Chapter IV: , VII (10)

Bedfordshire, 5;
Bedford Town, 1;
Berkshire, 5;
Abingdon, 1;
Reading, 1;
Buckinghamshire, 5;
Buckingham Town, 1;
Aylesbury, 1;
Wycomb, 1;
Cambridgeshire, 4;
Cambridge Town, 1;
Cambridge University, 1;
Isle of Ely, 2;
Cheshire, 4;
Chester, 1;
Cornwall, 8;
Launceston, 1;
Truro, 1;
Penryn, 1;
East Looe and West Looe, 1;
Cumberland, 2;
Carlisle, 1;
Derbyshire, 4;
Derby Town, 1;
Devonshire, 11;
Exeter, 2;
Plymouth, 2
Clifton, Dartmouth, Hardness, 1;
Totnes, 1;
Barnstable, 1;
Tiverton, 1;
Honiton, 1;
Dorsetshire, 6;
Dorchester, 1;
Weymouth and Melcomb-Regis, 1;
Lyme-Regis, 1;
Poole, 1;
Durham, 2;
City of Durham, 1;
Essex, 13;
Malden, 1;
Colchester, 2;
Gloucestershire, 5;
Gloucester, 2;
Tewkesbury, 1;
Cirencester, 1;
Herefordshire, 4;
Hereford, 1;
Leominster, 1;
Hertfordshire, 5;
St. Alban's, 1:
Hertford, 1;
Huntingdonshire, 3;
Huntingdon, 1;
Kent, 11;
Canterbury, 2;
Rochester, 1
Maidstone, 1;
Dover, 1;
Sandwich, 1;
Queenborough, 1;
Lancashire, 4;
Preston, 1;
Lancaster, 1;
Liverpool, 1;
Manchester, 1;
Leicestershire, 4
Leicester, 2;
Lincolnshire, 10;
Lincoln, 2;
Boston, 1;
Grantham, 1;
Stamford, 1;
Great Grimsby, 1;
Middlesex, 4;
London, 6;
Westminster, 2;
Monmouthshire, 3;
Norfolk 10;
Norwich, 2;
Lynn-Regis, 2
Great Yarmouth, 2
Northamptonshire, 6;
Peterborough, 1;
Northampton, 1;
Nottinghamshire, 4;
Nottingham, 2;
Northumberland, 3;
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1;
Berwick, 1;
Oxfordshire, 5;
Oxford City, 1;
Oxford University, 1;
Woodstock, 1;
Rutlandshire, 2;
Shropshire, 4;
Shrewsbury, 2;
Bridgnorth, 1;
Ludlow, 1;
Staffordshire, 3;
Lichfield, 1;
Stafford, 1;
Newcastle-under-Lyne, 1;
Somersetshire, 11;
Bristol, 2;
Taunton, 2;
Bath, 1;
Wells, 1;
Bridgwater, 1;
Southamptonshire, 8;
Winchester, 1;
Southampton, 1
Portsmouth, 1;
Isle of Wight, 2;
Andover, 1;
Suffolk, 10;
Ipswich, 2;
Bury St. Edmunds, 2;
Dunwich, 1;
Sudbury, 1;
Surrey, 6;
Southwark, 2;
Guildford, 1;
Reigate, 1;
Sussex, 9;
Chichester, 1;
Lewes, 1;
East Grinstead, 1;
Arundel, 1;
Rye, 1;
Westmoreland, 2;
Warwickshire, 4;
Coventry, 2;
Warwick, 1;
Wiltshire, 10;
New Sarum, 2;
Marlborough, 1;
Devizes, 1;
Worcestershire, 5;
Worcester, 2.

YORKSHIRE.
West Riding, 6;
East Riding, 4;
North Riding, 4;
City of York, 2
Kingston-upon-Hull, 1;
Beverley, 1;
Scarborough, 1;
Richmond, 1;
Leeds, 1;
Halifax, 1.

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WALES.
Anglesey, 2:
Brecknoekshire, 2;
Cardiganshire, 2;
Carmarthenshire, 2;
Carnarvonshire, 2;
Denbighshire, 2;
Flintshire, 2;
Glamorganshire, 2;
Cardiff, 1;
Merionethshire, 1;
Montgomeryshire, 2;
Pembrokeshire, 2;
Haverfordwest, 1;
Radnorshire, 2.

The distribution of the persons to be chosen for Scotland and
Ireland, and the several counties, cities, and places therein,
shall be according to such proportions and number as shall be
agreed upon and declared by the Lord Protector and the major
part of the council, before the sending forth writs of summons
for the next Parliament.

XI. That the summons to Parliament shall be by writ under the
Great Seal of England, directed to the sheriffs of the several
and respective counties, with such alteration as may suit with
the present government to be made by the Lord Protector and
his council, which the Chancellor, Keeper, or Commissioners of
the Great Seal shall seal, issue, and send abroad by warrant
from the Lord Protector. If the Lord Protector shall not give
warrant for issuing of writs of summons for the next
Parliament, before the first of June, 1654, or for the
Triennial Parliaments, before the first day of August in every
third year, to be accounted as aforesaid; that then the
Chancellor, Keeper, or Commissioners of the Great Seal for the
time being, shall, without any warrant or direction, within
seven days after the said first day of June, 1654, seal,
issue, and send abroad writs of summons (changing therein what
is to be changed as aforesaid) to the several and respective
sheriffs of England, Scotland, and Ireland, for summoning the
Parliament to meet at Westminster, the third day of September
next; and shall likewise, within seven days after the said
first day of August, in every third year, to be accounted from
the dissolution of the precedent Parliament, seal, issue, and
send forth abroad several writs of summons (changing therein
what is to be changed) as aforesaid, for summoning the
Parliament to meet at Westminster the sixth of November in
that third year. That the said several and respective
sheriffs, shall, within ten days after the receipt of such
writ as aforesaid, cause the same to be proclaimed and
published in every market-town within his county upon the
market-days thereof, between twelve and three of the clock;
and shall then also publish and declare the certain day of the
week and month, for choosing members to serve in Parliament for
the body of the said county, according to the tenor of the
said writ, which shall be upon Wednesday five weeks after the
date of the writ; and shall likewise declare the place where
the election shall be made: for which purpose he shall appoint
the most convenient place for the whole county to meet in; and
shall send precepts for elections to be made in all and every
city, town, borough, or place within his county, where
elections are to be made by virtue of these presents, to the
Mayor, Sheriff, or other head officer of such city, town,
borough, or place, within three days after the receipt of such
writ and writs; which the said Mayors, Sheriffs, and officers
respectively are to make publication of, and of the certain
day for such elections to be made in the said city, town, or
place aforesaid, and to cause elections to be made
accordingly.

