Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-03-06
OLIVER CROMWELL.
from the Pittsburg COmmerciaLI

identified with the cause OF Liberalism
and Reform in England, delivered an
oration at the Academy of Music, on
the Life and Genius of Oliver Crom.
well. Mr.. Vincent is known as one OF
the most intimate and valued friends
of John Bright, as an ardent admirer
of the Great Agitator's political the
cries and principles, Snd-like most of
the party who look up to John Bright
as their leader-an enthusiastic and
outspoken champion of American in
stitutions and ideas. He comes to this
country with we'll founded claims upon
our sympathy and esteem, and it is
gratifying TO know that wherever he
has yet appeared he has met with the
most appreciative kind of reception.
Mr.. Vincent can scarcely be consid-
cred lecturer. He uses neither desk
nor manuscript, nor does he invoke
even the occasional aid of notes. The
platform is his, and he certainly ap-
pears very much at home upon it. His
language flows in a free and copious
stream, sometimes indeed assuming
the proportions of an irresistible rhe.
toric freshet, that fairly sweeps the
audience away from its stiff hold on
the properties, and-as the phrase goes
brings down the house in a regular
torrent of applause. Personally, Mr..
Vincent is a; medium lsized, vigorous
looking man of fifty, or thereabouts,
with a somewhat redundant energy of
manner, and an evident earnestness of
purpose and conviction that cannot
fail to make q marked impression on
any audience he may address.
The audience that assembled at the
Academy to hear him nearly filed that
spacious building, and was remarkable
for the large number Of ladies, whose
presence gave to it an exceptional
brilliancy and attractiveness. Mr.. Vim
cent was hatteringly received on his
introduction, and without preface at
once proceeded to speak in substance
as follows:
am about to recount to you, he
said, the story of man who rose from
the middle classes 10 occupy important
posts in the English nation, who bore a
leading and triumphant part in civil
war, and who, rising on the wrecks of a
throne, seized the helm of state, and
after having raised the name and fame
of England to an unexampled pitch of
splendor, died peacefully in his own
bed, leaving his bright reputation, with
all its greatness, and with all its weak
ness, as a permanent legacy to the
country he served. Oliver Cromwell
was born in the parish of st. Johns in
the month of April, 1862: His mother
EITzahafh Sfna.f. loorv,
ed men have gone out of their way to
prove that he was kind of fifteenth
cousin to the royal house of England,
but I believe there is no foundation for
the calumny. According to large
class of miserable authors, Cromwell
was a most wicked boy. lie knew the
flavor of all apples for miles around his
paternal mansion: he was guilty of the
monstrous crime of pinning the tails of
the coats of the school ushers together;
and on one occasion he hogged young
nobleman. Behold him, then, a stumpy
boy-whether good or bad, no matter
with a tendency toward bulging
with body well set on hislegs, should
ers broad, head large and tightly screw
ed on to his shoulders, and shaggy like
the back of bear forehead high and
capacious like the summers sky; pene-
trating eyes and a nose-I say en-
phatically a nose-not one of your
skulking, retreating, apologetic little
articles ashamed of their very existence,
but a downright, strzish forward nose
what a dry goods merchant would
call leading article. The speaker
graphically sketched CromwelPs ex-
periences while .at school and col
lege, the manner of his early marriage,
the routine of his domestic life, and
his religious tendencies, until the time
when abuses in the Church made him
what was then called an Independent
Puritan, and the abuses in the State
made him q local agitator.. In 1923
Cromwell was elected member of the
borough Of Huntington. He entered
Parliament at great time. The ques-
tion was whether there was in England
a power above the law. The commons
contended that there was none, while
the lords contended that such a power
resided in the king. At this time,
John Hampden, his cousin on his
mothers side, said to Fairfax, who
sneeringly asked who that sloyen was.
THAT sloVen, if we come to blows with
the king, will be one of the foremost
men in the kingdom" Itwas in these
days that the Petition of Right, which
embodies the ancient principles of our
constitution, was voted and accepted
by the king. Immediately upon this
act the Parliament was dissolved, and
for eleven years there was no parlia-
ment in England. The king ruled by
his own power. This was the time when
devout clergymen were driven from
their pulpits when non conformist
chapels were broken up, and their
ministers thrown into prison; when the
king levied taxes without calling par.
lament, and when John Hampden re-
sisted the claim of the king to levy
ship money.
1t has become the fashin now to ridi-
cule the Puritans. Many of them we're
sternly fanatical; but they meant what
they said, and the power of the king
was shattered against them as against
a rock. In 1889 the king issued Writs
for parliament, and Cromwell was re-
turned member for Cambridge. This
pdiAiauhOhb NOLcu budl EcuTesS OI grew.
ances should precede any vote of sup
plies, and it was dissolved in three
weeks. But it was too late; the An
glo Saxon blood was aroused and tyran-
ny must die. The king was Obliged to
order a new election, and in obedience
to his command there assembled in st.
Stephens chapel the wondrous assem-
bly,, the long Parliament. The king,
blind with rage at these persistent de-
mands for redress and security, made
his famous attempt to seize the Eve
members of the House of Commons,
and was insulted in the streets on his
his return after the Intellectual attempt
by the popular cry To your tents, o
Israeli" The Parliament ordered that
the army, the navy and the militia
should be put under the command of
men in whom they had confidence.
The Kings adherents were the first
to take up arms. 1t was long before
the conntry gentlemen of England be-
gan to awake to the stern fact that the
King was trying to crush the power of
the Parliament. In the first year the
Kings forces were everywhere success
full. In that year Pym died and John
Hampden received his death wound.
1t was a terrible shock for US. But at
last the Parliament commanded Crom-
well to go down to Huntington to Or