always timorous. To me these signs are con clusive. A part of Cromwell's career which is very indicative of his character seems to have escaped observation: I allude to his conduct in Scotland and Ireland. His craft in Scotland, and his cruelty in Ireland, are matters which his judges would do well to consider. To me this craft appears duplicity, and this cruelty the direst and most thoughtless carnage. These things stamp the man at once: and prove all that has been asserted of his duplicity and cruelty. But enough has been said upon the subject, and I will now resume my seat. OPENER (in reply).—Sir, My reply will not be very long, for I have not much to answer. Cromwell's character has been criticised both by his deeds and his presumed motives. His rising against the King; his conduct towards the monarch; his acceptance of the supreme power; and his slaughter of the nation's enemies; have all been condemned: but why? Simply because they have been tested by the rules of ordinary morality; whilst they ought to have been tried by a far wider standard. I can very well believe, Sir, that there are no parchment laws which warrant a man in resisting a tyrant, or in condemning him to death; I can perfectly under M stand that there are no written enactments which permit a man to destroy the enemies of God: and I can readily imagine that there are no acts of Parliament in favour of country gentlemen becoming Lord-protectors: but for all that, I am quite disposed to conceive that there are a good many laws in Heaven's chancery which have never received the Royal assent and were quite unknown to Blackstone. There are circumstances beyond the scope of human laws; and they must be tried by quite other principles. Such are the circumstances now before us. To get at a fair judgment of Cromwell's character we must throw ourselves into Cromwell's situation. We must transport ourselves into an age of fierceness, sternness, and war: we must imagine ourselves the victims of tyranny and oppression we must conceive of a time when religion was not a thing put on with Sunday clothing, but a matter by which men lived, and for which they would fight and die; we must see the bigotry of power on the one side, and the fanaticism of outraged conscience on the other: and above all things we must place ourselves in the centre of a period when in the minds of the injured there arose a stern determination to deliver themselves from the despotism of irreligion that threatened them, or perish in the attempt. Then let us conceive a giant-souled, earnest, honest-hearted, God-fearing, man, of silent ways and deep thoughts, cast into this chaos: and if we do this, we shall then see Cromwell and the circumstances which surrounded him, and be able to form a judgment of his character. I To me, who have diligently sought to do this, there is no particle of doubt upon the matter. see in Cromwell a man who, after long thought and prayer, has made up his mind that religion is his only duty and business: and that he will perform that duty, and prosecute that business, against all gainsayers, low and high. I see him cherishing this determination, and performing it in quiet daily life; prepared to do so even till his death. The active world calls him, however: and, prompt at the voice of duty, he obeys the call, and carries his religious principle into his public conduct. He tries all by this one test: and whatever he finds wanting in the balance, is condemned and exposed without favour or pity. He takes his stand upon the Word of God; and though the Prince of Evil himself oppose, he cares not, but continues his course. Prating senators, misled covenanters, unjust kings, and unscriptural prelates, are alike his enemies, for they are the enemies of truth and heaven. He uses towards them no half-measures: sincere and terrible in his deep enthusiasm, he opposes right to might, and slays them as the foes of God. He MY is then called on by all men to rule: strong in the strength of heaven, he undertakes the charge; and in the same strength performs it. Men press him to accept the kingship: he, wiser than they, refuses the empty name, and remains Protector. As Protector he rules England in the fear of God-yes, this nation was once actually governed by the principles of religion: the Bible was once our only book of Law !-he discards all vice, profanity, and injustice; and encourages truth, devoutness, and morality. Lastly, he dies as he had lived, full of truth and fervour; in lively communion with his Heavenly Father. Here then we see a man; a man whose faith in God was not a vision, but a fact: and who dared all things for the truth; even death itself: a man earnest and real as nature: a man fit to be a pattern, a king, a hero, among men! And are we to be told, Sir, that we must not admire him? Are we to be insulted by a reference to the law books of Westminster Hall and St. Stephen's Chapel, and told that we cannot find his defence written there? Let the pedants and pharisees of the world assert such folly if they will: I for one will laugh them to scorn, with their law books, too: and I will tell them, in reply, that although no parchment may celebrate the name, and no effigy exhibit the features, of this man, his glory shall live bright and pure in the memory of the |