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thought the season favourable for cementing a close confederacy with the states; and St. John, who was sent over to the Hague, in the character of plenipotentiary, had entertained the idea of forming such a coalition between the two republics as would have rendered their interests inseparable. But their high mightinesses, unwilling to enter into such a solemn treaty with a government whose measures were so obnoxious, and whose situation seemed yet precarious, offered only to renew their former alliances with England: and the haughty St. John, disgusted with this disappointment, as well as incensed at some affronts which had been put upon him by the retainers of the palatine and Orange families, returned to London with a determined resolution of taking advantage of the national jealousy, in order to excite a quarrel between the two commonwealths.(1

NIVERSIT

The parliament entered into the resentment of their ambassador; and, through his influence, in conjunction with that of Cromwell was framed and passed the famous Act of Navigation, which provided, among other regulations of less importance, that no goods should be imported into England, from Asia, Africa, or America, but in English ships: nor from any part of Europe, except in such vessels as belong to that country of which the goods are the growth or manufacture. This act, though necessary and truly political as a domestic measure, and general in its restrictions on foreign powers, more especially affected the Dutch, as was foreseen; because their country produces few commodities, and they subsisted and still subsist chiefly by being the carriers and factors of other nations. A mutual jealousy, accompanied with mutual injuries, accordingly took place between the two republics; and a desperate naval war, ultimately occasioned by a dispute about the honour of the flag, was the consequence.

Van Tromp, an admiral of great renown, had received from the states the command of a fleet of forty sail, in order to protect the Dutch merchantmen against the English privateers. He was forced, as he pretended, by stress of weather, into the road of Dover, where he met with the celebrated Blake, who commanded an English fleet of only fifteen sail. Elated with his superiority, the Dutch commander, instead of obeying the signal to strike his flag, according to ancient custom, in the presence of an English man-ofwar, is said to have poured a broadside into the admiral's ship. Blake boldly returned the salute, notwithstanding his slender force; and being afterward joined by a squadron of eight sail, he maintained a desperate battle for five hours, and took one of the enemy's ships and sunk another. Night parted the two fleets.

Several other engagements ensued, without any decided advantage. At length, Van Tromp, seconded by the famous De Ruyter, met near the Goodwins with the English fleet commanded by Blake; who, although inferior, as formerly, in force, did not decline the combat. A furious encounter accordingly took place; in which the admirals on both sides, as well as the inferior officers and seamen, exerted uncommon bravery. But the Dutch, as might be expected, were ultimately conquerors. Two English ships were taken, two burned, and one sunk.

After this victory, Tromp, in bravado, fixed a broom to the top of his mainmast, as if determined to sweep the sea of all English vessels. But he was not suffered long to enjoy his triumph. Great preparations were made in England, in order to avenge so mortifying an insult, and recover the honour of the flag. A gallant fleet of eighty sail was speedily fitted out. Blake was again invested with the chief command, having under him Dean and Monk, two worthy associates.

While the English admiral lay off Portland, he descried, by break of day, a Dutch fleet of seventy-six ships of war, sailing up the channel, with three hundred merchantmen under its convoy. This fleet was commanded

(1) The duke of York being then at the Hague, St. John had the presumption, in a public walk, to dispute the precedenty with him. Fired at this insult, the prince palatine pulled off the ambassador's hat, and bade him respect the son and brother of his king. St. John put his hand to his sword, and refused to acknowledge either the king or duke of York; but the populace taking part with the prince, the proud republican was obliged to seek refuge in his lodgings. Basnage, p. 218.

by Van Tromp and De Ruyter, who intrepidly prepared themselves to combat their old antagonist, and support that glory which they had acquired. The battle that ensued was accordingly the most furious that had yet been fought between the hostile powers. Two days was the contest maintained with the utmost rage and obstinacy: on the third the Dutch gave way, and yielded the sovereignty of the ocean once more to its natural lords. Tromp, however, by a masterly retreat, saved all the merchantmen except thirty: but he lost eleven ships of war, and had two thousand men killed.(1)

After this signal overthrow, the naval power of the Dutch seemed, for a time, to be utterly annihilated, and with it their trade. Their commerce by the channel was cut off; even that to the Baltic was much reduced; and their fisheries were totally suspended. Almost two thousand of their ships had fallen into the hands of the English seamen. Convinced at last of the necessity of submission, they resolved to gratify the pride of the English parliament by soliciting peace. But their advances were treated with disdain. It was not therefore without pleasure the states received an account of the dissolution of that haughty assembly.

