Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/779

 Struggle in England between Ki?ig and Parliament 673 Amsterdam and Rotterdam were the best merchant vessels in the world and had got control of the carrying trade between Europe and the colonies. In order to put an end to this, the English Parliament passed the Navigation Act (165 1), which permitted only English vessels to bring goods to England, unless the goods came in vessels belonging to the country which had produced them. This led to a commercial war be- Commercial tween Holland and England, and a series of battles was fought Ho'^iiand'and between the English and Dutch fleets, in which sometimes one England and sometimes the other gained the upper hand. This war is notable as the first example of the commercial struggles which were thereafter to take the place of the religious conflicts of the preceding period. Cromwell failed to get along with Parliament any better than Cromwell Charles I had done. The Rump Parliament had become very Long Pariia- unpopular, for its members, in spite of their boasted piety, ^^J^J ^mad^^ accepted bribes and were zealous in the promotion of their Lord Pro- tector by relatives in the public service. At last Cromwell upbraided his own them angrily for their injustice and self-interest, which were injuring the public cause. On being interrupted by a mem- ber, he cried out, " Come, come, we have had enough of this I I '11 put an end to this. It 's not fit that you should sit here any longer," and calling in his soldiers he turned the members out of the House and sent them home. Having thus made an end of the Long Parliament (April, 1653), he summoned a Parliament of his own, made up of " God-fearing " men whom he and the officers of his army chose. This extraordinary body is known as Barebone's Parliament, from a distinguished mem- ber, a London merchant, with the characteristically Puritan name of Praisegod Barebone. Many of these godly men were unpractical and hard to deal with. A minority of the more sen- sible ones got up early one winter morning (December, 1653) and, before their opponents had a chance to protest, declared Parliament dissolved and placed the supreme authority in the hands of Cromwell. Parliament