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Protector, who still occupied anything like an independent position, was Monk, the Governor and Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, and it is probable that he owed his authority to the distance which kept him from interfering in English politics. The true explanation appears to be that the men from whom he parted were men not merely of definite principles, but of definite ideas. Each one had made up his mind that England was to be served by the establishment of some particular form of government, or some particular course of action. Oliver's mind was certainly not without the guidance of definite principles. He could not conceive it to be right to abandon religion to men who, whether Episcopalian or Presbyterian, would impose fetters on the freedom of the people of God." He could not admit the claim of an hereditary monarch or of an elected Parliament to decide against the highest interests of the country. Within these limits, however, his mind was more elastic than those of his opponents. Steadied

From

his high aims, he could vary the methods with which he combated each evil of the day as it arose. Those who attached themselves to him. in his struggle against the King or against the different Parliaments of his time, or against the military power, were as incapable as he was capable of facing round to confront each new danger as it arose. the moment that each partial victory was won, the old friends had to be reasoned with, then discarded, and at last restrained from doing mischief. As years went on, Oliver, in spite of the abilities of those still serving under him, became increasingly an isolated man. Not only did his strong sense of religion in its Puritan form alienate those who were not Puritans or not religious, but his frequent changes of attitude bewildered that easygoing mass of mankind which sticks to its own theory, more especially if its own interests are embodied in it, and regards all change of political method as a veil intended to conceal moral turpitude. Oliver had decidedly

lost adherents since the establishment of the Protectorate.

It was probably the increasing sense of the untrustworthiness of political support, rather than nepotism in its ordinary sense, which led the Protector to rely more and more on the services of members of his own family.

MRS. FLEETWOOD, FORMELY MRS. IRETON BRIDGET CROMWELL),

Eldest daughter of Oliver Cromwell.

From the Painting by Cornelius Janssen, in the collection of Mrs. Frankland-Russell-Astley, at Chequers Court. Buckinghamshire.

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