BRITAIN. 



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reduced the king to subje ction ; and the leaders of j 

 the array fancied, that were he removed, the sovereign 

 power would immediately fall into their own hands. 

 Cromwell, equally noted for the dissimulation, the 

 dexterity, the vigour, and success of his conduct, ac- 

 quired an influence that nothing could resist. Under 

 his guidance, the army loudly declared for a common- 

 wealth ; and for the trial of the king, the invader of 

 his people's rights. The king was tried ; as might 

 have been foreseen, he was condemned ; and, in 1648, 

 was beheaded before his own palace. 



Cromwell's power in the army, and, consequently, 

 in the nation, was supreme. The success of his 

 schemes had, perhaps, exceeded his own expectation. 

 He was dazzled with the splendour of a high station ; 

 pleased with the exertion of authority ; and, conse- 

 quently, unwilling to abandon that which he had so 

 successfully acquired. The king had fallen before 

 him ; nothing remained but to annihilate the parlia- 

 ment. This, toCromwell, was no difficult undertaking. 

 He went at the head of a chosen party of soldiers, to 

 the place where they were assembled, told them that 

 " the Lord had no more occasion for them ;" turned 

 them out of the house, and carried the keys along 

 with him. 



Had Cromwell assumed the title of king, perhaps 

 all his abilities might not have been able to withstand 

 the fury of the party by which the very name of king 

 wis abhorred ; but he had too much knowledge of 

 human nature not to perceive that words have the 

 greatest influence in the conduct of men. He knew 

 he had the power of a king, and he was content with 

 the name of a protector. Under this appellation he 

 exercised a more unlimited authority than had ever 

 been exercised by any of the English monarchs. 

 During the whole of his administration, Cromwell 

 retained that vigour and decision which had been so 

 successful in his usurpation of power. He formed no 

 system of politics by which lie might regulate his 

 transactions with foreign nations ; but the promptitude 

 of his measures, and the terror of his fleets and armies, 

 rendered him no less respected abroad than he was at 

 home. After a short reign, during which he endured 

 all the miseries of grandeur, and the anxieties of dis- 

 trust, he died in 1 658. Cromwell had so firmly estab- 

 lished his authority, that his son, Richard, was called 

 to assume the authority of the protector ; but Richard's 

 temper was totally unlike that of his father. He pre- 

 ferred the calm of private life to the turbulence of 

 power and the cares of ambition. The republican 

 party soon perceived, that Richard could not> like his 

 father, render himself dreadful to them. They began, 

 therefore, to resume the power which they had for- 

 merly possessed ; and to introduce that anarchy by 

 which the nation had formerly been convulsed. In 

 such revolutions, the opinion of the people at large is 

 seldom consulted. Harassed by commotions which 

 had long prevailed, the nation hated equally the ty- 

 ranny ota protector, and the anarchy of a pretended 

 republic. The restoration of their old constitution, 

 and of their former race of monarchs, was the general 

 desire. Taking advantage of this prevalent disposi- 

 tion, general Monk, who had commanded under 

 Cromwell, and who was now at the head of a consid- 

 erable force, formed the resolution of restoring diaries, 

 son of Charles I. Monk was compelled to temporize, 

 lest the republicans should suspect his designs ; but 

 such was the caution with which he took his measures, 

 and such the general disposition of the nation, that, in 

 16GO, Charles was recalled and placed on the throne, 

 under the name of Charles II. In the measures of a 

 crowd there is seldom moderation ; and such, on this 

 occasion, was the enthusiasm of loyalty, that the king 

 was restored to the throne without any restraint upon 

 his authority, and without any attempt to define the 



prerogatives of the crown, and the privileges of the 

 people. 



Charles II. seems to have profited little by his fa- 

 ther's misfortunes. More attached to the pleasures of 

 b'fe, than anxious faithfully to discharge the duties of 

 his office, he appears to have considered sovereignty 

 chiefly as an acquisition by which he could, with more 

 ease, indulge himself in licentiousness and profligacy. 

 Had the house of commons been sufficiently liberal in 

 their grants, and not very scrupulous in demanding 

 an account of the manner in which these grants were 

 expended, Charles would, perhaps, have permitted 

 them to conduct the affairs of the nation in the way 

 most agreeably to themsel ves. But the commons were 

 parsimonious. The king, resolved on satisfying every 

 passion, scrupled not, in order to obtain money, to 

 adopt the most illegal measures. The parliament be- 

 gan once more to express that jealousy of the kingly 

 prerogatives, which had formerly involved the nation 

 in so much confusion . The king continually demanded 

 supplies ; the parliament answered him by remon- 

 strances regarding his conduct. The duke of York, 

 brother to the king, and apparent heir to the crown, 

 had openly declared himself a Roman Catholic ; a 

 circumstance than which nothing could more excite 

 the national terror. The commons persisted in with- 

 holding supplies ; the king became daily more needy, 

 more peevish, and less scrupulous in his conduct; 

 and, at length, perceiving that he was to expect from 

 his parliament only reproaches, he dismissed it, re- 

 solving never to assemble another; and, from that 

 moment, managed the reins of government in a man- 

 ner altogether arbitrary. 



The English, and, indeed, every nation of Europe, 

 at this time, seem to have been anxious to humble the 

 growing power of France ; but, in this respect, the 

 opinion of Charles was different from that of his people. 

 The French monarch supplied Charles with money, 

 of which he was continually in want, and thus en- 

 gaged him in hostilities with Holland. The naval 

 power of the Dutch was, at that time, truly formid- 

 able. Only the English could pretend to rival them 

 at sea. Many engagements were fought with uncom- 

 mon obstinacy, and consummate skill ; and, though 

 the Dutch, seizing a favourable opportunity, sailed up 

 the Thames, and insulted their enemy in their own 

 harbours, the naval strength of the English was gra- 

 dually acquiring an irresistible superiority, and estab- 

 lishing that power which has since become altogether 

 unequalled. 



Charles died in 1684 ; and, as he left behind him 

 no lawful issue, his brother, the duke of York, suc- 

 ceeded to the throne, under the name of James II. 

 During the life of Charles, James had always asserted 

 the doctrine of passive obedience ; and that he might 

 the more evince his sincerity, he practised in his life 

 that doctrine of which he inculcated the belief. 

 What he so willingly had yielded to his sovereign, he 

 hoped his subjects would have no aversion to yield to 

 himself; and he proceeded to act with all the perverse 

 obstinacy of a narrow mind. To render himself still 

 more odious, he exerted that power which he pretended 

 to be unlimited, in a design, than which no other could 

 be more generally abhorred : he laboured to establish 

 in his dominions the Catholic faith. His design was 

 opposed with a vigour which ought to have convinced 

 him that it was impracticable ; but opposition served 

 only to exasperate his measures, and to render him 

 more obstinate. Matters soon came to such a situa- 

 tion, that it was evident that the monarch intended to 

 establish Popery at the risk of his own ruin. In this 

 extremity, the nation turned their eyes to William, 

 prince of Orange, celebrated for his military capacity 

 and his political virtues. Though this prince was 

 nephew, as well as son-in-law, to James, he engrrly 



