464.  Richard retires.

The Protector retired not only without remonstrance, but apparently with a sense of relief at being so soon eased of a burden too heavy for his weak shoulders to carry.  To the people he was hereafter familiarly known as “Tumbledown-Dick,” and was caricatured as such on tavern signboards.

The nation pensioned him off with a moderate allowance, and he lived in obscurity to an advanced age, carrying about with him to the last a trunk filled with the congratulatory addresses and oaths of allegiance which he had received when he became Protector.

Years after his abdication it is reported that he visited Westminster, and when the attendant, who did not recognize him, showed him the throne, he said, “Yes; I have not seen that chair since I sat in it myself in 1659.”

465.  The “Convention Parliament.”

The year following Richard Cromwell’s withdrawal was full of anxiety and confusion.  The army of the Commonwealth had turned Parliament out of doors (1659).  There was no longer any regularly organized government, and the country drifted helplessly like a ship without a pilot.

General Monk, then commander in chief in Scotland, now marched into England (1660) with the determination of calling a new Parliament, which should be full, free, and representative of the real political feeling of the nation.  When he reached London with his army, the members of the “Rump Parliament” (S447) had resumed their sessions.

At Monk’s invitation the Presbyterian members, whom Colonel Pride had driven from their seats eleven years before (S447), now went back.  This assembly issued writs for the summoning of a “Convention Parliament” (so styled because called without royal authority), and then dissolved by their own consent.  Thus ended that memorable “Long Parliament” (S439), which had existed nearly twenty years.  About a month later the Convention, including ten members of the House of Lords, met, and at once invited Charles Stuart, then in Holland, to return to his kingdom.  He had made certain promises, called the “Declaration of Breda,"[1] which were intended to smooth the way for his return.

[1] The Declaration of Breda, made by Charles in Holland (1660) promised:  (1) free pardon to all those not excepted by Parliament; (2) liberty of conscience to all whose views did not disturb the peace of the realm; (3) the settlement by Parliament of all claims to landed property; (4) the payment of arrears to Monk’s army.

466.  Summary.

Richard Cromwell’s government existed in name only, never in fact.  During his so-called Protectorate the country was under the control of the army of the Commonwealth or of that “Rump Parliament” which represented nothing but itself.

The period which elapsed after Oliver Cromwell’s death was one of waiting and preparation.  It ended in the meeting of the free national Parliament, which put an end to the republic, and restored royalty in the person of Charles II.