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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	commissioner_n	john_n	sir_n	10,577	5	6.4155	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51104	A Modest vindication of Oliver Cromwell from the unjust accusations of Lieutenant-General Ludlow in his Memoirs together with some observations on the Memoirs in general.		1698 (1698)	Wing M2374; ESTC R36921	33,034	82

Lieutenant General so frequently complains that he could never be gratifi'd according to his Merits they would have recompenc'd him to the full of his Deserts in fighting for his Country had the Lieutenant-General not fled from his reward And so we proceed to his Second Volume VOLUME II. THE Second Volume begins very tartly and roundly indeed and displaying a kind of Billingsgate Passion against Cromwell for dissolving that part of the Parlament which the People afterwards in Derision call'd the Rump and which the Lieutenant-General calls a Villanous Attempt and a Barbarous Usage of p 458 461 the Parlament which they who well consider will find to be the Language only of Prejudice and Self-Interest and in the Lieutenant-General to be no way justifiable 'T is true his Charge against Cromwell is very high and very plausible but whither the Accusations will fix a real Guilt upon the Party accus'd is the Question For this is an Axiom in Logic that nothing is to be admitted for Truth but what is acknowledg'd to be certainly such That is to say all Precipitancy and Prejudice in judging is to be avoided and nothing is farther to be absolutely concluded then as it is so clearly and distinctly Evident to Reason that it can no way be call'd in Question Now there is no Body will deny but that Cromwell turn'd out the Rump yet there are Thousands will deny that he did amiss in doing it But to shew how Partiality blinds the Reason of some People I would fain know where lay the Difference between purging the House and turning out the Members that were treating with the King in the Isle of Wight and dissolving the Republican Rump for Oliver was as much a Servant to the one as the other Yet the Lieut. Gen. could approve the first Act whatever Exclamations he makes against the Latter Then Oliver was faithful and an Assertor now a perfidious Invader of the Liberties of the People Neither did Cromwell owe 'em that Obedience which the Lieutenant General pretends He was a Member of the same Body equal in Authority superior in Power and fought for himself as well as for them and if they aided him with Money and their Counsels he assisted them with his Counsels and his Sword They sate under his Protection and ow'd their Grandeur to his Victories and he might be said to have giv'n 'em their Being in a Political Sense and to support that Being of theirs he ran all the Hazards Abroad while they enjoy'd the Fruits of his Labours at Home Their Power was only precarious and while they rul'd by Laws only of his and their own making he was not Circumscrib'd to any limits of Obedience to Acts and Ordinances made only for present Conveniences which in an unstable Government there may be as great a necessity to alter or repeal upon new Emergencies In this Confusion of Popular Anarchy Cromwell resolv'd to be govern'd by the only standing Law in the Kingdom at that time which was the Law of Self-Preservation And the ejected Republicans may thank the E. of Essex when General and the Scotch Commissioners for teaching him that Lesson Mr. Whitlock in his Memoirs tells the Story thus Collonel Cromwell being made Lieutenant-General of Manchester's Army gave such an Account of the Miscarriages of the Parlaments Forces before Donnington Castle as made great Impressions of Jealousy in the Earl of Essex's Breast then Captain General for the Parliament Insomuch that he was advis'd to put his strength to rid Cromwell out of the way and the means to effect it was suppos'd to be by the Scots Commissioners who were not well pleas'd with Cromwell for certain words which he had spoken as they apprehended Derogatory to the Honour of their Nation So early did Cromwell begin to be both Eminent and Formidable One Evening Mainard and Whitlock were Summon'd to Essex House whither they went to attend the Lord General not knowing the occasion of their being sent for and found already come before 'em the Scots Commissioners Mr. Hollis Sir Philip Stapleton Sir John Meyrick and some others After the usual Complements the Lord General addressing himself to Mainard and Whitlock told 'em he had sent for 'em upon a special occasion to have their Advice and Counsel in a matter of great Importance