CHAPTER XXX.

COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND, REIGNS OF CHARLES II. AND JAMES II. -Charles II. acknowledged King in Scotland and Ireland-Marquis of Montrose-Cromwell defeats the Scots at Dunbar-Battle of Worcester-Naviga tion Act-Cromwell dissolves the Parliament by Violence, and puts an End to the Rupublic-Barebones's Parliament-Cromwell named Lord Protector-His successful Administration-Death-Richard his Son resigns the Protectoratethe Rump Parliament-Disunion in the Council of Officers-General MonkCharles II. proclaimed-Profuse and voluptuous Reign-War with Holland and France-Plague and Fire of London-Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle-Alarms of Popery-Titus Oates-Bill excluding the Duke of York from the CrownHabeas Corpus Act-Distinction of Whig and Tory first used-Conspiracy of Russell, Sidney, and Monmouth-Death of Charles-James II.-Monmouth beheaded-Violent Measures of James excite the Disgust of all Parties-William, Prince of Orange-James escapes to the Continent-Crown settled on the Prince and Princess of Orange-Declaration fixing the Constitution.

THAT select assembly of sixty or seventy fanatical Independents, which styled itself a parliament, having passed a vote which abolished the House of Peers as a useless part of the constitution, began to think of framing some rules and forms for the administration of the government; and the more disinterested friends to liberty were soothed for some time with their favorite system, a republic. The Scots, however, of whom the great majority bad yet an attachment to monarchy, and who had sufficient reason for being disgusted at the conduct of the Independents to the English Presbyterians, determined to acknowledge the son of the late monarch for their lawful sovereign, and with the consent of parliament they proclaimed Charles II. king; but on the express condition of his subscribing the Solemn League and Covenant. Ireland recognised him without any conditions.

The Scots, while they were thus inviting Charles to take possession of one of his paternal kingdoms, gave an example of that cruel and detestable fanatic spirit, which, to their shame, they seem to have possessed at this time above every other nation. James Graham, marquis of Montrose, a man whose heroism and singular endowments of mind would have rendered him an honor to any age or nation, had, in the latter years of the late monarch, distinguished himself in many successful attempts, both in Scotland and in England, in favor of the royal cause. After the king's captivity, when the war was at an end, he had, at his sovereign's coinmand, laid down his arms and retired into France. Upon the king's death, with the aid of some foreign troops, he landed in the

north of Scotland, with the purpose of reducing the party of the Covenanters, and establishing the authority of Charles II. upon a constitutional basis, independent of those servile conditions which that party was desirous of imposing on him. He expected to be joined by a large party of the Highlanders, but he found the whole country fatigued with the recent disorders, and much indisposed to renew hostilities. In the meantime he was suddenly attacked by a large body of the Covenanters, and, taken by surprise with an inferior force, he was defeated and made prisoner. His fate was attended with every circumstance of insolence and cruelty, which distinguishes revenge in the meanest of souls. He died upon a gibbet, and his limbs were distributed through the principal cities of the kingdom. This was he whom one of the most penetrating judges of character (the cardinal de Retz, who intimately knew him) declares to have been one of those heroes of whom there are no longer any remains in the world, and who are only to be met with in the narratives of ancient history.

Meantime Charles, who had no other resource, betook himself to Scotland, and was obliged, however unwillingly, to accede to every condition that was proposed to him. Fairfax, general of the parliament, had resigned all command of the army, and Cromwell, who was now commander-in-chief, after a successful expedition into Ireland to quell the party of the royalists in that country, marched with 16,000 men into Scotland, against his old friends and allies the Covenanters, who, now that Charles had subscribed to their terms, had become his firm adherents. They were much superior to Cromwell's army in number of their troops, but were as much inferior in point of discipline. They were defeated at Dunbar in a decisive engagement; and Charles, soon after retreating into England in hopes to unite the royalists in that country in his favor, Cromwell immediately followed, and attacking the royal army at Worcester, then extremely inconsiderable in their numbers, cut them entirely to pieces. Charles fled in disguise through the western counties of England, continually pursued, encountering for above forty days a most romantic series of dangers and difficulties, and often relying for safety on the meanest peasants, whose fidelity he found unshaken, notwithstanding the immense rewards which were offered for his discovery. At length he found a vessel which conveyed him to the coast of France.

