FOOTNOTES:
[1] Sir Henry Vane retired to Raby Castle after Pride's purge, of which he thoroughly disapproved, and took no part in public affairs until February, 1649, when the execution of Charles had taken place. Mr. Forster remarks: "It is a profound proof of Vane's political sagacity, that he disapproved the policy of that great act. Upon the question of its abstract justice, he never delivered an opinion."—British Statesmen, iii. 125.
[2] Neither Cromwell nor Elizabeth in this respect must be measured by the standard of judgment respecting political morality which is commonly recognized in our day. The fable of Reynard the Fox, the Life of Louis XI., by Comines, and the writings of Machiavel, are proofs of the high repute in which dissimulation was held in the middle ages and after the Reformation, as a quality essential to the government of mankind. See also Bacon's Essays.
[3] Parl. Hist., iii. 1009, 1010.
[4] On the 9th of March, the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Holland, and Lord Capel, were executed on Tower Hill in consequence of the decision of the preceding year that all who took up arms in the second war were traitors, and should suffer the penalties of treason.
[5] Parl. Hist., iii. 1303.
[6] Parl. Hist., iii., 1267, 1276.
[7] The Essex Watchmen to the Inhabitants of the said County. London, 1649. This publication, referring to the clause in the agreement, "so it be not compulsory," declared that "this one little parenthesis was the fly in the box of ointment," which made it "an abhorring in the nostrils of every one who is knowingly judicious and pious." The ministers lamented that, in consequence of those five fatal words, heads of families would be prevented from obliging their children and servants to attend public worship; and thus, they said, an inlet was opened for domestic profanity. In their estimation, not to compel people to be religious was to grant them "liberty to apostatize, and cast off the profession of Christianity;" and before concluding their testimony, they denounced toleration as a satanic engine "for demolishing the beauty, yea, the being of religion."
[8] The Act for the abolition and sale is printed in Scobell, p. 16. Date, April 30, 1649. There were surveys and valuations made accordingly, of which some records are preserved in the Lambeth Library. As these surveys are often referred to, the following description of them is given from the Catalogue of the Lambeth MSS.:—
"Surveys of the possessions of bishops, deans, and chapters, and other benefices, were made in pursuance of various ordinances of Parliament during the Commonwealth, by surveyors appointed for that purpose, acting on oath, under instructions given to them, as may be seen in Scobell's Acts and Ordinances, A.D. 1649, p. 19, &c. The original surveys were returned to a registrar appointed by the ordinances, and duplicates or transcripts of them were transferred to the trustees or commissioners nominated for the sale of the possessions, who held their meetings in a house in Broad Street, in the City, where these documents remained until after the Restoration." It was afterwards ordered that these records should be delivered to Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury, to take care of the same, and by him they were deposited in the Lambeth Library. "Some of them were afterwards sent by his Grace to the bishops and deans and chapters to which they belonged, so that the collection in the Lambeth Library is not complete. What remain are bound up in twenty-one large folio volumes, in alphabetical order, of the different dioceses or counties to which they relate. A minute index to the whole, in one folio volume, exhibits the name of every place surveyed. Besides the above, there are surveys of the possessions of the see of Canterbury kept separate from the possession of the other sees, deans and chapters, &c., with indexes in alphabetical order, which are bound in three volumes; of these the second contains original surveys, as far as folio 73, from thence to the end are copies."
Several interesting extracts from the survey are contained in Lyson's Environs. Take the following as illustrative of the religious affairs of the parish of Walthamstow:—
"The commissioners appointed to enquire into the state of ecclesiastical benefices, in 1650, found by their inquest that the vicarage of Walthamstow was worth £40 per annum, including the tithes and glebe. John Wood was then vicar; he had been put in by the committee of plundered ministers; 'but (says the inquest) he is now questioned for his abilities; and certain articles have been exhibited against him to the committee, and he is disliked by the greater part of the inhabitants, who will not come to church to hear him; whereby there is great distraction in the parish.' The jurors report that it was not known in whom the patronage of the vicarage was vested, it having been long in suit, and then as yet undetermined."—Lyson, iv. 221.
