he had formed, it was necessary to see that the preparation was continuous—that Prussia was always and increasingly prepared.
In the history of our own country—for we must not, in smug complacency and with a show of unctuous rectitude, merely look abroad for the marks of diplomacy—we might go for illustration of its sinister attributes to quarters where, perhaps, they are least expected. It has been claimed for Oliver Cromwell that he was 'no Frederick the Great, who spoke of mankind as diese verdammte Race—that accursed tribe': he belongs to 'the rarer and nobler type of governing men who see the golden side, who count faith, pity, hope among the counsels of practical wisdom, and who for political power must ever seek a moral base'.[1] We should not be content with that character for the Protector even in his home policy; still less in his foreign policy. A knowledge of the diplomacy of 1654 is of itself sufficient to destroy the picture and discredit the artist. It used to be thought that Cromwell then stood forth as arbiter among the rulers of Europe, and, in particular, that the monarchs of France and Spain were suitors for his support.[2] Instead of this the facts show him courting France
- ↑ Morley, Oliver Cromwell (1900), 469. See, however, for qualification, p. 434 in the chapter on Foreign Policy: 'Like every other great ruler in critical times and in a situation without a precedent, he was compelled to change alliances, weave fresh combinations, abandon to-day the ardent conception of yesterday.' Lord Morley in his Recollections (1917) has made additional reservations in deference to the tyranny of circumstance.
- ↑ e.g. Frederic Harrison, Oliver Cromwell (1895), 221: 'The history of England offers no such picture to national pride as when the kings and rulers of Europe courted, belauded, fawned on the farmer of Huntingdon.' For a judicious estimate see Firth, Oliver Cromwell (1905)—the chapter on 'Cromwell's Foreign Policy', and 'The Epilogue'. 'Looked at from one point of view, he seemed as practical as a commercial traveller; from another, a Puritan Don Quixote,' 389. 'Political inconsistency is generally attributed to dishonesty, and Cromwell's dishonesty was open and palpable.'
