himself, he
considered Charles as a personal rival, and made it his policy to strip the
exiled king of all hope of foreign support. From the prince of Orange, so
nearly allied to the royal family, Cromwell had little to fear during his
minority; and, to render him incapable of benefiting the royal cause in his
more mature age, the protector attempted to exclude him by the treaty
from succeeding to those high offices which might almost be considered
hereditary in his family. The determined refusal of the States had induced
him to withdraw the demand; but he intrigued, through the agency of
Beverning, with the leaders of the Louvestein party;[1] and obtained a
secret article, by which the states of Holland and West Friesland promised
never to elect the prince of Orange for their stadtholder, nor suffer him
to have the chief command of the army and navy. But the secret transpired;
the other states highly resented this clandestine negotiation; complaints
and remonstrances were answered by apologies and vindications; an open
schism was declared between the provinces, and every day added to the
exasperation of the two parties. On the whole, however, the quarrel was
favourable to the pretensions of the young prince,

[Footnote 1: The leaders of the republicans were so called, because they
had been confined in the castle of Louvestein, whence they were discharged
on the death of the late prince of Orange.]

from the dislike with which the people viewed the interference of a foreign
potentate, or rather, as they termed him, of an usurper, in the internal
arrangements of the republic.[1]

The war[a] in which the rival crowns of France and Spain had so long
been engaged induced both Louis and Philip to pay their court to the new
protector. Alonzo de Cardenas, the Spanish ambassador, had the advantage
of being on the spot. He waited on Cromwell to present to him the
congratulations of his sovereign, and to offer to him the support of the
Spanish monarch, if he should feel desirous to rise a step higher, and
assume the style and office of king. To so flattering a message, a most
courteous answer was returned; and the ambassador proceeded to propose an
alliance between the two powers, of which the great object should be to
confine within reasonable bounds the ambition of France, which, for so
many years, had disturbed the tranquillity of Europe. This was the sole
advantage to which Philip looked; to Cromwell the benefit would be, t