MR. PALGRAVE'S " OLIVER CROMWELL."
MR. PALGRAVE presents Cromwell in a novel light. According to the latest historian of the Protectorate, Cromwell was neither the hero-saint of Mr. Carlyle's hagiology, nor the profound schemer described by Bossuet who, by a policy of almost superhuman craft, united discordant parties under his rule. He was a sorry creature, the cat's-paw of the Army, who spent his time in inventing paltry plots to frighten the nation, that he might retain his position, to which he clung from mercenary motives. Mr. Palgrave has so overdone the part of devil's advocate that his argument will receive less attention than it deserves ; for he has diligently studied his sources, and he succeeds in proving that Cromwell's govern- ment of England had a seamy side. Writing in the spirit of a hagiologist, Mr. Carlyle was content to assert the grandeur of Cromwell's aims and the purity of his motives ; and no special pleading will invalidate this part of Mr. Carlyle's defence. But Mr. Carlyle overlooked Cromwell's mistakes as a statesman, which, indeed, he admired, and he poured scorn • Oliver Cromwell the Protector : an Appreciation based on Contemporary Evidence. By Reginald F. D. Palgrave, O.B. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Eivington. 1890. upon the constitutional ganders who complained that a heaven-born leader disregarded precedent, and treated his Parliament like schoolboys. The strength and the weakness of Cromwell's government were aptly described by the Venetian Ambassador Sagredo, whom Mr. Palgrave quotes. "The machine," said the Ambassador, "is strong, but I do not deem it durable, for it is violent." As an administrator, Cromwell excited the admiration even of enemies. With the help of " his poor little invention," ent by Major-Generals, he kept down Royalists and and prosperity returned to the country, while his cy made England once more respected abroad. ion he spoke of himself as a constable set to ce in the parish. Cromwell was the greatest paris constable England ever possessed. He was much less successful in dealing with his Parliament ; he received coldly when he did not resent their laudable attempts to legalise the position he had obtained from the Army ; and he parted very reluctantly, and only partially, with the exceptional powers conferred upon him by the instrument of government. He claimed to rule by the call of God and the testimony of the people ; but the latter claim remained a mockery as long as he refused their rights to the representa- tives of the people. Mr. Palgrave would have us believe that Cromwell, to strengthen himself in his conflicts with his Parliaments, devised or invented plots against his own government and his person. We must refer our readers to Mr. Palgrave's volume for the evidence on which this grave charge rests. We are quite unconvinced by Mr. Palgrave's somewhat intemperate pleadings. Cromwell allowed plots to develop that he might crush them more completely ; and it is not unlikely that he made the most of them to Parliament, as great Ministers in our own time have exaggerated the dangers of foreign war to pass an Army Bill; but Cromwell was far too sagacious an administrator to get up insurrections which were full of danger to the public peace in the unsettled condition of the country.
Mr. Palgrave is severe on Cromwell for his treatment of Major-General Overton, whom he deprived of his command and lodged in the Tower. But on Mr. Palgrave's own showing, Overton was disaffected to Cromwell's government and person ; and so well was his attitude understood by those under him, that they made him their confidant in a mutinous design against the Government. It is true he did not countenance it " unless approved by General Monk ;" but he made no report of the circumstance to his commanding officer. An officer who so neglected his duty would have met with speedier justice at the hands of Wellington or Napoleon. In one particular—and it is a solitary exception in pages of invective—Mr. Palgrave is Cromwell's apologist. The Pro- tector served himself with the system of corrupt espionage, which is almost a necessity to a despotic government ; and it is a shock to some of his admirers to find him uniting with the arch-plotter Mazarin to induce men to betray their em- ployers. Mr. Palgrave, however, is of opinion that the use of a decoy-duck to thwart the purposes of an anarchist would not smirch the purity of the whitest soul ; and he regards it as absurd to object to the "just and necessary" lies of the diplomatist. Nevertheless, the employment of such means agrees ill with Cromwell's claim to represent " the old Puritan or rather primitive simplicity, uprightness, and justice;" the pity is that Cromwell was not more willing to become a constitutional ruler, and he might then have been able to dispense with such odious adjuncts of government.
