MEMORIALS

OF THE

PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND TIMES

OF

SIR WILLIAM PENN, KNT. &c.

CHAPTER V.

1654-1655.

Service in the West Indies.

1654.

On the 13th of December of the preceding year, the artifice of Cromwell had procured the self-dissolution of his first spurious parliament with the same facility with which his audacity had effected the interruption and dispersion of the remnant of the Long Parliament, eight months before; and, three days after, on the 16th of December, he accomplished the erection of his nominal Protectorate, by the constitution of which it was declared, that the legislative authority should reside" in one person, and the people assembled in

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parliament." And having now enthroned himself in supreme power, his avarice urged his ambition towards the Spanish wealth in the west; and he determined to force a quarrel with Spain, that he might create an occasion for seizing on a portion of it. Accordingly, in the autumn of the present year, 1654, he fitted out a large fleet, which he placed under the command of General Penn, and which was to receive on board an army under General Venables, to be employed against the Spanish possessions in America.

But, a great aversion towards the Protector's new scheme of government (soon increased by indignation at the manifest iniquity of the present measure) spread speedily and widely in the naval service. The supremacy of Cromwell was the supremacy of the army, and the supremacy of the army was the execration of the navy. Cromwell had not a friend among the sea-commanders, only amongst his land-admirals; and of these last, none were very cordially attached to his person except Colonel Edward Mountagu, whom he now created General at Sea. Principles and sentiments, which had remained inactive only through restraint, but which had never been extinguished in the hearts of the seamen, began to ferment. Both officers and men (together with a large portion of the nation) had their eyes silently turned toward their exiled prince, to whom their unsophisticated minds were the more naturally and strongly attracted, in consequence of the declared necessity of again placing the supreme authority in the hands of

"one person, with a parliament." They had, from the first, honestly stood for king and parliament; that is to say, for some such mode of settling the balance between prerogative and freedom, as was afterwards completed in 1688; from which period we are all king-and-parliament-men, according to the pure, original intention of those terms. The spectacle of mock-royalty exhibited to their view, only rendered more vivid in their imagination, and more venerable to their contemplation, the true royalty which it excluded. The state of things had essentially changed since 1648; it was no longer the case of a Prince of Wales without any regal authority acknowledged by the constitution of the realm, it was that of a king, on whom had unquestionably devolved the full and perfect title to his ancestorial crown; to whom no one could charge any portion of the calamities under which the country had so long laboured; and who had distinctly made public his sentiments, as king, in the following Declaration.

"October 21st, 1649.

His Majesty's Declaration to all his Subjects of his Kingdom of England, and Dominion of Wales.

"Charles, the Second of that name, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.: To all persons within our kingdom of England, and dominion of Wales, to whom these presents shall come, greeting:

"We cannot, without unspeakable grief and sorrow, call to mind, nor without horror express, that our dear and royal father, King Charles of ever-blessed memory, hath been most

barbarously and most cruelly murdered by the hands of bloody traitors and rebels within our kingdom of England, with proceedings and circumstances so prodigious, that the particulars induce rather amazement than expression. And although we have hitherto seemed silent in a matter so highly concerning us, as not publicly to express to the people of England our grief of heart and high detestation of that heinous act; yet, being now safely arrived in a small part of our own dominions at the Island of Jersey, we have thought fit rather from hence, where our kingly authority takes place, than from any foreign country where we have been hitherto necessitated to reside, publicly to declare, that, out of a bitter sense and indignation of those horrid proceedings against our dear father, we are, according to the laws of nature and justice, firmly resolved, by the assistance of Almighty God (though we perish alone in the enterprise), to be a severe avenger of his innocent blood, which was so barbarously spilt, and which calls so loud to Heaven for vengeance. And we shall therein, by all ways and means possible, endeavour to pursue, and bring to their due punishment, those bloody traitors who were either actors or contrivers of that unparalleled and inhuman murder.

"And since it hath pleased God so to dispose, as, by such an untimely martyrdom, to deprive us of so good a father, and England of so gracious a king; we do further declare, that, by his death, the crown of England, with all privileges, rights, and preliminaries belonging thereunto, is, by a clear and undoubted right of succession, justly and lineally descended upon us, as next and immediate heir and successor thereunto, without any condition or limitation, without any intermission or claim, without any ceremony or solemnity whatsoever. And that, by virtue thereof, we are now in right lawfully seised of the said crown, and ought, by the laws of God and of that nation, to enjoy a royal power there, as well in church as commonwealth, to govern the

people of that kingdom according to the ancient and known laws, to maintain them in peace and justice, and to protect and defend them from the oppression of any usurped power whatsoever. And the people of that nation, by the like laws, owe unto us, and ought reciprocally to pay, duty and obedience unto us, as unto their liege lord and sovereign. This royal right of ours is grounded upon so clear a title, is settled by such fundamental laws, confirmed by so many oaths of allegiance in all ages, is supported by such a long-continued succession in our royal progenitors, and by such a constant submission of all the people, that the same can admit of no dispute; no act of our predecessors can debar us of it, no power on earth can justly take it from us; and, by the undoubted laws of that nation, to oppose us, either in the claim or exercise thereof, is a treason of the highest degree.

"And although the bloody contrivers of our father's murder (out of a pernicious hatred to all monarchies) have, by force, as much as in them lies, disinherited us of our princely right thereunto, banished and proscribed us, seized all our revenues, prohibited all intercourse and supplies to be sent to us, and have, by violence, imposed upon the people of England a new yoke of popular tyranny, to the utter subversion not only of our just rights, but of their laws and liberties; yet we do profess that we cannot persuade ourself that the body of the English nation hath so far degenerated from their ancient loyalty and virtue as to consent to these horrid proceedings against us, or to approve the cutting off that kingly government, under which they and your forefathers have happily flourished so many ages past, to the envy of all your neighbour nations. How can that once-happy nation of England despair of blessed days under a royal sceptre, and vainly hope for them under the iron rod of an insolent multitude? No, we cannot look upon these sad and dismal changes as the desires or intentions of the better part of our subjects of that kingdom, but rather as the designs and contrivances