The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 - Thomas Babington Macaulay (novel books to read TXT) 📗
- Author: Thomas Babington Macaulay
Book online «The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 - Thomas Babington Macaulay (novel books to read TXT) 📗». Author Thomas Babington Macaulay
by these dissensions. Those soldiers who would not suffer
him to assume the kingly title stood by him when he ventured on
acts of power, as high as any English King has ever attempted.
The government, therefore, though in form a republic, was in
truth a despotism, moderated only by the wisdom, the sobriety,
and the magnanimity of the despot. The country was divided into
military districts. Those districts were placed under the command
of Major Generals. Every insurrectionary movement was promptly
put down and punished. The fear inspired by the power of the
sword, in so strong, steady, and expert a hand, quelled the
spirit both of Cavaliers and Levellers. The loyal gentry declared
that they were still as ready as ever to risk their lives for the
old government and the old dynasty, if there were the slightest
hope of success: but to rush, at the head of their serving men
and tenants, on the pikes of brigades victorious in a hundred
battles and sieges, would be a frantic waste of innocent and
honourable blood. Both Royalists and Republicans, having no hope
in open resistance, began to revolve dark schemes of
assassination: but the Protector's intelligence was good: his
vigilance was unremitting; and, whenever he moved beyond the
walls of his palace, the drawn swords and cuirasses of his trusty
bodyguards encompassed him thick on every side.
Had he been a cruel, licentious, and rapacious prince, the nation
might have found courage in despair, and might have made a
convulsive effort to free itself from military domination. But
the grievances which the country suffered, though such as excited
serious discontent, were by no means such as impel great masses
of men to stake their lives, their fortunes, and the welfare of
their families against fearful odds. The taxation, though heavier
than it had been under the Stuarts, was not heavy when compared
with that of the neighbouring states and with the resources of
England. Property was secure. Even the Cavalier, who refrained
from giving disturbance to the new settlement, enjoyed in peace
whatever the civil troubles had left hem. The laws were violated
only in cases where the safety of the Protector's person and
government was concerned. Justice was administered between man
and man with an exactness and purity not before known. Under no
English government since the Reformation, had there been so
little religious persecution. The unfortunate Roman Catholics,
indeed, were held to be scarcely within the pale of Christian
charity. But the clergy of the fallen Anglican Church were
suffered to celebrate their worship on condition that they would
abstain from preaching about politics. Even the Jews, whose
public worship had, ever since the thirteenth century, been
interdicted, were, in spite of the strong opposition of jealous
traders and fanatical theologians, permitted to build a synagogue
in London.
The Protector's foreign policy at the same time extorted the
ungracious approbation of those who most detested him. The
Cavaliers could scarcely refrain from wishing that one who had
done so much to raise the fame of the nation had been a
legitimate King; and the Republicans were forced to own that the
tyrant suffered none but himself to wrong his country, and that,
if he had robbed her of liberty, he had at least given her glory
in exchange. After half a century during which England had been
of scarcely more weight in European politics than Venice or
Saxony, she at once became the most formidable power in the
world, dictated terms of peace to the United Provinces, avenged
the common injuries of Christendom on the pirates of Barbary,
vanquished the Spaniards by land and sea, seized one of the
finest West Indian islands, and acquired on the Flemish coast a
fortress which consoled the national pride for the loss of
Calais. She was supreme on the ocean. She was the head of the
Protestant interest. All the reformed Churches scattered over
Roman Catholic kingdoms acknowledged Cromwell as their guardian.
The Huguenots of Languedoc, the shepherds who, in the hamlets of
the Alps. professed a Protestantism older than that of Augsburg,
were secured from oppression by the mere terror of his great name
The Pope himself was forced to preach humanity and moderation to
Popish princes. For a voice which seldom threatened in vain had
declared that, unless favour were shown to the people of God, the
English guns should be heard in the Castle of Saint Angelo. In
truth, there was nothing which Cromwell had, for his own sake and
that of his family, so much reason to desire as a general
religious war in Europe. In such a war he must have been the
captain of the Protestant armies. The heart of England would have
been with him. His victories would have been hailed with an
unanimous enthusiasm unknown in the country since the rout of the
Armada, and would have effaced the stain which one act, condemned
by the general voice of the nation, has left on his splendid
fame. Unhappily for him he had no opportunity of displaying his
admirable military talents, except against the inhabitants of the
British isles.
