ed to lead was really forced to
follow, and that, on this occasion, as on another great occasion a few
years later, he sacrificed his own judgment and his own inclinations to
the wishes of the army. For the power which he had called into existence
was a power which even he could not always control; and, that he might
ordinarily command, it was necessary that he should sometimes obey. He
publicly protested that he was no mover in the matter, that the first
steps had been taken without his privity, that he could not advise the
Parliament to strike the blow, but that he submitted his own feelings to
the force of circumstances which seemed to him to indicate the purposes
of Providence. It has been the fashion to consider these professions as
instances of the hypocrisy which is vulgarly imputed to him. But even
those who pronounce him a hypocrite will scarcely venture to call him a
fool. They are therefore bound to show that he had some purpose to serve
by secretly stimulating the army to take that course which he did not
venture openly to recommend. It would be absurd to suppose that he who
was never by his respectable enemies represented as wantonly cruel or
implacably vindictive, would have taken the most important step of his
life under the influence of mere malevolence. He was far too wise a man
not to know, when he consented to shed that august blood, that he was
doing a deed which was inexpiable, and which would move the grief and
horror, not only of the Royalists, but of nine tenths of those who had
stood by the Parliament. Whatever visions may have deluded others, he
was assuredly dreaming neither of a republic on the antique pattern,
nor of the millennial reign of the Saints. If he already aspired to
be himself the founder of a new dynasty, it was plain that Charles the
First was a less formidable competitor than Charles the Second would
be. At the moment of the death of Charles the First the loyalty of
every Cavalier would be transferred, unimpaired, to Charles the Second.
Charles the First was a captive: Charles the Second would be at liberty.
Charles the First was an object of suspicion and dislike to a large
proportion of those who yet shuddered at the thought of slaying him:
Charles the Second would excite all the interest which belongs to
distressed youth and innocence. It is impossible to believe that
considerations so obvious, and so important, escaped the most profound
politician of that age. The truth is th