It is quite difficult to work out exactly where Cromwell stood socially. On one hand he was the radical looking for “the rule of saints”, and on the other hand he was a member of the gentry and a social reactionary with the objective of maintaining the social structure in the country; he made attempts to achieve both. As it happens Cromwell did preserve the long-standing social order and despite trying to appear radical I believe this was his objective. As radical as he was, Cromwell was no Leveller and they thought he was a hypocrite using God to cover up for his true conservatism. This can be seen in a Leveller pamphlet of 1649, “He [Cromwell] will… call God to record, weep, howl and repent, even while he doth smite you under the first rib”. He certainly was not as reformist as he was trying to appear. However, Cromwell was probably trying to compromise between the rule of saints he so wished for and his love of England as it was already. The reformation of manners was the compromise he came up with in an attempt to bring the nation closer to God – he was never as radical as the Fifth Monarchists – and in this he had measurable short-term success.
Politically Cromwell was fairly reactionary and he continued to use parliaments. However, not one worked as he had intended and he never seemed to be able to get along with them (maybe this is the result of being a MP!). The problem was that Cromwell just did not take an active enough part in his governments – for example with the Rump he created them in the hope that their actions would be synonymous with his wishes. However they failed (probably due to his lack of guidance) so he dissolved the parliament. Also, whatever side of his personality Cromwell tried to satisfy, the other would cry out and fight back. Examples of this can be seen in both the Rump and Barebones parliaments. The Rump, in Cromwell’s zealous opinion, had become estranged from God; in the dissolving speech he called the MP’s “drunkards” and “whoremasters” and “men who were scandalous to the profession of the gospel”. The Barebones however, was too radical for Cromwell’s conservative side; they threatened to sweep hierarchical social order away in a torrent of reforms. While Cromwell might not have been able to get on well with parliaments, MP’s in general liked him no better. Two things they hated were religious liberty and the army (mainly because of the army’s huge influence in government), and Cromwell was strongly associated with both.
It took Cromwell weeks to decide not to accept the crown. His eventual decline of the offer was ultimately down to his strong will to do God’s bidding. By providence God had shown that the capital punishment of Charles I was right, and the army had fought a most unpleasant civil war for parliament and a change in the constitution. He knew that the army would have been likely to rise up against him if he accepted, as this is just what they had fought to remove. However, Cromwell was not at all happy with the execution; his conservative side longed for a peaceful settlement with the king. What probably took him so long to decline was that he knew the crown could have provided the settlement the country needed. It is clear that the majority of the population were in a way lost without a divine king to rule them, and this can be seen with the benefit or retrospect as the crown was back only two years after Cromwell’s death. However there is in addition a less spiritual reason; if Cromwell had accepted he would have had reduced powers to carry out the reforms he wanted; his powers as Lord Protector were far greater than the king’s. Perhaps he was also contemplating whether or not the crown was one of his objectives. He had risen through the ranks from a lowly country squire to overlord and was then in a position to become king. It was surely his zealous side that prevented him, even if his it would have been the ultimate goal for his conservative side.
The Major-Generals experiment of 1655-56 was quite a drastic step to take, but the embarrassing defeat of the Western Design made it necessary by providence. Just as victories showed Cromwell that God was on his side, such a defeat must mean he had lost God’s support. The Major-Generals were possibly the closest Cromwell actually came to creating the godly nation he sought for. This objective was never fully achieved, but there was at the very least a reformation of manners – to turn people to do the will of God – which he achieved for a while. The Major-Generals were authoritarian regional figures, in control of every aspect of life. Firstly security was the objective as there had been some Royalist uprisings, but they were also there to see Cromwell’s reformation of manners to fruition. They went on a purge of all things ‘un-Godly’ such as brothels, blasphemy and adultery down to drinking and swearing, which was met by the general population with apathy at best. There were only a small few zealots who shared Cromwell’s passion for Godliness, and this is really why Cromwell achieved none of his main objectives: Apart from his declared enemies, there was the majority of the country who were far more interested in settlement than reformation, or just not interested at all. After only a year as if Cromwell’s want for healing and settlement had gained control over his will for reformation again. Nevertheless, for as long as he actually pursued the reformation of manners it was effective, and Cromwell’s England became a marvellous protestant role model for the rest of the world.
One area in which Cromwell did appear successful was foreign policy. Spain’s Catholicism was unforgivable and England remained at war with them, however peace was made with the Protestant Dutch. Despite the failure of the Western Design and the expense of this war there were many great victories over Spain, notably in the Mediterranean under Admiral Blake and Jamaica was brought under English rule. Closer to home the republic slowly gained control over Scotland and Ireland making ‘Britain’ a reality; Cromwell himself leading his army In Ireland for example. Nearly all of Cromwell’s actions regarding foreign policy promoted England as a major Protestant power with a competent army – this was one major objective that was actually achieved. Certain incidents such as the slaughter of civilians at Drogheda were all part and partial of crushing Irish and Royalist risings; Cromwell’s justification is that killing these people, “will tend to prevent the effusion of blood for the future”. At the time the alliance made with France against Spain was an effective policy, although some historians think that Cromwell should have noticed France overtaking Spain in power. If he had allied with Spain and fought France then both Catholic nations would be weakened, but England’s long nurtured hatred of Spain far outweighed this. I believe that it would have been impossible at the time to predict England’s later conflict with the French.
There are many other areas of success under the Lord Protector and Commonwealth. The country was not only internationally respectable, but also domestically very secure. Amongst some of the law reform was a decree passed so that all legal proceedings were to be conducted in the English language, not Latin. To bring the whole country more in line with his religious aspirations he sent reliable clergy to Wales and Scotland as part of the “Acts for the Propagation of the Gospel”. A modern and impressive navy was also constructed, and most of the old rivalries disappeared. Indeed, people like Thomas Mainwaring in particular held banquets at which old civil war adversaries dined together. An obvious example of Cromwell’s own personal achievement was his military prowess. He rose through the ranks to become head of the best army England had known, and it was this position that enabled him to take on the role of Lord Protector after the regicide.
Cromwell’s main objective of Godly reformation was essentially a failure that resulted in the restoration of the monarchy a mere two years after his death. The reasons for this failure are twofold: The apathy or unwillingness of the population towards becoming God’s nation and Cromwell himself. He could not manage to create one stable government in all his time as Lord Protector. And although he failed in his main task in the long run, it was a noble attempt that set a precedent in world politics. The progress made to settle and heal the country made their mark too. Cromwell’s zeal had got him to the number one spot in the country, but once there he was did not appear to be able to make good his ideals. Cromwell’s early life and upbringing as an English gentleman held him back from any tangible radical reformation and the ideas of settlement and reformation were in continuous conflict in his mind.
All quotes are taken directly from, or from sources in: “Stuart England (1603-1714)” – B. Coward
