D. 1653. Nov. 22.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1654. Feb. 1.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1654. April 8.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1654. July 19.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1654. August 24.]
and the lenity of Monk contributed as much as the fortune of war to the
total suppression of the insurgents.[1] Cromwell, however, did not wait for
the issue of the contest. Before Monk had joined the army, he published[a]
three ordinances, by which, of his supreme authority, he incorporated
Scotland with England, absolved the natives from their allegiance to
Charles Stuart, abolished the kingly office and the Scottish parliament,
with all tenures and superiorities importing servitude and vassalage,
erected courts-baron to supply the place of the jurisdictions which he had
taken away, and granted a free pardon to the nation, with the exception of
numerous individuals whom he subjected to different degrees of punishment.
Thus the whole frame of the Scottish constitution was subverted: yet no
one ventured to remonstrate or oppose. The spirit of the nation had been
broken. The experience of the past, and the presence of the military,
convinced the people that resistance was fruitless: of the nobility, many
languished within the walls of their prisons in England; and the others
were ground to the dust by the demands of their creditors, or the exactions
of the sequestrators; and even the kirk, which had so often bearded kings
on their thrones, was taught to feel that its authority, however it might
boast of its celestial origin, was no match for the earthly power of
the English commonwealth.
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