hem in the same cause, could reasonably object. They established a system
of the most rigid economy; the regulations of the excise were revised;
the constitution of the treasury was simplified and improved; unnecessary
offices were totally abolished, and the salaries of the others considerably
reduced; the public accounts were subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny;
new facilities were given to the sale of the lands now considered as
national property. Provision was made for the future registration of
marriages, births, and deaths.[2] But the fanaticism

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, i. 392, 396, 501, 515, 523.]

[Footnote 2: For the validity of marriage, if the parties were minors, was
required the consent of the parents or guardians, and the age of sixteen in
the male, of fourteen in the female; and in all cases that the names of the
parties intending to be married should be given to the registrar of the
parish, whose duty it was to proclaim them, according to their wish, either
in the church after the morning exercise on three successive Lord's days,
or in the market-place on three successive market-days. Having received
from him a certificate of the proclamations, containing any exceptions
which might have been made, they were to exhibit it to a magistrate, and,
before him, to pledge their faith to each other "in the presence of God,
the searcher of hearts." The religious ceremony was optional, the civil
necessary for the civil effects of marriage,--See the Journals for the
month of August, and Scobell.]

of their language, and the extravagance of their notions, exposed them
to ridicule; their zeal for reform, by interfering with the interests of
several different bodies at the same time, multiplied their enemies; and,
before the dissolution of the house, they had earned, justly or unjustly,
the hatred of the army, of the lawyers, of the gentry, and of the clergy.

1. It was with visible reluctance that they voted the monthly tax of one
hundred and twenty thousand pounds for the support of the military and
naval establishments. They were, indeed, careful not to complain of the
amount; their objections were pointed against the nature of the tax, and
the inequality of the assessments;[1] but this pretext could not hide their
real object from the jealousy of their adversaries, and their leaders were
openly charged with seeking to reduce the number of the army, that they
might lessen the influence of the general.

2. From t