XII. That at the day and place of elections, the Sheriff of
each county, and the said Mayors, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, and
other head officers within their cities, towns, boroughs, and
places respectively, shall take view of the said elections,
and shall make return into the chancery within twenty days
after the said elections, of the persons elected by the
greater number of electors, under their hands and seals,
between him on the one part, and the electors on the other
part; wherein shall be contained, that the persons elected
shall not have power to alter the government as it is hereby
settled in one single person and a Parliament.

XIII. That the Sheriff, who shall wittingly and willingly make
any false return, or neglect his duty, shall incur the penalty
of 2,000 marks of lawful English money; the one moiety to the
Lord Protector, and the other moiety to such person as will
sue for the same.

XIV. That all and every person and persons, who have aided,
advised, assisted, or abetted in any war against the
Parliament, since the first day of January 1641 (unless they
have been since in the service of the Parliament, and given
signal testimony of their good affection thereunto) shall be
disabled and incapable to be elected, or to give any vote in
the election of any members to serve in the next Parliament,
or in the three succeeding Triennial Parliaments.

XV. That all such, who have advised, assisted, or abetted the
rebellion of Ireland, shall be disabled and incapable for ever
to be elected, or give any vote in the election of any member
to serve in Parliament; as also all such who do or shall
profess the Roman Catholic religion.

XVI. That all votes and elections given or made contrary, or
not according to these qualifications, shall be null and void;
and if any person, who is hereby made incapable, shall give
his vote for election of members to serve in Parliament, such
person shall lose and forfeit one full year's value of his
real estate, and one full third part of his personal estate;
one moiety thereof to the Lord Protector, and the other moiety
to him or them who shall sue for the same.

XVII. That the persons who shall be elected to serve in
Parliament, shall be such (and no other than such) as are
persons of known integrity, fearing God, and of good
conversation, and being of the age of twenty-one years.

XVIII. That all and every person and persons seised or
possessed to his own use, of any estate, real or personal, to
the value of £200, and not within the aforesaid exceptions,
shall be capable to elect members to serve in Parliament for
counties.

XIX. That the Chancellor, Keeper, or Commissioners of the
Great Seal, shall be sworn before they enter into their
offices, truly and faithfully to issue forth, and send abroad,
writs of summons to Parliament, at the times and in the manner
before expressed: and in case of neglect or failure to issue
and send abroad writs accordingly, he or they shall for every
such offence be guilty of high treason, and suffer the pains
and penalties thereof.

XX. That in case writs be not issued out, as is before
expressed, but that there be a neglect therein, fifteen days
after the time wherein the same ought to be issued out by the
Chancellor, Keeper, or Commissioners of the Great Seal; that
then the Parliament shall, as often as such failure shall
happen, assemble and be held at Westminster, in the usual
place, at the times prefixed, in manner and by the means
hereafter expressed; that is to say, that the sheriffs of the
several and respective counties, sheriffdoms, cities,
boroughs, and places aforesaid, within England, Wales,
Scotland, and Ireland, the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars
of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the Mayor and
Bailiffs of the borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and other
places aforesaid respectively, shall at the several courts and
places to be appointed as aforesaid, within thirty days after
the said fifteen days, cause such members to be chosen for
their said several and respective counties, sheriffdoms,
universities, cities, boroughs, and places aforesaid, by such
persons, and in such manner, as if several and respective
writs of summons to Parliament under the Great Seal had issued
and been awarded according to the tenor aforesaid: that if the
sheriff, or other persons authorized, shall neglect his or
their duty herein, that all and every such sheriff and person
authorized as aforesaid, so neglecting his or their duty,
shall, for every such offence, be guilty of high treason, and
shall suffer the pains and penalties thereof.

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XXI. That the clerk, called the clerk of the Commonwealth in
Chancery for the time being, and all others, who shall
afterwards execute that office, to whom the returns shall be
made, shall for the next Parliament, and the two succeeding
Triennial Parliaments, the next day after such return, certify
the names of the several persons so returned, and of the
places for which he and they were chosen respectively, unto
the Council; who shall peruse the said returns, and examine
whether the persons so elected and returned be such as is
agreeable to the qualifications, and not disabled to be
elected: and that every person and persons being so duly
elected, and being approved of by the major part of the
Council to be persons not disabled, but qualified as
aforesaid, shall be esteemed a member of Parliament, and be
admitted to sit in Parliament, and not otherwise.

XXII. That the persons so chosen and assembled in manner
aforesaid, or any sixty of them, shall be, and be deemed the
Parliament of England, Scotland, and Ireland; and the supreme
legislative power to be and reside in the Lord Protector and
such Parliament, in manner herein expressed.

