The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (diy ebook reader .txt) π
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who made up what was
contemptuously called the Rump of the House of Commons had no
more claim than the military chiefs to be esteemed the
representatives of the nation. The dispute was soon brought to a
decisive issue. Cromwell filled the House with armed men. The
Speaker was pulled out of his chair, the mace taken from the
table, the room cleared, and the door locked. The nation, which
loved neither of the contending parties, but which was forced, in
its own despite, to respect the capacity and resolution of the
General, looked on with patience, if not with complacency.
King, Lords, and Commons, had now in turn been vanquished and
destroyed; and Cromwell seemed to be left the sole heir of the
powers of all three. Yet were certain limitations still imposed
on him by the very army to which he owed his immense authority.
That singular body of men was, for the most part, composed of
zealous republicans. In the act of enslaving their country, they
had deceived themselves into the belief that they were
emancipating her. The book which they venerated furnished them
with a precedent which was frequently in their mouths. It was
true that the ignorant and ungrateful nation murmured against its
deliverers. Even so had another chosen nation murmured against
the leader who brought it, by painful and dreary paths, from the
house of bondage to the land flowing with milk and honey. Yet had
that leader rescued his brethren in spite of themselves; nor had
he shrunk from making terrible examples of those who contemned
the proffered freedom, and pined for the fleshpots, the
taskmasters, and the idolatries of Egypt. The object of the
warlike saints who surrounded Cromwell was the settlement of a
free and pious commonwealth. For that end they were ready to
employ, without scruple, any means, however violent and lawless.
It was not impossible, therefore, to establish by their aid a
dictatorship such as no King had ever exercised: but it was
probable that their aid would be at once withdrawn from a ruler
who, even under strict constitutional restraints, should venture
to assume the kingly name and dignity.
The sentiments of Cromwell were widely different. He was not what
he had been; nor would it be just to consider the change which
his views had undergone as the effect merely of selfish ambition.
He had, when he came up to the Long Parliament, brought with him
from his rural retreat little knowledge of books, no experience
of great affairs, and a temper galled by the long tyranny of the
government and of the hierarchy. He had, during the thirteen
years which followed, gone through a political education of no
common kind. He had been a chief actor in a succession of
revolutions. He had been long the soul, and at last the head, of
a party. He had commanded armies, won battles, negotiated
treaties, subdued, pacified, and regulated kingdoms. It would
have been strange indeed if his notions had been still the same
as in the days when his mind was principally occupied by his
fields and his religion, and when the greatest events which
diversified the course of his life were a cattle fair or a prayer
meeting at Huntingdon. He saw that some schemes of innovation for
which he had once been zealous, whether good or bad in
themselves, were opposed to the general feeling of the country,
and that, if he persevered in those schemes, he had nothing
before him but constant troubles, which must he suppressed by the
constant use of the sword. He therefore wished to restore, in all
essentials, that ancient constitution which the majority of the
people had always loved, and for which they now pined. The course
afterwards taken by Monk was not open to Cromwell. The memory of
one terrible day separated the great regicide for ever from the
House of Stuart. What remained was that he should mount the
ancient English throne, and reign according to the ancient
English polity. If he could effect this, he might hope that the
wounds of the lacerated State would heal fast. Great numbers of
honest and quiet men would speedily rally round him. Those
Royalists whose attachment was rather to institutions than to
persons, to the kingly office than to King Charles the First or
King Charles the Second, would soon kiss the hand of King Oliver.
The peers, who now remained sullenly at their country houses, and
refused to take any part in public affairs, would, when summoned
to their House by the writ of a King in possession, gladly resume
their ancient functions. Northumberland and Bedford, Manchester
and Pembroke, would be proud to bear the crown and the spurs, the
sceptre and the globe, before the restorer of aristocracy. A
sentiment of loyalty would gradually bind the people to the new
dynasty; and, on the decease of the founder of that dynasty, the
royal dignity might descend with general acquiescence to his
posterity.
