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... m to rule. As commander in chief appointed by Parliament, he believed that he was the only legally constituted authority left. He therefore accepted an 'Instrument of Government' drawn up by Lambert and his fellow officers by which he became lord protector, ruling the three nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland with the advice and help of a council of state and a Parliament, which had to be called every three years. Before Cromwell summoned his first Protectorate Parliament on September 3, 1654, he passed more than 80 ordinances embodying a constructive domestic policy. His aims were to reform the law, to set up a Puritan Church, to permit toleration outside it, to promote education, and to decentralize administration.
He was strongly opposed to severe punishments for minor crimes, saying: 'to see men lose their lives for petty matters... is a thing that God will reckon for. ' To him murder, treason, and rebellion were the only crimes subject to capital punishment. During his Protectorate, committees known as Triers and Ejectors were set up to ensure that clergy and schoolmasters maintained high standards of conduct. In spite of resistance from some members of his council Cromwell readmitted Jews into the country. He concerned himself with education, was an excellent chancellor of Oxford University, founded a college at Durham, and made sure that grammar schools flourished. (Smith, 1991) In 1654 Cromwell ended the Anglo-Dutch War, which he had always disliked. The question then arose of how best to employ his army and navy.
His Council of State was divided, but eventually he decided to ally with France against Spain. He sent a naval expedition to the Spanish West Indies, and in 1655 conquered Jamaica. As the price for sending a fleet to Spanish Flanders to fight alongside the French he obtained possession of the port of Dunkirk. He also interested himself in Scandinavian affairs; although he admired King Charles X of Sweden, his first consideration in attempting to mediate in the Baltic was the result for his own country. In spite of the emphasis Cromwell laid on the Protestant interest in some of his speeches, the guiding motive in his foreign policy was national and not religious. (Sherwood, 1997) His economic and industrial policy followed traditional lines but he opposed monopolies. For this reason the East Indian trade was stopped for three years, but in the end Cromwell granted the company a new charter in return for financial aid.
Since satisfactory methods of borrowing had not yet been discovered, Cromwell's public finances were complex. (Sherwood, 1997) When Cromwell's first Parliament met he justified the establishing of the Protectorate as 'healing and settling' the nation after the civil wars. Arguing that his government had prevented anarchy and social revolution, he was particularly critical of the Levellers who, he said, wished to destroy well-tested institutions 'whereby England hath been known for hundreds of years. ' He believed that they undermined 'the natural magistracy of the nation' and made 'the tenant as liberal a fortune as the landlord. ' He also thought that the spiritual anarchy that followed the destruction of the Anglican Church had gone too far because preachers were frequently interrupted or shouted down in their pulpits. A radical in some directions, Cromwell now adopted a conservative attitude because he feared that the overthrow of the monarchy might lead to political collapse. (Smith, 1991) But vociferous republicans, who became leaders of this new Parliament, were unwilling to concentrate on legislation, questioning instead the basis of Cromwell's government. Cromwell insisted that they must accept the 'four fundamentals' of the new constitution which had been approved both by 'God and the people' The four fundamentals were government by a single person and Parliament; the regular summoning of parliaments; the maintenance of 'liberty of conscience'; and the division of the control of the armed forces between the protector and Parliament. Oliver said that he would sooner be killed than consent to the 'willful throwing away of this Government, ... so owned by God, so approved by men. ' Therefore he required all members of Parliament to sign an engagement to be faithful to a protector and Parliament and to promise not to alter its character.
Except for 100 republicans, the members agreed to do so but were still more concerned with rewriting the constitution than reforming the laws as desired by the protector. As soon as he could legitimately do so Cromwell dissolved Parliament. (Gaunt, 1996) But with his second Parliament, which he convened in 1656, he encountered exactly the same difficulty, the republicans, tried to destroy the Protectorate on the ground that they were being forced to return to 'an Egyptian bondage. ' Once again Cromwell emphasized that he had been called to power and that chaos or an invasion from abroad would follow if he was not obeyed. Thus in February 1658 he felt himself driven again to dissolve Parliament even though, as a former member, he understood only too well the gravity of his action. (Gaunt, 1996) Ever since the campaign in Ireland, Cromwell's health had been poor. In August 1658, after his favorite daughter, Elizabeth, died of cancer, he was taken ill with malaria and taken to London with the intention of living in St.
James's Palace. He died in Whitehall at three o'clock on September 3, the anniversary of two of his greatest victories. His body was secretly interred in Westminster Abbey on November 10, 13 days before his state funeral. In 1661, after the restoration of King Charles II, Cromwell's embalmed remains were dug out of the Westminster tomb and hung up at Tyburn where criminals were executed.
His body was then buried beneath the gallows. But his head was stuck on a pole on top of Westminster Hall, where it is known to have remained until the end of Charles II's reign. (Kathe, 1984)
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