of Charles Stuart,
from his landing in Scotland to his defeat at Worcester and his escape to
the continent; we may now look back and direct our attention to some of the
more important events which occurred during the same period, in England and
Ireland.

1. The reader is aware that the form of government established in England
was an oligarchy. A few individuals, under the cover of a nominal
parliament, ruled the kingdom with the power of the sword. Could the sense
of the nation have been collected, there cannot be a doubt that the old
royalists of the Cavalier, and the new royalists of the Presbyterian party,
would have formed a decided majority; but they were awed into silence and
submission by the presence of a standing army of forty-five thousand men;
and the maxim that "power gives right" was held out as a sufficient reason
why they should swear fidelity to the commonwealth.[1] This numerous army,

[Footnote 1: See Marchamont Nedham's "Case of the Commonwealth Stated."
4to. London, 1650.]

the real source of their security, proved, however, a cause of constant
solicitude to the leaders. The pay of the officers and men was always in
arrear; the debentures which they received could be seldom exchanged for
money without a loss of fifty, sixty, or seventy per cent.; and the plea of
necessity was accepted as an excuse for the illegal claim of free quarters
which they frequently exercised. To supply their wants, recourse was
therefore had to additional taxation, with occasional grants from the
excise, and large sales of forfeited property;[1] and, to appease
the discontent of the people, promises were repeatedly made, that a
considerable portion of the armed force should be disbanded, and the
practice of free quarter be abolished. But of these promises, the first
proved a mere delusion; for, though some partial reductions were made, on
the whole the amount of the army continued to increase; the second was
fulfilled; but in return, the burthen of taxation was augmented; for the
monthly assessment on the counties gradually swelled from sixty to ninety,
to one hundred and twenty, and in conclusion, to one hundred and sixty
thousand pounds.[2]

Another subject of disquietude sprung out of those principles of liberty
which, even after the suppression of the late mutiny, were secretly
cherished and occasionally avowed, by the soldiery. Many, indeed, confided
in the patriotism, and submitted to the judgment, of their officer