ds six shillings and eightpence, for the use of the
commonwealth, and left her the remainder, six pounds thirteen and
fourpence. In March, 1652, she appealed to the commissioners at
Haberdashers' Hall, who replied that they could afford her no relief,
unless she took the oath of abjuration. See this and many other cases in
the "Christian Moderator, or Persecution for Religion,

condemned by the Light of Nature, the Law of God, and Evidence of our own
Principles," p. 77-84. London, 1652.]

[Footnote 2: Journals, 1652, June 30. The petition is in the Christian
Moderator, p. 59.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. Jun. 30.]

CHAPTER VI.

THE PROTECTORATE.

Cromwell Calls The Little Parliament--Dissolves It--Makes Himself
Protector--Subjugation Of The Scottish Royalists--Peace With The Dutch--New
Parliament--Its Dissolution--Insurrection In England--Breach With
Spain--Troubles In Piedmont--Treaty With France.

Whoever has studied the character of Cromwell will have remarked the
anxiety with which he laboured to conceal his real designs from the notice
of his adherents. If credit were due to his assertions, he cherished none
of those aspiring thoughts which agitate the breasts of the ambitious; the
consciousness of his weakness taught him to shrink from the responsibility
of power; and at every step in his ascent to greatness, he affected to
sacrifice his own feelings to the judgment and importunity of others. But
in dissolving the late parliament he had deviated from this his ordinary
course: he had been compelled to come boldly forward by the obstinacy or
the policy of his opponents, who during twelve months had triumphed over
his intrigues, and were preparing to pass an act which would place new
obstacles in his path. Now, however, that he had forcibly taken into his
own hands the reins of government, it remained for him to determine whether
he should retain them in his grasp, or deliver them over to others. He
preferred the latter for the maturity of time was not yet come: he saw
that, among the officers who blindly submitted to be the tools of his
ambition, there were several who would abandon the idol of their worship,
whenever they should suspect him of a design to subvert the public liberty.
But if he parted with power for the moment, it was in such manner as to
warrant the hope that it would shortly return to him under another form,
not as won by the sword of the military, but as deposited in his hands by
th