an, a preacher, or a spy, no matter how previously obscure, he sent
for him forthwith, and employed him in the way in which he could be made
most useful, and answer best the purpose of his employer. Upon this most
admirable system (a system in which, unhappily, he has had but few
imitators among modern statesmen,) depended in a great degree his
success. His devotion has been sneered at; but it has never been proved
to have been insincere. With how much more show of justice may we
consider it to have been founded upon a solid and upright basis, when we
recollect that his whole outward deportment spoke its truth! Those who
decry him as a fanatic, ought to bethink themselves that religion was
the chivalry of the age in which he lived. Had Cromwell been born a few
centuries earlier, he would have headed the crusades, with as much
bravery, and far better results than our noble-hearted, but wrong-headed
Coeur de Lion. It was no great compliment that was passed on him by the
French minister, when he called the protector "the first captain of the
age." His courage and conduct in the field were undoubtedly admirable:
he had a dignity of soul which the greatest dangers and difficulties
rather animated than discouraged, and his discipline and government of
the army, in all respects, was the wonder of the world. It was no
diminution of this part of his character, that he was wary in his
conduct, and that, after he was declared protector, he wore a coat of
mail concealed beneath his dress. Less caution than he made use of, in
the place he held, and surrounded as he was by secret and open enemies,
would have deserved the name of negligence. As to his political
sincerity, which many think had nothing to do with his religious
opinions, he was, to the full, as honest as the first or second Charles.
Of a truth, that same sincerity, it would appear, is no kingly virtue!
Cromwell loved justice as he loved his own life, and wherever he was
compelled to be arbitrary, it was only where his authority was
controverted, which, as things then were, it was not only right to
establish for his own sake, but for the peace and security of the
country over whose proud destinies he had been called to govern. "The
dignity of the crown," to quote his own words, "was upon the account of
the nation, of which the king was only the representative head, and
therefore, the nation being still the same, he would have the same
respect paid to his ministers as if he