Early European History

by Hutton Webster

247. THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE PROTECTORATE, 1649-1660 A.D.

ENGLAND A REPUBLIC

Shortly after the execution of Charles I the "Rump Parliament" abolished the House of Lords and the office of king. It named a Council of State, most of whose members were chosen from the House of Commons, to carry on the government. England now became a commonwealth, or national republic, the first in the history of the world. It is clear that this republic was the creation of a minority. The Anglicans, the Presbyterians, and the Roman Catholics were willing to restore the monarchy, but as long as the power lay with the army, the small sect of Independents could impose its will on the great majority of the English people.

SUBJECTION OF IRELAND

Besides confusion and discontent at home, many dangers confronted the Commonwealth abroad. In both Ireland and Scotland Prince Charles, the oldest son of the dead sovereign, had been proclaimed king. But Cromwell rose to the emergency. Invading Ireland with his trained soldiers, he captured town after town, slaughtered many royalists, and shipped many more to the West Indies as slaves. This time Ireland was completely subdued, at a cost, from fighting, famine, and pestilence, of the lives of a third of its population. Cromwell confiscated the land of those who had supported the royalist cause and planted colonies of English Protestants in Ulster, Leinster, and Munster. The Roman Catholic gentry were compelled to remove beyond the Shannon River to unfruitful Connaught. Even there the public exercise of their religion was forbidden them. Cromwell's harsh measures brought peace to Ireland, but only intensified the hatred felt by Irish Roman Catholics for Protestant England. [24]

SCOTLAND SUBDUED

While Cromwell was still in Ireland, Prince Charles, who had been living as an exile at the French court, came to Scotland. On his promise to be a Presbyterian king the whole nation agreed to support him. Cromwell, in two pitched battles, broke up the Scotch armies and compelled Prince Charles to seek safety in flight. After thrilling adventures the prince managed to reach his asylum in France. Cromwell treated the Scotch with leniency, but took away their Parliament and united their country with England in a single state.

[Illustration: Map, IRELAND In the 16th Century]

DISSOLUTION OF THE "RUMP PARLIAMENT," 1653 A.D.

Meanwhile, the "Rump Parliament" had become more and more unpopular. The army, which had saved England from Stuart despotism, did not relish the spectacle of a small group of men, many of them selfish and corrupt, presuming to govern the country Cromwell found them "horridly arbitrary" and at last resolved to have done with them. He entered the House of Commons with a band of musketeers and ordered the members home. "Come, come," he cried, "I will put an end to your prating. You are no Parliament, I say you are no Parliament. I will put an end to your sitting." Another Parliament, chosen by Cromwell and the army, proved equally incapable. After a few months' rule it resigned its authority into the hands of Cromwell.

[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF ENGLAND UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH (REDUCED)
The reverse represents the House of Commons in session.]

THE INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT

By force of circumstances Cromwell had become a virtual dictator, but he had no love of absolute power. He therefore accepted a so-called Instrument of Government, drawn up by some of his officers. It provided that Cromwell should be Lord Protector for life, with the assistance of a council and a Parliament. The Instrument is notable as the first written constitution of a modern nation. It is the only one which England has ever had.

CROMWELL AS LORD PROTECTOR, 1653-1658 A.D.

As Lord Protector in name, though a king in fact, Cromwell ruled England for five years. He got along with Parliament no better than the Stuarts had done, but his successful conduct of foreign affairs gave England an importance in the councils of Europe which it had not enjoyed since the time of Elizabeth. Cromwell died in 1658 A.D. Two years later the nation, weary of military rule, restored Charles II to the throne of his ancestors.

THE PURITAN REVOLUTION

It seemed, indeed, as if the Puritan Revolution had been a complete failure. But this was hardly true. The revolution arrested the growth of absolutism in England. It created among Englishmen a lasting hostility to absolute power, whether exercised by King, Parliament, Protector, or army. And, furthermore, it sent forth into the world ideas of political liberty, which, during the eighteenth century, helped to produce the American and French revolutions.