The Commonwealth. page 11

The proclamation of Charles, rendered abortive in the Highlands, was not without its effects in England. A major Henshaw came over from Paris, and proposed to assassinate Cromwell as he went to Hampton Court. His plan was to get thirty stout men for the purpose. A young enthusiastic gentleman named Gerard undertook to procure

twenty-five of them, and colonel Finch and Henshaw were to bring the other five. Vowel, a schoolmaster of Islington, was very zealous in the plot, and aided in procuring arms; Billingsley, a butcher of Smithfield, engaging to seize the troopers' horses grazing in Islington fields. The soldiers were then to be fallen upon at the mews, Charles II. proclaimed, Rupert to appear with a large force of royalists, English, Irish, and Scotch, and there was to be a general rising. Saturday, the 20th of May, was the day fixed for Cromwell's assassination; but before this wild scheme could be commenced, forty of the conspirators were seized, some of them in their beds. Vowel was hanged, and Gerard was beheaded on the 10th of July - the manner of the latter's punishment being thus changed at his own request, being a gentleman and a soldier.

The same day, and on the same scaffold as Gerard, was executed Don Pantaleon Sa, the brother of the Portuguese ambassador. Sa had a quarrel with this same Gerard, who was called "Generous Gerard," an enthusiastic royalist. They came to fighting at the Royal Exchange, where Gerard, drawing his rapier, forced the Don to fly, whereupon the next day he returned to the Exchange in search of Gerard, with a body of armed followers, and mistaking a man of the name of Greenway for Gerard, they killed him, wounded colonel Mayo, and were not subdued without much riot. Sa was seized, tried, and condemned for this deliberate murder. He pleaded that he belonged to the embassy, and was therefore exempt from the tribunals of this country, but neither this nor the zealous exertions of his brother, the ambassador, could save him; he was condemned to die. Cromwell, though on the verge of concluding a treaty with Portugal, would not concede a pardon to the bloodthirsty Portuguese, who had been found guilty by a jury of half Englishmen and half foreigners. He went to Tower Hill in a coach and six, attended by numbers of the attaches of the embassy in mourning, and his brother signed the treaty and left the country. Such an exhibition of firmness and impartiality, refusing to make any distinction in a murderer, whether noble or a commoner, evinced great moral courage in Cromwell; but another execution, which took place a short time before, namely, on the 23rd of June, was not so creditable to him. This was hanging an old catholic priest, of the name of Southworth, who had been convicted thirty- seven years be fore, under the bloody laws of James against popish priests, and had been banished. Being now discovered in the country, he was tried for that offence and put to death. On the scaffold he very justly upbraided the government with having taken arms for liberty, yet shed the blood of those who differed from them on religious grounds. The stern persecution of popery was, in fact, a blot on Cromwell's character; he had not in that respect at all outgrown his age.

Whilst these and other plots were exacting from the protector a severe compensation for his high position, he was yet steadily prosecuting measures for the better administration of the national government. Being empowered by the instrument of government, with his council, not only to raise sufficient money for the necessary demands of government, but also "to make laws and ordinances for the peace and welfare of these nations," he actually made no less than sixty ordinances, many of them of singular wisdom and excellence. He and his council, in fact, showed that they were in earnest to make the execution of justice cheap and prompt, and to revive a pure and zealous ministry of the gospel. In one of these ordinances, they effected the Herculean labour which the Barebone parliament had aimed at - the reformation of the court of chancery, the ordinance for this purpose consisting of no less than sixty-seven articles. Well might Cromwell, on the opening of parliament, refer with pride to this great event, an event which would have taken our modern law-makers twenty years to accomplish, which, in fact, they have not accomplished yet. "The chancery," he said in his speech, "is reformed." What a speech in four words, sufficient to have made the reign of any king famous! " The chancery is reformed - I hope to the satisfaction of all good men." This had partly been done by distributing the' causes through the other "courts of law at Westminster, where Englishmen love to have their rights tried." In order, too, to effect a most just and speedy discharge of the laws, he put better judges on the bench, amongst them the pious and ever-memorable Sir Matthew Hale, and made Thurloe, the friend of Milton, secretary of state.

