1853 and other Royalist writers, was a great scandal to the assembly. But he was a man of piety, of understanding, and weight, and even of considerable private capital, which would suit the objectors much better.* By his side sat Admiral Blake; Francis Rouse, provost of Eton, who was chosen speaker; Montagu; Howard; Ashley Cooper, and others, whose aristrocratic names bespeak them to have been not the lowest and most ignorant of men.† The pro They began by voting themselves a parliament, and removing their sittings to Westminster, where they received and solemnly read an instrument signed by Cromwell and the council, imposing upon them the supreme authority, and obliging them to dissolve on the 3rd of November, 1654, three months ceedings. before which date, they were to name their successors. They then vigorously applied themselves to the reformation of what they deemed the most essential grievances. They voted the abolition of the Court of Chancery, and nominated a set of commissioners to preside in courts of justice, but would only admit two lawyers among them, while upon their committee for the reform of the law they would not admit one. They enacted that marriages should be solemnized by the civil magistrate alone, abolished tithes, and did away with advowsons, by vesting the choice of the minister in the parishioners. They also considered the laws for the amelioration of the poor, and the relief of prisoners for debt; they sought to promote education; and discussed the union of England and Scotland, the financial condition of the kingdom, and the colonies in Ireland. But their revolutionary intentions gave great offence and alarm, especially to the lawyers and the clergy; and every Monday, during the session, two Anabaptist preachers propounded the most extraordinary doctrines in Blackfriars, to numerous bodies of fanatics and Fifth-monarchy men, whose leader, General Harrison, had proposed a resolution in parliament, that "The saints should take possession of the kingdom, and keep it." All this led men of station and property to regard Cromwell as the only power able to preserve Cromwell order, and prevent anarchy; he became the sole refuge the sole of those who valued the laws, the regular ecclesiastical of order. ministry, and their own estates, all of which were in peril from preserver *The Christian name Praise-God, and other Puritan names cited by Hume, are mentioned by him, and other writers of his class, as proofs of fanaticism. But these names are scarcely more fanatical than Deodatus, a name to be found in the records of every country in Europe; or than Timotheus, which, indeed, is the classic translation of Praise-God. The list of the jury, given by Hume (VII., 230), is, however, a fiction, being a mere piece of mauvaise plaisanterie on the part of his Royalist authority. (See Godwin's Commonwealth, III., 524.) + Knight's Pop. Hist., IV., 163; Carlyle's Cromwell, II., 334-5. CHAP. X. the mad enthusiasts who were in hopes to prevail. This, in fact, was Cromwell's policy. The last vote regarding the ministry furnished him with a favourable opportunity, and, on the 12th of December, his friends mustered in considerable numbers at an early hour, and a vote was carried that the parliament should, by a formal deed, resign its power into the hands of Cromwell. This resolution was acted upon instantly; the speaker, followed by about forty members, went to Whitehall, and there tendered their The parlia resignation; in the course of a few days, the majority of resigns its the members did the same; and on the 16th of December, Oliver Cromwell was solemnly inaugurated, in the Court of Chancery, Westminster Hall, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland." The Instrument of Government, as the deed was called, by which his authority was established, consisted of 42 articles, and made him anything but a dictator. ment powers to Cromwell by the Instrument of Government. 1. The sovereignty was to reside in parliament, whose acts, at the end of twenty days, should become law, without the consent of the Protector, unless he could persuade the house of the reasonableness of his objections. 2. The Protector had thus no royal right of placing a veto upon the acts of parliament; but he had the power of making temporary ordinances, until the meeting of parliament. A council of state was to assist him in the government. His office was to be enjoyed for life; but not to be hereditary. 3. Parliament was not to be adjourned, prorogued, or dissolved, without its own consent, within the first five months after its meeting. 