's Measure to a Hair and behind him they Stalk'd to Ruffle That Faction in the House that was now grown so Bold with the Military Interest and it behov'd them to be quick with as the Case stood Then so Popular an Enemy The Members kept their Ground and April 18. pass'd These following Votes First That during the sitting of the Parliament there should be no General Counsell or meeting of the Officers of the Army without Direction Leave and Authority of his Highnesse the Lord Protector and Both Houses of Parliament Secondly That no Person shall Have and Continue any Command or Trust in any of the Armies or Navies of England Scotland or Ireland or any of the Dominions and Territories thereto belonging who shall refuse to Subscribe That he will not disturb or interrupt the free meeting in Parliament of any the Members of either House of Parliament or their freedom in their Debates and Counsels Upon these Peremtory Votes Richard Faces about joyning his small Authority to forbid their Meetings and great Assurances are Enterchang'd to stand the Shock of any Opposition Two or three days they stood upon their Guards continuing in that snarling Posture till April 22. when Richard at the suit or rather menace of Disborough and his Fellows signs a Commission to Dissolve his Parliament which to prevent the Members Adjourn for Three days and to avoid the shame of falling by an Enemy the Catoe's kill themselves For at the Three days end they find the Dore shut and a Guard upon the Passage to tell them They must Sit no more Their Dissolution being also Published by Proclamation His Highness steps aside next and now the Army undertakes the Government They Modell Cast about Contrive and after some Ten Days fooling with the Politiques they found it was much a harder matter to Compose a Government than to Disorder it and at This Plunge besought the Lord after their Wandrings and Back-slidings to shew them where they turned out of the Way and where the Good Spirit left the Good Old Cause that through Mercy they might Return and give the Lord the Glory At last they call to mind that the Long Parliament sitting from 1648. to 1653. were eminent Assertours of that Cause and had a Special Presence of God with them Wherefore they Earnestly desire Those Members to Return to the Exercise of their Trust c. This is the Tenor of that Canting Declaration which the Army-Officers presented Lenthall the Good-Old-Speaker with at the Rolls May 6. in the Evening where a Resolve was taken by several of the Members to meet next morning in the Painted Chamber and There to advise about their Sitting They met accordingly and made a shift by Raking of Goals to get together a Quorum and so they sneak'd into the House of Commons and There Declar'd for a Common-wealth passing a Vote expresly against the Admission of the Members Secluded in 1648. This Device was fa-fetch'd and not long-liv'd but these were Old Stagers and no ill Menagers of their Time To make short they Erect a Counsel of State Place and Displace mould their Faction settle the Godly appoint their Committees and so soon as ever they are Warm in their Gears begin where they left in 1653 Fleecing the Nation and Flaying the Cavaliers as briskly as if 't were but the Good-morrow to a Six-Years Nap. But the sad Wretches were filthily mistaken to think Themselves brought in again to do their own Business for the Army makes bold to Cut them out their work in a Petition of May 12. containing 15. Proposals desiring First a Free-state 2. Regulation of Law and Courts 3. An Act of Oblivion since April 19. 1653. 4. All Lawes c. since 1653. to stand good until particularly Repleal'd 5. Publique Debts since 1653. to be Paid 6. Liberty of Worship c. not extending to Popery or Prelacy 7. A
General if they could perswade Cromwell to quit his Security for some additional Title of Dignity These Zealous Patriots Commonly brought their Bibles into the House with them and as I am Enform'd divers of them were seeking the Lord with Vavasor Powell when This following Trick was put upon them An Hour or two sooner in the morning then usual Decemb. 12. he that they call'd their Speaker took the Chayr and it was presently Mov'd and Carry'd for several Reasons to re-assign their power to him from whom they had it which was immediately persu'd and so they made Cromwell a Prince for making Them a Parliament This gracious Resignation produc'd that blessed Instrument of Government by which the Hypocrite was made Protector and now forsooth the style is chang'd from The Keepers of the Liberty of England by Authority of Parliament into Oliver Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland c. who was Installed and Sworn Decemb. 16. 1653. To his Assistance was appointed a Counsel of 21. the Quorum 13. By whom immediately upon the Death of the present Protector should be chosen one to succeed him always excepted the Right Line from the choice 'T is suppos'd that Lambert had an eye upon himself in the reach of That Article and a particular influence upon the drawing of it being at That time Popular enough with the Army to hope for any thing A while after the Establishment of this Traytour comes forth an Ordinance Declaring Treasons and now his Highness thinks himself in the saddle especially having beaten the Dutch into One Peace and Treated the Swede into Another which were proclaim'd soon after Having run through the Narrative of those Considerable Changes and Confusions of Power which intervened betwixt the Murther of a most Gracious Prince and the appearing Settlement of an Vsurping Tyrant we 'l make a little stand here and look behind us The Two Main Engines that made Cromwell Master of the Army were first The Self-denying Ordinance by which he Worm'd out the Presbyterians and Skrew'd in his own Party The Second was the Vote of March 19. 