sending for Dr. Simcott in the middle of the night, in the apprehension that he was about to die. Men of large brain and robust passion have commonly much difficulty in gaining the mastery of their own spirit, and Oliver appears to have known somewhat of the mental strife that forms so prominent a characteristic in the career of such men as Martin Luther and John Bunyan, with whom Oliver may be appropriately classed; although his energies ultimately found issue in the strife of war and politics rather than in that of religious reformation. He was elected to serve in parliament for the borough of Huntingdon in 1628, and there in January, 1629, when the house of commons had resolved itself into a committee on religion, Mr. Oliver Cromwell informed the house of Neile, bishop of Winchester, countenancing arminianism. Steps would probably have been taken against the bishop, notwithstanding the prohibition of the king; but on the 2nd March the house adjourned. On the 5th warrants were issued for the apprehension of some of the riotous members, and on the 10th parliament was dissolved. No parliament was held for twelve years afterwards; the king governed, by prerogative, and Mr. Oliver Cromwell returned to the country to ruminate. In 1631 he sold his property at Huntingdon, and took a grazing farm at St. Ives; and in 1636, by the death of his maternal uncle. Sir Thomas Stuart, he became possessed of an estate in the Isle of Ely valued at nearly £500 a year; engaged vigorously in local politics, and earned for himself the title of "Lord of the Fens." To the short parliament which met in April, 1640, he was returned for the town of Cambridge, in opposition to the court candidate; but I he commons, instead of voting supplies, began to talk of grievances, monopolies, ship-money, star chambers, high commission, breach of their privileges, innovations in religion, and other matters too stimulating for the taste of the king, who on the 5th May dissolved parliament, and committed several members to the Fleet. The affairs of the kingdom, however, were rapidly getting into confusion, and a new parliament was indispensable. It met on the 3rd November, 1640, and is known as the famous Long Parliament. To this also Mr. Cromwell was returned for the town of Cambridge.
To trace Mr. Cromwell's after proceedings, a word must be said on Charles' dispute with the parliament. The parliament which met in March, 1628, had presented a petition of right to the king, praying—1. That no loan or tax might be levied but by consent of parliament. 2. That no man might be imprisoned but by legal process. 3. That soldiers might not be quartered on people against their wills. 4. That no commissions might be granted for executing martial law. To these the king answered, "I will that right be done according to the laws and customs of the realm." This reply, however, was not satisfactory, and both houses addressed the king for a more definite settlement of the laws of the kingdom. In June, 1628, Charles gave answer in due form, "Soit droit fait comme il est desiré;" thereby converting the petition into a law of the realm, and definitely agreeing that no loans or taxes should be levied but by consent of parliament. The principle had been infringed, and Mr. Hampden, who at his own risk and cost tried the case against the crown in 1638, was cast and adjudged to pay ship-money. The parliament that met in November, 1640, where Mr. Cromwell appeared very ordinarily apparelled and without a hatband, proceeded to take up the question, and at once resolved that the levying of ship-money and the opinions of the judges upon it were illegal. Pym, Hampden, Holles, and men of kindred stamp, were the leaders of this new parliament, and with them Mr. Cromwell cast in his lot, using his sharp and untuneable voice to great service, and being, as Sir Philip Warwick justly observes, "very much hearkened unto." The commons in fact urged on reforms with terrific haste. They impeached Archbishop Laud, and took him into custody; threatened the judges, and compelled them to give bail; impeached Sir Robert Berkeley, one of the judges, and actually took him off the bench in Westminster hall; passed a bill for triennial parliaments, and another to abolish the star chamber; voted the bishops out of parliament; brought Strafford to trial, and afterwards to Tower-hill; resolved that there should be no dissolution without consent of both houses, and when the king attempted to apprehend the five members—Pym, Hampden, Holies, Hazelrig, and Strode—resolved "that whoever should attempt to seize any of their members or their papers, the members should stand on their defence." London was in a tumult. An armed multitude carried the five members in triumph to Westminster, and four thousand mounted gentlemen and yeomen from Buckinghamshire made their appearance, to see that no wrong was done to their member, Mr. Hampden. A civil war was about to commence, and the king quitted Whitehall, not again to visit it except as a captive.
