Unfortunately, the expedition of Penn had partly failed in its object: the attack upon St. Domingo completely miscarried through the stupidity of the commanders and their want of foresight; the object of all these efforts and cost was confined to the taking of Jamaica. The great attempt against the Spanish colonies proved more profitable to Mazarin than to Cromwell: it was a definite rupture between the Protector and Spain. The shrewd French minister hastened to take advantage of it. On the 24th of October, 1655, the Spanish ambassador, Cardeñas, embarked at Dover to return to his country, and on the same day a treaty between France and England was signed--a treaty of commerce which became, towards the end of November, a treaty of alliance. The situation of the Protector in Europe became every day grander and more powerful; but, for eighteen months, he had governed alone and arbitrarily: his firm good sense warned him that absolute power soon exhausts itself. He wanted money to wage war against Spain. The moment appeared to him propitious for at length founding legal order, and he again convoked a Parliament. When the House assembled, on the 17th of September, 1656, the efforts of the Protector and of his majors-generals had not succeeded in preventing the entrance of a great number of indomitable republicans. Vane and Bradshaw had failed; Ludlow and Harrison had not presented themselves; but Haslerig, Scott, Robinson, and some hundred of their friends had been elected. {259} At the door of the Session Hall were guards, who asked of each a certificate of admission. The majority presented it: a hundred and two members were without one and could not enter. The tumult was great. The Master of the Rolls of the Commonwealth was sent for. He arrived in great haste. "His Highness," he said, "had given orders that the certificate of admission should be given only to members approved of by the Council." On the morrow, Nicholas Furnes, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, appeared at Westminster. "According to the constitutional act of the Protectorate," he said, "none could be elected member of Parliament who was not a man of recognized integrity, fearing God, and of good conduct. It was the duty of the Council to consider whether the elect combined these conditions, without which none could be admitted to sit." Thus mutilated at the outset in its functions, the House accepted its humiliation. The rejected members appeared before the Council of State; their protest was useless. Parliament passed on to other matters, being in haste, it was said, to occupy itself with affairs of state. But public opinion was opposed to the arbitrary act of the Protector; it weighed upon the whole assembly. Feeble and inconsiderate, it preserved at the bottom of its heart the impression of the affront which it had suffered, and a desire to be avenged. {260}