arms, or to travel without a licence. Priests and Jesuits found in the country were declared traitors, and the celebration of the mass was made a capital offence. This persecution is said to have been maintained for two years (1653-4). The protector summoned thirty members for Ireland, to sit in each of his Parliaments. Fleetwood returned to England in 1655, and the government was entrusted by Cromwell to his second son, Henry, first as commander-in-chief of the army, and afterwards as Lord Deputy. The young man inherited some of his father's capacity for government, and Ireland prospered under his administration. He treated the Irish more mercifully than the Republican commissioners, and even saved some families from the terrible transportation into Connaught. He treated all religious parties with moderation, and refrained from persecuting Catholics. Absolute freedom of trade was granted, and all manufactures were encouraged, so that the country soon assumed a flourishing aspect, in spite of the desolation caused by the late "There were many buildings," says the Royalist Hyde, "raised for beauty as well as use, orderly and regular plantations of trees and fences, and enclosures raised throughout the kingdom, purchases made by one from another at very valuable rates, and jointures made upon marriages, and all other conveyances and settlements, executed as in a kingdom at peace within itself, and where no doubt could be made of the validity of titles.” war. CHAPTER XV. THE LAST TWO YEARS OF THE PROTECTORATE.-1656 Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, Hast reared God's trophies, and his work pursued, MILTON. 1658. DURING the year and a half that Cromwell ruled arbitrarily, his government took root, for whatever its faults, it at least assured to the country the blessings of order and peace. Royalists and Presbyterians either sullenly acquiesced in the change of dynasty, or at least deferred their hopes of restoring Charles Stuart, till after the death of the present protector. As soon as the need of arbitrary government was past, Cromwell wished his use of it to pass too. "When matters of necessity come," he had said to his Parliament, then without guilt extraordinary remedies may be applied, but if necessity be pretended there is so much the more sin." He determined to meet a Parliament that should restore the government to a nearer approach to its old form, and confer upon himself the title of king. To secure this result he would have to stretch his prerogative once more to bust the Republican opposition, but after this the legitimate career he longed for might be open to him. The Instrument of Government, which had been drawn up merely by * Joining the Ribble just south of Preston, the scene of battle of 17th August, 1648 11 a council of officers, an unconstitutional authority, wanted a legal sanction, and in place of lasting settlement, only opened to the view of the nation a dreary vista of military rulers, elected by the will of the army. The title of protector was strange and unacceptable to the people generally, nor did it conciliate the Republicans, who called a protector 'A stately thing, That confesseth itself but the ape of a king.'* Timid and time-serving supporters of Cromwell's government remembered that by a statute of Henry VII., all persons adhering to the king de facto were pronounced guiltless of treason. The protector, therefore, by receiving from a Parliament the title of king, might hope to calm the fears of many of his friends, to gratify the monarchical prejudices of the people, and even to establish a constitutional monarchy in England under kings of his own house. To ensure meeting an assembly favourable to his interests, he did not hesitate to resort to an arbitrary stretch of power. The Instrument of Government authorized the protector and council to make a scrutiny of the returns of elections, and examine whether persons returned were qualified to sit. This clause was intended as a precaution against the admission of any that had borne arms against the Parliament since 1641, and all members of Cromwell's first Parliament had accordingly received tickets from the council, certifying that they were duly returned. Parliament met on the 17th of December; without any legal ground of exclusion, a hundred members, Republicans or other opponents of the government, were for the time refused tickets by the council. When they complained to the Parliament, Cromwell's friends carried a vote by 125 to 29, that they must apply to the council for redress. The residue did not employ themselves very profitably at first. For the first three months of its sitting, the Parliament was almost solely engaged in debating upon the punishment due to James Naylor, the man who had ridden into Bristol, and was worshipped by his followers as divine. According to statute law, this fanatic could only have been imprisoned for six months, and in case of a second offence, banished from the dominions of the Commonwealth. But the Commons, imitating the refinements of the Star Chamber, sen*See the lines found among Col. Overton s papers, quoted in Guizot, ii. vi. 1656-7.] PETITION AND ADVICE. 