While he lived his power stood firm, an object of mingled
aversion, admiration, and dread to his subjects. Few indeed loved
his government; but those who hated it most hated it less than
they feared it. Had it been a worse government, it might perhaps
have been overthrown in spite of all its strength. Had it been a
weaker government, it would certainly have been overthrown in
spite of all its merits. But it had moderation enough to abstain
from those oppressions which drive men mad; and it had a force
and energy which none but men driven mad by oppression would
venture to encounter.
It has often been affirmed, but with little reason, that Oliver
died at a time fortunate for his renown, and that, if his life
had been prolonged, it would probably have closed amidst
disgraces and disasters. It is certain that he was, to the last,
honoured by his soldiers, obeyed by the whole population of the
British islands, and dreaded by all foreign powers, that he was
laid among the ancient sovereigns of England with funeral pomp
such as London had never before seen, and that he was succeeded
by his son Richard as quietly as any King had ever been succeeded
by any Prince of Wales.
During five months, the administration of Richard Cromwell went
on so tranquilly and regularly that all Europe believed him to be
firmly established on the chair of state. In truth his situation
was in some respects much more advantageous than that of his
father. The young man had made no enemy. His hands were unstained
by civil blood. The Cavaliers themselves allowed him to be an
honest, good-natured gentleman. The Presbyterian party, powerful
both in numbers and in wealth, had been at deadly feud with the
late Protector, but was disposed to regard the present Protector
with favour. That party had always been desirous to see the old
civil polity of the realm restored with some clearer definitions
and some stronger safeguards for public liberty, but had many
reasons for dreading the restoration of the old family. Richard
was the very man for politicians of this description. His
humanity, ingenuousness, and modesty, the mediocrity of his
abilities, and the docility with which he submitted to the
guidance of persons wiser than himself, admirably qualified him
to be the head of a limited monarchy.
For a time it seemed highly probable that he would, under the
direction of able advisers, effect what his father had attempted
in vain. A Parliament was called, and the writs were directed
after the old fashion. The small boroughs which had recently been
disfranchised regained their lost privilege: Manchester, Leeds,
and Halifax ceased to return members; and the county of York was
again limited to two knights. It may seem strange to a generation
which has been excited almost to madness by the question of
parliamentary reform that great shires and towns should have
submitted with patience and even with complacency, to this
change: but though speculative men might, even in that age,
discern the vices of the old representative system, and predict
that those vices would, sooner or later, produce serious
practical evil, the practical evil had not yet been felt.
Oliver's representative system, on the other hand, though
constructed on sound principles, was not popular. Both the events
in which it originated, and the effects which it had produced,
prejudiced men against it. It had sprung from military violence.
It had been fruitful of nothing but disputes. The whole nation
was sick of government by the sword, and pined for government by
the law. The restoration, therefore, even of anomalies and
abuses, which were in strict conformity with the law, and which
had been destroyed by the sword, gave general satisfaction.
Among the Commons there was a strong opposition, consisting
partly of avowed Republicans, and partly of concealed Royalists:
but a large and steady majority appeared to be favourable to the
plan of reviving the old civil constitution under a new dynasty.
Richard was solemnly recognised as first magistrate. The Commons
not only consented to transact business with Oliver's Lords, but
passed a vote acknowledging the right of those nobles who had, in
the late troubles, taken the side of public liberty, to sit in
the Upper House of Parliament without any new creation.
Thus far the statesmen by whose advice Richard acted had been
successful. Almost all the parts of the government were now
constituted as they had been constituted at the commencement of
the civil war. Had the Protector and the Parliament been suffered
to proceed undisturbed, there can be little doubt that an order
of things similar to that which was afterwards established under
the House of Hanover would have been established under the House
of Cromwell. But there was in the state a power more than
sufficient to deal with Protector and Parliament together. Over
the soldiers Richard had no authority except that which he
derived from the great name which he had inherited. He had never
led them to victory. He had never even borne arms. All his tastes
and habits were pacific. Nor were his opinions and feelings on
religious subjects approved by the military saints. That he was a
good man he evinced by proofs more satisfactory than deep groans
or long sermons, by humility and suavity when he was at the
height of human greatness, and by cheerful resignation under
cruel wrongs and misfortunes: but the cant then common in every
guardroom gave him a disgust which he had not always the prudence
to conceal. The officers who had the principal influence among
the troops stationed near London were not his friends. They were
men distinguished by valour and conduct in the field, but
him to assume the kingly title stood by him when he ventured on
acts of power, as high as any English King has ever attempted.
