served to confirm his usurped authority. But that authority could neither be acquired nor preserved without talents; and Cromwell was furnished with those that were admirably suited to the times in which he lived, and to the part he was destined to act.

He possessed, in an eminent degree, the power of discerning the characters of men, and the rare felicity of employing their abilities to advantage; of discovering the motives of others, and concealing his own; of blending the wildest fanaticism with the most profound policy; of reconciling a seeming incoherence of ideas with the most prompt and decisive measures; and of commanding the highest respect, amid the coarsest familiarity. By these talents, together with a coincidence of interests, he was able to attach and manage the military fanatics; and by their assistance to subdue the parliament, and to tyrannize over the three kingdoms. But in all this there was nothing extraordinary; for an army is so forcible, and at the same time so rude a weapon, that any hand which wields it, may, without much dexterity, perform any operation, or attain any ascendant in human society.

The moral character of Cromwell is by no means so exceptionable, as it is generally rep.. resented. On the contrary, it is truly surprizing, how he could temper such violent ambition, and such enraged fanaticism, with so much regard to justice and humanity. Even the murder of the king, his most atrocious measure, was to him covered under a cloud of republican and fanatical illusions; and it is possible that, like

many others concerned in it, he considered it as the most meritorious action of his life. For it is the peculiar characteristic of fanaticism to give sanction to any measure, however cruel or unjust, that tends to promote its own interests, which are supposed to be the same with those of the deity; and to which, consequently, all moral obligations ought to give place.

CHAP. LXVIII.

Of the Restoration of Charles the Second.

AFTER an exile of twelve years in France and Holland, Charles was restored to the throne of his ancestors, A. D. 1660. It is in vain for historians of any party to ascribe his restoration to the merits of particular persons. It was effected by the general concurrence of the people, who seem to have thought, that neither peace nor protection were to be obtained, but by restoring the ancient constitution of monarchy.

General Monk, a man of military abilities, and at the head of the army, had the sagacity to observe this; and after temporizing in various shapes, he made the principal figure in restoring Charles II. For this he was created duke of Albemarle, confirmed in the command of the army, and loaded with honors and riches.

When the new parliament first met, the leading members exerted themselves chiefly in bitter invectives against the memory of Cromwell, and

in execrations against the inhuman murder of the late king; no one yet daring to make any mention of the second Charles. At length the general having sufficiently sounded the inclinations of the commons, gave directions to Annesly, president of the council, to inform them that, Sir John Granville, one of the king's servants, was now at the door with a letter from his majes ty to the parliament. The loudest acclamations resounded through the house, on this intelligence. Granville was called in; and the letter, accompanied with a declaration, was greedily read. A moment's pause was scarce allowed. All at once, the house burst out into an universal assent to the king's proposals; and to diffuse the joy more widely, it was voted, that the letter and declaration should be immediately published.

The king's declaration was highly relished by every order of the state. It offered a general amnesty to all persons whatsoever, and that without any exceptions, except such as should be made by parliament. It promised to indulge scrupulous consciences with liberty in matters of religion; to leave to the examination of parliament, the claims of all such as possessed lands with contested titles; and to confirm all those concessions by act of parliament; to satisfy the army under general Monk with respect to arrears, and to give the same rank to his officers, when they should be received into the king's service.

This declaration was not less pleasing to the lords, than to the people. After voting the restitution of the ancient form of government, it was

resolved to send the king fifty thousand pounds, the duke of York his brother ten thousand, and the duke of Gloucester half that sum. Then both houses erased from their records all acts that had passed to the prejudice of royalty. The army, navy, the city of London, were eager in preparing their addresses to be presented to his majesty; and he was soon after proclaimed, with great solemnity, at Whitehall, and at Temple Bar.

The people now freed from all restraint, let loose their transports without bounds. Thousands were seen running about frantic with pleasure. And, as lord Clarendon says, such were the number of the royalists that pressed forward on this occasion, that one could not but wonder where those people dwelt, who had lately done so much mischief.

A committee of lords and commons was dispatched to invite his majesty to return, and take possession of the kingdom. The respect of foreign powers soon followed the allegiance of his own subjects; and the formerly neglected Charles was, at the same time, invited by France, Spain, and the United Provinces, to embark at one of their sea-ports. He chose to accept of the invitation of the latter; and had the satisfaction, as he passed from Breda to the Hague, to be received with the loudest acclamations. The States-general, in a body, made their compliments to him, with the greatest solemnity; and all ambassadors and foreign ministers, expressed the joy of their masters, at this change of fortune.

The English fleet came in sight of Scheveling; and Montague, who had not waited the orders of parliament, persuaded the officers to tender their duty to their sovereign. The king went on board, and the duke of York took the command of the fleet as high admiral. When Charles disembarked at Dover, he was received by general Monk, whom he cordially embraced, and honored with the appellation of Father. Very different was his present triumphant return, from the forlorn state in which he left the English coast at Sussex. He now saw the same people, who had ardently sought his life, as warmly expressing their pleasure at his safety, and repentance for their past delusions. He entered London on the twenty-ninth of May, which was his birth day. An innumerable concourse of people lined the way, wherever he passed, and rent the air with their acclamations. They had been so long distracted by unrelenting factions, oppressed and alarmed by a succession of tyrannies, that they could no longer suppress these emotions of delight, to behold their constitution restored; or rather like a phoenix, appearing more beautiful and vigorous, from the ruin of its former conflagration.

Fanaticism, with its long train of gloomy terrors, fled at the approach of freedom; the arts of society and peace began to return; and it had been happy for the people, if the arts of luxury had not entered in their train.