Richard proclaimed. CHAPTER XIV. Richard Cromwell, Oliver's eldest Son, acknowledged Protector.-Summons a Parliament.-Cabal of Wallingford House.-Parliament dissolved.-Richard deposed.— Long Parliament restored.-Conspiracy of the Royalists. Insurrection suppressed.-Parliament expelled the House.-Conduct of Moncke.-Parliament restoredResolutions of the City-Moncke sent against it.-Enters London a second time, and declares for a free Parlia ment.-Secluded Members restored.-Long Parliament dissolved.-New Parliament.-The Restoration. THERE were, at the time Cromwell usurped the government, about half a million in the treasury, and the value of seven hundred thousand pounds in the magazines, while the customs and excise yielded near a million annually: at his death the pay of the troops was in arrears, and a public debt contracted of about three millions. All his expedients of government having been exhausted, and his finances in such a state, even he could not have long continued at the head of affairs. Little, therefore, was it to be expected that a feebler hand, unsupported by that glory which, after so many exploits, raised him to such estimation in the minds of men, -should have been able to manage the reins which himself could not much longer have held. He had formally named no successor; but, as it was said that he had, when almost speechless, given an affirmative to a question, whether he wished his eldest son to succeed him, and as no other party was prepared to assume the power, Richard was proclaimed. For such a situation he was particularly unqualified his abilities were slender; his knowledge of business extremely limited; and, never having been a soldier, he was incapable of controlling the military, while the splendour of his father's talents, which dazzled mankind, had shed no ray upon his son. Yet his succession to the protectorate was hailed with all the adulatory addresses usual on such occasions. Foreign ambassadors also paid him the respect which they had given to his father. The corpse of Oliver was magnificently entombed in the dormitory of kings, no less than about L.60,000 having been expended on the funeral. But his body was not long permitted to rest in peace with pitiful malignity, it was, at the Restoration, dug from the grave, exposed triumphantly on a gibbet, and buried under the gallows. At this period, however, a day of fasting and humiliation was appointed by the council, and afterwards ordered to be solemnized throughout the three nations, for the public calamity sustained by his death. Genius was racked for fulsome panegyrics on his memory; history, sacred and profane, ransacked for parallels of his greatness. He was compared to Moses, Jerubabel, Joshua, Gideon, Elijah, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Constantine the Great, &c. ; but some of his panegyrists, men of high poetical genius, to the disgrace of splendid talent, were no less ready afterwards to eulogise his enemies who succeeded to him, and then traduce his name, as if they had been anxious to testify that their powers were at the service of the ruling authority, and that, in praising the person or party capable of rewarding them, they were merely labouring in their vocation *. The late protector had entered into a league with the king of Sweden, to assist him against the king of Denmark; and, as the aid could only properly be given by sea, a large sum was required for the fleet. This multiplied the necessities of government, and as money could not be raised with out a parliament, it was found necessary to summon one for January following. The late ar rangement in regard to the representation, being better calculated to collect the general voice of the nation, was found to be unmanageable as an engine of state; and it was therefore deemed expedient to revert to the old state of the represen tation, that, in the hope which the executive entertained of influence over rotten boroughs, members might be returned disposed to promote its views. This was against the instrument of government; but a pretext is ever ready: there was * Old Parl. Hist. vol. xxi. p. 223, et seq. Harris's Life of Cromwell, p. 498, et seq. Ludlow, vol. ii. p. 611, et seq. Whitelocke, p. 675, 676. Clar. vol. vi. p. 655, et seq. Orme's Life of Owen, p. 198. a clause in the humble petition and advice that every thing should be done according to law; and the protector's legal advisers assured him that it warranted his restoring the old state of the repre sentation. Writs were accordingly issued on that ground, and all means exerted to procure the return of fit instruments for his purpose; but, in spite of every manner of undue influence and even direct unfairness, many of the republican party were elected. As the elections for Scotland and Ireland may be said to have been made at Whitehall, the members from those countries formed a valuable accéssion to the protector's adherents *. ment. The parliament met on the 27th of January, A parlia (1659) and Richard addressed them in a style which did credit either to himself or those whom he had employed to frame the speech. On the 1st of February, a bill was brought in for the recognition of his power, and here the temper of the assembly was manifested: the humble petition and advice the basis of this bill of recognition was assailed by the republican party as the production of a packed meeting, where the Scotch and Irish members, protruded by the protector himself, were really the instruments of carrying the measure: it was denounced to be destructive to the liberty of the people, and every way pernicious; and the popular members argued that, as it was thus of no force or validity in itself, it could give the late protector no power to nominate a successor; but that, Ludlow, vol. ii. p. 615, et seq. granting he had the power, it was evident that he had never exercised it in such a way as could be acknowledged by a legislative assembly. The debate lasted seven days, when that part of the billthat Richard should be acknowledged protector, was finally carried; after which it was committed, in order that such additional clauses as might secure the liberties of the people might be devised. It was also resolved that no part of the bill should be obligatory, until, with all the amendments, it should be passed as a whole. Many of the cavaliers, who had been elected through Richard's influence, were expelled, and the right of the Scotch and Irish members was also called in question, but ultimately carried in their favour. The authority of the upper house was likewise impugned in the most powerful manner; but that point was also carried against the popular party *. Richard was, in the meantime, sapping the very foundation of his own power. Instead of cleaving to his kinsman, Desborough, and all that party, as well as encouraging the popular side, while, like his father, he should promote the interests of religion, and thus gain the great body of the clergy, and with them a great portion of the people, he, assuming the feelings of a hereditary sovereign * Ludlow, vol. ii. p. 611, et seq. Old Parl. Hist. vol. xxi. p. 262, et seq. See Clar. State Papers, vol. iii. p. 412, et seq. Royalists were encouraged by Hyde and other counsellors to get themselves elected, that they might promote the king's interest. See particularly p. 436 |