cloak, "Thou art a
whoremaster," said he; to another, "Thou art an adulterer;" to a third,
"Thou art a drunkard and a glutton;" "And thou an extortioner," to a
fourth. He commanded a soldier to seize the mace. "What shall we do with
this bauble? Here, take it away. It is you," said he, addressing himself
to the house, "that have forced me upon this. I have sought the Lord
night and day, that he would rather slay me than put me upon this work."
Having commanded the soldiers to clear the hall, he himself went out the
last, and ordering the doors to be locked, departed to his lodgings in
Whitehall.

In this furious manner, which so well denotes his genuine character, did
Cromwell, without the least opposition, or even murmur, annihilate that
famous assembly, which had filled all Europe with the renown of its
actions, and with astonishment at its crimes, and whose commencement was
not more ardently desired by the people than was its final dissolution.
All parties now reaped successively the melancholy pleasure of seeing
the injuries which they had suffered, revenged on their enemies, and
that too by the same arts which had been practised against them. The
king had, in some instances, stretched his prerogative beyond its just
bounds; and aided by the church, had well nigh put an end to all the
liberties and privileges of the nation. The Presbyterians checked the
progress of the court and clergy, and excited, by cant and hypocrisy,
the populace, first to tumults, then to war against the king, the
peers, and all the royalists. No sooner had they reached the pinnacle of
grandeur, than the Independents, under the appearance of still greater
sanctity, instigated the army against them, and reduced them to
subjection. The Independents, amidst their empty dreams of liberty,
or rather of dominion, were oppressed by the rebellion of their own
servants, and found themselves at once exposed to the insults of power
and hatred of the people. By recent, as well as all ancient example, it
was become evident, that illegal violence, with whatever preferences it
may be covered, and whatever object it may pursue, must inevitably end
at last in the arbitrary and despotic government of a single person.

CHAPTER LXI.

[Illustration: 1-726-cromwell.jpg CROMWELL]

THE COMMONWEALTH.

{1653.} OLIVER CROMWELL, in whose hands the dissolution of the parliament
had left the whole power, civil and military, of three kingdoms, was
born