XV. 1657. against the forewarned lost the treacherous quality CHAP. which rendered them most odious; that (as they had been told by St. John, an eminent lawyer of the opposite faction,) "there is no law for beasts of prey;" that the tyrant's plea, necessity, was surely available against a tyrant; and that, if secret destruction were the only passage to success, it was. supported by a necessity as strong as any tyrant ever pleaded. Moreover, the Royalist who acceded to the projects of Sexby might, perchance, have laid to his soul this flattering unction, that the responsibility rested not with him; that these projects had originated with a political party opposed to his own, and with whom co-operation was refused. Considerations like these might have influenced the Royalist, - might have warped the principles of Hyde; and justice to the Royalists of that time required that we should for a while descend from the vantage ground of the present age, and place ourselves in their unfavourable position. But, having so done, we must again regard the whole transaction through the purer medium of the present period. We can offer no justification: it is our duty to condemn and to deplore. CHAP. XVI. SPAIN ASSISTS CHARLES II. AGAINST CROMWELL. AFFAIRS FINANCES. SHOULD BE APPOINTMENT. PAID. EXPEDIENTS FOR RAISING MONEY. DEATH OF OLIVER CROMWELL, AND ACCESSION OF RICHARD, HYDE'S VIEWS AND EXPECTATIONS. STATE OF PARTIES IN ENGLAND. GROUNDS OF HOPE. CHAP. XVI. 1657. 1657, 1658. FROM the hateful record of meditated assassination, let us turn to the military measures openly directed against the power of Cromwell by the allies and adherents of Charles. Small indeed was the prospect of advantage from this source. Instead of England being invaded from the Netherlands, the Netherlands were exposed to invasion by Cromwell; and Charles, instead of being enabled to act for the direct promotion of his own interests, was required to wage, in conjunction with his allies, a profitless warfare within their territory, on their behalf: and Cromwell, being at length openly at war with Spain, entered, in May, 1657, into a defensive and offensive alliance with France; concluded a treaty for a year; and sent to Calais 6000 men, XVI. 1657. to be maintained at the joint expense of the two CHAP. countries. To expel the Spaniards from the Netherlands, or obtain a favourable peace, were the main objects of the expedition. Cromwell demanded, as the price of his assistance, that Mardyke and Dunkirk, when reduced by the combined forces of France and England, should be placed in his hands; and to these terms the French King reluctantly assented. Turenne commanded the allied forces. The Spanish army was commanded by Don Juan, a natural son of the King of Spain, the successor to the Archduke, as Governor of the Netherlands. To this force were added the exiled French under Condé ; and the British force which Charles had raised, consisting of six regiments, commanded by Lords Ormond, Taaffe, Bristol, Wilmot, Newburgh, and Colonel Maccarty. Charles appointed his brother James Captain-General over all, with Bristol, Middlesex, and Ormond, Lieutenant-Generals under him; and the Spaniards raised for him a guard, and allowed him 2007. a month for his table during the campaign. * The first advantage which Charles was enabled to obtain for the Spaniards was the surrender of St. Ghislain, an important fortress in the hands of the French. Half the garrison were Irish troops in the French service, who, by their secession to Charles, enabled the Spaniards to take possession of the place. The campaign was begun tardily and inefficiently, on the part of each of the combined * Clar. State Papers, iii. 344. Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 173. XVI. 1657. CHAP. forces. It was a war of observation and countermarch. The Spaniards maintained the defensive; and the French were not eager to strike a blow of which the advantage would accrue to England. But Cromwell urged them to fulfil their engagement to place Dunkirk and Mardy ke in his hands; and, accordingly, in September, Mardyke was invested, and carried after a three days' siege. Dunkirk was the next object: but the Spaniards compelled their opponents to relinquish the attempt. The French next besieged Gravelines: but the sluices were opened by the Spaniards; the country was inundated; all progress was stopped; and Turenne's army closed the campaign, and retired into winter quarters. State of af fairs in England. Charles, in the memorandum drawn up by Hyde, in 1657, had postponed till winter the promised enterprise for the recovery of his kingdoms; and, at the approach of winter, many of his adherents became anxious to see the promise fulfilled.* The state of England seemed in some points favourable for the attempt. Cromwell, since the passing of the "Humble Petition and Advice," and the subsequent inauguration in May and June, 1657, had been virtually King of England. He wanted nothing of royalty but the name. He had been inaugurated with monarchical solemnities. The address of the Petition and Advice was as that of subjects to a sovereign. He was invested with the more than kingly power of appointing a suc * Clar. State Papers, iii. 330, 351. 373. XVI. 1657. cessor; and each member of the legislature had CHAP. separately taken an oath of allegiance, not to the Commonwealth, but to the Protector. But the attributes of royalty brought with them no real accession of power. Disaffection ensued. The newly modelled House of Lords, which he had raised as a prop and appendage to his state, was a source of weakness rather than of strength. The House of Commons questioned its authority; and Hazlerig, who had been called to it from the Commons, refused to obey the writ. Jan. 20. The Parliament met on the 20th of January, 1658. 1658; and, as they chose to discuss their constitution and privileges, instead of the business required by Cromwell, he angrily dissolved them on the 4th Feb. 4. of February, though he could raise no money without their consent, and the pay of the army, on which he chiefly relied, was now five months in arrear. The army is described by Broderick, in a letter to Hyde, as "infected with sedition;"—"the people with a restless spirit of innovation;' 66 66 the army within one degree of free quarter, owing every where for five month's billet." "Those "quartered in Paul's obtained, with great difficulty, "500%. last week of the Common Council;" and "no "persuasion of Cromwell's could obtain a larger "sum." "Never," says he to the same, in February, 1658, "could you attack Cromwell so unready in shipping, so ill satisfied with the city, so apprehen"sive of his army, so unfurnished of money, and so "hated by the people." But it was added by the |