The cause of this dissolution it must now be our business to investigate and to relate the circumstances with which it was accompanied.

The zealous republicans, who had long entertained a well-founded jealousy of the ambitious views of Cromwell, took every opportunity of extolling the advantages of the fleet, while they endeavoured to discredit the army: and insisting on the intolerable expense to which the nation was subjected, they now urged the necessity of a reduction of the land forces. That able commander and artful politician, who clearly saw, from the whole train of their proceedings, that they were afraid of his power, and meant to reduce it, boldly resolved to prevent them, by realizing their apprehensions. He immediately summoned a council of officers; and as most of them had owed their advancement to his favour, and relied upon him for their future preferment, he found them entirely devoted to his will. They accordingly agreed to frame a remonstrance to the parliament, complaining of the arrears due to the army, and demanded a new representative body. The commons were offended at this liberty, and came to a resolution not to dissolve the parliament, but to fill up their number by new elections.

Enraged at such obstinacy, Cromwell hastened to the house with three hundred soldiers; some of whom he placed at the door, some in the lobby, and some on the stairs. He first addressed himself to his friend St. John, telling him he had come with a purpose of doing what grieved him to the very soul, and what he had earnestly besought the Lord not to impose upon him; but there was a necessity, he added, for the glory of God and the good of the nation. He sat down for some time, and heard the debates. Afterward starting up suddenly, as if under the influence of inspiration or insanity, he loaded the parliament with the keenest reproaches, for its tyranny, oppression, and robbery of the public. Then stamping with his foot, which was a signal for the soldiers to enter, "For shame!" said he to the members, " get you gone! and give place to honester men; to those who will more faithfully discharge their trust. You are no longer a parliament! I tell you, you are no longer a parliament. The Lord hath done with you: he hath chosen other instruments for carrying on his work." Sir Henry Vane remonstrating against this outrage, Cromwell exclaimed, with a loud voice, "O, sir Harry Vane! sir Harry Vane! the Lord deliver me from sir Harry Vane!" words by which it should seem that he wished some of the soldiers to despatch him. Taking hold of Martin by the cloak, “Thou art a whore-master!" said he; to another, "Thou art an adulterer!" to a third, "Thou art a drunkard and a glutton!" and to a fourth, "Thou art an extortioner!" He commanded a soldier to sieze the mace, saying, "What shall we do with this bauble?-Here," added he, "take it away!-It is you," subjoined he, addressing himself to the members, "that have forced me to proceed thus

(1) Burchet's Naval History. Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vol.

I have sought the Lord, night and day, that he would rather slay me than put me upon this work!" And having previously commanded the soldiers to clear the house, he ordered the door to be locked, put the key in his pocket, and retired to his lodgings in Whitehall.(1)

Thus, my dear Philip, did Oliver Cromwell, in a manner so suitable to his general character, and without bloodshed, annihilate the very shadow of the parliament in consequence of which daring step he remained possessed of the whole civil and military power of the three kingdoms; and dispassionate reasoners of all parties, who had successively enjoyed the melancholy pleasure of seeing the injuries they had reciprocally suffered revenged on their enemies, were at last made sensible, that licentious liberty, under whatever pretence its violences may be covered, must inevitably end in the arbitrary and despotic government of a single person. Nor were the people, considered as a body, displeased at the violent usurpation of Cromwell, from whom they expected more lenity than from the imperious republicans, who had hitherto held the reins of government.

This extraordinary man, who now lorded it over his fellow-subjects, was born at Huntingdon, in the last year of the sixteenth century, of a good family; though he himself, being the son of a second brother, inherited but a small paternal estate. The line of his education was liberal; but his genius being little fitted for the elegant and tranquil pursuits of literature, he made small proficiency in his studies at the universities. He even threw himself into a dissolute course of life, when sent to study the law in one of the inns of court; and consumed the more early years of his manhood in gaming, drinking, and debauchery. But all of a sudden he was seized with a religious qualm, affected a grave and sanctified behaviour, and was soon distinguished among the puritanical party by the fervour of his devotional exercises. In order to repair his injured fortune, he betook himself to farming; but he spent so much time with his family in prayers, morning and afternoon, that his new occupation served only to involve him in greater difficulties. His spiritual reputation, however, was so high, that, notwithstanding the low state of his temporal affairs, he found means to be chosen a member of the Long Parliament. The ardour of his zeal frequently prompted him to rise in the house, but he was not heard with attention; his person being ungraceful, his voice untunable, his elocution embarrassed, and his speeches tedious, obscure, confused, and often unintelligible. But, as a profound thinker very justly observes, there are, in a great variety of human geniuses, some who, though they see their objects clearly and distinctly in general, yet when they come to unfold their ideas, by discourse or writing, lose that luminous conception which they had before attained.