4. Parliaments were to be triennial, and the number of members to be 460; 400 for England, and 30 each for Scotland and Ireland. The number of county members was increased, borough members decreased; and every person possessed of real or personal property worth £200 had a right to vote, unless he were a Malignant, Delinquent, or Roman Catholic. 5. Laws could not be made, nor taxes imposed, without consent of parliament. 6. All who professed faith in God, by Jesus Christ, were to be protected in the exercise of their religion, except prelatists, papists, and those who taught licentiousness under the pretence of religion.† SECTION II.-THE PROTECTORATE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 1653-1658. The Pro 17. Royalist conspiracies against the Protector. tector's first act was, to revive the forms of monarchy. He issued new patents to the judges, as on the occasion of a succession to the crown; he appointed the members of his council, and the chief officers of state; Thurloe was named secretary; and Meadows became Latin secretary instead of Milton, who, however, was soon restored to his office. The army received due attention; the engagement or vow of allegiance to the Common The Protector's first measures. * Hallam, J., 660. Lingard. XI., 16-19; Forster's Lives: VII., 223-228; Carlyle, II., 370-372. 1653-54 wealth was repealed; offences of treason were clearly defined; England and Scotland were incorporated; the proceedings of the Court of Chancery were simplified; commissioners were appointed to approve of public preachers, and to eject scandalous, ignorant, and indifferent preachers, e. g., those who held atheistical or other execrable opinions; who were guilty of any profaneness, immorality, gambling, or tavern-haunting; who encouraged Whitsun ales, morris dances, Maypoles, stage plays, &c.; who read the Book of Common Prayer, were non-resident, or generally negligent of their duties, and scoffed at religion.* There were many, however, among Oliver's old friends, who looked upon his government with the utmost abhorrence. He treated these with both leniency and severity; removing some from their offices both in the army and in the church; binding others over for their good behaviour; and incarcerating some in the Tower, among whom was His Harrison. There were men in all classes, in short, who enemies. were inimical to the new government; the great contest had become, as Whitelocke had predicted, purely personal; and intolerant Episcopalians, equally intolerant Presbyterians, frantic Anabaptists, Cavaliers, and Republicans, were all opposed to the one man in whom all the ruling power was now concentrated. But that power was more vigilant, more far-seeing, more difficult to shake, than any which had yet existed; foreign governments recognised and dreaded it, for he who wielded it was bent upon sustaining the glory of his country, and upon consolidating its internal peace. Master of his army, which he well knew how to manage, surrounded by a few deep but experienced counsellors, furnished by his spies with the completest intelligence of all designs against him, he had no great cause of alarm from open resistance. Yet he was surrounded with conspirators, and the Royalists abroad openly preached the doctrine of assassination. The court of Charles at Paris issued a proclamation, in April, 1654, authorising any one to murder Oliver, and so "do an act acceptable to God and man," and a conspiracy for this Gerrard's purpose, called Gerrard's Plot, was actually discovered, Plot. and three out of forty persons implicated, executed. The French ambassador was acquainted with this conspiracy, and Cromwell sent him home, with a message to Louis XIV., full of true magnanimity, in which he sacrificed his own personal resentment to the national welfare, desiring that the negotiations then pending between the two countries might still go on, without any considerations on his part of France giving shelter to the conspirators, * Forster's Lives, VII., 234. + Hallam, I., 663. embassy CHAP. X. or of Cardinal Mazarin instigating the ambassador. At the same One of the time, to show that he did not fear the continental powers, Portuguese he caused Don Pantaleon de Sa, the brother of the executed. Portuguese ambassador, and an attaché of the embassy, to be executed for tumult and murder, in spite of all the diplomatic privileges which, it was alleged, shielded him from punishment by an English tribunal.