wherein the Lords Commissioners of Scotland were concern'd as well for their own as the state of England and referr'd himself to the Lord Chancellor of Scotland as a much better Orator then himself to acquaint 'em with the Business Upon which the Lord Chancellor after he had assur'd 'em of the good Opinion that himself and his Brethren had of their Worth and Abilities You ken vary wee l said He that Lieutenant-General Cromwell is no Friend of ours and since the advance of our Army into England he has us'd all under-hand and cunning means to take off from our Honour and Merit of this Kingdom Therefore it is thought requisite for us and for the carrying on of the Cause of the tway Realms that this Obstacle or Remora may be remov'd out of the way whom otherwise we foresee will be no small impediment to us and the gude design we have undertaken He not only is no Friend to us and the Government of our Kirk but he is also no well-willer to his Excellency whom we have all cause to love and honour so that if he be permitted to go on in his way it may I fear endanger the whole Business therefore we are to advise of some course to be taken for prevention of that Mischief You ken vary wee l the Accord betwixt the two Kingdoms and the Union between the two Kingdoms by the solemn League and Covenant and if any be an Incendiary between the two Nations how he is to be proceeded against Now the matter is wherein we desire your Opinions what you take the meaning of this word Incendiary to be and whicher the Lieutenant-General Cromwell be not sike an Incendiary as is meant thereby and whilke way wud be best to proceed against him if he be prov'd sike an Incendiary and that will clepe his wings from soaring to the Prejudice of our cause Now you may ken that by our Law in Scotland we clepe him an Incendiary wha kindleth Coals of Contention and raiseth Differences in the State to the publick Damage and he is tanquam Publicus Hostis Patrioe Whether your Law be the same or not you ken best who are mickle Learned therein and therefore with the Favour of his Excellency we desire your Judgments in these Points Whitlock repli'd That the sense of the word Incendiary was the same in England as his Lordship had express'd it to be by the Law of Scotland One that raiseth the fire of Contention in a State or that kindles the burning hot flames of Contention but whether Lieutenant-General Cromwell were such an Incendiary between the two Kingdoms could not be known but by proof of his particular Words and

Parliament wrote to the Irish Lieutenant-General that now he hop'd they should please him which as he acknowledges they did not from any particular Advantages that he expected from it if you will believe him but that the People of England might be preserv'd in their just Rights from the Oppression of Violent men being fully persuaded that an Accommodation with the King was unsafe to the People of England and unjust and wicked in the nature of it And thus you see the Irish Lieutenant-General writes with a two-edg'd Pen with one side to gash the Reputation of Cromwell and with the other to Sliver the Devotion of those who venerate Charles the I. for a Martyr And now we are come to the last Act considerable in the first Volume wherein our Author is very Industrious by extenuating to advance his own worth to shew the continuance of his Familiarity with Cromwell and display his own Ingratitude to his Friend And here it is observable in the first place that he still made Cromwell the Aggressor in his Discourses with him An evident Sign that he affected to have it believ'd by all the World that Cromwell had a high Opinion of him for his Abilities and the Infallible Counsels of his Oracular Forefight Whereas all Judicious Men that read his Memoirs will find that Oliver who was a Man of a deep reach indeed had quite another Aim For Cromwell well knowing that his Bigotry to the Party had gain'd him a Reputation for his fidelity to the Cause among 'em and that he was for that reason entrusted with all their Secrets addrest himself to the Irish Lieutenant General as one of the weakest among 'em that by sifting his Thoughts he might understand the Judgment of the rest of the Party or at least of the more Cunning sort He tells us That Cromwell after the Parliament had voted him General as our Author was sitting by him in the House express'd an Extraordinary Sorrow to observe an Alteration in his looks and carriage towards him by which p 316 he apprehended that his dear Friend Ludlow had entertain'd some Suspicions of him Which Address of Cromwell's might be very probable not that it is