The Story of Mankind [110]
took Edinburgh. Meanwhile his soldiers, tired of further
talk and wasted hours of religious debate, had decided to act
on their own initiative. They removed from Parliament all
those who did not agree with their own Puritan views. Thereupon
the ``Rump,'' which was what was left of the old Parliament,
accused the King of high treason. The House of Lords
refused to sit as a tribunal. A special tribunal was appointed
and it condemned the King to death. On the 30th of January
of the year 1649, King Charles walked quietly out of a window
of White Hall onto the scaffold. That day, the Sovereign
People, acting through their chosen representatives, for the
first time executed a ruler who had failed to understand his own
position in the modern state.
The period which followed the death of Charles is usually
called after Oliver Cromwell. At first the unofficial Dictator
of England, he was officially made Lord Protector in the year
1653. He ruled five years. He used this period to continue
the policies of Elizabeth. Spain once more became the arch
enemy of England and war upon the Spaniard was made a national
and sacred issue.
The commerce of England and the interests of the traders
were placed before everything else, and the Protestant creed of
the strictest nature was rigourously maintained. In maintaining
England's position abroad, Cromwell was successful. As a
social reformer, however, he failed very badly. The world is
made up of a number of people and they rarely think alike.
In the long run, this seems a very wise provision. A government
of and by and for one single part of the entire community
cannot possibly survive. The Puritans had been a great
force for good when they tried to correct the abuse of the
royal power. As the absolute Rulers of England they became
intolerable.
When Cromwell died in 1658, it was an easy matter for the
Stuarts to return to their old kingdom. Indeed, they were
welcomed as ``deliverers'' by the people who had found the
yoke of the meek Puritans quite as hard to bear as that of autocratic
King Charles. Provided the Stuarts were willing to forget
about the Divine Right of their late and lamented father
and were willing to recognise the superiority of Parliament, the
people promised that they would be loyal and faithful subjects.
Two generations tried to make a success of this new arrangement.
But the Stuarts apparently had not learned their
lesson and were unable to drop their bad habits. Charles II,
who came back in the year 1660, was an amiable but worthless
person. His indolence and his constitutional insistence upon
following the easiest course, together with his conspicuous success
as a liar, prevented an open outbreak between himself and
his people. By the act of Uniformity in 1662 he broke the
power of the Puritan clergy by banishing all dissenting clergymen
from their parishes. By the so-called Conventicle Act of
1664 he tried to prevent the Dissenters from attending religious
meetings by a threat of deportation to the West Indies. This
looked too much like the good old days of Divine Right. People
began to show the old and well-known signs of impatience,
and Parliament suddenly experienced difficulty in providing
the King with funds.
Since he could not get money from an unwilling Parliament,
Charles borrowed it secretly from his neighbour and cousin
King Louis of France. He betrayed his Protestant allies in
return for 200,000 pounds per year, and laughed at the poor
simpletons of Parliament.
Economic independence suddenly gave the King great faith
in his own strength. He had spent many years of exile among
his Catholic relations and he had a secret liking for their
religion. Perhaps he could bring England back to Rome! He
passed a Declaration of Indulgence which suspended the old
laws against the Catholics and Dissenters. This happened just
when Charles' younger brother
talk and wasted hours of religious debate, had decided to act
on their own initiative. They removed from Parliament all
those who did not agree with their own Puritan views. Thereupon
the ``Rump,'' which was what was left of the old Parliament,
accused the King of high treason. The House of Lords
refused to sit as a tribunal. A special tribunal was appointed
and it condemned the King to death. On the 30th of January
of the year 1649, King Charles walked quietly out of a window
of White Hall onto the scaffold. That day, the Sovereign
People, acting through their chosen representatives, for the
first time executed a ruler who had failed to understand his own
position in the modern state.
The period which followed the death of Charles is usually
called after Oliver Cromwell. At first the unofficial Dictator
of England, he was officially made Lord Protector in the year
1653. He ruled five years. He used this period to continue
the policies of Elizabeth. Spain once more became the arch
enemy of England and war upon the Spaniard was made a national
and sacred issue.
The commerce of England and the interests of the traders
were placed before everything else, and the Protestant creed of
the strictest nature was rigourously maintained. In maintaining
England's position abroad, Cromwell was successful. As a
social reformer, however, he failed very badly. The world is
made up of a number of people and they rarely think alike.
In the long run, this seems a very wise provision. A government
of and by and for one single part of the entire community
cannot possibly survive. The Puritans had been a great
force for good when they tried to correct the abuse of the
royal power. As the absolute Rulers of England they became
intolerable.
When Cromwell died in 1658, it was an easy matter for the
Stuarts to return to their old kingdom. Indeed, they were
welcomed as ``deliverers'' by the people who had found the
yoke of the meek Puritans quite as hard to bear as that of autocratic
King Charles. Provided the Stuarts were willing to forget
about the Divine Right of their late and lamented father
and were willing to recognise the superiority of Parliament, the
people promised that they would be loyal and faithful subjects.
Two generations tried to make a success of this new arrangement.
But the Stuarts apparently had not learned their
lesson and were unable to drop their bad habits. Charles II,
who came back in the year 1660, was an amiable but worthless
person. His indolence and his constitutional insistence upon
following the easiest course, together with his conspicuous success
as a liar, prevented an open outbreak between himself and
his people. By the act of Uniformity in 1662 he broke the
power of the Puritan clergy by banishing all dissenting clergymen
from their parishes. By the so-called Conventicle Act of
1664 he tried to prevent the Dissenters from attending religious
meetings by a threat of deportation to the West Indies. This
looked too much like the good old days of Divine Right. People
began to show the old and well-known signs of impatience,
and Parliament suddenly experienced difficulty in providing
the King with funds.
Since he could not get money from an unwilling Parliament,
Charles borrowed it secretly from his neighbour and cousin
King Louis of France. He betrayed his Protestant allies in
return for 200,000 pounds per year, and laughed at the poor
simpletons of Parliament.
Economic independence suddenly gave the King great faith
in his own strength. He had spent many years of exile among
his Catholic relations and he had a secret liking for their
religion. Perhaps he could bring England back to Rome! He
passed a Declaration of Indulgence which suspended the old
laws against the Catholics and Dissenters. This happened just
when Charles' younger brother