[1653 A.D.] to do, but our eye is towards thee !' We hope that God, in his great and free goodness, will not forsake his people; and that we may be fitted and used as instruments in his hand, that all oppressing yokes may be broken, and all burdens removed, and the loins also of the poor and needy may be filled with blessing; that all nations may turn their swords and spears into plough-shares and pruning-hooks, that the wolf may feed with the lamb, and the earth be full of the knowledge of God, as waters cover the sea. This is all we say, if this undertaking be from God, let him prosper and bless it, and let every one take heed of fighting against God; but if not, let it fall, though we fall before it." Thus strengthened and confident, they set to work finally to effect those reforms which had been so long and so earnestly desired. Twelve committees were appointed for this purpose. The ardour and assiduity of these committees, and of the parliament itself, in their respective labours, were great. The parliament voted that it would meet at eight o'clock in the morning of every day in the week, excepting Sunday. A sincere zeal animated the assembly; questions and considerations of private interest had but little influence in their deliberations; like bold and honest men, their only thought was how they might best serve and reform the state. But two contingencies which popular reformers never foresee, obstacles and speculative theories, soon arose. In order to accomplish great reforms in a great society, without destroying its peace, the legislator must possess extraordinary wisdom and a high position: reforms, when they originate with the lower classes, are inseparable from revolutions. The parliament of Cromwell's election was neither sufficiently enlightened, nor sufficiently influential to reform English society, without endangering its tranquillity; and as, at the same time, it was neither so insane, nor so perverse, nor so strong, as blindly to destroy instead of reforming, it soon became powerless, in spite of its honesty and courage, and ridiculous, because it combined earnestness with impotence. It found, however, one part of its task in a very advanced state: the two committees which the Long Parliament had appointed in 1651 for the purpose of preparing a scheme of law-reform, had left a large body of materials, in which most of the questions mooted were solved, and the solutions even given at length. Twenty-one bills were ready prepared to receive the force of laws by the vote of the house. After long debates, however, four measures of reform were alone carried; one to place under the control of the civil magistrates, the celebration and registration of marriages, and the registration of births and deaths; the other three, for the relief of creditors and poor prisoners for debt, for the abolition of certain fines, and for the redress of certain delays in procedure. The collection of taxes, the concentration of all the revenues of the state in one public treasury, and the administration of the army and navy, also formed the subject of regulations which put an end to grave abuses. The question of the distribution of confiscated lands in Ireland, first among the subscribers to the various public loans, and then among the disbanded 'The condition of the law was in itself certainly bad enough, but they regarded it as a perfect Augean stable. There were said to be not less than twenty-three thousand causes pending in the court of chancery, some of which had been there twenty, others thirty years; the expenses were enormous; the justice of the decisions was suspicious. The whole body of the law itself being in their eyes a mere chaos of confusion, made up of traditions, statutes and decisions, often obscure, often contradictory, it was deemed the wisest course to do away with it altogether, and form out of it a reasonable code which might be comprised in a pocketvolume and be accessible to all men, and not be a mystery confined to a few. A committee was appointed to effect this, and a commencement was made with the articles "Treason" and Murder." In matters of religion one of the first points which presented itself was that of advowsons. Nothing seemed to be (perhaps nothing is) more adverse to the spirit of true reli gion, than that a layman, merely as the owner of land, should have the right of imposing a religious teacher on a parish, and could even sell that right like any other species of property. It was therefore resolved that the right of presentation should be taken away, and that the parishioners should be empowered to choose their own pastors. — KEIGHTLEY.S [1653 A.D.] officers and soldiers, was finally settled. The salaries of the persons employed in several departments of the public service were reduced; and serious and persevering efforts were made to meet all the expenses, and discharge all the liabilities of the state. But, when it came to treat of really great political questions, when it was in presence of the obstacles and enemies which those questions raised up against it, then the insufficiency of its information, its chimerical ideas, its anarchical tendencies, its internal dissensions, and the weakness of its position, became fully apparent. Not only were their innovations naturally opposed by those classes whose interests would be seriously affected by their adoption, by the clergy, the lay impropriators, the magistrates, the lawyers, and all the professions dependent on these; but they interfered, more or less