Shot:
It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money. Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter’d your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil’d this sacred place, and turn’d the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d, are yourselves gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go!
–Oliver Cromwell, Speech on the dissolution of the Rump of the Long Parliament, 20 April 1653
Chaser:
“You shut down our schools, you shut down the churches, you shut down the businesses,” Kelly railed, according to a video posted by Forbes.
“You did the one thing that I thought could never happen,” he said. “As someone who was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, I never thought in my life that I would ever see the city of Chicago brought down so low as you have managed to bring it down.
“Shame on you,” Kelly said. “That is a legacy that you are going to have to carry.”
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 16th, 2023 at 5:55 pm and is filed under Bagatelle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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I never read this speech by Oliver Cromwell, but thank you so much for printing it. It is like so much of history, there is a lot we can learn from it, as long as we don’t try to change it, but just allow it to stand as it is, warts and all.
Cromwell could really turn a phrase when he wanted to. “I beseech thee, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible ye may be mistaken.”
I sometimes see this rendered as “It is not fit that you should sit here any longer. You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing lately … In the name of God go.“ which is also pretty pungent.
And “Ye have no more religion than my horse” is a classic insult. I wish I had more occasions to use that.