The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3

by Mrs. West

  CHAP. XXV.

  "See Cromwell damn'd to everlasting fame."

  Pope.

  It was at this period that Cromwell underwent that memorable strugglebetween his ambition and his fears, which ultimately preserved themonarchy of England in the line of legitimate descent. He tampered withall parties, and found none hearty in his cause: the best-disposed tohis interests were only passive; but his enemies were implacable. Thepopularity of a pamphlet recommending his assassination upon principle,and declaring that the perpetrator of the deed would deserve the favourof God and man, destroyed every vestige of his comfort. "He read it, andwas never seen to smile more." With late repentance for his vanity,which prompted him to excite such furious opposition, he pushed from himthe crown he had courted, when offered by his creatures; but he did itwith an affectation of disdain and self-command, that ill accorded withhis former intrigues to obtain it. All his anxiety was now directed tothe preservation of his joyless life. He had long worn light armourunder his clothes, and carried pistols in his pockets. He seldom laytwice in the same chamber, or informed any one which apartment he meantto select. He travelled with extreme rapidity, attended by numerousguards, and never returned by the way he went. Yet no sooner was oneconspiracy detected, than another was formed; the fanatics wereirreconcileable, and the most worthy and eminent among the dissentersdetermined on his overthrow. His old military comrades, Fairfax andWaller, were bent to destroy him. His treasury was drained by therapacity of his numerous spies; and as fines and exactions had beenstrained to the utmost, he had no means of replenishing it but by arecourse to measures similar to those which had overthrown the monarchy;for his fanatical puppet-shows had brought the name of Parliament intocontempt, and he durst not appeal to the free voice of the nation. Ihave already mentioned the disunion of his family, and the desertion ofhis kindred and near alliances. Such were the accumulated miseries, suchthe soul-harrowing and unremitting sufferings, of this man, whom Europeconsidered as the favourite of fortune, and whose extraordinary successhas been urged as a plea against the divine government, and a proof thatthe kingdoms of this world are left to the disposal of Satan. Penetratethe recesses of the tyrant's palace, and it will be seen that enormousoffences, after they have outstripped the power of human punishment,visit, on the oppressor, their own atrocity, and revenge the wrongs of ableeding world by torments more insupportable than any which cruelty caninflict on others.

  Distrusting even his most faithful informers, and jealous of his owncreatures, Cromwell always endeavoured to see every thing with his owneyes. A little before his unlamented death, two strangers visited theprison where Neville and Dr. Beaumont were confined. One of them avowedhimself to be the Lord Whitlock, the other passed as his secretary. Theywere both masked, and wore long cloaks to conceal their persons. Thesecretary was furnished with writing materials; he placed himself at atable, and affected only to take minutes of the conversation.

  Whitlock began with upbraiding the national ingratitude, andacknowledging its general indisposition to the Protector's vigorous andsuccessful administration. He insisted that His Highness wished toconciliate all parties by a mild and impartial government, though theample means with which he was furnished, the tried fidelity of the army,and the respect he was held in by foreign Potentates, prevented him fromneeding the friendship of any. But being now past the meridian of life,he was desirous of leaving the nation whom he had rendered great andprosperous, in the possession of internal tranquillity. Thoughirreconcileable from principle, he regarded the royalists as the mostrespectable of his opponents, and "he had ever resisted the advice ofthe fanatics, to cut them off by a general massacre." Whitlock thenexpressed his hope, that the prisoners condemned the newly-broachedopinion that assassination was allowable, and were disposed to be quiet,if not contented, under the present government, which would reward suchsubmission by relaxing the penal statutes now in force against them. Dr.Beaumont spoke first, and declared that assassination was forbidden bythe general tenor of Scripture. The particular instances now so muchdwelt on, of Jael's killing Sisera, or Judith's Holofernes, could not beurged in vindication of similar attempts. Both acts were committedprevious to the Christian dispensation, which prescribes submissivepatience under injuries, and overcoming evil with good. Those deeds wereperformed under a Divine impetus, and though, by their performance, thewill of God was fulfilled, it is not clear that the perpetrators werejustified in His sight, any more than was Hazael, when (as had beendivinely predicted) he acted as the chastiser of offending Israel.

  Neville then took up the argument. He retorted on Whitlock theexpressions used by St. John to procure the condemnation of LordStrafford, and asked how they had the effrontery to object to that rulewhen employed against themselves. "You have cut off our nobles, ourprelates, and our King," said he, "by that formal and publicassassination, an illegal trial; but we alike abjure your principles andpractice. If I hunt a usurper and tyrant to death, it shall be byhonourable means. If his character deserves no respect, I know what isdue to my own. I hold no tenets in common with regicides. Man cannotcommit a crime that can so far deface the image of his Maker impressedupon him as to reduce him to the level of a beast of prey. Would thatthis unnerved arm had strength, and that this sinking frame were againerect with youthful vigour, then, if the awakened feelings of the nationallowed me opportunity to meet, in the field of battle, the brave,great, wicked man you serve, I would single him out from every opponent;but were he unarmed, and in my power, I would give him a sword before Iassailed him."