Never was this philosophical truth more fully exemplified than in the character of Oliver Cromwell, whose actions were as decisive, prompt, and judicious, as his speeches were wavering, prolix, and inconclusive. Nor were his written compositions much superior to his speeches; the great defect of both consisting, not in the want of expression, but in the seeming want of ideas. Yet Cromwell, though upward of forty years of age before he embraced the military profession, soon became an excellent officer, without the help of a master. He first raised a troop, and then a regiment, of horse; and it was he who instituted that discipline, and infused that spirit, which rendered the parliamentary forces in the end victorious. He introduced and recommended the practice of enlisting the sons of farmers and freeholders, instead of the debauched and enervated inhabitants of great cities or manufacturing towns. He preached, he prayed, he fought, he punished, he rewarded; and inspired, first his own regiment, and afterward the whole army, with the wildest and boldest enthusiasm. The steps by which he rose to high command, and attained to sovereignty, we have already had occasion to trace. Let us now view him in the exercise of his authority.

When Cromwell assumed the reins of government, he had three parties in

(1) Whitlocke, p. 554. Ludlow, vol. ii. Clarendon, vol. vi. Hume, vol. vil.

the nation against him; the royalists, the presbyterians, and the republicans. But as each of these had a violent antipathy against both the others, none of them could become formidable to the army; and the republicans, whom he had dethroned, and whose resentment he had most occasion to fear, were farther divided among themselves. Besides the independents, they consisted of two sets of men, who had a mutual contempt for each other: namely, the millenarians, or fifth-monarchy men, who expected suddenly the second coming of Christ; and the deists, who utterly denied the truth of revelation, and considered the tenets of the various sects as alike founded in folly and error The deists were peculiarly obnoxious to Cromweli; partly from the remains of religious prejudice, but chiefly because he could have no hold of them by enthusiasm. He therefore treated them with great rigour, and usually denominated them the heathens.(1) The heads of this small division were Algernon Sidney, Henry Nevil, Challoner, Martin, Wildman, and Harrington; men whose abilities might have rendered them dangerous, had not the freedom of their opinions excited the indignation of all parties.(2)

Cromwell paid more attention to the millenarians, who had great interest in the army, and whose narrow understanding and enthusiastic temper afforded full scope for the exercise of his pious deceptions. These men, while they anxiously expected the second coming of Christ, believed that the saints, among whom they considered themselves to stand in the first class, were alone entitled to govern in the mean time. Cromwell, in conformity with this way of thinking, told them he had only stepped in between the living and the dead, to keep the nation, during that interval, from becoming a prey to the common enemy.(3) And in order to show them how willing he was they should share his power, since God in his providence had thrown the whole load of government upon his shoulders, he sent, by the advice of his council of officers, summons to a hundred and twenty-eight persons, chiefly gifted men of different towns and counties of England, to five of Scotland, and to six of Ireland. On these illiterate enthusiasts, chosen by himself, he pretended to devolve the whole authority of the state, under the denomination of the parliament; and as one of the most active and illuminated among them, a leather seller in London, bore the name of Praise-God Barebone, this contemptible assembly was ludicrously called Barebone's parliament.(4)

Cromwell told these fanatical legislators, on their first meeting, that he never looked to see such a day when Christ should be so owned :(5) and they, elated with that high dignity to which they supposed themselves exalted, as well as encouraged by the overflowings of the Holy Spirit, thought it their duty to proceed to a thorough reformation, and to pave the way for the reign of the Redeemer.(6) Meanwhile, the Dutch ambassadors endeavoured to enter into a negotiation with them: but although Protestants, and even presbyterians, they met with a bad reception from senators who had pretensions to such superior sanctity; being regarded as worldly-minded men, intent only on commerce and industry, and whom it was befitting the saints should extirpate, before they undertook the subduing of Antichrist, the man of sin, and the extending of the Redeemer's kingdom to the uttermost corners of the earth.(7) The ambassadors, who were strangers to such wild doctrines, remained in astonishment at finding themselves regarded as the enemies, not of England, but of Christ!

(1) Burnet, vol. i.