directly, with those rights of property and hereditary succession which could not be infringed upon, even in the slightest degree, without shaking the whole framework of society. Accordingly, whenever these vital questions were mooted, a deep schism arose in the parliament. But the reformers, wilfully or blindly obedient to the revolutionary spirit, required that, in the first instance, the innovations which they demanded should be resolved upon, and the principle which they involved be absolutely admitted, and that the house should then inquire what was to be done to fill up the vacancies, and repair the losses which they had occasioned. Irritated at resistance, the revolutionary spirit became increasingly manifest; strange propositions multiplied — some of them puerile, as this, "that all who have applied for offices shall be incapable of public employment"; others menacing, not only to the higher classes, but to all who had a settled occupation, from the demagogic and destructive mysticism which they exhibited. Although strongly opposed in their progress through parliament, these propositions were always sooner or later adopted; for the zealous and mystical sectaries, with Major-General Harrison at their head, daily obtained a greater preponderance in the house. From their friends out of doors they received impetuous encouragement and support: all questions, whether political or religious, which at any time occupied the attention of parliament, were discussed at the same time by meetings of private citizens, unlimited as to numbers, unrestricted as to ideas and language. Two Anabaptist preachers, Christopher Feake and Vavasor Powell, may be particularly mentioned. These eloquent enthusiasts held meetings every Monday at Blackfriars, which were crowded by multitudes of hearers, mutually encouraging one another to a spirit of opposition and revolution. At these meetings, foreign politics were treated of, as well as home affairs, with equal violence and even greater ignorance. Cromwell was an attentive observer of these disorders and conflicts. It was in the name and with the support of the reforming sectaries that he had expelled the Long Parliament, and assumed possession of the supreme power. But he had quickly perceived that such innovators, though useful instruments of destruction, were destructive to the very power they had established; and that the classes among whom conservative interests prevailed, were the natural and permanent allies of authority. Besides, he was influenced by no principles or scruples powerful enough to prevent him, when occasion required, from changing his conduct and seeking out other friends. To govern was his sole aim; whoever stood in the way of his attainment of the reins of government, or of his continuance at the head of the state, was his adversary-he had no friends but his agents. The landed proprietors, the clergy, and the lawyers, had need of him, and were ready to support him if he would defend [1653 A.D.] them: he made an alliance with them, thus completely changing his position, and becoming an aristocrat and conservative instead of a democrat and revolutionist. But he was an able and prudent man, and he knew the art of breaking with old allies only so far as suited his purpose, and of humouring them even when he intended to break with them. He sent for the principal leaders of the sectaries, the Anabaptist preacher, Feake, among others; upbraided them with the blind violence of their opposition which, both at home and abroad, tended only to the advantage of their common enemies, and declared that they would be responsible for all the consequences that might ensue. He dismissed them without further rebuke. But his resolution was taken; and, in his soul, the fate of a parliament in which such persons had so much influence, was irrevocably determined. On Monday, the 12th of December, 1653, a number of members devoted to Cromwell, were observed to enter the house of commons at an unusually early hour. No sooner had prayers been said, than Colonel Sydenham rose and made a most violent attack upon the measures of the parliament, particularly of a majority of its members. "They aimed," he went on to say, "at no less than destroying the clergy, the law, and the property of the subject. Their purpose was to take away the law of the land, and the birthrights of Englishmen, for which all had so long been contending with their blood, and to substitute in their room a code, modelled on the law of Moses, and which was adapted only for the nation of the Jews. In these circumstances, he could no longer satisfy himself to sit in that house; and he moved that the continuance of this parliament, as now constituted, would not be for the good of the commonwealth; and that, therefore, it was requisite that the house, in a body, should repair to the lord-general, to deliver back into his hands the powers which they had received from him." Colonel Sydenham's motion was at once seconded by Sir Charles Wolseley, a gentleman of Oxfordshire, and one of Cromwell's confidants. THOMAS SYDENHAM (1624-1689) Notwithstanding their surprise and indignation, the reformers defended themselves. The debate promised to be of considerable duration. The issue seemed exceedingly doubtful. Rous, the speaker, suddenly left the chair, and broke up the sitting. The serjeant took up the mace and carried it before him, as he left the hall. About forty members followed him, and they proceeded together towards Whitehall. Thirty or thirty-five members |