C R O 



364 



CRO 



Cromwell, dissatisfaction of the nation, and several conspiracies 

 *— v— ' against his life or authority were set on foot ; but he 

 discovered them all before they were ripe for execu- 

 tion. His want of money was partly, and for a time, 

 supplied by the spoil which Blake collected during the 

 Spanish war ; but this being exhausted, he again sum- 

 moned a parliament, having, as lie conceived, taken 

 Mich measures as would make them more obedient to 

 his will than the last parliament had been. It is pro- 

 bable, however, that the members of this parliament 

 would have been stubborn and unruly, had they all 

 been permitted to assemble ; but a guard was placed at 

 the door of the House, who permitted none to enter 

 till they had taken the oath prescribed by Cromwell. 

 In this packed parliament an attempt was made to give 

 him the title of king ; but a petition from the army be- 

 ing prepared against it, Cromwell thought it prudent 

 to refuse the honour, and to content himself with his 

 former title of protector. In 1658 he was excessively 

 alarmed by the publication of the celebrated tract, en- 

 titled " Killing no murder," the object of which was 

 to prove, that one who had violated all laws, ought to 

 derive protection from no law. This treatise was writ- 

 ten by Colonel Titus, under the name of William Al- 

 len. Cromwell made many attempts to discover the 

 real author, but in vain. 



About this time he formed a project fer creating a 

 House of Lords, and actually summoned his two sons, 

 and some others, to take their seats in it ,• but when the 

 parliament assembled, none of the old nobility made 

 their appearance ; the House of Commons would not 

 act with the new nobles ; and the new nobles could not 

 act by themselves. 



The strength of his body and mind now began to 

 sink under his disappointments and apprehensions ; 

 he was haunted by continual terror ; his own soldiers 

 threw off their attachment and awe ; his conscience was 

 awakened by the death of his favourite daughter, who, 

 in her delirium, upbraided him for his tyranny and cru- 

 elty ; and even Ms wife united herself with the repub- 

 lican party. He knew not whom to believe or trust; 

 he constantly wore concealed armour, and never went 

 abroad, unless surrounded by guards, whom he sus- 

 pected nearly as much as those against whom it was 

 their office to have protected him ; he never returned 

 by the same road, nor slept thrice in the same apart- 

 ment. It was utterly impossible that his constitution, 

 already broken up, should long stand against this in- 

 cessant and increasing agitation of mind : he was seiz- 

 ed with a slow fever, which, changing into a tertian 

 ague, soon threatened his life. His physicians inform- 

 ed him of his danger, but his courtly or fanatical chap- 

 lains assured him that their prayers would still be effi- 

 cacious to restore him. When he was first taken ill he 

 was at Hampton court ; but on his illness becoming 

 alarming, he was removed to London, when he first 

 became lethargic, and then delirious ; still, however, 

 retaining in the short intervals of reason his original 

 enthusiam, vehemently declaring that his life was con- 

 <x;c:ed to the faithful, to intercede with God as a medi- 

 ator for the people. Immediately before his death, he 

 Mas asked if he did not name Richard his eldest son 

 for his successor, and to this question, which it is pro- 

 bable he did not understand, he answered in the affirm- 

 ative. He died on the 3d of September 1658, being ra- 

 ther more than 59 years old. 



The features in the character of Cromwell are strong- 

 ly marked; his spirit was bold and enterprising, his 

 pergonal courage undoubted ; his promptitude and pre- 



Cronstadt. 



sence of mind never forsook him in the most sudden Cromw til. 

 and unexpected emergencies. Whatever object he had 

 in view, lie pursued with unabated zeal and perseve- 

 rance ; he examined it thoroughly, made himself ac- 

 quainted with the obstacles with which it was sur- 

 rounded, and the means by which it might be attain- 

 ed ; and with this information, he united the most con- 

 summate address, and such a profound sagacity in dis- 

 cerning the characters and designs of others, as enabled 

 him to employ them in the furtherance of his own 

 plans. But while he penetrated into the characters and 

 designs of others, he threw an impenetrable secrecy 

 over his own ; even his natural enthusiasm, which it 

 might have been supposed would have laid open his 

 plans in the moments of its extravagance, was so curb- 

 ed and disciplined by his hypocrisy, that it served the 

 same purpose with him, which dissimilation and re- 

 serve are supposed exclusively to answer. But after 

 he became possessed of the supreme power, he seldom 

 stooped to obtain that by artifice which he could ac- 

 quire by authority or fear ; it was more agreeable and 

 consonant to his disposition and tenqier to command 

 than to deceive. His military reputation has been 

 raised higher than adue estimation of his talents will war- 

 rant ; his military talents were certainly not of the high- 

 est order or the rarest kind ; they did not display them- 

 selves in the plan or conduct of a campaign, nor even 

 in extensive combinations or masterly evolutions in the 

 field, but rather in the enthusiam with which he inspi- 

 red his troops, and in the discipline which enabled him 

 to reap all the advantages, while he avoided the ill con- 

 sequences of that enthusiasm. His talents as a states- 

 man were of the same kind and degree ; his govern- 

 ment was founded on no exclusive or profound plan of 

 policy, but arose out of circumstances, or was decided 

 by them. 



He had many children, six of whom lived to an ad- 

 vanced age. Richard, his eldest son, was naturally of 

 a quiet and unambitious temper, of very moderate ta- 

 lents, and from the retired and indolent life which his 

 father directed or permitted him to spend, wholly with- 

 out experience or knowledge of the world. He suc- 

 ceeded nominally to the sovereign authority ; and while 

 he continued to govern without a parliament his pow- 

 er was respected, but as soon as he summoned it he 

 was assailed by secret enemies and by open force, and_ _ 

 in a very short time degraded by the army ; he cheer- 

 fully laid aside his authority, and passed from the 

 throne to a private station, in which he lived unnoticed 

 and almost forgotten, till the 13th of July 1712, when 

 he died at Cheshunt hi Hertfordshire. See Harris' Life 

 of Cromwell ; Noble's History of the Cromwells ; Bio~ 

 grap/tia Britannica. (w. s.) 



CRONBERG. See Elsineur. 



CRONSTADT, or Kronstadt, a sea-port town of 

 Russia in the government of Petersburgh, situated at 

 the south-eastern extremity of the island Retusari, in 

 the gulf of Finland, which is a long stripe of sandy 

 ground traversed by ridges of granite. This island is 

 about 5 miles long and f ths of a mile broad, and was 

 covered with firs and pines when it was taken from the 

 Swedes by Peter. It now grows a small number of 

 birch trees, and affords a small quantity of pasture and 

 vegetables. 



Cronstadt is defended towards the sea by fortifica- 

 tions of granite projecting into the water, and towards 

 the land by ramparts and bastions. Several of these 

 were erected by Catharine; and Paul I. established a 

 new bastion, called Ries-bank, to the south-east, oppo^ 



