

HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



he advanced through a deserted country to Edin- 

 burgh, and found the Scottish army under General 

 Leslie in a fortified camp. His army suffering 

 from sickness and want of provisions, he retreated, 

 followed by Leslie, to D unbar, when it seemed 

 likely he would be compelled to surrender. In 

 the midst of his perplexities (September 3), he 

 beheld the Scots, who had been stimulated to 

 move by the Presbyterian clergy in the camp, 

 advancing from the neighbouring heights to give 

 him battle, and, in a transport of joy, exclaimed : 

 ' The Lord hath delivered them into our hands ! ' 

 In the fight which ensued, the veteran troops of 

 Cromwell proved victorious. The Scots fled in 

 consternation and confusion, leaving 3000 dead 

 and 10,000 prisoners. This gained for Cromwell 

 the possession of the capital and of all the south- 

 east provinces. 



Cromwell spent a whole year in the country, 

 vainly endeavouring to bring on another action. 

 During the interval (January I, 1651), the Scots 

 crowned the young king at Scone. In the ensuing 

 summer, Charles marched suddenly with a body 

 of troops he had collected into England, and 

 made a very threatening advance upon the capital. 

 Ere the royalists had time to rally around him, 

 Cromwell overtook Charles at Worcester, where, 

 after a stoutly contested fight (September 3, 1651), 

 he proved completely victorious. Charles, after 

 many wanderings and numerous hairbreadth 

 escapes, reached Fecamp in Normandy, and 

 Scotland submitted to the conqueror. The 

 country was finally reduced by an army under 

 General Monk, and in a short time was declared 

 by proclamation to be united with England. Thus 

 was Cromwell, who, after Worcester, proclaimed 

 an amnesty, left without a single armed enemy. 



THE PROTECTORATE. 



The republican leaders now resolved upon 

 commencing hostilities against Holland, which 

 had offended them on various grounds. In the 

 summer of 1652, the Dutch fleet, under its famous 

 commanders, Van Tromp, De Ruyter, and De 

 Witt, had several encounters with the English 

 ships, under Admirals Blake and Ayscue, without 

 any decided success on either side. But in the 

 ensuing spring, an action was fought between 

 Blake and Van Tromp, in which the latter lost 

 eleven ships. The Dutch then sued for peace, 

 which the Rump Parliament did not wish to grant, 

 from a conviction that the war tended to restrict 

 the power of the army and Cromwell. Cromwell, 

 perceiving their design, proceeded with 300 soldiers 

 to the House (April 20, 1653), and entering with 

 marks of the most violent indignation, loaded the 

 members with reproaches for their robbery and 

 oppression of the public ; then stamping with his 

 foot, he gave signal for the soldiers to enter, and 

 addressing himself to the members, ' For shame !' 

 said he ; ' get you gone ! Give place to honester 

 men ! I tell you, you are no longer a parliament : 

 the Lord has done with you ! ' He then com- 

 manded ' that bauble ' meaning the mace to be 

 taken away, turned out the members, and, locking 

 the door, returned to Whitehall with the key in 

 his pocket. 



Being still willing to keep up the appearance of 

 a representative government, Cromwell summoned 

 144 persons in England, Ireland, and Scotland, 



to assemble as a parliament. These individuals, 

 chiefly remarkable for fanaticism and ignorance, 

 were denominated the Barebones Parliament, from 

 the name of one of the members, a leather-seller, 

 whose assumed name, by a ridiculous usage of the 

 age, was Praise-God Barebones. As the assembly 

 obtained no public respect, Cromwell took an 

 early opportunity of dismissing it His officers 

 then constituted him (December 16, 1653) PRO- 

 TECTOR of the Commonwealth of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, with most of the prerogatives of the 

 late king. 



The war against Holland was still carried on 

 with great spirit It resulted ultimately in the 

 triumph of the English, and the complete humilia- 

 tion of the Dutch, who obtained peace on the 

 condition of paying homage to the English flag, 

 expelling the young king from their dominiqr^, 

 and paying a compensation for certain losse. ;o 

 the East India Company. In a war which *p 

 subsequently made against Spain, the fleets of ti 

 Protector, under Blake, performed some exploits 

 of not less importance, among other things, 

 capturing the island of Jamaica. But while 

 generally successful abroad, he experienced un- 

 ceasing difficulties in the management of affairs 

 at home. The pure Republicans detested him, 

 and his own officers could scarcely be kept in 

 subordination ; while the royalists, on the other 

 hand, never ceased to conspire for his destruction. 



The last parliament called by Cromwell met in 

 January 1658 ; when, besides the Commons, he 

 summoned the few remaining peers, and en- 

 deavoured, by ennobling some of his officers, to 

 make up a kind of Upper House. This assembly 

 proved as intractable as its predecessors, and he 

 dissolved it with the words : ' Let God judge 

 between you and me.' His health sank under the 

 various worries and labours of his life. Finally 

 he succumbed to an attack of ague, on the 3d Sep- 

 tember 1658, the anniversary of two of his greatest 

 victories, Dunbar and Worcester. His eldest son, 

 Richard, a docile young man of little or no ability, 

 quietly succeeded him as Protector, and was 

 at first treated with respect ; but he could not 

 long maintain his authority, being despised by 

 the army. He quietly slunk out of public view, 

 leaving the supreme authority to be bandied about 

 for some time between the Rump and the officers 

 of the army, of whom General John Lambert 

 was the chief. Richard Cromwell lived partly 

 abroad and partly at Cheshunt, dying there in 

 1712. 



RESTORATION DUTCH WAR. 



The bulk of the people of England had been 

 by this time thoroughly disgusted with irregular 

 governments by adventurers, and longed for the 

 restoration of the old monarchy. Aware of this 

 sentiment, General Monk left Scotland with his 

 troops, and, reaching London (February 3, 1660), 

 caused a free parliament to be assembled. By 

 this body, notwithstanding some opposition from 

 the Cromwellian officers, the king was invited to 

 return. On the 2gth of May, being his thirtieth 

 birthday, Charles II. entered London amidst such 

 frantic demonstrations of public joy, that he could 

 not help thinking it his own fault, as he said, that 

 he had been so long separated from his people. 



One of the first measures of the new monarch 



149 



