[407] Two divisions had taken place, Nov. 14 (the first on the previous question), on a motion, that it is convenient to declare a certain time for the continuance of this parliament, 50 to 46, and 49 to 47. On the last division, Cromwell and St. John were tellers for the ayes.
[408] Whitelock was one of these; and being at that time out of Cromwell's favour, inveighs much against this destruction of the power from which he had taken his commission. Pp. 552, 554. St. John appears to have concurred in the measure. In fact, there had so long been an end of law that one usurpation might seem as rightful as another. But, while any House of Commons remained, there was a stock left from which the ancient constitution might possibly germinate. Mrs. Macauley, whose lamentations over the Rump did not certainly proceed from this cause, thus vents her wrath on the English nation: "An acquiescence thus universal in the insult committed on the guardians of the infant republic, and the first step towards the usurpation of Cromwell, fixes an indelible stain on the character of the English, as a people basely and incorrigibly attached to the sovereignty of individuals, and of natures too ignoble to endure an empire of equal laws."—Vol. v. p. 112.
[409] Harrison, when Ludlow asked him why he had joined Cromwell to turn out the parliament, said, he thought Cromwell would own and favour a set of men who acted on higher principles than those of civil liberty; and quoted from Daniel "that the saints shall take the kingdom and possess it." Ludlow argued against him; but what was argument to such a head? Mem. of Ludlow, p. 565. Not many months after, Cromwell sent his coadjutor to Carisbrook Castle.
[410] Hume speaks of this assembly as chiefly composed of the lowest mechanics. But this was not the case. Some persons of inferior rank there were, but a large proportion of the members were men of good family, or, at least, military distinction, as the list of the names in the Parliamentary History is sufficient to prove; and Whitelock remarks, "it was much wondered at by some that these gentlemen, many of them being persons of fortune and knowledge, would at this summons, and from those hands, take upon them the supreme authority of this nation."—P. 559. With respect to this, it may be observed, that those who have lived in revolutions find it almost necessary, whether their own interest or those of their country are their aim, to comply with all changes, and take a greater part in supporting them, than men of inflexible consciences can approve. No one felt this more than Whitelock; and his remark in this place is a satire upon all his conduct. He was at the moment dissatisfied, and out of Cromwell's favour, but lost no time in regaining it.
[411] Journals, August 19. This was carried by 46 to 38 against Cromwell's party. Yet Cromwell, two years afterwards, published an ordinance for regulating and limiting the jurisdiction of chancery; which offended Whitelock so much that he resigned the great seal, not having been consulted in framing the regulations. This is a rare instance in his life; and he vaunts much of his conscience accordingly, but thankfully accepted the office of commissioner of the treasury instead. Pp. 621, 625. He does not seem, by his own account, to have given much satisfaction to suitors in equity (p. 548); yet the fault may have been theirs, or the system's.
[412] 4th October.
[413] This had been proposed by the commission for amendment of the law appointed in the long parliament. The great number of dissenters from the established religion rendered it a very reasonable measure.
[414] Thurloe, i. 369; iii. 132.
[415] Journals, 2nd and 10th Dec. 1653; Whitelock. See the sixth volume of the Somers Tracts, p. 266, for a long and rather able vindication of this parliament by one of its members. Ludlow also speaks pretty well of it (p. 471); and says, truly enough, that Cromwell frightened the lawyers and clergy, by showing what the parliament meant to do with them, which made them in a hurry to have it destroyed. See also Parl. Hist. 1412, 1414.
[416] See the instrument of government in Whitelock, p. 571; or Somers Tracts, vi. 257. Ludlow says, that some of the officers opposed this; but Lambert forced it down their throats. P. 276. Cromwell made good use of this temporary power. The union of Scotland with England was by one of these ordinances, April 12 (Whitelock, 586); and he imposed an assessment of £120,000 monthly, for three months, and £90,000 for the next three, instead of £70,000, which had been paid before (Id. 591), besides many other ordinances of a legislative nature. "I am very glad," says Fleetwood (Feb. 1655, Thurloe, iii. 183), "to hear his highness has declined the legislative power, which by the instrument of government, in my opinion, he could not exercise after this last parliament's meeting." And the parliament of 1656, at the Protector's desire, confirmed all ordinances made since the dissolution of the long parliament. Thurloe, vi. 243.