XXIII. That the Lord Protector, with the advice of the major
part of the Council, shall at any other time than is before
expressed, when the necessities of the State shall require it,
summon Parliaments in manner before expressed, which shall not
be adjourned, prorogued, or dissolved without their own
consent, during the first three months of their sitting. And
in case of future war with any foreign State, a Parliament
shall be forthwith summoned for their advice concerning the
same.

XXIV. That all Bills agreed unto by the Parliament, shall be
presented to the Lord Protector for his consent; and in case
he shall not give his consent thereto within twenty days after
they shall be presented to him, or give satisfaction to the
Parliament within the time limited, that then, upon
declaration of the Parliament that the Lord Protector hath not
consented nor given satisfaction, such Bills shall pass into
and become laws, although he shall not give his consent
thereunto; provided such Bills contain nothing in them
contrary to the matters contained in these presents.

XXV. That [Henry Lawrence, esq.; Philip lord vise. Lisle; the
majors general Lambert, Desborough, and Skippon; lieutenant
general Fleetwood; the colonels Edward Montagu, Philip Jones,
and Wm. Sydenham; sir Gilbert Pickering, sir Ch. Wolseley, and
sir Anth. Ashley Cooper, Barts., Francis Rouse, esq., Speaker
of the late Convention, Walter Strickland, and Rd. Major,
esqrs.]—or any seven of them, shall be a Council for the
purposes expressed in this writing; and upon the death or
other removal of any of them, the Parliament shall nominate
six persons of ability, integrity, and fearing God, for
everyone that is dead or removed; out of which the major part
of the Council shall elect two, and present them to the Lord
Protector, of which he shall elect one; and in case the
Parliament shall not nominate within twenty days after notice
given unto them thereof, the major part of the Council shall
nominate three as aforesaid to the Lord Protector, who out of
them shall supply the vacancy; and until this choice be made,
the remaining part of the Council shall execute as fully in
all things, as if their number were full. And in case of
corruption, or other miscarriage in any of the Council in
their trust, the Parliament shall appoint seven of their
number, and the Council six, who, together with the Lord
Chancellor, Lord Keeper, or Commissioners of the Great Seal
for the time being, shall have power to hear and determine
such corruption and miscarriage, and to award and inflict
punishment, as the nature of the offence shall deserve, which
punishment shall not be pardoned or remitted by the Lord
Protector; and, in the interval of Parliaments, the major part
of the Council, with the consent of the Lord Protector, may,
for corruption or other miscarriage as aforesaid, suspend any
of their number from the exercise of their trust, if they
shall find it just, until the matter shall be heard and
examined as aforesaid.

XXVI. That the Lord Protector and the major part of the
Council aforesaid may, at any time before the meeting of the
next Parliament, add to the Council such persons as they shall
think fit, provided the number of the Council be not made
thereby to exceed twenty-one, and the quorum to be
proportioned accordingly by the Lord Protector and the major
part of the Council.

XXVII. That a constant yearly revenue shall be raised,
settled, and established for maintaining of 10,000 horse and
dragoons, and 20,000 foot, in England, Scotland and Ireland,
for the defence and security thereof, and also for a
convenient number of ships for guarding of the seas; besides
£200,000 per annum for defraying the other necessary charges
of administration of justice, and other expenses of the
Government, which revenue shall be raised by the customs, and
such other ways and means as shall be agreed upon by the Lord
Protector and the Council, and shall not be taken away or
diminished, nor the way agreed upon for raising the same
altered, but by the consent of the Lord Protector and the
Parliament.

XXVIII. That the said yearly revenue shall be paid into the
public treasury, and shall be issued out for the uses
aforesaid.

XXIX. That in case there shall not be cause hereafter to keep
up so great a defence both at land or sea, but that there be
an abatement made thereof, the money which will be saved
thereby shall remain in bank for the public service, and not
be employed to any other use but by consent of Parliament, or,
in the intervals of Parliament, by the Lord Protector and
major part of the Council.

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XXX. That the raising of money for defraying the charge of the
present extraordinary forces, both at sea and land, in respect
of the present wars, shall be by consent of Parliament, and
not otherwise: save only that the Lord Protector, with the
consent of the major part of the Council, for preventing the
disorders and dangers which might otherwise fall out both by
sea and land, shall have power, until the meeting of the first
Parliament, to raise money for the purposes aforesaid; and
also to make laws and ordinances for the peace and welfare of
these nations where it shall be necessary, which shall be
binding and in force, until order shall be taken in Parliament
concerning the same.

XXXI. That the lands, tenements, rents, royalties,
jurisdictions and hereditaments which remain yet unsold or
undisposed of, by Act or Ordinance of Parliament, belonging to
the Commonwealth (except the forests and chases, and the
honours and manors belonging to the same; the lands of the
rebels in Ireland, lying in the four counties of Dublin, Cork,
Kildare, and Carlow; the lands forfeited by the people of
Scotland in the late wars, and also the lands of Papists and
delinquents in England who have not yet compounded), shall be
vested in the Lord Protector, to hold, to him and his
successors, Lords Protectors of these nations, and shall not
be alienated but by consent in Parliament. And all debts,
fines, issues, amercements, penalties and profits, certain and
casual, due to the Keepers of the liberties of England by
authority of Parliament, shall be due to the Lord Protector,
and be payable into his public receipt, and shall be recovered
and prosecuted in his name.