  Whitlock walked to the table; but it was evident that he received,rather than gave, directions. The soul-searching eye of Cromwell peeredthrough his visor, and turned alternately on Neville and Beaumont.Though a stranger to the feelings of magnanimity, he honoured itsexpressions. He walked towards the captives, removed the shade from hissickly, care-worn features, and asked how he could make them hisfriends.

  Neville shrunk aghast, petrified at the aspect of his Sovereign'smurderer. The feelings of a father repressed his maledictions, while hegazed on him with stern silence as he would on a portentous meteor. Dr.Beaumont sooner recollected himself. Bowing to Cromwell as to one ofthose powers that are ordained by God, he answered that forgiveness andobedience were duties; but that the feelings of friendship were avoluntary engagement, and arose from very different motives.

  "Your frankness," replied Cromwell, "proves that you well understand myplain nature and abhorrence of flattery, and my condescension invisiting you shows I take you to be open, fair enemies, not likely toengage in conspiracies, or desirous of renewing the times of confusion.But I would ask, What hope have you left, or what portion, even in itsbest days, did your thriftless loyalty acquire you? Eusebius Beaumont itfound an obscure rector, and so it left you; for you could only boastsimplicity of life and doctrine; but court-chaplains, drivellers inlearning, and lewd knaves in manners, were rewarded with stalls andmitres. You, Allan Neville, were stripped of your patrimony, andslandered in your reputation, by the injustice of the King for whom youbled."

  Neville started from his indignant reverie. "Were you," said he,"invested with tenfold terrors, I would not hear this aspersion castupon my Sovereign's memory. Injustice consists in knowing what is wrong,and persisting in doing it. My King was misled, deceived, like myself,by the viper we both cherished; even by one of those recreants to whomyou owe your exaltation. With double perfidy, you overthrew the King byattributing to him the crimes of his favourites, and then converted theminto state-engines, first to elevate you to greatness, and afterwards toconvey away the offscourings of the dignity you had soiled. My King wasopen to conviction. He knew the fidelity of his soldier, and purposed tomake him ample reparation."

  "I have the power," returned Cromwell, "to accomplish those purposes.""Impossible!" was Neville's reply; "my lands were alienated by a King ofEngland, and by his lawful successor only can they be restored."

  "Are you," returned the Usurp
er, "aware that you are the only man inEurope who dares question my power. I visited you with friendlydispositions, and you receive me with insults."

  "When, veiling your dignity with disguises," answered Neville; "youborrow the occupation of your myrmidons, and steal on the privacies ofthose you oppress, can you wonder to hear their imprecations sound inunison with the clanking of their fetters?"

  "I have a will," replied Cromwell, "as stubborn as yours. We will tryfor the mastery. What hinders me from laying that head of yours on theblock?"

  "--The insufferable goadings of your afflicted conscience, perpetuallywhispering that you have shed too much blood already.--Every wrinklewhich care has imprinted on your brow, every tremulous infirmity whichconstant watchfulness has introduced into your frame, acting as mementosthat the day of account cannot be far distant.--The iron you wear onyour bosom, that by its stern pressure tells you what you deserve.--Thepublic clamour, which will not now permit you to immolate the confinedvictims whom your own lips have pronounced innocent of recentprovocations, and against whom you dare not revive the charge ofacknowledged resistance, which, by long impunity, you seem to havepardoned. All these reasons are pledges for our safety. You cannotfurther tempt the sufferance of Englishmen. Your declining health makesyou fear to add to the long indictment which your crimes have preparedagainst you.

  The garlands wither on your brow, Then boast no more your mighty deeds, Upon Death's purple altar now, See where the victor-victim bleeds: All heads must come to the cold tomb; Only the actions of the just Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust."[1]

  As Neville uttered this bold appeal to the feelings of an alarmed andconscious villain, a cold shivering ran through the Protector's frame,and his eye expressed a vain supplication, that it were possible toexchange his garlands and his glories for those ever-fragrant actionswhich blossom on the grave of the just. He strove to rally his air ofmoody dignity, to recover the austere deliberate tone of hisexpressions; but his manner was embarrassed, and his voice inarticulate.A groan, such as only tortured guilt can utter, partially relieved hisswollen bosom. "Neville," said he, "I will not expect you to be myfriend; but will you cease to be my enemy?"

  "Miserable victim of ambition," said Neville to himself; "how muchhappier is my lot than thine!" Cromwell persisted in asking if there wasany favour he would receive at his hand. Neville paused, and answered,"Yes; liberty."

  "And what pledge," said Cromwell, "can you give me that you will not usefreedom to my prejudice?"

  "My own honour," returned Neville, "which will never allow me to use theinstrument you put in my hand to destroy you."

  "No equivocation!" said Whitlock; "in receiving freedom from HisHighness you acknowledge his authority."