[9] See Bentham's Ely Cathedral, sect. vi.
[10] In the powers for sale of Deans and Chapter lands (passed July 31st, 1649), "rectories, parsonages, and vicarages" are excepted.—Scobell, 69. In connexion with this, however, may be mentioned "an Act" passed, April the 26th, "for settling the rectory or parsonage-house of Burford, Oxon., and some of the glebe land on W. Lenthall, Esq., now Speaker, and his heirs."—Parry, 504.
[11] Scobell, 40. One hundred pounds a year at that time was a large salary. It must have been as good as five hundred now, seeing that Sir Henry Slingsby kept an establishment of thirty servants on £500 per annum.—Brodie's British Empire, iv. 245.
[12] Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, i. 435. Whitelocke, 399.
[13] Parl. Hist., iii. 1305.
[14] Parl. Hist., iii. 1323, et seq.
[15] Scobell, 104.
[16] Ibid., 111.
[17] April 5, 1650. Scobell, 111.
[18] Ibid., 119.
[19] Scobell, 123. In the Windsor churchwardens' accounts for 1652-3 there are several entries of persons fined for swearing.—Annals of Windsor, ii. 268.
[20] Scobell, 124. Milton praises this Act in his Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes.—Political Works, i. 548.
[21] Scobell, 121. May 10, 1650. The Parliamentary History, vol. iii. 1347, states that on the 7th of June a bill was ordered to be read on the Friday evening ensuing against the vice of painting, the wearing of black patches, and the immodest dresses of women. But no mention is made of it in the Journal of that day nor in Scobell's Acts.
[22] Scobell, 131.
[23] From the same register may be added a few extracts illustrative of collections made at church in those times:—
"Divers ministers, and other distressed families, driven into the straitened garrison of Pembroke, and several imprisonments, most of them under the Earl of Carbery first, and now at last undergone the loss of all that they had by General Gerrard, only escaping with their lives, 1645. (Collected 8s. 10d.)
"Poor Protestants driven out of Ireland. 1647. (Collected on the thanksgiving-day for God's great blessing upon the Parliament's forces in Munster, under Lord Inchiquin, 5s.)
"John Cheynell, late minister of Beedon, Bucks, who had been continually plundered by both armies, 'and had lost two sons, gracious young men, cruelly murdered, himself having been sequestered by false information,' 1652. (Collected 15s. 8½d.)
"Mr. Philip Dandelo, a Turk by nation, by profession a Mahometan by God's gracious providence and mercy converted to the Christian faith, by the endeavours of Dr. Wild, Dr. Warmester, Mr. Christopher, and Dr. Gunning, 1661. (Collected 5s. 8d.)"—Lyson's Environs, iv. 285.
[24] Letters and Journals, iii. 66.
[25] Baillie, iii. 69, 74, 79.
[26] Letters and Journals, iii. 84-88.
"Dr. Bramble, of Derry, has printed the other day, at Delf, a wicked pamphlet against our Church. We have no time, nor do we think it fit to print an answer." The pamphlet was written by Bramhall, Bishop of Derry, entitled "A Fair Warning to take heed of the Scottish Discipline," and may be seen in his Works, iii. 237. Notwithstanding the remark just quoted, a reply appeared, entitled: "A Review of Doctor Bramble, late Bishop of Londonderry; his Fair Warning against the Scotch Discipline," by R. B. G., printed at Delf, 1649.
The following letter preserved amongst the State Papers (Commonwealth, Dom.) is worth introducing here:—
Most dear brother—We have not any news concerning Rupert the Devil, unless what comes out in print. No man receives any letter from you. My brother, the Prince Elector, is now here, and cares no more for those cursed people in England, for he hath done his duty to the King, which otherwise he might have avoided by reason of the affairs which required him at Cleare. Here, also, are the Scotch Commissioners, who every day bring some new proposal to the King, full of impertinency, for they would not that the King should keep about him any honest man, for which they are in great favour with the Princess of Orange, who declares herself much for the Presbyterians, and says that Percy is the honestest man the King has about him. But I believe you care not much to know the intricacies here, for which cause I shall not trouble you further, besides that you have other business to do than reading letters, only I entreat you to take notice.—I remain your affectionate sister and servant,
Sophia.