XXXII. That the office of Lord Protector over these nations
shall be elective and not hereditary; and upon the death of
the Lord Protector, another fit person shall be forthwith
elected to succeed him in the Government; which election shall
be by the Council, who, immediately upon the death of the Lord
Protector, shall assemble in the Chamber where they usually
sit in Council; and, having given notice to an their members
of the cause of their assembling, shall, being thirteen at
least present, proceed to the election; and, before they
depart the said Chamber, shall elect a fit person to succeed
in the Government, and forthwith cause proclamation thereof to
be made in an the three nations as shall be requisite; and the
person that they, or the major part of them, shall elect as
aforesaid, shall be, and shall be taken to be, Lord Protector
over these nations of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the
dominions thereto belonging. Provided that none of the
children of the late King, nor any of his line or family, be
elected to be Lord Protector or other Chief Magistrate over
these nations, or any the dominions thereto belonging. And
until the aforesaid election be past, the Council shall take
care of the Government, and administer in an things as fully
as the Lord Protector, or the Lord Protector and Council are
enabled to do.

XXXIII. That Oliver Cromwell, Captain-General of the forces of
England, Scotland and Ireland, shall be, and is hereby
declared to be, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England,
Scotland and Ireland, and the dominions thereto belonging, for
his life.

XXXIV. That the Chancellor, Keeper or Commissioners of the
Great Seal, the Treasurer, Admiral, Chief Governors of Ireland
and Scotland, and the Chief Justices of both the Benches,
shall be chosen by the approbation of Parliament; and, in the
intervals of Parliament, by the approbation of the major part
of the Council, to be afterwards approved by the Parliament.

XXXV. That the Christian religion, as contained in the
Scriptures, be held forth and recommended as the public
profession of these nations; and that, as soon as may be, a
provision, less subject to scruple and contention, and more
certain than the present, be made for the encouragement and
maintenance of able and painful teachers, for the instructing
the people, and for discovery and confutation of error,
hereby, and whatever is contrary to sound doctrine; and until
such provision be made, the present maintenance shall not be
taken away or impeached.

XXXVI. That to the public profession held forth none shall be
compened by penalties or otherwise; but that endeavours be
used to win them by sound doctrine and the example of a good
conversation.

XXXVII. That such as profess faith in God by Jesus Christ
(though differing in judgment from the doctrine, worship or
discipline publicly held forth) shall not be restrained from,
but shall be protected in, the profession of the faith and
exercise of their religion; so as they abuse not this liberty
to the civil injury of others and to the actual disturbance of
the public peace on their parts: provided this liberty be not
extended to Popery or Prelacy, nor to such as, under the
profession of Christ, hold forth and practice licentiousness.

XXXVIII. That all laws, statutes and ordinances, and clauses
in any law, statute or ordinance to the contrary of the
aforesaid liberty, shall be esteemed as null and void.

XXXIX. That the Acts and Ordinances of Parliament made for the
sale or other disposition of the lands, rents and
hereditaments of the late King, Queen, and Prince, of
Archbishops and Bishops, &c., Deans and Chapters, the lands of
delinquents and forest-lands, or any of them, or of any other
lands, tenements, rents and hereditaments belonging to the
Commonwealth, shall nowise be impeached or made invalid, but
shall remain good and firm; and that the securities given by
Act and Ordinance of Parliament for any sum or sums of money,
by any of the said lands, the excise, or any other public
revenue; and also the securities given by the public faith of
the nation, and the engagement of the public faith for
satisfaction of debts and damages, shall remain firm and good,
and not be made void and invalid upon any pretence whatsoever.

XL. That the Articles given to or made with the enemy, and
afterwards confirmed by Parliament, shall be performed and
made good to the persons concerned therein; and that such
appeals as were depending in the last Parliament for relief
concerning bills of sale of delinquent's estates, may be heard
and determined the next Parliament, anything in this writing
or otherwise to the contrary notwithstanding.

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XLI. That every successive Lord Protector over these nations
shall take and subscribe a solemn oath, in the presence of the
Council, and such others as they shall call to them, that he
will seek the peace, quiet and welfare of these nations, cause
law and justice to be equally administered; and that he will
not violate or infringe the matters and things contained in
this writing, and in all other things will, to his power and
to the best of his understanding, govern these nations
according to the laws, statutes and customs thereof.

XLII. That each person of the Council shall, before they enter
upon their trust, take and subscribe an oath, that they will
be true and faithful in their trust, according to the best of
their knowledge; and that in the election of every successive
Lord Protector they shall proceed therein impartially, and do
nothing therein for any promise, fear, favour or reward.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1654.
Re-conquest of Acadia (Nova Scotia).

See NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1621-1668.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1654 (April).
Incorporation of Scotland with the Commonwealth.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1654.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1654-1658.
The Protector, his Parliaments and his Major-Generals.
The Humble Petition and Advice.
Differing views of the Cromwellian autocracy.

"Oliver addressed his first Protectorate Parliament on Sunday,
the 3d of September. … Immediately, under the leadership of
old Parliamentarians, Haslerig, Scott, Bradshaw, and many
other republicans, the House proceeded to debate the
Instrument of Government, the constitutional basis of the
existing system. By five votes, it decided to discuss 'whether
the House should approve of government by a Single Person and
a Parliament.' This was of course to set up the principle of
making the Executive dependent on the House; a principle, in
Oliver's mind, fatal to settlement and order. He acted at
once. Calling on the Lord Mayor to secure the city, and
disposing his own guard round Westminster Hall, he summoned
the House again on the 9th day. … Members were called on to
sign a declaration, 'not to alter the government as settled in
a Single Person and a Parliament.' Some, 300 signed; the
minority—about a fourth—refused and retired. … The
Parliament, in spite of the declaration, set itself from the
first to discuss the constitution, to punish heretics,
suppress blasphemy, revise the Ordinances of the Council; and
they deliberately withheld all supplies for the services and
the government. At last they passed an Act for revising the
constitution de novo. Not a single bill had been sent up to
the Protector for his assent. Oliver, as usual, acted at once.
On the expiration of their five lunar months, 22d January
1655, he summoned the House and dissolved it, with a speech
full of reproaches."

