Commonwealth (Continued). page 2

Those who take an unfavourable view of the character of Cromwell, who regard him as a base mixture of hypocrisy and ambition, accuse him of having planned and manoeuvred for this object; but there appears no evidence of this, but rather that the continual uneasiness created by the royalist and anabaptist assassins led many seriously to consider the peculiar position of the nation, and the great dangers to which it was exposed. That there was nothing betwixt the nation and all its old confusions but the life of one clearheaded, and strong-hearted, and strong-handed man, a life which was environed with perils. They deemed these dangers would be diminished by altering the form of government, and returning to a house of lords and a monarchy - but not to the corrupt and murder-seeking Stuarts. Had they their honest and earnest protector converted into a king, and the succession settled on his family, the nation would jealously guard his life, and the hopes of the exiled family be diminished by the prospect of a successor of his own blood, even if he fell.

On the 23rd of February, 1657, suddenly Sir Christopher "Pack, late lord mayor of London, craved leave to read a paper, which turned out to be drawn up in the form of a remonstrance from parliament to the protector on the state of the country, and proposing a new form of government, including a house of lords and himself as king. No sooner did the officers of the army, who had just lost their proconsular dignity, and the other republicans hear the proposition, than they rose, seized Pack, and hurried him from his seat to the bar of the house as a traitor. But those who were friendly to the proposition, rose also in his defence, and after much commotion, the paper was not only read, but debated. From this moment this subject occupied the house, with little intermission, till the 9th of May, or between two and three months. The title of the paper was changed from "A humble Address and Remonstrance," to "The humble Petition and Advice of the Parliament of England, Scotland, and Ireland." Its clauses were debated and carried seriatim by a majority of one hundred to forty-four, and on the last day of the debate, March 26th, the blank left for the word king, was filled in by a majority of one hundred and twenty-three to sixty-two; and on the 31st of March an address was carried to the protector at Whitehall by the speaker and the house, praying that his highness would be pleased to adopt their resolutions, and take upon him the state and title of king.

Unquestionably, this was the greatest temptation which had ever been thrown in the way of Cromwell. To have made his way by his energy and talent from the simple condition of a gentleman-farmer to the dictatorship of the nation, and now to have the crown and succession of these great kingdoms offered to him and his family by the parliament, was a matter which would not have been much opposed by an ordinary man. But Cromwell was not of a character lightly to accept even a crown. He showed clearly that he had a strong inclination to place himself and his posterity in that august position, but he knew too well that the honour had also its dangers and its dark side. His acceptance would at once darken his fair fame by settling it in the conviction of three-fourths of the kingdom that he had only fought and put down the Stuarts to set up himself. There was, moreover, a formidable party opposed to kingship, and especially decided against it were his generals and the army. A deputation of a hundred of them had waited on him on the 27th, with an address on the subject, on which they assured him that such a thing would be "a scandal to the people, would prove more than hazardous to his person, and would pave the way for the return of Charles Stuart." That once accustom the nation to the name of king again, and it would recall, on the first opportunity, the ancient race.

Cromwell felt too well the truth of these representations, and therefore he gave an answer to the house, requiring time to reflect on their important offer, though he had watched carefully the progress of the debate. He desired that a committee might be appointed to confer with him on all the articles of the new instrument of government proposed to him. A committee of ninety-nine persons was accordingly appointed, amongst them Whitelock, Glynn,; the lord chief justice, lord Broghill, Nathaniel Fiennes, one of the keepers of the great seal, &c. They had many meetings, but Cromwell, instead of giving his opinion upon the subject, desired to know their reasons for recommending this change. The chief reasons advanced were, the ancient habits of the nation; that the people were proud of the honour of their monarchs; that that form of government had prevailed from the most ancient period, and what no doubt weighed greatly with them was, that by the 9th of Edward IY. and the 3rd of Henry VII. it was enacted that all who took up arms for or obeyed the king de facto, were held guiltless; but not so they who served a protector de facto.