A Mons. le Prince Rupert, April 13th, 1649.
[27] State Papers, Dom., Commonwealth. 5th of March, 1649-50. Certain names are mentioned in the paper as desirable to be added to the King's Council.
[28] In the paper it is stated that arms and ammunition were already forwarded to the Scilly Isles for the purpose proposed.
There is a letter amongst the State Papers connected with this document and interlined with sympathetic ink, which interlining speaks of submitting to the engagement as necessary for his Majesty's service. It contains a request that his pleasure might be privately intimated with respect to religious parties generally.
[29] Erroneously placed under the month of May. The day is obliterated.
[30] State Papers Dom. Interreg. The last portion within brackets has been added by a later hand.
[31] To Sir E. Nicholas, from Mr. Nicholson, 1650, June 2, Jersey.—State Papers Dom., Interreg.
[32] State Papers, under date, Dom., Interreg.
[33] Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, by Carlyle, 20, 28.
[34] Carlyle, ii. 58, 64.
[35] Letters and Journals, iii. 112.
[36] An account of the coronation is given in Baillie's Letters and Journals, iii. 128.
[37] See Cunningham's History of the Church of Scotland, ii. 167, 168.
The following passages from Sir J. Turner's Memoirs throw light on the hypocrisy of this period:—
"Glasgow, being a considerable town, was most refractory to this Parliament; for Mr. Dick, whom they looked upon as a patriarch, Mr. Baillie, Mr. Gillespie, and Mr. Durhame, all mighty members of the Kirk of Scotland, had preached them to a perfect disobedience of all civil power, except such as was authorized by the General Assembly and Commission of the Kirk: and so, indeed, was the whole west of Scotland, who cried up King Christ and the kingdom of Jesus Christ, thereby meaning the uncontrollable and unlimited dominion of the then Kirk of Scotland, to whom they thought our Saviour had delivered over His sceptre, to govern His militant Church as they thought fit." (Page 53.)
"About this time, the monstrous Remonstrance was hatched; and if Lambert had not, by good fortune to us all, beaten Colonel Ker at Hamilton, I believe the King had been just as safe at St. Johnston as his father was at Westminster. The desperate condition of affairs moved some of the best natured of the Presbyterian clergy to think of some means to bring as many hands to fight against the public enemy as was possible; and therefore, notwithstanding all their acts of Assemblies and Commissions of the Kirk to the contrary, they declared all capable of charge in state or militia who would satisfy the Church by a public acknowledgment of their repentance for their accession to that sinful and unlawful engagement. The King commanded all who had a mind to serve him to follow the Church's direction in this point. Hereupon, Duke Hamilton, the Earls of Crawford and Lauderdale, with many others, were admitted to Court, and numbers of officers re-assured and put in charge, and entrusted with new levies. My guilt in affronting the ministry (as they called it), in the person of Mr. Dick, at Glasgow, and my other command in the west, retarded my admission very long; but at length I am absolved, and made Adjutant-General of the Foot, and, after the unfortunate encounter at Inverkeithing, had once more Lieutenant-General Holburn's regiment given me by his Majesty's command. Behold a fearful sin! The ministers of the Gospel regard all our repentances as unfeigned, though they knew well enough they were but counterfeit; and we, on the other hand, made no scruple to declare that Engagement to be unlawful and sinful, deceitfully speaking against the dictates of our own consciences and judgments. If this was not to mock the all-knowing and all-seeing God to His face, then I declare myself not to know what a fearful sin hypocrisy is." (Page 94.)
[38] Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, 759.
[39] The loyal Lancashire Presbyterians refused to join the Earl of Derby, because he would not take the Covenant and dismiss all Papists.—Hibbert's Manchester, i. 400.
[40] State Papers, Dom., Chas. II., Calendar by Mrs. Green, 1660-1661, Preface, xiii. These are Annesley's own words. It is difficult, however, to reconcile all he says with his sermon before the House of Commons in 1648; but then it was very difficult to be consistent in those days.