Two other of his ordinances were intended to purify the church of unfit ministers, and to introduce fit and pious ones. This established two commissions, one for the examination of all clergymen offering themselves for the incumbency of any church living, and the other for inquiring after and expelling any "scandalous, ignorant, or insufficient ministers who already occupied such." These commissioners were to be permanent, so that the church in all parts of the country should be purged of improper preachers, and supplied with able and good ones. The supreme commission for the trial of public preachers consisted of thirty-eight members - twenty-nine clergymen, nine laymen - and these were both presbyterians and independents, some even anabaptists, for the protector was less interested in what sect they belonged to, than in the fact that they were pious and able men. The commission for purging the church of scandalous or unfit ministers consisted of from fifteen to thirty distinguished puritan gentlemen and puritan clergymen for each county; and when they dismissed a minister for unfitness, his family had some little income allowed them. Many of the members of these last boards were chosen indiscriminately from the friends or enemies of the protectorate, so that they were known men of real piety and judgment. Amongst these were lord Fairfax, Thomas Scot, a zealous republican, admiral Blake, Sir Arthur Haselrig, Richard Mayor, the father-in-law of Richard Cromwell, for whom Cromwell entertained a high regard and respect, and had him in both parliament, council, and various commissions. Baxter was one of them, and, as we have said, spoke well of the operation of the system. Indeed, if governments must meddle with the church at all, which it would be much better for both church and state to let alone, it is not easy to conceive a more judicious and necessary discipline.

But the 3rd of September arrived, Oliver's fortunate day, on which he had appointed the meeting of parliament. As the day fell on a Sunday, the members met in the afternoon for worship in Westminster Abbey, where they waited on the protector in the Painted Chamber, who addressed them in a speech, and they then went to the house and adjourned to the next morning. Cromwell went that day to the house in great state, in his carriage, with his life guards, a captain of the guard walking on each side, and the commissioners of the great seal and other state officers following in coaches. After a sermon in the Abbey church they proceeded to the Painted Chamber, where the protector made a speech of three hours in the delivery. A chair of state, marvellously resembling a throne, raised on steps, and with a canopy, was placed for the protector, who sat with his hat on, whilst the members sat bareheaded. On rising to speak he took off his hat, and made what Whitelock styles "a large and subtle speech," and which a distinguished modern historian terms "verbose, involved, and obscure." The reader, on referring to it, would probably deem it one of the most clear, business-like, and pregnant speeches that he ever read. It was largely illustrated by scripture quotations, it is true, for that was inseparable from the religious temperament of Cromwell; but it gave a clear review of the causes which had led to the overthrow of the monarchy, the rise of the commonwealth, and particularly of its then form, as well as of the measures which he had adopted in council, in the interim betwixt his appointment and the meeting of parliament. He told them that he regarded their greatest function to be at that time "healing and settling;" a profound truth - for the nation, and in it every class of men, had been so torn and rent in every fibre, that to soothe and heal was the highest art and policy. Every man's hand, and every man's head, he justly observed, had been against his brother, and no sooner had they put down despotism, than liberty itself began to grow wild, and threaten them with equal danger. The levellers, the fifth-monarchy men, the communists of St. George's Hill, had compelled them to put the drag on the chariot wheels of freedom, or it would soon have taken fire. In all such revolutions, the principles of human right are pushed on by sanguine men, beyond all chance of support from a settled public opinion; and Oliver truly told them that had they gained their object for a moment, it could not have lasted long, but would have in the meantime served the turn of selfish men, who, having obtained public property, would have "cried up property and interest fast enough."