(2) Each of the other sects was desirous of erecting a spiritual as well as a temporal dominion; but the deists, who acted only on the principles of civil liberty, were for abolishing the very appearance of a na tional church, and leaving religion free, as they called it, without either encouragement or restraint. (Burnet, vol. i.) Such a project was particularly alarming to the spiritual pride of the presbyterians, who, since the signing of the covenant, had considered their religion as the hierarchy. And Cromwell not only quieted them on this score, by assuring them that he would still maintain a public ministry with all due encouragement, but even in some measure conciliated their affections by joining them in a commission with some independents, to be triers of those that were to be admitted to benefices, and also to dispose of all the churches that were in the gift of the crown, of the bishops, and of the cathedral churches. ([d. ibid.) The episcopalians were merely tolerated. Burnet, ubi sup.

(4) Whitlocke. Clarendon.

(6) Parl. Hist. vol. xx.

(3) Burnet, vol i.

(5) Milton's State Papers, p. 106. (7) Thurloe, vol. i. p. 273. 391.

Even Cromwell himself began to be ashamed of the pageant he had set up as a legislature, and with which he meant only to amuse the populace and the army. But what particularly displeased him was, that the members of this enthusiastic parliament, though they derived their authority solely from him, began to pretend powers from the Lord;(1) and as he had been careful to summon in his writs several persons warm in his interest, he hinted to some of them, that the sitting of such a parliament any longer would be of no service to the nation. They accordingly met sooner than usual, as had been concerted, and along with Rouse, the speaker of the house of commons, repaired to Cromwell and his council of officers, declaring themselves unequal to the task which they had unwarily undertaken, and resigned their delegated power. But general Harrison, and about twenty other fanatics, remained in the house; and that they might prevent the reign of the saints from coming to an untimely end, they placed one Moyer in the chair, and were preparing to draw up protests, when they were interrupted by colonel White and a party of soldiers. The colonel asked them what they did there? "We are seeking the Lord," said they. Then you may go elsewhere," replied he;"for, to my certain knowledge, he has not been here these many years."(2)

The council of officers, by virtue of that pretended power which the mock parliament had resigned into their hands, now voted, that it was necessary to temper the liberty of a republic by the authority of a single person. And being in possession of that argument which silences all others, namely, force, they prepared what was called the instrument of government, and declared Oliver Cromwell protector, or supreme magistrate of the commonwealth, the name of king being still odious to their ears. He was accordingly conducted to Whitehall with great solemnity, Lambert carrying the sword of state before him he was honoured with the title of highness; and having taken the oath required of him, he was proclaimed over all the three kingdoms, without the smallest opposition.(3)

The chief articles in the instrument of government were, that the protector should be assisted by a council of state, which should not consist of more than twenty-one, nor of less than thirteen persons; that in his name all justice should be administered, and from him all honours derived; that he should have the right of peace and war; that the power of the sword should be invested in him jointly with the parliament while sitting, and, during the intervals, jointly with the council of state; that he should summon the parliament every three years, and allow it to sit five months, without adjourn ment, prorogation, or dissolution. (4) The council of state, named in the instrument, consisted of fifteen persons, strongly attached to the protector; who, in case of a vacancy, had the power of choosing one out of three presented by the remaining members.(5) He had, therefore, little reason to apprehend any opposition from them in the arbitrary exercise of his authority. An implicit submission to some first magistrate, it must be owned, was become absolutely necessary, in order to preserve the people from relapsing into civil slaughter; so that we may partly admit Cromwell's plea of the public good as an apology for his usurpation; though we should not give entire credit to his declaration, that he would rather have taken a shepherd's staff than the protectorship.(6)

(1) Thurloe, vol. i. p. 393.
(3) Clarendon. Whitlocke.

(2) Parl. Hist. vol. xx.
(4) Id. ibid.

(5) Whitlocke.

"The It was

(6) Burnet, vol. i. Cowley's observations on this subject are more sprightly than sound. government was broke," says he; "Who broke it? It was dissolved. Who dissolved it? extinguished.-Who was it but Cromwell, who not only put out the light, but cast away even the very snuff of it? As if a man should murder a whole family, and then possess himself of the whole house; because it is better he, than that only rats should live there!" (Discourse on the Gov. of Ol. Cromwell.) The reflections of Hobbes, on the necessity of the submission of the people in such emergency, are more to the purpose. The obligations of subjects to the sovereign is understood to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth, by which he is able to protect them; for the right men have by nature to protect themselves, when none else can protect them, can by no covenant be relinquished. The sovereignty is the soul of the commonwealth, which once departed from the body, the members do no more receive their motion from it. The end of obedience is PROTECTION; which, wheresoever a man seeth it, nature applieth his obedience to that power, and his endeavour to maintain it." Leviathan, p. 114, fol. edit.

VOL. II.-L

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