land for the purpose of investigating his pedigree, thinking to discover in him the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”*

With his own name Oliver spread afar the name of England, which he was the first to engrave on the distant landmarks of the nations. It is he who opened to his people that path of glory and of power, which their ships now traverse in every sea. The life of Britain, which had lost all vigor under the Stuarts, was aroused, electrified, as it were, by the same principle which animated its chief; and once more was seen the accomplishment of the ancient promise: The Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.

* Southey's Life of Cromwell, 81.

CHAPTER XII.

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.

Defence of Protestantism-Letter to a Protestant Prince-Piedmontese Massacre-The Protector interferes-Geneva-Cromwell's Advice to the Protestants-Portugal-France: Nismes-Intervention-Switzerland-Germany-Austria-Council for the general Interests of Protestantism-The Protector's living Christianity-The eternal Truths— Pompeii, Nineveh, and the Bible.

CROMWELL was not satisfied with merely frightening the Pope in his own Babylon, and with directing his efforts in every quarter against the Roman power; he at the same time zealously pursued the great cause of the Reformation in Europe and in the world, and thus assigned to England that station as Queen of the Protestant world, which has been, and ever will be, her glory and her strength, so long as she shall remain true and faithful to this great calling. This was his third ruling passion,-religious liberty,-the greatness of England,-the prosperity of Protestantism. Where is the statesman that has ever had in view nobler and more beneficial objects?

He entertained the same affection for the several reformed churches abroad as for those of Great Britain. Writing to a Protestant prince, he congratulated him on his inviolable zeal for the evangelical churches,—“ A zeal the more worthy of praise, at a time when such flattering hopes are given to persons of your rank, if they will forsake the orthodox faith; and where those who continue steadfast are threatened with so many troubles. I call God to witness (adds Cromwell)

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that I desire nothing so much as an opportunity to answer the favorable opinion the churches have of my zeal and piety, by endeavoring to propagate the true faith, and procure rest and peace for the Church. Hold firm to the orthodox religion which you have received from your fathers: nothing will bring you greater glory, than to protect it as much as lies in your power.'

Cromwell thought it his vocation to be in the whole world what he was at home-the great champion of religious liberty.

"His Highness," wrote Secretary Thurloe, on the 7th of July, 1654,"continues his ancient zeal to the Protestant religion, whereof nobody need doubt nor have the least scruple, but may build the greatest resolutions thereupon." A noble opportunity ere long occurred for proclaiming this to the whole world.

On the 3rd of June, 1655, sad tidings reached England from Piedmont, and filled all Protestant hearts with sorrow, but particularly that heart which beat strongest for the cause of the Gospel. The descendants of the Waldenses, those great evangelists of the Middle Ages, were living peaceably in the valleys of Lucerne, Peroza, and St. Martin, between Piedmont and Savoy. This very year a persecution broke out against them with inconceivable violence: the natural result of the desire to convert the heretics, occasioned by the great jubilee of 1650. To bring about this act of severity, the pope put forward a singular motive,—that the country of the Waldenses might be given to the Irish who were banished for their concern in the massacre of the Protestants in Ireland.

Early in 1655 an order was sent from the court of Turin to the heads of the reformed families dwelling at La Torre, the little capital of the Vaudois, enjoining them to quit their homes within three days, and retire with their families to

* Letter to the Prince of Tarente, quoted in Neale, ii. 640.
↑ Vaughan's Protectorate, i. 21.

certain districts that were assigned them. They were also required to prove within the space of twenty days, either that they had themselves become Romanists or had sold their property to Catholics. Many hundreds of families. were compelled to flee in the midst of the rigors of winter. In the spring an army of 15,000 men entered their valleys. Twenty-two villages were reduced to ashes; aged people of both sexes were burnt in their houses; the men were hewn in pieces; the women were impaled naked; children were torn from their mothers' arms, and their brains dashed out against the rocks. One hundred and fifty females were beheaded, and their heads were used in a game at bowls.*

The bard of Paradise Lost, when he heard of this massacre, seized his lyre, and called to God for vengeance in this noble strain:

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones

Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipt stocks and stones,

Forget not; in thy book record their groans,

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that roll'd
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To heaven. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow,
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow

A hundredfold, who, having learn'd thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

In this terrible desolation the poor inhabitants of the valleys first looked to God, and then to England. Their eyes were turned towards the Protector, and they said to one another, that no doubt he would show compassion to their churches, although they hardly dared implore his succor.f

* Léger, Histoire des Vaudois.-Villemain and Victor Hugo have confounded the Vaudois of Piedmont with the inhabitants of the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

Vaughan's Protectorate, i. 140.

.....

When the Protector received this sad intelligence, he burst into tears. "The sufferings of these poor people," he said, "lie as near, or rather nearer, to my heart, than if it had concerned the nearest relations I have in the world." That very day he was to sign the treaty with France; but he refused to do so, until the king and Mazarin had bound themselves to assist him in seeing justice done to these unfortunate inhabitants of the valleys. He sent them two thousand pounds from his own purse, and Milton was employed to address letters to all the Protestant states of Europe, to the kings of Sweden and Denmark, to the United Provinces of Holland, to the reformed Cantons of Switzerland, and to the several churches of Germany and France. He wrote with his own hand to the French king, to Cardinal Mazarin, and to the Duke of Savoy. Finally, he appointed a day of fasting and humiliation, and a general collection all over England. This contribution amounted to £37,097, 7s. 3d., a very large sum for that period. I believe we shall at length see the need we have of a union, and that a cordial one too," wrote Secretary Thurloe, on the 25th of May 1655, to Mr. Pell, the English minister in Switzerland; "what is executed upon the poor Piedmontese is intended against us all, as they have opportunity and means.”*

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As soon as it was known on the Continent that Cromwell took the interests of the Waldenses so much to heart, the persecutors began to feel the greatest alarm. The Piedmontese, and their allies, already fancied they saw an English army landing from their ships and overrunning their country. In fact the English minister in Switzerland spoke of this design as of very easy execution, and to that end called for an alliance with the United Provinces. This was Cromwell's intention, and he insisted that the matter should be taken into serious consideration. "To do it slightly," wrote Thurloe on the 8th of November 1655, "will not be either

* Vaughan's Proctectorate, i. 186.

+ Pell to Thurloe; Vaughan's Protectorate, i. 222.