[1657 A.D.]

the major-generals remained exposed to actions at law for their previous conduct.

While this bill was pending, a plot to murder the protector was discovered. The agent was Miles Syndercomb, who had been a quartermaster in Monk's army, but had been dismissed for his share in Overton's plot. Sexby, when last in England, had arranged the plan with him, and there can be no doubt that Charles and his court knew and approved of it. The death of Cromwell was to be the signal for the rising of the levellers and royalists, and the invasion from Flanders. Syndercomb and another named Cecil bribed Tooke, a life-guardsman, to give them information of the places where Cromwell was to pass, intending to shoot him from a window; but something always occurred to frustrate them, and at Wildman's suggestion they altered their plan. One evening at six o'clock (January 9th, 1657), they entered the chapel at Whitehall, and having set a basket of combustibles in one of the pews, lighted a slow match, calculated for six hours; but as they were coming out they were all seized, for Tooke had betrayed them. Cecil told all he knew, which only amounted to this, that some persons in the palace were to kill Cromwell in the confusion. Syndercomb was tried and condemned for high treason (February 9th); he would give no information, and he was found dead in his bed a few hours before the time appointed for his execution (13th). The royalists and levellers maintained that he had been strangled by Cromwell's orders; the verdict of the jury was suicide by snuffing up a poisonous powder.

The pulse of the house on the subject of kingship having been felt after the discovery of this plot, about a month later (February 23rd), Alderman Pack rose and presented a paper, called "A Humble Address and Remonstrance,' protesting against the present uncertain form of government, and calling on the protector to assume a higher title. The officers instantly rose in a great heat, and Pack was borne down to the bar; but order being restored, and Lord Broghill, with Glyn, Whitelocke, and the lawyers and dependents of the court supporting Pack, the paper was read, and it was resolved to take it into consideration. It was debated, article by article, and at length adopted under the title of "The Humble Petition and Advice."

The only opposition which Cromwell had to fear was that of the army, in which interest swayed some, fanaticism others, to oppose it. Lambert, in particular, was against it; for being the second person in the country and a vain ambitious man, he looked forward to being the next protector. His proposal to the officers was, to bring up five regiments of cavalry and compel the house to confirm the "instrument" and the establishment of major-generals. They hesitated however to adopt this bold measure, and he then withdrew from their councils. The inferior officers also held meetings, and they sent (on the 28th) one hundred of their number to inform the protector of their sentiments. He reminded them that at one time they had offered him the title of king; he said he had always been the drudge of the officers; that the parliament had been called contrary to his judgment, that it required to be controlled, which could only be done by enlarging the authority of the protector. Several were convinced by his reasons, but they had no effect on the majority. They, however, agreed that if the question of the title were kept to be last considered, they would make no opposition to those of his being empowered to name his successor, and of the parliament's consisting of two houses as he proposed.

On the 25th of March the title of king was voted, and six days after a committee waited on the protector with The Humble Petition and Advice. He spoke of the "consternation of his mind" at the offer, and requested time "to ask

[1657 A.D.]

counsel of God and his own heart"; at the same time approving of everything but the new title to be given to himself. At his desire, a committee was appointed to hear and resolve his scruples. After various conferences, he owned (Apr. 20th) that his doubts were removed, and at length he appointed a day (May 6th) to meet the parliament, when it was fully expected that he would accept the royal title.

Cromwell had vainly sought to gain his brother and son-in-law, Desborough and Fleetwood, over to his design. They now told him that they must resign their commissions; and Desborough having informed Pride of what Cromwell was about to do, the latter cried out, "He shall not." When asked how he could prevent it, he said by a petition signed by the officers: they approved of his plan, and went straight to Doctor Owen, and prevailed on him to draw up one without delay.

The 8th was the day finally fixed for the protector to meet the parliament. On the morning of that day, Colonel Mason and six-and-twenty other officers came and presented the petition, in which they asserted that the design of those who urged the general to take the title of king was to destroy him and bring the nation under the old servitude, and prayed the parliament to continue steady to the old cause, for which they themselves were willing to lay down their lives. i

CROMWELL REFUSES THE TITLE AND IS

INAUGURATED PROTECTOR

This bold step subdued the reluctance of the protector. He abandoned the lofty hopes to which he had so long, so pertinaciously clung, despatched Fleetwood to the house to prevent a debate, and shortly afterwards summoned the members to meet him at Whitehall. Addressing

them with more than his usual embarrassment, CAVALIER OF THE SEVENTEENTH he said, that neither his own reflections nor the reasoning of the committee had convinced him

CENTURY

that he ought to accept the title of king. If he were to accept it, it would be doubtingly; if he did it doubtingly, it would not be of faith; and if it were not of faith, it would be a sin. "Wherefore," he concluded, "I cannot undertake this government with that title of king, and this is mine answer to this great and weighty business."