Cromwell admitted that this was a matter of precaution which demanded serious consideration, and that he regarded the proposal to him as "a very singular honour and favour," and would return such an answer as God should give him, or as he should arrive at through discussion with them; but that his conscience yet was not clear upon the subject, and they must examine the grounds for it further. Whitelock says the protector often advised about this matter of the kingship, and other great businesses, with a select number of the committee - lord Broghill, Mr. Pierpoint, brother of the earl of Kingston, Thurloe, Whitelock, and Sir Charles Wolseley, and would be shut up three or four hours together, and none else were admitted to come to him. He would sometimes be very cheerful with them, and, laying aside his greatness, would be exceedingly familiar; and, by way of diversion, would make verses, play at crambo with them, and every one must try his. fancy. He commonly called for tobacco, pipes, and a candle, and would now and then take tobacco himself. Then he would fall again to his serious and great business of the kingship.

They were interrupted, however, in their colloquies, by a fresh outbreak of the fifth-monarchy men. These religionists, who admitted the idea of no king but Christ, were especially exasperated at this attempt to set up an earthly king, and determined to rise and prevent it. They fixed Thursday, the 9th of April, for the rising. They issued a proclamation called "A Standard set up," ordered Mile End as the place of rendezvous, and headed by one Venner, a wine merchant, and other persons of the city, calculated on introducing the reign of the Millennium. They encouraged each other, says Thurloe, with the exhortation that though they were but worms, yet they should be made instrumental to thresh mountains. They spoke, he says, great words of the reign of the saints, and the beautiful kingdom of holies which they were to erect, and talked of taking away all taxes, excise, customs, and tithes. They had banners painted with the device of the lion of the tribe of Judah, and the motto, "Who shall raise him up?"

But the wide-awake Thurloe had watched all their motions. That morning at daybreak he marched a troop of horse down upon the meeting at Mile End, seized Yenner and twenty other ringleaders, with chests of arms, many copies of the proclamation, and the famous war-flag of the lion-couchant of Judah. Major-general Harrison, admiral Lawson, colonel Rich, and others of the leaders of the fifth- monarchy men were also seized, and with these men shut up in the Tower, but no further punished. Yenner ended his days for a similar attempt in the reign of Charles II.

The discussions of Cromwell and the committee were resumed, and, without coming to any conclusion, on Tuesday, the 21st of April, the protector suddenly left the consideration of the kingship, and examined and commented on the other articles of the instrument» The chief of those were, that men of all classes were capable of electing and being elected to parliament or to offices of state, excepting papists and royalists, styled malignants, at least such royalists as had been in arms against the parliament since 1642, unless they had since given signal proof of repentance by bearing arms for the parliament; all who had been concerned in the Irish rebellion since 1650, or in any plot in England or Wales since December, 1653; all in Scotland who had been in arms against the parliament of England or parliament of Scotland, except such as had lived peaceably since 1st of March, 1652. Besides those thus excluded, all freeholders of counties, and all burgesses and citizens of towns, in fact, a household suffrage, could vote for members of parliament.

All who were atheistical, blasphemous, married to popish wives, or who trained children, or suffered their children to be trained in popery, or consented that their children should marry papists, who scoffed at religion or at religious people, who denied the Scriptures to be God's word, who denied the sacraments, ministers, or magistracy to be divine ordinances, like the fifth-monarchy men, who were Sabbath- breakers, swearers, haunters of taverns and alehouses, - in fact, were unchristian men, were excluded from electing or being elected. All public preachers were excluded, as better employed in their own vocation, but at the recommendation of Cromwell this was restricted to such preachers as had fixed livings, and not mere voluntary occasional preachers, like himself and many other officers.

A second house of parliament, was to be organised, to consist of not less than forty members, nor more than seventy, who were to be nominated by the protector, and approved by the commons. It was not to be called the house of lords, nor the upper, but the other house. The same qualifications and disqualifications applied to it as to the commons. All judges and public officers, as well as those of the army and navy, were to be approved of by the two houses; or if parliament be not sitting, by the council. Another article settled the revenue, and all relating to it - and the most important one to the protector, he was authorised to name his successor before his death. These matters being settled, and the instrument revised by parliament, on the 8th of May Cromwell summoned the house to meet him in the Banqueting-house, Whitehall, where he ratified the rest of the instrument, but gave them this answer as to the kingship - that having taken all the circumstances into consideration, both public and private, he did not feel at liberty in his conscience to accept the government with the title of king. That whatever was not of faith was sin; and that not being satisfied that he could accept it in that form to the real advantage of the nation, he should not be an honest man if he did not firmly, but with every acknowledgment of the infinite obligations they had laid him under - decline it. This was his answer to that great and weighty business.