These proceedings had carried the parliament over rather more than a year. The king and court quitted Whitehall on the 10th January, 1642. On the 7th February Mr. Cromwell offered to lend £300 for the service of the commonwealth, afterwards increased, it would seem, to £500. In August of the same year, 1642, he was already on foot, doing active service—"Mr. Cromwell in Cambridgeshire has seized the magazine of the castle at Cambridge, and hath hindered the carrying off the plate from the university, which, as some report, is to the value of £20,000 or thereabouts." In September (Sept. 14, 1642) Mr. Cromwell commenced his military career, being then forty-three years of age. Robert, earl of Essex, was "lord-general for king and parliament," which meant for parliament against the king, and William, earl of Bedford, was general of the horse, having, or about to have seventy-five troops of sixty men each; in every troop a captain, a lieutenant, a cornet, and a quartermaster. In troop 67 Oliver Cromwell, member for Cambridge, was captain, and in troop 8 another Oliver Cromwell—probably the eldest son, killed early in battle, and lost sight of in after history—was cornet. Cromwell's rise in the scale of military rank was as follows. In September, 1642, he was captain; in March, 1643, he was colonel. On the 2nd July, 1644, was fought the battle of Marston Moor, at which, according to the newspapers of the time, "upon the left wing of horse was the earl of Manchester's whole cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant-general Cromwell."
At this time General Cromwell was the first cavalry officer in England on the side of the parliament. This he was, not only in the estimation of the soldiers, but in the opinion of Sir Thomas Fairfax and the house of commons. Fairfax before the battle of Naseby wrote to the commons requesting that Cromwell might be spared from his parliamentary duties, to command the whole of the horse. When men were in a strait they needed Oliver, could depend upon him, and were not disappointed. Fairfax who had been rather worsted at Marston Moor, and perhaps supposed that Cromwell's success there depended on his command of cavalry, has "resolved to decline the usual way of a general, and to assume the command of the horse, and leave the infantry to his major in case Lieutenant-general Cromwell come not up in time enough."
On the 14th of June, 1645, was fought the battle of Naseby, General Cromwell having arrived two days before, "amid shouts from the whole army." Oliver, as usual, routed everything, seized the train and cannon of the royalists, took many prisoners, then standard, ensigns, seventy carriages, and the king's own waggons, in one of them a cabinet of letters supposed to be of great consequence. In fact Oliver, and Oliver chiefly, shivered the royalist army to atoms, and the king's cause was ruined beyond recovery. General Cromwell now settled the club-men; stormed Bristol, Winchester, and Basing-house; finished the first civil war; and handed England over to the parliament very much in the style of a conquered country—for which he received the thanks of parliament and a grant of £2,500 a year.
In 1648 his military talents were again in requisition. He was in the north at Carlisle, Berwick, and in Edinburgh. He was commander-in-chief of the army of operation, but still remained only lieutenant-general. In December, 1648, he returned to London, and on the 29th of January, 1649, he signed the death warrant of Charles I. His position at this period is worth remarking. Practically he was the foremost man in the country; but perhaps the only party on which he could thoroughly depend was the army, and even a portion of the army was tinctured with doctrines subversive of military discipline. The parliament contained all the elements of disunion, and without the army was impotent. A legislative assembly that assumes also the executive power of the state, has commonly proved itself a failure, and General Cromwell now began to occupy the chief position in the executive government. He was, however, surrounded by difficulties. After the death of the king, probably not more than one-half of England was on the side of the parliament. Also, there was in England a party of anarchy, the red republicans of that day, called Levellers, who, had it not been for Cromwell's consummate ability and