[41] The following entries appear in the Council Book:—
"7th May.—That it be referred to the Committee appointed for the examining of the London ministers to send for Mr. Jenkins according as they shall have occasion, and to examine him upon such matter as they shall have before them; the Council being satisfied, upon a certificate of the physicians, that he may be brought without prejudice to his health; and they are likewise to send for such other persons as they shall find concerned in that business, and examine them concerning the same, and report the state of the whole matter to the Council.
"10th May.—That Mr. W. Jenkins be committed close prisoner to the Tower, for high treason, &c." (This was William Jenkyn, lecturer at Blackfriars, and author of An Exposition on the Epistle of Jude.) "That he may speak to Dr. Dwight, Dr. Guarden, or Dr. Pagett, all or any of them, concerning his health, if he shall think fit.
"That Mr. Massey be committed close prisoner to the Tower of London, for high treason, in keeping correspondence with the enemies of the Commonwealth, and endeavouring to subvert the Government thereof, and in order to his further examination and trial, according to law.
"That Mr. Christopher Love be also committed prisoner to the Tower, in like manner, for the like crime.
"That Mrs. Jenkins, Mrs. Case, Mrs. Love, and Mrs. Drake, be permitted to come and abide with their husbands, now prisoners in the Tower, notwithstanding their close imprisonment.
"12th May.—That they shall have liberty to visit their husbands, provided they speak not to them but only in the presence and within the hearing of the Lieutenant of the Tower, or such, by his appointment, as he will answer for.
"10th June, 1651.—That it be referred to the Committee for Examinations to send for, in safe custody, and at such time as they shall think fit, the persons hereafter named, viz.: Mr. Jackson, Mr. Nolton, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Cawton, Mr. Blackmore, Mr. Herrick, Mr. Haviland, Mr. Watson, Mr. Crauford, Col. Souton, Lieut.-Col. Jackson, Mr. Cawdry, and to examine them concerning their having had a hand in the London conspiracy, and to report to the Council their several examinations, when they shall be taken."
Baxter, at this time, refused to keep the humiliation and thanksgiving days appointed by Government, and preached so as plainly to shew he disapproved of their proceedings. This brought him into suspension. He says: "My own hearers were all satisfied with my doctrine, but the Committee-men look sour; but let me alone. And the soldiers said I was so like to Love that I would not be right till I was shorter by the head. Yet none of them ever meddled with me further than by the tongue." He adds that he was never forbidden to preach but once, and that was an assize sermon.—Life and Times, i. 67.
[42] The letter is dated "from the Tower of London, August 22nd, 1651, the day of my glorification," and is preserved, with others from which we have quoted, in Love's Name lives. London, 1651.
Eachard tells a story of Cromwell having written to the Parliament, recommending Love's reprieve on security for good behaviour, and of the letter being stolen by some cavaliers.—Hist. of England, ii. 706.
[43] After the dissolution of the Long Parliament, Cromwell was supreme.
The following extract is curious, as indicating that when he had all power in his own hands, he must have connived at the revival of old church customs: "Living here, in the churchyard of St. Margaret's, in Westminster, which was the church proper to the Parliament, for here they kept their thanksgivings, their humiliations, and all other their solemnities; whereas in their time the font was pulled down, and so continued demolished and in ruins, it is now set up again in a most decent and comely manner; and I hope it will be an example for other churches to follow; so likewise they had a very solemn perambulation in Rogation week, according to the old manner, which had been omitted during the sitting of Parliament; and holidays begin to be kept."—From the Dedication to Goodman's Two Great Mysteries. June 4th, 1653.
[44] Quoted in Forster's English Statesmen, v. 139.
Thurloe gives one of the replies, dated 13th May, 1653. The Dutch deputies say, in a letter of the 12th of August, 1653, that "the Independent party" are spread through all England under the name of gathered churches. The word "Independent" was often used in a very wide and general sense.—Thurloe's State Papers, i. 395.
[45] The Broadmead Records, 43. A strong feeling against Cromwell and his policy is manifest throughout. The writer was evidently a prejudiced sort of person.
