BOOK that they are obliged to proceed on occasions of extensive insurrection, with a rigour which men IV. 1655. who live in more cult to conceive. tranquil seasons find it diffiThe English nation was ruled at this time by a set of men amounting to a small portion of the community. Nor was this all. There was another set of men more numerous than they, who, being the sworn adherents of the system they had by force of arms superseded, were thoroughly persuaded that there was a sacred right, a right of prescription and indefeasibleness belonging to the preceding government, which it was the highest virtue in them at all times to assert, and to seek to restore. They clung to it, not for its abstract fitness and beauty, but because it had descended to them from their ancestors, and because it was English. It was difficult to contend with such men, and all but impossible to suppress them. The presbyterians, the independents, the fifth-monarchy men, all and each of them, contended for the ascendancy of their respective political creeds; but their contention was of a very different sort, and by no means so formidable as that of the royalists. They were disposed, so to express their temper, to try their chance, to make a vigorous effort, and, having done that, to subside into inaction, and to submit to fate. But the creed and the devotion of the adherents of the house of Stuart and of the ancient monarchy, seemed to be immortal. XII. 1655. Expedi ents em ployed to This circumstance no doubt imposed a severe CHAP responsibility upon their adversaries and their conquerors. They had the cause of liberty and human improvement to balance on one side, and the will and the almost invincible prejudices of a counteract great portion of their countrymen on the other. it. They had fought for liberty through many a hard campaign, and had acquired it. They had fought against arbitrary power, and a government without parliaments. Having conquered, they were to consider how the fruits of conquest might best be secured. They believed, that this could only be effected, by the perpetual exclusion of the house of Stuart. This made them feel it as an indispensible duty, to maintain the government of the majority of the community by the minority. exercised after the battle of Worcester. We have seen with how much vigour and skill Severities the rulers of the commonwealth triumphed over against the invasion of the king and his followers in the the royalists campaign of the battle of Worcester. The field being won, they considered how best to improve the advantages of victory. Ten thousand men of the invading army had been made prisoners. The partisans of the exiled family were confessedly numerous in almost every part of England. Those who remained quiet, and demeaned themselves as peaceable subjects, were allowed to participate in the general protection of the state. See above, Vol. III, p. 273, IV. 1655. BO OK But so many as were found in arms, the government held themselves entitled to remove, and thus to shew that they would not suffer the public tranquillity for ever to be disturbed with impunity. Two or three thousand protestants were computed to have been sent to Barbadoes 5. after the present in 1659. Cromwel followed the example which had been surrection. set by the commonwealthsmen, on the present occasion. A number of the prisoners which had been made in Penruddock's insurrection, and, of persons who had been thrown into prison for their concern in exciting that insurrection, were shipped for the West Indies. A petition was presented to the parliament under the protectorate of Richard, on the part of seventy persons who had on that occasion been made slaves in Barbadoesh. Somerset Fox, one of the persons who had been tried for his share in the assassination-plot of Gerard, and had pleaded guilty, had had the capital punishment remitted to him, but was sent to Barbadoes. It appears that, when they arrived at the place of their destination, they were sold in the public market'. It was alleged however, that their slavery was limited to five years, and that a distinction was made in favour of their 'See above, Vol. III, p. 276. 8 Burton's Diary, Vol. IV, p. h Journals, Mar. 25, 1659. k 272. iSee above, p. 78. Burton's Diary, Vol. IV, p. 256. 1 Thurloe, Vol. III, p. 453. XII. 1659. condition, above that of the negroes who worked CHAP. in the cultivation and preparation of sugar m. Vane and Haselrig protested against the arbitrariness of this proceeding"; but nothing was done for the relief of the petitioners. 174 CHAPTER XIII. ORDINANCES OF TAXATION. OPPOSITION OF CONY (MAYNARD AND TWO OTHERS) SENT TO THE TOWER.-RESIGNATION OF CHIEF JUSTICE THE SEAL DISMISSED. BOOK AN insurrection at once so serious and exten 1655. Government of Cromwel stability. IV. sive, and which yet was so speedily quelled, was an event in the highest degree fortunate for the views of Cromwel. It impressed on all an opiincreases in nion of his extraordinary talents and vigour. It gave a striking appearance of stability to his government, which had been shaken to its foundations, by the continuance of the struggle between him and the parliament which he had recently dissolved. Ordinance of taxation. One of the main engines by which the parliament had thought to carry its purposes, was the denial of the supplies. But they formed in this an erroneous opinion of the man with whom they had to contend. Cromwel did not suffer himself to be shaken by the difficulty to which he was thus exposed; he did not allow it to be doubted for a |