They had not yet learned of what stuff
Oliver Cromwell was made.
A bill had been passed, it is true, for the dissolution of the
Parliament, but in the discussion of how the "New Representative" was to
be chosen it became plainly evident that the members of the Rump
intended to form part of it, without the formality of re-election. A
struggle for power seemed likely to arise between the Parliament and the
army. It could have but one ending, with a man like Oliver Cromwell at
the head of the latter. The officers demanded that Parliament should
immediately dissolve. The members resolutely refused. Cromwell growled
his comments.
"As for the members of this Parliament," he said, "the army begins to
take them in disgust."
There was ground for it, he continued, in their selfish greed, their
interference with law and justice, the scandalous lives of many of the
members, and, above all, their plain intention to keep themselves in
power.
"There is little to hope for from such men for a settlement of the
nation," he concluded.
The war with Holland precipitated the result. This war acted as a
barometer for the Parliament. It was a naval combat. In the first
meeting of the two fleets the Dutch were defeated, and the mercury of
Parliamentarian pride rose.
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