The ablest Royalists were of opinion that these views were
correct, and that, if Cromwell had been permitted to follow his
own judgment, the exiled line would never have been restored. But
his plan was directly opposed to the feelings of the only class
which he dared not offend. The name of King was hateful to the
soldiers. Some of them were indeed unwilling to see the
administration in the hands of any single person. The great
majority, however, were disposed to support their general, as
elective first magistrate of a commonwealth, against all factions
which might resist his authority: but they would not consent that
he should assume the regal title, or that the dignity, which was
the just reward of his personal merit, should be declared
hereditary in his family. All that was left to him was to give to
the new republic a constitution as like the constitution of the
old monarchy as the army would bear. That his elevation to power
might not seem to be merely his own act, he convoked a council,
composed partly of persons on whose support he could depend, and
partly of persons whose opposition he might safely defy. This
assembly, which he called a Parliament, and which the populace
nicknamed, from one of the most conspicuous members, Barebonesa's
Parliament, after exposing itself during a short time to the
public contempt, surrendered back to the General the powers which
it had received from him, and left him at liberty to frame a plan
of government.
His plan bore, from the first, a considerable resemblance to the
old English constitution: but, in a few years, he thought it safe
to proceed further, and to restore almost every part of the
ancient system under hew names and forms. The title of King was
not revived; but the kingly prerogatives were intrusted to a Lord
High Protector. The sovereign was called not His Majesty, but His
Highness. He was not crowned and anointed in Westminster Abbey,
but was solemnly enthroned, girt with a sword of state, clad in a
robe of purple, and presented with a rich Bible, in Westminster
Hall. His office was not declared hereditary: but he was
permitted to name his successor; and none could doubt that he
would name his Son.
A House of Commons was a necessary part of the new polity. In
constituting this body, the Protector showed a wisdom and a
public spirit which were not duly appreciated by his
contemporaries. The vices of the old representative system,
though by no means so serious as they afterwards became, had
already been remarked by farsighted men. Cromwell reformed that
system on the same principles on which Mr. Pitt, a hundred and
thirty years later, attempted to reform it, and on which it was
at length reformed in our own times. Small boroughs were
disfranchised even more unsparingly than in 1832; and the number
of county members was greatly increased. Very few unrepresented
towns had yet grown into importance. Of those towns the most
considerable were Manchester, Leeds, and Halifax. Representatives
were given to all three. An addition was made to the number of
the members for the capital. The elective franchise was placed on
such a footing that every man of substance, whether possessed of
freehold estates in land or not, had a vote for the county in
which he resided. A few Scotchmen and a few of the English
colonists settled in Ireland were summoned to the assembly which
was to legislate, at Westminster, for every part of the British
isles.
To create a House of Lords was a less easy task. Democracy does
not require the support of prescription. Monarchy has often stood
without that support. But a patrician order is the work of time.
Oliver found already existing a nobility, opulent, highly
considered, and as popular with the commonalty as any nobility
has ever been. Had he, as King of England, commanded the peers to
meet him in Parliament according to the old usage of the realm,
many of them would undoubtedly have obeyed the call. This he
could not do; and it was to no purpose that he offered to the
chiefs of illustrious families seats in his new senate. They
conceived that they could not accept a nomination to an upstart
assembly without renouncing their birthright and betraying their
order. The Protector was, therefore, under the necessity of
filling his Upper House with new men who, during the late
stirring times, had made themselves conspicuous. This was the
least happy of his contrivances, and displeased all parties. The
Levellers were angry with him for instituting a privileged class.
The multitude, which felt respect and fondness for the great
historical names of the land, laughed without restraint at a
House of Lords, in which lucky draymen and shoemakers were
seated, to which few of the old nobles were invited, and from
which almost all those old nobles who were invited turned
disdainfully away.
How Oliver's Parliaments were constituted, however, was
practically of little moment: for he possessed the means of
conducting the administration without their support, and in
defiance of their opposition. His wish seems to have been to
govern constitutionally, and to substitute the empire of the laws
for that of the sword. But he soon found that, hated as he was,
both by Royalists and Presbyterians, he could be safe only by
being absolute. The first House of Commons which the people
elected by his command, questioned his authority, and was
dissolved without having passed a single act. His second House of
Commons, though it recognised him as Protector, and would gladly
have made him King, obstinately refused to acknowledge his new
Lords. He had no course left but to dissolve the Parliament.
"God," he exclaimed, at parting, "be judge between you and me!"
