heroes and hero worship-第52节
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; England might have been a _Christian_ land! As it is; vulpine knowingness sits yet at its hopeless problem; 〃Given a world of Knaves; to educe an Honesty from their united action;〃how cumbrous a problem; you may see in Chancery Law…Courts; and some other places! Till at length; by Heaven's just anger; but also by Heaven's great grace; the matter begins to stagnate; and this problem is becoming to all men a _palpably_ hopeless one。
But with regard to Cromwell and his purposes: Hume; and a multitude following him; come upon me here with an admission that Cromwell _was_ sincere at first; a sincere 〃Fanatic〃 at first; but gradually became a 〃Hypocrite〃 as things opened round him。 This of the Fanatic…Hypocrite is Hume's theory of it; extensively applied since;to Mahomet and many others。 Think of it seriously; you will find something in it; not much; not all; very far from all。 Sincere hero hearts do not sink in this miserable manner。 The Sun flings forth impurities; gets balefully incrusted with spots; but it does not quench itself; and become no Sun at all; but a mass of Darkness! I will venture to say that such never befell a great deep Cromwell; I think; never。 Nature's own lionhearted Son; Antaeus…like; his strength is got by _touching the Earth_; his Mother; lift him up from the Earth; lift him up into Hypocrisy; Inanity; his strength is gone。 We will not assert that Cromwell was an immaculate man; that he fell into no faults; no insincerities among the rest。 He was no dilettante professor of 〃perfections;〃 〃immaculate conducts。〃 He was a rugged Orson; rending his rough way through actual true _work_;_doubtless_ with many a _fall_ therein。 Insincerities; faults; very many faults daily and hourly: it was too well known to him; known to God and him! The Sun was dimmed many a time; but the Sun had not himself grown a Dimness。 Cromwell's last words; as he lay waiting for death; are those of a Christian heroic man。 Broken prayers to God; that He would judge him and this Cause; He since man could not; in justice yet in pity。 They are most touching words。 He breathed out his wild great soul; its toils and sins all ended now; into the presence of his Maker; in this manner。
I; for one; will not call the man a Hypocrite! Hypocrite; mummer; the life of him a mere theatricality; empty barren quack; hungry for the shouts of mobs? The man had made obscurity do very well for him till his head was gray; and now he _was_; there as he stood recognized unblamed; the virtual King of England。 Cannot a man do without King's Coaches and Cloaks? Is it such a blessedness to have clerks forever pestering you with bundles of papers in red tape? A simple Diocletian prefers planting of cabbages; a George Washington; no very immeasurable man; does the like。 One would say; it is what any genuine man could do; and would do。 The instant his real work were out in the matter of Kingship;away with it!
Let us remark; meanwhile; how indispensable everywhere a _King_ is; in all movements of men。 It is strikingly shown; in this very War; what becomes of men when they cannot find a Chief Man; and their enemies can。 The Scotch Nation was all but unanimous in Puritanism; zealous and of one mind about it; as in this English end of the Island was always far from being the case。 But there was no great Cromwell among them; poor tremulous; hesitating; diplomatic Argyles and such like: none of them had a heart true enough for the truth; or durst commit himself to the truth。 They had no leader; and the scattered Cavalier party in that country had one: Montrose; the noblest of all the Cavaliers; an accomplished; gallant…hearted; splendid man; what one may call the Hero…Cavalier。 Well; look at it; on the one hand subjects without a King; on the other a King without subjects! The subjects without King can do nothing; the subjectless King can do something。 This Montrose; with a handful of Irish or Highland savages; few of them so much as guns in their hands; dashes at the drilled Puritan armies like a wild whirlwind; sweeps them; time after time; some five times over; from the field before him。 He was at one period; for a short while; master of all Scotland。 One man; but he was a man; a million zealous men; but without the one; they against him were powerless! Perhaps of all the persons in that Puritan struggle; from first to last; the single indispensable one was verily Cromwell。 To see and dare; and decide; to be a fixed pillar in the welter of uncertainty;a King among them; whether they called him so or not。
