s. This indeed was true; but it was also true that by his orders
men were arrested and committed without lawful cause; that juries
were packed; that prisoners, acquitted at their trial, were sent into
confinement beyond the

[Footnote 1: See in particular his speech to his second parliament, printed
by Henry Hills, 1654.]

jurisdiction of the courts; that taxes had been raised without the
authority of parliament; that a most unconstitutional tribunal, the high
court of justice, had been established; and that the majors-general had
been invested with powers the most arbitrary and oppressive.[1] These acts
of despotism put him on his defence; and in apology he pleaded, as every
despot will plead, reasons of state, the necessity of sacrificing a part to
preserve the whole, and his conviction, that a "people blessed by God,
the regenerated ones of several judgments forming the flock and lambs
of Christ, would prefer their safety to their passions, and their real
security to forms." Nor was this reasoning addressed in vain to men who had
surrendered their judgments into his keeping, and who felt little for the
wrongs of others, as long as such wrongs were represented necessary for
their own welfare.

Some writers have maintained that Cromwell dissembled in religion as well
as in politics; and that, when he condescended to act the part of the
saint, he assumed for interested purposes a character which he otherwise
despised. But this supposition is contradicted by the uniform tenor of his
life. Long before he turned his attention to the disputes between the king
and the parliament, religious enthusiasm had made a deep impression on his
mind;[2] it continually manifested itself during his long career, both in
the senate and the field; and it was strikingly displayed in his speeches
and prayers on the last evening of his

[Footnote 1: "Judge Rolles," says Challoner, "was shuffled out of his
place. Three worthy lawyers were sent to the Tower. It cost them fifty
pounds a-piece for pleading a client's cause. One Portman was imprisoned
two or three years without cause. Several persons were taken out of their
beds, and carried none knows whither."--Burton's Diary, iv. 47.

[Footnote 2: Warwick, 249.]

life. It should, however, be observed, that he made his religion harmonize
with his ambition. If he believed that the cause in which he had embarked
was the cause of God, he also believed that God had chosen him to be the
successf