CROWN OF THE COMMONWEALTH (SILVER).
Cromwell affected to receive with reluctance the onerous charge of the supreme power and responsibility; but the officers urged its necessity, and the document being soon signed by eighty members, he acceded to it. The council of officers and ministers decided that it was necessary to have "a commonwealth in a single person;" and a new constitution was drawn up; and on the 16th of December Cromwell, dressed in a suit and cloak of black velvet, with long boots and a broad gold band round his hat, proceeded in his carriage from Whitehall to the Court of Chancery. The way was lined by files of soldiers, consisting of five regiments of foot and three of horse. A long procession followed, including the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and City officers, the two Commissioners of the Great Seal, the judges, the councillors of State and of the army. On reaching the Court of Chancery, Cromwell took his place before a chair of State, which had been placed on a rich carpet, the Commissioners of the Great Seal standing on his right and left, the judges ranging themselves behind, and the civil and military officers disposing of themselves on each hand. Lambert then stepped forward and addressed the Lord-General. He spoke of the dissolution of Parliament, and of the necessity of a strong Government, not liable to be paralysed by contending opinions; and he prayed the Lord-General, in the name of the army and of the official authorities of the three kingdoms, to accept the office of Lord-Protector of the Commonwealth, and to govern it for the public good by a constitution already drawn up. Cromwell assented, and thereupon Jessop, a clerk of the council, read what was called "The Instrument of Government," consisting of forty-two articles. The chief of these were, that the legislative power should be invested in the Lord-Protector and the Parliament; but chiefly in the Parliament, for every Act passed by them was to become law at the end of twenty days, though the Protector should refuse it his consent. Parliament should not be adjourned, prorogued, or dissolved without its own consent, for five months; and there was to be a new Parliament called within three years of the dissolution of the last. The members of the Parliament were adopted from a plan by Vane, brought forward during the Long Parliament—namely, three hundred and forty members for England and Wales, thirty for Scotland, and thirty for Ireland. The members were to be chosen chiefly from the counties, and no papist, Malignant, or any one who had borne arms against the Parliament, was admissible. In the Protector resided the power of making war or peace with the consent of the Council; he held the disposal of the militia, and of the regular forces and the navy, the appointment of all public offices with the approbation of Parliament, or during the recess of Parliament with that of the Council, subject to the after-approval of Parliament; but he could make no law, nor impose taxes without consent of Parliament. The civil list was fixed at two hundred thousand pounds, and a revenue for the army capable of maintaining thirty thousand men, with such a navy as the Lord-Protector should deem necessary. The elective franchise extended to persons possessed of property worth two hundred pounds, and sixty members of Parliament should constitute a quorum. All persons professing faith in Jesus Christ were to enjoy the exercise of their religion except papists, prelatists, or such as taught doctrines subversive of morality. Cromwell was named Lord-Protector for life, and his successor was to be elected by the Council, and no member of the family of the late king, or any of his line, should be capable of election. A Council was specially named by the Instrument, to consist of Philip, Lord Viscount Lisle, brother of Algernon Sydney; Fleetwood; Lambert; Sir Gilbert Pickering; Sir Charles Wolseley; Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper; Edward Montague; John Desborough, brother-in-law of Cromwell; Walter Strickland; Henry Lawrence; William Sydenham; Philip Jones; Richard Mayor, father-in-law of Richard Cromwell; Francis Rouse; Philip Skipton, or any seven of them, with power in the Protector, and a majority of the Council, to add to their number. Thurloe, the historian, was secretary of the Council, and Milton Latin secretary.
This Instrument being ready, Cromwell swore solemnly to observe it, and to cause it to be observed; and then Lambert, kneeling, offered the Protector a civic sword in the scabbard, which he took, laying aside his own, as indicating that he thenceforward would govern by the new constitution, and not by military authority. He then seated himself, covered, in the chair of State, all besides standing uncovered; he then received from the Commissioners the Great Seal, and from the Lord Mayor the sword and cap of maintenance, which he immediately returned to them. On this the court rose, and the Lord-Protector returned in state to Whitehall, the Lord Mayor bearing the sword before him, amid the shouting of the soldiers and the firing of cannon. The next day, the 17th of December, the Lord-Protector was proclaimed by sound of trumpet in Westminster and in the City, and thus had the successful general, the quondam farmer of Huntingdon, arrived at the seat of supreme power, at the seat of a long line of famous kings, though not with the name of king, to which many suspected him of aspiring. Yet even without the royal dignity, he soon found the position anything but an enviable one, for he was surrounded by hosts of men still vowed to his destruction and the restoration of the monarchy; and amongst those who had fought side by side with him towards this august eminence, were many who regarded his assumption of it as a crime, to be expiated only by his death. Though there is no reason to believe that the bulk of the nation was otherwise than satisfied with the change, his supporters were lukewarm while his enemies were ardent. There was no disguising the fact that until Parliament met his government was one of naked absolutism. The Protector forthwith established a body of "Triers" who proceeded to examine the religious beliefs of candidates for vacant benefices, and promptly presented them if the result of the examination was satisfactory. Before we proceed, however, to notice his struggles with his secret or avowed enemies, and with his new Parliament, we must notice what had been doing meanwhile in the war with Holland, which had still been raging.
CHAPTER V.
THE COMMONWEALTH (concluded).
Naval Victory over the Dutch—Death of Van Tromp—Quasi-Royal State of the Lord-Protector—Disaffection against Cromwell—His Vigorous Rule—Charles II. offers a Reward for his Assassination—Rebellions in Scotland—Cromwell's Dealings with the Portuguese Ambassador—Reform of the Court of Chancery—Commission for Purgation of the Church—The Reformed Parliament—Exclusion of the Ultras—Dissolution of Parliament—Danger from Plots—Accident to the Protector—Death of Cromwell's Mother—Royalist Outbreaks—Cromwell's Major-Generals—Foreign Policy—War with Spain—Massacre of the Piedmontese—Capture of Jamaica—The Jews Appeal for Toleration—Cromwell's Third Parliament—Plots against his Life—The Petition and Advice—Cromwell Refuses the Royal Title—Blake's Brilliant Victory at Santa Cruz—Death of Blake—Successes against Spain—Failure of the Reconstructed Parliament—Punishment of Conspirators—Victory in the Netherlands—Absolutism of Cromwell—His Anxieties, Illness, and Death—Proclamation of Richard Cromwell—He calls a Parliament—It is Dissolved—Reappearance of the Rump—Richard Retires—Royalist Risings—Quarrels of the Army and the Rump—General Monk—He Marches upon London—Demands a Free Parliament—Royalist Reaction—Declaration of Breda—Joyful Reception of Charles.