[46] Whitelocke observes that "it was much wondered at by some that these gentlemen, many of them being persons of fortune and knowledge, would, at this summons, and from these hands, take upon them the supreme authority of the nation." Memorials, 559.
[47] Carlyle, 187-217. Foster, v. 148-164.
[48] Exact Relation. Somers' Tracts.
[49] Notices of these persons may be found in Noble's Lives of the Regicides—not, however, a trustworthy book. The account of Tomlinson is very meagre.
[50] The Act was passed August 24th, 1653.—Scobell, 236. Mr. Forster, in his Statesmen, v. 195, informs us on the authority of the compilers of the Parliamentary History, that in the debates on this marriage law, it was proposed but not passed, "That if any person then married or to be married according to this Act, should make proof by one or more credible witness upon oath, that either the husband or wife had committed the detestable sin of adultery during such marriage, then the said parties might be divorced by the sentence of three justices of the peace." In Cobbett's Parliamentary History, iii. 1413, however, no notice is taken of this circumstance.
[51] Baxter mentions that Mr. Tallents, of Shrewsbury, and other clergymen, married persons in the presence of a magistrate, the magistrate only declaring that it was a legal union.—Calamy's Life of Baxter, 67.
[52] See Commons' Journals, under dates.
There is, under date 26th of August, 1653, in the Council Order Book, the following entry:—"That the draft of the Act for the abolishing of all rural prebends, which was in the hands of F. Chas. Wolseley to be reported to the Parliament, be humbly reported to the Parliament by Mr. Laurence." No such Act appears in Scobell.
[53] See Exact Relation and New Narrative of the Dissolution, and Forster's Statesmen of the Commonwealth, v. 218.
Thurloe's State Papers furnish illustrations of the difference of opinion in the Short Parliament, i. 368, 386, 387, 393.
[54] Commons' Journal, December 2, 1653.
[55] Exact Relation.
[56] We have endeavoured impartially to set down such facts as can be ascertained in reference to these important proceedings. What was done by the Little Parliament, or any other Parliament, in no wise affects the question as to the Scriptural mode of supporting religion. Many readers will have reached their own conclusions on that point. Some may believe the Bible favours the civil establishment of the Church; others that an establishment of this kind is inconsistent with the teaching and spirit of primitive Christianity. The author does not scruple to say that the latter is his opinion, though he has jealously watched lest the fact should prejudice any of his statements.
The above narrative points to the difficulties surrounding the controversy, when lifted out of the sphere of abstract truth, as studied by divines and philosophers in their closets, into the arena of political and financial debate; where practical men have to deal not only with first principles, or even with statute laws and long established usages; but also with a large amount of property which for generations the State has held in trust for religious uses.
[57] See Clarendon's statements in his Hist. of Rebellion, 795, and those of Baxter, in his Life and Times, i. 70. The question with regard to a Commission of Triers is thus unfairly represented by the latter: "It was put to the vote whether all the parish ministers of England should at once be put down or no. And it was but accidentally carried in the negative by two voices." Clarendon goes so far as to say: "They resolved the function itself to be antichristian, and the persons to be burdensome to the people."
[58] It was mooted at Norwich "whether it be fit to draw a petition to the Parliament that the cathedral may be given to the city for a stock for the poor."—Corporation Records, date 19th March, 1650.
From an extract of a petition in Manship's History of Yarmouth, p. 394, it appears that the townspeople "begged such a part of the lead and other useful material of that vast and altogether useless cathedral in Norwich, towards building a workhouse, to employ our starving poor, and repairing our piers."
[59] See Thurloe, i. 519, 523. We must leave the political historian to describe how far Cromwell influenced the resignation.
[60] Sterry was one of Cromwell's chaplains.
[61] Thurloe, i. 621.
[62] Cunningham's Handbook of London.
[63] State Papers, Dom., Interreg., Dec., 1653.
[64] Thurloe, i. 641. It is added in a postscript: "I am just now assured, and from one that you may believe, that Harrison, Vavasour Powell, and Mr. Feake, have been all this day before his highness and council; and that Powell and Feake are this evening sent to prison, and Harrison hath his commission taken from him."
