Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/639

Rh C K M W E L L 605 principal employment was to collect the confiscated property of the monasteries granted by the Pope to Wolsey for the endowment of his colleges at Ipswich and Oxford; and the manner in which he performed this task, while it added very considerably to hia purse, aroused numerous and vehement complaints. Indeed, many expected to see him mount the scaffold when his master s protection ceased to be of avail. Among the followers of Wolsey, however, he had made himself of the first importance ; and when ruin overtook the cardinal, it was on Cromwell that he leant. There are letters extant in Wolsey s handwriting, addressing Cromwell as a familiar friend, and earnestly begging his presence and advice ; and there is one in the handwriting of Cromwell, containing such counsel as might have been given by an equal, and, with an air that savours somewhat of hypocrisy, congratulating the fallen minister on being now &quot; at liberty to serve God,&quot; and &quot; banish and exile the vain desires of this unstable world.&quot; For his fidelity, and especially for his defence of Wolsey in the House of Commons, 1 CromweH received from his contemporaries the highest praise. His conduct appears to have been simply that of a man who, not forgetful of his own interests, was honourably desirous of serving a patron to whom ha was deeply indebted. At first he remained with the cardinal, whom ha accompanied to his uncomfortable exile at Esher. B it he was not long content to serve in unprofitable obscurity, and he was besides in some alarm for his personal safety. New and aspiring projects began to fill his mind. Cavendish, Wolsey s gentleman-usher and biographer, tells how on All- Hallows day he found him gazing out of a window at Esher, with his primer in his hand, employed, unlike his wont, in saying his matins. He complained with tears to Cavendish that, while he had received no promotion from the cardinal, he was like to share his fall, and announced his intention of riding to the court that very afternoon to stake his for tunes on an interview with the king. An account of that interview has baen given by Pole, 2 who asserts that he re ceived his information from some of the courtiers present. Trusting in Henry s love of power and his bitter irritation against the Pops, Cromwell ventured to reveal the daring policy which he had conceived. The authority of the Papacy in England was to be altogether abolished ; and thus, not only was the painful question of the divorce to be easily settled, but the allegiance of ths clergy, then divided, treasurer of Wolsey s household, to John Higden, dean of Cardinal College, and dated the 29th October of the seventeenth year of Henry VIII. i.e. 1525. (See Brewer, Calendar, etc. vol. iv. part 1, p. 768). And there are extant two letters written in 1526, and addressed to Cromwell as &quot;one of my Lord Cardinal s Council,&quot; and &quot;counsellor to my Lord s Cardinal s grace&quot; (Brewer, Calendar, vol. iv. parti, pp. 1048-9). Sir Henry Ellis (Original Letters, 2nd ser. 2nd vol. p. 117) expresses the opinion that &quot;he must have been in Wolsey s service at least as early as 1524.&quot; 1 Cavendish (Life of Wolsey, p. 276), says that a bill had been passed in the House of Lords to &quot; have my Lord Cardinal condemned of treason,. . . against which Master Cromwell inveighed so dis cretely, with such witty persuasions and deep reasons that the same would take there no effect.&quot; But Herbert quotes the articles of the bill, because, he says, &quot;our vulgar chronicles misreport them,&quot; and proves that it was not a bill of impeachment, but one intended to disqualify Wolsey from being restored to office (Life of Henry VIII. pp. 408-16, Murray s ed.). He adds, &quot;These articles were presented to the Lords, and then sent down to the Lower House, where Thomas Cromwell (obtaining the place of a burgess) so wittily defended his master that no treason could be laid to his charge. And upon this honest beginning Cromwell obtained his first reputation.&quot; Mr Brewer (Calendar, dec. vol. iv. Introd. p. 553), however is inclined to believe that Cromwell risked nothing by his defence of Wolsey. The bill was dated 1st Dec., when Cromwell was already in the king s service ; and there is no reason to believe that Henry was in favour of the measure, which, on the contrary, was likely to be distasteful to him as intended to limit his prerogative. s Apologia ad Carolum V. pp. 120-121, quoted by Tytler, Life of Henry VIII. p. 308- as Cromwell proved by reference to the bishops oaths, between their sovereign and their spiritual head, was all to be claimed by the former. And, besides, Cromwell appealed to the king s cupidity by showing that all the wealth of the clergy was at the disposal of the king, since they (in common, indeed, with the whole nation) had, by receiving Wolsey as Papal legate, fallen under the penalties of proemunire. The boldness and originality of this advice, and the reputation for ability, address, and fidelity which he had gained, pointed Cromwell out to Henry as likely to prove a minister of no ordinary value ; and he was at once taken into favour. The way, however, had been previously prepared. The duke of Bedford, whose life Cromwell had saved in Italy, spoke in his behalf; and he had recently laid several of tho other courtiers under obligations. Ho had advised the cardinal to advance his interest at court by conferring handsome presents on those who had the greatest influence with the king, and had himself undertaken to fix the amounts, and choose the recipients, of tLese gifts. Thus Cromwell gained entrance into the king s service. .His rise was rapid, for he possessed qualities which admir ably fitted him &quot;for success as a minister of Henry VIII. He was capable of carrying on a strong and arbitrary government with a hand that shrank from no measure that seemed -necessary, and an eye that never failed in its vigilance; and, vhenever the king chose to act indepen dently, he was supple enough to bend, and to bend grace fully, to the inevitable. In him also the king found a servant who did not scorn to offer the flattery which ho expected, who performed with zeal and care any service, however trivial, and who was ever ready to join heartily in the hunting, gambling, and other pastimes in which he delighted. That, with these qualities, he was of obscure birth was a circumstance in his favour ; for tho policy of humbling the nobility, which had been steadiiy pursued by Henry &quot;VII., had not been reversed by his son. Immediately, or almost immediately, after his interview with the king, Cromwell vas appointed privy councillor. One more service he rendered to Wolsey, as the bearer of tho king s gift of a thousand pounds ; but his fortunes were no longer linked with those of the cardinal. By 1532 he had obtained the posts of master of the jewels and clerk of the hanaper ; in 1533 he was raised to the office of chan cellor of the exchequer for life. By 1535 he had become master of the rolls, secretary of state, and, most important of all, had been appointed to the highest office in the church as vicar -general in ecclesiastical affairs, a title which was afterwards changed (with what change of power, if any, is now unknown) for that of vicegerent. In 1536 he was made lord privy seal. In 1537 he received tho Order of the Garter. And, besides these dignities and offices, he held those of great chamberlain, dean of Wells, chancellor of the university of Cambridge, justice of the forests north of tho Trent, and Baron Cromwell of Oke- ham. On the 17th April 1540 he was created earl of Essex. To narrate the details and trace out the effects of Cromwell s policy belongs to history. In this biography it is sufficient to consider the general character of the measures for which he was responsible, to estimate his aims, and motives, and discuss the means which he employed. A great scheme, consistently carried out, is manifest throughout the whole of his political career. All power was to be centralized in the hands of the king, or in those of the ministers whom he appointed ; for the present, that is, in the hands of Cromwell himself. In secular affairs this centralization was already almost complete. Parlia ment voted, and the judges decided, as the king wished ; and juries could be readily frightened into abject submis sion. The power of the nobles, which of old had been the