_F. Harrison,
Oliver Cromwell,
chapter 11._

"In 1656, the Protector called a second Parliament. By
excluding from it about a hundred members whom he judged to be
hostile to his government, he found himself on amicable terms
with the new assembly. It presented to him a Humble Petition
and Advice, asking that certain changes of the Constitution
might be agreed to by mutual consent, and that he should
assume the title of King. This title he rejected, and the
Humble Petition and Advice was passed in an amended form on
May 25, 1657, and at once received the assent of the
Protector. On June 26, it was modified in some details by the
Additional Petition and Advice. Taking the two together, the
result was to enlarge the power of Parliament and to diminish
that of the Council. The Protector, in turn, received the
right of appointing his successor, and to name the
life-members of 'the other House,' which was now to take the
place of the House of Lords. … In accordance with the
Additional Petition and Advice, the Protector summoned
'certain persons to sit in the other House.' A quarrel between
the two Houses broke out, and the Protector [February 4, 1658]
dissolved the Parliament in anger."

_S. R. Gardiner,
Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution,
pages lxiii-lxiv., and 334-350._

"To govern according to law may sometimes be an usurper's
wish, but can seldom be in his power. The protector [in 1655]
abandoned all thought of it. Dividing the kingdom into
districts, he placed at the head of each a major-general as a
sort of military magistrate, responsible for the subjection of
his prefecture. These were eleven in number, men bitterly
hostile to the royalist party, and insolent towards all civil
authority. They were employed to secure the payment of a tax
of 10 per cent., imposed by Cromwell's arbitrary will on those
who had ever sided with the king during the late wars, where
their estates exceeded £100 per annum. The major-generals, in
their correspondence printed among Thurloe's papers, display a
rapacity and oppression beyond their master's. … All
illusion was now gone as to the pretended benefits of the
civil war. It had ended in a despotism, compared to which all
the illegal practices of former kings, all that had cost
Charles his life and crown, appeared as dust in the balance.
For what was ship-money, a general burthen, by the side of the
present decimation of a single class, whose offence had long
been expiated by a composition and effaced by an act of
indemnity? or were the excessive punishments of the
star-chamber so odious as the capital executions inflicted
without trial by peers, whenever it suited the usurper to
erect his high court of justice? … I cannot … agree in the
praises which have been showered upon Cromwell for the just
administration of the laws under his dominion. That, between
party and party, the ordinary civil rights of men were fairly
dealt with, is no extraordinary praise; and it may be admitted
that he filled the benches of justice with able lawyers,
though not so considerable as those of the reign of Charles
II.; but it is manifest that, so far as his own authority was
concerned, no hereditary despot, proud in the crimes of a
hundred ancestors, could more have spurned at every limitation
than this soldier of a commonwealth."

_H. Hallam,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 10, part 2._

"Cromwell was, and felt himself to be, a dictator called in by
the winning cause in a revolution to restore confidence and
secure peace. He was, as he said frequently, 'the Constable
set to keep order in the Parish.' Nor was he in any sense a
military despot. … Never did a ruler invested with absolute
power and overwhelming military force more obstinately strive
to surround his authority with legal limits and Parliamentary
control."

_F. Harrison,
Oliver Cromwell,
chapter 11._

"To this condition, then, England was now reduced. After the
gallantest fight for liberty that had ever been fought by any
nation in the world, she found herself trampled under foot by
a military despot. All the vices of old kingly rule were
nothing to what was now imposed upon her."

_J. Forster,
Statesmen of the Commonwealth:
Cromwell._

{892}

"His [Cromwell's] wish seems to have been to govern
constitutionally, and to substitute the empire of the laws for
that of the sword. But he soon found that, hated as he was,
both by Royalists and Presbyterians, he could be safe only by
being absolute. … Those soldiers who would not suffer him to
assume the kingly title, stood by him when he ventured on acts
of power as high as any English king has ever attempted. The
government, therefore, though in form a republic, was in truth
a despotism, moderated only by the wisdom, the sobriety and
the magnanimity of the despot."

_Lord Macaulay,
History of England,
chapter 1._

England: A. D. 1655-1658.
War with Spain, alliance with France.
Acquisition of Dunkirk.