The government, therefore, though in form a republic, was in
truth a despotism, moderated only by the wisdom, the sobriety,
and the magnanimity of the despot. The country was divided into
military districts. Those districts were placed under the command
of Major Generals. Every insurrectionary movement was promptly
put down and punished. The fear inspired by the power of the
sword, in so strong, steady, and expert a hand, quelled the
spirit both of Cavaliers and Levellers. The loyal gentry declared
that they were still as ready as ever to risk their lives for the
old government and the old dynasty, if there were the slightest
hope of success: but to rush, at the head of their serving men
and tenants, on the pikes of brigades victorious in a hundred
battles and sieges, would be a frantic waste of innocent and
honourable blood. Both Royalists and Republicans, having no hope
in open resistance, began to revolve dark schemes of
assassination: but the Protector's intelligence was good: his
vigilance was unremitting; and, whenever he moved beyond the
walls of his palace, the drawn swords and cuirasses of his trusty
bodyguards encompassed him thick on every side.
Had he been a cruel, licentious, and rapacious prince, the nation
might have found courage in despair, and might have made a
convulsive effort to free itself from military domination. But
the grievances which the country suffered, though such as excited
serious discontent, were by no means such as impel great masses
of men to stake their lives, their fortunes, and the welfare of
their families against fearful odds. The taxation, though heavier
than it had been under the Stuarts, was not heavy when compared
with that of the neighbouring states and with the resources of
England. Property was secure. Even the Cavalier, who refrained
from giving disturbance to the new settlement, enjoyed in peace
whatever the civil troubles had left hem. The laws were violated
only in cases where the safety of the Protector's person and
government was concerned. Justice was administered between man
and man with an exactness and purity not before known. Under no
English government since the Reformation, had there been so
little religious persecution. The unfortunate Roman Catholics,
indeed, were held to be scarcely within the pale of Christian
charity. But the clergy of the fallen Anglican Church were
suffered to celebrate their worship on condition that they would
abstain from preaching about politics. Even the Jews, whose
public worship had, ever since the thirteenth century, been
interdicted, were, in spite of the strong opposition of jealous
traders and fanatical theologians, permitted to build a synagogue
in London.
The Protector's foreign policy at the same time extorted the
ungracious approbation of those who most detested him. The
Cavaliers could scarcely refrain from wishing that one who had
done so much to raise the fame of the nation had been a
legitimate King; and the Republicans were forced to own that the
tyrant suffered none but himself to wrong his country, and that,
if he had robbed her of liberty, he had at least given her glory
in exchange. After half a century during which England had been
of scarcely more weight in European politics than Venice or
Saxony, she at once became the most formidable power in the
world, dictated terms of peace to the United Provinces, avenged
the common injuries of Christendom on the pirates of Barbary,
vanquished the Spaniards by land and sea, seized one of the
finest West Indian islands, and acquired on the Flemish coast a
fortress which consoled the national pride for the loss of
Calais. She was supreme on the ocean. She was the head of the
Protestant interest. All the reformed Churches scattered over
Roman Catholic kingdoms acknowledged Cromwell as their guardian.
The Huguenots of Languedoc, the shepherds who, in the hamlets of
the Alps. professed a Protestantism older than that of Augsburg,
were secured from oppression by the mere terror of his great name
The Pope himself was forced to preach humanity and moderation to
Popish princes. For a voice which seldom threatened in vain had
declared that, unless favour were shown to the people of God, the
English guns should be heard in the Castle of Saint Angelo. In
truth, there was nothing which Cromwell had, for his own sake and
that of his family, so much reason to desire as a general
religious war in Europe. In such a war he must have been the
captain of the Protestant armies. The heart of England would have
been with him. His victories would have been hailed with an
unanimous enthusiasm unknown in the country since the rout of the
Armada, and would have effaced the stain which one act, condemned
by the general voice of the nation, has left on his splendid
fame. Unhappily for him he had no opportunity of displaying his
admirable military talents, except against the inhabitants of the
British isles.