1646. for the Disbanding of so many Regiments and sending Others for Ireland This Vote was privily procur'd by himself and Ireton which he foresaw must necessarily enflame the Army and so it did never to be reconcil'd This Breach was the setting up of Cromwell and the Foundation of his succeding greatness It was the Impression of That Vote that baffled and purg'd the House in 47. Forced it in 48. and Disolv'd it in 53. after which he call'd Another that dy'd Fe lo de fe and Bequeathed to his Excellency the Government Had the Devill himself destroy'd that Faction the Nation would have Thank't him for 't so 't is no wonder if his Advance was smooth and Prosperous but now He 's Vp how to maintain his Power against a General Odium and Interest how to get himself forc'd to exchange That Temporary Title of Protector for the more Stable Legal and desireable Name of King without discovering his Insatiate Longing for it This is a Point of Mastery and Cunning and Possibly the Thing that break his Heart was his Dispair to Accomplish it The Faction has already trod the Round of Government The Lords and Commons outed the King the Commons the Lords the Multitude the Commons and with the Fate of all Rebellious Causes seeking Rest but finding None At last up goes the Pageantry of a Monarch Cromwell whose Temper Straights and Politicks shall be the Subject of the next Chapter CAP. VI. The Temper Straights and Politicks of Cromwel during his Protectorship THe Character of This Glorious Rebel is no further my purpose then as it leads to a right Iudgment of his Actions and the Confusion of his Adorers Of strong Natural Parts I perswade my self he was though some think otherwise imputing all his Advantages to Corruption or Fortune which will not be deny'd however to have concurr'd powerfully to his Greatness Nor do I pretend to collect his Abilites from his Words any more then the World could his Meaning save that the more entangled his Discourses were I reckon them the more Iudicious because the fitter for his Business His Interest obliging him to a Reserve for he durst neither clearly Own his Thoughts nor Totally Disclaim them the One way endangering his Design and the Other his Person So that the skill of his Part lay in This neither to be mistaken by his Friends nor understood by his Enemies By This middle Course he gain'd Time to remove Obstacles and ripen Occasions which to emprove and follow was the peculiar Talent of that Monster To these enablements to Mischief he had a Will so prostitute and prone that to express him I must say He was made up of Craft and Wickedness and all his Faculties nay all his Passions were Slaves to his Ambition In fine he knew no Other measure of Good and Bad but as things stood in This or That Relation to his Ends which I the less admire when I consider that he was brought up in a Presbyterian School where Honour Faith and Conscience weigh nothing further then as they subserve to Interest But enough of This. In the foregoing Chapter we have Plac'd the Protector in the Chair but not the King in the Throne the Power he has already but wants the Title and which is worse he dares not offer at it being equally affray'd to own his Longing or to miss it In This Distraction of Thought his Iealousie joyns with his Ambition Sollicitous on the One hand for his Family and on the Other for his Safety For his Family in point of Grandeur and for his Safety Thus. After his Death according to the Instrument the Counsell is to chuse a Successour and whoever gapes to be the One is supposed to wish for the Other which probably they had rather hasten then wait for So that This Miserable creature being peyned betwixt the Hazard either of enlarging his Power or having it thus dependent and the disdain of seeing it limited enters into a restless suspition of his Counsell and no way to be quieted but by depressing Those that Rais'd him So much for the first Difficulty a second follows His Design had These Three Grand Enemies The Royalists The Presbyterians and the Common-wealths-Men the Last of which compos'd the Gross of his Army whom he had so inured to the Gust of Popularity and Freedom and so enflam'd against the Tyranny of King-ship that the bare Change of the word Common-wealth to Kingdom had been enough to have cast all into a Revolt These were the main Impediments of His Majesty that would be and now we 'l touch upon the Shifts and Tricks his Highness us'd to Remove them Cromwell having squander'd away his Mony and taking occasion from the Salisbury Rising in 1654. to Squeeze the Cavaliers for more Kills two Birds with one stone
the House of Commons Who conceiv'd that they could not with the Safety of their Persons upon which the Safety and Peace of the whole Kingdom did then depend sit any longer Vnarmed and Vnguarded so great were their Apprehensions and just Fears of mischievous Designs to ruine and destroy them This was the Popular Colour for that Guard Plots and the Safety of the Publick Where the Plot was in Truth and where the Real Danger may be gather'd from the Practises of Those Armies whereof The Guard aforesaid was but the Rise and Foundation And That 's the point we handle next The setting of This little Force a foot was a fair Step toward the Militia One Guard begetting Another and the same Reason standing good for the Augmenting and Vpholding of Those Troops which was employ'd for the first Raising of them The Parliament was first in Danger the City Next and Then the Nation and as their Iealousies Encreas'd so must Their Forces till by Degrees