to be thought that Cromwell car'd a rush for his Looks or his Carriage but it was a Complement proper to draw an Easy man into the Nooze that better Cunning was preparing for him After this nothing would serve Cromwell but a Meeting with this same Seraskier of the Irish Spahi's to remove the Grounds of their Mistakes and Misapprehensions and accordingly they met in the Queen's Guard-Chamber where as he says Cromwell endeavour'd p 317 to persuade him of the Necessity incumbent upon him of doing several things that appear'd extraordinary in the Judgment of some Men who in opposition to him would bring Ruin upon themselves as well as Him and the Public Cause Presently Ludlow consters these Extraordinary Things to be Cromwell's Treating with the King and shooting to death one of the Soldiers and imprisoning the rest that mutiny'd at Ware upon the account of that Treaty and testifies his dislike of those Actions as being done for sinister ends However since the Army and He had manifested themselves convinc'd of their Errors by their Adherence to the Commonwealth he was willing to wait for the accomplishment of those good things which he expected from him so soon as he should return with Victory home again for Cromwell was then going to invade Scotland but p 318 then he hop'd that the General 's Interests and Principles would lead him to do what was most agreeable to the Constitution of a Commonwealth and the good of Mankind Nor did he forget his own particular Grievance by the bye which was the too partial Hand of the Parlament and General in their Distributions of Gratuities considering how he had held out Wardour Castle and expos'd his Life in Wiltshire and never got any thing for his pains Now if you will believe our Author nor is it material to contradict him can any man of sense persuade himself that Cromwell at that time a General and a Man oppress'd with Ponderous Affairs would have spent his time in soothing up the Humour of an Empty Bigot and wasted above an hour in preaching upon the 110th Psalm p 319 to tickle his Fancy had it not been for some other Reason then our Author first pretended 'T is a vanity to think it But Cromwell was then ready to march for Scotland and wanted a Journyman for his Son Ireton in Ireland Some he thought too nimble and cunning some too faithless to be trusted but here was one for his turn stout of his Hands a weak Head-piece and one that would be easily rul'd if well manag'd but for want of Understanding displeas'd with his Extraordinary Proceedings and for that reason to be fondl'd into a good Humour again And therefore so soon as the General saw him mollify'd he not only propounded the Preferment he design'd him for the foremention'd Reasons to himself but propos'd him to the Council of State and they to the Parlament and so got him chosen in a manner in despight of his teeth when others far more deserving and experienc'd in the Irish Affairs such as the Lord Broghil and Sir Hardress Waller sollicited for the same Employment at the same time And indeed he would make yee believe it was really so For as he says he not only pleaded the common Excuses and Goodly good Morrows of Inability and Unfitness but the apparent Emergencies of his Estate and Family But Cromwell who knew he had committed a proper Tool into the hands of a good Workman would admit of no denial However he had no sooner receiv'd his Commission but his Advancement puffing him up with a high Opinion of himself he so order'd it that his Friends gave out That the Opportunity was taken by the General to remove p 303 him out of the way least he should prove an Obstruction to his Designs yet himself still standing upon his guard of Modesty and telling the world that he could not think himself so considerable Nor could his Friends believe it whate're they Publish'd who knew so well it was not Cromwell's way to remove but quite to lay aside those Persons whom he acccounted Dangerous or lookt upon as Obstructors of his Designs Besides that such affected selfdebasements seldom find belief with Men of Sense as being incompatible with Truth in Men that so often complain of unrewarded Merit as our Author does Seeing then that this great Preferment was not forc'd upon him least he should obstruct the General 's designs as our Author himself pretends but as he rather conceives for his Merit it follows that the world must conclude him guilty of a great share of Ingratitude so to bespatter as he does with the Epithites of Ambitious Wicked and Impious for in such Heats and Passions we shall find the Lieutenant General of the Forces in Ireland in the next Volume his