Cromwell in the meantime returned in triumph to London. The republican parliament began now to make their government truly respectable, by the greatness of those designs which they formed, and the vigor with which they pursued them. A scheme was proposed to the states of Holland upon the death of the stadtholder, William II., for an union and coalition between the two republics. It was not relished by the Dutch, who were better pleased to maintain their own independence; and the parliament of England, piqued at their refusal, immediately declared

war against them. The navigation act was passed, which prohibited all foreigners from importing into England in their ships any commodity which was not the growth or manufacture of their own country; an act which struck heavily against the Dutch, because their country produces few commodities; and their commerce consists chiefly in being the factors of other nations. This statute was in another way beneficial to the English, by obliging them to cultivate maritime commerce, from which they have derived the greatest part of their national wealth. In this war, which was most ably maintained on both sides-under Blake, the English admiral, and Van Tromp and de Ruyter, admirals of the Hollanders-the English, on the whole, had a clear superiority; the Dutch were cut off entirely from the commerce of the Channel; their fisheries were totally suspended, and above sixteen hundred of their ships fell into the hands of the English.

The parliament, glorying in these successes, which were so much to the honor of the Republic, began to find themselves independent of Cromwell and the army, and determined on a reduction of the land forces, which, while they found themselves so powerful at sea, were only an unnecessary burden upon the nation. This measure, which would have been fatal to the ambition of Cromwell, was prevented by him in a most extraordinary manner. Many circumstances had of late been observed, which discovered the selfish aims of this ambitious man; yet so great was his influence with the army that he readily found agents to cooperate with him in every scheme which he proposed.

Calling a council of his officers, a remonstrance was framed, to be presented to the parliament, reminding thein that it was averse to the spirit of a democracy that any set of magistrates should be perpetual, and desiring that they might immediately think of dissolving, after issuing writs for the election of a new parliament. This application, it may be imagined, met with a sharp reply, which was nothing more than what Cromwell wished and expected. Before the smallest hint had transpired of his design, he now presented himself with three hundred soldiers at the door of the House of Commons. Leaving his guards without, he took his seat for some time and listened to their debates; then rising hastily up: "I judge," said he, "this parliament to be ripe for dissolution, (taking one of the members by the cloak.) You," said he, "are a whoremaster; (to another) you are a drunkard, and (to a third) you are an extortioner. The Lord hath done with you, get you gone, you are no longer a parliament." Then stamping with his foot, which was a signal for the soldiers to enter, "Here," said he, pointing to the mace which lay on the table, "take away that fool's bauble;" then ordering the soldiers to drive all the members out of the house, he locked the door himself, put the key into his pocket, and went home to his lodgings in Whitehall. Thus, by one of the boldest

actions recorded in history, the famous Republic of England, which had subsisted four years and three months, was annihilated in one moment. This measure, which has drawn upon Oliver Cromwell the execrations of the violent partisans of liberty, as it dispelled that fine delusion of a patriotic motive, to which they would gladly have attributed the extinction of monarchy in the person of Charles, was regarded by the friends of the constitution with high satisfaction; and they now made the most flattering comments on the necessary instability and fundamental weakness of all systems of government which owe their existence to force and violence.

