call of death.
Whatever had been the faults and follies of his life, "he nothing
common did, nor mean, upon that memorable scene." Two masked
executioners awaited the king as he mounted the scaffold, which had been
erected outside one of the windows of the Banqueting House at Whitehall;
the streets and roofs were thronged with spectators; and a strong body
of soldiers stood drawn up beneath. His head fell at the first blow, and
as the executioner lifted it to the sight of all a groan of pity and
horror burst from the silent crowd.

[Sidenote: Abolition of Monarchy.]

The delays and hesitation which marked the action of the Commons on the
king's death showed how stunned they were by the revolution which they
were driven to bring about. To replace Charles by a new king was
impossible. His son alone would be owned as sovereign by the bulk of the
nation; and no friendship was possible between the men who now held
England in their grasp and the son of the man they had sent to the
block. But it was only slowly that they bowed to necessity. It was not
till the seventeenth of March that Monarchy was formally abolished; and
two months more elapsed before the passing of that memorable Act of the
nineteenth of May which declared "that the People of England and of all
the dominions and territories thereunto belonging are, and shall be, and
are hereby constituted, made, established, and confirmed, to be a
Commonwealth and Free State, and shall henceforth be governed as a
Commonwealth and Free State by the supreme authority of this nation, the
representatives of the People in Parliament, and by such as they shall
appoint and constitute officers and ministers for the good of the
People, and that without any king or House of Lords."

CHAPTER XI

THE COMMONWEALTH

1649-1653

[Sidenote: Dangers of the Commonwealth.]

The news of the king's death was received throughout Europe with a
thrill of horror. The Czar of Russia chased the English envoy from his
court. The ambassador of France was withdrawn on the proclamation of the
Republic. The Protestant powers of the Continent seemed more anxious
than any to disavow all connexion with a Protestant people who had
brought their king to the block. Holland took the lead in acts of open
hostility to the new power as soon as the news of the execution reached
the Hague. The States-General waited solemnly on the Prince of Wales,
who took the title of Charles the Second, and recognize