Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-01-29
English Statesmen.

/, Goldwin Smith has put into the form oil
/ ectures his impressions of three English
Statesmen, Pvm, Cromwell and the younger
Pitt. and these lectures have recently been
published in this country by the IIa pers, in
Il volume of 298 pages. Anything which
this celebrated Englishman, and warm friend
of the United States, Goldwin Smith writes
IF course commands the general attention oi
all thinking men both in this country and in
England and what he has written of these
eminent statesmen is especially worthy of
careful perusal in this country. We should
be glad to quote at length from the volume,
hut only have room, for the following brief
extract from the lecture on Cromwell:
have estimated Cromwell highly. l see
no reason why his nation in his age should
not in the terrible but fruitful throes of a
revolution have brought forth one of the
greatest of the sons of men. - a larger
soul never dwelt in house Of clay said
one who had been much about his person
after his death, when fattery was mute.
His greatness is not to be compared to that
Of conquerors. Ten years more of Alex
ander and we should have had ten more
satrapies. Ten years more of Napoleon and
we should have had ten more conquests at
nee pronigate and insensate. civilization
put back ten degrees more, the barblrous
war spirit made ten degrees more powerful
IN the world Ten years more Of Cromwell
and the history OF England and of Europe
might have been changed. In England we
should have had no revival of absolutist and
Remaining monarchy of the Stuarts no
resurrection Of the Cava'e party under the
name of Tories NJ waste of the nation and
. - -. ,,f
that barren struggle no restoration of the
hierarchy and if an hereditary House of
Lords, one at all events that could not have
fancied itself Norman, and must almost in
cvitably have assumed more of the character
Of national Senate. In Europe, there
would have been no domination Of Louis
XIV. no extermination of French Protes
tintism probably such crisis as that
Of the French Revolution.
And now the Protectors foot was on the
threshold of success. His glory, the excel
ence of his administration, his personal
dignity and virtues were founding his gov
ernment in the allegiance Of the people.
The friends Of order were beginning to per-
ceive that their best chance Of order lay in
giving stability to his throne. Some of the
great families. acting on this view, had con-
nected themselves by marriage with his
house His finances were embarrassed but
he was about again to meet a Parliament
which would probably have voted him sup
plies and concurred with him in settling the
constitution. His foot was on the threshold
OF success but on the threshold of success
stood Death. 1t was death in a strange
form for him for after all his battles and
storms and all the plots of assassins against
his life. this terrible chief died of grief at
the loss Of his favorite daughter and of
watching at her side
Up that steep and slippery path of worldly
greatness. so dangerous to the simplicity of
faith and virtue, the religious farmer of
Huntingdonshire had wandered far away
from the Puritanism of his youth. lie felt
it. and when his end was near he asked his
chaplain whether those who had once been
in Il state of grace could fall from it. lie
was assured that they could not. Then he
siid, e. am saved, for am sure that was
once in a state of grace The Calvinistc
formula has become obsolete for most of
hut we may still trust that he who has once
sincerely devoted himself to God : service is
not often allowed to become an enemy of
God.
All was over here, and once more there
was an illustration of the fraity of systems
and institutions which depend on a single
lie But the counsels Of Providence never
depend upon single life. just as the great
struggle W's commencing III EilSIdHu, Il
little bark put forth on the Atlantic, un
noticed amidst the great events and the
great actors of the time. It's passengers
were Puritan peasants, hunted out If their
homes by the Angie hierarchy and it's per-
scouting agents 1t bore English Democracy,
safe beyond the reach of the English rea ;tion,
to the stores Of the New World There, too,
it has encountered its old foes, the enemies
Of liberty, both Of body and soul. But
there it has triumphed it has triunphed for
itself and it has triumphei for US all.