they grow to an Army The King and his Adherents they call the Common-Enemy whom they Invade and Vanquish Here 's their work done in short what have they now to fear Only New-Modelling or Disbanding A blessed Translation of the Government from the Rule of the Law to the Power of the Sword and There to abide till One Army be remov'd by Another That is the Tyranny abides tho' under evera I Formes and Tyrants Our LEGIONS of the Reformation were Rais'd by certain Rebellious Lords and Commons and Seconded by the City of London We 'll see now how they behav'd themselves towards their Masters and Friends In 1647. the Army Reformes and Purges the House Presses their Dissolution Seizes their General Pointz in the North Squeezes and Menaces the City of London Marches up to it and in Triumph through it Takes Possession of the Tower Charges the Mayor with divers Aldermen and Citizens of High-Treason Alters their Militia's and Common-Counsel and finally gives the Law to the House and That to the Nation In Decemb. 1648. the Army gives the House another Purge and the year following Cromwell himself had like to have been out-trick'd by the Levellers about Banbury In 1653. The Army Casts off the Old Conventicle and upgoes Oliver who calls Another only to get a Tax and Title and when They had done the One half and made way to the Other off goes That too The Next was call'd in 1654. another after That in 1656. and Both were serv'd with the same Sauce If Cromwell could as easily have moulded the Army as That did the House his business had been done with half the Ceremony but Mony was Their business and Kingship His so that they help'd him in the One and Cross'd him in the Other In Septemb. 1658. Oliver Dies and Then they are Richard's Army whose puisne Highness must have His Parliament too They meet and notwithstanding a huge Pack of Officers and Lawyers the Vote prov'd utterly Republican and Friend neither to Single-Person nor Army Now Richard takes his turn but first down goes his Parliament and for a while the Army-Officers undertake the Government Some Ten days after up with the Rump again and then they 'r Lenthall's Army which in Octob. 1659. throws out the Rump and now they 'r Fleetwood's Army Enter the Rump once more in Decemb. and once more the Army comes about again The Rump's next Exit is for ever March the 16. 1660. Behold the Thorough Reformation and every Change Seal'd with a Sacrament to have been an Act of Conscience and guided by a Divine Impulse Behold the Staff of the Rebellion both the Support and Punishment of it a Standing Army While Plots could either be Procured or credibly suggested the Innocent were their Prey and when That entertainment fail'd them they worried one another never at Peace betwixt the Strife first to Subject the Nation and then to Govern it So long as the Royal Interest was in Vigour it was the Faction's Policy to engage all sorts of People whom they could possibly Unite against That Interest however Disagreeing among Themselves their first work being only to Destroy the King and This was the Composition of the first Army From Killing they Proceed to take Possession and here Ensues a greater Difficulty A Force is Necessary still but the State of the Dispute being Chang'd the Former Mixture is not for their present purpose the Conspiratours that agreed to overthrow the Government being now Divided who shall Enjoy it Hereupon they fall to Sorting and Purging of Parties the Independent at last carrying it and Oliver in the Head of them After this Decision of the Contest betwixt the Two Factions the Army it self divides and Cromwell is now more puzzled with the Private Contrivements of his own Officers then he was before with the open Power of his profess'd Enemies for they are clearly for his Ruling with them but not over them so that unless he can both Vphold them for his Security and Modell them for his Design he does nothing In Both He labour'd and beyond Question Dy'd in the Despair of perfecting Either finding upon Experience that his Ambition was as Intolerable to his Party as the Charge of Continuing his Army was to the Publique and what the Latter was we 'l read in his own words deliver'd at a Conference April 21. 1657. The present Charge says he of the Forces both by Sea and Land including the Government will be 2426989 l. The whole present Revenue in England Scotland and Ireland is about 1900000 l. I think this was Reckoned at the Most as now the Revenue stands Why now towards This you settle by your Instrument 1300000 l. for the Government and upon That Accompt to maintain the Force by Sea and Land and This without Land Tax I think and this is short of the Revenue that now may be Raised by the Government 600000 l. because you see the Present Government is 1900000 l. and the whole Summ which may now be Raised comes short of the Present Charge to 542689 l. And although an End should be put to the Spanish War yet there will be a Necessity of the Preservation of the Peace of the Three Nations to keep up the Present Established Army in England Scotland and Ireland and also a considerable Fleet for some good Time until it shall please God to Quiet and Compose Mens Minds and bring the Nation to some better Consistency so that Considering the Pay of the Army coming to upwards 1100000 l. per annum and the Government 300000 l. it will be necessary that for some convenient Time seeing you find things as you do and it is not good to think a Wound healed before it be that there should be Raised over and above 1300000 l. the Summ of 600000 l. per annum which makes up the Summ of 1900000 l. That likewise the Parliament declare how far they will carry on the Spanish War and for what