HISTORY OF ENGLAND

82 DISSOLUTION OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. XI. 5.A.D. 1653.were still the Parliament, still masters over their own aye orno. On the 20th of April the bill under discussion was topass the last stage.The army felt that they dare not allow matters to go so farunless they wished to incur the disadvantage of opposing anenactment that had already passed into law.On the evening of the 19th a council was held in Cromwell'shouse, to which some of the lawyers who were members ofParliament were also summoned. No agreement was arrivedat : still it could not fail to make an impression that even ofthe lawyers one, St. John, voted in favour of the dissolution.Many thought that he was simply ambitious of filling an officein the new government which was expected. Cromwell atany rate learnt nothing which could have restrained him.On the morning of the 20th he once more addressed theofficers in the Cockpit in the tone most easily understood bythem. He began by reminding them that the visible assistanceof God, which had been ever present with them, imposedupon them, now that they had beaten their enemies in thefield, the duty of undertaking the ref~rm of the realm; butthis was out of the question with the present Parliament,which thought only of securing the continuance of its ownpower. It allowed the oppression of the people to remainunrelieved ; iniquity still flourished as before ; legislation wasin disorder. To suffer the election of a new Parliament wasmerely to tempt God. The nation would be better served bya smaller number of impartial men, from whom the people ofGod would receive more complete satisfaction l.Shortly afterwards notice was brought that the debate in theLower House was approaching the decisive point. Cromwellentered the House wearing the ordinary dress of a civilian, butthis did not prevent him from surrounding himself with a militaryretinue which occupied the approaches to the House andthe ante-chamber. He sat down in his usual seat, and remainedsilent for a time, till at length the question was put whichWe naturally have no regular historical sketch of this scene. Still we findtrustworthy notices in Ludlow. Leicester, the French ambassadors, in the officialdespatches of the time, and the later speeches, such as those of Haslerig. Theyare not free from contradictions, u hich however do not concern us here.,, ,, DISSOLUTION OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 83A.D 1~53'was to bring on the final division. At this moment Olivercromwell - arose. He now told the Parliament itself what hehad before reproached it with when addressing the officers,that it was committing iniquities, and serving its own selfishness.But God, he continued, had already chosen worthierinstruments to carry out his work. A member now rose inthe House to express his astonishment that one who owed- $0 - much to the Parliament should dare to use such languagetowards it. Cromwell however did not regard himself as.wing the slightest obligation to Parliament. Was it notrather the interposition of the army that had brought aboutthe state in which the country now was, and with it the absoluteauthority which the Parliament enjoyed. He becameviolently excited : the full conscious~~ess of his actual superiorityawoke in him. He declared to the assembly that theyno longer formed a Parliament. He was seen, with his haton his head, pacing up and down the centre of the House.From his lips poured abuse against his old friends, the Parliamentarychiefs, whose personal sins had rendered them illcompetentto carry on the government. ' God has fixed abound for you : I tell you, you are no more a Parliament.'At a signal from him two files of musketeers marched intothe House, the rrlembers deserted it. The Speaker was halfforced from, half left his chair. Cromwell himself carried offthe bill on which they were to have voted. The House wasclosed.He now returned to the officers who were still assembledand awaiting the result, and told them that when he sawthat Parliament was designing to spin a thread withsut breakor end, the spirit overcame him : he consulted not with fleshand blood ; but both he and they alike would all be utterlyruined if they did not support what he had done: it wasnecessary that they should go forward hand in hand.For little as he regarded the laws and forms of the constitution,yet he knew how much was involved in the breach ofthem. The afternoon following he entered - with Lambert' ' The spirit was so upon him that he was overruled by it : and he consulted notwith flesh and blood at all, seeing the Parliament designing to spin an everlastingthread.'G 2