He listened patiently to the debate until the Bill wa's about to pass; and then began to speak. While giving credit to the Parliament for their former public good," he sternly blamed them for their selfish

care of the

ambition, and the scandalous lives of many of them; and finally exclaimed, "It is not fit you should sit here any longer; you shall give place to better men."

Addressing one of his officers, he said, "Call them in," upon which thirty musketeers made their appearance in the midst of the astonished members. "It is you

that have moved me to this," he cried in sorrowful tones, as the members moved sullenly to the door. “What shall we do with this bauble? he added contemptuously, taking up the mace. "Here, take it away,” he said, handing it to a musketeer.

Carrying with him the Bill which the Parliament had been about to make law, Cromwell gave orders to lock the door of the House.15 This dismissal of the Rump seemed to meet with general approval, for it had completely lost the confidence of the nation, and its scheme to preserve a further lease of power had awakened general alarm.

Cromwell, by thus taking the law into his own hands, was really acting in defence of the liberties of the Commons.

1. Withdrew its ambassador. This is the usual preliminary to a declaration of war.

2. Exiled Royal Family. Henrietta Maria, the queen of Charles I., had been a French princess (see page 22), and had taken refuge in France.

3. French Ministry. This was the time of Cardinal Mazarin, who had succeeded the great Richelieu. He maintained a strict neutrality between the exiled king and the Commonwealth.

4. The Hague, on the coast of Holland, the seat of government and political capital of the country.

5. One reason of the favour shown by Holland to the Royalists was that Mary, daughter of Charles I., had been married to William, Prince of Orange. Their son became William III. of England.

6. The laws of naval warfare were not yet

7. Envoy, a special messenger, one sent to transact business with a foreign government.

8. The envoys quitted the Hague on the 1st of July 1651, and the Navigation Bill was introduced in Parliament on the 5th of August.

9. Navigation Act. Several similar Acts were
afterwards passed. The first relaxation
was in favour of the United States, and
most of the restrictions were repealed in
1849. Foreign ships were even admitted
to the coasting trade in 1854.

10. The Rump Parliament. See page 59.
11. See Hallam's Constitutional History, vol. ii.
p. 94.

12. Passed on the 18th of November 1651.
13. These battles were fought in 1652,
14. Texel, the large island nearest the mainland
at the mouth of the Zuyder Zee. The battle
was fought in July 1653.

clearly fixed, and many of the acts even of 15. The Rump was expelled on the 20th April

our own famous admirals would now be
regarded as piracy.

1653.

CROMWELL, LORD PROTECTOR.

CROMWELL.

1653-1658.

HE Lord-General.-Cromwell had at last seized the helm of the State. Many different views have been taken of the character of this great man, some of them very hostile. His opponents regarded him as a conscious hypocrite hiding under the cloak of religion ambition of the most selfish kind, as the main cause of the execution of

King Charles, and as guilty of all the bloodshed of the past reign. This view was altogether unjust. Whatever may be thought of the means he took to carry out his aims, there can be no doubt that he was animated by intense religious conviction like that of the prophets of old, and felt himself appointed by God to rescue his country from slavery on the one hand and from miserable anarchy on the other.

This man had ever been of independent spirit. He had always thrust himself between the oppressor and the oppressed, so that in his native Huntingdon he had long before this been known as the 'Lord of the Fens.' The days of his earlier manhood had been spent in much communing with his cousin Hampden;1 and during the bitter rule of Thorough,' they had determined to seek a freer home across the broad

Atlantic.2 God ordered their fates differently; for the vessel in which they were to sail was stopped by a proclamation of the king, and they remained-the one to die fighting for freedom on the battlefield, the other to become the uncrowned king of this great empire.

3

Cromwell's First Parliament.-Cromwell had no wish to rule alone, and at once summoned one hundred and forty persons, chosen for their fidelity and honour, to administer the affairs of the kingdom. This convention, known as the Little or Barebones Parliament,* was not at all successful.

At first, it set itself with great energy to the work of reform; but, the extreme party gaining the chief power, it soon began the destruction of the whole system of English law and church government. Indeed, the schemes of the majority so alarmed the more cautious members, that they hurriedly passed a vote delivering up their powers to the Lord-General.5

Thus the affairs of the kingdom were again placed under the control of Cromwell and the council of officers. They at once drew up an Instrument of Government, vesting the power in a Lord Protector, a Council of State nominated by him, and a Parliament elected by the people.

The Lord Protector chosen was of course the LordGeneral Cromwell. He was to possess supreme executive power; but Parliament alone had a right to impose taxes, and could frame laws without his sanction. It was also provided that the Parliament should meet every three years, that it could not be dissolved on any pretext until it had sat at least five months, and that Scotland and Ireland were to be represented as well as England. This was a sincere and noble attempt to restore constitutional liberty; but the Puritan party was so small that

it could not remain in power if the votes of the nation were to decide the question. Thus the Instrument of Government necessarily failed. As soon as the Parliament met, a dispute regarding its powers commenced; and Cromwell, after allowing it to sit for five months," was forced reluctantly to dissolve it.

S

A Military Despotism Established.-Anarchy now threatened the country, and military despotism of the strictest kind was accordingly established. England was divided into ten military districts, each of which was placed under a major-general responsible to the Protector; and, in lieu of taxes imposed by Parliament, a rate was levied on all who had borne arms for the king.

The lofty motives which actuated Cromwell were seen in the character of his administration. Never before had the essentials of liberty in England been so fully. enjoyed. Toleration was permitted to all forms of Christianity, and the Church of England was declared to include all who held the principles of the faith.

Cromwell was, however, very severe on many old customs and habits. No inns except those necessary for travellers were permitted, while drunkenness and profane swearing were made capital offences. The bears kept for the amusement of the London citizens were slain by a Puritan colonel and his regiment.

Not only were those sports which implied a certain degree of cruelty forbidden, but equally with them were horse-racing, theatrical entertainments, farces, and even all kinds of music not solemn and sacred. The Maypoles were removed from the village greens, and games and dances were discouraged as dangerous to good morals.

Cromwell and Europe.-In defence of the religious liberty of English merchants and sailors, Cromwell pro