Complete toleration in fact was only extended to Protestant nonconformists, who composed the Cromwellian established church, and who now meted out to their antagonists the same treatment which they themselves were later to receive under the Clarendon Code of Charles II.
The professional soldiers of the Continent could rarely be brought to force a decision; but the English, contending for a cause, were imbued with the spirit of the modern "nation in arms"; and having taken up arms wished to decide the quarrel by arms. This feeling was not less conspicuous in the far-ranging rides, or raids, of the Cromwellian cavalry.
Cabbage, said to have been introduced by a detachment of Cromwellian soldiers, is also raised, and among fruits black and red currants ripen in sheltered situations.
The English or anglicized element in Scotland was never subjugated by England, save during the few years of the Cromwellian Commonwealth, and was supported (with occasional defections, and troubles caused by dynastic Celtic risings) by the Celtic element in the kingdom during the long struggle for national independence.
The plan failed because many officers and men still supported the republican " Good Old Cause " rather than the Cromwellian protectorate.