Yet was the energy of the Protector's administration in nowise
relaxed
contemptuously called the Rump of the House of Commons had no
more claim than the military chiefs to be esteemed the
representatives of the nation. The dispute was soon brought to a
decisive issue. Cromwell filled the House with armed men. The
Speaker was pulled out of his chair, the mace taken from the
table, the room cleared, and the door locked. The nation, which
loved neither of the contending parties, but which was forced, in
its own despite, to respect the capacity and resolution of the
General, looked on with patience, if not with complacency.
King, Lords, and Commons, had now in turn been vanquished and
destroyed; and Cromwell seemed to be left the sole heir of the
powers of all three. Yet were certain limitations still imposed
on him by the very army to which he owed his immense authority.
That singular body of men was, for the most part, composed of
zealous republicans. In the act of enslaving their country, they
had deceived themselves into the belief that they were
emancipating her. The book which they venerated furnished them
with a precedent which was frequently in their mouths. It was
true that the ignorant and ungrateful nation murmured against its
deliverers. Even so had another chosen nation murmured against
the leader who brought it, by painful and dreary paths, from the
house of bondage to the land flowing with milk and honey. Yet had
that leader rescued his brethren in spite of themselves; nor had
he shrunk from making terrible examples of those who contemned
the proffered freedom, and pined for the fleshpots, the
taskmasters, and the idolatries of Egypt. The object of the
warlike saints who surrounded Cromwell was the settlement of a
free and pious commonwealth. For that end they were ready to
employ, without scruple, any means, however violent and lawless.
It was not impossible, therefore, to establish by their aid a
dictatorship such as no King had ever exercised: but it was
probable that their aid would be at once withdrawn from a ruler
who, even under strict constitutional restraints, should venture
to assume the kingly name and dignity.
The sentiments of Cromwell were widely different. He was not what
he had been; nor would it be just to consider the change which
his views had undergone as the effect merely of selfish ambition.
He had, when he came up to the Long Parliament, brought with him
from his rural retreat little knowledge of books, no experience
of great affairs, and a temper galled by the long tyranny of the
government and of the hierarchy. He had, during the thirteen
years which followed, gone through a political education of no
common kind. He had been a chief actor in a succession of
revolutions. He had been long the soul, and at last the head, of
a party. He had commanded armies, won battles, negotiated
treaties, subdued, pacified, and regulated kingdoms. It would
have been strange indeed if his notions had been still the same
as in the days when his mind was principally occupied by his
fields and his religion, and when the greatest events which
diversified the course of his life were a cattle fair or a prayer
meeting at Huntingdon. He saw that some schemes of innovation for
which he had once been zealous, whether good or bad in
themselves, were opposed to the general feeling of the country,
and that, if he persevered in those schemes, he had nothing
before him but constant troubles, which must he suppressed by the
constant use of the sword. He therefore wished to restore, in all
essentials, that ancient constitution which the majority of the
people had always loved, and for which they now pined. The course
afterwards taken by Monk was not open to Cromwell. The memory of
one terrible day separated the great regicide for ever from the
House of Stuart. What remained was that he should mount the
ancient English throne, and reign according to the ancient
English polity. If he could effect this, he might hope that the
wounds of the lacerated State would heal fast. Great numbers of
honest and quiet men would speedily rally round him. Those
Royalists whose attachment was rather to institutions than to
persons, to the kingly office than to King Charles the First or
King Charles the Second, would soon kiss the hand of King Oliver.
The peers, who now remained sullenly at their country houses, and
refused to take any part in public affairs, would, when summoned
to their House by the writ of a King in possession, gladly resume
their ancient functions. Northumberland and Bedford, Manchester
and Pembroke, would be proud to bear the crown and the spurs, the
sceptre and the globe, before the restorer of aristocracy. A
sentiment of loyalty would gradually bind the people to the new
dynasty; and, on the decease of the founder of that dynasty, the
royal dignity might descend with general acquiescence to his
posterity.