While he lived his power stood firm, an object of mingled
aversion, admiration, and dread to his subjects. Few indeed loved
his government; but those who hated it most hated it less than
they feared it. Had it been a worse government, it might perhaps
have been overthrown in spite of all its strength. Had it been a
weaker government, it would certainly have been overthrown in
spite of all its merits. But it had moderation enough to abstain
from those oppressions which drive men mad; and it had a force
and energy which none but men driven mad by oppression would
venture to encounter.
It has often been affirmed, but with little reason, that Oliver
died at a time fortunate for his renown, and that, if his life
had been prolonged, it would probably have closed amidst
disgraces and disasters. It is certain that he was, to the last,
honoured by his soldiers, obeyed by the whole population of the
British islands, and dreaded by all foreign powers, that he was
laid among the ancient sovereigns of England with funeral pomp
such as London had never before seen, and that he was succeeded
by his son Richard as quietly as any King had ever been succeeded
by any Prince of Wales.
During five months, the administration of Richard Cromwell went
on so tranquilly and regularly that all Europe believed him to be
firmly established on the chair of state. In truth his situation
was in some respects much more advantageous than that of his
father. The young man had made no enemy. His hands were unstained
by civil blood. The Cavaliers themselves allowed him to be an
honest, good-natured gentleman. The Presbyterian party, powerful
both in numbers and in wealth, had been at deadly feud with the
late Protector, but was disposed to regard the present Protector
with favour. That party had always been desirous to see the old
civil polity of the realm restored with some clearer definitions
and some stronger safeguards for public liberty, but had many
reasons for dreading the restoration of the old family. Richard
was the very man for politicians of this description. His
humanity, ingenuousness, and modesty, the mediocrity of his
abilities, and the docility with which he submitted to the
guidance of persons wiser than himself, admirably qualified him
to be the head of a limited monarchy.
For a time it seemed highly probable that he would, under the
direction of able advisers, effect what his father had attempted
in vain. A Parliament was called, and the writs were directed
after the old fashion. The small boroughs which had recently been
disfranchised regained their lost privilege: Manchester, Leeds,
and Halifax ceased to return members; and the county of York was
again limited to two knights. It may seem strange to a generation
which has been excited almost to madness by the question of
parliamentary reform that great shires and towns should have
submitted with patience and even with complacency, to this
change: but though speculative men might, even in that age,
discern the vices of the old representative system, and predict
that those vices would, sooner or later, produce serious
practical evil, the practical evil had not yet been felt.
Oliver's representative system, on the other hand, though
constructed on sound principles, was not popular. Both the events
in which it originated, and the effects which it had produced,
prejudiced men against it. It had sprung from military violence.
It had been fruitful of nothing but disputes. The whole nation
was sick of government by the sword, and pined for government by
the law. The restoration, therefore, even of anomalies and
abuses, which were in strict conformity with the law, and which
had been destroyed by the sword, gave general satisfaction.
Among the Commons there was a strong opposition, consisting
partly of avowed Republicans, and partly of concealed Royalists:
but a large and steady majority appeared to be favourable to the
plan of reviving the old civil constitution under a new dynasty.
Richard was solemnly recognised as first magistrate. The Commons
not only consented to transact business with Oliver's Lords, but
passed a vote acknowledging the right of those nobles who had, in
the late troubles, taken the side of public liberty, to sit in
the Upper House of Parliament without any new creation.
Thus far the statesmen by whose advice Richard acted had been
successful. Almost all the parts of the government were now
constituted as they had been constituted at the commencement of
the civil war. Had the Protector and the Parliament been suffered
to proceed undisturbed, there can be little doubt that an order
of things similar to that which was afterwards established under
the House of Hanover would have been established under the House
of Cromwell. But there was in the state a power more than
sufficient to deal with Protector and Parliament together. Over
the soldiers Richard had no authority except that which he
derived from the great name which he had inherited. He had never
led them to victory. He had never even borne arms. All his tastes
and habits were pacific. Nor were his opinions and feelings on
religious subjects approved by the military saints. That he was a
good man he evinced by proofs more satisfactory than deep groans
or long sermons, by humility and suavity when he was at the
height of human greatness, and by cheerful resignation under
cruel wrongs and misfortunes: but the cant then common in every
guardroom gave him a disgust which he had not always the prudence
to conceal. The officers who had the principal influence among
the troops stationed near London were not his friends. They were
men distinguished by valour and conduct in the field, but
Free e-book «The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 - Thomas Babington Macaulay (novel books to read TXT) 📗» - read online now
Similar e-books:
Comments (0)