itself as representing the nation itself, to impose some limits upon the burdens which had already far outgrown even the prescriptions of the Instrument itself?

The elections to the first Protectorate Parliament were held under

peculiar conditions. In the boroughs still permitted to return members, the old conditions existed, but in the counties to which a redistribution of seats had transferred the electoral power hitherto possessed by small villages under the influence of the neighbouring landowners, a uniform franchise of the ownership of real or personal property worth £200 had been established by the Instrument. So far as we can trace any direct issue before the constituencies, the elections turned on the approval or renunciation of the policy of the advanced party in the nominated Parliament, and on this the electorate gave no uncertain sound. That party was practically swept away, and a full approbation thereby accorded to the conservative policy which had been the main strength of the appeal made to the country by the new government. It did not follow that the new constitution would meet with the same approbation.

A not incon

siderable number of the Commonwealth men, such as Bradshaw and Hazlerigg, sore at their expulsion from the benches of the Long Parliament, had been returned, together with a goodly company of political Presbyterians, who might be expected to do their best to free Parliament from the shackles of the Instrument.

Under these circumstances, Oliver's speech at the opening of Parliament was a masterpiece of skill. Dwelling on the points on which he and the majority of his hearers were in agreement, he kept out of sight those on which differences might arise. He called for healing and settlement, for orderly government which might replace the confusions of the past and stem the tide of fanaticism in the present. He dwelt not on the extent of the liberty of conscience proclaimed in the Instrument, but on the restrictions imposed in that document, especially on such teachers as "under the profession of Christ, hold forth and practise licetiousness." He held up for acceptance the doctrine that, when such a result was to

GROUP OF SIX MINIATURES

In the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, at Montague House. London.

(At top, on left) RICHARD, son of Oliver Cromwell, whom he succeeded as Protector, from the original; (at top, on right) MARY, third daughter of Oliver Cromwell, from the original; (in centre) OLIVER CROMWELL, from the unfinished original by Samuel Cooper; (below, on left) MRS. ELIZABETH CROMWELL, wife of Oliver Cromwell, from the original by Samuel Cooper; (below, on right) ELIZABETH, second daughter of Oliver Cromwell, from the original; (at bottom, HENRY, youngest son of Oliver Cromwell, from the original by Samuel Cooper.