319 tenced him to be six times whipped, put twice in the pillory, have his tongue bored, his forehead branded, and then to be kept in solitary confinement on short rations. This was dealing hard measure to one at the worst half fool, half knave, and gave all liberally or mercifully minded men cause to regret the time when the House of Commons did not resolve itself into a court of justice and inflict arbitrary punishment at pleasure. The protector sent a letter to the House, desiring to be informed of the grounds of its proceedings. The question raised long debates, which resulted in the drawing up of a new instrument of government, called the Petition and Advice. Petition and Cromwell was to bear the title of king and to appoint Advice. his successor to the throne. New Parliaments were to be summoned once every three years, and were to be composed as formerly of two Houses. The Upper House was to consist of not more than 70 or less than 40 persons, who were to be named by the king. Members of council and officers of State were to be approved by Parliament. The chief magistrate was presumably allowed a negative voice on bills, as no clause was introduced to deprive him of a power hitherto always exercised by English monarchs. The command of the Army and Navy was to rest with the chief magistrate, with consent of Parliament. Thus this new instrument restored the ancient monarchy with some of those checks which the Long Parliament had sought to impose upon Charles I. The protector, who intended to govern in accordance with the articles of the Petition and Advice, encouraged his friends in the Parliament, to abolish both the office of major-general and the income tax of ten per cent. upon Royalists. The major-generals, however, to whom arbitrary government was not so distasteful as to their chief, took offence at their removal from office, and displayed their ill-will and jealousy by opposing the Petition and Advice in the Commons' House, and especially the first clause, which conferred on the chief magistrate the title of king. Their motives may have been selfish; they may have disliked to see their fellow-soldier raised so far above themselves, when before any might have entertained a hope of succeeding Oliver in the office of Lord Protector. But the ground they publicly put forward was their attachment to the Republican ideal. Their feeling was shared by the army, and a deputation of a hundred officers waited upon the general, to pray him not to accept the title of king. The protector replied in words to the following effect that the title king, a feather in a hat, is as little valuable to him as to them. But the fact is, they and he have not succeeded in settling the nation hitherto, by the schemes they clamoured for. That the nation is tired of major-generalcies, of uncertain arbitrary ways. That the original instrument of government does need mending in some points. That a House of Lords, or other check upon the arbitrary tendencies of a single House of Parliament, may be of real use; see what they, by their own mere vote and will, I having no power to check them, have done with James Naylor: may it not be any one's case, some other day ?'* The officers agreed to withdraw their opposition to the Petition and Advice with the exception of the first clause. But in the House, councillors, lawyers, and other civilians, outnumbered the army men, and the insertion of the title was carried by 123 against 62 votes (29th March). Cromwell, however, dared not accept a crown at the risk of offending the army. After six weeks' delay, during which he vainly sought to overcome the prejudices of officers and soldiers, he informed the Parliament, that though he approved of all the other articles of the new instrument, he could not undertake the government with the title of king. Accordingly it was agreed that while retaining the title of protector, he should exercise the powers vested in the chief magistrate by the Petition and Advice; and thus virtually become King of England in all but name (25th May). Though the union now existing between Cromwell and his Parliament was a great discouragement to insurrection, still Royalist exiles, and fanatical Levellers, continued to conspire against the government. Their hopes were cheered by a promise of aid from a new quarter. As soon as the protector's foreign policy was declared, and there was no doult that he would unite with France against Spain, the Spaniards promised to assist Charles Stuart with a body of 6000 men, as soon as any English port declared in his favour (April). An invasion had been planned for the preceding winter (1656-7). But the Royalists and Presbyterians refused to rise, before Charles had actually landed in the country; the Spaniards were found readier at promises than at performance, while Royalist exiles and Levellers, in spite of their common desire to overthrow the government, were suspicious Abridged from Burton in Carl., iii. 217. * |