This Instrument being ready, Cromwell swore solemnly to observe it, and to cause it to be observed; and then Lambert, kneeling, offered the Protector a civic sword in the scabbard, which he took, laying aside his own, as indicating that he thenceforward would govern by the new constitution, and not by military authority. He then seated himself, covered, in the chair of State, all besides standing uncovered; he then received from the Commissioners the Great Seal, and from the Lord Mayor the sword and cap of maintenance, which he immediately returned to them. On this the court rose, and the Lord-Protector returned in state to Whitehall, the Lord Mayor bearing the sword before him, amid the shouting of the soldiers and the firing of cannon. The next day, the 17th of December, the Lord-Protector was proclaimed by sound of trumpet in Westminster and in the City, and thus had the successful general, the quondam farmer of Huntingdon, arrived at the seat of supreme power, at the seat of a long line of famous kings, though not with the name of king, to which many suspected him of aspiring. Yet even without the royal dignity, he soon found the position anything but an enviable one, for he was surrounded by hosts of men still vowed to his destruction and the restoration of the monarchy; and amongst those who had fought side by side with him towards this august eminence, were many who regarded his assumption of it as a crime, to be expiated only by his death. Though there is no reason to believe that the bulk of the nation was otherwise than satisfied with the change, his supporters were lukewarm while his enemies were ardent. There was no disguising the fact that until Parliament met his government was one of naked absolutism. The Protector forthwith established a body of "Triers" who proceeded to examine the religious beliefs of candidates for vacant benefices, and promptly presented them if the result of the examination was satisfactory. Before we proceed, however, to notice his struggles with his secret or avowed enemies, and with his new Parliament, we must notice what had been doing meanwhile in the war with Holland, which had still been raging.
Naval Victory over the Dutch--Death of Van Tromp--_Quasi_-Royal State of the Lord-Protector--Disaffection against Cromwell--His Vigorous Rule--Charles II. offers a Reward for his Assassination--Rebellions in Scotland--Cromwell's Dealings with the Portuguese Ambassador--Reform of the Court of Chancery--Commission for Purgation of the Church--The Reformed Parliament--Exclusion of the Ultras--Dissolution of Parliament--Danger from Plots--Accident to the Protector--Death of Cromwell's Mother--Royalist Outbreaks--Cromwell's Major-Generals--Foreign Policy--War with Spain--Massacre of the Piedmontese--Capture of Jamaica--The Jews Appeal for Toleration--Cromwell's Third Parliament--Plots against his Life--The Petition and Advice--Cromwell Refuses the Royal Title--Blake's Brilliant Victory at Santa Cruz--Death of Blake--Successes against Spain--Failure of the Reconstructed Parliament--Punishment of Conspirators--Victory in the Netherlands--Absolutism of Cromwell--His Anxieties, Illness, and Death--Proclamation of Richard Cromwell--He calls a Parliament--It is Dissolved--Reappearance of the Rump--Richard Retires--Royalist Risings--Quarrels of the Army and the Rump--General Monk--He Marches upon London--Demands a Free Parliament--Royalist Reaction--Declaration of Breda--Joyful Reception of Charles.