"Though the German war ['the Thirty Years' War,' concluded in
1648 by the Treaty of Westphalia] was over, the struggle
between France and Spain was continued with great animosity,
each country striving to crush her rival and become the first
power in Europe. Both Louis XIV. and Philip IV. of Spain were
bidding for the protector's support. Spain offered the
possession of Calais, when taken from France; France the
possession of Dunkirk when taken from Spain (1655). Cromwell
determined to ally himself with France against Spain. … It
was in the West Indies that the obstructive policy of Spain
came most into collision with the interests of England. Her
kings based their claims to the possession of two continents
on the bull of Pope Alexander VI., who in 1493 had granted
them all lands they should discover from pole to pole, at the
distance of 100 leagues west from the Azores and Cape Verd
Islands. On the strength of this bull they held that the
discovery of an island gave them the right to the group, the
discovery of a headland the right to a continent. Though this
monstrous claim had quite broken down as far as the North
American continent was concerned, the Spaniards, still
recognizing 'no peace beyond the line,' endeavoured to shut
all Europeans but themselves out of any share in the trade or
colonization of at least the southern half of the New World.
… While war was now proclaimed with Spain, a treaty of peace
was signed between France and England, Louis XIV. agreeing to
banish Charles Stuart and his brothers from French territory
(October 24, 1655). This treaty was afterwards changed into a
league, offensive and defensive (March 23, 1657), Cromwell
undertaking to assist Louis with 6,000 men in besieging
Gravelines, Mardyke, and Dunkirk, on condition of receiving
the two latter towns when reduced by the allied armies. By the
occupation of these towns Cromwell intended to control the
trade of the Channel, to hold the Dutch in check, who were
then but unwilling friends, and to lessen the danger of
invasion from any union of Royalists and Spaniards. The war
opened in the year 1657 [Jamaica, however, had already been
taken from the Spaniards and St. Domingo attacked], with
another triumph by sea." This was Blake's last exploit. He
attacked and destroyed the Spanish bullion fleet, from Mexico,
in the harbor of Santa Cruz, island of Teneriffe, and silenced
the forts which guarded it. The great sea-captain died on his
voyage home, after striking this blow. The next spring "the
siege of Dunkirk was commenced (May, 1658). The Spaniards
tried to relieve the town, but were completely defeated in an
engagement called the Battle of the Dunes from the sand hills
among which it was fought; the defeat was mainly owing to the
courage and discipline of Oliver's troops, who won for
themselves the name of 'the Immortal Six Thousand.' … Ten
days after the battle Dunkirk surrendered, and the French had
no choice but to give over to the English ambassador the keys
of a town they thought 'unsi bon morceau' ['a good …'] (June
25)."

_B. M. Cordery and J. S. Phillpotts,
King and Commonwealth,
chapter 15._

ALSO IN:
_T. Carlyle,
Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches,
book 9, speech 5 and book 10, letters 152-157._

_J. Campbell,
Naval History of Great Britain,
chapter 15 (volume 2)._

_J. Waylen,
The House of Cromwell and the Story of Dunkirk,
pages 173-272._

_W. H. Dixon,
Robert Blake,
chapters 9-10._

_D. Hannay,
Admiral Blake,
chapter 9-11._

See, also, FRANCE: A. D. 1655-1658.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1658-1660.
The fall of the Protectorate and Restoration of the Stuarts.
King Charles II.

When Oliver Cromwell died, on the 3d day of September,
1658—the anniversary of his victories at Dunbar and at
Worcester—his eldest son Richard, whom he had nominated, it
was said, on his death-bed, was proclaimed Protector, and
succeeded him "as quietly as any King had ever been succeeded
by any Prince of Wales. During five months, the administration
of Richard Cromwell went on so tranquilly and regularly that
all Europe believed him to be firmly established on the chair
of state." But Richard had none of his father's genius or
personal power, and the discontents and jealousies which the
former had rigorously suppressed soon tossed the latter from
his unstable throne by their fierce upheaval. He summoned a
new Parliament (January 27, 1659), which recognized and
confirmed his authority, though containing a powerful
opposition, of uncompromising republicans and secret
royalists. But the army, which the great Protector had tamed
to submissive obedience, was now stirred into mischievous
action once more as a political power in the state,
subservient to the ambition of Fleetwood and other commanders.
Richard Cromwell could not make himself the master of his
father's battalions. "He was used by the army as an instrument
for the purpose of dissolving the Parliament [April 22], and
was then contemptuously thrown aside. The officers gratified
their republican allies by declaring that the expulsion of the
Rump had been illegal, and by inviting that assembly to resume
its functions. The old Speaker and a quorum of the old members
came together [May 9] and were proclaimed, amidst the scarcely
stifled derision and execration of the whole nation, the
supreme power in the Commonwealth. It was at the same time
expressly declared that there should be no first magistrate
and no House of Lords. But this state of things could not
last. On the day on which the Long Parliament revived, revived
also its old quarrel with the army. Again the Rump forgot that
it owed its existence to the pleasure of the soldiers, and
began to treat them as subjects. Again the doors of the House
of Commons were closed by military violence [October 13]; and
a provisional government, named by the officers, assumed the
direction of affairs." The troops stationed in Scotland, under
Monk, had not been consulted, however, in these transactions,
and were evidently out of sympathy with their comrades in
England. Monk, who had never meddled with politics before, was
now induced to interfere.
{893}
He refused to acknowledge the military provisional government,
declared himself the champion of the civil power, and marched
into England at the head of his 7,000 veterans. His movement
was everywhere welcomed and encouraged by popular
demonstrations of delight. The army in England lost courage
and lost unity, awed and paralyzed by the public feeling at
last set free. Monk reached London without opposition, and was
the recognized master of the realm. Nobody knew his
intentions—himself, perhaps, as little as any—and it was
not until after a period of protracted suspense that he
declared himself for the convening of a new and free
Parliament, in the place of the Rump—which had again resumed
its sittings—for the settlement of the state. "The result of
the elections was such as might have been expected from the
temper of the nation. The new House of Commons consisted, with
few exceptions, of persons friendly to the royal family. The
Presbyterians formed the majority. … The new Parliament,
which, having been called without the royal writ, is more
accurately described as a Convention, met at Westminster
[April 26, 1660]. The Lords repaired to the hall, from which
they had, during more than eleven years, been excluded by
force. Both Houses instantly invited the King to return to his
country. He was proclaimed with pomp never before known. A
gallant fleet convoyed him from Holland to the coast of Kent.
When he landed [May 25, 1660], the cliffs of Dover were
covered by thousands of gazers, among whom scarcely one could
be found who was not weeping with delight. The journey to
London was a continued triumph."

