Whitlock says, “Cromwell had a great opinion of him, and no man could prevail so much, or order him so far, as Ireton could;” his death is very pointedly regretted by the same author, on account of the great influence he had over the mind of Cromwell; deeming it more than probable, that the prolongation of his life might have made a great difference in the subsequent conduct of that extraordinary man: the justness of which supposition is strikingly exemplified, by the change in Cromwell’s policy, which almost immediately followed upon this event.
“General Ireton,” says the history of England, “was much celebrated for his vigilance, industry, capacity, and for the strict execution of justice in that unlimited command which he possessed in Ireland. He was observed to be inflexible in all his purposes for the public good; and was animated with so sincere and passionate love of liberty, that he never could have been induced by any motive, to submit to the smallest appearance of regal government. Cromwell was much affected by his death; and the republicans who reposed unlimited confidence in him were disconsolate.”
Noble likewise admits that, “he was beloved by the republicans in the highest degree; they admired him alike as a soldier and a statesman, and revered him as a saint.”
The man who was acknowledged to have such claims, by the commonwealth’s men, a body comprizing, probably, more genius, virtue, and sterling patriotism, than were ever united for the accomplishment of any social purpose in the annals of mankind, must have been unquestionably an extraordinary person; and is, it may safely be affirmed, still entitled to the high veneration of every real friend to the true interests of man.
[(6)] “And the stern virtues sought a kindlier shore.”
Previous to the standard of resistance to the arbitrary proceedings of the court being raised in England, several small bodies of puritans had passed over to America, and began the colonization of the tract of land called New England: many more joined them upon the approach of the troubles which they saw coming upon the country; impelled, partly, by a desire to avoid being engaged in open rebellion against the government, whose violence and tyranny they perceived were driving men’s minds to desperate resolves, but mostly influenced by an earnest fervor to enjoy amidst the solitudes of that unexplored country, the privilege of worshipping God agreeably with the dictates of an enlightened conscience: a privilege they could not enjoy in their native country, under the bigoted and intolerant policy which swayed in the councils of the misguided Charles: this consideration had, at one time, induced Cromwell, Hampden, Haslerigge, and many other non-conformists of rank and influence, to determine to take refuge in New England: Cromwell and his family, as well as others of the party, had embarked, and the rest were on the point of so doing, but were prevented leaving the kingdom by an order in council, “directing the lord treasurer to take speedy and effectual course for the stay of eight ships then in the river Thames, prepared to go to New England, and for putting on land all the passengers and provisions therein intended for the voyage.” “Those whom God destines to destruction, he deprives of their understanding,”—the very men thus compelled by the king in council to remain at home, became the immediate instruments by which the blood of the saints, and the cries of the oppressed were avenged on a guilty court and a cruel hierarchy. When the restoration of the Stuarts to power became apparent, still greater numbers of the republicans and non-conformists sought refuge in New England from the persecutions which they foresaw awaited them. To the descendants of these men, inheriting the noble detestation of arbitrary power which so strikingly distinguished their forefathers, America owes all her real greatness. The New England men still exhibit a distinct feature in American society, and probably possess more virtue, intelligence, and independence of character than is to be found in any other state in the union.—See Doctor Dwight’s Travels in New England.
[(7)] “In motive pure;” &c.
For the disinterestedness of Ireton’s motives in the discharge of his public functions, the following anecdote from Ludlow, who was next in command to him in Ireland, at the period of the transaction, shall suffice.
“The parliament,” he says, “also ordered an act to be brought in, for settling two thousand pounds per annum on the lord-deputy Ireton,” (out of the confiscated estates of the Duke of Buckingham, and which, therefore, it might have been thought he could have the more conscientiously accepted than, though it had been drawn directly from the pockets of the people,) the news of which, being brought over, was so unacceptable to him, that he said, they had many just debts, which he desired they would pay before they made such presents; that he had no need of their lands, and would not have it; and that he should be more contented to see them doing the service of the nation, than so liberal in disposing of the public treasure!—What would the patriotic general have said of some modern British parliaments?—No wonder, that the hungry place and pension hunting pack, that returned in the train of Charles the second, procured the exhumation of the bones of such an enemy to their tribe as Ireton: the light of whose glory, in his generosity and disinterestedness, showed so much of the deformity of their mercenary and malignant natures—that indignity towards all that remained of him, in their power, as far as their little malice could accomplish it, was necessary to give them any degree of consequence, even in their own eyes.
FINIS.
S. BENNETT, PRINTER, NOTTINGHAM.