Financial difficulties.
After some hesitation and confusion, Henry Cromwell was appointed Deputy in November 1657, with a new council of five, of whom Chancellor Steele was the chief. Sindercome had already put an end to himself, and Sexby was safe in the Tower, where he died mad a few weeks later. Royalist plots with Spanish support had ceased to be formidable, and some reduction of the army in Ireland was possible, if only money could be had to pay off the soldiers, who were eight months in arrear before the end of 1657. The Deputy maintained that nothing like an equilibrium could be established unless 180,000l. were transmitted from England. The regular revenue of Ireland was only about 72,000l., which was absorbed by the ordinary charges of government, and the extraordinary taxation for the army weighed upon the country. Broghill reported that some who had been returned to Parliament could not possibly attend the second session, being impoverished by the expenses of the first, and by heavy taxes. The usual remittances from England were slow in coming, and there was also ‘extreme trouble and confusion about Spanish and bad coins which made the soldiers apt to grow licentious in abusing the country when they levied their contribution.’ They naturally decided questions of exchange in their own favour, ‘partly of necessity, and partly presuming ’twill seem unreasonable to punish severely, and pay negligently.’ Twenty thousand pounds were assessed upon Ireland for war purposes during the three months ending June 24, 1657, and 9000l. a month for the three years then beginning. The monthly contribution from England and Wales was 35,000l., and 6000l. from Scotland, and many thought Ireland disproportionately burdened. Indeed, Henry Cromwell says in one letter that she paid six times, and in another ten times too much. The difficulty about money continued to the end of the Protectorate, for Oliver had not time to summon a third Parliament, and Richard’s was short-lived. Without parliamentary authority it was impossible to make the State self-supporting on either side of St. George’s Channel.[288]
The army supports the Protector.
An Anabaptist on the constitution.
It was almost customary for a viceroy to be on ill terms with a Lord Chancellor, and Henry Cromwell thought that Steele was plotting to make a separate interest among the Independents. Henry was by many years the younger man, and he allowed his senior to lecture him, ‘supposing that if I got nothing else I should get his measure.’ But Thurloe did not believe his suspicions well founded, and Steele, who had only accidentally missed being a regicide, had really no course open to him but to support the Protector. After Oliver dissolved his second Parliament, calling upon God to judge between him and them, most of the officers in England and Scotland agreed to an address of confidence in him. The same course was taken in Ireland, but Major Low, an Anabaptist, refused to express a wish that ‘government should be settled on such a basis as should be most suitable to the constitution of these nations,’ saying that it implied a return to kingship. Sankey and others of the same sect said that if kingship were really the most suitable they would desire it: the Deputy must have seen the writing on the wall. Ormonde’s courageous visit to London, in January, and the abortive gathering at Ostend caused some momentary alarm, but there was no disturbance, and a little later the capture of Dunkirk raised Cromwell to his highest pinnacle of fame. The army remained faithful, and as long as life lasted it was evident to all that his power would last also.[289]
Death of Cromwell, Sept. 3, 1658.
Henry Cromwell, Lord Lieutenant.
Oliver Cromwell died, and Richard succeeded as quietly as if he had been the legitimate king. The news reached Dublin on October 10, and on the same day the new Protector was proclaimed. Having been signed by the Lord Deputy and such Privy Councillors, judges, and chief officers as were on the spot, the proclamation was printed and dispersed over the country next day. There was no opposition, Broghill among others announcing his adhesion. A despatch was sent to Monck promising him the unanimous support of the Irish army in any difficulty. The machinery of government went on as usual, but on October 6 Richard made his brother Lord Lieutenant, and Petty carried the commission over to Ireland. Lord Harry, as he was called, was not anxious for the higher title; but having been appointed he kept the same state as Strafford had done, which caused some amusement. An address from the army in Ireland to the new Protector was agreed to, the officers being quite or very nearly unanimous. But Henry was almost afraid to write, knowing that his letter would be opened, and Fauconberg kept him informed of the plots against his brother. He dared not leave his post, though much in want of a holiday. ‘I am afraid,’ he wrote to Richard as early as October 20, ‘to come to your Highness lest I should be kept there, and so your Highness lose this army, which, for ought I know, is the only stay you have ... the flood is so strong, you can neither stem it nor come to an anchor, but must be content to go adrift and expect the ebb.’[290]
The Lord Lieutenant’s difficulties.
Elections for Richard’s Parliament.