forbearance
of their new master; and their partisans, if partisans they had, reserved
themselves in silence for a day of retribution, which came not before
Cromwell slept in his grave. The royalists congratulated each other on an
event which they deemed a preparatory step to the restoration of the king;
the army and navy, in numerous addresses, declared that they would live or
die, stand or fall, with the lord-general, and in every part of the country
the congregations of the saints magnified the arm of the Lord which had
broken the mighty, that in lieu of the sway of mortal men, "the fifth
monarchy, the reign of Christ, might be established upon earth."[2]

It would, however, be unjust to the memory of those who exercised the
supreme power after the death of the king, not to acknowledge that there
existed among them men capable of wielding with energy the destinies of a
great empire. They governed only four years; yet, under their auspices, the
conquests of Ireland and Scotland were achieved, and a navy was

[Footnote 1: See the several accounts in Whitelock, 554; Ludlow, ii. 19 23;
Leicester's Journal, 139; Hutchinson, 332; Several Proceedings, No. 186,
and Burton's Diary, iii. 98.]

[Footnote 2: Whitelock, 555-558. Milton's State Papers, 90-97. Ellis,
Second Series, iii. 368.]

created, the rival of that of Holland and the terror of the rest of
Europe.[1] But there existed an essential error in their form of
government. Deliberative assemblies are always slow in their proceedings;
yet the pleasure of parliament, as the supreme power, was to be taken
on every subject connected with the foreign relations, or the internal
administration of the country; and hence it happened that, among the
immense variety of questions which came before it, those commanded
immediate attention which were deemed of immediate necessity; while the
others, though often of the highest importance to the national welfare,
were first postponed, then neglected, and ultimately forgotten. To this
habit of procrastination was perhaps owing the extinction of its authority.
It disappointed the hopes of the country, and supplied Cromwell with the
most plausible argument in defence of his conduct.

Of the parliamentary transactions up to this period, the principal have
been noticed in the preceding pages. I shall add a few others which may
be thought worthy the attention of the reader. 1. It was complained that,
since the abolition of the spiritual t