Rump Parliament

[a] In September 1648, at the end of the Second English Civil War, the Long Parliament was concerned with the increasing radicalism in the New Model Army.

Pride's Purge brought Parliament to heel under the direct control of the Army; the remaining Commons (the Rump) then on 13 December 1648, broke off negotiations with the King.

Two days later, the Council of Officers of the New Model Army voted that the King be moved from the Isle of Wight, where he was prisoner, to Windsor, "in order to the bringing of him speedily to justice".

The House of Lords rejected it, and as it did not receive royal assent, Charles asked at the start of his trial on 20 January in Westminster Hall, "I would know by what power I am called hither.

The execution of Charles I was stayed until 30 January, so that the House of Commons could pass an emergency act, the "Act prohibiting the proclaiming any person to be King of England or Ireland, or the Dominions thereof", that made it an offence to proclaim a new King, and to declare the representatives of the people, the House of Commons, as the source of all just power.

Some members stayed in the Rump Parliament because they supported the revolutionary changes afoot, while others were there for financial advantage, civilian power, or to satisfy their relish for political activity.

During the time of the Commonwealth of England (1649–1653), the Rump passed a number of acts in the areas of religion, law, and finance, as well as in commercial and colonial policy.

It ingratiated Parliament to people like John Downes who were making a fortune from the business but it did nothing to heal the wounds of the Civil War.

They represent the first attempt to establish a legitimate control of commercial and colonial affairs, and the instructions indicate the beginnings of a policy which had the prosperity and wealth of England exclusively at heart.

[9] In 1653, after learning that Parliament was attempting to stay in session despite an agreement to dissolve, and having failed to come up with a working constitution, Cromwell's patience ran out.

He then declared "you are no Parliament" and called in a troop of soldiers, under the command of Major-General Thomas Harrison, ordering them to clear the chamber.

According to Charles Dickens in A Child's History of England[11] and Hilaire Belloc,[12] he then turned to the Speaker's Mace, the symbol of parliamentary power, declared it a "fool's bauble", and ordered the troops "here, carry it away".

Cromwell's motives are uncertain, but may lie in his disapproval of Sir Henry Vane's scheme for a redistribution of constituencies that retained sitting members of Parliament and continued to fill vacancies with recruiter elections.

He told Sir Henry Vane he was a Jugler [sic]; Henry Martin and Sir Peter Wentworth, that they were Whoremasters; Thomas Chaloner, he was a Drunkard; and Allen the Goldsmith that he cheated the Publick: Then he bid one of his Soldiers take away that Fool's Bauble the mace and Thomas Harrison pulled the Speaker of the Chair; and in short Cromwell having turned them all out of the House, lock'd up the Doors and returned to Whitehall.Salmon does not cite his own sources but the version is sufficiently detailed to suggest that he had access to descriptions of the event that were certainly current in his time, and were probably derived from eye-witness descriptions.

[citation needed] Within a month of the Rump's dismissal, Oliver Cromwell on the advice of Harrison and with the support of other officers in the Army, sent a request to Congregational churches in every county to nominate those they considered fit to take part in the new government.

[14] According to Edmond Ludlow: on May 7, about twelve o-clock we went to take our places in the House, Mr. Lenthal our Speaker leading the way, and the officers of the army lining the rooms for us, as we passed through the Painted Chamber, the Court of Requests, and the lobby itself, the principal officers having placed themselves nearest to the door of the Parliament-House, every one seeming to rejoice at our restitution, and promising to live and die with us.

The same day the House appointed a Committee of Safety, with authority to seize and secure such as might justly be suspected of any design to disturb the public peace, and also to remove such officers of the army as they should think fit, and to fill their places with others, till the Parliament should take farther order therein.

The officers of the army were not at all pleased with this election, perceiving they should not be permitted to act arbitrarily, as they desired, and therefore seldom came to the council; and when they condescended to come, carried themselves with all imaginable perverseness and insolence… These men all took an oath to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth, in opposition to Charles Stuart, or any single person, which the Parliament had appointed to be taken by every member of the council before he took his place, excepting Lieut.

General Fleetwood, Henry Vane the Younger], Major-General Lambert, Major Salloway, Mr. Scott, Serjeant Bradshaw, and Edmond Ludlow.

Gen. Fleetwood continued to press for 1. indemnification by act of Parliament, 2, to be made Commander-in-Chief of the army, 3. absolution of the debts of the Protector, 4. ten thousand pounds by year added to his revenue, and 5. the appointment of a select senate designated by the army, and 6. that liberty of conscience might be secured to all such who professed faith in Jesus Christ and were not scandalous in their conversation.

On 12 October the Rump voted to declare the seven commissioners' responsibility for the Army void and appointed Charles Fleetwood commander-in-chief under the Speaker of the House.

The next day on 13 October 1659 the Army in London under the command of John Lambert assisted by Charles Fleetwood excluded the Rump from Parliament by locking the doors to the Palace of Westminster and stationing armed guards outside.