No incident in Cromwell's life enables us more clearly to understand his character, its grandeur and its limitations, than the negotiations with the Parliament of 1657 regarding the kingship. During those negotiations, the Protector and his Parliament were drawn closer together. The plan of governing England by Major-Generals was abandoned by the Protector in deference to their wishes, and Parliament offered. him the crown. He was manifestly touched by the mark of confidence on the part of his Parliament ; and his sagacious mind was impressed by the argument of the lawyers that the title of King was known to English law for many hundreds of years, and that a lasting settlement of the nation was more likely, if the venerable title was adopted. He finally rejected, the offer, out of regard to the Army, as Mr. Palgrave rightly says, but not from selfish fear. In one of his most memorable speeches, he explained his reasons to his Parliament. He recalled a conversation with Hampden, to whom he had said that they would never meet on equal terms the forces of the King, who were composed of gentlemen, until they raised up "men of a spirit that is likely to go as far as gentlemen will go." Hampden thought his notion good but impracticable ; but Cromwell had proved it to be practicable by raising up "men as had the fear of God before them, as made some con- science of what they did." Having taught these men to conquer the chivalry of England, Cromwell could not even seem to be untrue to ideas which had accomplished such great results, by accepting a title which had its roots in the old order they had destroyed. " I cannot think," he said, " that God would bless an undertaking, of anything, kingship, or whatever else, that would justly or without cause grieve them." Mr. Palgrave thinks that Cromwell was meanly anxious for the Royal title, and only refused it from fear of mutiny. In the following not very dignified fashion, he writes of the transac- tion :-
"Shake, shake, had been renewed. Humpty Dumpty had got his great fall. During the morning of that Thursday, whilst the Members of Parliament were gathering themselves together, crossing New Palace Yard, or passing through the Hall up into the House, that they might at last present themselves before their Ring, Cromwell received a letter from the three great ones,' Lambert, Fleetwood, and Disbrowe, warning him that upon acceptance of that title, they must withdraw from all public employment,' and with them several other officers of quality, that had been engaged all along in this war.' They struck just in the very nick of time Hence Cromwell's hurried recall of the Com- mittee, and his disorder' when he met them. Hence his demand that the meeting of the House be put off, and his announcement that he would receive them on the morrow, not in the Painted Chamber, but in the Banqueting House."
Mr. Palgrave's Appreciation is marred throughout by a per- sistent disposition to make Cromwell not only a villain, but a very small villain. It is surprising that a writer with a large ex- perience of men should see nothing but shallow hypocrisy in the accent of emotion which struggled through his rugged speech whenever he spoke of the England which he loved so well, or of the still greater kingdom which, according to his light, he sought to serve. Mr. Francis Palgrave has likewise written of Cromwell, and has in a fine poem given no very favourable estimate of his character ; but he has not altogether missed the note of greatness. He thus writes of him :-
"Alas, great chief ! The pity of it ! For he
Lay on his unlamented bier ; his life Wreck'd on that futile strife To wed things alien by heaven's decree, Sword-sway with liberty ;—
Coercing, not protecting;—for the Cause
Smiting with iron heel on England's laws : —Intolerant tolerance ! Soul that could not trust Its finer instincts : self-compell'd to run The blood-path once begun, And murder mercy with a sad ' I must '!
Great lion-heart by guile and coarseness marr'd, By its own heat a hero warp'd and scared."
Notwithstanding its defects, Mr. Palgra,ve's volume will be found useful by students of the period, for its references to authorities are full and exact. It is written with a vivacious good-humour, which is curiously out of harmony with the hard words in which it abounds. Mr. Palgrave is sarcastic and denunciatory, using freely the woes of the Hebrew prophets against Cromwell and all his works ; but one cannot help suspecting that the author is neither very bitter nor very indignant. Cromwell would assuredly have shown towards Mr. Palgrave the good-natured tolerance which he never failed to extend to enemies who were not dangerous.
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