That afternoon the members of the council assembled in their usual place of meeting.  Bradshaw had just taken the chair, when the lord-general entered, and told them, that if they were there as private individuals, they were welcome; but, if as the council of state, they must know that the parliament was dissolved, and with it also the council.  “Sir,” replied Bradshaw, with the spirit of an ancient Roman, “we have heard what you did at the house this morning, and before many hours all England will know it.  But, sir, you are mistaken to think that the parliament is dissolved.  No power under heaven can dissolve them but themselves.  Therefore take you notice of that.”  After this protest they withdrew.[1]

Thus, by the parricidal hands of its own children, perished the long parliament, which, under a variety of forms, had, for more than twelve years, defended and invaded the liberties of the nation.  It fell without a struggle or a groan, unpitied and unregretted.  The members slunk away to their homes, where they sought by submission to purchase the forbearance of their new master; and their partisans, if partisans they had, reserved themselves in silence for a day of retribution, which came not before Cromwell slept in his grave.  The royalists congratulated each other on an event which they deemed a preparatory step to the restoration of the king; the army and navy, in numerous addresses, declared that they would live or die, stand or fall, with the lord-general, and in every part of the country the congregations of the saints magnified the arm of the Lord which had broken the mighty, that in lieu of the sway of mortal men, “the fifth monarchy, the reign of Christ, might be established upon earth."[2]

It would, however, be unjust to the memory of those who exercised the supreme power after the death of the king, not to acknowledge that there existed among them men capable of wielding with energy the destinies of a great empire.  They governed only four years; yet, under their auspices, the conquests of Ireland and Scotland were achieved, and a navy was

[Footnote 1:  See the several accounts in Whitelock, 554; Ludlow, ii. 19 23; Leicester’s Journal, 139; Hutchinson, 332; Several Proceedings, No. 186, and Burton’s Diary, iii. 98.]

[Footnote 2:  Whitelock, 555-558.  Milton’s State Papers, 90-97.  Ellis, Second Series, iii. 368.]

created, the rival of that of Holland and the terror of the rest of Europe.[1] But there existed an essential error in their form of government.  Deliberative assemblies are always slow in their proceedings; yet the pleasure of parliament, as the supreme power, was to be taken on every subject connected with the foreign relations, or the internal administration of the country; and hence it happened that, among the immense variety of questions which came before it, those commanded immediate attention which were deemed of immediate necessity; while the others, though often of the highest importance to the national welfare, were first postponed, then neglected, and ultimately forgotten.  To this habit of procrastination was perhaps owing the extinction of its authority.  It disappointed the hopes of the country, and supplied Cromwell with the most plausible argument in defence of his conduct.