The ablest Royalists were of opinion that these views were
correct, and that, if Cromwell had been permitted to follow his
own judgment, the exiled line would never have been restored. But
his plan was directly opposed to the feelings of the only class
which he dared not offend. The name of King was hateful to the
soldiers. Some of them were indeed unwilling to see the
administration in the hands of any single person. The great
majority, however, were disposed to support their general, as
elective first magistrate of a commonwealth, against all factions
which might resist his authority: but they would not consent that
he should assume the regal title, or that the dignity, which was
the just reward of his personal merit, should be declared
hereditary in his family. All that was left to him was to give to
the new republic a constitution as like the constitution of the
old monarchy as the army would bear. That his elevation to power
might not seem to be merely his own act, he convoked a council,
composed partly of persons on whose support he could depend, and
partly of persons whose opposition he might safely defy. This
assembly, which he called a Parliament, and which the populace
nicknamed, from one of the most conspicuous members, Barebonesa's
Parliament, after exposing itself during a short time to the
public contempt, surrendered back to the General the powers which
it had received from him, and left him at liberty to frame a plan
of government.
His plan bore, from the first, a considerable resemblance to the
old English constitution: but, in a few years, he thought it safe
to proceed further, and to restore almost every part of the
ancient system under hew names and forms. The title of King was
not revived; but the kingly prerogatives were intrusted to a Lord
High Protector. The sovereign was called not His Majesty, but His
Highness. He was not crowned and anointed in Westminster Abbey,
but was solemnly enthroned, girt with a sword of state, clad in a
robe of purple, and presented with a rich Bible, in Westminster
Hall. His office was not declared hereditary: but he was
permitted to name his successor; and none could doubt that he
would name his Son.
A House of Commons was a necessary part of the new polity. In
constituting this body, the Protector showed a wisdom and a
public spirit which were not duly appreciated by his
contemporaries. The vices of the old representative system,
though by no means so serious as they afterwards became, had
already been remarked by farsighted men. Cromwell reformed that
system on the same principles on which Mr. Pitt, a hundred and
thirty years later, attempted to reform it, and on which it was
at length reformed in our own times. Small boroughs were
disfranchised even more unsparingly than in 1832; and the number
of county members was greatly increased. Very few unrepresented
towns had yet grown into importance. Of those towns the most
considerable were Manchester, Leeds, and Halifax. Representatives
were given to all three. An addition was made to the number of
the members for the capital. The elective franchise was placed on
such a footing that every man of substance, whether possessed of
freehold estates in land or not, had a vote for the county in
which he resided. A few Scotchmen and a few of the English
colonists settled in Ireland were summoned to the assembly which
was to legislate, at Westminster, for every part of the British
isles.
To create a House of Lords was a less easy task. Democracy does
not require the support of prescription. Monarchy has often stood
without that support. But a patrician order is the work of time.
Oliver found already existing a nobility, opulent, highly
considered, and as popular with the commonalty as any nobility
has ever been. Had he, as King of England, commanded the peers to
meet him in Parliament according to the old usage of the realm,
many of them would undoubtedly have obeyed the call. This he
could not do; and it was to no purpose that he offered to the
chiefs of illustrious families seats in his new senate. They
conceived that they could not accept a nomination to an upstart
assembly without renouncing their birthright and betraying their
order. The Protector was, therefore, under the necessity of
filling his Upper House with new men who, during the late
stirring times, had made themselves conspicuous. This was the
least happy of his contrivances, and displeased all parties. The
Levellers were angry with him for instituting a privileged class.
The multitude, which felt respect and fondness for the great
historical names of the land, laughed without restraint at a
House of Lords, in which lucky draymen and shoemakers were
seated, to which few of the old nobles were invited, and from
which almost all those old nobles who were invited turned
disdainfully away.
How Oliver's Parliaments were constituted, however, was
practically of little moment: for he possessed the means of
conducting the administration without their support, and in
defiance of their opposition. His wish seems to have been to
govern constitutionally, and to substitute the empire of the laws
for that of the sword. But he soon found that, hated as he was,
both by Royalists and Presbyterians, he could be safe only by
being absolute. The first House of Commons which the people
elected by his command, questioned his authority, and was
dissolved without having passed a single act. His second House of
Commons, though it recognised him as Protector, and would gladly
have made him King, obstinately refused to acknowledge his new
Lords. He had no course left but to dissolve the Parliament.
"God," he exclaimed, at parting, "be judge between you and me!"
Yet was the energy of the Protector's administration in nowise
relaxed
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