Whitelock assures us that Cromwell at one time had been satisfied in his private judgment that he might accept the royal title, but that the formidable opposition of the officers of the army had shown him that it might lead to dangerous and deplorable results, and that therefore he believed it better to waive It. Whatever the motives, whether those of conscience or prudence, or both, inciting the protector, he surmounted his temptation, and decided with the firmness characteristic of him. Major-generals Whalley, Goffe, and Berry are said to have been for his acceptance of the crown; Desborough and Fleetwood were strenuous against it, but Lambert, temporising, appearing to approve whilst he was secretly opposing, and at length coming out strong against it, was the only one whom Cromwell visited with his displeasure. He dismissed him, but with a retiring pension of two thousand pounds a year, and Lambert retired to Wimbledon; where it had been happy for him had he remained in quiet;

On the 26th of June, 1657, the grand ceremony of the inauguration of the protector as the head of this new government took place in Westminster Hall. The protector went thither from Whitehall by water, and entered the hall in the following manner: - First went his gentleman, then a herald, next the aldermen, another herald, then Norroy, the lords commissioners of the treasury, and the great seal carried by commissioner Fiennes, then Garter, and after him the earl of Warwick, with the sword borne before the protector, bareheaded, the lord mayor carrying the city sword at his left hand. Being seated in his chair, on the left hand \ of it stood the lord mayor and the Dutch ambassador; on the right the French ambassador and the earl of Warwick next behind him stood his son Richard and his sons-in-law Claypole and Fleetwood, and the privy council. Upon a lower descent stood the lord viscount Lisle, lord Montague, and Whitelock, with drawn swords. As the protector stood under the cloth of state, the speaker presented him with a robe of purple velvet, lined with ermine, which the speaker and Whitelock put upon him. Then the speaker presented him with a Bible richly gilt and bossed, girt the sword about his highness, and delivered into his hand the sceptre of massy gold. Having done this, he made the protector an address, and finally administered the oath. Then Mr. Manton, one of the chaplains, in prayer recommended his highness, the parliament, the council, the forces by land and sea, and the whole government and people of the three nations to the blessing and protection of God. On that the trumpets sounded, the heralds proclaimed his highness protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland; and again the trumpets sounded, and the people shouted, "God save the protector!" This closed the ceremony, and the protector and his train returned to Whitehall as they came,

The ceremony, it is clear, fell little short of a royal ceremony, with the exception of the crown and the anointing. Charles Stuart might have used the words of James of Scotland to Johnny Armstrong - "What lacks this knave that a king should have?" With the exception of the name of king, Cromwell, the farmer, was become the monarch of Great Britain and Ireland. He had all the power, and inhabited the palaces of kings. He had the right to place his son in the supreme seat after him; and one whole house of parliament were the creatures of his own creation, the other were purgated to his express satisfaction.

Cromwell had not enjoyed his new dignity more than about six weeks, when he received the news of the death of his great, admiral Blake. His health had been for some time decaying. Scurvy and dropsy were fast destroying him, yet to the last he kept his command at sea, and finished his career with one of the most brilliant victories which had ever been achieved. During the winter and spring he maintained the blockade of Cadiz, but learning that the Plate fleet had taken refuge it the harbour of Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe, he made sail thither. He found the fleet drawn up under the guns of seven batteries in the harbour, which was shaped like a horse shoe. The merchantmen, ten in number, were ranged close in shore, and the galleons, in number and of greater force than any of his own ships, placed in front of them. It was a sight, seven forts, a castle, and sixteen ships, to have daunted any man but Blake. Don Diego Darques, the Spanish admiral, was so confident of the impregnable nature of his position, that he sent Blake word to come and take his vessels. "But," says Clarendon, "the illustrious genius of Blake was admired even by the hostile faction of his countrymen. He was the first man that declined the old track, and made it manifest that the science might be obtained in less time than was imagined, and despised those rules which had long been in practise, to keep his ship and men out of danger, which had been held in former times a point of great ability and circumspection, as if the principal act requisite in the captain of a ship, had been to be sure to come safe home again; the first man who brought the ships to contemn castles on shore, which had been thought ever very formidable; the first that infused that portion of courage into the seamen, by making them see what mighty things they could do if they were resolved, and taught them to fight in fire as well as upon water."