otector; for the king
of Sweden, after a short peace, had again unsheathed the sword against his
enemy, the king of Denmark. The commercial interests of the maritime states
were deeply involved in the issue of this contest; both England and Holland
prepared to aid their respective allies; and a Dutch squadron joined the
Danish, while an English division, under the command of Ayscue, sailed to
the assistance of the Swedish monarch. The severity of the winter forced
Ayscue to return; but as soon as the navigation of the Sound was open, two
powerful fleets were despatched to the Baltic, one by the protector, the
other by the States; and to Montague, the English admiral, was intrusted
the delicate and difficult commission, not only of watching the proceedings
of the Dutch, but also of compelling them to observe peace towards the
Swedes, without giving them occasion to commence hostilities against
himself. In this he was successful; but no offer of mediation could
reconcile the contending

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1658. August.]

monarchs; and we shall find Montague still cruising in the Baltic at the
time when Richard, from whom he derived his commission, will be forced to
abdicate the protectorial dignity.[1]

In a few days after the funeral of his father, to the surprise of the
public, the protector summoned[a] a parliament. How, it was asked, could
Richard hope to control such an assembly, when the genius and authority of
Oliver had proved unequal to the attempt? The difficulty was acknowledged;
but the arrears of the army, the exhaustion of the treasury, and the
necessity of seeking support against the designs of the officers, compelled
him to hazard the experiment, and he flattered himself with the hope of
success, by avoiding the rock on which, in the opinion of his advisers,
the policy of his father had split. Oliver had adopted the plan of
representation prepared by the long parliament before its dissolution, a
plan which, by disfranchising the lesser boroughs, and multiplying the
members of the counties, had rendered the elections more independent of the
government: Richard, under the pretence of a boon to the nation, reverted
to the ancient system; and, if we may credit the calculation of his
opponents, no fewer than one hundred and sixty members were returned from
the boroughs by the interest of the court and its supporters. But to adopt
the same plan in the conquered countries of Scotland and Ireland would have
been