  "No," returned Neville, "I simply own he has a power to confine me. Thequestion of right is undetermined. If a Usurper restores me to the freeuse of light and air, I need not examine his title before I resume theenjoyment of those common blessings."

  Cromwell addressed Dr. Beaumont: "You belong to a church whose doctrineis passive obedience. You are not bewildered by this madman's chimeras,but can prudently estimate the value of our free grace and promisedfavour."

  "My religion," replied the Doctor, "teaches me to submit to thedispensations of Providence; but it will not allow me to divide thespoil with those who have grown mighty on the ruins of my friends."

  "Are there no points," again inquired Cromwell, "in which we may agreeto join our common wishes? What if I beseech the Lord to give you thespirit of wisdom?"

  "May he afford you that of consolation," was the emphatical wish of Dr.Beaumont. Neville waved his hand in silence. "Oh! my friend," said he,as soon as the Protector and Whitlock had retired, "I have suffered morethan the rack. I have seen the fiend-like face which looked, withoutcompunction, on the sufferings of the Royal Martyr, and I felt too weakto revenge his wrongs. Have I not gone too far in saying I would acceptof freedom from his hands?"

  "Vengeance for such a crime," replied Dr. Beaumont, "is too vast andcomprehensive to be entrusted to mortal agency. Let us leave it to Himwho claims it as his own prerogative. Murder, perfidy, and treason, willbe remembered when the avenging angel shall visit the sins of man."

  Cromwell returned from his insidious visit, disappointed and dejected.He had failed of the end which he proposed to himself by hiscondescension. A reconciliation with two such distinguished Loyalists,founded on the mutual benefits of submission and restitution, would havestrengthened his government; but he found abstinence from treacheroushostility was all that his blandishments could obtain, and this he wouldowe rather to their own principles of honour and religion than to histhreats or his promises. Though stung to the heart by the bold taunts ofNeville, he could not punish him. The very aspect and figure of the twovenerable sufferers were so fitted to excite sympathy and indignation,that he durst not expose them on a scaffold, nor could he privately cutthem off. The fate of Syndercome, a daring Anabaptist, who had severaltimes attempted his life, and, on his trial, persevered in expressinghis determination, if possible, to kill him, alike deterred Cromwellfrom bringing his private enemies to the bar of a court of justice, orresorting to private measures of revenge. He had with difficultyprocured this man's condemnation; but the night previous to his intendedexecution he escaped, by suicide, the Protector's power; and soprejudiced were the populace against their Ruler, that they accused himof having poisoned the victim he feared to bring to a public death. Ifthe prosecution of a notorious and avowed ruffian brought him into thisdilemma, what odium would the death of two respectable and agedLoyalists excite, especially as their story was become public, and thewrongs of Neville, and the generous friendship of Beaumont, had awakeneda powerful sympathy. Yet his narrow soul could not accede to thegenerous alternative of giving them freedom. Pretending that the statehad a claim to the Bellingham-property, he prevented Monthault fromtaking any measures to establish the will of the guilty Countess, andcontented himself with keeping the lawful claimant in prison, hopingthat confinement would accelerate the decays of nature, and thus give asafe quietus to his own fears.

  But ere that event happened the Usurper was called to the dreadfultribunal for which few among the descendants of Adam were apparentlyless prepared. His restless, intriguing ambition; the dissimulation andhypocrisy by which he rose to supreme power; the ability with which hewielded it; his splendid wretchedness; the terror he excited and felt;his cruelty and fanaticism, his determined spirit, and occasionallytimid vacillation, read a most impressive lesson to aspiring mindsinfatuated by success, and regardless of moral or religious restraints.O that, in this age of insubordination, selfishness, and enterprise, apoet would arise, animated with Shakespeare's "Muse of fire," embody theevents of those seventeen years of wo, and invest the detestableRegicide with the same terrible immortality which marks the murderousThane in his progress from obedience and honour to supreme power andconsummate misery!

  Nor does the death-bed of Cromwell afford a less useful warning to thepen of instruction, when she aims at distinguishing true piety fromhypocrisy or fanaticism. It is still doubtful under which of thosecounterfeits of religion we must rank this great but wicked man. Yet,whether he deceived his own soul, or attempted to deceive others;whether he really believed himself an elected instrument of Providence;or, having long worn devotion as the mask of ambition, retained it tothe last,--his almost unexampled crimes (so plainly forbidden by thatscripture he had ever on his lips), and the security and confidence ofhis last moments, furnish stronger arguments than a thousand volumes ofcontroversy, to prove the fallacy and danger of those speculativenotions which he patronized, propagated, and exemplified.

  [1] The Usurper's terrors at hearing this fine song of Shirley's is an historical fact. Some of the speeches attributed to him in this interview, he really used to persons he had confined, and wished to win over. In the close of his life he grew timid; and, conscious of being hated, bore insults calmly. Bishop Wren rej
ected his offered favours in as strong language as that attributed to Neville.