THE PROTECTORATE. 1653 - 1659
The title of Lord Protector was not new in England. Humphrey Duke of Gloucester had been Protector in the minority of Henry VI., Richard Duke of York had been Protector during the incapacity of the same king, Richard Duke of Gloucester had been Protector during the minority of Edward V., and the Duke of Somerset had been Protector during the minority of Edward VI.
The title had thus been borne as the mark of a temporary authority to tide over a crisis; but in the case of the Duke of-York its wearer had looked forward to the crown, in the case of Richard duke of Gloucester he had used it as the steppingstone to the crown.
In this case the Protectorate was practically a return to monarchy, first elective, and then hereditary, but in either case depending upon the support of the army.

DOMINIONS
Great Britain, Ireland and the British Isles. The colonies previously settled or acquired. Jamaica, taken in 1655; Dunkirk, taken in 1658.

WARS
Desultory warfare in the Highlands with the Royalists under the Earl of Glencairn and General Middleton 1653 - 55.
Penruddock's Royalist rising in the West of England, 1655.Peace was made with Holland in 1654.
War was begun against Spain, 1655. In this year Hispaniola was unsuccessfully attacked and Jamaica taken. In 1657, April 20th, Blake won a naval victory over the Spaniards at Santa Cruz in the Canaries. On June 4th, 1658, the English aided the French in a victory over the Spaniards near Dunkirk, and the town was taken on June 17, and handed over to England. England was included in the peace of the Pyrenees between France and Spain in 1659.

OFFICIALS
Dec. 16, 1653. Oliver Cromwell becomes " His Highness the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland "

May 25, 1657. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, &c., with power to appoint his successor.
Sept 3, 1658. Richard Cromwell declared Lord Protector by the Council

PARLIAMENTS OF THE PROTECTORATE
Dec. 13, 1653. The Parliament of Nominees resigned its power into the hands of the Lord General.
Sept. 4, 1654. The Protector's first Parliament opened.
Jan. 31, 1655. Parliament dissolved, owing to its quarrel with the Protector as to the source of his authority. Sept 17, 1656. The Second Parliament meets. Many of the elected members arbitrarily excluded.
Feb. 4, 1658. The Parliament dissolved, owing to dissensions between the Commons and the revived Second Chamber, or House of Lords.
Jan. 29, 1659. The Parliament of Richard Cromwell meets. April 22, 1659. Parliament dissolved owing to the opposition of the army.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS
1653, Dec. 16. The Instrument of Government This was an attempt to found a permanent written Constitution The Government was to be in the hands of a Protector, appointed for life, a Council of State, nominated in the Instrument for life, and a Parliament representing the three countries of England, Scotland, and Ireland, elected upon the basis of a redistribution of seats, and a property franchise in the counties, the old franchises in the boroughs being unaltered. Vacancies in the Council were to be filled up by a choice made by the Protector and the Council out of a list presented by the Parliament. The executive power was to be in the hands of the Protector and Council, legislative power in those of the Parliament. Taxation was to be under Parliamentary control, with the important exceptions that a fixed revenue was to be settled upon the Protector for civil government, and a yearly revenue was to be settled for maintaining an army of 30,000 men and a fleet. This was part of the Constitution, so that a standing army was established, beyond the future control of Parliament Some Christian Church was to be established and supported by public money, according to a plan to be agreed upon in the future. Religious toleration was made part of the Constitution, but was not to extend to Popery nor Prelacy; that is, it was not to be accorded to the great majority of the Irish, nor to what was shortly to appear to be the dominant party in England.
There was no provision for altering these fundamental laws, nor any proof that they represented the wishes of England, much less those of Scotland and Ireland.
The whole constitution is interesting as embodying the views of what had become the revolutionary party, and as bearing on the face of it the confession of their failure to conduct what they called a popular government without an overwhelming military force to suppress popular opinion. It is printed in Gardiner, Const. Documents,314.
1654, April 12. An Ordinance by the Protector for the Union of England and Scotland. Published in accordance with the Instrument of Government (Printed in Gardiner, Const. Documents, 325.)
1654, June 27. Ordinances by the Protector for the election of members of the United Parliament in Scotland and Ireland. (Printed in Gardiner, Const.. Documents, &c., pp 329, 332.)
1654. The Treaty of Westminster put an end to the Dutch War. (Printed in Dumont, vol vi. pt ii. 74)
1655. An Ordinance of the Protector imposed an income tax of 10 per cent. upon the Royalists, irrespective of former composition; called the Decimation of the Royalists. England was also by Ordinance divided into eleven districts, under Major-Generals Lambert Desborough, Whalley, Goffe, Fleetwood, Skippon, Kelsey, Butler, Worseley, Berry, and Barkstead, for the collection of this tax and the maintenance of order and the suppression of popular amusements. (See Order Books of the Council, v. 49, and Thurloe Papers, iii. 701.)
In 1657 Parliament refused to vote money for the maintenance of this extraordinary military administration.
1657, May 25. The Humble Petition and Advice, and on June 26 the Additional Petition and
Advice, were presented by Parliament to the Protector By these the Instrument of Government was modified, in spite of its sell-asserted fundamental and permanent character. The Protector was to nominate his own successor; the name of the Council of State was changed to the old style of the Privy Council. It was to be filled up by the Protector, with the consent of the Council itself, and with the subsequent confirmation of the appointments by Parliament Members of the Council were only to be removable by Parliament. A second Chamber, or House of Lords, was to be nominated by the Protector.
By this means the Monarchy was completely re-established, with the additional strength of a House of Lords nominated en bloc by the Monarch, and an established irreducible standing army. A ministry appointed by the Monarch, but subject to Parliamentary approval and control, was likely to be an efficient check upon monarchical power in proportion to the personal vigour or the contrary of the Monarch.
It marked the abandonment of all pretence of Republicanism, for the title of King was offered to the Protector, though refused, and it made the restoration of the old royal family nearly certain. If there was to be a monarchy, most people would prefer the old laws and limited prerogatives of the ancient monarchy to this new military dominion. The Petition and Advice is printed in Gardiner, Const. Documents, 334.
1659. The Peace of the Pyrenees put an end to the war between France and Spain, in which England had taken part. (See Koch et Schoell, vol i ch. 2.)