Thus ended the mighty farce which for more than two months held in suspense the hopes and fears of three nations. But the friends of Cromwell resumed the subject in parliament. It was observed that he had not refused to administer the government under any other title; the name of king was expunged for that of protector; and with this and a few more amendments, the Humble Petition and Advice received the sanction of the chief magistrate. The inauguration followed. On the platform, raised at the upper end of Westminster Hall, and in front of a magnificent chair of state, stood the protector; while the speaker, with his assistants, invested him with a purple mantle lined with ermine, presented him with a bible superbly gilt and embossed, girt a sword by his side, and placed a sceptre of massive gold in his hand. At a signal given, the trumpet sounded; the heralds proclaimed the

[1657 A.D.]

style of the new sovereign; and the spectators shouted, "Long live his highness; God save the lord-protector." He rose immediately, bowed to the ambassadors, and walked in state through the hall to his carriage. Most of the officers took the oath of fidelity to the protector. Lambert refused, and resigned his commissions, which brought him about six thousand pounds per annum. Cromwell, however, assigned to him a yearly pension of two thousand pounds.

That which distinguished the present from the late form of government was the return which it made towards the more ancient institutions of the country. That return, indeed, had wrung from Cromwell certain concessions repugnant to his feelings and ambition, but to which he probably was reconciled by the consideration that in the course of a few years they might be modified or repealed. The supreme authority was vested in the protector; but, instead of rendering it hereditary in his family, the most which he could obtain was the power of nominating his immediate successor. The two houses of parliament were restored; but, as if it were meant to allude to his past conduct, he was bound to leave to the house of commons the right of examining the qualifications and determining the claims of the several representatives.

To him was given the power of nominating the members of the "other house" (he dared not yet term it the house of lords); but, in the first instance, the persons so nominated were to be approved by the house of representatives, and afterwards by the other house itself. In the appointment of councillors, the great officers of state, and the commanders of the forces, many of the restrictions sought to be introduced by the Long Parliament were enforced. In point of religion, it was enacted that a confession of faith should be agreed upon between the protector and the two houses; but that dissenters from it should enjoy liberty of conscience, and the free exercise of their worship, unless they should reject the mystery of the Trinity, or the inspiration of the Scriptures, or profess prelatic, or popish, or blasphemous doctrines. The yearly revenue was fixed at one million three hundred thousand pounds, of which no part was to be raised by a land-tax; and of this sum one million was devoted to the support of the army and navy, and three hundred thousand pounds to the expenses of the civil list; but, on the remonstrance of the protector, that with so small a revenue it would be impossible to continue the war, an additional grant of six hundred thousand pounds was voted for the three following years. After the inauguration, the commons adjourned during six months, that time might be allowed for the formation of the "other house."1

The failure of the Syndercomb conspiracy would not have prevented the intended invasion by the royal army from Flanders, had not Charles been disappointed in his expectations from another quarter. No reasoning, no entreaty, could quicken the characteristic slowness of the Spanish ministers. But Sexby's impatience refused to submit to these delays; his fierce and implacable spirit could not be satisfied without the life of the protector. A tract had been recently printed in Holland, entitled Killing No Murder, which, from the powerful manner in which it was written, made a deeper impression on the public mind than any other literary production of the age. After an address to Cromwell, and another to the army, both conceived in a strain of the most poignant and sarcastic irony, it proceeds to discuss the three

In a catalogue printed at the time, the names were given of one hundred and eighty-two members of this parliament, who, it was pretended, were sons, kinsmen, servants, and other. wise engaged unto, and had places of profit, offices, salaries, and advantages, under the protector," sharing annually among them out of the public money the incredible sum of one mil. lion sixteen thousand three hundred and seventeen pounds, sixteen shillings, and eight pence.

[1657 A.D.]

questions: Whether the lord-protector be a tyrant? Whether it be lawful to do justice on him by killing him? and, Whether this, if it be lawful, will prove of benefit to the commonwealth? Having determined each question in the affirmative, it concludes with an eulogium on the bold and patriotic spirit of Syndercomb, the rival of Brutus and Cato, and a warning that the protector's own muster-roll contains the names of those who aspire to the honour of delivering their country; that his highness is not secure at his table or in his bed; that death is at his heels wherever he moves, and that though his head reaches the clouds, he shall perish like his own dung, and they that have seen him shall exclaim, Where is he?

Of this tract thousands of copies were sent by Sexby into England; and, though many were seized by the officers, yet many found their way into circulation. Having obtained a sum of one thousand four hundred crowns, he followed the books to organise new plots against the life of the protector. But by this time he was too well known. All his steps in Holland were watched; his departure for England was announced; emissaries were despatched in every direction; and within a few weeks he was apprehended and incarcerated in the Tower. There he discovered, probably feigned, symptoms of insanity. He was never brought to trial, but died, probably by violence, in the sixth month of his imprisonment.1

VICTORY AND DEATH OF BLAKE (1657 A.D.)