He referred with satisfaction to the means taken to insure a pure ministry, and argued for the necessity of state interference in religion, a matter on which he might, at the present day, have had different views; but he still contended that such interference should only be for promoting a good and virtuous ministry, and by no means infringe on "liberty of conscience and liberty of the subject, two as glorious things," he asserted, "as any that God hath given us." His fears of religious license were chiefly excited by fifth- monarchyism, yet not denying that such a monarchy must come in process of time. "It is a notion," he said, "that I hope we all honour, and wait and hope for the fulfilment of, that Jesus Christ will have a time to set up a reign in our hearts, by subduing those lusts, and corruptions, and evils that are there, which now reign more in the world than I hope in due time they shall do. And when more fulness of the Spirit is poured forth to subdue iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness, then will the approach of that glory be. The carnal divisions and contentions, among Christians so common, are not the symptoms of that kingdom. But for men on this principle to betitle themselves, that they are the only men to rule kingdoms, govern nations, and give laws to people, and determine of property and liberty, and everything else, upon such a pretension as this is, truly they had need to give clear manifestations of God's presence with them, before wise men will receive or submit to their conclusions." Still he recommended tenderness towards them, and that if their extravagancies necessitated punishment, it should "evidence love, and not hatred."

He next referred to the treaties with foreign nations, amongst which, he said, that with Portugal had obtained "a thing which never before was since the inquisition was set up there; that our people who trade thither have liberty of conscience - liberty to worship God in chapels of their own."

He finally inculcated on them the necessity for maintaining as much peace as possible, not only that they might restore the internal condition of the nation, and reduce the excessive taxation occasioned by the war on land and sea, but also to prevent foreign nations depriving us of our manufacturing status, as they had been busily doing during our internal dissensions.

To one of his assertions we are bound to demur. u One thing more this government hath done - it had been instrumental to call a free parliament, which, blessed be God, we see here this day. I say a free parliament, and that it may continue so, I hope is in the heart and spirit of every good man in England, save such discontented persons as I have formerly mentioned. It is that which, as I have desired above my life, so I shall desire to keep it above my life."

The truth was, that it was as free, and much freer a parliament than the circumstances of the times would admit, as was soon seen. A free parliament would have brought back royalty in the state, or presbyterian absolutism in religion. Republicanism and independency, though in the ascendant through the genius of Cromwell and the power of the army, was in a minority. Republicanism even was divided against itself, divided into moderate republicanism and levelling, fifth-monarchy and sans culottism in alliance, In this so-called free parliament, episcopalians and catholics were excluded; this so-called free parliament had been carefully watched during the elections, the lists of the returned sent up to the council, and such as were deemed too dangerous were disallowed, amongst others lord Grey of Groby. But even then it was found too free, and the very first thing that it set about, was to call in question the government which had authorised it.

There was a stiff contest for the speaker, but Lenthall was chosen instead of Bradshaw, who was also put in nomination, because Lenthall had been speaker of the Long Parliament, and its old members had still hope of restoring it. Amongst the members were old Sir Francis Rouse, lord Herbert, the son of the earl of Worcester, Fleetwood, Lambert, the Claypoles, one of whom had married a daughter of the protector's, Cromwell's two sons, his friends the Dunches, Sir Ashley Cooper, and lord Fairfax, Amongst the republicans there were Bradshaw, Haselrig, Scott, Wallop, and Wildman, old Sir Harry Vane, but not the younger; and amongst the Irish members lord Broghill, who had fought so stoutly against Charles, and commissary-general Reynolds. No sooner did they begin business than they opened a debate on the question of sanctioning the present form of government, a question from which they were precluded by the very instrument which had made them a parliament. The debate was carried on with great heart for no less than eight days, during which Bradshaw, Scott, Haselrig, and other republicans contended that the members of the Long Parliament had been illegally deprived of their right, and that the government in one person and a parliament was but another form of tyranny. One speaker declared that he had fought to put down one tyrant, and was ready to fight to put down another. What right but the sword, it was asked, had one man to put down a legal parliament, to command his commanders? They moved to go into committee on the subject, and carried it.