* again Monk and 18. Conclusion of the Dutch war. The war with Holland still continued, though ambassadors were constantly passing between London and the Hague, in order to effect an accommo dation. Cromwell had removed Blake, whose staunch republicanism he distrusted, and had placed Monk at the head of the fleet. But that great commander magnanimously submitted to his degradation for the sake of his country; and he no sooner heard of Cromwell's assumption of power than he issued this memorable order throughout the fleet, that "it was not the business of seamen to mind state affairs, but to keep foreigners from fooling us." The Dutch had thought to profit by the domestic troubles of their enemy; Van Tromp had had his fleet refitted, and, while Blake was protecting the northern fisheries, he suddenly attacked Monk and Dean, who were cruising between Nieuport and the Van Tromp North Foreland (June 2nd). The action continued the defeated by whole day; and the English had to lament the loss of Blake. Admiral Dean, a man who was worshipped by the seamen, from the midst of whom he had sprung by his bold and excellent conduct. During the night, Blake arrived with 18 ships, and the battle was renewed next morning. Van Tromp fought with the most determined courage; but Blake's arrival sent a panic through his fleet; his orders were disobeyed; several of his captains fled from the superior fire of their opponents; and he was ultimately obliged to seek shelter within the Wielings, and along the shallow coast of Zeeland. Eleven of his ships had been captured; eight sunk, and two blown up: he had left 1,300 prisoners in the hands of the victors; and his number of killed and wounded was great in proportion. Cromwell received the news of this victory with transports of joy. Though he could claim no share in the merit (for the fleet owed its success to the exertions of Vane and the government which had been overturned), he was aware that it would shed a lustre over his own administration, and the people were publicly called upon to return thanks to the Almighty for so signal a favour, * Lingard, XI., 21-33; Guizot's Cromwell, 239-245; Forster's Lives, VII., 242-246; Godwin's Commonwealth, IV, 1654 Tromp's The Dutch, on their part, found that their enemy was too powerful for them, and, mortified as they were at the loss of their naval supremacy, they sent ambassadors to England, and anxiously solicited peace. The Protector received their proposals coldly; he demanded more than they were willing to concede; but, in the midst of the negotiations, another battle was fought, and another victory won by England. Van Tromp had no sooner repaired his fleet, than he again put to sea to redeem the honour of his flag. Monk was blockading the entrance of the Texel; and on the evening of the 29th of July, the two fleets, each comprised of about 100 sail, met near the Dutch coast. Monk issued a memorable and characteristic order to his captains, that "no English ship should surrender to the enemy, and that they should accept no surrender of the vessels against which they fought. Their business," he said, "was not to take ships, but to sink and destroy to the utmost extent of their power." The first evening's encounter was indecisive, and squalls prevented a battle on the succeeding day. But on Sunday (July 31st), the Van battle raged fearfully; in the midst of it Van Tromp was last defeat. shot in the heart, and he fell dead, without speaking a word; the Dutch then began to waver; in a short time they fled, and the pursuit continued till midnight. On the English side few ships were lost, but more than 1,300 men were killed and wounded; while the Dutch lost more than 30 ships and 1,200 prisoners, besides a considerable number of killed and wounded. This signal defeat compelled the Dutch to hasten the negotiations for peace. The conditions which Cromwell exacted were moderate. He did not insist upon any indemnification for the expenses of the war, for the incorporation of the two states, the right of search, the sole right to the fisheries, or the exclusion of the Prince of Orange from the office of stadtholder-terms which had been demanded by the Long Parliament; but he stipulated that neither state should harbour the enemies of the other, The Dutch and that the flag of the Commonwealth should be saluted conclude a as the royal flag had been heretofore. Some minor peace. details, as compensation to the English East India Company and the Baltic traders, for their loss of trade, and to the heirs of those who were massacred by the Dutch at Amboyna, were left to arbitration (April 5th, 1654). This treaty with Holland comprehended Denmark, the Hanseatic Towns, and the Swiss Protestant Cantons, all which states had been in alliance with the Dutch during the war. At the same time, however, the Protector signed a secret treaty, by which the states of Holland and West Friesland treaty of |