ENGLAND A COMMONWEALTH

Outlines Of british History ( Part II ) F.W. Tickner D.Lit.,B,Sc, - London University Of london Press Ltd.-

WHEN the Army and its supporters decided upon the execution of the king they made a fatal mistake. Charles had been guilty of much misgovernment, but people forgot the faults and insincerities of his life in the nobility of his death; and many who had so far supported the Parliament were now ready to accept his son Charles as their king. The Royalists themselves looked upon their dead king as a martyr and were roused to fresh efforts in favour of his son. The supporters of the army were, therefore, in a minority in the country, but they had the New Model Army behind them and were fairly united in their desires and intentions, while their opponents were divided in their opinions: some wished for a king, others for a Commonwealth; some were Anglicans, others were Presbyterians, and so on.

The army also possessed a great advantage in having Cromwell as leader. His great ability as a general had won him the respect and, in many cases, the affection of the soldiers : he was trusted by all of them for his honesty and integrity and straightforward conduct of affairs, though, at the moment, he did not appear before them as a statesman, for his work as a general was not yet completed.

With the death of Charles the existing form of government of the country came to an end, and a new system was necessary. It was provided by the Rump Parliament, which did away with the office of king, abolished the House of Lords, proclaimed England a Free Commonwealth, and formed itself into a Council of State to govern the country. This Council found plenty to do, for rebellions broke out in England, Ireland, and Scotland in favour of Prince Charles, the king's oldest son. Charles went to Scotland, accepted the terms of the Scottish Presbyterians, and was crowned king at Scone. The English risings were quickly suppressed by Fairfax, and, as the situation in Ireland was the most dangerous, Cromwell crossed over to Dublin, 1649. The methods he adopted to bring the Irish into submission have left a stain upon his character. He remembered the stories of the terrible treatment of the Protestants in the rebellion of 1643, and he pursued a policy of teror in order to bring the Irish quickly to obedience. Large numbers of them were massacred in Drogheda and Wexford, and soon their resistance was broken. There was no time to lose, for affairs in Scotland were becoming serious. Cromwell left his son-in-law, Ireton, in Ireland to finish the work he had begun, and hurried to Scotland.

The Scottish army was a more formidable force than the Irish, and its leaders were capable men. Before the end of 1650 Leslie had Cromwell at a disadvantage near Dunbar, and with patience might have won a victory. But a false move on his part, by which he threw away the advantage of a very strong position, enabled Cromwell to win one of his most wonderful victories, his "crowning mercy" as he usually termed it. Prince Charles was still in the field, however, and in the next year managed to invade' England by way of Carlisle. Cromwell marched after him and joined battle with him at Worcester. The battle completely destroyed all hopes of Royalist success; and it was only after many hardships and narrow escapes that Charles got safely to France.

Worcester ended the work of the army in the field, and the soldiers were now able to turn their attention to matters of government. The rule of the members of the Rump was not satisfying them; their greatest measure had been to pass a Navigation Act, 1651, which said That no goods should be imported into England except in English ships, or ships belonging to the country producing the goods. This measure was aimed at the Dutch, who were at this time the greatest carriers of goods on the sea; it may also have been intended as an attempt to do something to win popularity at the expense of Cromwell and the army. But in 1652 the Rump proposed a new method of government which gave it almost supreme control; in the next year Cromwell took soldiers to the House, turned out the members, and put the key into his pocket.

Another system of government had again to be established. It took the form of an Istrument of Government, which made Cromwell Lord Protector of the Commonwealth with a Council of State to advise him. Parliament was to meet at least once in three years and could not be dismissed until it had sat for five months. All fights of legislation and taxation were to be in its hands; but the Protector was to appoint the Executive, and was given a fixed revenue for national purposes. Those who framed this Constitution were trying to divide the government between Protector and Parliament, but they failed. In the elections a hundred Republicans were returned, and Cromwell prevented these from attending Parliament. In spite of himself he was being forced to become as intolerant as Charles or Strafford had been; and as Parliament and he could not agree, he dismissed it at the end of five lunar months. A Royalist rising followed, but was suppressed; and for a time the country was divided into eleven military districts with a Major-General in control of each. But the need of money to carry on war with Spain forced the Protector to call another Parliament in 1656, and once again he was compelled to exclude many members. This Parliament offered to make Cromwell king. He refused the offer, but agreed to an amendment of the Constitution which Parliament suggested in the form of a Humble Petition and Advice . By it he was given the right of naming his successor, an hereditary House of Lords was to be nominated by him, and he was to command the army and navy. But his right to exclude members was taken away, and Parliament was to control the Council of State. It was a return to the old Constitution with Protector instead of King, and with Parliamentary control of the ministers. The Parliament only lasted a fortnight, for it refused to recognise the new House of Lords, and was therefore dismissed by the Protector; and he was compelled to resort to many of the illegal actions of Charles I in order to raise money for the necessities of government.

While Cromwell was thus harassed in his home government, he was making England renowned abroad. With an efficient army and navy England began to have a voice in the affairs of Europe. Strained commercial relations with the Dutch had led to war in 1652, and, thanks to Blake, the English had been victorious; but this was before the days of the Protectorate. When Cromwell came into power he resumed the old Elizabethan policy of war with Spain. Jamaica was taken from Spain in 1655; in the next year Blake sank the Spanish treasure ships at Teneriffe without losing a single ship himself. In the same year Cromwell interfered successfully on behalf of the Vaudois Protestant subjects of the Duke of Savoy, who were being persecuted because of their religion.

The power of England was so great that Louis XIV and his minister, Mazarin, sought Cromwell's help against Spain; and English and French soldiers fought side by side in Flanders, and won a victory over the Spaniards at the battle of the Dunes. But war meant increased taxation, and Cromwell's position at home became more difficult. Many objected to his rule; the Royalists wanted the king back; the Presbyterians wanted their form of church government restored; the Republicans looked upon him as a despot. Plots were formed against him, his anxieties increased, the death of his favourite daughter weighed heavily on his mind; and in 1658, on September 3, the anniversary of his crowning mercy, he died, worn out with the cares of State.
He nominated his son Richard as his successor, but Richard was unequal to the task. Parliament quarrelled with the army on the question of control; the army no longer had Cromwell's leadership; matters went from bad to worse; and Richard resigned. The country was approaching a condition of anarchy, when General Monk, who was in command of the Parliamentary forces in Scotland, marched south to restore order. He was joined by Fairfax and his soldiers, and issued a Declaration in favour of a Free Parliament. The Long Parliament reassembled and dissolved itself, 1660 ; it had lasted twenty years.

A new Convention Parliament met, and decided to recall Charles II. In his Declaration from Breda Charles promised to leave to Parliament the question of the pardon or punishment of those who had opposed the king, and also the question of deciding the ownership of lands taken from the Royalists and given to supporters of the Parliament. He promised toleration to all Christians who lived peaceably in England, and the payment of all arrears to the army. His terms were accepted, and he returned to England as king on May 29, 1660.