sand pounds, and delivering the Christian captives out of the prisons of the barbarian. At the same time Penn and Venables sailed with a great expedition to the west, and the next news that came of them was that they had taken full possession of Jamaica, and he was thereby in a condition to make a landing on the Spanish colonies whenever he chose. § 11. A Parliament without a House of Lords was scarcely such a continuation of the old form as to satisfy the English mind. And if an Upper Chamber were restored, who could tell whether the machinery of government might not be found still incomplete without a king? Cromwell accepted the "Petition and Advice" of his faithful Commons, and determined to summon a House of Peers. The more zealous Cromwellians had attached to this paper a request that he would assume the royal title; but here the Protector paused. He knew what clamours and opposition would be raised, particularly by his military supporters. The conduct of the eleven major-generals, to whom he had assigned districts in order to secure their obedience, had excited great ill-will towards their rough rule, and were not likely to submit to so great an elevation of their chief as would enable him to dispense with their assistance. The bitterness of the Royalists, also, would be increased by the conversion of what they thought a temporary interregnum into the foundation of a new dynasty. The cautious soldier resolved therefore to bide his time. He accepted the minor proposition, that he should name his successor. § 12. The effect of military successes was tried once more. Treasure ships of Spain, towed into port, and Mardyke captured by a joint army of English and French, again set the bonfires blazing; and deadening the sense of the loss of liberty by the anodyne of Fame, the Lord Protector summoned a new Parliament on the ancient model. Sixty noble lords responded to his call; but of these only seven were of the old nobility, and the remainder not very distinguished A.D. 1658.] CROMWELL'S OVER-WROUGHT MIND. 599 men. The majority of the Commons disowned the Upper House; and authority, in fact, became more concentred in his "Highness" than before. The first man to give up all hope of restoration was Charles II. himself. A nation which had beheaded his father was not very likely to crown him. His adherents were as poor as himself. Foreign potentates were terrified at a growl from the usurper, and sent him on his travels at a hint from the English resident at their courts. Yet money must be supplied-pleasure must be had and paid for. Selfishness had the same effect as magnanimity; and Marius in the ruins of Carthage did not moralize more wisely on the nothingness of earthly grandeur than Charles amid. the broken bottles and sick headaches of his riotous entertainments. He applied for the hand of Oliver's daughter, and looked forward, of course, to a suitable dowry with his bride. § 13. But the end was drawing near. Oliver, still vigorous in mind, wrought too hard for the strength of his worn-out frame. He had to guard against open enmity and secret assassination. His friends departed from him when they supposed, rightly or wrongly, that he had forsaken his ancient opinions. The whole business of the nation, fleet, army, law, religion, policy, passed through his hands. No mind of that period had so clear a perception of the requirements of a good government. He wished to reform the law-that sink of sorrow and shame, even for the present generation-which, by a slavish adherence to precedent and narrow interpretation of principles, enables a wealthy litigant to ruin his adversary by unfounded and even unsuccessful claims. He saw clearly tuat Popery in its full development is inconsistent with civil freedom, and held that England could only continue great while she took her stand as the first of Protestant powers. He would have secured the freedom of trade, the growth of manufactures, the maintenance of the fleet, and the influence of the people on the policy of Europe; but the struggle was too great. London knew at the beginning of August that the Protector was seriously ill. All the churches were filled with multitudes weeping and pouring forth prayers for his recovery. But the great man was on his death-bed. Drawing his breath in this harsh world with pain, he nominated his eldest son, Richard, to succeed him in the Protectorate, and then turned his thoughts to God. He prayed for his enemies, and pardoned them their hostility, confessing his shortcomings and sins, but glorying that he was a conqueror, and more than a conqueror, through Jesus Christ, which strengthened him." His family knelt round him. He missed the faces of his favourite children, Robert, who died in youth, Oliver, who had been killed in Ireland, and Mrs. Claypole, who had died the year before; but all his earthly affairs were settled; he sank into unconsciousness, and passed away on the anniversary of his great battles of Worcester and Dunbar, making the 3rd of September again memorable by the demise of the greatest soldier, statesman, and ruler whom England has ever seen. A.D. LANDMARKS OF CHRONOLOGY. 1649. On the death of Charles I. England is declared a Commonwealth. An act passed for abolishing Prince Charles declared at Edin- 1650. Charles II. lands in Scotland, § 1. Richard Cromwell, Protector. Feebleness of his government. The new Parliament. Contentions of the different parties.-§ 2. The army resolves to retain its supremacy, and compels Richard to dissolve the newly-summoned Parliament. Restoration of the "Long Parliament."-§ 3. Its declaration against any head of a government. Resignation of Richard. His contemptible character.-§ 4. Government of the "Rump." Popular discontent and confusion.-§5. General Monk and his army. His march through England. His designs kept secret. His terms with Charles II.-§ 6. A new Parliament assembled, and Charles II. proclaimed king. § 1. THE two portraits in Hamlet were not more dissimilar than Oliver and his son. When we look on that picture and on this, we see the fortunes of the two men dependent on their personal qualities. The great broad views and persistent energies of the Protector are contrasted with the feeble will and uncertain aims of his successor. When Richard, therefore, was peacefully installed in the seat of power, all men felt that it was the name of his father which conveyed to him this authority, but that he was not the man to retain a sceptre which had nothing to hold it up but the force of his own right hand. Dissension and difficulties accordingly soon began. A Parliament was called, which failed to obtain the public confidence, as it was elected by the burgesses of small and rotten boroughs, instead of the large and rising towns to which Oliver had transferred the franchise. It was divided into sections, of which for a while the strongest adhered to the new Protector. But when cabals began, and the military connexions of the family, Fleetwood, who had married the new Protector's sister, and Desborough, who had married his aunt, quarrelled for the command of the army, and only agreed on the point that it should not be continued in Richard, the sects and political parties perceived their opportunity. There were Independents and Presbyterians as before, but their acts became complicated by the mixed nature of their motives; there were kingsmen, who had bought their seats from the corrupt constituencies; absolute republicans who had been sent up by the enemies of all authority; and people who called themselves fifth monarchy-men, acknowledging no king nor ruler but the Saviour; and intriguing, promising, threatening, and flattering among all these divisions, were two or three who were intent on succeeding Oliver as chiefs of the army; two or three who wished to rule by their eloquence or skill in parliament; and a number of persons who waited patiently to see which side was strongest, with the purpose of joining it at once. § 2. The army took the alarm, and resolved to retain the supremacy of the sword. While the Protector was consulting his friends, and anxious to allay the animosities which were spreading in the House itself, a deputation of officers put an end to his hesitation, and forced him to dissolve the newly-summoned Parliament, and recal from its dishonoured tomb the remains of the old one, which Oliver had so unceremoniously ejected six years before. It had still retained in the popular mind some of the reputation it had earned in the great days of its early existence, when it bore the first brunt of the civil war, and fought the battle of freedom against the king and the Cavaliers. Many of course were dead, several had changed their opinions, some had fallen into old age and upon evil days; but the survivors were ferreted out. Lenthal, |