Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Author's Note
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART ONE THE RUMP AND THE RUMPERS
- PART TWO THE RUMP AND REFORM
- PART THREE THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL, FEBRUARY 1649–SEPTEMBER 1651
- PART FOUR PARLIAMENT versus THE ARMY, SEPTEMBER 1651–APRIL 1653
- 13 Reform and reaction, September 1651–May 1652
- 14 Conflict and confrontation, May–December 1652
- 15 Dissolution and disarray, January–April 1653
- PART FIVE THE DISSOLUTION OF THE RUMP
- APPENDICES
- Bibliographical Guide
- Index
14 - Conflict and confrontation, May–December 1652
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Author's Note
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART ONE THE RUMP AND THE RUMPERS
- PART TWO THE RUMP AND REFORM
- PART THREE THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL, FEBRUARY 1649–SEPTEMBER 1651
- PART FOUR PARLIAMENT versus THE ARMY, SEPTEMBER 1651–APRIL 1653
- 13 Reform and reaction, September 1651–May 1652
- 14 Conflict and confrontation, May–December 1652
- 15 Dissolution and disarray, January–April 1653
- PART FIVE THE DISSOLUTION OF THE RUMP
- APPENDICES
- Bibliographical Guide
- Index
Summary
The Rump passed its famous navigation act on 9 October 1651, after a debate sandwiched between the first two readings of the bill for a new representative. The main principle of the measure was, broadly, that imported goods must in future be brought directly to England from their country of origin, either in English ships or in ships belonging to the country of their origin. The act, which seems at the time of its passage to have occasioned no publicly hostile comment in England, was steered through the House with a smoothness which contrasts strikingly with the difficulties besetting the advocates of social reform after Worcester. In consequence, little can be learnt of the political manoeuvres surrounding the passage of the act. St John's reputed influence in its drafting is plausible but impossible to prove. There is no indication that anyone in the Rump opposed the measure. It is generally accepted that the navigation act did not directly cause the war of 1652–4, but it was clearly aimed at the United Provinces and at the maritime carrying trade so essential to Dutch prosperity. Like the act of October 1650 prohibiting trade with England's royalist colonies, it increased tension between the two republics. Anglo-Dutch rivalry had provoked bitter jealousy for decades. In this rivalry the English had been outclassed, but the growing diplomatic confidence, commercial assertiveness and naval strength of the Commonwealth encouraged its leaders to challenge Dutch supremacy.
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- Information
- The Rump Parliament 1648–53 , pp. 299 - 316Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1974