Yet Cromwell, thus become absolute master of the whole power, civil and military, of the three kingdoms, thought it necessary to leave the nation some shadow, some phantom of liberty. It was proper that there should be the appearance of a parliament; and he therefore, by the advice of his council of officers, summoned one hundred and twenty-eight persons from the different towns and counties of England, five from Scotland, and six from Ireland, to assemble at Westminster, with power to exercise legislative authority for fifteen months. These, who were chiefly a set of low fanatical mechanics, anabaptists and independents, were in scorn denominated by the people Barebones's Parliament, from the name of one of their most violent and active members, Praisegod Barebones, a leather-seller. This assembly, whose shameful ignorance, meanness, and absurdity of conduct rendered them useless and contemptible both to Cromwell and the nation, voluntarily dissolved themselves by a vote after a session of five months. A few of the members who dissented from this measure continuing to occupy the House of Commons, Cromwell sent one of his officers to turn them out. This officer, a colonel White, entering the house, demanded what they were doing there the chairman answered, "They were seeking the Lord." "Then," said White, "you may go elsewhere, for to my certain knowledge the Lord has not been here these many years;" so saying, he turned them out of doors. Thus the supreme power became now vested in the council of officers. These, who were at Cromwell's absolute disposal, nominated him Lord Protector of the three kingdoms. He was installed in the palace of Whitehall, declared to hold his office for life, and an instrument was prepared, granting to him the right of making peace, war, and alliances, and authorizing a standing army to be kept up of 30,000 men for the support of government. He was obliged by the same instrument to assemble a parliament every three years. Thus the nation found that, after all their struggles, they had only exchanged one master for another, and in point of real freedom, it was confessed by the partisans of the revolution themselves, that this change was nothing for the better.

The administration of Cromwell was arbitrary, vigorous, and

spirited; the nation was loaded with enormous taxes; but the national character was high and respectable. He finished the war with Holland, and compelled the Dutch to yield to the English the honor of the flag, besides obliging them to pay to the East India Company £85,000 as a compensation for their losses. The glory of the English arms at sea was nobly sustained by Blake-a zealous republican indeed, and consequently an enemy of all usurped power-but a man who loved his country, and knew that his duty called him to maintain its interest whatever might be the state of the government.

Yet amidst these successes abroad, the protector found his situation at home extremely uneasy. His parliaments were refractory, and he was often obliged to have recourse to the violent method of excluding, by a guard at the door, such of the members as he knew to be disaffected to him. At length, by using every art to influence the elections, and to fill the house with his sure friends, he got one parliament so perfectly to his mind, that a vote was proposed and passed for investing the protector with the dignity of king, and a committee was appointed to confer with him on that subject, and overcome any scruples which he might have on that score. But Cromwell's scruples were not violent; he had other objections than what proceeded from his

*It appears, from a very curious conversation, which took place four years before this vote of the parliament, between Cromwell and Whitelocke, (reported by the latter in his Memorials,) that Cromwell was most earnestly desirous of the title of king; and that, although he put that desire chiefly on the ground of uniting the discordant councils and controlling the factions of the parliamentary leaders, it was chiefly the motive of his own personal safety, and the security of his usurped power, that in reality influenced him to desire that title and dignity. The following is a short part of that most extraordinary conversation. Cromwell takes Whitelocke aside, and begins by complimenting him highly, both on his wisdom and abilities, and on his firm attachment and fidelity to himself. Then he pictures, in strong words, the instability of that power which their party had, with so much labor and expense of blood, acquired; that the army was divided into factions, and hostile to the parliament; and that the latter seemed to have no other aim than to engross for their own members all offices of honor or profit; while, being the supreme power, they were under no control and liable to no account. "In short," adds Cromwell, "there is no hope of a good settlement, but, on the contrary, a great deal of fear, that what the Lord hath done so gra ciously for them and us will be all again destroyed: we all forget God, and God will forget us and give us up to confusion; and these men will help it on if they be suffered to proceed in their ways: some course must be thought on to curb and restrain them, or we shall be ruined by them.

"Whitelocke.We ourselves have acknowledged them the supreme power, and taken our commissions and authority from them; and how to restrain and curb them after this, it will be hard to find out a way for it.

"Cromwell.-What if a man should take upon him to be king?

"Whitelocke.—I think that remedy would be worse than the disease. "Cromwell.-Why think you so?

"Whitelocke.-As to your own person, the title of king would be of no advantage, because you have the full kingly power in you already, concerning the militia, as you are general. As to the nomination of civil officers, those whom you think fittest are seldom refused, and although you have no negative voice in the passing of laws, yet what you dislike will not easily be carried; and the taxes are already settled, and in you power to dispose the money raised. As to foreign affairs, though the ceremonial application be to the parliament, yet