but I thank God I know where to lay the weight that is laid upon me,—I mean the weight of reproach and contempt and scorn that hath been cast upon me! [Ends, I think, in a kind of snort,—and the look partly as of an injured dove, partly as of a couchant lion.]— I have not offered you any Name in competition with Kingship. I know the evil spirits of men may easily obtrude upon a man, That he would have a Name which the Laws know not, and which is boundless, and is one under which he may exercise more arbitrariness: but I know there is nothing in that argument; and if it were in your thoughts to offer any Name of that kind, I think, whatsoever it was, you would bound it and limit it sufficiently. I wish it were come to that, That no favour should be showed to me; but that the good of these Nations should be consulted;—as 'indeed' I am confident it will be by you in whatsoever you do.-But I may say a word to another thing which doth a little pinch upon me: That it is my duty to accept this Title.' I think it can be no man's duty but between God and himself, if he be conscious of his own infirmities, disabilities and weakness; 'conscious' that he perhaps is not able to encounter with it,—although he may have a little faith too, for a little exercise. I say I do not know what way it can be imputed to me for a fault, or laid upon me as a duty. Except I meant to gripe at the Government of the Nations without a legal consent, as I say I have done in time past upon principles of Necessity, 'but have no call now to do again.' And I promise I shall think whatever is done towards Settlement, without authority of Parliament, will neither be very honest, nor to me very comprehensible at this stage of the business. I think we have fought for the Liberties of the Nation and for other Interests!--[Checks himself.]— You will pardon me that I speak these things in such a 'desultory' way as this. I may be borne withal, because I have not truly well stood the exercise that hath been upon me these three or four days,-I have not, I say. [Besides, your Highness is suffering from the dregs of a cold, and I doubt still somewhat feverish !]-I have told you my thoughts, and have laid them before you. You have been pleased to give me your grounds, and I have given you mine. And truly I do purposely refuse to mention those arguments that were used when ye were last here; but rather tell you what since (as I say) lies upon my heart,—' speaking to you' out of the abundance of difficulty and trouble that lies upon me. [His Highness, sick of body, feverish, unequal to such a jungle of a subject and its adjuncts, is really weltering and staggering like a wearied man, in the thickets and puddles.] And therefore you having urged me, I mean offered reasons to me, and urged them in such way as did occur to you; and I having told you, the last time we met, that the satisfaction from them did not reach to me so as wholly to convince me of my duty,-I have thought rather to answer today by telling you my grief, and the trouble I am under. [Poor Sovereign Man And truly my intentions and purposes, they are honest to the Nation, and shall be, by the Grace of God. And I have it not in view, upon collateral pretences, 'either by asking this Kingship or by refusing it'-to act towards things that may be destructive to the liberties of this Nation! ["I am worn and weary; let me be as clay in the hands of the potter --Any man may give me leave to die; every one may give me leave to be as a dead man,-when God takes away the spirit and life and activity that are necessary for the carrying-on of such a work! [Poor Highness, still somewhat feverish, suffering from the dregs of a cold!] And therefore I do leave the former Debates as they I were, and as we had them; and will let you know that I have looked a little upon the Paper [Petition and Advice], the Instrument, I would say, in the other parts of it, 'unconnected with this of the Kingship.' And considering that there are very many particulars in this Instrument [Holding it in his hand], some of a general reference and others specific, and all of weight (let this business of the Title be decided as it may) to the concernment of the Nations,—I think may desire that those 'particulars' may be really such as will serve their object,-let the "Title" we fix upon be one or the other. They might be such as the People have no cause-[Sentence checking itself]-But I am confident your care and faithfulness need neither a spur nor an admonition to that!