391 CHAPTER XXV. PARLIAMENT APPREHENSIVE OF AN EARLY DIS- XXV. 1657. Elastic Cromwel. CROMWEL had no doubt suffered a severe dis- CHAP. appointment, when he found himself obliged to surrender the idea of restoring the monarchy of England in his own person and family. But it spirit of was the character of his mind, not to be subdued by circumstances; and, if he had lost a part of what he so earnestly desired, he was not for that reason the less disposed to make an effectual use of whatever remained. It is therefore particularly interesting to remark with what an unconquered and ever-active spirit he proceeded to whatever was left of the business he had undertaken. BOOK 1657. Adjournment of parliament contem plated. 1656. The question concerning the settlement of the government of England by authority of parliament being decided, both the protector and the legislature looked forward to an adjournment of some months, for the purpose of installing the chief magistrate in his authority thus conferred upon him in some kind of legitimate form, of making suitable arrangements for calling into existence another house of parliament, and for various objects to which such a recess would be favourable. The present session was of more considerable the present duration than any that had preceded, from the dispersion of the Long Parliament in April 1653. It had been allowed to mature its measures, and finally did not break off its sittings but by its own consent, authentically recorded in the form of an act of parliament for its adjournment from the twenty-sixth of June to the twentieth of January following. It laboured however under the momentous defect of having one hundred of its members excluded at its commencement, by the arbitrary fiat of the protector. Length of session. Precautions lution of Such nevertheless as it remained after this vioagainst an lation, one of the first objects of its anxiety was early disso- to prevent, if possible, its proceedings from being parliament. put an end to by an abrupt dissolution. When therefore certain bills were prepared for Cromwel's consent, a bill for renouncing Charles Stuart, a bill for securing the protector's person, a bill for abolishing the court of wards and liveries, with XXV. 1656. one other public, and several private bills, and he CHAP. was expected to meet them in the Painted Chamber for that purpose, a further act was prepared, and passed that very morning, importing that his assent to any bills now tendered to him, should not determine the session, and this act was the first of those presented on the occasion. The same apprehension of a premature dissolution discovered itself repeatedly in the course of the debates b. tions which might occa sion such a dissolution. It was surely a strange state of arbitrary go- Consideravernment, when it was daily to be feared, that the first magistrate should dissolve the parliament before any one measure of a financial nature had been perfected, and that of consequence the country should again return to the position in which it had twice before been placed, when an ordinance framed by the protector and council, with a first, second and third reading, should have the force of an act of parliament. This might however be necessary in the last resort, in a state of affairs in which it was held, alike by the members of the See above, p. 298. See Burton's Diary, Vol. I, p. 6 (Dec. 3), 39 (Dec. 6), 92 (Dec. 9), 321 (Jan. 8). The expression in the second of these places is, "the three days you have left," and in the third, "it being the last night of the natural life of the parliament." Upon what ground this calculation was made, it is not easy for us to explain. In the parliament of 1654, the "five months" limited by the Government of the Commonwealth, was interpreted by Cromwel to mean twenty weeks, but on the ninth of December this parliament would only have sat twelve weeks. IV. 1656. BOOK present government, and of the government that had so successfully conducted the interests of England for the last five years of the Long Parliament, to be the first and most indispensible condition of the public welfare, to provide against the restoration of the house of Stuart. 1657. Business transacted in the pre sent session. Observa. tions of Cromwel fects. The protector did not give his assent to any further bills, with the exception of the petition and advice on the twenty-fifth of May, till the ninth and twenty-sixth of June in the present year. The nature of the bills then passed will supply an idea of the business perfected in this session of parliament. They amounted to thirtyeight, public and private, passed on the first of these days, and twenty-three on the second". In the mean time there is another subject that seems to claim our prior attention. On the twenty-first of April Cromwel, as has been already said ", delivered to the committee of on its de- parliament two papers, containing observations on certain defects, which appeared to him to exist in the petition and advice that had been tendered to him for his acceptance. These observations display great subtlety of thinking, and clearness of apprehension. Limitations on the eligibility of members of parliament recommended by him. On the fourth article, relating to the qualifications of those persons, who, in point of loyalty, or of religion and morality, should be deemed admissible to a seat in parliament, or to places of XXV. 1657. public truste, he recommended, that a particular CHAP. proviso should be inserted against those in Scotland who had joined in Hamilton's invasion in 1648, or in Ireland who had engaged in Ormond's and Inchiquin's war against the parliament in 1649, unless they had since borne arms for the commonwealth, or had otherwise given signal testimony of their good affection to the state. to be en In the same article Cromwel objected against Eligibility the exclusion from parliament of public ministers larged. and preachers of the gospel, advising that it should be limited to such as derived a maintenance from their religious functions, or were pastors or teachers of congregations. Objects to ment of sioners with the appoint commis to prevent from sit ting. His next observation was certainly of some importance to the freedom and independence of parliaments. The petition and advice had provided that forty-one commissioners should be ap- a power pointed by act of parliament to examine the members qualifications of the persons returned to sit, and to suspend them, if they thought proper, till the house should decide upon their eligibility". Cromwel recommended that, instead of this, the person who improperly intruded himself, should be liable to be punished by fine or otherwise for his delinquency i See above, p. 354. 5 Ibid, p. 101. 'Monarchy Asserted, p. 99, 100, 101. Monarchy Asserted, p. 101, 102. |