[65] Thurloe, i. 442.—Allowance must be made for the prejudices of the reporter, and consequently some abatement from the violent charge. From the Council Order Books, (State Paper Office) we extract the following minutes:—
"Dec. 21st. 1653.—That Mr. Feake and Mr. V. Powell be sent for, in custody, to appear before the Council, at four of the clock, in the afternoon of this day, to answer such matters as shall be objected against them, and that warrants be issued and signed by the Lord President, for authorising Sergeant Dendy to take them into custody accordingly.
"That it be referred to Mr. Scobell and Scoutmaster General Downing to peruse the paper now read, of words spoken by Mr. Feake and Mr. Powell, and to extract and divide into heads the material passages therein; as also to take in writing the examinations of such witnesses to the same purport as shall be produced before them.
"23rd.—That Mr. Feake and Mr. Powell be kept severally in custody by the Serjeant-at-arms, and brought to the Council to-morrow morning.
"22nd of December.—The Lord Protector present.—Mr. Vavasour Powell and Mr. Feake brought before Council.
"That Mr. Feake and Mr. Powell be continued in the custody of the Serjeant-at-arms apart, as formerly, until to-morrow morning; that the Council give further order, and that no person be permitted to come to them but for their necessary provisions."
We have not noticed any further entries on the subject.
[66] Lingard's History of England, xi. 14.
Hugh Peters was an earnest advocate for peace with the Dutch.
"Mr. Peters prays and preacheth for peace, and exhorteth them to peace. On the last thanksgiving-day he told them, that God Almighty had punished them long enough for their sins, and especially for their pride, covetousness, ambition, discord, ingratitude, and unmercifulness, and hardheartedness to the poor, which are sins that do reign to some purpose in this nation."—From an intercepted letter in Dutch. Thurloe, i. 330.
Peters had become an important political personage. One of the Dutch deputies in treaty with England, observes, in a letter, November, 1653: "Mr. Peters hath writ a letter to the Queen (of Sweden) by the Lord Whitelocke, wherein he relates the reasons why they put the King to death, and dissolved this last Parliament; and withal sends to her Majesty a great English dog and a cheese, for a present."—Thurloe, i. 583.
[67] They are printed in the Parl. Hist., iii. 1417. They bear this simple title: "The Government of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging."
[68] Carlyle, ii. 227.
[69] Whitelocke, 571.
[70] The Acts and Resolves of Parliament for taking the Engagement were repealed the 19th of January, 1653-4, and the repeal was confirmed in 1656.—Scobell, 277.
The following letter is an example of the way in which Presbyterian ministers availed themselves of this change to recover benefices forfeited by refusing the Engagement:—
"Mr. Sympson,
"If the order (by colour of which you invaded my church) did give you (which I confess I could never understand) any power to do so, the late revolution hath made it void and null; and the Lord Protector having taken to his sword a sceptre, and consented and sworn to govern according to law, and not otherwise, I conceive it to be my duty to ... let you hereby know that ... I am legal incumbent of the place; in pursuance whereof, I am resolved to return on Lord's Day afternoon, at the usual hour of public worship, to my own church, and therefore desire you to cease your future pains in that place, and signify so much to your friends, that we may have no disturbance: and if you conceive you have any right in the place, commence your action; you shall receive in any court of judicature a plea from him who is resolved to defend his own just privilege, and give an account of his reasons to the world.
"Zach. Crofton.
"The next Lord's Day, being the 2nd of August, I intend to preach at my own church between one and two of the clock, afternoon."—State Papers.
Amongst petitions and other papers in the Record Office, Dom. Interreg., vol. 677, 371, is the following from the Earl of Worcester, shewing the style in which the Protector was addressed:—
"May it please your Excellency,
"The obstacle which hindered many your Excellency's just and laudable intentions for the common welfare being now by God's providence and your Excellency's unparalleled endeavours removed, I make these my most humble addresses to your Excellency (to whose ears were my condition rightly made known), not doubting of redress, and in deed and effectually to receive what the late Council of State put me in daily hopes [of], which my humble petition will in part declare. For I can aver that no subject in England hath been so hardly dealt with; but having recourse to the fountain head of mercy and nobleness, whose crystalline waters may now run without interruption, my heart is elevated with hopes, not only to receive obligations thereunto, but also an opportunity to make evident how much I am ambitious to appear your Excellency's most humble and obliged servant,
"Worcester."
