BRITAIN. 



rita!n. 



Govern- 

 ment of 

 Stetland. 



Revenue 

 and mili- 

 tary esta- 

 blishment 



in Scot laud. 



Ooreru. 

 rient of 

 fceland. 



Another 



parliament 



tnmmoned. 



gest his usurpation were mutually attached to him ; 

 but he tolerated all sects except prelatists and papists. 

 Ae he found many enemies among the military, though 

 the army in the main supported his power, he esta- 

 blished a militia over the counties, to form a check to 

 that formidable body. 



, Scotland was governed by a council of state, of 

 which Lord Broghill was president, appointed to re- 

 side in Scotland subordinate to the protector and his 

 English council, and strictly responsible to the for- 

 mer. Of nine members, only two were Scotsmen. 

 Its powers, which were more extensive than those of 

 the privy council, comprehended the civil administra. 

 tion, the disposal of the revenue, and the nomination 

 f inferior judges. The people, however, had no 

 share or intercut in the government. To Barebones 

 parliament only five Scotch members were summoned ; 

 and though by the instrument of government, which 

 first declared Cromwell protector, 20 Scotch repre- 

 sentatives were appointed, yet in succeeding parlia- 

 ments the representatives were either English officers 

 or temporizing Scotsmen, in whom the protector 

 could confide. 



Cromwell's military establishment in Scotland 

 amounted, during the insurrection of Middleton, to 

 18,000 men, but was reduced to 9,000, exclusive of 

 some considerable garrisons. Twenty-eight garri- 

 sons were maintained in the forts and castles, but 

 the principal forces were stationed at JLeith, Ayr, In- 

 verness, and Glasgow, where citadels were erected, 

 and at Inverlochy castle, which overawed the High- 

 lands. An annual land-tax of 120,000 sterling was 

 first imposed, but found intolerable, and reduced to 

 72,000. In 1656, the Scottish customs amounted 

 to $,&yi, and the excise to ji34,313; but they 

 increased in three years, by diligent collection, to 

 62,000 sterling. The public revenue at Crom- 

 well's death was lkS>,6i2; the expenditure, civil 

 and military, j286,458. The annual balance, 

 142,806, was remitted from England so far was 

 Scotland from being a lucrative conquest. The de- 

 cision^ of Cromwell's judges in Scotland, of whom 

 four out of seven were English, were long remem- 

 bered as the purest and most vigorous dispensations 

 of justice which the nation had enjoyed. 



The administration of Ireland, which was entrust- 

 ed to the fanatic Fleetwood, was more violent and 

 severe. About five millions of acres, forfeited by 

 the popish rebels or by the adherents of the king, 

 were divided among Cromwell's soldiers, and partly 

 among the adventurers, who had lent money to the 

 parliament. Examples of a more sudden or violent 

 change of property, are scarcely to be found in any 

 history. 



After establishing a government so much feared 

 both at home and abroad, Cromwell thought he 

 might now venture to meet the representatives of the 

 people, and summoned another parliament. But 

 -though he tried every art which his new model of 

 representation allowed him, to have his creatures 

 elected, it was only by setting guards at the door of 

 the house, and permitting none to enter who did not 

 recognise his authority, that a servile majority could 

 be procured. From these, indeed, on the motion 

 f alderman Pack, alter the suggestion of Jephson, 



Bntal 



he received an offer of the crown, which it is well 

 known he wished to have been pressed upon his 

 scruples and timidity. But, independent of the ven- CoM: 

 geance of the army, and of Lambert, Harrison, and * 

 other general officers, whose dismission he meditated, 

 he feared the enmity and alienation of many who 

 were most devoted to him, if he should betray his Cromw 

 ambition by this acceptance. Fleetwood, who had rcfusee ' 

 married his daughter, and Desbrowe, who had mar- ,yhi^h\ 

 ried his sister, threatened to abandon him if he as tenders. 

 sumed the crown. A mutiny in the army might by the] 

 be looked to as the consequence ; and assassination, Hameut 

 it is said, was determinedly prepared for him. After 

 a long and doubtful agony, Cromjvell refused the 

 crown, though solemnly tendered to him. 



The protectorship had been first sanctioned by Change 

 what was called an instrument of government. The llle con 

 present parliament new-modelled the constitution, by tutlOB - 

 framing an humble petition and advice. By this 

 deed, the powers of the protector were in gome in- 

 stances enlarged, in others diminished. He had the 

 power of nominating his successor ; he had a perpe- 

 tual revenue assigned to him ; a million a year for 

 the pay of the fleet and army ; 300,000f. for the ci- 

 vil government ; and he had authority to name ano- 

 ther house, who should enjoy their seats during life, 

 and exercise some functions of the former House of 

 Peers. But he abandoned the power of framing laws 

 with his council in the intervals of parliament. He 

 was inaugurated anew, in Westminster Hall, in the 

 most solemn manner. 



The state of domestic affairs did not take off his Affair:! 

 attention from those abroad. He supported an alii- 'he co:< 

 ance which he had formed with Sweden, and joining 

 with France against Spain, he sent 6000 men, under 

 General Reynolds, to the continent, who did honour 

 to the military character of England. After the de- 

 cisive victory of Dunes, Dunkirk was delivered to 

 Cromwell, who put an English garrison into it. 



The system of his foreign politics was bold but 

 unwise ; had he lived longer, he would probably 

 have been the accessary means of accomplishing, a 

 century sooner than it has happened, that conquest 

 of the low countries by France, which has been since 

 followed by the subjugation of Europe. Amidst 

 this success and splendour, he was conscious of being 

 secretly detested, and his situation became every 

 day more alarming. A conspiracy of the royalists, Com 

 which Ormond came over to foment, was indeed de r j cs ' 

 tected, and Ormond was obliged to fly ; but the spi. *" 

 rit of discontent was not eradicated by the punish- 

 ment of those who were convicted. Harrison, Lam- 

 bert, and the other discarded officers of the army, 

 and the whole sect of the Milltnarians, were che- 

 rishing plans for his destruction ; and Sindercome, 

 who had undertaken to assassinate him, was with dif- 

 ficulty condemned by a jury. He had not even do- 

 mestic consolation ; for his own family had so vehe- 

 mently embraced republican principles, that they 

 could not, without indignation, behold him invested 

 with despotism ; and Mrs Claypole, his favourite 

 daughter, upbraided him on her death-bed with all 

 the crimes of his ambition. A pamphlet, of un- 

 common eloquence, entitled, " Killing no Murdtr," 

 was written by Colonel Titus, to prove, that hi* w- 