_Lord Macaulay,
History of England,
chapter 1._

The only guarantee with which the careless nation took back
their ejected kings of the faithless race of Stuarts was
embodied in a Declaration which Charles sent over from "Our
Court at Breda" in April, and which was read in Parliament
with an effusive display of respect and thankfulness. In this
Declaration from Breda, "a general amnesty and liberty of
conscience were promised, with such exceptions and limitations
only as the Parliament should think fit to make. All delicate
questions, among others the proprietorship of confiscated
estates, were in like manner referred to the decision of
Parliament, thus leaving the King his liberty while
diminishing his responsibility; and though fully asserting the
ancient rights of the Crown, he announced his intention to
associate the two Houses with himself in all great affairs of
State."

_F. P. Guizot,
History of Richard Cromwell and the Restoration,
book 4 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_G. Burnet,
History of My Own Time,
book 2, 1660-61._

_Earl of Clarendon,
History of the Rebellion,
book 16 (volume 6)._

_D. Masson,
Life of Milton,
volume 5, book 3._

_J. Corbett,
Monk,
chapter 9-14._

ENGLAND: A. D. 1660-1685.
The Merry Monarch.

"There never were such profligate times in England as under
Charles the Second. Whenever you see his portrait, with his
swarthy ill-looking face and great nose, you may fancy him in
his Court at Whitehall, surrounded by some of the very worst
vagabonds in the kingdom (though they were lords and ladies),
drinking, gambling, indulging in vicious conversation, and
committing every kind of profligate excess. It has been a
fashion to call Charles the Second 'The Merry Monarch.' Let me
try to give you a general idea of some of the merry things
that were done, in the merry days when this merry gentleman
sat upon his merry throne, in merry England. The first merry
proceeding was—of course—to declare that he was one of the
greatest, the wisest, and the noblest kings that ever shone,
like the blessed sun itself, on this benighted earth. The next
merry and pleasant piece of business was, for the Parliament,
in the humblest manner, to give him one million two hundred
thousand pounds a year, and to settle upon him for life that
old disputed 'tonnage and poundage' which had been so bravely
fought for. Then, General Monk, being made Earl of Albemarle,
and a few other Royalists similarly rewarded, the law went to
work to see what was to be done to those persons (they were
called Regicides) who had been concerned in making a martyr of
the late King. Ten of these were merrily executed; that is to
say, six of the judges, one of the council, Colonel Hacker and
another officer who had commanded the Guards, and Hugh Peters,
a preacher who had preached against the martyr with all his
heart. These executions were so extremely merry, that every
horrible circumstance which Cromwell had abandoned was revived
with appalling cruelty. … Sir Harry Vane, who had furnished
the evidence against Stratford, and was one of the most
staunch of the Republicans, was also tried, found guilty, and
ordered for execution. … These merry scenes were succeeded
by another, perhaps even merrier. On the anniversary of the
late King's death, the bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Ireton, and
Bradshaw, "Were torn out of their graves in 'Westminster
Abbey, dragged to Tyburn, hanged there on a gallows all day
long, and then beheaded. Imagine the head of Oliver Cromwell
set upon a pole to be stared at by a brutal crowd, not one of
whom would have dared to look the living Oliver in the face
for half a moment! Think, after you have read this reign, what
England was under Oliver Cromwell who was torn out of his
grave, and what it was under this merry monarch who sold it,
like a merry Judas, over and over again. Of course, the
remains of Oliver's wife and daughter were not to be spared,
either, though they had been most excellent women. The base
clergy of that time gave up their bodies, which had been
buried in the Abbey, and—to the eternal disgrace of
England—they were thrown into a pit, together with the
mouldering bones of Pym, and of the brave and bold old Admiral
Blake. … The whole Court was a great flaunting crowd of
debauched men and shameless women; and Catherine's merry
husband insulted and outraged her in every possible way, until
she consented to receive those worthless creatures as her very
good friends, and to degrade herself by their companionship. A
Mrs. Palmer, whom the King made Lady Castlemaine, and
afterwards Duchess of Cleveland, was one of the most powerful
of the bad women about the Court, and had great influence with
the King nearly all through his reign. Another merry lady
named Moll Davies, a dancer at the theatre, was afterwards her
rival. So was Nell Gwyn, first an orange girl and then an
actress, who really had good in her, and of whom one of the
worst things I know is, that actually she does seem to have
been fond of the King. The first Duke of St. Albans was this
orange girl's child. In like manner the son of a merry
waiting-lady, whom the King created Duchess of Portsmouth,
became the Duke of Richmond.
{894}
Upon the whole it is not so bad a thing to be a commoner. The
Merry Monarch was so exceedingly merry among these merry
ladies, and some equally merry (and equally infamous) lords
and gentlemen, that he soon got through his hundred thousand
pounds, and then, by way of raising a little pocket-money,
made a merry bargain. He sold Dunkirk to the French King for
five millions of livres. When I think of the dignity to which
Oliver Cromwell raised England in the eyes of foreign powers,
and when I think of the manner in which he gained for England
this very Dunkirk, I am much inclined to consider that if the
Merry Monarch had been made to follow his father for this
action, he would have received his just deserts."

_C. Dickens,
Child's History of England,
chapter 35._

ENGLAND: A. D. 1661.
Acquisition of Bombay.

See INDIA: A. D. 1600-1702.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1661.
The Savoy Conference.

