The vigor with which Cromwell conducted England's foreign affairs has been much admired. He had little to do with the Dutch War, which he disliked as a war against a Protestant power. This he brought to a successful conclusion April 5. 1654. The two leading nations of Europe were at war and bidding for his alliance. He was at first inelined to favor Spain. partly from his sympathy for the French Huguenots and partly because France supported Henrietta Maria and the Stuart cause. Spain, however, had prohibited English ships from sailing in West Indian waters, even though bound for an English colony. In December. 1654. Cromwell sent out a badly equipped expedition under Penn and Venahles. which suffered a disastrous repulse in an attack against Santo Domingo, but seized Jamaica, whose importance was little appre ciated at that time. This attack naturally pre cipitated a war with Spain in Europe in which Blake. having previously brought the Bey of Tunis to terms (April 4, 1655), destroyed one Spanish treasure-fleet at sea (September 8, 1656) and sank another in the harbor of Cadiz (April 20, 1637). Two treaties were signed with France, the first on October 24, 1633, providing for the expulsion of the Stuarts from French territory, the second on March 23. 1657. pro viding for a joint attack upon the Spanish Netherlands, in which the ElmHsi' greatly dis tinguished themselves' before Dunkirk, in the battle of the Dunes, June, 1658, and secured :11ardick and Dunkirk as their share of the spoils. But while Cromwell succeeded by hove of arms in making England universally fe ared. he was very ignorant of European politics and his aims were faulty. He was completely the illusion that the Catholic powers were on the point of combining to crush Protestantism and he was constantly negotiating with Charles N. of Sweden. whom he erroneously regarded as a second Gustavus Adolphus, to form a Protestant league. not knowing that it was im possible to reconcile, for religious purposes. either Sweden and Bolland on the one hand, or France and Spain on the other. Nor should it
be forgotten that his foreign enterprises greatly increased the burdens of a heavy taxation which alienated the people of England from his rule. He died en September 3, 1658.
ButLioultArn V. The chief source of informa tion in forming an estimate of Cromwell's char acter will always be his own words, first col lected by Carlyle, Letters awl Speeches of Oliver Cromwell (London, 1845). The speeches are to be found in Stainer, Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. 16 ( London. 1901). His Parliamentary career is to be followed in Parliamentary IIis tory, vols. ix.-xxi. (London. 1760-62), together with the numerous memoirs, of which those of Whiteloek and Ludlow deserve special mention. The Calendars of State Papers, Domestic Series, together with the great collections of Ilushworth. Clarendon, Somers. and Carte, are rich mines of material. while the Thurloe State Papers (Lon don, 1742) contain the greater part of the diplo matic correspondence. Gardiner, Coast. Does. of the Puritan Revolution (London, 1899), is invaluable. Of the older writers, Guizot and Ranke are still useful, but they are largely superseded by the great works of Gardiner, History of England, 160,1-42 (10 v61s., London and New York, 1883-84) ; The Great Civil War (London and New York, 1895): and the History of the Commomvealth and Protectorate (London and New York. 1894-1901). Gardiner has sum marized the results of hit researches in Crom well's Place in History (London and New York, 1897) and Oliver r10»?Irell (London. 1901). Hardly inferior to Gardiner's work is Firth. Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (London and New York. 1900). The biographies by Harrison (London. 1888) and Morley (New York, 1900) are brilliant, but not authoritative. The Oliver Crom well of Theodore Roosevelt (New York, 19(i0) is brief and read able. Gardiner and Slullinger. Introduction to the Study of English History, part ii. (London.. 1894). contains an account of the literature of the period, both contemporary and modern.