Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/359

] fastnesses, and pursued with the most terrible ferocities of fanatic savagery, with fire and sword and extermination, these horrors were aggravated by winter and famine, and the news of this fearful butchery rung through protestant England with a sensation which revived all the memory of the popish horrors in the Marian times. There was one loud outcry for interference on their behalf. Press and pulpit resounded with demands of sympathy and redress: the ministers of all classes waited on Cromwell in a body to solicit his protection of the Vaudois: the army in Scotland and Ireland sent up addresses. No one appeared, however, more excited than Cromwell himself. He immediately gave two thousand pounds, and appointed a day of general humiliation, and a collection on their behalf, which was observed, and thirty-eight thousand two hundred and twenty-eight pounds were speedily raised, and sent by envoys to Geneva, to be conveyed to the sufferers. Nor did Cromwell satisfy himself with having done this. The day of the arrival of the news, June 3rd, 1655, he was about to sign a treaty of peace with France; but he refused to sign it till he had seen whether the French king and Mazarin would heartily unite with him in compelling protection from the duke of Savoy for the sufferers. Mazarin was loth to stir in such a business, but Cromwell soon let him see that there would be no peace for France unless he did, and he consented. Three Latin letters were written by Milton at the order of the protector to different states of Europe, calling on them to co-operate for this great end, and the mighty poet sent forth also his glorious sonnet, commencing, which remains like a perpetual trumpet-note through all time. The astonished duke of Savoy was soon compelled to give ample guarantee for the religious liberty and security of his protestant subjects.

What a striking contrast to the conduct of the Palmerston ministry in our own time, who suffered Englishmen to endure, even to the cost of their health and intellect, the horrors of an unjust imprisonment from the bigoted royal monster of Naples! This proud and magnanimous display of English spirit by Cromwell, forced even from the prejudiced pen of Hume a warm eulogium. "The conduct of the protector in foreign affairs, though imprudent and impolitic, was full of vigour and enterprise, and drew a consideration to his country, which, from the reign of Elizabeth, it seemed to have totally lost. The great mind of this successful usurper was intent on spreading the renown of the English nation; and while he struck mankind with astonishment at his extraordinary fortune, he seemed to ennoble, instead of debasing, that people whom he had reduced to subjection. It was his boast that he would render the name of an Englishman as much feared and revered as ever was that of a Roman. And the tory historian was even compelled to add, "It must also be acknowledged that the protector, in his civil and domestic administration, displayed as great regard both to justice and clemency, as his usurped authority, derived from no law, and founded only on the sword, could possibly permit. All the chief offices in the courts of judicature were filled with men of integrity. Amid the virulence of faction, the decrees of the judges were upright and impartial; and to every man but himself, and to himself, except where necessity required the contrary, the law was the great rule of conduct and behaviour."

The expedition to the West Indies, in its commencement, was not so successful as the protector generally experienced. The fleet was bound for Hispaniola, consisting of sixty sail, and carried four thousand troops; and in Barbadoes and other English settlements, the force was augmented by volunteers, incited by promise of plunder, to ten thousand. But these fresh forces were of the worst possible description, being prisoners of a loose description shipped thither; the commanders were divided in opinion, and the attack was so wretchedly managed, that it failed with great loss. St. Domingo, which they intended to take, was deserted on their approach, but instead of entering it at once, they landed their forces forty miles off, and marched them through woods towards the town. The heat of the weather, the want of water, and the consequent disorder of the troop, prepared them for what ensued. They were suddenly attacked in a thick wood, and repulsed with great slaughter. Nothing could bring these ragamuffin forces to renew the attempt, and the commanders sailed away, but afterwards fell on Jamaica and took it. That island was then, however, considered of so little value, that it did not satisfy the government for the loss of Hispaniola, and on their return Venables and Penn were committed to the Tower. Notwithstanding this, however, Cromwell determined to make secure the consequent of Jamaica, and extend, if possible, the West Indian possessions. Vice-admiral Goodson was ordered to take the command at Jamaica, and with him general Fortescue, Serle, governor of Barbadoes, and general Sedgwick, from New England, were appointed commissioners for the management of the island.

Cromwell's letters to these officers that autumn, inform his that there were twenty-eight men-of-war on that station, and people from Barbadoes, from New England, and from England and Scotland were being sent to occupy and settle the island. A thousand Irish girls were sent out. Cromwell pointed out to the commissioners how advantageously the island lay for keeping in check the Spanish main, and the trade with Peru and Carthagena. His comprehensive glance was alive to all the advantages of the conquest, and his resolution engaged to make the most of it. Whatever is the value of Jamaica now, we owe it to him. He believed that he was not only serving the nation but religion by humbling Spam. He wrote to the commissioners, "The Lord himself hath a controversy with your enemies, even with that Roman Babylon of which the Spaniard is the great underpropper. In that respect we fight the Lord's battles, and in that respect the Scriptures are most plain." Spain, of course, proclaimed war against England, to her further loss, and the glory of Cromwell and his invincible puritan admiral, Blake. Penn and Venables resigned their commissions, and were set at liberty. October 24th, the day after the Spanish ambassador quitted London, Cromwell signed the treaty of peace with France, by which Conde and the French malcontents were to be excluded from the