"The Restoration had been the joint work of Episcopalian and
Presbyterian; would it be possible to reconcile them on this
question too [i. e., of the settlement of Church government]?
The Presbyterian indeed was willing enough for a compromise,
for he had an uneasy feeling that the ground was slipping from
beneath his feet. Of Charles's intentions he was still in
doubt; but he knew that Clarendon was the sworn friend of the
Church. The Churchman on the other hand was eagerly expecting
the approaching hour of triumph. It soon appeared that as King
and Parliament, so King and Church were inseparable in the
English mind; that indeed the return of the King was the
restoration of the Church even more than it was the
restoration of Parliament. In the face of the present
Presbyterian majority however it was necessary to temporise.
The former incumbents of Church livings were restored, and the
Commons took the Communion according to the rites of the
Church; but in other respects the Presbyterians were carefully
kept in play; Charles taking his part in the elaborate farce
by appointing ten of their leading ministers royal chaplains,
and even attending, their sermons." In October, 1660, Charles
"took the matter more completely into his own hands by issuing
a Declaration. Refusing, on the ground of constraint, to admit
the validity of the oaths imposed upon him in Scotland, by
which he was bound to uphold the Covenant, and not concealing
his preference for the Anglican Church, as 'the best fence God
hath yet raised against popery in the world,' he asserted that
nevertheless, to his own knowledge, the Presbyterians were not
enemies to Episcopacy or a set liturgy, and were opposed to
the alienation of Church revenues. The Declaration then went
on to limit the power of bishops and archdeacons in a degree
sufficient to satisfy many of the leading Presbyterians, one
of whom, Reynolds, accepted a bishopric. Charles then proposed
to choose an equal number of learned divines of both
persuasions to discuss alterations in the liturgy; meanwhile
no one was to be troubled regarding differences of practice.
The majority in the Commons at first welcomed the Declaration,
… and a bill was accordingly introduced by Sir Matthew Hale
to turn the Declaration into a law. But Clarendon at any rate
had no intention of thus baulking the Church of her revenge.
Anticipating Hale's action, he had in the interval been busy
in securing a majority against any compromise. The Declaration
had done its work in gaining time, and when the bill was
brought in it was rejected by 183 to 157 votes. Parliament was
at once (December 24) dissolved. The way was now open for the
riot of the Anglican triumph. Even before the new House met
the mask was thrown off by the issuing of an order to the
justices to restore the full liturgy. The conference indeed
took place in the Savoy Palace. It failed, like the Hampton
Court Conference of James I., because it was intended to fail.
Upon the two important points, the authority of bishops and
the liturgy, the Anglicans would not give way an inch. Both
parties informed the King that, anxious as they were for
agreement, they saw no chance of it. This last attempt at
union having fallen through, the Government had their hands
free; and their intentions were speedily made plain."

_O. Airy,
The English Restoration and Louis XIV.,
chapter 7._

"The Royal Commission [for the Savoy Conference] bore date the
25th of March. It gave the Commissioners authority to review
the Book of Common Prayer, to compare it with the most ancient
Liturgies, to take into consideration all things which it
contained, to consult respecting the exceptions against it,
and by agreement to make such necessary alterations as should
afford satisfaction to tender consciences, and restore to the
Church unity and peace; the instrument appointed 'the Master's
lodgings in the Savoy' as the place of meeting. … The
Commissioners were summoned to meet upon the 15th of April.
… The Bill of Uniformity, hereafter to be described,
actually passed the House of Commons on the 9th of July, about
a fortnight before the Conference broke up. The proceedings of
a Royal Commission to review the Prayer Book, and make
alterations for the satisfaction of tender consciences were,
by this premature act, really treated with mockery, a
circumstance which could not but exceedingly offend and annoy
the Puritan members, and serve to embitter the language of
Baxter as the end of these fruitless sittings approached."

_J. Stoughton,
History of Religion in English,
volume 3, chapter 5._

ALSO IN:
_E. Calamy,
Nonconformists' Memorial,
introduction, section 3._

_W. Orme,
Life and Times of Richard Baxter,
chapter 7._

ENGLAND: A. D. 1662.
The sale of Dunkirk.

"Unable to confine himself within the narrow limits of his
civil list, with his favorites and mistresses, he [Charles
II.] would have sought even in the infernal regions the gold
which his subjects measured out to him with too parsimonious a
hand. … [He] proposed to sell to France Dunkirk and its
dependencies, which, he said, cost him too much to keep up. He
asked twelve million francs; he fell at last to five millions,
and the treaty was signed October 27, 1662. It was time; the
Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, informed of the
negotiation, had determined to offer Charles II. whatever he
wished in behalf of their city not to alienate Dunkirk.
Charles dared not retract his word, which would have been, as
D'Estrades told him, to break forever with Louis XIV., and on
the 2d of December Louis joyfully made his entry into his good
city, reconquered by gold instead of the sword."

_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.,
translated by M. L. Booth, chapter 4 (volume 1)._

{895}

England: A. D. 1662-1665.
The Act of Uniformity and persecution of the Nonconformists.

The failure of the Savoy Conference "was the conclusion which
had been expected and desired. Charles had already summoned
the Convocation, and to that assembly was assigned the task
which had failed in the hands of the commissioners at the
Savoy. … The act of uniformity followed [passed by the
Commons July 9, 1661; by the Lords May 8, 1662; receiving the
royal assent May 19, 1662], by which it was enacted that the
revised Book of Common Prayer, and of Ordination of Ministers,
and no other, should be used in all places of public worship;
and that all beneficed clergymen should read the service from
it within a given time, and, at the close, profess in a set
form of words, their 'unfeigned assent and consent to
everything contained and prescribed in it.' … The act of
uniformity may have been necessary for the restoration of the
church to its former discipline and doctrine; but if such was
the intention of those who framed the declaration from Breda,
they were guilty of infidelity to the king and of fraud to the
people, by putting into his mouth language which, with the aid of
equivocation, they might explain away, and by raising in them
expectations which it was never meant to fulfil."

_J. Lingard,
History of England,
volume 11, chapter. 4._