and any reason that can justify such a sentence? We aşk the judge, "What madness has urged you to condemn a father and a mother?" "It was because they fled," he replies. "Miserable wretch! would you have had them remain to glut your insensate fury? Of what consequence could it be, whether they appeared in chains to plead before you, or whether in a distant land they lifted up their hands in appeal to heaven against you? Could you not see the truth, which ought to have struck you, as well during their absence? Could you not see, that the father was a league distant from his daughter, in the midst of twenty persons, when the unfortunate young woman withdrew from her mother's protection? Could you be ignorant, that the whole family were in search of her for twenty days and nights?" To this you answer by the words, Contumacy, contumacy. What! because a man is absent therefore must he be condemned to be hanged, though his innocence be manifest? It is the jurisprudence of a fool and a monster. And the life, the property, and the honour of citizens are to depend upon this code of Iroquois ! The Sirven family for more than eight years dragged on their misfortunes, far from their native country. At length, the sanguinary superstition which disgraced Languedoc having been somewhat mitigated, and men's minds becoming more enlightened, those who had befriended the Sirvens during their exile, advised them to return and demand justice from the parliament of Toulouse itself, now that the blood of Calas no longer smoked, and many repented of having ever shed it. The Sirvens were justified. Erudimini, qui judicatis terram. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. CROMWELL. SECTION I. CROMWELL is described as a man who was an impostor all his life. I can scarcely believe it. I conceive, that he was first an enthusiast, and that he after wards made his fanaticism instrumental to his greatness. An ardent novice at twenty often becomes an accomplished rogue at forty. In the great game of human life, men begin with being dupes, and end in becoming knaves. A statesman engages as his almoner a monk, entirely made up of the details of his conventdevout, credulous, awkward, perfectly new to the world: he acquires information, polish, finesse, and supplants his master. Cromwell knew not, at first, whether he should become a churchman or a soldier. He partly became both. In 1622 he made a campaign in the army of the prince of Orange, Frederick Henry, a great man and the brother of two great men; and, on his return to England, engaged in the service of bishop Williams, and was the chaplain of his lordship, while the bishop passed for his wife's gallant. His principles were puritanical, which led him cordially to hate a bishop, and not to be partial to kingship. He was dismissed from the family of bishop Williams, because he was a puritan ; and thence the origin of his fortune. The English parliament declared against monarchy and against episcopacy: some friends whom he had in that parliament procured him a country living. He might be said only now to have commenced his existence; he was more than forty before he acquired any distinction. He was master of the sacred scriptures, disputed on the authority of priests and deacons, wrote some bad sermons and some lampoons; but he was unknown. I have seen one of his sermons, which is insipid enough, and pretty much resembles the holdings forth of the quakers; it is impossible to discover in it any trace of that power by which he afterwards swayed parliaments. The truth is, he was better fitted for the state than for the church. It was principally in his tone and in his air that his eloquence consisted. An inclination of that hand which had gained so many battles, and killed so many royalists, was more persuasive than the periods of Cicero. It must be acknowledged, that it was his incomparable valour which brought him into notice, and which conducted him gradually to the summit of greatness. He commenced by throwing himself, as a volunteer and a soldier of fortune, into the town of Hull, besieged by the king. He there performed some brilliant and valuable services, for which he received a gratuity of about six thousand franks from the parliament. This present, bestowed by parliament upon an adventurer, made it clear that the rebel party must prevail, The king could not give to his general officers what the parliament gave to volunteers. With money and fanaticism, everything must in the end be mastered, Cromwell was made colonel. His great talents for war became then so conspicuous, that, when the parliament created the earl of Manchester general of its forces, Cromwell was appointed lieutenant-general, without his having passed through the intervening ranks. Never did any man appear more worthy of command. Never were seen more activity and skill, more