Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/160

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in the articles of the ‘Petition and Advice’ to be ‘a most excellent structure,’ and was taken by the prospect of obtaining a parliamentary basis for the protectorate. But the title of king, ‘a gaudy feather in the hat of authority,’ he held a thing of too slight importance to be the subject of earnest contention. Both directly and through Thurloe he urged his father to refuse the title, but to endeavour to obtain the new constitutional settlement offered him by parliament with it (Burton, vi. 93, 182, 222). The sudden dissolution of parliament in February 1658 was a great blow to his hopes of settlement, and he expressed his fears lest the Protector should be induced again to resort to non-legal or extra-legal ways of raising money. Now Lambert was removed, the odium of such things would fall nearer his highness. Errors in raising money were the most compendious ways to cause a general discontent (ib. vi. 820). He advised the calling of a new parliament as soon as possible, but it should be preceded by the remodelling of the army and the cashiering of turbulent officers (ib. vi. 820, 857). He opposed the proposal to tax the cavalier party promiscuously, but approved the imposition of a test on all members of the approaching parliament (ib. vii. 218). His great aim was to found the protectorate on as broad a basis as possible, to free it from the control of the military leaders, and to rally to its support as many of the royalists and old parliamentarians as possible. He knew that the maintenance of the existing state of affairs depended solely on the life of the Protector. The news of his father's illness and the uncertainty as to his successor redoubled Cromwell's fears. The announcement that the Protector had before dying nominated Richard Cromwell was very welcome to Henry. ‘I was relieved by it,’ he wrote to Richard, ‘not only upon the public consideration, but even upon the account of the goodness of God to our poor family, who hath preserved us from the contempt of the enemy’ (ib. vii. 400). There is no sign that Henry ever sought or desired the succession himself. As the Protector’s death had determined his existing commission as lord deputy, he now received a new one, but with the higher title of lieutenant and governor-general (6 Nov. 1658, 14th Rep. of Deputy-Keeper of Irish Records, p. 28). It was with great reluctance that Cromwell was persuaded to accept the renewal of his commission. He was anxious to come over to England, not only for the benefit of his own health, but (after he had agreed to continue in the government of Ireland) in order to confer with Richard and his friends in England on the principles of Irish policy, and on the prospects and plans of the new government in England (Thurloe, vii. 400, 423, 453). But both Thurloe and Lord Broghill strongly urged him not to come. The former wrote that his continuance in Ireland, and at the head of so good an army, was one of the greatest safeguards of his brother’s rule in England, and Broghill added, ‘Neither Ireland nor Harry Cromwell are safe if separated’ (ib. vii. 510, 528). At Dublin, therefore, he remained watching with anxiety the gathering of the storm in England, and hoping that parliament would bring some remedy to the distempers of the army (ib. vii. 453). The meetings of the officers and the manifesto published by them roused him to vehement expostulation on 20 Oct. 1658 with Fleetwood, whom they had petitioned the Protector to appoint commander-in-chief. He was wroth at the slight to his brother, but still more at the aspersions cast on his father’s memory, and, above all things, distressed by the prospect of renewed civil war (ib. vii. 455). For the next few months Cromwell’s letters are unusually few and short, caused in part by his attacks of illness, in part by the tact that he knew his letters were not secure (ib. vii. 665). His numerous correspondents in England kept him well informed of the progress of events there, but he bitterly complains that for some time before the dissolution of the parliament he had received no letters from the Protector. In answer to the letter of the English army leaders which announced the fall of his brother’s government, he sent an ambiguous reply assuring them of the peaceable disposition of the Irish army, and commissioning three officers to represent their views in England (ib. vii. 674, 23 May 1659). It is plain that he regarded his brother still as the legitimate governor, and was prepared to act for his restoration if so commanded. During this period of suspense the hopes of the royalists rose high, and more than one overture was made to Henry on behalf of Charles II. Lord Falconbridge and possibly Lord Broghill seem to have been the agents employed in this negotiation (Clarendon State Papers, iii. 500, 589; Thurloe, vii. 686). But nothing was more opposed to the views of Henry than to promote the restoration of the Stuarts. ‘My opinion,’ he wrote on 21 March 1659,‘is that any extreme is more tolerable than returning to Charles Stuart. Other disasters are temporary and may be mended; those not’ (Thurloe, vii. 635). The principles he had expressed in his reproof to Fleetwood forbade him to use his army for personal ends, or seek to impose its will on the nation. Accordingly, after vainly awaiting the expected instructions from Richard, and