BOOK 1647. Considerations re dissolution of parlia ment. still a little inferior to their adversaries? It is for the impartial and disinterested judge of man and of human affairs to decide this question. The ascendancy of the presbyterians was so very slight, that Cromwel and his confederates thought that by the impeachment of ten or twelve leaders, and disqualifying their votes, the schemes of the presbyterians would be made wholly abortive. We will take for granted that it was desirable, specting the that the ascendancy of these unjust and persecuting leaders should be removed. The next question was, how this should be done with the least degree of concussion and violence. The constitutional remedy for the evil was by a dissolution of parliament. But to a dissolution the consent of the two houses, and the concurrence of the king, were necessary. Beside that in the present state of public affairs a general election was a dangerous experiment. Even in the partial elections which had taken place for the purpose of filling the house with members, many royalists had been brought in. It was but seven years since Charles had reigned an absolute king. For thirteen pre ceding years he had governed without a parliament. Under James and the Tudors the government had leaned in a considerable degree towards despotism. The mass of mankind, without cultivation and without reflection, incline for the most part to the institutions with which their fathers lived, and under which themselves were born. IX. 1647. Add to which, Charles was unfortunate, defeated, CHAP. and a prisoner. The human heart is prone to pity. To see a man, destined by his birth to a station so high that few men are able to comprehend it, and that most of us, especially in an age in which knowledge was so little diffused, look upon with a superstitious awe,-to see such a man, stripped of his honours, scanted of his luxuries, and placed under the command of others, is sure to create for him among the middling and the low many friends. Nor must we forget the contagion that grows out of a court, the numbers of men who would expect to be gainers by the restoration of the king to his prerogatives; they and their followers would all swell the multitude of his supporters. The people of England at this day understood, or thought they understood, the worth of an unornamented, pure and fervent religion, and its preferableness to the hierarchy patronised by Henry and Elizabeth; but they were very imperfect judges of the value of uncorrupt political institutions, and the advantages that are afforded by civil equality. Now certainly it was not to be expected, that those who for seven years had successfully and nobly struggled against the usurpations of the crown, would consent by a general election to place themselves at the mercy of their enemies, to be robbed of all their dearearned immunities, and to be subjected to punishment where they had justly acquired for them II.. 1647. BOOK selves never-fading glory and renown. Few men of a liberal spirit would have been satisfied, that by an appeal to the body of electors through the kingdom, and partly by the strength of the boroughs in Cornwal, all the advantages gained by the civil war should be cast down in the dust, and the dawn of energy and virtue, which had risen on our country, should be for ever obscured by the darkness and clouds of an arbitrary government. Necessity the leaders But all these reasonings as to a dissolution, are imposed on useless in the present case. We have seen how of the inde- the matter stood in that respect after the battle of pendents. Naseby. There were many considerations that rendered a dissolution desirable at that time, if it could have been effected. But it could not: and therefore parliament wisely had recourse then to the more imperfect remedy which was in their power. At that time we have reason to believe that a majority of the house of commons would have consented to a dissolution, if it had depended on their consent. But how stood the matter now? The evil to be removed was, that a majority of the house of commons was hostile to the true welfare and interests of the nation. Then, to effect a dissolution, they only wanted the concurrence of the king. Now, they needed every thing. Of consequence, Cromwel and his coadjutors had no choice. They must either surrender at once all See above, p. 30 to 34. the prospects of virtue and felicity, which opened before them, and which they seemed called on to realise; or they must, with sobriety and caution, but without hesitation, adopt such measures, and use such instruments, as offered themselves to their hands. 342 II. CHAPTER X. - FORCES DECLARATION OF THE ARMY.-ELEVEN MEMBERS BOOK Two days after the appointment of the deputation from the city to wait on the commander in chief, a declaration was prepared on the part of the army at St. Albans, and addressed to the parliament, June 14. the object of which was to specify the various 1647. Declaration of the army. heads of the reform, which they desired, and held to be necessary for the public welfare. The first of these was the purging the house of commons of such members, as for their delinquency [adherence to the king in the late war], or for corruptions, or |