more faithfully discharge their trust. You are no longer "thou a parliament; I tell you you are no longer a parliament; the Lord has done with you." Sir Henry Vane exclaiming against this conduct, "Sir Harry," cried Cromwell with a loud voice, "O sir Harry Vane! the Lord deliver me from sir Harry Vane!" Taking hold of Martin by the cloak, he said, "Thou art a whoremaster;" to another," thou art an adulterer;" to a third, thou art a drunkard;" and to a fourth, art a glutton." "It is you," continued he to the members, "that have forced me upon this. I have sought the Lord night and day, that he would rather slay me than put me upon this work." Then pointing to the mace, "Take away," cried he, " that bauble." After which, turning out all the members, and clearing the hall, he ordered the doors to be locked, and, putting the key in his pocket, returned to Whitehall. Thus, by one daring exploit, the new republic was abolished, and the whole command, civil and military, centred in Cromwell only. The people, however, who were spectators in silent wonder of all these precipitate transactions, expressed no disapprobation at the dissolution of a parliament that had overturned the constitution, and destroyed the king. On the contrary, the usurper received congratulatory addresses from the fleet, the corporations, and the army, for having dismissed a parliament that had subjected them to the most cruel impositions. " But this politic man was too cautious to be seduced by their praise, or driven on by their exhortations. Unwilling to put forth all his power at once, he resolved still to amuse the people with the form of a commonwealth, which it was the delusion of the times to admire, and to give them a parliament that would be en tirely subservient to his commands. For this purpose, consulting with some of the principal officers, it was decreed, that the sovereign power should be vested in one hundred and thirty-nine persons, under the denomination of a parliament; and he undertook himself to make the choice. The persons pitched upon for exercising this seemingly important trust were the lowest, meanest, and most ignorant among the citizens, and the very dregs of the fanatics. He was well apprised that, during the administration of such a group of characters, he alone must govern, or that they must soon throw up the reins of government, which they were unqualified to guide. Accordingly, their practice justified his sagacity. To go farther than others into the absurdities of fanaticism was the chief qualification which each of these valued himself upon. Their very names, composed of cant phrases borrowed from Scripture, and rendered ridiculous by their misapplication, served to show their excess of folly. Not only the names of Zerobabel, Habakkuk, and Mesopotamia, were given to those ignorant creatures, but sometimes whole sentences from Scripture. One of them particularly, who was called PraiseGod Barebone, a canting leather-seller, gave his name to this odd assembly; and it was called Barebone's parliament. Their attempts at legislation were entirely correspondent to their stations and characters. As they were chiefly composed of antinomians, a sect that, after receiving the Spirit, supposed themselves incapable of error, and of fifth-monarchy men, who every hour expected Christ's coming on earth, they began by choosing eight of their tribe to seek the Lord in prayer, while, the rest calmly sat down to deliberate upon the sup pression of the clergy, the universities, the courts of Justice; and, instead of all this, it was their intent to substitute the law of Moses. To this hopeful assembly was committed the treaty of peace with the Dutch; but the ambassadors from that nation, though themselves presbyterians, were quite carnal-minded to these. They were regarded by the new parliament as worldly men, intent on commerce and industry, and therefore not to be treated with. The saintly members insisted that the man of sin should be put away, and a new birth obtained by prayer and meditation. The ambassadors, finding themselves unable to converse with them in their way, gave up the treaty as hopeless. The very vulgar began now to exclaim against so foolish a legislature; and they themselves seemed not insensible of the ridicule which every day was thrown out against them. Cromwell was probably well enough pleased to find that his power was likely to receive no diminution from their endeavours; but he began to be ashamed of their complicated absurdities. He had carefully chosen many persons among them entirely devoted to his interests, and these he commanded to dismiss the assembly. Accordingly, by concert, they met earlier than the rest of their fraternity; and, observ. ing to each other that this parliament had sitten long enough, they hastened to Cromwell, with Rouse, their speaker, at their head, and into his hands they resigned the authority with which he had invested them. Cromwell accepted their resignation with pleasure ; but being told that some of the number were refractory, he sent colonel White to clear the house of such as ventured to remain there. They had placed one Moyer in the chair by that time the colonel had arrived; and being asked what they did there, he replied very gravely, that "They were seeking the Lord." "Then you may go elsewhere," cried White; "for, to my certain knowledge, the Lord has not been here these many years." This shadow of a parliament being dissolved, the officers, by their own authority, declared Cromwell protector of the commonwealth of England. Nothing now could withstand his authority; the mayor and aldermen were sent for, to give solemnity to his appointment; and he was instituted into his new office at Whitehall, in the palace of the kings of England. He was to be addressed by the title of highness; and his power was proclaimed in London and other parts of the kingdom. Thus an obscure and vulgar man, at the age of fifty-four, rose to unbounded power, first by following small events in his favour, and at length by directing great ones. It was, indeed, in a great measure necessary that some person should take the supreme command; for affairs were brought into such a situation by the furious animosities of the contending parties, that nothing but absolute power could prevent a renewal of bloodshed. and confusion. Cromwell, therefore, might have said with some justice, upon his installation, that he accepted the dignity of protector merely that he might preserve the peace of the nation; and this, it must be owned, he effected with equal conduct, moderation, and success.. The government of the kingdom was adjusted in the following manner. A council was appointed, which was not to exceed twenty-one, nor to be under thirteen persons. These were to enjoy their offices for life, or during good behaviour; and, in case of vacancy, the remaining members named three, of whom the protector chose one. The protector was appointed the supreme magistrate of the commonwealth, with such powers as the king had possessed. The power of the sword was vested in him jointly with the parliament when sitting,, or with the council at intervals. He was obliged to summon a parliament every three years, and to allow them to sit five months without prorogation. A standing army was established of twenty thousand foot and ten thousand horse, and funds were assigned for their support. The protector enjoyed his office during life. and on his death the place was immediately to be supplied by the council. Of all those clauses the standing army was alone sufficient for Cromwell's purpose; for while he possessed that instrument, he could mould the rest of the constitution to his pleasure at any time. Cromwell chose his council among his officers, who had been the companions of his dangers and his victories, to each of whom he assigned a pension of one thousand pounds a year. He took care to have his troops, upon whose fidelity he depended for support, paid a month in advance; the magazines were also well provided, and the public treasure managed with frugality and care: while his activity, vigilance, and resolution, were such, that he discovered every conspiracy against his person, and every plot for an insurrection, before they took effect. His management of foreign affairs, though his schemes were by no means political, yet well corresponded with his character, and, for a while were attended with success. The Dutch having been humbled by repeated defeats, and totally abridged in their commercial A. D. concerns, were obliged at last to sue for peace, 1654: which he gave them upon terms rather too favourable. He insisted upon their paying deference to the British flag. He compelled them to abandon the interests of the king, to pay eighty-five thousand pounds as an indemnification for former expenses, and to restore to the English East-India company a part of those dominions |