There are several other petitions from this Earl and his Countess.
[71] I have honestly endeavoured to understand and describe this crisis in the Commonwealth affairs, uninfluenced by any ecclesiastical opinions of my own. But I must add that nothing said in these pages is to be taken as inconsistent with a firm belief that the voluntary support of religion is the Divine law of Christianity.
[72] Article xxxv., Parl. Hist., iii. 1425.
[73] "The clergy in Scotland refused to observe the fast day ordered by the Protector, it being their principle, not to receive any directions for the keeping fasts from the civil magistrates."—Whitelocke, 607.
[74] Harris, in his Life of Cromwell, 432, on Clarendon's authority, says that Cromwell, by a declaration, rendered all Cavaliers incapable of being elected, or of giving a vote.
[75] Scobell, 232, 288; Cromwellian Diary, i. cxviii., 17; ii. 253.
Respecting the administration of wills during the Commonwealth, we subjoin the following illustrations:—
In relation to a chasm in the Registry of Norwich between 1652 and 1660, the following passage is found in one of the indexes:—"Cætera ab hoc anno desiderantur testamenta. Cæpit jam Cromwelli usurpatoris istius ambitio rabide sævire; cujus sub vexillo grassabantur undique seditio, violentia, rebellio, sacrilegium, et quod (horrendum dictu est) regicidium. Huic sequuta sunt, confusio in ecclesia, in republica militum insolentia, in parochiis factio, in familiis atheismus. Et plebs miserrima cum maximo suo damno et detrimento (apud nescio quæ tribunalia Londinensia) ad Cromwelli libitum, coacta est se sistere ad testamenta proband."—Nicolas's Notitia Hist., 181.
Extract from Council Books, 14th July, 1653:—
"That it be referred to the Judges for Probate of Wills to appoint such persons as they shall think fit to be keeper of the records belonging to that court.
"That all those rooms formerly used for, or called the Star Chamber rooms, be appointed for the keeping of records belonging to the late Prerogative Court; and also for the records of the New Court for Probate of Wills; and for the erecting and establishing of an office there, and fitting places for the officers and clerks belonging thereunto, in such manner as the said judges, or any of them, shall direct."
"Patent Roll, 1655, p. 3, No. 46.—Mainby. Salary as a Commissioner for Probate of Wills."
"Patent Roll, 1654, p. 4, No. 46.—Lucy." Similar entry.
Amongst Petitions and Reports Intereg., W.Z. No. 246, there is a paper respecting probates, dated 9th of January, 1655.
[76] Scobell, 279.
[77] Yet they were constantly subject to the control of the Protector and Council of State; these without being formally constituted a court of appeal, were so in fact. Take the following instance from the council books:—
"October 5th, 1654.—Whereas, by a late ordinance of his Highness the Lord Protector and the Council, passed the 2nd of December last, it is ordained that the Commissioners for Approbation of Public Preachers shall not give admission to any person formerly sequestered from any ecclesiastical benefice, or promotion for delinquency, until, by experience of conformity and submission to the present government, his Highness and the Council shall receive satisfaction of his fitness to be admitted to ecclesiastical promotion within the Commonwealth, and the same shall be signified to the said Commissioners. Now, upon reading and consideration of a report from Mr. Sterry and Mr. Nicholas Lockier, made in pursuance of a reference to them from the Council concerning Mr. Bridge, of Petworth, it is ordered and declared by his Highness the Lord Protector and the Council, that they are so far satisfied thereby concerning the said Mr. Bridge, his submission and obedience to the said authority, that they do hereby refer it to the said Commissioners, to proceed to the trial of his fitness for preaching of the Gospel; and upon their satisfaction in that behalf, to give him their approbation and admittance, the said bar or restraint contained in the said ordinance notwithstanding."