daring and more resources, than in Cromwell, He is wounded at the battle of York; and, while undergoing the first dressing, is informed that his commander, the earl of Manchester, is retreating, and the battle lost. He hastens to find the earl; discovers him flying, with some officers; arrests him by the arm, and, in a firm and dignified tone, he exclaims, "My lord, you mistake; the enemy have not taken that road." He re-conducts him to the field of battle; rallies, during the night, more than twelve thousand men; harangues them in the name of God; cites Moses, Gideon, and Joshua; renews the battle, at daybreak, against the victorious royalist army, and completely defeats it. Such a man must either perish or obtain the mastery. Almost all the officers of his army were enthusiasts, who carried the New Testament on their saddle bows. In the army, as in the parliament, nothing was spoken of but Babylon destroyed, building up the worship of Jerusalem, and breaking the image. Cromwell, among so many madmen, was no longer one himself, and thought it better to govern than to be governed by them. The habit of preaching, as by inspiration, remained with him. Figure to yourself a fakir, who, after putting an iron girdle round his loins in penance, takes it off to drub the ears of other fakirs. Such was Cromwell. He becomes as intriguing as he was intrepid. He associates with all the colonels of the army, and thus forms among the troops a republic which forces the commander to resign. Another commander is appointed, and him he disgusts. He governs the army, and through it he governs the parliament; which he at last compels to make him commander. All this is much; but the essential point is, that he wins all the battles he fights in England, Scotland, and Ireland; and wins them, not consulting his own security while the fight rages, but always charging the enemy, rallying his troops, presenting himself everywhere, frequently wounded, killing with his own hand many royalist officers, like the fiercest soldier in the ranks. In the midst of this dreadful war, Cromwell made love he went, with the bible under his arm, to an assignation with the wife of his major-general, Lambert. She loved the earl of Holland, who served in the king's army. Cromwell took him prisoner in battle, and had the pleasure of bringing his rival to the block. It was his maxim to shed the blood of every important enemy, in the field or by the hand of the executioner. He always increased his power by always daring to abuse it; the profoundness of his plans never lessened his ferocious impetuosity. He went to the House of Commons, and drove all the members out, one after another, making them defile before him. As they passed, each was obliged to make a profound reverence: one of them was passing on with his head covered; Cromwell seized his hat and threw it down: 66 Learn," said 66 to respect me." he, When he had outraged all kings by beheading his own legitimate king, and he began himself to reign, he * Voltaire has been deceived, in relation to several of the facts alluded to in this paragraph, by no mean portion of Jacobite exaggeration.-T. sent his portrait to one crowned head, Christina, queen of Sweden. Marvel, a celebrated English poet, who wrote excellent Latin verses, accompanied this portrait with six lines, in which he introduces Cromwell himself speaking; Cromwell corrected these two last verses: At tibi submittit frontem reverentior umbra, Non sunt hi vultus regibus usquè truces. The spirit of the whole six verses may be given thus: Les armes à la main j'ai defendu les lois ; D'un peuple audacieux j'ai vengé la querelle. This queen was the first to acknowledge him, after he became protector of the three kingdoms. Almost all the sovereigns of Europe sent ambassadors to their brother Cromwell, to that domestic of a bishop, who had just brought to the scaffold a sovereign related to them. They emulously courted his alliance. Cardinal Mazarine, in order to please him, banished from France the two sons of Charles I. the two grandsons of Henry IV. and the two cousins German of Louis XIV, France conquered Dunkirk for him, and the keys of it were delivered into his possession. After his death, Louis XIV. and his whole court went into mourning, except mademoiselle, who dared to appear in the circle in colours, and alone to maintain the honour of her race. No king was ever more absolute than Cromwell. He would observe, "that he had preferred governing under the name of protector rather than under that of king, because the English were aware of the limits of the prerogative of a king of England, but knew not the extent of that of a protector." This was knowing mankind, who are governed by opinion, and whose opinion depends upon a name. He had conceived a profound contempt for the religion to which he owed his success. |