—I say, reading in your Order, the Order of the Parliament to this Committee, I find mention there of "divers particulars," concerning which, if I do make any scruple of them, I am to have the freedom with this Committee to cast26 my doubts. The truth of it is, I have a Paper here in my hands27 that doth contain divers things with relation to the Instrument; which, I hope, have a Public aspect in them; therefore I cannot presume but they will be very welcome to you. Therefore I shall desire that you will read them. [Hands Whitlocke the Paper.] I should desire, if it please you, the liberty, which I submit to your judgment whether you think I have or no,-that I might tender these few things; and some others which I have in preparation. And truly I shall reduce them to as much brevity as I can:-they are too large here, 'these in the Paper are diffuse. '28 And if it please you, Tomorrow in the afternoon at three o'clock I may meet you again. And I hope we shall come to know 26 canvass, shake out. 27 A Paper of Objections by his Highness; repeatedly alluded to in the Journals; 'unhappily altogether lost now,' say the Parliamentary History and the Editor of Burton,-not very unhappily, say my readers and I. 28 He gave them the complete Paper on the morrow (Burton, ii. 7). one another's minds; and shall agree to that that may be for the glory of God, and for the good of these Nations.* So much for Monday the 20th ;-noontide and the hour of dinner being now nigh. Herewith exeunt till tomorrow at three. We returned much unsatisfied with the Lord Protector's Speech,' says the Writer of Burton; it is 'as dark and promiscuous as before;' nobody can know whether he will have the Kingship or not. Sometimes the Contrariants' are up in hope, and sometimes again we, 29—and the bets, if betting were permitted under Gospel Ordinances, would fluctuate not a little. Courage, my Lord Protector! Blake even now, though as yet you know it not, is giving the Spaniards a terrible scorching for you, in the Port of Santa Cruz!-Worth noting: In those very minutes while the Lord Protector is speaking as above, there goes on far off, on the Atlantic brine, under shadow of the Peak of Teneriffe, one of the fieriest actions ever fought by land or water; this action of the Sea-king Blake, at the Port of Santa Cruz. The case was this. Blake cruising on the coast of Spain, watching as usual for Plate Fleets, heard for certain that there was a Fleet actually coming, actually come as far as the Canary Isles, and now lying in the Bay of Santa Cruz in Teneriffe there. Blake makes instant sail thither; arrives there still in time this Monday morning early; finds the Fleet fast moored in Santa Cruz Bay; rich silver-ships, strong war-ships, Sixteen as we count them; stronger almost than himself,—and moored here under defences unassailable apparently by any mortal. Santa Cruz Bay is shaped as a horse-shoe: at the entrance are Castles, in the inner circuit are other Castles, Eight of them in all, bristling with great guns; war-ships moored at the entrance, war-frigates moored all round the beach, and men and gunners at command: one great magazine of sleeping thunder and destruction: to appearance, if you wish for sure suicide to run into, this must be it. Blake, taking measure of the business, runs into it, defying its loud thunder; much out-thunders it,—mere whirlwinds of fire and iron hail, the old Peak never heard the like;-silences the Castles, sinks 29 See Burton, ii. 7 et seqq. * Somers, vi. 387-389. or burns every sail in the Harbour; annihilates the Spanish Fleet; and then, the wind veering round in his favour, sails out again, leaving Santa Cruz Bay much astonished at him.30 It is the last action of the brave Blake; who, worn out with toil and sickness and a cruise of three years, makes homewards shortly after; dies within sight of Plymouth.31 On the whole, the Spanish Antichrist finds his Highness a rough enemy. In these same April days, Six-thousand men are getting mustered here, 'furnished with new red coats' and other equipments, to join French Turenne in the Low Countries, and fight the Spaniard by land too. For our French Treaty has become a French League Offensive and Defensive, 32 to last for one year; and Reynolds is to be Land-General, and Montague to help him as Sea-General of whom by and by there may be tidings.-But meanwhile this matter of the Kingship must be settled. All men wish it settled; and the present Editor as much as any! They have to meet tomorrow again, Tuesday 21st, at three o'clock: they for their uncertain airy talking, while so much hard fighting and solid work has to be managed withal. SPEECH XIII. His Highness this Tuesday, we find, has deserted the question of the Kingship; occupies himself with the other points of the New Instrument, what he calls the 'essentials' of it; leaving that comparatively empty unessential one to hang undecided, for the present. The Writer of Burton's Diary, Nathaniel Bacon or another, is much disappointed. The question of the Kingship not advanced a whit by this long Discourse, one of the most tedious we have yet listened to from his Highness. Nothing but a dark speech,' says he,33 more promiscuous than before! -A sensible Speech too, in some respects, Mr. Bacon. His Highness once more elucidates as he best can his past conduct, and the course of Providence in bringing us all hither to the very respectable pass we now stand in; explains next what are the essential elements of keeping 20 Heath's Chronicle, pp. 720-1. 31 7th August 1657, in his Fifty-ninth year (Biog. Brit. in voce). |