The last spectre of parliamentary

but had been abandoned for a singular reason. At the critical moment of entering into a civil war, the spectre of parliamentary heirship had risen before the eyes of the hereditary monarch. heirship. Lancashire was the stronghold of the Stanleys. The head of the house was William, Earl of Derby, who had succeeded to the earldom on the death of his brother Ferdinando, whose only children were three daughters. Earl William was now an old man, and in fact died in the September of this year, 1642. But his son, Lord Strange, afterwards well known as that James, 7th Earl of Derby, who died for his king on the scaffold at Bolton-le-Moors, had been active in raising forces for the king's service in Lancashire and Cheshire, and had succeeded in gathering together a power which, if brought against the scanty forces of Parliament, would probably have annihilated them. But in an evil hour for Charles it was whispered in his ear that the Earl of Derby, though not the heir, was the most powerful descendant of Eleanor Brandon; that the descendants of Eleanor Brandon had claimed to have titles to the crown superior to those of the descendants of Eleanor's elder sister Frances, and it was insinuated that James Stanley might, in the approaching engagement with the parliamentary forces, follow the example set by his ancestors at Bosworth Field. Accordingly Earl

Rivers was associated with Lord Strange in the command of the royal forces in Lancashire. It was also determined to set up the king's standard at Nottingham instead of at Warrington, and Lord Strange was summoned to leave his forces in Lancashire, and repair to the king's presence. The loyal peer obeyed with a proud, sad submission, knowing full well how baseless and how prejudicial to the king's service were the insinuations made against him. Charles received his faithful subject with that ungraciousness which unhappily for him he could sometimes show to his truest friends. The loyal heart of Lord Strange was wrung by the suspicions of his king, but remained staunch as ever in the royal cause. But the forces which the king's wronged lieutenant had raised in Lancashire and Cheshire, were not animated by a loyalty as single-hearted as that of their leader, and felt keenly the slight put upon the heir of the Stanleys. them dispersed to their homes, chance which Charles ever had civil war by one blow was lost. shall hear no more of the will of Henry VIII., which, by excluding the descendants of the king's eldest sister, had produced so much misery. Charles never felt any jealousy of Frances Brandon's heirs. William Seymour had, after the death of Arabella Stuart, made his peace

The bulk of and the best

of ending the Henceforth we

Charles, 1648-9,

with King James, and had been appointed by Charles I. governor of the Prince of Wales. He was sincerely attached to his royal master and pupil, and possessed their full confidence. He had become Earl of Hertford in 1621, was in 1640 created Marquis of Hertford, and, after the Restoration in 1660, made capable of inheriting the Dukedom of Somerset by an Act of Parliament which thus recognised the validity of the marriage of the Earl of Hertford and Catharine Grey. Their present heir is the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. On the 30th of JanExecution uary 1649 King Charles was beheaded at Whiteof King hall, and for a time monarchical government ceased in the country. The king's last request for a conference with the Lords and Commons appears to have been made with a view to resigning his throne in favour of the Prince of Wales. Disappointed of this he apprehended that the dominant party would take Henry, the only one of his sons who was in their hands, and make him a king after their own liking. Accordingly in his last interview with his captive children, Elizabeth and Henry, he cautioned the young prince not to let himself be made a king. The spirited answer of the boy of only nine years old, that he would be torn in pieces first, cheered the last hours of the unhappy Charles. Charles Palatine. Lewis, Count Palatine, the worthless heir of Eliza

January 30.

Henry
Stuart.

The Count

beth of Bohemia (her first-born son Frederick Henry had died in 1629, piteously frozen to death in the Haarleem Meer), was hanging about London, in the hope, it was thought, of obtaining the crown from Parliament. He, however, received a hint to quit England.

Long

monarchy.

The then holders of power were determined to Act of the break with monarchy altogether. On the 19th Parliament of May 1649 the remnant of the House of against Commons passed a short and pithy Act. "Be it "declared and enacted by this present Parliament "and by the authority of the same: That the people "of England and of all the dominions and terri"tories thereunto belonging are and shall be and

66

are hereby constituted, made, established and "confirmed to be, a Commonwealth or Free State, "and shall from henceforth be governed as a "Commonwealth and Free State by the supreme authority of this Nation, the representatives of "the people in Parliament, and by such as they "shall appoint and constitute officers and ministers "under them for the good of the people, and that "without any King or House of Lords." One of the first consequences of Charles I.'s death was Severance of England the severance of the Governments of England and and Scotland. England had become a republic, Scotland. whilst the Scotch acknowledged Charles II. as their king. But before the end of the year 1651 Scotland Scotland as well as Ireland had been conquered 1651.

subdued,

by the English parliamentary army under CromCromwell, well. In 1653 Cromwell became Protector of the

1653.

Nearly king. Henry

suggested

as king.

1652.

Protector, Commonwealth of England. And then arose the question whether he should not be made king instead of protector. Charles's prevision respecting Prince Henry had been so far fulfilled that Liberated, the project of making him king had been discussed before Cromwell himself. The possibility of the prince's elevation to the throne may have been the reason for his liberation in the February of Motives for 1652. There were substantial grounds for a return to the kingly form of government. The prerogatives of a king of England were defined with much more precision than those of a protector A king's of the Commonwealth, and the famous statute of prerogative defined. Henry VII. could have been pleaded by those Henry VII. Who should have acted under the orders of a king Cromwell's in fact, if not in right. It is evident that Cromwell willingness himself would willingly have accepted the crown.

returning

to the

kingly

government.

Statute of

to become

king.
Is offered

the crown
by Parlia-

ment.

Parliament, too, went so far as to renounce all title of "Charles Stuart" or any of his family, and to offer the crown solemnly to Cromwell. But it could not be. The party on whose support the protector mainly relied abhorred the very name of king, and the rest of the nation would accept no king but the heir of William the Conqueror. Had indeed Cromwell become King of England he would have brought to the high office a title as small and a capacity as great as those of the