Precisely here; however; lies the rub for Cromwell。 His other proceedings have all found advocates; and stand generally justified; but this dismissal of the Rump Parliament and assumption of the Protectorship; is what no one can pardon him。 He had fairly grown to be King in England; Chief Man of the victorious party in England: but it seems he could not do without the King's Cloak; and sold himself to perdition in order to get it。 Let us see a little how this was。
England; Scotland; Ireland; all lying now subdued at the feet of the Puritan Parliament; the practical question arose; What was to be done with it? How will you govern these Nations; which Providence in a wondrous way has given up to your disposal? Clearly those hundred surviving members of the Long Parliament; who sit there as supreme authority; cannot continue forever to sit。 What _is_ to be done?It was a question which theoretical constitution…builders may find easy to answer; but to Cromwell; looking there into the real practical facts of it; there could be none more complicated。 He asked of the Parliament; What it was they would decide upon? It was for the Parliament to say。 Yet the Soldiers too; however contrary to Formula; they who had purchased this victory with their blood; it seemed to them that they also should have something to say in it! We will not 〃for all our fighting have nothing but a little piece of paper。〃 We understand that the Law of God's Gospel; to which He through us has given the victory; shall establish itself; or try to establish itself; in this land!
For three years; Cromwell says; this question had been sounded in the ears of the Parliament。 They could make no answer; nothing but talk; talk。 Perhaps it lies in the nature of parliamentary bodies; perhaps no Parliament could in such case make any answer but even that of talk; talk! Nevertheless the question must and shall be answered。 You sixty men there; becoming fast odious; even despicable; to the whole nation; whom the nation already calls Rump Parliament; you cannot continue to sit there: who or what then is to follow? 〃Free Parliament;〃 right of Election; Constitutional Formulas of one sort or the other;the thing is a hungry Fact coming on us; which we must answer or be devoured by it! And who are you that prate of Constitutional Formulas; rights of Parliament? You have had to kill your King; to make Pride's Purges; to expel and banish by the law of the stronger whosoever would not let your Cause prosper: there are but fifty or threescore of you left there; debating in these days。 Tell us what we shall do; not in the way of Formula; but of practicable Fact!
How they did finally answer; remains obscure to this day。 The diligent Godwin himself admits that he cannot make it out。 The likeliest is; that this poor Parliament still would not; and indeed could not dissolve and disperse; that when it came to the point of actually dispersing; they again; for the tenth or twentieth time; adjourned it;and Cromwell's patience failed him。 But we will take the favorablest hypothesis ever started for the Parliament; the favorablest; though I believe it is not the true one; but too favorable。
According to this version: At the uttermost crisis; when Cromwell and his Officers were met on the one hand; and the fifty or sixty Rump Members on the other; it was suddenly told Cromwell that the Rump in its despair _was_ answering in a very singular way; that in their splenetic envious despair; to keep out the Army at least; these men were hurrying through the House a kind of Reform Bill;Parliament to be chosen by the whole of England; equable electoral division into districts; free suffrage; and the rest of it! A very questionable; or indeed for _them_ an unquestionable thing。 Reform Bill; free suffrage of Englishmen? Why; the Royalists themselves; silenced indeed but not exterminated; perhaps _outnumber_ us; the great numerical majority of England was always indifferent to our Cause; merely looked at it and submitted to it。 It is in weight and force; not by counting of heads; that we are the majority! And now with your Formulas and Reform Bills; the whole matter; sorely won by our swords; shall again launch itself to sea; become a mere hope; and likelihood; _small_ even as a likelihood? And it is not a likelihood; it is a certainty; which we have won; by God's strength and our own right hands; and do now hold _here_。 Cromwell walked down to these refractory Members; interrupted them in that rapid speed of their Reform Bill;ordered them to begone; and talk there no more。Can we not forgive him? Can we not understand him? John Milton; who looked on it all near at hand; coul