During the winter Blake continued to blockade Cadiz: in the spring he learned that the Plate fleet from Peru had sought an asylum in the harbour of Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe. There the merchantmen, ten in number, were moored close to the shore, in the form of a crescent; while the six galleons in their front formed a parallel line at anchor in deeper water. The entrance of the bay was commanded by the guns of the castle; seven batteries erected at intervals along the beach protected the rest of the harbour; and these were connected with each other by covered ways lined with musketry. Blake examined the defences, and, according to custom, proclaimed a solemn fast. At eight on the morning of April 20th, 1657, Stayner took the lead in a frigate; the admiral followed in the larger ships; and the whole fleet availing itself of a favourable wind, entered the harbour under a tremendous shower of balls and shells. The Spaniards, though few in number of ships, were superior in that of men; their hopes were supported by the aid which they received from the land; and during four hours they fought with the most determined bravery. Driven from the galleons, the crews retreated to the second line of merchantmen, and renewed the contest till they were finally compelled to save themselves on the shore.

At two in the afternoon every Spanish ship was in possession of the English, and in flames. Still there remained the difficulty of working the fleet out of the harbour in the teeth of the gale. About sunset they were out of reach of the guns from the forts; the wind, by a miracle, as Blake persuaded himself, veered to the south-west, and the conquerors proceeded triumphantly out to sea. This gallant action, though it failed of securing the treasure which the protector chiefly sought, raised the reputation of Blake in every part of Europe. Unfortunately the hero himself lived not to receive the congratulations of his country. He had been during a great part of three years at sea;

'Clarendon assures us that Sexby was an illiterate person, which is a sufficient proof that he was not the real author of the tract, though he acknowledged it for his own in the Tower, probably to deceive the protector. By most historians it has been attributed to Captain Titus.

[1657 A.D.] the scurvy and dropsy wasted his constitution; and he expired August 7th, 1657, in his fifty-ninth year, as his ship, the St. George, entered the harbour of Plymouth.

Blake had served with distinction in the army during the civil war; and the knowledge of his talents and integrity induced the parliamentary leaders to entrust him with the command of the fleet. For maritime tactics he relied on the experience of others; his plans and his daring were exclusively his own. He may claim the peculiar praise of having dispelled an illusion which had hitherto cramped the operations of the British navy - a persuasion that it was little short of madness to expose a ship at sea to the fire from a battery on shore. Though Cromwell prized his services, he doubted his attachment. But he publicly acknowledged his merit, honouring his bones with a funeral at the national expense, and ordering them to be interred at Westminster, in Henry the Seventh's chapel. In the next reign the coffin was taken from the vault, and deposited in the churchyard.

The reader is aware of Cromwell's anxiety to form a more intimate alliance with Louis XIV. For this purpose Lockhart, one of the Scottish judges, who had married his niece, and received knighthood at his hand, proceeded to France. After some discussion, a treaty, to last twelve months, was concluded. To avoid disputes, the treaty was written in the Latin language, and the precedency was given to Louis in one copy, to Cromwell in the other. Sir John Reynolds landed at Calais with an auxiliary force of six thousand men, one half in the pay of the king, the other half in that of the protector. But as an associate in the war, Cromwell demanded a share in the spoil, and that share was nothing less than the possession of Mardyke and Dunkirk, as soon as they could be reduced by the allies. To this proposal the strongest opposition had been made in the French cabinet. Louis was reminded of the injuries which the English, the natural enemies of France, had inflicted on the country in the reigns of his predecessors. Dunkirk would prove a second Calais; it would open to a foreign foe the way into the heart of his dominions. But he yielded to the superior wisdom or ascendancy of Mazarin, who replied that, if France refused the offer, it would be accepted with a similar sacrifice by Spain.2

The combined force was placed under the command of the celebrated Turenne, who was opposed by the Spaniards under Don John of Austria, with the British exiles, commanded by the duke of York, nd the French exiles, by the prince of Condé. The English auxiliaries, composed of veteran regiments, supported the reputation of their country by their martial appearance and exemplary discipline; but they had few opportunities of displaying their valour; and the summer was spent in a tedious succession of marches and countermarches, accompanied with no brilliant action nor important result. Cromwell viewed the operations of the army with distrust and impatience. At last he would brook no longer delay; the army marched into the neighbourhood of the town, and the fort of Mardyke capitulated (September 23) after a siege of three days. Mardyke received a garrison, partly of English and partly of French, under the command of Sir John Reynolds; but that officer in a short time incurred the suspicion of the protector.

['Keightley says, "Our naval history properly begins with Blake and the first Dutch

war."]

с

['Gardiner sees in this alliance of the French king and the protector that the seeds, which were ultimately to come to evil fruitage in the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, ever being unwittingly sown by the self-constituted protector of the Protestant world.]