463 CHAPTER XXVIII. CHARACTER OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT BY CON- XXVIII. 1653. Character the Long by Ludlow. Parliament LUDLOW observes, It was thus that Cromwel CHAP. contrived" to be rid of this parliament, that had performed such great things, having subdued their enemies in England, Scotland and Ireland, esta- of blished the liberty of the people, reduced the kingdom of Portugal to such terms as they thought fit to grant, maintained a war against the Dutch with that conduct and success that it seemed now drawing to a happy conclusion, recovered our reputation at sea, secured our trade, and provided a powerful fleet for the service of the nation. And, however the malice of their enemies may endeavour to deprive them of the glory which they justly merited, yet it will appear to unprejudiced poste III. 1653. BOOK rity, that they were a disinterested and impartial parliament, who, though they had the sovereign power of the three nations in their hands for the space of ten or twelve years, did not in all that time give away among themselves so much as their forces spent in three months." But Ludlow is a party writer, and as such, will be distrusted. By Whitlocke. By Mrs. Hutchin son. Let us turn then to Whitlocke, a man of a singularly clear head, and who, amidst all the turmoils of faction, kept himself in a state of perpetual neutrality. "Thus it pleased God,” says he, "that this assembly, famous through the world for its undertakings, actions and successes, having subdued all their enemies, were themselves overthrown and ruined by their own servants; and those who they had raised, now pulled down their masters an example, never to be forgotten, and scarcely to be paralleled in any story, by which all persons may be instructed how uncertain and subject to change all worldly affairs are, and how apt to fall, when we think them highest. All honest and prudent indifferent men were highly distasted at this unworthy action." Mrs. Hutchinson says, "The parliament had now, by the blessing of God, restored the commonwealth to a happy and plentiful condition, and although the taxes were great, the people were rich and able to pay them, they had some b Vol. II, p. 197. XXVIII. 1653. hundred thousand pounds in their purse, and were CHAP. free from enemies in arms within and without, except the Dutch, whom they had beaten, and brought to seek peace upon honourable terms. And now they thought it was time to deliver the people from their burthens, which could not be but by disbanding unnecessary officers and soldiers." non Sidney. Algernon Sidney says, "When Van Tromp By Algerset upon Blake in Folkestone Bay, the parliament had not above thirteen ships against threescore, and not a man that had ever seen any other fight at sea, than between a merchant-ship and a pirate, to oppose the best captain in the world. But, such was the power of wisdom and integrity in those that sat at the helm, and their diligence in chusing men only for their merit, was attended with such success, that in two years our fleets grew to be as famous as our land-armies, and the reputation and power of our nation rose to a greater height than when we possessed the better half of France, and had the kings of France and Scotland for our prisoners." Coke. The following testimony is the more worthy of By Roger notice, as coming from the pages of one who had been a bitter and a scornful enemy d. "Thus by their own mercenary servants, and not a sword e Discourses concerning Government, p. 222. d Roger Coke, Detection of the Court and State of England, Vol. II, p. 30, Fourth Edition. III. 1653. BOOK drawn in their defence, fell the haughty and victorious Rump, whose mighty actions will scarcely find belief in future generations. And, to say the truth, they were a race of men, most indefatigable and industrious in business, always seeking for men fit for it, and never preferring any for favour, nor by importunity. You scarce ever heard of any revolting from them; no murmur or complaint of seamen or soldiers. Nor do I find that they ever pressed any in all their wars. And, as they excelled in the management of civil affairs, so it must be owned they exercised in matters ecclesiastic no such severities, as either the covenanters, or others before them did upon such as dissented from them. Nor were they less forward in reforming the abuses of the common law." Addresses of congra Cromwel and his officers. Never certainly were the obsequies of any assembly crowned with such epitaphs. Addresses were diligently sent up from various tulation to quarters to Cromwel and his council of officers, thanking them for what they had done, and in which of course the authors congratulated themselves and the nation, that they were at length delivered from the tyranny and intolerable oppressions of the parliament. The earliest of these was from the fleet, dated April the twenty-second, signed by Dean, Monk, and the several captains of the vessels, Blake being absent from indisposition. That from the commissioners in Ireland, e Several Proceedings, No. 187. XXVIII. Fleetwood, Ludlow, Miles Corbet and Jones, went CHAP. no further than to express their submission to the present government, without giving any opinion as to the wisdom or equity of the revolution that had been effected f. It is sufficiently memorable, that, whatever may be the judgment of impartial posterity on the labours of this assembly, which sat from the sixth of December 1648 (the day on which the house was purged by the army) to the twentieth of April 1653, their dispersion seems to have been looked upon without a sigh, and the annihilation of their authority was effected without a struggle. One only address appears to have been presented by certain citizens of London, praying for their re storation. 1653. Apathy of on the the nation event. this apathy. smallness of bers of the tives. The principal cause of this is to be found in the Causes of anomalousness of their authority. The government of England had been from the time of Henry the Third by king, lords and commons. In the First, the beginning of the year 1649 two of these branches the numhad been superseded and set aside by the arbitrary representadecision of the one that remained. The commons of England had been represented on the third of November 1640 by five hundred and six members. The greatest number that we find to have sat since the death of Charles the First was one hundred and fifty. This smaller number had been selected See above, Vol. II, p. 26. 'Ibid, No. 190. |